OK, so perhaps this is common knowledge, but it was not common to me. Or at least had never occurred to me. Not, that is, until yesterday afternoon, when I got in my car, turned on the heater to "high," and very quickly and dramatically learned that soda cans left in freezing-cold vehicles overnight and then rapidly reheated?
Will explode.
Or possibly create a series of explosions, if what you left in your car was not, say, a single soda can, but rather an entire carton of them.
People are really passionate about their bottle choices, you guys. I’ve had super-intense conversations about the pros and cons of various bottles with everyone from my broker to the waitress at our favorite breakfast place to the cashier at the CVS we stopped at in Maine.
And I get this. Because transitioning to a bottle can be intensely stressful if it doesn’t go smoothly (if the baby doesn’t want to take the bottle, or then takes the bottle and later rejects the breast, or if he ingests too much air when bottle-feeding and ends up all gassy and miserable), and all parents want is a happy, fed, not-miserable baby.
When I had Indy, I knew virtually nothing about child-rearing, and basically improvised my way through…everything. This mostly worked out fine, but the transition from breast to formula was rough. He had terrible colic, and was constantly crying with stomach pain that I didn’t know how to relieve. I tried various gripe waters, tried moving his legs in a little running-man position recommended by my friends, tried bouncing and bouncing and bouncing until my arms felt like they were going to fall off…but one thing I didn’t try was switching to a different brand of bottle.
So yesterday I went to Carter's with a pregnant friend who legitimately needs things, and totally wasn't intending to purchase anything myself, and then saw the berry butt onesie. -> done. (Also this because cats and this tres French thing and this because god knows Goldie needs something to keep those flowing locks out of her face and this because boys count too.)
This woman makes five million dollars a year unwrapping things on YouTube. I'm not even kidding. And I'm not even sure that this is insane, because I watched her videos and was in a trance within seconds (via Fusion).
Now that's an apology. (Benedict Cumberbatch: "I'm an idiot" for Referring To "Colored" Actors, via Jezebel.)
But really: there are few things in life that can't be improved by the addition of a little neon.
(Painted that penguin, too. How cute is he?)
Looking for good neon paint? It's weirdly hard to find; trust me, I've looked. Try Martha Stewart Satin in Lightning Bug, Orange Soda, and Lime Zinger; they're the paints I've been unleashing on everything we own lately. (Especially fond of my Pollock-ed mirror project.)
I’m a bit of a home scenting obsessive, but stocking up on candles can get super pricey. Fortunately, you can get all that lovely fragrance without shelling out a ton of cash (or any, really). All you need is just a tiny bit of craftiness (and I do mean "just a tiny bit," promise).
Presenting: my favorite (easy) DIY Home Scents.
Lavender
Oh my FRUSTRATED.
OK, so any of you who aren't bloggers or especially interested in the technical side of this whole Internets thing should probably skip this post, because I'm about to get a little lingo-y, but I wanted to write about it because the past 72 hours have made me completely nuts, and if I can provide information that can keep one of you from going similarly nuts, that would make me happy.
Short story: ever since my website redo back in 2013, I've had problems with the site. It goes down for an hour here or an hour there, or loads too slowly for some people, or gets hung up on some random URL (this one, for some reason) instead of showing new posts. In August, those of you who read on RSS apparently stopped getting updates. (And just so you know, I update multiple times a day every single weekday, so if you ever stop seeing updates either I have been kidnapped or there is a tech issue at work.)
I have something like zero knowledge when it comes to this stuff, so I've consulted various people who know far more than me, and they've been able to sort of band-aid the site, but not fix it for good. And then on Saturday the site went fully down. And then on Sunday it went down again. And then on Monday I paid extra money to do all this fancy stuff to my site…and then on Tuesday? Down.
A few months ago I was at Nordstrom Rack with my friend Katie, and I picked up a loose grey sweater and was all "ooooo," and she looked at me like I was insane.
"Jordan," she said. "You own that. I think you own ten of that."
Everybody gets stuck in a clothing rut once in awhile. For me, it's the loose-sweater-skinny-pant thing; it's just sort of my Default Mode, the shape I know I feel good (and presumably look good-ish) in. And while having a fallback look can make getting ready in the morning about a thousand times easier (remember my Happy Place Silhouette theory?), it's also fun to try something…you know...
I'm in the middle of a massive Our House Our House Our House obsession.
I love our house.
I'm excited about our move in a vacuum - and specifically excited about the prospect of setting up a whole new space to live in…but still: I sort of wish I could pick up our house and drag it out to California with me. It's just so…romantic. It's like looking at the face of a person I've loved for years and years - there are flaws all over, I guess, but I don't even see them: all I see is what's special and beautiful and perfect.
Hat Attack Hat; LAGOS Ring; Zara Blazer; Alexis Bittar Lucite Earrings; Ora Delphine Bucket Bag ℅
I've written about Cold Spring a whole bunch, but that's because every single time I go I'm reminded just how much I love it. It's just such a…gem. (I'm aware I sound like a grandma, but a gem is exactly what it is.) Cool little antique stores selling stuff you actually want to buy (albeit slightly overpriced, but you can always score a "Mystery Bag" for $5 if you're feeling adventurous), artisanal finds for the home, fun little shops for kids, and THE BEST STEAK SANDWICH ON THE PLANET (I mean that). And if you don't have a car, Cold Spring is just a little over an hour away from NYC via the Metronorth.
