Wintering with the dopest GF cookies, and an LOL obit
Howwwwww’s everyone doin’? If your holiday plans have gotten crushed, sidelined, revised or re-evaluated in the last 48 hours or so, take a sip (or two). If I’ve been reminded of anything by this past week’s circumstances, it’s that anything and everything is subject to change…so cheers to unpredictability? And ooof, RIP to Joan Didion.
1.
We could all use a bit of uplifting color in our lives right now, and that’s exactly what designer Christopher John Rogers delivered with his pre-fall 2022 collection last week. It was unapologetically bright, chic, and bold, and not unlike making exciting future plans (even if they ultimately get canceled): something hopeful to look forward to.
2.
Reading the local news (currently in my case, the New York state capital region’s Times Union), can lead to all sorts of delightful gems, including this piece about a Catskill resident’s deliciously hilarious obituary for his mother. “A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday.” If that’s not compelling enough to click over to the Fayetteville Observer’s full obituary, which has now gone Omicron-level viral, consider these zingers: “Hers was a bawdy, rowdy life lived large, broke and loud. We thought Renay could not be killed. God knows, people tried. A lot. Renay has been toying with death for a decades, but always beating it and running off in her silver Chevy Nova. Covid couldn't kill Renay. Neither could pneumonia twice, infections, blood clots, bad feet, breast cancer twice, two mastectomies, two recessions, multiple bankruptcies, marriage to a philandering Sergeant Major, divorce in the 70's, six kids, one cesarean, a few abortions from the Quietly Famous Abortionist of Spring Lake, NC or an affair with Larry King in the 60's.”
3.
What I ate for lunch on Tuesday: this delicious and wholesome vegetable lentil soup (some would even say it’s the “best” lentil soup, and I don’t disagree), which my sister-in-law cooked up. What I ate for lunch on Wednesday: the latke potato crisp cookies that the Internet has gone mad for. And I can see why: butter + sugar + ruffled potato chips = mini dopamine bombs (that are also mind-blowingly easy to make, not to mention gluten-free).
4.
This is a little bit of an “advanced” review, but I’m about to burrow myself in this seasonally-appropriate book that my friend Colleen recommended recently. Normally I fight against winter’s bleak, dark mornings, the cold and drying weather, and what feels like the punishment of having to “bundle up,” but Katherine May lays out a compelling and helpful case for taking this time for some much-needed self-restoration (that might be more productive-feeling than you’d think at first).
5.
I have a lot of girlfriends who can’t wait to get their hands on a bottle of Hermès new nail polish (namely for that little orange box), but the design snob in me is actually pretty smitten with the retro-chic vibe of the new Gucci shellac. The bottle shape and ridged top remind me of something I found in my grandmother’s house from decades ago—and I love it for that.