Hello sweet creatures,
Welcome to the first installment of 12 Things I Consumed. Inspired by Haley Nahman’s “15 Things I Consumed This Week,” every two weeks I’ll be sharing 12 things I’ve consumed over that period of time, accompanied by my thoughts. No guardrails on what may be included. Really just an organized way for me to recommend, review, and connect with you all. If you have any thoughts … drop em in the comments! Would love to chat there.
For this one, I’ve allowed myself to include things that were not explicitly consumed over the past two weeks. A whole month of consumption to pick and choose from. Completely unnecessary for me to share that, but what can I say, I’m a transparent girl. And one last thing, thank you to those of you who subscribed — I see you and I thank you! Onto the consumption…
Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me by Bill Hayes. A beautiful ode to a beautiful relationship and beautiful-in-its-own-special-way New York City, told through stories, journal entries, and street photography. Especially recommend it to anyone living in the city. If you don’t live in the city, it will probably make you think about moving here. A wonderful read.
How to make stickers out of photos. Quite enjoying leveraging some of my most expressive childhood photos as responses to texts.
This orchid necklace from Etsy. Their shop has earrings, pins, clips, and more — all made with real flowers. I feel better about buying from sellers on Etsy than almost anywhere else. It’s nice to support artisans, and it’s a great way to find special pieces.
“Hailey Bieber's Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie” from Erewhon for $20. Look, I’m a fan of the Erewhon hot bar. I will admit it. When I go to LA, I make sure to go to Erewhon at least once, and when I do, I will peruse the aisles with whimsy, and I will pay too much for the kale & white bean salad every time. But this very-normal-tasting-borderline-too-sweet-strawberry-smoothie is a skip. And all of the adaptogens and potions they add, well, they don’t hurt, but I’m pretty sure you need to be ingesting such on a regular basis to feel any sort of benefit.
A terrible butt burn. I’m always eager and delusional at the beginning of the summer. This is a beautiful but dangerous way to be. Every year, I convince myself that my skin can handle hours under a UV that all of the weather apps (I check multiple) consider “high risk”. Let this be your reminder to put on some sunscreen and work on your tan over time.
Pints and pints of ice cream by Randy’s Studio. Randy, aka Miranda, is one of my best friends, yes, but you must trust me here. She makes her ice cream in small batches with high-quality and hand-picked ingredients, and drops new flavors every week – flavor combinations you’ve never tried, the creamiest and richest texture known to man. She is a genius in the kitchen. After having a first ever bite, someone recently said: “Other ice cream brands make frozen dairy desserts. Randy’s makes frozen creme.” Another first impression: “I thought it was gonna be like Cafe Panna … but she created the flavor, not just ice cream with stuff in it.” So True. Next week’s flavor is S’mores (chocolate ice cream with homemade marshmallows and graham cracker streusel) … don’t miss it!
Toasted Milk Strawberry Jam (a personal favorite) Pixar movies. Classic themes and messages, ones that I don’t mind exploring over and over again, told in unique (and beautiful!!!) ways. Lessons that are as good for 8 year olds as they are for this 26 year old (as of yesterday), at least. I love how limitless animation is. An amazing vessel for all kinds of creativity. They are incredibly comforting to me, always make me feel something, are never too long (!!!!!), and no one does Cute like Pixar. I’ve seen many, but here are some favorites from my recent Pixar bender:
Zootopia – I love Judy Hopps, that curvy, kind, brave queen with a dream. She also gives what I consider to be the Perfect Apology near the end of the movie.
The Lego Movie – Apparently every guy knows about this movie? I didn’t know it existed, blame it on the Patriarchy. It makes fun of us (people living in a capitalist society), which I love. We are so easy to laugh at. If you watch, I highly encourage you to watch this vox video afterwards on the inspiration and animation – so good.
Inside Out – I’m generally fascinated by personality … how one is shaped, how we come to have the ones we do, how they change over time, etc, so this is a great concept in my opinion. My friends and I all cried. Not to mention the physical representation of each emotion. And Inside Out 2 is in theaters now!!! Very excited.
Monsters University – As someone who certainly struggled through the beginning of college, this hit. Recommend watching this BTS video after watching. The people that make these movies are some of the best out there??? I would love to be in any of those rooms.
I mean come on...
The nostalgic smell of pink soap at a Thai restaurant. The pink soap that used to be everywhere, but isn’t anymore. It took me right back to standing in a school or gas station bathroom in 2008. I love when sensorial experiences do that.
The Huntington Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles. Over 100 magical acres of gardens and plants, native to all parts of the world. Not to be missed, in my opinion, are: the Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Lily Ponds. It was one of the most grounding experiences I’ve had in a minute – I felt present and at peace. If you go, give yourself a whole afternoon. You won’t want to leave. If you’re interested in or just love nature, I highly recommend The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl – one of my favorite reads of the year so far.
Some film ft. fish kiss Theo Kandel (yes my boyfriend…<3) at Stephen Talkhouse in East Hampton. Such a fun show. He’s playing at Union Pool on July 2nd, and you should absolutely get a ticket to come listen and dance (in particular to The Painters, his summer banger that came out this morning) and sing along with us. I also may or may not be hopping on stage to sing with him (the repercussions of going viral) …
Burgers with a cucumber couscous salad, corn salad, and potatoes over labneh. Perfect summer meal. I did learn that it is possible to put too many condiments on a burger this night. The tequila took over my hand on the squeeze bottles.
Hairnets on the table because we put wigs on. And I took that picture before closing(?) my burger because I was determined to prove there weren't too many condiments after onlookers suggested so. There were. Bless the Telephone by Labi Siffre. Not new to me, but I've been listening to it a lot recently. Lovely to listen while strolling around on a nice day.
Have a lovely weekend,
Grace
Do not get me started about bing bong from inside out
also.... (grace, you know this, but for the readers...) grace put me onto The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl and the chapters follow each week of the year, going through the seasons, so I'm reading one chapter per week aligned with where we are in the year (does that make sense?) which has been a very enjoyable experience -- would recommend that method for anyone who starts it