I’m currently recovering from eye surgery while parked in the guest bedroom of my extremely tolerant BFF, Erin, who is at this very moment making us coffee. I haven’t had anyone bring me coffee in bed in three years, so even though the situation on my face is rather uncomfortable, I have to say: For a parent of two small children, coffee in bed is some next-level relaxation. (Also, last night I dreamed that I styled Kylie Jenner – “GIRL, that dress is hitting at the exact wrong spot; here, try this one!” – so…I don’t know what that means, but I did not dream that I was in the middle of one apocalypse or another, and that’s new, so I’ll take it.)
Related Read: Erin teaches me how to do a “German Smear”
Related Read: A Full Bathroom Renovation…For Less Than $700
Let’s talk about a few of my right-this-moment favorite things, because why not.
1. CB2 Terrazzo Coffee Table. First, remember the Ikea couch and ottoman that I had beautifully recovered by Comfort Works in faux leather? In a move that surprised exactly no one, Archie ate it. The ottoman. So I ordered a new ottoman cover.
…And he ate that one, too.
Enter: A completely Archie-proof coffee table, which also happens to be gorrrrrgeous. (I posted six options on IG and asked you guys to vote – this was the runner-up, which I chose because the first pick was a bit too much brown on brown, but you can see all the tables I considered here.)
And speaking of couches and such, that brings us to…
2. Heavy-Duty Velcro. Bear with me, here.
One of the banes of my Pandemic Existence has been my living room couch pillows. I restore those slippery little suckers to their original positions approximately 4,320 times a day, and I need to spend a significantly smaller percentage of my waking hours dealing with…pillows. I’d considered using velcro to keep the back pillows in place, but didn’t feel like it’d actually work – especially given that I have a 80-pound dog and two children bouncing all over them on the daily – but?!
IT DOES.
Oh, this makes me so happy.
3. Sephora’s Pro Bronzer Brush #80. I’ve leaned into the whole SPF thing (and skincare, generally) over the past year, with pretty fantastic results…but this also means that I’m very, very pale. Which doesn’t feel like an acceptable life choice when one lives in Malibu. My longtime favorite bronzer is this one from NARS, and I’ve tried lots of different brushes over the years – so I can say with certainty that this one is phenomenal. Excellent, even coverage – and it’s so incredibly soft that my kids and I occasionally pick it up and brush it across our cheeks just because.
4. Raina Telgemeier’s YA graphic novel series. My daughter recently made the leap from reading because she’s *supposed* to, to obsessively reading because she loves it, and it was entirely due to this graphic novel series. My son introduced them to her – he loves them, too – and I can’t recommend them more highly: They’re funny, and sweet, and chronicle the ups and downs of 7th grade life in a (sometimes painfully) realistic way.
5. Revlon’s One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer Hot Air Brush. We end this post as we began it: With Erin being a miracle, because she just introduced me to what might be my favorite styling tool of all time. I’ve tried those hair dryer brush-thingies from time to time and have never really been into them, but this one dries your hair in about half the time it usually takes, and leaves you with the smoothest, loveliest blow-out. I would take a picture and show you what my hair looks like right now, but #eyes, so you’ll just have to trust me: It’s good.
Thank you, Erin. For the coffee, for the hair, and for everything in between.
