How’s it going my friends! This week was a little bit rock ‘n’ roll (in that I got rocked and then rolled by life), so let’s keep it casual with a wee catchup across mediums. As always, would love to hear anything you’ve been enjoying in any of these categories. Don’t be a stranger!
On my plate: Or bowl, rather, is this carrot ginger red lentil soup. Did I share a similar/identical link last winter? Probably. But I’ll never stop, because this kind of warming, savory, easy-breezy pureed soup is exactly what I crave as soon as the temperature dips below 75. And thank god it has in Los Angeles- that heat wave was no freaking joke!
In my tabs: I want to make a habit of printing more pictures, and therefore have had this photo-printing website open for many months and haven’t printed a single one. Duh! But cute you can make some look like polaroids, etc? Ok, moving on, we’ve also got these beautiful organic silver rings, no idea how they made it into the tabs but j’adore. This Watercoloring for Beginners book has been sitting pretty in my browser for weeks now because even though I have watercolors, and recently even bought new brushes and paper so I can start playing, I’m still shy to pull the trigger on an earnest new hobby! But I’ll pull it soon, swear swear.
In my ears: I stumbled on Aretha Franklin’s cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water recently and just love it so much.
On my screen: I’m currently making my way through the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders docuseries and am fascinated. As someone who knew exactly zero about Dallas or the Cowboys or those cheerleaders it’s amazing how much strength and athleticism and perseverance goes into becoming a DCC. And also how much sexist, objectifying, infantilizing bullshit! Highly recommend if you want to be inspired, and also mad ✨. Jesse and I also started the new Netflix series “The Perfect Couple” after a few drinks at the newly revamped Johnny’s (cute!), and although the writing (unintentionally) made us laugh many, many times, I can’t stop thinking about it. Is this a recommendation? It’s not not??
In my inbox:
’s newsletter Bright Spots never fails to delight and inspire, and this week really got me good. He describes attending the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony: “If you’re not familiar with the Ig Nobel Prizes, they’re a lot like the Nobel Prizes. But instead of recognizing the most world-changing achievements in physics, chemistry, or peace, the Ig Nobels recognize the most hilarious or strangest discoveries of the year. Their slogan is ‘research that makes people laugh… then think.’” The experience sounds so odd and so funny and so perfect and I highly recommend the read!On my nightstand: I just finished my friend Maryleigh’s copy of the book Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and am so sad that I’m done. Have you read it? I absolutely loved it. I am now getting into a book on Traditional Chinese Medicine that my acupuncturist recommended after I asked her sooooo many questions, and it is very interesting but I absolutely need another fiction book to balance out the palate. I just started Jesse’s copy of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (another Maryleigh rec!) and am immediately hooked. My first Baldwin!! Here I go!!
Haunting me: Ok, so I got our current dinner plates when I was living alone in Chicago. I only got four of them because 1. I was living alone and never really hosted more than one or two friends at a time, and 2. it was the middle of the pandemic and I frankly never thought we would be having dinner parties again. Fast forward four years and it turns out I am living in California with my boyfriend and we host people all the time, we can’t get enough of the stuff. So now when we have more than two people over for dinner we are incorporating smaller salad and dessert plates into the mix which isn’t giving have as much as you want and stay as long as you can. The solution is simple, right? Just get two more plates! But it turns out that these CB2 Caramel Axel dinner plates are sold out everywhere in the world except for the CB2 in Saudi Arabia and they don’t ship to Los Angeles, I checked. I also checked Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and the Craigslist of every major city where I knew someone in the continental United States. So now I have two options: get a set of six new dinner plates and use these as our backups, or ask you to keep an eye out for me. Caramel. Axel. CB2 dinner plates. You got this honey.
Crossed off my to-do list: Speaking of dinner parties, we hosted some friends for dinner recently and I found myself so distracted by the moments where the music didn’t match the mood. Does this happen to anyone else? Obviously not every song is going to be the perfect backdrop for every moment of conversation, but if it’s a gross mismatch I am preoccupied to the point that it’s hard to focus on my company! Spotify radio stations are just not reliable enough, so I recently sat down and made a big list of songs I think I could have on in the background while hosting a dinner that wouldn’t drive me to distraction. It’s over 3 hours because listen, we’re gabbing.
See you next week my friends! Anything you’re reading, watching, thinking, loving? Leave a comment and let me know! See me soon!
xx, Olivia
one, you should start water coloring without a book! more fun to figure it out and explore on your own, i say. and two, i loved karen russel’s book of short stories in college, i believe it’s called vampires in a lemon grove 🍋 i specifically LOVED the titular story
I think it would be nice if you watercoloured.