Sunny Side Up #4: It's nice to be nice!

On Nora Ephron, banana muffins, and why kindness is key.

Ladies and gents, welcome back to the fourth edition of Sunny Side Up, the weekly newsletter in which I attempt to look on the bright side of life! I have to say, with each week I do one of these, it’s getting easier.

This week, we’re talking Nora Ephron, why it’s important to spread kindness, a great TV recommendation, and I’ve even got another recipe to share with you this week!

At the start of the week, I watched Everything is Copy, the documentary made by Jacob Bernstein about his mother, Nora Ephron. In the film, her agent Bryan Lourd said ‘she had the ability to go back to the typewriter and write herself out of trouble’. It’s stuck in my head all week.

Like Nora, writing gets me out of the troubles I find myself in. It untangles the knots in my brain. I have churned out more articles this week than I ever have before. I didn’t realise I had that many words in me! I’ve found writing to be like medicine; it quiets my mind, helps me focus, and I can relax. It’s magic. Writing is something I’ve always done, but I’ve never taken it very seriously and I’ve also never shared it with anyone other than my family before, so to be met with such lovely support on here has been really wonderful and warms my heart.

Which brings me on to the subject of my mini ramble: kindness. I have experienced so much of it this week. Whether it be comments on my articles or messages in my inbox, people saying hello on the street, my cousin sending me a nice text - a little goes a long way. This week I met my friend Liza for dinner and her Mum had sent her a little gift to give to me. I was completely floored by how thoughtful it was, and I’ve been in such a bubble of gratitude for the people I’m surrounded by.

The thing is, kindness is like the chicken pox. It’s almost impossible not to catch it. If someone does something kind for me it makes me want to return those fuzzy feelings ten times over. I’m 99% sure that being surrounded by nice people makes you even nicer. In fact, isn’t there a study where it’s like the five people you’re around the most are the five people you’re most like or something? Let me Google…..

Ok - yes - a guy called Jim Rohn said “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So, going off that, if we all make the effort to be a little bit nicer or do at least one kind gesture every day, then eventually the world really will be all sunshine and rainbows and everyone will be happy. Perhaps that’s a bit optimistic, but even still, we’ll hopefully set off a domino effect of kindness. Bonus - studies show that being kind to others does have a positive impact on your happiness and wellbeing. Hey - can’t argue with the science!

Think of one nice thing you can do today for someone else. Can you give your Mum a call and ask her how her day’s been? Bake a cake for your best friend? Hold the door open for a colleague carrying more files than they can handle? Leave a comment on a Substack post you like? Whatever it is, I guarantee you’ll come away from it with a little bit of sparkle. It’s nice to be nice. It makes you feel good about yourself. The biggest part of it, though, is you don’t know how significant your act of kindness will be for the person on the receiving end. Sometimes, one small thing can be enough to make someone smile for days. The kindest thing someone’s done for me this year was when my cousin baked me a birthday cake. Thinking about it now makes me want to cry because it was SO thoughtful, especially when you add the context that baking isn’t his forte, and I’m not sure he knew how to turn on his oven prior. If you’re having a day to yourself, what’s something kind you can do for yourself today? Whatever it might be, enjoy it.

1. Blue sky thinking 2. Watching & editing 3. Pizza dates 4. Lavender heaven 5. Chop chop! 6. Evening reads 7. Fresh summer strawbs 8. New friends <3 9. Editing in my writing nook

• READING | After I watched the Everything is Copy documentary, I dug out my copy of The Most of Nora Ephron for some extra writing inspo. I’m a long-time fan of her movies but not overly familiar with her columns so it’s been great to read some of them. I admire her writing so much.

• MUNCHING | We went strawberry picking on Tuesday and they are some of the most delicious strawbs I’ve had this season! They went down a treat with fresh whipped cream and a vanilla sponge. I also went for pizza with a friend on Wednesday evening - we’re lucky to have the nicest pizza place where we live.

• MARVELLING | The sunshine this week made everything look stunning. Look at the colour of that lavender!! Such a rich purple, and the smell - heaven.

• CHOPPING | It was time for my summer haircut and I lovvvveee it, it’s quite a chop for me, but to be honest having long hair is a bit of a faff and I haven’t got the time or patience to deal with it at the minute. Ft. my new Djerf Avenue dressing gown that I tried my best to resist but makes me feel like a princess whenever I put it on.

• RECOMMENDING | Douglas is Cancelled on ITVX. Oh my goodness - best television I’ve seen in MONTHS! Karen Gillan’s performance is outstanding, she really made it for me, and episode three…. give it all the awards. So well done, and such a brilliant cast. Watch it.

• MELTING | Nope, not from the heat!

  Lauren Brook
  put the sweeeeeeetest note on the other day and I just can’t believe how kind people are on this app! I’ve been really enjoying interacting with everyone and being part of such a supportive space. It doesn’t take much to make someone else feel good, and there is so much of it here. Thank you Lauren 🫶🏻

• Lauren Brook
  ’s Weekly Diary - I love Lauren’s conversational style of writing in this piece, it’s so easy to read, and just wait until you see the pictures she included - I got major food envy. The good vibes radiate off this one! & also dive into The Sunday Scroll - I can’t stop thinking about when Travis Kelce met Prince William.

• Nine Years by Charlotte from

  Baby Brain
  - this article melted my heart!!! I good love story gets me every time, and this piece furthered my faith in happy endings. Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Charlotte.

• I have never met

  Gisélle
  but after reading this article I am rooting for her all the way!! It was such a fun read, and it really resonated with me because I too refuse to take no for an answer when it comes to my goals. Gisélle, you will be the real-life Carrie Bradshaw.

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I have nailed banana muffins. I think a big part of it is the mixing - you don’t want to over-mix or the texture will be all wrong for a muffin. You still want them to be a little bit lumpy. This batch makes 12 muffins - I made half plain oat & banana and then added dark chocolate chips for the other half. Nuts would be a great shout too, chopped walnuts would be delish! I can’t wait to have these for breakfast. They’re also great warm - stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds and eat with a cuppa.

🍌Banana & Oat Muffins (makes 12)

Ingredients

225g Plain Flour

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Baking Powder

3 Bananas

80g Salted Butter, melted

2tbsp Milk

60g Oats

110g Granulated Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC and prepare your muffin tray.

2. Siv the flour into a large mixing bowl, and add the cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder.

3. In another bowl, mash together the bananas, then add the egg, melted butter, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and oats. Mix thoroughly.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until fully combined. Don’t over-mix - you want the texture to still be a bit lumpy.

5. If you’re adding any extras, like chocolate chips or nuts, add them here. I add about 150g chocolate chips.

6. Fill your muffin cases about 3/4 full, then place in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden.

   Ta-da!

That’s everything for this week!

Love,

Ella x