Have a popsicle
And other ways to fight Covid ennui.
Hi!
It’s been a weird couple weeks here, with Covid tearing through our house like a slow-motion tornado, leaving a trail of laundry, dishes, puzzle pieces, and other domestic detritus that little Nelle likes to carry around (Tupperware lids, Tylenol syringes, washcloths…) in its wake. Also, exhausted parents. For good measure, Corey also had an elective sinus surgery during this time. This was, on one hand, insane, but on the other, good to get out of the way all at once.
I had just been starting to get my legs under me after our east coast family tour. We celebrated Nelle’s first birthday (emotional!); I pretty much finished nursing; We got a new nanny so I could start working again. I had mixed feelings about all of these things and then: Kapow! I suddenly didn’t have much capacity to feel my feelings at all. We were (are) paying the new nanny to stay home and I surrendered to full-time mom mode, without the benefit of milk-filled boobs to placate my baby or playmates to placate my three-year-old. (Or you know, school!)
It’s been, as they say, a lot. But we’re starting to raise our heads—Hi!—although with some trepidation, because Corey still hasn’t gotten Covid, and still might.
I’ve missed writing. I’ve missed socializing. I’ve taken Instagram off my phone because it’s such a terrible time-suck and bad for morale, but I might be a little more isolated without it.
So, in the spirit of Have a Good Day, I’m here to share a few highlights—or, at least little things I’ve been into lately. I’d love to hear yours too. (Especially books … Long Island Compromise is bumming me out.)
Popsicles
When we were visiting cousins in Fire Island, they had DIY popsicle molds with little straws in the bottom for sucking out the melted juice. They made me laugh—all these kids marching around sucking little straws like the Alice in Wonderland caterpillar with his hookah—so I ordered some.
So far I’ve mostly been pouring some kind of elderberry/orange juice in there (for immunity haha), but I hope for a brighter future with mint lemonade from our front-yard mint and back-yard lemons.
Something I’ve been saying a lot, usually as it pertains to three-year-old Lua, is: “This isn’t the hill I’m going to die on today.” A popsicle is a very easy “Yes.” You have to eat it outside, I’ll say. It’s the right kind of time-suck.
Chappell Roan
Lua’s song of the summer is José-Luis Orozco’s “Buenos Dias” and it’s killing me. But Nelle, at just one year, knows the actual song of this moment is Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”
This makes us want to move and smile, and dance in a sort of ‘80’s aerobics-inspired way. Speaking of aerobics … how about some butterfly-hem shorts?
Butterfly-hem Shorts
I got this idea from Becky Malinsky’s best-in-class fashion newsletter called “Five Things You Should Buy.” If you know me, you know that although I love clothes, I’m not trying to buy a bunch of new ones. I’d rather work with what I’ve got. Despite its name, this newsletter provides great inspiration for doing just that. This feels far more necessary in LA than New York, without the everyday visual onslaught of millions of stylish people in my face. (Fun fact: In both of our past jobs, I think Becky styled a few stories I wrote for the WSJ’s Off-Duty section.)
In her excellent recent edition about summer tops, Becky paired that little pink number with some black nylon butterfly-hem shorts from Sea. I clicked the shorts link (since defunct), and they were on sale … but they were also reminiscent of a pair I already had.
I hadn’t really worn these shorts—from Target, circa-2020—since I was pregnant with Lua, but I dug them out and pulled them on with a vintage white cotton embroidered shirt I bought at Desert Vintage in Tucson. Groundbreaking? Idk, but it was a fresh pairing I never would have considered otherwise. I was still mostly stuck at home but I also felt kinda dressed, if only for myself. I briefly considered coloring over a little reflective logo on the shorts with black Sharpie but decided to embrace it.
And guess what? This morning I wore it to DROP-OFF(!) because in the time it took me to write this letter stealing several nap windows, we turned the corner and scored negative Covid tests.
Happy Monday, ya’ll. Have a good day!
Jenni
PS
I was bummed to learn (from Lauren Sherman’s excellent fashion biz letter Line Sheet) that I missed Bruce Hornsby at the Troubador. He’s still touring, maybe in your town. In other old-white-guy music news, I did enjoy Nick Paumgarten’s curmudgeonly review of the Dead at the Sphere. It kinda made me feel like I’d gone, but didn’t make me wish that I did? (“It was during ‘Drums’ that I learned a few things from my neighbors about sandals.”) Anyway, these items sent me and Nelle on a lunchtime Bruce Hornsby tear, and we also listened to “Morning Dew,” without having to tolerate anyone but each other.