martinimade

• This is a genius app. I've put it on my phone, just in case a run goes really sour.
• Speaking of running: I had no idea this happened and it's just up the road.
• Saving for later.
• On costume design and the delightful Schitt's Creek. 
• The fundamental mysteries of live theater.
• Rotting fruit but not really.
• I, too, keep a list of things that aren't comets.
• This is an amazing piece of writing. 
• The first few paragraphs of this New Yorker piece explain money laundering really well.
• The money quote: Goop, a one-stop shop for people hell-bent on perfecting themselves, has helped sell Americans on the idea that “wellness” means buying things until you feel better. 

I'm so ready to move on to fall and other thoughts over at Another Mother Runner.

So very ready, you guys.

So this happened on this day last year. 

And here is what our majestic (if exceedingly doofy) beast looked like a couple of days ago:

It seems to be working out.

Before the things:

We were watching GLOW with the Elder Teen last night. There was a moment when the object pictured above was used. 

"WHAT IS THAT," Elder Teen asked.

"It's a cheap camera," Scott and I explained.

I still don't think she believes us.

The things:

• Thank goodness for dogs.
• My "Matisse Chapel" was one of the missions in San Antonio.
• For those about to send their kid along to college.
• Synchronized swimming is so metal.
• Always carry floss.
• I can't recommend this piece highly enough. Revel in the rejections if you want to succeed.

Some shameless promo -- I had a thing happen during a run that had never happened before. I wrote about it over at Another Mother Runner.

Many things:

• This is me.
• Related. (FYI: this piece also name checks my favorite historic nun.)
• The best satire is almost indistinguishable from reality.
• How I travel.
• This piece is as beautiful as everyone has said it is. 
• I remember running into Watergate Salad all the time as a kid during the 1970s. I wasn't a fan. I, too, wondered where it came from and where it went. Now I know.
• Ellen Raskin remains one of my favorite writers.

This hot and humid summer (and my increasingly close approach to menopause) has finally broken my longstanding resistance to wearing sleeveless tops for something other than running. I finally have reached the age where I DNGAF* about the condition of my upper arms and just want to be as comfortable as possible in a house with no AC and an office with substandard AC.**

So I looked around for sleeveless tops for a grown-up. My office-mates don't need to see my bra straps. I don't want to wear some weirdo blend that pills when you look at it crooked. And I want to look like a woman in my late 40s, not like one in her 70s. 

Once those limits were applied, the racks were empty.

Which is when I realized I have a sewing machine, a desire for a project that doesn't take weeks to finish, and some meager sewing skills. I poked around a bit, heard high praise about Grainline Studios, and picked up the Willow pattern. When Scott and I went to NYC a few weeks ago, I bought fabric and thread at Mood. And when I had a few hours, I committed some sewing. 

Top number one: 

Apologies in advance for the bathroom mirror pixs. I worked with what I had.

The fabric is a cotton/linen blend.*** It's cool and comfy and only touches my body where it absolutely has to. Thumbs mostly up. 

Top number two:

Yes, the cotton fabric has moths on it. How could I not buy this? 

My supervisors were sleeping on the job.

The artsy shot.

The obligatory bathroom shot.

On the whole, I am pleased with how they turned out. As long as you don't look too closely at the bias binding, these home sewn garments look like actual clothes, which is progress. Also: I discovered that bias binding is super fiddly but worth it. 

These little experiment went well enough that I'm pondering committing more sewing. Any patterns/designers you'd recommend? 

-------------------

*Do Not Give a Fuck

** We're not great with air conditioning in this part of the Northeast. We can efficiently heat the bejeezus out of anything enclosed, mind. But cooling is not in our wheelhouse

*** While cutting the fabric for top number one, I discovered my eldest child had used my fabric scissors to cut granite or something so there was a pause while I waited for new scissors to arrive.