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DIARY

Accidents Happen

I have always been the kind of person who worries a lot about money, to the point where it's a preoccupation. Sure, a lot of this is because I've always had a job that comes along with significant uncertainty - I never know what the next year (or even the next month) of my life will look like, financially speaking - but still: for years and years (until pretty recently, actually), I made my life far more stressful than it had to be by putting off the decision to come up with an actual plan.

When things are going well - money's coming in, no major unexpected expenses are popping up - it's easy to sail along in a happy bubble of obliviousness; I know this first-hand, because I've spent a lot of time hanging out in that bubble. But then - inevitably - the bubble pops. And you find yourself in a world of pain.

As an example, I thought I'd tell a story I'm not sure I've ever touched upon here, even though I've certainly been asked about it plenty over the years. (Spoiler: it's about my dog. But stay with me; I'm going somewhere with this.)

Style

Secrets From The South

My friend Mollie is the only person I have ever met who is capable of getting kicked out of a haunted house. You know those live-action haunted houses where you're supposed to scream and freak out? Where that's pretty much the point? Well, Mollie's reaction to being charged at by a child-sized vampire was apparently so very extreme and so very loud that the management was forced to turn the lights on - and speaking as a frequent haunted-house-goer and liberal screamer, let me assure you that this literally does not happen at these places, ever. And then they told her to leave, and to never come back again. She got blacklisted from a haunted house.  

Anyone capable of getting blacklisted from a haunted house is a person who I want to hang out with. Like all the time. 
Lifestyle

Links & Love & Stuff (That Are Not About Donald Trump, You’re Welcome)

For those who asked about my star sneakers: they're Golden Goose Superstars, and they are way too expensive. If you love them as much as I do, I suggest you do as I did: set up an alert on TheRealReal so that when a lightly-used pair in your size magically appears, it then becomes yours.

Apparently many women drink white wine almost exclusively, and significantly more than men. Why? ...Because it's delicious, and we have good taste? (Why Women Drink More White Wine, via Wall Street Journal.)

You may recognize the exhausted family in #7. (15 Ways Life Seriously Changes With Baby Number Two, via BabyGaga.)

Makeup & Beauty

The Best Part Of The Parent-Visit

The word on the street is that the best part of visiting your parents’ house is the refrigerator. It tends to be stocked with fruits and vegetables and fancy cheeses that parents of adults can afford because they no longer have to afford children, plus all sorts of wonderful leftovers from meals that you did not have to make yourself.

Except if you have my parents, in which case the refrigerator contains a tub of margarine, two drawers full of different types of birdseed that will hopefully bring more joy into the life of an extremely anxious parrot, and a half-full jar of capers. It’s very appetizing. (It’s also my fault, because a few months ago I introduced my parents to Blue Apron, and now they don’t cook anything else. Whenever they aren’t making Blue Apron, they’re having dinner at the restaurant next door. Or, I don’t know, maybe they’re eating bird food. I can’t be certain.)

Rummaging in my parents’ refrigerator is no fun at all. Rummaging in my mom’s makeup drawer, however? Tons of fun. Because my mother is the kind of person who, when approached by a salesperson in the makeup department of Saks Fifth Avenue who tells her she’d look absolutely gorgeous in a Brand X’s new lipstick/face cream/eyeliner/magical anti-aging dragon dust – here, sit down and let me show you!, says “Ooh! Sure!”

Lifestyle

Spotlight On: Female-Run Small Businesses

For International Women's Day, I want to hear from you: what female-run small businesses do you think deserve to be in the spotlight? (And if the answer is "my own because I'm AMAZING," don't be shy.)

A few of my own favorite female-run small businesses, to kick things off (and I'm sure I'm forgetting...oh, twenty or thirty, so I'll be adding to this list over the course of the day):

  • Domus: This NYC-based home decor and gift shop is run by two women who literally travel the world in search of unique items that bear the mark of the artisan who created them. It's one of my absolute favorite places to shop when I'm in the city - and while not everything they sell is currently online (because the pieces are usually small-batch, inventory turns over quickly), the proprietors are great at making unique suggestions for any and all gift occasions, so give them a ring.
  • Su Casa Portraits: South Bay photographer (and frequent RG collaborator) Sue Hudelson applies her editorial background to family portraiture, creating images that are anything but ordinary.
  • Hippo: This Massachusetts-based boutique owned by artist Shelley Cardoos features a variety of unique handcrafted goods and independently designed products, and is all about promoting local artisans. Shelley also runs craft fairs in her town every week during the summer months, and is, in the words of a mutual friend, "AMAZING."
  • Stripes Boutique: Owner Elise Alden (who also manages glam | camp) has curated an adorable and completely unique assortment of clothing and accessories for infants and kids - and makes many of the items herself. (The We Can Do It denim jacket, made by Elise and available on glam | camp, is a personal favorite.)
  • Free Range Mama: Artist Lindsey Stewart's teeny-tiny paintings on Minnetonka moccasins are the BEST. For real, the best.
  • Gugu Guru: This one-of-a-kind registry site created by Monica Banks helps moms-to-be create highly personalized registries with unbiased product recommendations tailored to her lifestyle (and the service is 100% free).
  • Alchemy + Aim: This website development business founded by Brandi Bernoskie helps businesses and brands create and maintain a spectacular online presence...whether what's needed is an entirely custom site, brand support, or simply routine maintenance and advice. I especially love the company's emphasis on honesty: they're not going to try to sell you a custom site if that's not what's best for your brand or budget (as evidence, here's a post on the site about why you don't necessarily need to have your own website). Love.

