Well, here we are! How did we get here? When will normal life return? I’ve got zero answers for you. All I can offer you are some ideas of what you can do now that you’re at home. Let’s do this.
Put music (that you enjoy) on in the background of your house in the morning or in the evening as a way to single out the start or end of the day. Maybe this sounds dumb, but it really helps break up times of the day. (Lately I’ve been in a very nostalgic mood and I’ve been listening to old Smashing Pumpkins albums I haven’t listened to in about twenty years, it’s been really nice.)
Watch episodes of TV shows that you’ve already seen and loved. There’s something nice about not just binging certain new shows but instead watching things that have already made you happy in the past. Or maybe that’s just me. Are you seeing a pattern here with me and the past? Fuck am I depressed?
If that show or movie you really want to watch isn’t available on any of your streaming services, I use putlockers.chat pretty regularly and it’s been great. I think it works whatever country you’re in.
If you’ve ever been a fan of The Simpsons, I have cultivated a favourite episodes list from over the years that I’d happily send anyone looking for especially good episodes to watch. Tell me your favourite character and I can tailor the list to their best episodes.
Call people. It’s so weird and great that it’s becoming socially acceptable to call people again (and not just text). Call even if you have nothing to say.
Improvise with your cooking habits. I usually follow every single instruction when I’m reading a recipe, so this one was hard for me to try. I did it yesterday though and it worked out great! You just have to make sure you’re trying out ingredients that you already love, and then incorporate them with regular old recipes.
Take more photos of your pets and send them to me. Or your other friends. Definitely me, though.
Write letters to your people and mail them. I’ll continue to love doing this until I’m dead in the ground since it really does make me happy. Even if all you have to write is a tiny little update. Be honest about how you’re feeling in this crazy time and share it with someone you love. This kind of thing helps me more than so many other things.
I started a Things That Made Me Laugh highlight reel on my Instagram and fuck I wish every single person I knew had one of these. I’d watch them endlessly. Love seeing what other people laugh at. (Sorry about my laugh in all of the videos. It doesn’t get cuter with time.)
Do face masks, hair masks, do your fingernails and toenails (BEGGING Nathan to do this with me), make an at-home body scrub out of stuff definitely in your kitchen. Yes this stuff is boring, but it make you feel so fucking together sometimes.
If you find yourself reading or listening to the news too much, literally just turn your phone off for an agreed upon time. Like, actually turn it off. Don’t put it on silent or Do Not Disturb, turn that fucker off. You’re allowed.
Try not to wear the same pajamas every day. Just for your sanity. And the sanity of anyone in your home who has to look at you. It’s exhausting to see the same tattered gym shorts daily on someone you love.
If I think of more things (I definitely will), then I’ll add to this list. Stay safe!
Forgive the lateness of this post! It was an insanely busy month and I’ll try not to let this kind of delay happen again. SO MUCH HAPPENED! Details below.
I went on two trips this month! The first was to the Bahamas and it was so great. I stayed at Atlantis (because well, that’s where my parents were staying and they kindly let me stay with them, IF YOU MUST KNOW) and while Atlantis was super nice, it really felt like what I imagine a big cruise ship to feel like. I’m not meaning that as an insult at all - it just felt sort of stiff, well maintained, with a very controlled environment. I tried lionfish for the first time (very good), drank Bahama Mamas and slid down the shark-surrounded Leap of Faith (horrifying). We ate at Jose Andres’ restaurant Fish and it was absolutely unreal. The seafood was phenomenal.
Parents in the Bahamas
My second trip was to New Orleans for the week of Halloween! I’ll do a full post on this one because there’s too much to say. (Full post here!)
In some upsetting news, I accidentally “recovered” my phone and lost most of my Bahamas photos. I was so upset because it was completely my own fault. I hadn’t backed up my photos to my computer yet either, so it truly sucked. I do have iCloud but I never opted to pay for the extra space so it’s been full for about a year already. Enter my saviour Marla who told me about Google Photos (which is free) and I’ve already started using and backing up almost daily. I’ve moved on from losing the photos by rationalizing it in thinking that I wasn’t meant to have those photos, they were meant to be memories.
