Super enjoyed the first episode of Insecure on HBO. Issa Rae is so charming, and her character's challenges (the I-just-spent-my-twenties-doing-what? crisis) is super relatable even to a white married girl like me.
I'm also loving Phoebe Robinson after listening to both of her podcasts — Two Dope Queens and Sooo Many White Guys — while I plug away at work. I'd like to read her new book. She seems like a girl I could split some rose with and just giggle about mansplaining, Daria and our crushes on older men.
I spent a significant amount of time hunting for the perfect nude mauve lip color and ended up with one of my favorite products around, the NYX soft matte lip cream in Cannes. I seriously love this whole line and for $6 a pop, it's not even a big hit on my wallet.
I also found a perfect deep red that is actually moisturizing and long-lasting in Shea Moisture's Red Rose lipstick. I grabbed it on a whim and it's definitely my favorite red for fall these days.
Lawdy day, it's been a long while since I shared my jams. Let's not waste time on excuses, shall we, and let's just dig into what I'm digging these days.
Super Crush Jam: Oscar Isaac
I, like everyone else, was somehow immune to his charms until this year, when he unleashed his dazzling smile on the unsuspecting populace in Star Wars and his incredible disco dance moves in Ex Machina. I'm most fascinated by how adaptable his face can be with slight changes to his hair, both on his head and on his face. Plus, he's charming and adorable in interviews.
Cooking Cheat Jam: Alexia's Harvest Saute
Alexia's Harvest Saute is basically my weeknight dinner secret weapon these days. It's not easy to find (I can only seem to find it stocked in my Kroger), but it's just one of the better frozen veggie sides I've ever had. The potatoes get good and crispy and the veggies are soggy at all. It's perfect for those chicken breast, pork chop or steak entrees.
Work Lunch Jam: Fresh Express Salad Kits
Confession: I know it's bad for the environment when I buy a lot of pre-packaged food with lots of little compartments, but I'm just terrible about making lunch for work before I leave in the mornings. If I buy all the fixin's for salads, I end up tossing half of the ingredients because I was running late a couple days. So, my new favorite solution is picking up a few of these little salad kits that are the perfect size and come in lots of options so I don't get bored. I'm particularly partial to the Santa Fe Greek.
Drugstore Lipstick Jam: Maybelline Creamy Matte
I've tried expensive brands and cheap brands of matte lipstick and with a couple of exceptions, they all end up drying and flaking. So I was pretty impressed with the staying power and creaminess of this Maybelline Creamy Matte in All Fired Up, a hot pink that has been helping me beat the winter doldrums. I won't lie to you: there will come a point in the night when it won't look perfect if you've been eating or drinking. But that's true of any lipstick. The colors are also super on-trend.
Snow Day Jam: Cinnamon Bun Oreos
I personally believe snow days and Oreos go together like hot cocoa and marshmallows. I try to banish Oreos from my existence when I can, but winter is my downfall. Perhaps sensing this, the fine people at Nabisco just released Cinnamon Bun Oreos, and they are pretty delectable.
What's your jam these days? I'd be remiss not to mention the week we lost to Making a Murderer, or the other week we lost to Jessica Jones. Those feel like fever dreams!
Let's just acknowledge I haven't posted a "jams" post in a long damn time. It's been a weird summer, but I'm determined to get my groove back! Here's a super-sized jams post, just to make up for it!
Music Jam: "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd
I like how everything about The Weeknd is a throwback. His hair is straight from a Basquiat portrait. His ad-libbed moans and grunts are pure Michael Jackson, with EDM grooves. Everything about this song works and gets me raising the roof in traffic.
Online Soulmate Jam: Matt Bellassai's Whine About It series
I stumbled upon this series a couple weeks ago and this guy is my soulmate and stole my perfect job: complaining while tipsy. I always joke that only people who really know me realize I'm basically a walking Seinfeld episode of nitpicky complaints, so I laugh with recognition at every one of his gripes.
Literary Jam: Jane Smiley's 100 Years Trilogy
I had read great reviews of Jane Smiley's "Some Luck," the first book in her sprawling trilogy tracing the generations of one family through the 20th century. If that sounds like an unremarkable story, you'd be where I was for the first few chapters. But once the characters started to face the challenges of the Depression, the pace quickened and I literally spent every spare moment of the subsequent two weeks reading "Some Luck" and its sequel, "Early Warning." The final book will come out in October and I'm pumped!
