FLING A DING

I won't ever cook a thing I find on these amazing food feeds, like @blondieandrye, but I'll like, save and pin the shit out of them, thinking maybe one day, that could be me. I tried some of those fancy flower shortbread cookies with a friend last year, and I forgot the egg in the batter. No amount of rose petal and lavender sprig can make a crappy cookie better. I'm not a very deft chef, but these guys are. And they're in Raleigh! Who knew! (219k people did apparently).

Dinner outside at friends' house in Carbondale, and they always have great tunes on, but I felt particuarly vibey when I took some plates in after we finished and heard the new Sault album, Black Is.  "What is this goodness???"!  I'll let Apple Music describe it, because I'm no Rolling Stone: Released on Juneteenth 2020, the third album by the enigmatic-slash-anonymous band Sault is an unapologetic dive into Black identity. Tapping into ’90s-style R&B, West African funk, early ’70s soul, churchy chants, and slam-poetic interludes, the flow here is more mixtape or DJ set than album, a compendium of the culture rather than a distillation of it. What’s remarkable is how effortless they make revolution sound.

We did a last minute scoot to Vegas Labor Day weekend for a friend's impromptu wedding.  In true Vegas style, it was at the Graceland Chapel, and yes, of course Elvis officiated it.  To seal the deal, we headed with the newlyweds to In-N-Out burger for a nightcap.  Here are some notable things about Vegas right now: 1) it was 114 degrees 2) Vegas was still Vegas.  There are no shows, so people are just drinking and gambling more, and bless their hearts, they tried with the masks, but when you're staggering around the casino, wasted and singing at Cee-lo at 4am, your mask is likely around your neck.  I know this because we left for the airport at bright and early and got to witness firsthand.

We did a quick dip into the mall because I had nothing to wear, and found ourselves sneaker shopping in the dopest store, Urban Necessities. There were walls and wall, all the way up to the 20 foot ceiling, stocked with hard-to-find sneaks. My fave, these leopard Air Force 1s - bummer I couldn't find my size, but now at least I know what I'm hunting.

I was a huge Le Sport Sac fan in the earliest of 90s.  How pleased was I to be passed down this gem from Tad's step-mom.  Bag of choice for the weekend, with a new Salt strap attached to make the schlepping a little less stressful.   Some folks on IG asked about these pants (it wasn't 'why are you always wearing them, suprisingly) - they're old Zara and my very fave.  I've had them remade with other fabrics, and I always troll Poshmark to buy new ones when they come up.  The heart wants what the heart wants.

Similar to the aforementioned sneaker talk, Madewell released a new collection of pretty cute shoes this week, and they celebrated on Instagram with a post of cookies-inspired-by.  I'm a sucker for a novelty cookie - there's a little shop in our NYC neighborhood that makes the best, the Funny Face Bakery. They do a Lady Gaga, the Kardashians, Lizzo, Drake, and Cardi B.  I always stop in for a bite of someone's head.

I've been to the original Neiman's in Dallas several times, but never like yesterday.  Tad and I missed a connection b/c our flight back to Aspen was cancelled (SNOW!), so we spent the evening at the Joule, one of my fave hotels, and we bumped around town for a bit, wandering into Neiman's right before closing time.  It was the most surreal experience.  We were the ONLY people in the entire department store.  It was apocalytpically sad, and weird, but also amazing because I got to really admire the architectural, all the original details, and check out the champs vending machine, which I somehow had always missed.  Bless Neiman's heart - you can really see what bankruptcy looks like in high def in the store.  I was super bummed, but I certainly don't wish to make America great again, so some things you gotta let go.