Month: October 2019

Maybe It’s Not The Haircut

Karen

Speaking of hair, I read this essay by Sophie Heawood (via Even Cleveland) and had a moment–maybe the reason I feel so old in the salon is because, well, I’m getting old?

I got my hair cut the other day. I looked in the mirror afterwards and the thing didn’t happen.

That thing, that guilty little tingle when you see how good you can look with a bit of effort. When you fancy yourself. When you’ve been feeling knackered for the past two months but one glance in the mirror tells you, with great relief, that you’ve still got it.

It didn’t happen because even though the hairdresser had done everything I asked her to do, I saw my own reflection and immediately thought, oh right, that really is my face then.

 

She goes on to make this excellent point about wrinkles–which I’m still ok with, but ask me again in 10 years–and the option of having time:

Having always liked older faces on other people, and thinking the best faces were the ones that looked like life had been lived in them, I understand now why people fear wrinkles. Wrinkles are a visible end to choices, to a life of infinite possibilities. They tell us that we have to make peace with the decisions we have made, or that we didn’t even realise we were making. They are a door that is closing on our own face. Which is why anti-ageing products, those little teases, sneak up to whisper to us that we can carry on dithering forever. Dithering is wonderful.

 

Still Thinking About Bangs

Karen

I’m still wondering if I want to get bangs, six months after posting The Cut’s hard-hitting journalistic investigation of the trendy updated shag haircut.

We gathered a lot of old pictures to display at my mom’s “celebration of life” service; not to sound utterly shallow but I was shocked at how bad my hair looked in most of them. I spent most of my 20s trying to be blond and not conditioning enough, and on short curly hair it all added up to looking like I was in a Harpo Marx wig.

Since the funeral, I’ve gone full “Curly Girl Method” and kept growing out my hair, which is helping my hair satisfaction levels–but just once, I want what The Cut article leads with:

It would be so nice to have a good haircut. Like, a really good one. The kind of haircut that looks like the result of understanding what sort of haircut would look good on you. The kind of haircut that looks effortless or, if not effortless, at least the result of effort expended fruitfully. The kind of haircut that makes an acquaintance at a mutual friend’s birthday party see you and say, oh cute haircut.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Aloha Shirt Test

Karen

I’m turning 40 in a few months and I’ve been playing with the idea of celebrating with a trip to Hawaii. We haven’t made any reservations yet but I’ve already started thinking about vacation sewing, so….I guess there’s a high likelihood of this trip happening.

Vacation sewing thoughts started when I saw this New Look pattern, which features his-and-hers Hawaiian shirts.

Clearly I needed to make one for Doc!

Since this was a new pattern I didn’t want to get too fancy with my fabric in case it didn’t fit. (It fits great! Follow the chest measurements and trust the ease in the pattern.)

Reader, I used quilting cotton for this–but LOOK at that print:

Cats dressed as geisha, with human hands, riding turtles and koi? OK! Doc picked this one out of a lineup of possibilities and what can I say? He has great taste in fabric.

Big Day!

Karen

We got the first snow in the valley yesterday, but it didn’t affect our plans because we were taking my nephew to the PLANETARIUM on the TRAIN to watch a movie about VOLCANOES (all-caps excitement shared by all).

It was a fantastic day and we ended with a fancy (ish) lunch at Little America, right by the train station.

Also, when did he get so big? I remember when he was about the size of a pumpkin.

Friday Links

Karen

1. More Danny Ortberg and music: The Problem With Opera

2. From Outside magazine, all the “wellness” tips you really need:

On a micro level, think about your acute environment daily. Is your phone always on? Are you constantly being interrupted by notifications? Are you in a space conducive to the goal you want to accomplish? Do you keep lots of junk food in the house? Do you surround yourself with junk content? The goal is to design your environment to support the behaviors you desire.

On a macro level, ask yourself these questions: Do I live in a place that feels unlivable? Does my commute totally suck my soul?

 

3. ACCURATE:

 

 

I Guess It Really Is A Metaphor

Karen

I finished the puzzle last night so we can reclaim our coffee table:

It was a process (metaphor alert!)–there were days when I would just sit and try to make things fit, get frustrated when nothing did, and walk away. There were other days when I would be able to make it all work and the pieces just feel into place. There were days when I just wanted it done already and other days when I got into the zone.

Will I do another meta–ahem, puzzle again soon? Probably. But I think I’m going to stick to just 500 pieces.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Also Seasonal

Karen

I decided Doc needed a mid-weight layer to wear around the house, after it was too cold for a t-shirt but before it was cold enough for his giant fleece pullover. I’ll be honest–I decided this after I saw Stonemountain’s new bamboo-cotton fleece and matching ribbing. Nothing makes a sweatshirt pattern look more professional, so I ordered the fabric and then sewed it up Sunday.

That fleece is gorgeous–warm but not too heavy, super soft, and really plush inside. I’m tempted to order some for myself. His-n-hers loungewear is a thing, right?

Extremely Seasonal

Karen

I’ve been craving fall fruit pie, to the point where I bought a tartelette from the fancy bakery not once but twice last week. My inner Midwestern farm wife was appalled I’d spend $6 a pop for something when I could just make a whole pie for less–so yesterday, I did.

This is French apple pie or apple-streusel pie, known in my family as “apple pie with a crumbly crust.” I grew up eating pies made from the recipes on the back of the Kraft Minute Tapioca box and, even after tasting fancier and more sophisticated fillings, I still think they are the Platonic ideal of pies. So here is the recipe for apple pie from the box (with a topping invented by my mom) in case you’re craving fall pastry, too.

Pie:

  • Unbaked 8- or 9-inch pie shell (I’ve switched from Crisco pie crust to pate brisee; don’t tell my inner Midwesterner)

Filling:

  • 6 c sliced apples
  • 3/4 c sugar
  • 2 T Minute Tapioca
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t nutmeg

Crumbly Crust:

  • 1 stick butter (chilled)
  • 1 c flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions:

To make Crumbly Crust, mix flour and brown sugar and then cut in butter until streusel-y in texture.

To make pie, mix ingredients for the filling, pour into the pie shell, and top with the Crumbly Crust. Bake at 400 for about 50 minutes, or until you can see lava-like bubbles of thickened apple juice in between the streusel topping.

 

 

Friday Links

Karen

1. The Stages of Listening To Classical Music by Danny Ortberg.

2. I was really tempted by a $20 Target dress this week (let’s hear it for stress shopping!) but then I thought of this interview with the author of  Fashionopolis: The Prices of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes and didn’t buy it.

After the stock market crashed in 1929 and all the rich people lost their fortunes, Hattie Carnegie, the retailer, to stay in business, started an off-the-peg ready-to-wear collection for the middle market called Spectator Sports…And one of those suits or dresses from Spectator Sports cost $19.99 — and this was in the early ’30s. And that’s the same price you pay at H&M or Zara [despite inflation over the decades].

Is anything else we buy today the same price as it was at the height of the Depression? Of course not. Is anything we’re buying today the same price it was in 1928 before the crash? Of course it’s not.

 

3. Accurate.

(Via)