Other Literary Jam: "The Signature of All Things"
Speaking of sprawling multigenerational historical family novels, I also lost a few days to Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Signature of All Things." It would be easy to dismiss Gilbert as a self-obsessed memoirist after the super huge success of the treacly "Eat, Pray, Love" (a book I actually couldn't help but enjoy), but this book is LEGIT brilliant and excellent. Her prose is beautiful, the science is fascinating and the characters are richly drawn. Who knew tracing the history of botany in the 18th century could be so entrancing?
New Show Possible Jam: Mr. Robot
Funny story: My husband started DVR'ing USA's new show Mr. Robot and AMC's new show Humans at the same time and when he asked if I was interested in watching either show, I said no because I had the plots completely reversed. One is about household artificial intelligence run amok and one is about a gang of anarchist hackers. You decide which one sounds like it would be "Mr. Robot." Anyway, it turns out I had them mixed up and this show — the hacker one — is excellent. It's stylish and cinematic, large in scope and full of interesting commentary on the state of a hyper-connected society. The most recent episode left me breathless.
Summer Movie Jams: Trainwreck
If you haven't seen "Trainwreck," get thee to a theater, stat. Amy's comedic voice, the inspired choice of Bill Hader as sexy leading man and the surprising and delightful LeBron James help rise above what is an essentially very formulaic plot. I had lots of laughs and am loving this moment in female-driven comedic entertainment.
Inside Out
I cannot gush enough about the brilliance of Inside Out, which I hope will enable a generation of kids to visualize and verbalize their feelings and experience empathy for others. It managed to make me laugh hysterically and sob. I saw it twice, and you know that ain't cheap!
Tented Spectacle Jam: Kooza
It's rare to see a bonafide spectacle these days that is completely unironically entertaining, but that's the case with Cirque du Soleil's Kooza, a touring show in a tent set up in Virginia Beach through this month. I was lucky to see the show with my friend Andi, and it felt old-fashioned and thrilling in the best way.
A recent wine club at my friend Stacie's house revealed something revelatory: Olive Garden now sells its dressing AT THE SUPERMARKET. I've been dousing my salads in it, but the other day, I realized it would also make an awesomely easy and delicious marinade, the way my Dad and I used to marinate chicken in Zesty Italian dressing when I was a kid. I chopped up some herbs from my container garden (booya, extra credit right there), placed the chicken breasts in a bag with just enough dressing to completely cover, and plopped the whole thing in the fridge for about 6 hours.
Sean grilled it and it was delicious! This is definitely one of my sillier posts, but for real, I thought you'd all like to know Olive Garden dressing can be bought at the grocery store. Game changer.
It's been a looooong time since I've done one of these, primarily because moving so completely dominated my thoughts that I couldn't even register anything not house-related. BUT we've finally turned that corner, so I'm happy to share what I've been digging these days.
We've been working overtime to catch up on all the buzzy movies out right now. We've seen Big Eyes, Into the Woods, Top Five, Wild and now, The Imitation Game. Every one has its merits, but I actually think I enjoyed The Imitation Game the most. Who knew movies about math and computation could be so moving?
My friend Bret has been on my case about not watching The Good Wife since 2009. I kept begging off, arguing that since it wasn't available on Netflix, I couldn't get caught up and it seemed like a show that would be more rewarding if you watched from the beginning. Well, he told me at the New Year that there were no more excuses, so I've started tearing through the episodes on Amazon Instant. We just finished the first season...in one week! The writing is really superb and I'm most impressed by the amount of insidery legal stuff that is featured on the show. I feel like I'll be a paralegal by the time I'm done!
Every year, my mom puts Land O Lakes hot cocoa in my stocking. It's not easy to find in most stores, but she buys all the flavors in bulk at Sams Club and I'm most obsessed with the Warm Oatmeal Cookie flavor. It's my favorite cocoa ever.
I've been reading Amy Poehler's sweet book, "Yes, Please" and really struck by how much of her mother hen personality comes through. She's clearly a connector — someone who really wants the best for the people around her and to impart as much helpful knowledge as possible. I love that, so the fact her book is part-memoir, part-motivational book works when it probably wouldn't from a different author.
Do you change up your makeup for the seasons? I always do, and I'm almost boring about it. If summer is all bronzes and pinks, fall is berries, cherries and smoke. Here are a few make-up jams I've been rocking now that it's officially October:
I love this inexpensive palette mix of gold-flecked neutrals, bright pinks and smoky browns. I've been doing a smokey daytime eye for the past few days, using the middle brown color as an eyeliner. It's a fun switch from my summer routine of peaches and bronzes.
