All THIS
Good Morning you weary hearted hopefuls.
I was texting a coupla friends the other day “joking” about the prospect of finally being able to (maybe) throw open the doors on these joyously awkward, sunburnt summer barbecues (that I’ll definitely be sneaking out of after 15 minutes.) What I’m struggling with is that for every burst of bubbling excitement, there’s this faint murmur of anxiety that echoes.
I’ve started to unpack that anxiety a bit and so far, I’ve got two pieces:
1) There’s this scene in Something’s Gotta Give where Diane Keaton is standing on the sidewalk confessing her feelings to Jack Nicholson and she says, “You know, the life I had before you I knew how to do that. I could do that forever. But now look at me. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do with ALL THIS?” I feel like, for so many of us, this past year was so deeply (painfully, beautifully) transformative, that I’m having a hard time envisioning how the person I am now is going to survive out there with ALL THIS.
And then add:
2) We’ve been so starved over the past year that the calls for TOTAL ROARING 1920s DEBAUCHERY has already begun. That, along with the visceral education we’ve gotten about what’s important, who’s important, how we want to live, what we’d do differently and all the things we’ve missed - have been signaling this breakneck, hit the ground running wild abandon kind of re-entry.
So, not only are we expecting ourselves to navigate a world with ALL THIS, but that world is promising to operate at a kind of Wonka Level that we have yet to fully understand.
I feel like the answer may be that we need to treat ourselves like when you bring a new goldfish home - giving ourselves permission to spend however much time we need staring wide eyed at the big Wonka aquarium from the safety of our little plastic bags until we’re ready.
And that’s okay.
Each month, I’ll gather:
❤️funny tweets
🤩stuff to watch, read and listen to
🤝great follows on social media
🌈 music to soothe
🕯calming things
*****
❤️
🤩
I went to two virtual book events this past month: Anne LaMott and Luvvie Ajayi Jones. They were the kinds of events - along with their corresponding books - that just made me feel SO connected to others - even in all this. Highly recommend both books.
Waffles and Mochi is everything your little tired soul wants and needs right now. I seriously felt like a little kid again watching it.
I watched Portrait of a Lady On Fire for the first time this past weekend. Dear lord - it’s extraordinary. (like leapt onto my Desert Island List extraordinary) FYI: it’s on Apple TV which took me a bit to figure out. Someone made a great Spotify playlist inspired by it. (you’ll never listen to Vivaldi’s Summer the same)
Speaking of Spotify playlists, found a coupla great ones this past month: This Yacht Rock one? Perfection. And then Harry Styles made a pandemic playlist for Zane Lowe and it’s a GD delight. (thank you to Robin for the Harry one)
I just want to give a Pandemic Shout Out to Bob’s Burgers. It’s been my go-to show for those “I’m feeling low and need a pick me up” days. I have THIS MOMENT on call especially for when I need a jolt of wonderful.
🤝
Follow Chanel Miller for wonderful illustrations.
Follow SuChin Pak for MTV flashbacks, great product recs and then go subscribe to her podcast, Add to Cart.
Follow Mandy Cheng for swoon worthy interiors.
🌈
(thank you to Rebekah for that one ^)
🕯
Over the course of the past year I’ve challenged myself to swap in some plant-based food choices. The three TOP ones so far - like I don’t even notice the difference - are: THIS cream cheese. THIS butter. And the pièce de résistance, THESE mini corn dogs.
Just an FYI, Jeni’s made a Dolly Parton flavor (Layers of salty pretzel streusel, subtly sweet and effortlessly tangy cream cheese ice cream, and lipstick red strawberry sauce.) And you should probably pre-order because all proceeds benefit her Imagination Library, because of course they do.
This jumpsuit is SO FRICKING soft and wonderful. I actually don’t know how I lounged around before without it.
Really everything is better with chili oil on it. Adam and I did a video about it and here are some of the chili oils they used: Boon, Sze Daddy.Fly by Jing