Happy Halloween!
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The Best Moon is Coming...
“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
I can’t express how much I love that bright, robust, goddess in the sky. Always have, always will. So the fact that a full moon coincides with Halloween this year? Perfection. I just read this great piece about the upcoming moon on Halloween night, so here are the best, most notable parts from the it (below) and then (further down) you can read about some full moon rituals that any self-respecting, moon-loving human should partake in.
This Halloween will be the first blue moon visible in every time zone since 1944.
The moon remains, perpetually and since antiquity, a source of cultural wonder. On Oct. 31, humans in all time zones will be treated to a blue hunter’s moon. A blue moon occurs on the rare occasion when there is more than one full moon during a month. (It doesn’t actually look blue.) A hunter’s moon follows a harvest moon (that was Oct. 2), and it theoretically signals a time to stockpile for winter.
The idea that something rare can happen during a full moon has been drilled into the human psyche in countless ways including through popular movies, books and cartoons. The root of the word lunatic is luna (moon in Latin), implying a sort of craze associated with the moon at its fullest.
“Full moons are a time when we get a little assistance seeing in the dark,” Chani Nicholas, an astrologer said, speaking metaphorically. “It is a very significant full moon, and it is happening four days before the election and is sitting next to a planet with upheaval, change, surprise, excitement: Uranus.”
Jessica Dore, a social worker and tarot reader, said the coming full moon, in its rarity, was a kind of emblem of change. “I think that symbols — and a blue moon is a symbol — do have the potential to activate things in an individual and in the collective,” Ms. Dore said. “It is a time when something rare can happen.”
It’s clear that the pull humans feel to learn about the moon, harness its power or flat out hex it stems from a time when we relied on it heavily in a day-to-day sense. But it also just feels nice to know that there is something out there in the mysterious dark expanse of space that is connected to humanity.
And maybe there’s something even deeper. The atoms of the universe are endlessly recycled, said Ms. Noble, the lunar scientist. (The sun is a second generation star, for example.) Perhaps, with the discovery that human bodies are made of stardust, we all have a little more moon inside of us than we think.
I feel like the summary of this post is: aging girl loves the moon. And I think I’m fine with that? I do love it! Here are some things that I may or may not take part in come Saturday night:
Moon Water Ritual
What to do: Take your container, fill it with water and simply place it outside in the direct line of the moon light overnight
Tools: a mason jar with a lid & water
As you place the water outside, spend a few minutes considering your intentions for the lunar cycle ahead (the upcoming month). In the morning collect the jar and use it however you wish (some ideas could be to drink it by taking a sip or two everyday, reminding yourself of your intentions and the power of the moon or to place your moon water in a spray bottle, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and use it as a facial toner each morning).
Moon Wishes Manifestation Ritual
What to do: List your manifestations
Tools: Paper, pencil, jar, candles and matches
Start by lighting a candle, focus on being present and letting go of everything running through your mind.
Spend a few moments thinking about what you want to release, and what you want to call in.
Take the paper and one by one jot down the things you’d like to have show up into your life over the next month - these are your full moon wishes.
Place the wish list in a jar - and then set it outside to soak up the moonlight.
In the morning bring the wishes back inside and place it somewhere you will see it daily. Each evening before you go to sleep, take a look at your list and reflect.
Some Final Ideas
Take a moonbeam bath
If you can get outside and bathe in the moonlight in either the ocean or fresh water, this is a wonderful way to connect yourself with nature and the energy of the full moon.
Count your blessings
A full moon is the time when emotions come to the surface. Let go of any unresolved feelings by thinking about who and what you are grateful for. Fill yourself up with gratitude by making a list of everything that comes to mind. Then re-read this list. Having a tough time finding something to be grateful for? Just focus on one thing that you may take for granted and explore that from all angles.