This Burt's Bees lip gloss is a great deep shade of ruby, with more of a berry tone than red. The gloss is surprisingly thick and opaque, which is a little dramatic for daytime but in a fun way! Wearing the gloss with the smoky eye makes me feel like a silent film star.
I used to LOVE a nude lipstick in the late 90s and early-aughts. But in the past few years, it's been all about a bright lip and I definitely pushed nude lipsticks out of my consciousness. I'm feeling it's due for a comeback, though, especially when paired with a smoky eye. Loreal came out with a line of nudes for every skin tone, matching their various celebrity spokeswomen. I picked up the lipstick made for J.Lo (we're both bringing that Puerto Rican spice) and it's just about a perfect fit.
I picked this color up last year and I find myself gazing at it in different types of lighting because it's such a fascinating shade. In some light, it looks like gunmetal; in others, it looks like a deep navy sky. It's very sophisticated, in my opinion.
Let's talk about what I'm jamming on these days. As always, it's elderflower everythang in the Kennedy household. I spotted this limited edition elderflower Angry Orchard at Target and it is great! It's still apple cider, but it tastes like it has been mixed with St. Germain, which is to say it has been mixed with the taste of heaven.
I have an inexplicable love of Nat Faxon, who starred on the dearly departed "Ben & Kate" and co-wrote "The Descendants" and "The Way, Way Back." I was pumped to see his new show, "Married," on FX and although it's a little bleak in its view of marriage at times, it's definitely finding the humor in the honesty. I'm interested to see where it goes.
I'm the worst when it comes to book recommendations. I almost never want to read what people tell me to read, but Sean broke me down and convinced me to read "World War Z" by Max Brooks. Not just read, but narrate, because he had me do a makeshift book on tape for our entire drive to and from Asheville. To my surprise, it's GREAT. The format lends itself particularly well to reading aloud, because it's told in a series of interviews with witnesses from around the world. It's much more interesting than the movie, and has some sharp observations of human behavior and hysteria.
Saturday night, Sean and I had a lovely date night in Norfolk, complete with alcoholic slushies and romantic comedies about unplanned pregnancies (seriously). We started our night at Field Guide, where I shamelessly ordered the same thing I've had before because it's that good. Field Guide reminds me of a hipster spin on family-style dining, seating you at long tables with strangers (but you're not expected to share). Your drinks come in jars, your food comes on mismatched plates and your menu has suggested events to check out around town.
We started off with the Tennessee Whiskey and Grape slushies, which were the perfect thing.
I had the Privateer, a root beer-braised brisket sandwich topped with a smoked honey cheddar sauce and greens. Mmmmmm mmmm good. (And bad for my health...lord, I've fallen off the wagon since Savannah!)
We had cause to celebrate: Sean's new prescription sunglasses came from Warby Parker!
After we stuffed our bellies even further with gelato and carrot cake from YNot, we ventured to see Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate as a woman who gets pregnant in a one night stand and faces the prospect of getting an abortion while possibly falling for the father of her baby. Heavy stuff (and controversial stuff), but I have to tell you...it was really good. It also introduced me to Gabe Liedman, my new favorite.
Obsessed. He's been on my radar for a little while now, but since he's been doing so much press lately and I'm hearing him on the radio, I'm even more obsessed. I want him to be my celebrity British gay best friend.
Flavored Water Jam: La Croix Curate
I can cut soda, but for some reason, I can't cut fizz! I'm a big fan of these new flavors from La Croix, especially the Cherry Lime. It's delicious!
Lip Color Jam: Korres Lip Butter Balm
I posted several years ago about my love of Korres Lip Butter Glaze, but it bears repeating! I ordered additional colors because they no longer seem to sell it at Sephora, but I'm obsessed with all of them. Perfect color and perfect moisture.
Jewelry Jam: This New Ring
One of my favorite things about working at an art center is always coming into contact with beautiful handmade objects in our gift shop. I spotted this ring and had to have it! I love having pieces with a story, so it's cool to know the artist who actually made the piece. Find more jewelry like this at our gift shop at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.
