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Hi! Welcome back to Wednesday, where we’re deep in the packing stages for a trip to Florida to visit family and to watch our friends Melanie and Dan get married! In the last few hours, I’ve become so very grateful for packing cubes, these mesh zipper pouches, and the Slumberpod blackout tent. If I can get (somewhat) organized, anyone can! Here’s what’s been on my mind and browser lately:
Well Read
I recently came across an essay by Kelsey McKinney that I probably would’ve glanced over if I wasn’t already thinking about taking up an instrument myself. (Guitar! Since you asked. My mom started taking lessons a few months ago and after she performed “Old MacDonald” and “You Are My Sunshine” for my daughter, I was sold.) This essay details the 32-year-old writer’s decision to take up piano lessons and how it taught her to embrace imperfection:
“When creating is your job, when it becomes a form of profit and livelihood and no longer a form of curiosity, it is easy to forget how it feels to stretch your brain. In the first few months, just learning to read the notes was more difficult than I could have imagined. One year in, I still struggle to remember which bass clef note is G and which is A, a mistake that makes many songs sound just slightly off in a way that I never can place, despite the problem always being the same. I still lift my hands too much when moving them around. My instinct is not to be dramatic, but I am facing the age-old problem all creative people face when approaching a new medium: My ambition and taste is higher than my actual capabilities.”
Maybe that’s what keeps a lot of us from trying something new to begin with. Maybe it’s why I laughed when my therapist once suggested I take a dance class or consider gardening. My initial instinct: Why? It all just sounded a little exhausting when I could watch the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm instead. But then, I’m a hypocrite because I’ve already signed my daughter up for ballet lessons, jazz classes, and gym. So here we go. Who says new hobbies are reserved for kids?
Well Watched
By now, if you spend time online, surely you’ve seen snippets of Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs’ performance of Chapman’s 1988 song “Fast Car” at the Grammys on Sunday night. It was epic in its simplicity. Elegant and casual, quiet and grand at the same time. Here’s the full performance:
And here’s why, critic Lindsay Zoladz writes in The New York Times, it was so impactful: “It was a rare reminder of music’s unique ability to obliterate external differences. ‘Fast Car’ is about something more internal and universal. It is a song about the wants and needs that make us human: the desire to be happy, to be loved, to be free.” Combs covered the song last year, which is probably what made this performance happen to begin with, but onstage, even lending his beautiful voice to the duet, he knew his place. More from Zoladz:
“They traded a few lines and harmonized beautifully on the chorus — her tone opalescent, his bringing some grit — but Combs never overshadowed Chapman. He knew that in that moment, no one could. Something about the way he looked at her said it all: His eyes shone with irrepressible respect. Here was a grown man, an assured performer who sells out stadiums, visibly trembling before the sight and the sound of the folk singer Tracy Chapman.”
Well Heard
On the subject of the Grammys, Billy Joel performed his first original song in more than a decade Sunday night, “Turn the Lights Back On.” It’s a good one, but also a fine opportunity to share a (very subjective) ranking of Joel’s songs – all 122 of them. I saw Joel at Madison Square Garden last month as a belated celebration of my mother-in-law’s birthday. It was so much fun and Joel is a surprisingly magnetic performer, all these years later. (This is coming from someone whose Billy Joel knowledge was… limited. I was deep into the musician’s Wikipedia page during the concert.) For what it’s worth, my favorite song is “Vienna” (which I guess has made its rounds on TikTok already).
Well Fed
As far as weeknight meals go, pasta is relatively easy and has enough room to get creative… but have you tried a pasta bake? I’ve been on a kick lately, making a spanakopita pasta bake and a ricotta pasta bake in consecutive weeks, and I could keep going. There’s something immensely comforting about a meal baked in a classic stoneware dish. The result has everything you need (carbs, veggies) and everything you want (cheese, a crispy top).
Next on my list: Smitten Kitchen’s winter squash and spinach bake, which doesn’t even require a pot for boiling the pasta (!), just the baking dish. And Merrill Stubbs’ meaty Birthday Lasagna, which you can always sub for eggplant. Plus, I love the name of it.
Well Drawn
Sofia Warren draws cartoons and also offers advice on Substack. Though she’s putting her column on pause, she shared one last piece of advice—to herself—for the time being. Click through for the whole thing, or just take in the last slide (below), which bears some truth. Eat the marshmallow!
Well Worn
“Clean girl is out, and mob wife aesthetic is in.” For someone who’s very much not on TikTok, I’m seeing a lot of talk about the mob wife trend sweeping the platform and, allegedly, the real world, too. I don’t like buying into trends—they seem to cycle through at a breakneck pace and inspire more consumerism than even I can handle—but when Rachel Tashjian (an excellent fashion journalist) writes about it (*gift link*), I’ll listen at the very least.
As it turns out, mob wife is more a state of mind (think bossy, fierce, Carmela Soprano) than a style, but clothing is much easier to work with. In the interest of challenging my own tastes, I’ve taken this as an exercise of what I would wear within this sartorial universe. It’s growing on me, in small doses anyway. So here, an edit of pieces inspired by—but very different from the ethos of—the mob wife.
(Faux) fur: This By Malene Birger coat made me realize just how convincing “eco-fur” can be. This shearling Totême coat, first spotted on Dakota Johnson, is even better. This one by Stand Studio embodies mob wife best—but mob mom would have shmutz all over it in no time. I like the lapels on (and price of) this Zara option. Maybe this has been my aesthetic all along because I admittedly own a pair of these fur Birkenstock-style slides.
Leopard print: This Rachel Comey corduroy shirt and matching pants are the most practical, yet exciting way to get this print into my wardrobe right now. But in my mind, this velvet tee and pants work too. Officine Générale’s leopard-print coat has been on my radar since last winter; is it time to buy? How about an epically cozy cardigan? I also love this Aurélien driving shoe (preppy mob wife?). And I’ve been thinking about this Nackiyé fisherman overcoat a lot. Saint Laurent has a good going-out top on the second-hand market and Temperley London makes a black-tie halter neck dress I’m very into. I’ve done it—I’ve gone down the rabbit hole.
Leather: The cut of these faux leather pants looks just right; a midi skirt even though I can’t personally pull that look off. This Cos v-neck leather top is chic. A leather quarter-zip?! I wish this collar-less leather jacket wasn’t final sale (but, then again, if you’re confident re: sizing, we love sale); actually, I like this one even better. This vintage blazer has a good lived-in feel. Lastly, some excellent black square-toe boots, ’90s and modern all at once.
Accessories: These Tom Ford aviators feel extra in a way I kinda like. There’s this hat, which is a less expensive version of this hat! These vintage clip earrings feel on-trend but also unique. And how about a Roxanne Assoulin puffy heart necklace?
Signing off with this epic slide that Miuccia Prada installed in her Milan office. More soon!
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Weekly links and musings from my little corner of the Internet