Write a release letter & then burn it
A full moon is the best time to release and let go. No ritual is stronger than writing down your deepest inner thoughts and then releasing that energy by watching it go up in flames. If you are stuck with what to release or write, you could write include a letter to yourself about the things you are worried about or want to rid yourself of (habits, negative thoughts, etc.) or write a letter to someone whose energy, friendship or relationship no longer serves you and you want to let them go.
Turn your devices off for the entire duration of the moon’s presence (so as soon as the sun sets, turn off your phone)
To fully connect and not be interrupted, I think this is probably the best suggestion in the whole post. Focus on what’s going on in your mind that night. Let that be the most important voice that your mind hears.
However you spend Halloween, I hope you make the most of the magic in the air that night.
“The moon is the earth’s oldest temple. Holding the potency of countless prayers since the dawn of time. A bell whose ringing brings you into the field of the mother, where body and soul can quietly drink.”
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Hidden Horror Categories on Netflix
Have you ever explored the hidden categories on Netflix? I JUST found out about these, and it’s amazing. Just go to http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/### then delete ### and drop in one of these codes instead:
Anime Horror: 10695
B-Horror Movies: 8195
Creature Features: 6895
Cult Horror Movies: 10944
Deep Sea Horror Movies: 45028
Foreign Horror Movies: 8654
Horror Comedy: 89585
Horror Movies: 8711
Satanic Stories: 6998
Monster Movies: 947
Sci-Fi Horror Movies: 1694
Slasher and Serial Killer: 8646
Supernatural Horror Movies: 42023
Teen Screams: 52147
TV Horror: 83059
Vampire Horror Movies: 75804
Werewolf Horror Movies: 75930
Zombie Horror Movies: 75405
You are WELCOME.
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Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen - A Review
I can’t remember for the life of me who told me to check out this woman and this book, but I vaguely remember seeing the cover somewhere and instantly knowing that it’d be great. So, so happy to have found this book and Sofie herself. Best parts of the book ahead!
“Beauty is so subjective. It is laughable that we have somehow been tricked into thinking we all should find the same thing pretty.”
I’ve gone back and forth about the idea of cosmetic surgery for years - how it’s great that if you want to change something, you can! Go for it! It’s your life! But also the other side of that coin… just bums me out. There was something in the book that made me (finally, I hope) come to the conclusion that it really just makes me sad that anyone actually believes that they need to change themselves to be “better.” Real change and happiness comes from within yourself and being good to yourself and others. This sounds very after-school-special, yes, but those programs had a good point.
“When fat people say to me, ‘Oh, I could never love myself, I don’t have that confidence,’ I tell them this. ‘You don’t have to have confidence, you just have to be able to understand the basic principles of maths. The more we hate our bodies, the richer these companies get. Ergo, they make us feel bad, in order to make money. Ergo, you do not hate your body because your body is wrong. You hate your body because someone lied to you.’ We believe that the objective truth is that it is a bad thing to be fat. When you realize that is not an objective truth, but rather, someone’s capitalist and very subjective stance, you can begin to let go of the self-hatred.”
“It’s called symbolic annihilation. It’s a term coined in 1976 by George Gerbner to describe the absence of representation in the media. Basically: by not being represented at all, it sends the signal that you don’t matter. It’s a method of making sure that we keep oppressing the same groups of people. If, every time we look at a television, everyone who is not a white man feels a bit worse, it helps to maintain the current system: where the white man is in charge of almost everything. Representation is directly connected to self-esteem - one of the most important traits to possess when asserting yourself in the world. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy - if you believe that you matter more than others, you will place yourself in that position. Likewise, if you feel like you don’t, you will let others assert themselves over you.”
“There are more naked and murdered women on television and in films than there are fat women.”
“I miss the time I really liked Ricky Gervais, you know, before I learned about his general personality.”
Sidenote to me: I have to consciously become less judgmental about what others are wearing. If someone seems happy with their clothing choices, how in the hell is it my business to correct them? Even if it’s only internal thoughts, I don’t want to have them. I feel like if I can actually do this, then I’ll even become more confident with my only choices and less worried what others will think.