I've been on one of those glorious stretches of good book after good book and had to share what I've been reading for the past few weeks:
The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer for fiction last year and it's no mistake. I was amazed at how I tore through this 800+ page novel in about two weeks once I got sucked into it. It's perfectly paced, with deftly drawn characters and Tartt has an amazing ability to make you root for extremely flawed people who aren't even acting in their own best interest. Plus, the art history lover in me adored that a Dutch master painting is at the center of all the action.
The Vacationers is a super new release by Emma Straub, one of my favorite breakout authors of the past few years. Her novels are like wonderful beach reads with brains, little soap operas of characters you feel certain you've known or met sometime in your life. I will admit I have a weakness for novels centering on spoiled New Yorkers that alternate perspectives, so this was completely in my wheelhouse. A perfect book for anyone who's ever been on a family vacation.
I've just started reading Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead (last year I read her debut, "Seating Arrangements") and I already have had dreams about the characters! This book delves into the ballet world, in a time period of particular interest to me because it begins following young ballerinas in the late 70s and early 80s...the exact period my mom was a young ballerina. The direction of the main character's life turns on her involvement in the defection of a Russian ballet danseur, a thinly veiled version of Mikhail Baryshnikov. It's really great so far, and reminds me of a great movie starring Baryshnikov himself, "The Turning Point."
So what are you reading these days? What's the best thing you've read this year that you can't get out of your head?
Obviously, beach spray isn't a new thing, but I just now bought some by Not Your Mother's brand! I've always loved that kind of wild wavy look your hair gets after a day in the ocean, and I thought this would be the perfect thing for summer. It's super light and doesn't make your hair feel heavy or sticky or oily at all. I'm still trying to perfect looking messy good and not just messy though!
Summer Glow Jam: Physician's Formula Nude Palette
I've been really, really, really wanting the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette but there was no way I could justify dropping $50+ just to get some shiny bronzes and pinks. THEN I spotted this mini Physician's Formula palette that's the perfect travel size, has perfect colors AND works as eye shadow and blush and highlighter. Done and freakin' done.
Nail Polish Jam: Cover Girl
Cover Girl nail polish is NOT what it was when I was a tween! The quality is infinity better these days and after trying several brands and shades, I think I've finally found the coral I've been searching for. My Papaya is where it's at.
Real Life Shipping Jam: Mindy Kaling & BJ Novak
So, I really am preoccupied with my desire for Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak to finally get together Harry and Sally style. I've read both their books, seen all the articles, I follow them both on Instagram and they are SO CUTE and ADORABLE and I don't even care if they supposedly fight all the time. Look at these two? They're MFEO. Need more evidence? Don't worry...Buzzfeed's gotcha covered.
Did you guys watch "Broad City"? I am in love with these girls. It's not even that I necessarily relate to their lives; I just think their mannerisms are hilarious, especially Ilana's idiosyncratic phrasing. I also have a mad crush on Hannibal Buress' character. You can catch up On Demand.
I'm also so happy "Inside Amy Schumer" is back. My friend Bret introduced me to it last summer and she is seriously one of the smartest comedians around the block. This Aaron Sorkin TV show parody is so on point it hurts.
Radio Jam: Disclosure, "Latch"
I'm pretty sure I downloaded this song almost a year ago, but I've been catching it on the radio lately and I get down and JAM in the car. I love all of their videos, too. This one is super sweet.
Literary Jam: "One More Thing" by BJ Novak
After hearing a lot of folks I respect gushing over BJ Novak's short story collection, One More Thing, I decided to give it a shot and it's really pretty great. It's funny, it's tragic, it's sharp and full of interesting observations about life, human behavior, social interactions and twists on the usual story tropes. I definitely could imagine a few of them making great screenplays, which makes sense since you know him as a writer and star of "The Office."
TV Shipping Jam: Peggy & Stan on "Mad Men"
One of the most ridiculous things I hate to admit about myself is that I LOVE slow-burn romance storylines on television shows. Put a pair of people together, build sexual tension for years and I'm a sucker for it. "Mad Men" is back and I cannot stop thinking about how much I want Stan and Peggy to hook up. It's weird how much I'm into the idea, especially considering Peggy is my proto-feminist icon and I shouldn't be so preoccupied with her love life. But I can't help it!!! And I'm not alone...there's even a Tumblr devoted to it.
I had seen Billy On the Street clips before, but after seeing this trailer for his third season, I basically devoted a day to watching his entire YouTube channel. His manic, in-your-face, subjective style is hilarious and I love when he's obviously judging people to their face. Billy gets to act the way we all wish we could!
