Of the Moment

Of the moment // 4.20.18

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One of the reasons why I blog is simply to have the space to write: getting things “on paper” helps me to process my feelings and organize my thoughts. I also love having a record of my life over the past few years: a place that holds all of my stories, my photos, the ups and downs of travel. But sometimes, I also just want to remember and share the little things that brought me day-to-day joy. Every Friday, I’ll give you a peek into the book I currently can’t put down, a great restaurant discovery, a fun new product or an inspiring quote: a few things that I think you might enjoy before we all take off into the glory that is the weekend!

After a few whirlwind weeks of travel, I took full advantage of my week at home: lots of extra-long walks to the dog park, reading an extra chapter before bed, eating healthy snacks and drinking the most delicious made-by-David coffee. I especially savored it because I’m gearing up for A LOT of travel in May and June. For day-job work, I’ll be popping up to San Francisco and Los Angeles–and heading out to New York City! For blog work, I’m heading to a resort in Arizona and back out to New York City. And for play: I’m going to London, Slovenia, Paris and Jackson Hole. Even though I’m a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of hours I’ll be spending on airplanes, I’m really excited to head back to some of my favorite places (helloooo Brooklyn, London and Paris!) and explore some new ones.

Beauty

After hearing so many good things about The Ordinary (and having a bunch of people recommend it on this post), I went a little bit nuts and bought A LOT of products to try out! It’s easy to go a little bit overboard because everything costs around $5 (as opposed to similar products being anywhere from $40 to $100 at Sephora). Although it’s still early days, I’m a big fan so far! I especially love Buffet for anti-aging, Salicylic Acid for acne (and acne scarring) on my chin, and the High Adherence Primer. Updated beauty routine likely coming soon!

Looks

I got to try out the new Everlane Day Glove and, oh man, they are SO soft and so comfortable. I will admit that I don’t totally love the top of the shoe (I prefer it a little closer to the toe, like a true ballet flat) BUT they are also the first pair of flats in so long that haven’t given me any blisters! When I’m traveling for work, I do so much walking so I usually bring a pair of Allbirds to wear when I’m not in meetings–but I think these will actually work for meetings AND walking. Stoked!

Drinks

Fun fact: San Diego county has more than 130 breweries, and it’s often called the craft brewing capital of the country. There are SO many microbreweries in our neighborhood, and I feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface on trying them all out. Part of that is because we love Modern Times so much: you can do a lot of people (and dog) watching at the window seats, the decor is funky and quirky (a wall of floppy disks, a bar made out of VHS tapes) and really excellent beers. I love the Orderville IPA and the Fruitlands Sour, but it’s also really fun to do a flight and try out the seasonal options. I had one with strawberry and vanilla this week, and it was SO good.

Podcasts

Gimlet released three new shows this week (full disclosure: Gimlet is my day job!), and they are SO good. I’m especially into Sandra, a futuristic thriller starring Kristen Wiig. And Habitat is all about this crazy NASA experiment where six volunteers lived in this bubble on the side of a volcano in Hawaii to simulate life on Mars–true story! Both were binge releases, so I’m looking forward to working my way through them this weekend.

Reads

I mentioned reading An American Marriage last week, and want to follow up to heartily and thoroughly recommend it. I finished it in just one day! It’s completely enthralling, terribly sad and a perspective that we don’t often hear when we talk about the incarceration rates in the USA. I also thought the ending was really well done! I’m currently reading Florida, a set of short and engrossing stories set in that wild and diverse state.