Monday Memos // 107

Listening:

“Coming Home” by Leon Bridges.

“There Is Something In My Heart” by Ghetto Brothers.

“The Dark Don't Hide It” by Kevin Morby & Waxahatchee.

Reading:

Terrible but important: Hideous Men | Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he’s not alone on the list of awful men in my life.

A positive male celebrity spotlight: Keanu Reeves Is Too Good for This World

Thank you for reminding me that walking around the neighborhood with no prerogative is important: You Are Doing Something Important When You Aren’t Doing Anything

Shameless self-promotion (Cup of Jo and Sight Unseen posted it too!): Experiments and Shapes Fill Oscar Piccolo’s One-Room Studio

Craving:

I’m still eating so much pizza. In Sweden and Denmark I ate so much amazing sourdough bread. Currently I’m downing oatmilk and cashewmilk ice creams and containers of fruit and cold coffee. (I.e. summer)

Not just so much pizza, so much fabulous rooftop pizza!

Wearing:

All the shortest dresses. Summer is fully here and I cannot handle pants. Plus, a recent move means I’ve unearthed all my forgotten clothes and I’m finding a lot of (short) gems. Black, plaid, floral, more black, chambray, I’m going through it all.

Even in Sweden I went with my go-to short black dress.

Watching:

Recently watched: Yesterday (“A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.) I hadn’t even heard of this but was invited to see it and said why not. Yes, it’s cheesy, but it’s a solid, feel-good rom com that I would recommend. The cast is very lovable, too.

Years and Years. (“Follows a busy family from Manchester with their lives converging on one crucial night in 2019.”) Either I’m not keeping up with pop culture or films and tv aren’t doing much promotion, because I hadn’t heard of this either. The first two episodes are up on HBO and IT IS GOOOOD. There’s a little bit of Emma Thompson and I only hope there is more.

If you watch a lot of niche HBO shows and/or brit sitcoms you’ll recognize some of the cast. (image via HBO)

Girls. I decided to rewatch the show, see what it’s like now that I am a woman of New York (I didn’t even remember Hannah lived in Greenpoint, probably because I didn’t really know what Greenpoint was). I forgot it started in 2012, too, so the fashion is terrible and memorable. It holds up. Plus, fun cameos like Christopher from the Sopranos as one of Hannah’s old professors.

Want to watch: Booksmart. I’m hoping it’s Ladybird level teen movie. (“On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.”)

The Dead Don’t Die. Jim Jarmusch—amazing. Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi—amazing. Zombies—sure why not?

Dream team. (photo via Abbot Genser/Focus Features)

Treasuring:

A Joyously Spectacular Life: I saw this quote and thoroughly enjoyed it: “If all you did was just looked for things to appreciate, you would live a joyously spectacular life.” ― Esther Abraham Hicks

Adventure: Finally leaving the country—to Canada and across the Atlantic Ocean—has encouraged and motivated me. Here’s to the beginning of passport stamps. Saying yes to adventure is highly recommended. Aka omg I am having so much fun!

Monday Memos // 104

Listening:

“Miss Chew” (feat. Jesse & Forever) by Nick Hakim.

“Color Me Badd” by Land of Talk.

Reading:

Is It Ever Okay...To Eat the Food Off Your Date’s Plate?

One Scene, 42 Takes and 2 Hours in a Bathroom Stall

Updated Etiquette Posters from the M.T.A.

Craving:

I am an avid craver of bowls. Rice bowls, quinoa bowls, noodle bowls, sautéed greens bowls. Sometimes, when I make them at home, I call them piles. Those tend to be the exhausted moments after work when I just throw together whatever ingredients appeal to me or are readily available (eggs, sweet potatoes, kale, peas, crushed up chips, weird “free table” snacks, hummus, etc.).

This week I went wild on dairy-free ice cream. Super rich and creamy chocolate citrus cake from Van Leeuwen. Ben and Jerry’s vegan Chunky Monkey and PB Fudge, too. Oh, also Pressed Juicery’s chocolate soft serve freeze. I might need to go to Ice Cream Anonymous.

Even when it’s freezing, I love ice cream. (image via medium)

Wearing:

Last week my nails were painted bright blue. I wore lots of wide leg pants—black, mustard, denim—and lots of sweaters—grey, cream, and more grey. I’m really ready for spring now. I miss seeing my legs and ankles and arms.

Watching:

TV: A steady stream of the greats: True Detective, High Maintenance. Also, remembered SMILF, and the second season is better than the first—definitely worth a watch. Plus, I started Nurse Jackie while on a Showtime perusal. (I was feeling under the weather so the couch was my best friend this weekend.)

Movies: I rewatched Frances Ha, hence the story about the scene above. I also rewatched The Royal Tenenbaums, excited about living near the house but forgetting how sad makes me.

Treasuring:

Stories: One of my favorite things is hearing stories. From friends, from strangers, from lovers, from relatives, from children, from performers. I love eavesdropping, I love a really long text, I love a phone call filled with stories. Over the weekend, I stopped one night at an Italian place near my apartment to get a slice of cake to go—cake sounded great and I had a gift card. While I waited for the slice—the kitchen was slammed—I sat at the bar next to a man with great, wild, white hair. He was a writer working on a biography of a modern dancer. He had spent his day going from place to place, snack to snack, writing and writing. Now he was here with a cocktail and a finished chocolate mousse. He admired my wrinkle-free face and I learned a little bit about his days traveling with a dancing company (he had stopped in Gainesville at lease once) and he showed me photos of his stunning dancer leaps and turns. Good stories, good people. The cake wasn’t as good as the last time, but worth the trip.