Years ago, I watched and hated the second Sex & The City movie (too xenophobic, cliched and generally terrible) but I rewatched it on a plane recently and while it’s still a bad movie, I had completely forgotten about the storyline about Carrie and Big “defining the parameters of their own relationship.” Best part of the movie! I won’t give away too much, but you may want to rewatch this stinker if nothing better is on.
We rewatched all of the Sleepaway Camp movies and they really hold up well. Such a solid series.
I tried pumpkin-flavoured Kit Kats and although a little gross at first, they really do taste like pumpkin. And after two or three bites, become delicious.
In keeping with autumn flavours, I tried the pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks (I know, despite this one instance, I am still trying to stay away from the corporations that are slowly eating away at society as we know it). Anyway, the drink was only MEH. It’s wild how we’ve made milkshakes acceptable for adults to drink at 8am.
I’m not sure if I’ve already shared this tip, but I have THE greatest advice for someone who’s trying to avoid a cold from starting. You know that point right before you get a cold, when your throat feels a little tingly and sensitive? And you know that a cold is coming right around the corner? All you need to do to avoid this from happening is buy the blue Listerine and gargle with it once in the morning and once before bed and gargle for about 30 seconds each time. I SWEAR TO GOD THIS WORKS. But only with the blue Listerine. I’ve tested this theory twice now and it absolutely works, someone give me a medal for curing the common cold. (And if you really don’t believe me, buy the travel size before you commit to the larger bottle, geek.)
Riverdale is BACK! The season premiere episode dealing with Luke Perry’s death was so good and so sad and that’s all I have to say about that. This tweet sums it up.
As for the more recent episodes of Riverdale? The latest Halloween episode was pure and complete madness and I love how nuts it’s becoming. This tweet sums it up.
I started watching the new season of This Is Us and I think I figured out what’s wrong with this show: every character on it is almost TOO in love with their partner. It’s enough already, we get it, love exists. The show is so wildly saccharine now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed before? Either way, I might be passing on it this season.
I really hate cleaning shower curtains and the mold-free one that I got from The Container Store (only $10) has lasted me a full six months before getting gross. Highly recommend!
My absolute favourite place to get Halloween costume accessories is by far the Village Party Store in Manhattan. They somehow have every single thing you’d need for a costume, they’re super inexpensive and the staff is so helpful (eons better than any Spirit). I was talking about costume stuff with one of the guys who works there and he mentioned how a group of women had just come in to get stuff for their group costume: they all were going to be different Keanu Reeves characters. Is it just me or is that the greatest group costume you’ve ever heard of? He said they were definitely going to do Neo from The Matrix, Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Jack from Speed, Duke Kaboom from Toy Story 4 and Sad Keanu. PURE GENIUS.
LOVED the new season of Big Mouth. But can we pleeeeease stop with the musical episodes? NOBODY LIKES THEM.
Speaking of Big Mouth, I watched the movie Disclosure and wowza. Great movie. Can’t believe I’d never even heard of it before. Just rewatched it again with Nathan this past week. So good.
Another great NYC Halloween store is Abracadabra on 21st street. It’s a more expensive place to shop, but if you just want to browse then definitely visit this place. There are tons of interactive displays and the whole basement has incredible costumes for rent.
I finally tried Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion and whoa. I get the hype. It fucking obliterates pimples. It’s hard to sleep in since it goes on like calamine lotion and smudges everywhere if you lay face down (do people sleep like this? I sleep like I’m in a coffin & Nathan hates it because I look like a mental patient but it’s so fucking relaxing, I can’t stop), but it works really well if you can figure out a way to sleep without it rubbing off.
SO, SO excited to hear that season two of Shrill has a release date: January 24th!
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: celebrating American Thanksgiving since I missed the true (Canadian) one last month while I was in the Bahamas, introducing Nathan to the Momofuku Thanksgiving croissant, taking Baby Dog for autumn walks in Central Park, getting my copy of Lindy West’s new book that arrives in my mailbox tomorrow, still working on doing things off of my autumn list, reading Jenny Slate’s new book, if you find yourself always losing your poppy I find it helpful to attach mine to a safety pin rather than just the regular pin that comes with it, and I’ll probably definitely see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood even though I do think it’s unnecessary.
“Anytime someone tells you that they don’t know how to dance, tell them, “I can help you. All you have to do is write your name in cursive with your ass.” Try it. Always works.”