“God, imagine if - and this goes for not just all people during your teenage years but essentially for all people in the world - imagine if people were just nice to each other.”
“Men’s opinions of me are irrelevant. Men’s opinions of you are irrelevant too. Yet we are constantly being fed this idea that it matters.”
“There’s an established narrative which says that women have to be thin to be taken seriously, that their worth is based on their fuckability - and so women should be constantly dieting, exercising and chopping up salads in addition to putting on make-up, having a straight fringe, wearing painful heels and expensive perfume and focusing real hard on smiling to everyone but not too much, not enough to be asking for it. They also need to figure out complicated ways of getting home at night in order to not walk through any poorly lit alleyways, and to do reproductive and emotional labor for all the men in their lives. It takes so much hard work, time and effort to be considered an ‘acceptable woman’ that we hardly have time to just exist. We constantly have to reach an impossible standard in order to just be taken a little bit seriously, and you can’t help but wonder if it’s all a trick. If we are meant to be too busy applying lipstick to get involved with politics, business decisions and activism. When women are given the impossible task of ‘get thin and stay thin’, and when this is made the very minimum requirement to receive basic respect, we can see that this is less of a focus on beauty and more of a way of controlling women.”
“Apart from having been brainwashed since birth to believe that thinness is the ultimate ideal, I think we also love the idea that we can control our own mortality. So whilst the obsession with weight loss and dieting stems from a need to control women, our personal obsession with it could also be fuelled by our need to just control something.”
“A fat activist will ask to be treated with respect and the troll on the internet will say, but what about health? as if being unhealthy somehow removes your right to be treated well.”
“The hatred of fat people is not limited to fat people - it is directed at fat in itself. So even if you have one percent body fat, that one percent is something you are meant to hate, even if it does not mean you need two seats on a plane. If everyone decided to take one stab each at the monster that is fatphobia, it would not have to be just up to the fat people to battle it.”
“To hug your stomach and to start believing that it is a sexy, beautiful stomach - it feels good. And if you have gone through life being told that you are worthless and undeserving of good things, sometimes good feelings can feel uncomfortable. We need to get over this because this is essential work - you are going to be you forever.”
“There is no such thing as failure. You have already been failed by the people you expected to be able to trust. You have already felt guilty enough. You have already blamed yourself enough. Part of the hike towards self-love is reuniting with your body and the instincts you had when you were born. Accepting that you act a certain way, eat a certain way, look a certain way. And that it is all okay. You are okay. And you have always been okay. You only ever tried your best.”
Just such a wonderful book, I can’t recommend it enough.
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A Day in Sleepy Hollow, New York
I finally went! Visiting Sleepy Hollow has always been a small dream of mine, how could it not be? It’s the Salem of New York. It’s kind of wild that it’s taken this long for me to actually visit. In any case, October is the perfect time to go. Fully recommend. Here’s how we (I went with my great friend Irene) spent the day!
We met at Grand Central and took a train up to Tarrytown (about $22/per person roundtrip, takes about 35 minutes from NYC). We thought about renting a car for the small trip, but it’s such a walkable area that I figured we’d be fine (I was right). From the Tarrytown train station we walked over to Pretty Funny Vintage, which sells antiques, gifts, souvenirs, jewelry, that sort of thing.
I didn’t realize how beautiful and old Tarrytown is. Look at the gorgeous the music hall.
We then headed to Sweet Grass Grill for lunch. The food was good yes, but the service was fantastic. The wait was on the longer side, but that only makes sense since it’s limited seating ‘cause… you know, the world is ending.
After food, we walked to Bella’s Boutique, which had great gifts and postcards for Sleepy Hollow. From there, we stopped into Tarrytown Pastry Chef because I’d heard good things about the Halloween themed cookies.
This was the point where we finally entered Sleepy Hollow. Look at this beautiful signage (below), it’s located on the corner of Broadway & Depeyster incase you’re looking for it when you’re in town.
