When I was in elementary school, I bought a mood ring. It felt like sorcery — how could this little trinket tell me how I was feeling? The answer was obvious: magic!
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not actually anything that cool. The color is produced by body temperature and liquid crystals reacting and blah blah blah. Still, “magic” is more fun. And in today’s world, I feel like we all need a little bit more magic. (Or a lot, if we’re being honest.)
Recently, I’ve been super into this whole girlhood reborn concept: pink and bows and healing your inner child. (Yes, one of those things isn’t quite like the others.) Enter the mood ring redux. The Black Friday sales got me, and I purchased a Mondo Mondo mood ring, which I’ve become obsessed with. It changes to lots of pretty colors, which makes looking at it at different times of the day all sorts of fun. I’m never bored! And the mood ring reminds me of a simpler, more innocent time when science really just seemed like magic.
Per the Mondo Mondo website, the ring’s color key is:
BLACK: deep dark secrets
AMBER: melancholic, write in diary
GREEN: natural and organic
BLUE: stand-up comic
VIOLET: visionary
PINK: ecstatic state of bliss
Do I think any of that is accurate? Absolutely not. My ring has turned blue, and I’ve never been stand-up comic funny. I see some version of pink a lot, and I’m not sure the last time I experienced an ecstatic state of bliss. (Maybe when it looked like Arsenal might win the league… but how am I supposed to feel blissful when all the members of BTS are performing their mandatory military service?)
On the other hand, I’m plenty melancholic and am, of course, a visionary, so maybe there’s some truth to this thing after all.
I wore this ring and took note of all the changing colors on the first day of the year — yes, I’m aware that was a while ago… no, I don’t want to talk about it — to see what my mood(s) might be like for the rest of 2024.
12:00 a.m.
Periwinkle blue with a light lavender rim and a yellow arch in the bottom right corner
Clare and I cheers-ed and are sitting on our couch (as always, it’s important to note that it’s a green velvet couch) drinking champagne. Here’s to 2024!
12:03 a.m.
Royal blue with a dot of yellow toward the bottom
We call our mom to wish her a happy New Year. (She doesn’t answer.)
12:04 a.m.
Royal blue with no dot of yellow toward the bottom
We call our dad to wish him a happy New Year. (He doesn’t answer.)
12:29 a.m.
Lavender that gets darker across the ring with a yellow dot at the bottom
I’ve decided “The Master and Margarita” will be my first book of the year — heaven (or devil) help me.
12:35 a.m.
Solid dark blue
Pontius Pilate just showed up — in my book, if that’s not clear. (Imagine if I wasn’t talking about my book.)
12:58 a.m.
Half orange, half yellow from bottom left to top right
Time to take my dog out for the first time in 2024… in 31-degree weather with no jacket on because I’m an idiot. I’ll probably be able to feel my fingers again someday.
1:00 a.m.
A bright green dot on the right that turns into a light green over the rest of the ring
It’s time for Cora cuddles.
1:44 a.m.
Royal blue
Pontius Pilate has ordered Jesus to be killed. I wonder if it means something that every time Pontius Pilate (or Jesus) shows up, my ring turns blue…
1:47 a.m.
Orangey brownish blue
Skincare time! As much as my face loves my Moon Juice Acid Potion, I don’t think my brass ring would, so it’s time to take it off for a bit. My ring would probably love my Sunday Riley Juno facial oil, though, ’cause who/what wouldn’t?
1:53 a.m.
Light pink to light orange to light yellow
I’ve finally decided to go to sleep.
1:56 a.m.
Solid bright pink
And it seems my body agrees with that decision. Pink is “ecstatic state of bliss,” after all.
(I lied — I’m ring-less and scrolling TikTok for a bit.)
2:19 a.m.
????
It’s too dark to see my ring, but I’m actually going to sleep.
11:01 a.m.
Deep gray that turns blue as it goes from top to bottom
Good moooorrrnnnniiiiinnnnggggg! I got more than eight hours of sleep. Talk about starting the year on a positive note.
11:11 a.m.
Electric eel green
11:11 — make a wish — my first of the year. I’d tell y’all what I wished for, but…. This first sip of a homemade lavender matcha latte feels like a wish come true on its own.
11:37 a.m.
Sky blue with a navy dot along the left side
Tennis is back! Man alive, have I missed watching it. Maybe 2024 will be the year I really learn to play it now that my shoulder is finally healed after a year of rehabbing it.
12:22 p.m.
Robin’s egg blue
I’m doing my intense, 40ish-minute NuFace toner routine. I am turning 30 this year, after all, so I’ve got to work on my wrinkle prevention with the red-light attachment and shock my muscles into shape with the microcurrent attachment.
