FLINGADING

After a month in Raleigh staying in with schnauzies, focusing on some ferocious moments of work, and trying to remind my friends that I am in fact alive, I am back in Colorado through mid-September.  Packing isn't too tough these days - because I don't have to bring much from one place to the other.  I'm finally curing myself of that we-all-know-too-well ailment of : this will be me there.  I have almost fully grasp that things I do not wear in one place will not magically become desirable in another place.  I don't have a huge fluctuation in wardrobe in any spot I'm in, and it's so much easier once realized because I stop trying to cram in all the 'well, what if we...." shit.  If I do get invited on a yacht in Croatia suddenly, I will have to scramble a bit, but for the most part, this is me now is me everywhere.  So that's nice.

Tis the season to start a gift giving strategy for the holidays.  It's gonna be weird right?  I think holiday is going to come in super-hot, probably mid-September and we are going to be here for it.  CHANGE!  Please give us a positive change mother Oprah nature.  I always stock up on Diptyque votives during Nordstrom's summer sale, and they have saved me on umpteen occasions when I needed a quick hostess gift, a birthday present, or a friendship offering.  This is not a 'hey guys, hairflip, I am smitten by this' deal.  I 100% do this, and it 100% makes my life easier.  Get a set of 5 votives for $55.  That's a $10 present that actually feels like a much fancier one.

It's interesting to me that most of us are not taking our mask selections more seriously, and myself included in that.  I mean I wear it on my face, every day, it's the first thing you see on me, and I'm still spending money on earrings and shoes.  This is silly.  What is my fall face-mask game gonna look like?  Here's what I do know.  I have two favorites - well, they are the only ones, in my rotation.  I use the Furbish cotton masks most, because 1) they're big, so they spread out over your snout nicely.  I don't have to keep yanking the top up. 2) the have elastic earstraps (ribbons are hard) and 3) the prints are interesting (albiet a little too cheerful for my personal inside feelings), but it gives me an opportunity to wear colors and prints that I usually can't make work in clothes, but that does feel comfortable in a smaller dose (and FYI, Furb is dropping new masks next week, and they are even radder than the last.  We're adding cute neon embroidery soon - they're really good).  Secondly, I wear Clare V. masks and they do have ribbons, but I make them into ear straps and it works ok, because they are chic enough I will compromise for them.

I'm just completing an epic poolhouse redo in Raleigh, and like the rest of the world, this was just not it's summer.  We were aiming to have everything in and set to swim before Memorial Day, but as you can imagine all the things being made stopped being made, the deliveries were drastically reduced and our timeline got turnt up for Covid.  Things are now mostly all in, including some really fun vintage pool paraphenial we had framed by Framebridge for a gallery wall.  I found several needlepoint gems like this one on Etsy.

I'm not a huge TV person.  When I'm by myself I rarely turn it on.  I can't really work and have it on in the background, because most of the shows I want to watch, like Real Housewives for example, you need to be glued to the screen to really take in the visual masterpiece of it all.  I listen to music sometimes, and I don't do podcasts much.  So I basically talk to myself in my head I guess?  Maybe that's an only child thing.  Anywho, I did turn the TV randomly the other day for busy noise, and it defaults these days to some corny movie channel on our streaming service.  I was too lazy to change it before I got hooked in to this dumb About Alex movie.  I think I stuck because I immediately appreciated the cast: Audrey Plaza, Max Greenfield and Max Minghella are three of my super-faves.  The movie is ridiculous though - you should watch it.

I was invited to a group zoom conversation last week by a friend in SF, and it was pitched as a 'an assembly of deeply committed individuals, willing to engage in educational and uncomfortable conversations to harness our privilege and political power in a way that enables lasting healing and equity'.  The meeting was lead by India Gary-Martin, a leadership expert and executive coach out of DC.  Let me tell you, if you don't know about this woman, you should.  She was a bad-ass and ran a Zoom call of like 150 people from all around the world like a DJBossMC.  She talked a bunch of white girls through how to deal with our feelings about social injustice patiently, thoughtfully, helpfully and so very intelligently.  It was so helpful to hear her speak, and inspiring.

A lot people ask me what traveling is like right now. I have flown several times - I went to New York right before NC wasn't allowed, and I am in Colorado for the second time since March. Flying is weird, but everything is really. We're getting used to facemasks (slowly but surely in the South), so that scene doesn't feel that odd. Most of the planes to Aspen are small, so I can usually grab a seat to myself, so contact is pretty minimal really. Airline clubs aren't open, about 1/4 of the vendors in most airports (including restaurants) are open, there's no dilly dalying because you just want to get on the plane and go, so it seems almost more efficient. No food service on flights, they ask that you deplane standing up row by row rather than everyone standing at once and hanging in the aisle, and in my experience, mask wearing (and even correctly!) seems about 99% compliance (I sat in front of a maskless dude who said he had 'an exception'.