THE WHAT’S UP ROUNDUP #4: M-I-S-S You Much

THE WHAT’S UP ROUNDUP #4: SHADY’S BACK

Postcard From The Edge

Be Here Now

It’s been a while since I sent a newsletter and while I’m sure your inboxes were too full for you to notice, I did miss writing them. There’s no one reason why I’ve been quiet for so long except to say that life got, honestly, lifey. A busy school year for my daughter, a hectic holiday season, Q1 craziness, a shockingly and consistently cold winter, and the eternal question: What do I make for dinner?

It has felt like I need a personal assistant, and this week’s blog introduces you to the closest thing I’ve found within my budget: AI. Come with me as I reveal how terrified I was of this job-stealing intelligence, and see how I’ve learned to befriend it as a tool, making my life easier while allowing me to focus on my work. It even helps me with dinner—just saying.

I AM NOT A ROBOT >

Goodbye Girl

The Black Market Of Favorite Things

At least once a month for the past year I’ve found myself interrogating the Clinique salesperson at my local Ulta. The questioning starts off gently, almost off-handedly. Then, it descends into a sort of madness, a desperation that leaves them perplexed, hands thrust into their lab coat pockets as they look for a reason to escape. “Where,” I ask as calmly as I can so as not to arouse the attention of security, “would I find the Clinique Salicylic Acid Blemish Cover Up in Fair?”

The answer is always certain and upsetting: It has been discontinued.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened to me (who can forget when I bought 10 bottles of Willow & Sage Blood Orange All Purpose Spray from World Market because I noticed they had stopped restocking it), but I definitely assumed I was the only person on planet Earth unable to pivot when confronted with the reality that one of their comfort products had been deemed unworthy to go on. (Am I attaching to much to this? Maybe.)

Imagine my relief, then, when I read this weekend’s New York Times Style section and learned that there aren’t just people like me out there—they’ve found solutions. Stockpiling supply, Reddit threads with where-to-find information, upselling on eBay—it’s a subculture of ultra-dedicated consumers, unable to let go.

If you’re also a little weird about your favorite things it’s a great read. It reminds us of how resourceful consumers can be, and how powerful brand loyalty really is.

READ IT HERE

Sonic Youth, But Make It Midlife

Past Life Regression

One of the unexpected side effects of divorce (or my divorce, as least) is the return to the brass tacks of who I am, and a rediscovering of myself that has me thinking often about my teenage years. I have been flooded with memories long-thought forgotten, hitting me at random times and asking “Remember this girl? Remember what she believed in?” I think adolescence is when you discover the foundation of who you are and who you will be, and so it makes sense that in times of great change and crisis you go back to your essential self. It’s been this way with me, most obviously from a musical perspective.

Music has always been a cornerstone of my (sparkling!) personality. I made a bang up mix tape in my day, spending hours balancing out each song and pairing it with its perfect match. It was always a labor of love. I dreamed of writing for Rolling Stone magazine (spoiler alert, I did, though not in the way I expected: It was my first full-time copywriting gig) and read everything I could on the bands and musicians I loved—pre internet.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to catch a retrospective of photography featuring Nine Inch Nails at Morrison Hotel in SoHo. I was brought back to seeing them on stage at Woodstock 1994: Trent Rezor, covered in the thickest mud, emerging from the mosh pit to perform. It was epic. I hadn’t walked onto that field a fan, but I walked away as one and remain one still.

It got me thinking about the way music connects us to our memories and to the people we were back when we were blank slates. It’s been kind of amazing, a silver lining on a challenging time.

Like I said, I was quite a mixed-tape maker in my day, and so I decided to make a playlist for you. It’s obviously heavily 90s, and includes my all-time favorites and some bangers that shaped the culture around us at that time. I hope you enjoy it.

LET’S SET ADRIFT ON MEMORY BLISS!

I HOPE THIS EMAIL FINDS YOU STOCKPILING YOUR FAVORITE FACE OIL,

JULIA