Monday Memos // 67

Listening:

Similar to last week, I was eating another beautiful breakfast alone and the music playing was getting me deep in my heart. My brain then unlocked a playlist from another life and these jams just kept coming to me.

"New Partner" by Palace Music.

"Wish You Were Here" by Sparklehorse and Radiohead.

Reading:

My Grandmother’s Very Specific Meat-Related Rule for Finding Love 

The 25 best icebreaker questions for team-building at work - #20: How do you like your eggs? Recently I went out for breakfast and when the server asked me how I wanted my eggs, I responded with "over medium." She then said, "is that over easy?" Me: "Uh, no." And then she walked off. It boggled my mind for days. 

Angelica Hicks's NYC Apartment Is as Cheeky and Chic as Her Art - These murals are so good.

Always into cake. (illustration by Grace Lee via bonappetit)

Craving:

I have a strong urge to walk into every "healthy market" I come upon. There is something comforting about a store with rows of bulk bins (dried fruits, raw nuts, nutritional yeast, carob covered things) and oaten treats and maybe even a corner with a wheatgrass juicing machine. Yesterday, in such a store, I stumbled upon these healthy sweet treats called Cookie Brittle. It's just the right amount of salty and sweet and textured (almonds, chocolate, cocoa, oat flour, etc). The Brooklyn-based company, "Baked By Bibis," makes all sort of breads, crisps, and loaves. I've got my eyes peeled for more BBB delights.

"A healthy treat." If you say so... (image via sephardic.org)

Wearing:

I cannot wait to recover more of my clothes as I begin to live again beyond my suitcase. I have a simple formula lately: black puffer coat (looks similar to a thin sleeping bag), sweater (solid colored turtleneck), pants (jeans or patterned black slacks), wool socks, boots (black Frye hikers), sometimes a hat or a scarf or a handkerchief. At least I'm warm. 

I went on a hunt for cheap sweatpants this weekend. I had the specific goal of finding a pair to wear for my wintery walk to the gym. As I was browsing the discount activewear section and all the not-totally-ugly sweatpants were too far in the double digits price range, I had my aha moment. The old standby: look in the kids section! I found decent pair, youth large, for $8. Perfect. When I paid, the cashier said, "I hope he enjoys them." Ha! My son, aka myself, will.

I didn't see enough wildness during Fashion Week. (image by Aisha Franz via nytimes)

Watching:

I can finally reenter the world as I fully, obsessively (now mournfully) finished my Australian show. Just a day later I miss my characters. 

I'm interested in seeing HBO's latest series, "Here and Now." Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins with creator Alan Ball. Seems promising, but I've glimpsed mixed reviews. I'm also curious about Netflix's new show, "Everything Sucks." "A coming-of-age story, set in the 1990s, that revolves around the A/V and drama clubs at a Boring, Ore., high school; the two crews of outsiders join forces to make a movie and endure the purgatory that is high school." Sounds like a mashup of a variety of popular tropes. 

Treasuring:

No Conclusions / Many Happy Endings. Cup of Jo is the land of wonderful stories and amazing comments. This comment was highlighted the other day and I found it to be more than I could articulate... Says Kate on an accidental wedding dress: “I was married in a rose-colored dress, am now divorced but count my ex-husband among my closest family members, and am in a monogamous (unmarried) long-term relationship and full-time parent to my partner’s two step-kids. On the day I got married in that beautiful rose dress, I never, ever would have predicted that a decade later I would find myself here, living a completely different life. And so I offer you this: There will be many milestones but no conclusions. The feeling of being settled is a transient one — regardless of whether we remain married to one person ’til death do us part or spend our lives single, stability comes and goes, and any belief to the contrary is an illusion. There is at once no answer and always an answer: It exists right here, in this essay, inside yourself, in the people you love and places you go and the work you do. You are the answer, the one constant in the cornucopia of happily-ever-afters that will most likely exist within the span of your lifetime. So, let’s let go of the idea that there is one happy ending and celebrate the many happy endings, the shapes of each other’s lives and the many shapes of our own. And let’s do it in whatever damn dress (or jeans or pajamas) makes us feel most like ourselves.”

(image by Gabrielle Assaf)

Monday Memos // 55

Listening:

"All is Full of Love" by Björk.

"Hold On You" by Valley Queen.

 "The Telephone Song" by Charles Bradley.

Reading:

This week, the Style section was very Modern Love-centric, my favorite!

• 13-Word Love Stories - We both love craft beer and public radio. So we’re insufferable, but together.
• The 13 Questions That Lead to Divorce - First, grab someone you hope to someday divorce. Choose anyone. Oh, hey, how about the person next to you in bed clipping their toenails and eating leftover kimchi with their hands? They seem super-divorceable.
• Mom: ‘Is He Jewish?’ Me: ‘No.’ Mom: ‘Is He Smart?’ - She once tormented me by asking if I’d hand deliver an envelope filled with photos of the company’s handsome male dancers. I was to carry this sealed parcel on the train from New York. Just before I left town, Selma called and casually mentioned, “Some of the photos are nudes.” And no, I didn’t open the envelope but I certainly cursed her.

