Notes From The Week That Was - March 5, 2022

The news out of Ukraine continues to be all-consuming and the humanitarian need is immense. Again, please consider a donation to one of the amazing organizations working on the ground to address the crisis; World Central Kitchen is a wonderful option that we have chosen to support.

A number of people are booking Ukrainian Airbnbs with no intention of staying, and the money goes directly to the Ukrainian host. (You can message the host to inform them that you aren’t staying.)

If you know of other places that need support, please leave a comment and I’ll share it on Instagram.

Here are a few of the things—some serious, some not—from the week that stuck with me.

Distracted? There may be a good reason why.

My attention span has been understandably shorter than normal this past week, but I managed to find time to listen to this fascinating discussion between Ezra Klein and Johann Hari about the larger issue of why we have so much trouble paying attention. I found the sections about kids and educational environments particularly eye opening.

My current vintage obsession.

My love of thoughtfully curated vintage shops continues with this gem of a store. It’s probably a good thing that Elsie Green is 3000 miles away, but their beautiful online store is dangerously close to my fingertips. (I just realized they are having a sale, too!)

Climbing out of a cooking rut.

We have challenged ourselves to try at least one new dinner recipe every week, and Ottolenghi’s cookbook Simple has been a wonderful, reliable workhorse for us. A few favorites: Pasta alla Norma, Fish Cake Tacos, and Charred Tomatoes with Yogurt, which is amazing paired with previously referenced dishes from the Dishoom cookbook.

A peaceful sunrise moment at Sachuest Point.

Beautiful words on miscarriage and grief.

Although this comes from a political podcast, this has nothing to do with politics. Pod Save America host Tommy Vietor talked about his grief following the recent death of his daughter, Margot. It is heartbreakingly beautiful and an insightful, powerful listen about the experience of losing a child during pregnancy. You can watch the clip on YouTube or on Tommy’s Twitter feed.

Notes From The Week That Was - February 19, 2022

Notes was on hiatus last week, and it won’t be the last time that a week gets skipped here or there. I’ve been simultaneously extremely online for client work and offline for my personal work. It’s not the balance that I ultimately want to achieve, but one of my goals is to better respect the ebbs and flows of the demands on my time. No one who knows me well would describe me as easygoing, so this more of a challenge for me than it sounds! Wish me luck.

Here are a few of the things, both offline and on, that I’ve been thinking about this week.

A favorite image from recent weeks.

Zillow, but better

I recently developed a new scrolling obsession, this one feeding my love of beautiful residential spaces and my love of England. The image galleries on Inigo, an English estate agency for historic homes, are what my interior design dreams are made of. One of my Instagram friends, Paul Whitbread, shoots for them, and I would like very much to be his assistant, please.

And speaking of England …

… my husband and I can’t wait for the second season of Starstruck, which is now streaming in the UK and hopefully will be available to those of us in the US soon. Catch up on the first season on HBO if you are in the market for a fun romantic comedy.

Books, books, books

My streak of reading some rather disappointing books was thankfully ended by The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. While it is quite good, I think what I liked the most about it were the books that get referenced and recommended throughout the story. I had already set my mind on reading Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads next, but then I’m going to dig into the main character’s list of “short perfect novels”—I haven’t read any of them!

• Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabel

• Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

• Sula by Toni Morrison

• The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad

• The All of It by Jeannette Halen

• Winter in the Blood by James Welch

• Swimmer in the Secret Sea by William Kotzwinkle

• The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

• First Love by Ivan Turgenev

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

• Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

• Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai

On parenting

As I think about how to keep my daughter entertained during next week’s school break, I’m reminded of this quote that I came across recently. Parenthood is certainly more than this, but I’m stealing the term “bureaucracy of parenting” for future use!