We headed onward toward the Headless Horseman sculpture, bridge and monument.
After that we walked near Washington Irving’s grave, but I didn’t really have any urge in entering a cemetery to see a strange man’s grave. Seemed weird at the time and still does. But if that’s your sort of thing, many other people were doing just that. Then we walked through what once was old Sleepy Hollow Village (and is now just a residential street with a woody area) to get to the shoreline.
Once we got to the shoreline of the Hudson, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to reach the lighthouse (which is fully worth a view, who doesn’t love a lighthouse?) and there’s a lined, easy pathway to get there, too. The lighthouse was erected in the 1880s, which is incredible that it’s still standing, intact and beautiful as ever.
From here, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to get back to the Tarrytown train station. It was such a nice little day. There are other Halloween themed things to do nearby (The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, Home of the Legend, Philipsburg Manor), but they were either sold out or I’ve done them already, so it felt great to have a casual day roaming. It’s hard to find things to do right now (in the middle of a pandemic) that you can do safely, so it was great that this mini trip actually worked out. We spent 80% of the day outside and when we were indoors, nothing was crowded or felt unsafe in any way. If you’re ever in the New York area and you even kinda love Halloween, you should definitely make your way to Sleepy Hollow.
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Just delightful.
How on earth did I forget about this perfect scene?
September Shenanigans 2020
The leaves are starting to fall, the colder winds are coming, the pumpkins are starting to appear and I’ve never wanted an October more than I do right now. This time of year stirs up so much inside of me, I can barely breathe. However you enjoy this season, I hope you take some time to bask in these autumn days that are typically so fleeting. Here’s what went down last month.
I recapped what happened off of my summer list.
I made an autumn list of things that I’d like to do this season.
I cannot stop playing this John Legend song on repeat. Especially in recent days.
Some other songs I have on repeat: Never Let Me Go by Alok & Bruno Martini & Zeeba, Savage Love by Jawsh 685 & Jason Derulo and that old Sarah McLachlan song Ice Cream for some reason.
Absolutely in love with the limited edition apple pie flavoured Kit Kats. Unreal.
I made these pumpkin pie overnight oats and they were a big hit. Great autumn breakfast idea.
I ate at Buvette and their snails were definitely the highlight.
I saw the movie The Car and it was phenomenal. You have to see it. The dialogue is atrocious, but a young, smokeshow James Brolin? Christ, he can get it. It’s a perfect bad movie.
I went to Gramercy Tavern and of course that place never disappoints. The service, the food, everything is impeccable. Some photos below.
Something new: did you know that Sephora has in-store rewards available that are different from the rewards shown on their website? Something to check out near the front cashier the next time you’re in a Sephora.
New favourite potato chips: Torres Selecta Black Truffle.
I bought the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion again because it’s such a great product for calming down acne and one bottle lasts at least six months or so.
A great piece about the arts scene in New York City right now.
I rarely listen to podcasts, but I listened to the Conan O’Brien episode of the Michelle Obama podcast and it was great. The episode is about marriage and I liked it so much because I love hearing about how couples first met and fell for one another.
With SNL returning this weekend, I rewatched one of my favourite sketches in recent memory.
As with every other person on earth this month, I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix and then immediately deleted all the games off of my phone. I know the whole message was to delete Instagram and Facebook, but I’ve never had Facebook on my phone (what am I, 90?) and I truly don’t go on Instagram that much (not by choice, I have a shite battery that lasts about eight minutes a day).
This girl helping senior dogs is an absolute angel on earth.
Fighting ever urge in my body to immediately buy this emerald beauty.
I started watching Girlfriends and even though the pilot is rooooough (as most pilots are), it’s an all right show. It’s insane that Sex And The City basically stole this entire premise. I did, however, stop watching because all of the women are so wildly tiny, it warps my brain to sit and stare at skinny women for long periods of time.
I bought this scalp massager and holy hell, it’s incredible. It elevates a shower times a thousand.