1:49 p.m.
Seafoam green
Lunchtime — and champagne-time, duh!
2:00 p.m.
Blackish brown with a slight waxing crescent bit of yellow
I take Cora outside and get my first marriage proposal of the year from a guy who sorta looked my age who was delivering my neighbor’s DoorDash. He sees me, asks me if I have a husband, I say “No,” he says, “You want one?”
2:24 p.m.
Sunburst yellow with a slight green overtone
Time to start reading again. I laugh out loud while reading “Master and Margarita” — who knew Russians were allowed to be funny?
3:37 p.m.
Amber to deep orange with a little bit of bright yellow along the right side
I’m sitting on my (green velvet) couch, watching a Liverpool game (and seeing if a player was offside; he was), and making my cousin a list of fiction he should read this year. Everyone should read more fiction.
5:05 p.m.
Stormy green that turns into a brown in the top right corner
Liverpool wins. I’m happy about that. I think?
5:23 p.m.
Periwinkle blue with a hint of teal creeping across the right
I’m fiddling with my beautiful new turntable when I hear a loud bump outside. I immediately stand up and see an electric scooter on the ground, a Taxi cab stopped, and someone running off.
5:27 p.m.
Lavender that gets darker across the ring with a yellow dot at the bottom
I send Clare outside to get the details — she’s a lawyer, after all, so that’s a pretty good excuse. She can “help” (and give me the nitty-gritty of what happened).
5:55 p.m.
Pretty peach with a tiny sliver of light green along the top
Clare comes back in and explains. Three teens were riding on the back of one scooter loaded up with groceries along the side of the road. The taxi was letting someone out of the back, and she opened the door. The teens ran right into the door — hence the loud thwack I heard. Takeout containers went everywhere. The three teens took off running, leading the cops to believe the scooter had been stolen. I’m sure the cops will have updates on this case… never.
6:12 p.m.
Yellow-orange with orange dapples concentrated on the top
One of my goals is to start my book reviews back up. And I’m finally done filming a video review. (In 2024, I’m going to be a BookTok-er (ha). I do not like Colleen Hoover’s books, though, so that could be an issue on my path to stardom.)
7:25 p.m.
Orange on the top half, yellow on the bottom half
Ha. I finally got ESPN working on my laptop, so I can watch the Alabama-Michigan game while I’m on my Peloton bike. It’s time to let Hannah Frankson whip my butt into shape — literally.
8:11 p.m.
Dot of green inside yellow along the left side that turns into pink that turns into purple
My ring is back on, and I’m off the bike earlier than intended because my knee is acting up. I was really hoping my body wouldn’t bring its weird issues into 2024. I am turning 30, though, so…
8:21 p.m.
Orchid that takes up two-thirds of the ring (L-R); the other third of the ring is amber
Clare is back from picking up a friend at the airport — and she picked me up a Cava. I LOVE Cava. If it had been my Cava guy who proposed…
8:43 p.m.
Muted navy blue
It’s the final play of the ’Bama game — fourth-and-goal. I can’t watch. Jim Harbaugh is the WORST. And this blue color feels like a bad omen.
8:47 p.m.
Black
It was. Even I could have come up with a better play call than that one. And now my mood ring is black? That feels right. Maybe there’s something magic to this thing after all.
9:47 p.m.
Light blue with a touch of an orange rim
Go, Washington! Why isn’t my ring purple right now?
10:12 p.m.
Olive green with a yellow crescent along the top right corner
We’re sitting on our couch (yes, the green velvet one) with a friend. Somehow, we got on the topic of ACOTAR — which she has very strong feelings about. Aka she thinks Nesta is the best Archeron sister and doesn’t like Rhys. I’m sorry, what!?
11:11 p.m.
Yellow along the left side that turns into an eggplant purple
My knack of looking at my phone exactly at 11:11 continues into 2024 — twice! Make a wish! Clare and I are going to try to do Pilates every day this month (if one of us doesn’t, that person has to buy the other two books), so we just wrapped up Day 1. Odds we both make it to Day 31?
11:24 p.m.
Yellow-ish with an orange starburst center and some green creeping along the top
Cora wants to do Pilates, too. Or I’m guessing that’s what her lying next to me on my yoga mat as I watch the Washington-Texas game means. Time for Cora cuddles? Always.
11:59 p.m.
Bright blue with a splash of bright green along the top
I’m too nervous to even watch Washington play. This football game is no laughing matter — sorry, mood ring, guess you don’t have it all figured out after all. Better luck next year.