And now it's your turn: Tell me about awesome women who run awesome businesses!

Lifestyle

In My High School Closet

Every single time I come home for a few days I end up rifling through my bedroom (now my dad's office) closet in search of...I don't know, exactly. Some amazing piece leftover from my high school years that I somehow forgot about, and somehow escaped what happened to my parents after they read The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up. I do this every time I come home, despite the fact that were there anything there, I would have found it by now (as my closet is located in New York City, and is not exactly what you'd consider "spacious"). And every time, all I find are the same four things. None of them are the kinds of pieces I'd ever even consider wearing again, but all of them are pieces that - for various reasons - I've never let go of. And so my childhood closet is where they stay.

First, here is my junior-year prom dress, worn to beguile and enchant my junior-year boyfriend, Alex (who bore a striking resemblance to Seann William Scott, but only in Dude, Where's My Car). I designed it - by which I mean drew it and sourced fabric for it, and then found hired someone to sew it for me, but still: I think that's sort of neat. Unfortunately, this self-designed dress also looks exactly what Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have worn to her prom, accessorized with a bunch of butterfly clips.

Style

The Spring Wardrobe Edit

I'm in New York City for the quickest trip ever, to celebrate my parents' birthdays with dinners and painting classes and such, but no matter how short the visit Mom and I always seem to manage to locate time for a little shopping.

This time, I asked if she'd come with me to Zara because I'm officially annoyed with 95% of my closet -most of it I just don't wear, and the stuff I do wear I've worn so often that I can practically hear my closet yawning when I pull it out. It's never a good sign when you put on something - anything - other than a sweatshirt and leggings and your husband looks at you like you've just landed from the planet Vogue.

Most of the time when I decide I want to go on a real shopping trip - meaning one that I approach with the goal of finding things I need and want and then actually buying them - I don't find anything. You know how it works: you get all excited to try on pretty things, and then you lock yourself in the dressing room and discover that your hair looks weird and your skin is a mess and everything you put on your body looks like it was intended for ownership by Gigi Hadid, and all this is totally just because of the mood you're in but still: you leave wardrobe update-less and grumpy about everything. Mostly your hair. And Gigi Hadid.

Lifestyle

The Great And Indefatigable “I’m Bored” Jar

"Screen time" in our house has officially become a problem. We restrict it to what feels, to me, like a normal-ish amount - half an hour of TV at night, maybe an hour of educational-type computer games over the course of the day, and a half an hour of garbage (Angry Birds, etc) - but it's getting to the point where we're talking about (and fighting about) iPads and phones and TV shows upwards of twenty times a day.

This is not tenable. Not only because it's making me crazy, but also because while I'm generally of the opinion that all this "screens are the devil"-speak doesn't take into account the enormous educational benefits associated with them (seriously, YouTube just taught my five-year-old the concept of photosynthesis, and he can now explain it better than either of his parents), I hate the fact that they've become the default, the thing we reach for when our kids are fighting or tired or just bored. It's such a quick and easy solution, but it's also not exactly teaching our kids to look to the world around them to find fun.

The other day a friend of mine brought up the concept of a Bored Jar, and it's completely brilliant. (Apparently it's also a thing that parents everywhere - or at least parents on Pinterest - know about, but it's new to me, so I figured it may be new to you, too.) You literally just fill a jar with a zillion pieces of paper with activities written on them (popsicle sticks work especially well), and every time your kid comes to you and says "UGH I'M BORED," you're all "Here you go." I filled ours with a mix of chores, activities that I thought would be a little out-of-the-box for our kids, and a bunch of things I knew they'd just love ("watch your favorite movie," etc).

SWEETS

Once You DIY A Doughnut, You Don’t Go Back

an easy and delicious recipe for biscuit dough donuts

Deep-frying is not my forte. I've only ever done it once, actually, when I made fish 'n' chips - white-hot oil has just always struck me as a substance I should stay far, far away from. But when I'm presented with an opportunity to learn how to whip up homemade doughnuts from my friend and RG contributor Mollie, I'm obviously going to say yes. First, because Mollie alerted me to the fact that she inherited her love of deep-frying from her great-grandmother Big Momma, and any recipe even tangentially associated with a woman named "Big Momma" is clearly going to be a delicious one. But also because these doughnuts are made using pre-made biscuit dough. Which means they take about five minutes.

Let me say that again, for emphasis: If you have these (pretty basic) ingredients handy, you can be eating homemade doughnuts in five minutes. And now that I have officially tasted doughnuts fresh from the oven (or...oil-pot), I get why some people skip Dunkin' Donuts in favor of DIY: the doughnuts you buy in stores can't even begin to compare to ones you eat seconds after they're made.

Oh, and if you have kids this is such a fun project (minus the boiling oil part) - just sit them down with toppings and slightly cooled doughnuts - and maybe a few dropcloths, depending on how much you like your furniture - and let them go crazy. Which they will. (I practically had to hose my daughter down before I'd let her get in my car at the end of all this.)


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