Motherly love. (image by Brian Rea via nytimes)

I also enjoyed the writing of a recent Grub Street Diet piece with writer Howie Kahn. The last lines, as he shares a mush pouch with his young son, is particularly wonderful:

After a couple of small slices, he asks for a pouch, one of those squeezy packets of organic mush. This one has kale, broccoli, and mango, and he swigs from it like a gentleman with a flask.

Hospitably, he passes it to me. “Try,” he says, looking up from his high chair. “Daddy, try.”

So I do. And it’s delicious.

We split the rest, laughing and passing the pouch between us.

Craving:

This week is brought to you by Hot and Orange.

I don't usually have a desire for one-ingredient soups, but I had a homemade carrot soup from Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Foods" and it was amazing. So creamy without any cream. So flavorful with just a few ingredients (onions, thyme, chicken stock). I even found it to be an excellent dipping component for leftover pizza. 

I've also been in the mood for all things pumpkin as this November gets in full swing. I made HowSweetEats' pumpkin skillet cobbler (salty and crunchy and perfectly spiced—lovely with vanilla ice cream on top) and Ambitious Kitchen's pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (hearty and chewy and great for all times of day). 

Yes please. (via howsweeteats)

Wearing:

Since I've been living out of a suitcase for a month, I've been wearing the same few things over and over. It's kind of like I have a capsule wardrobe. One pair of jeans, one pair of black patterned slacks, one pair of black leggings. Two t-shirts, one grey sweater, one bright sweatshirt. One denim jacket and one colorful, hooded jacket. Thick socks and an assortment of brown and tan shoes. It's pretty easy to get dressed each day and also kind of boring...

I had to break out my favorite red hat and an old standby striped scarf for the consistently 30-40 degree days this last week, too. Feels like winter!

The Freelancer’s Uniform by Gemma Correll. (via medium)

Watching:

I don't know how this movie slipped past me, especially as a big Jim Jarmusch fan, but I just watched "Paterson." 

The power of “Paterson” is in its seemingly long-brewing and deeply felt outburst of personal mythology; its world-building comes off as a credo, a belatedly laid and lifeworn cornerstone of Jarmusch’s work, a quietly ecstatic vision of workaday perseverance and inspiration. It’s ingenious, rousing, passionate—and yet constrained by the iron force of its own sense of virtue. —The New Yorker

Now I want to go have a Jarmusch binge-fest. 

Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani. The art is fabulous and weird and I love it! (photo by Mary Cybulski via window frame films)

Treasuring:

Warmth. It's been cold this week! I feel thankful I have a cozy, highly blanketed bed to tuck into at night. I am so glad to have hot soup and hot showers. I'm staying in a place with long indoor halls and a lobby gym, too, so I can stretch my legs without getting a runny nose.

Adventures. Life is certainly a mysterious ride right now, but I am reframing it as a time of ample adventures. I've wandered around Baltimore, I've had peanut butter-stuffed, chocolate-covered figs with a favorite friend, I've relaxed on a couch surrounded by sweet cats, I've worked in coffee shops and cafes all over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Yeehaw!

(images by camille gressier for designlovefest)

Monday Memos // 48

Listening:

"Something On Your Mind" by Karen Dalton

"We Don't Deserve Love" by Arcade Fire

"Garvey' s Ghost" by Max Roach

Reading:

"Google’s most-searched “how-to” questions capture all the magic and struggle of being human"

This is more of a "reading through pictures"—but I love these kinds of photo series: "What dinner time looks like across the USA. A seat at the table."

More in the way of visual storytelling: An Ode to Acts of Kindness on the New York City Subway.

And finally, some doodle-y goodness: The Illustrated Interview: Bruce Weber.

“I just love the way they're just kind of embracing in this open romance in the subway as he's reading this book,” Mr. Wagner said. “It almost looks like they're reading it together.” (image via Andre D. Wagner for The New York Times)

Craving:

Consuming with frequency: oatmeal cookies, fried eggs, salad with grilled chicken, crunchy peanut butter, and roasted sweet potatoes.

Drooling over recipes: chai banana bread, milk + honey baklava, small batch vegan brownies, and roasted lemon basil butter salmon with burst tomatoes.

Still on a Greek kick I suppose. (image via acozykitchen)

Wearing:

T-shirts: old American Apparel v-necks and a trusty Everlane pocket tee.

Shorts: cut-offs from high school pants via the Gap and American Eagle. DIY-meets-preppy.

Dresses: grey and black H&M shirt dresses than have stood the test of time.

Shoes: decade-old purple slip-on vans that pair well with my mud-drenched yard.

Good sentiment. (hand drawn type by maddy nye for designlovefest)

Watching:

"Broad City"—because it is always superb. "I Love Dick"—because why not try a feminist cringe-comedy with Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Hahn. "Claws"—because sometimes you have to binge a cheesy show set in Florida with your roommate to cope with flooding and totaled cars.

Treasuring:

Friends helping out friends in the stormy weather.

Subtle moments of animal affection and closeness.

Sleeping in.

(illustration by Mari Andrew via cupofjo)