Monday Memos // 40

Listening:

"Hamilton Road" by Ducktails.

This feels like summertime music and it pretty much sounds like Kurt Vile. (I enjoy the descriptions of sound/genre found on Wikipedia: The band's music has been alternately characterized as "hypnagogic pop", "woozy, horizontal pop" and "lo-fi." Hypnagogic? Horizontal? Okay.)

Turns out Hamilton Road is in Ridgewood, New Jersey (shout out to nearby Park Ridge, NJ—my ma's hometown).

"Bowlly Goes Dancing Drunk Into The Future" by Loving.

I think the heat and humidity just makes me crave slow, woozy pop. I can't find much intel on the band, Loving, but I dig it. The song titles are really great, too.

Reading:

My love of food and words continues, and this week it entails Oreos: "Fireworks Oreos? A Reporter Digests."

I'd say the classic flavors usually reign supreme. (image by Tony Cenicola via The New York Times)

Craving:

S'mores (or s'mores adjacent treats). 

I was hoping I'd find my way to some graham cracker-chocolate-marshmallow goodness for the patriotic holiday. All I ended up with was a belly full of watermelon, chips and kabobs—still delicious. 

Here are some inspirational recipes I might need to make to quell the craving. 

S’More Life: Chocolate Chip Cookie S’mores via i am a food blog

Saltine Cracker-Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches via Joy the Baker

Lots of drool-worthy recipes: 8 More S'mores via Food52

Wearing:

Sandals (beach trips, it's so hot) and sunscreen (always and forever) and scratches (I think my cat keeps scratching me in my sleep and mysterious packing/cleaning brushes with sharp edges).

This seemed like an appropriate image to encompass all of that. 

Watching:

"Catastrophe" Season 3. It's a lot of chaos ("unemployment, mortgages, jealous coworkers, drunken mistakes, friends in rehab, disastrous job interviews, insane family, and, of course, keeping the children alive") but it is still quite funny. 

"Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney are as sharp and scabrous as ever." (image via radiotimes)

Wanting:

A dresser-like object (aka something with drawers to put my clothes in). Simple, but necessary.

Monday Memos // 39

Listening:

Life with a new weekly deejay gig has my mind swarming with music new, old and beloved. 

The video is really fun. Favorite part of the song: minutes 1:00-1:50.

This music reminds me of my 15- to 17-year-old self. Digging the decor.

A perfect and sweet song. 

Minutes 1:10-1:35: best part. 

Reading:

I love a good story and a great dessert. This one by Dorie Greenspan is sweet and lovely (I really want to eat a bakewell tart now, too). "If you bake for your baby, you’ll build memories, sweet, loving and enduring." I definitely have a thousand fond memories surrounding oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, lavish chocolate cake, flaming figgy pudding, and on and on and on.

As these hot summer months make people feel rage, I really enjoyed this story about finding light on a bad day. Maybe I'll throw my troubles in the side yard before I step inside the house or wash them down the drain when I spit out my toothpaste...

"The look was, as the British say, homely, but the textures, the tartness of the jam and the lovely, soft, slightly chewy and not very sweet cake made it the kind of dessert you come back to, finishing it sliver by sliver and dashing any hope you had of tucking some away for breakfast." (image via Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.)

Craving:

Zucchini. 

I've been eating this summer squash for lunch, dinner and dessert. Back at it with the spiralizer, I've been making peppery lemon zoodles and still in a baking frenzy, I made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip zucchini cookies. 

I miss having a big basket of fresh zucchinis appear on the porch at my grandma's house. She'd make these crispy, breadcrumb-covered delights. I'd often make a loaf of bread or muffins with the extras. We'd swap peaches, baked goods and cocktail hour hangouts with our squash-giving neighbor friends. 

I love the look of squash blossoms (and eating fried ones!). (image via spoonflower)

Wearing:

Sunscreen, tank tops, and anything billowy. Aka hundred degree heat index wear. 

Kinda wish I still had this outfit to wear. (image via mom & dad)

Watching:

I'm intrigued by the new animated series "Danger & Eggs."

"The show is about a girl named DD Danger (voiced by SNL‘s Aidy Bryant) and her best friend, a giant egg with a face, arms and legs named Phillip (voiced by Eric Knobel). They go on wacky adventures together in Chickenpaw Park, like riding an abandoned water slide, forming a band, inventing games, hanging out with raccoons and discovering a secret underground lab." -Mey Rude

DD and Phillip. (image via Amazon/Puny Entertainment)

I learned some valuable life lessons watching "Vegas Vacation."

Wayniac. (image via blu-ray.com)

I really want to see the new Sofia Coppola movie, "The Beguiled." Even if the story is boring, she always has great imagery and music. 

I'll watch anything with Kirsten Dunst. 

Wanting:

Two weeks into my latest intern job (New York Magazine's shopping section, The Strategist), I have been flooded with interesting objects I can't help but add to my Amazon shopping cart (current total of dream products: $591.22. FINGER, DO NOT CLICK BUY!).

Plus, this week has seen an influx in one of my favorite articles from the site, "Celebrity Shopping," where you'll learn what all your favorite famous people love to buy. 

Aubrey Plaza made me want to try some new deodorant. 

Mae Whitman made me want some Rachel Antonoff clothes. 

RuPaul made me want some super essential oil elixir. 

It goes on and on. 

This RA Jonny shirt is so good. (via rachelantonoff.com)