Morning Ritual Jam: Iced Chai
My love of chai tea, either hot or cold, is pretty well documented. Only recently did I pick up chai concentrate, which really truly delivers the exact same taste I can get at coffee shops for a fraction of the price AND I'm already imagining all the fun things I can do with it, like make ice cream.
Music Jam: "Blue Moon" by Beck
I love how Beck disappears for a few years and always reemerges with a completely new vibe for the moment. Sometimes it's funky, Spanish-tinged pop; this time, it's mellow, AM radio-ready simplicity. It reminds me of The National, and of course his earlier work on "Sea Change." I'm digging it.
Cocktail Jam: Pimm's Cup
You know how you have those foods or drinks you've always meant to try, but it's never quite happened? For me, that's the Pimm's Cup. It's a classic British cocktail of summertime, always popping up in British entertainment and novels, but for some reason I rarely see it on menus. I've often paused by the bottles in the alcohol store and considered just buying it, but wanted to know if I even liked it first. I finally spotted it on the menu at Venture last week and the verdict is in: DELICIOUS. Its taste is hard to describe, falling somewhere between hints of molasses and sweet tea. The cucumber garnish is also superb.
At the beginning of 2014, Sean and I sort of spontaneously started DVR-ing Jeopardy and watching it every night. It's truly become one of my favorite rituals, and we couldn't have timed it better, because we started watching just as Arthur Chu began his reign.
Not familiar? Well, here's an article or another one about the most divisive person to grace a quiz show stage since tv games were rigged back in the 50s. Arthur has won more than $200K in EIGHT days through an upended way of playing the game that is simultaneously riveting, maddening and insanely aggressive. I've been watching Jeopardy since before I can remember memories, and I can't recall anyone ever playing the game like this.
Basically, he's all about the money and will do anything to get it. This includes hunting the board for Daily Doubles, making as many of them "true Daily Doubles" as possible, starting his game with the high-scoring questions in his comfortable categories and talking as fast as he can in order to have more time to answer more questions to make more money. The first few episodes, I was frankly offended by his brashness. Now, I'm totally hooked. He is, quite literally, a game-changer and I don't think I can ever un-see his method now that I've seen it!
Besides just generally making money like a boss, he's also been ruling the "getting to know you anecdote" portion. When other folks have talked about their volunteerism or dumb coincidences or stupid travel stories, he's been laying down anecdotes about playing a zombie at the White House Halloween, having his own theme song and performing in an improv troop of Washingtonian muckety-mucks.
On top of all this, he's just genuinely well-rounded in his trivia knowledge and seems to have very few category weaknesses. We actually spent part of dinner debating what it will take to bring him down! It's crazy to say the least.
This might qualify as one of the weirder posts I've ever written, but I'm just so into it and I have to know if you guys are, too! What do you think? Is he the best or absolute worst thing to ever happen to the game?
I know I usually save my Jams of the Week posts for Fridays, but I have been meaning to share my current obsessions! What are you obsessed with these days? I can't get enough of:
TV Jams: House of Cards and True Detective
We've been sucked into some deliciously dark shows lately. We plowed through the second season of Netflix's "House of Cards" like it was nothin' and didn't look back. Frank Underwood is ridiculous and I can't get enough. HBO's "True Detective" has a different tone, but the performances by Woody Harrelson and especially Matthew McConnaughey are so impressive. The McConnaissance just goes on and on!
Movie Jam: The Lego Movie
I was, to say the least, quite surprised when my husband started begging to see The Lego Movie. He's not someone who's usually clamoring to see the newest animated film. It's one of those sleeper hits that seems to come out of nowhere, barely have any marketing in advance and suddenly it's everywhere! It was truly one of the best movies — animated or otherwise — I've seen in a while, and it's beyond-catchy theme song is an insta-classic.
Literary Jam: Angelica Huston
I'm reading all about Anjelica Huston's incredible childhood in Ireland in her first autobiography, which I received for Christmas. It's great, but I REALLY can't wait for her second book and to see how she talks about her relationship with Jack Nicholson.
App Jam: Duolingo
For years, I've gone through phases of wanting to really buckle down and learn more French. My high school classes were over and done with before the end of my freshman year, due to funky scheduling, so most of the French I learned was gone forever. I can't promise the duolingo app is going to make me fluent, but it's definitely building my vocabulary. It's very similar to the methods used by Rosetta Stone, except it's a free app!
