Issue #140: Oh, this old thing?
Good morning, shoppers!
Guess who’s back, back again? We are back, tell a friend. (No, seriously, if you want to forward this to a pal or tell them how great Shop Your Feelings is, that would be more than cool.)
These days, the two of us realized that we are doing a little less shopping and the same amount of feeling (a lot, always). Maggie is a minimalist, and I am…I don’t know, just buying a little less. It’s a journey. So moving forward, we’re trying something out: Shoppable is optional (shoptional), feeling is not. We’d just like to open ourselves up to share recommendations that can’t be added to a cart as the spirit moves us, whether that’s an experience, a podcast, a lemonade recipe—whatever.
Thanks for sticking with us, we’re so happy to see you. Hope it isn’t too schvitzy where you are.
Add to … heart? We’re workshopping.
Kase & Maggie
It seems to me that there are two kinds of people in the world: Those who bought Taylor Swift tickets and those who bought Beyoncé tickets. For example, Kase recently took in a Taylor Swift show, while I am counting down the days until I can bask in the glow of Beyoncé in all her glittering glory. While it goes without saying that they’re very different concert experiences, one thing is for sure: Both require an outfit. One that’ll live on your ‘gram for all of digital eternity – or at least until the luddite trend takes full hold. The great minds at Target seem to understand that if you break the bank for tickets, your wardrobe budget suffers. An A-line sequin mini dress for $35? Chic on the cheap. –MC
It might not be surprising that I, someone who wrote a whole ding dang book investigating why one of my childhood obsessions really works, am into a podcast that breaks down the same for someone else’s formative fandom. I can’t stop telling people about Wilder, the new podcast from Glynnis MacNicol that goes down an absolutely bonkers Little House on the Prairie journey. There are only a few episodes so far, but I’m absolutely hooked, and think you would be too. —KW
“Personally I’ve never been attracted to the notion of mad genius. My own life has been an almost comically exaggerated exercise in normalcy — marriage, two kids, mortgage, shitty car. I have tried to live by Flaubert’s advice: ‘Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work,’” Stephen Marche muses in On Writing and Failure: Or, on the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer, the pocket-sized book that’s accompanied me everywhere as of late. More a reckoning with his livelihood than a how-to guide, Marche focuses on just how important rejection is in a writer’s life – which sounds a lot more brutal than it actually is – and manages to do it in just 128 pages. Though the title alone may garner an “everything ok?” or two, trust me when I say it’s an antidote to the bout of impostor syndrome that can flare up at this time of year, when it seems as if everyone who has ever been published is now reporting live from a foreign beach. –MC
If you’re a glass-half-full type person, I’m amazing at packing for trips. You know what I have in this carry-on suitcase, straining at the seams? Options. Plenty. Of. Options. I pack the same amount of stuff for a two-day trip as for a week-plus getaway, because I was born under a wolf moon or something. I sometimes forget to pack things like a hairbrush, but hey, that’s what CVS is for, right? But if someone wants to invite me to their black tie event at the last minute, don’t worry, I have a ‘fit for that. Some (Maggie, my husband, most of the world) might call this being bad at packing, but again, glasses, full, etc. Which is why I own the same jumpsuit, in the same color, in both shorts and pants versions. You’d be shocked at how versatile a bright pink onesie is—practically a neutral. I bravely only packed the warm-weather romper iteration for my current long weekend trip (what if it’s cold???), but trust me, I cast more than one longing glance at the full-length jumpsuit. Remember me, my fabric friend. Remember me. —KW
I’ve been thinking a lot about stripes, specifically why they’re so synonymous with the sea and balmy summer days. A quick Google reveals we may have the French navy to thank, thought to be the first to use the stripe as an easy way to spot sailors if they fell overboard. French fishermen soon followed suit (or stripe, I should say). Turns out, the “Breton stripe” (which originally used 21 stripes to represent each of Napoleon Bonaparte’s victories) is named for Bretons, the locals of France’s northwesternmost region, Brittany. The more you know. Now while a trip to the French coast isn’t in the cards for me this summer, nabbing this two-person beach towel certainly is. –MC
The world being on fire sounded a lot peppier when Smashmouth said it, huh? Direct Relief provides on-the-ground, immediate support to those impacted by wildfires, which includes, wow, more people than we ever thought.