Monday Memos // 84

Listening:

"Who's That Guy" by Ricky Banda.  This Zamrock! album is so good. Listen to it all. 

"The River" by Diane Cluck and Jeffrey Lewis.  This song brings me back to a time in my life that I want to smile, laugh, and cry about. Reminds me of jamming on a melodica. 

"Crazy In Love" by Antony and The Johnsons.  This is a wild Beyonce cover, but I've been an Anohni fan for many years. I once had a dance routine set to the original, so I definitely know all the words. 

Reading:

Important thoughts: How to Tell the Bad Men From the Good Men. If anything, read the last paragraph... "despite sex happening all the time, everywhere, we still — still! — haven’t found a way to talk about it that is truthful, open, informative, and not scaring the living daylights out of our young people. We seem not to have told them, at any point, how lovely it all should be. We’ve somehow managed to screw this up. Our tabula is still rasa."

I would hang out with this cast in a heartbeat: Nothing Is Off the Table at Dinner With the Cast of Queer Eye.

Where Your Personalities Go While You’re Having Sex.

I just love Don Featherstone, creator of the pink lawn flamingo. (Image via Seth Resnick/Science Faction, via Corbis)

Craving:

Last week felt like an infinite weekend with the Fourth of July holiday falling on a Wednesday. It was also a major heat wave. For better or worse, I consumed quite a bit of ice cream to combat the constant sweat. I had received several free pints of dairy-free ice cream, so I had minimal stomach aches/heaviness. Whole Foods has some new almond milk-based ice creams that weren't bad — I recommend the chocolate chip peanut butter option. Häagen-Dazs really was the winner though, since their varieties are just like eating cold, creamy truffles. 

The rest of the week could be categorized with beach snacks, tiki drinks, more ice cream, the most bubbly water, and multiple late night pizza pit stops. To say it was a fun week would be a vast understatement. 

This is one of my favorite photos from many moons ago (hi Kyle!). My ice cream tendencies are strong and secure.

Wearing:

Broke out an old red-and-white striped jumpsuit (short-shorts) for the holiday, more so for the trip to the beach and the heat versus the patriotism. Wore stupid baseball hats. Wore silly sunglasses. Felt a great swell in my heart that I have new friends I can be my weirdest with. 

Said sunglasses.

Watching:

Saw: I finally saw the movie Band Aid and loved it more than I imagined. Also, Duck Butter — absolutely go watch it, Alia Shawkat is amazing.

What's cooler than a girl named Sergio? (image via variety)

To Be Seen: I'm ready to go sob in a theater watching Won't You Be My Neighbor?  Also can't wait for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot. Gus Van Sant, Joaquin Phoenix, Jack Black, done!

Jonah Hill is always great too. (image via variety)

Treasuring:

Bliss: I'm channeling playfulness, contentment, and unobstructed joy. I'm attempting giddiness without doubt or worry. Last night I fell asleep with smiles and laughter for myself, in my newly air-conditioned room, cocooned in blankets and lightness. I think it's working. I recommend it.

Accurate representation of my brain.

Monday Memos // 75

Listening:

"Losers" by The Belle Brigade. (thanks MB!)

"The Heat" by Jungle.

Reading:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Since The Goldfinch is currently cemented in my heart as one of my favorite books of all time, I figured I should give another Tartt novel a go. So far so great. 

"Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill."

Also jealous of this jacket that @god_save_the_misanthropes handmade for Tavi Gevinson after they met on a New York subway platform. (more details via thecut)

Craving:

I didn't go wild on anything in particular this week, but I am regularly enjoying: mini Nutter Butters, bodega date nut bars, sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs, furikake seasoning, sautéed spinach, and lots of coffee. A hodge podge for sure. 

A warm weather craving: OddFellows ice cream. The latest storefront is all about coffee and serves up wild flavors (Pumpernickel, Huckleberry, Pumpkin Brown Butter, etc) and delightful-sounding affogatos (espresso + ice cream).

The café liégeois, a sort of parfait meets sundae made with espresso, coffee-crunch ice cream, wafer cookie, and coffee “soil.” (Photo by Melissa Hom via nymag)

Wearing:

I got to experience spring and warmth for roughly 48 hours and it was outstanding. I went out and about without sleeves and pants. There were birthday parties and barbecues in the park, there are daffodils all over the place... I wore black floral dresses and black tees and one day I didn't wear socks.

Watching:

Movies: A Fantastic Woman. I watched this alone in a nearly empty theater on Friday night. It was beautiful, wild, and deeply saddening. I would definitely recommend it. It reminded me of an Almodovar film.

Daniela Vega is amazing. (She's my age!) Also, based on the scenery in the movie, I want to go to Chile. (image via sony)

Want to see: Hot Summer Nights. It is hard not to be enticed by all things Timothée Chalamet. A boy comes of age during a summer he spends in Cape Cod. I can relate to life changing New England summertime too.

Love all the people involved in Tully. I think Ron Livingston and Mark Duplass play brothers and wow I never realized how similar they look.

And since I miss my Australia accents, That's Not Me looks fun.

Treasuring:

Hilarity: I had several moments last week where I was laughing so much I couldn't get my words out. There are few feelings better than being overcome with humor. 

Mom: My mom is the best and I love talking to her. No more explanation necessary.

I have those earrings now and I've always had that face.