I tried a sample of Fab Pharma’s Rescue Mask and it’s pretty great. It’s weird to not wash a mask off yes, but your skin feels amazing in the morning after use.
My friend Dusty had his movie reviewed by Roger Ebert’s website which is so huge and amazing. Wildly proud.
I started watching Sister, Sister on Netflix and Lisa is the greatest character of all time.
The new autumn candle at Trader Joe’s? Honeycrisp Apple! Already bought! Already sold out! Will I light it or just keep it to smell every so often? None of your business.
Another great New Yorker cover.
I was fortunate enough to eat at Atoboy (thank you Katie & Greg!) and it was perfection. I’ve never eaten tuna so heavenly. Such a wonderful meal and the service especially was warm as hell.
A roasted oyster cheat sheet for NYC, if you should find yourself in need.
A great piece talking about how people make up voices for their dogs.
I rewatched Grease and I can’t believe how often I forget how good the music is in that movie. Every song smashes.
One of my favourite restaurants in Astoria, Mars, opened for lunch recently, very grateful.
REVELATION: Not drinking before bed gives you a crazy, deep, restful sleep. How on earth did I not remember this?
I finally bought those Aerie bike shorts I’ve wanted for months and they’re incredible. Bike shorts should always be this damn soft.
Finally ate at Arte Cafe on the Upper West Side and loved it.
I visited the Krispy Kreme flagship in Times Square and it was pretty great. Most locations in every suburban city have glass windows where you see the donuts being made, so I didn’t get the huge appeal?
I may or may not have indulged in some of the seasonal desserts at Comfortland in Astoria, I won’t tell you details because they weren’t anything amazing. Honestly, nothing compares to the apple fritters at San Remo’s in Etobicoke.
I watched the Surviving R. Kelly sequel on Netflix and it didn’t really have any new information, which makes sense because there hasn’t even been a trial yet.
I also watched all of season one and some of season two of Twin Peaks (for the first time) and I have some thoughts. First things first, the pilot is incredible. But… why is the background/theme music so terrible? It never matches any of the scenes in tone and it just leaves me confused most times. Some parts are so fucking off and bad (acting-wise, script-wise) that I literally googled certain scenes to see if they were supposed to be funny or if I was missing something. What the fuck is with all of the dancing? And THIS scene? What in the good holy fuck?? UGH, and then David Lynch SHOWS UP IN THE SHOW? Kill me. The entire series should’ve lasted one season. I can officially say that I don’t give one shit about who the fuck killed Laura Palmer, she’s the luckiest character of them all to be dead. Blow me, Lynch.
Hot tip: wine bottle as a ravioli maker!
Neve Campbell is definitely onboard for the next Scream!
Best tweets of the month ahead.
Some things that I’m looking forward to doing this month: I must decorate, I really want to make this fall kale salad that sounds incredible, I’m planning a visit to Sleepy Hollow for the day, if I can find the time I really want to try these vegan burgers, I need to finalize the details for my costume this year, MUST BUY these winter stamps, I cannot wait to get my hands on these again, I’m intending on doing my 31-days-of-Halloween celebration yet again (which means that I’ll try to do at least one spookily themed thing each day), and I will definitely be watching some of these 90s sitcoms Halloween episodes. Also, I’m not a huge cronut fan but these flavours (below)?! Get out of here. Already pre-ordered.
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in August over here and you can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Autumn List 2020
The absolute best time of the year has officially begun. So as the world crumbles around us, let us look to the falling leaf. Let us carve a pumpkin and bask in the candlelight that shines back upon us. Let us believe for a moment that things will get better. Here’s what I’d love to do this season.
Make an apple dessert.
Visit Sleepy Hollow.
Jog before sunrise.
Make homemade hot toddies.
Have the most epic Halloween possible since it falls on a full moon this year and that, my dear, is magical.
However you’re spending the season, I hope it’s everything you want it to be and more.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.