Hello…summer?!

A new quilt in progress

Hello, friends! 

It’s been almost six months since my last post, and both nothing much and several things are new around here!

Work stuff

First: I have a new job! I started (back) at Vox in January and am overseeing their service journalism, culture, and lifestyle output. Here are a few of the things I’ve edited since I’ve been back: 

• The mysterious Redditor who’s changing the way we do laundry 

• Why “neighborism” is having a moment

• I’m a semi-successful adult with a decent job. Why do financial conversations still make me feel clueless?

• How to make unemployment suck a little less

• The sublime, feral pleasure of Girl Dinner Diaries

• What is an aging face supposed to look like?

Second, The Nice Life is coming out on October 20! This book was a true pleasure to write; I talked to so many thoughtful experts who just really get it, and who offered great practical advice for bringing more curiosity, art, joy, fun, connection, meaning, and purpose into your life. Their insights have actively improved my own life, and I’m really excited to share everything they had to say with the world!

Third, I’ll be in Boston this weekend for the WBUR Festival! On Saturday, I’ll be chatting with Marielle Segarra from NPR’s Life Kit about what it means to have a good life. If you’re in the area, I’d love for you to come! 

Hobby & life stuff

Most of my free time in the past six months has gone to organizing, which has been a lot of work, but also a pleasure. Besides that, I’ve been working on more sewing projects and I’m very proud of the two air conditioner covers I made for the Windmill units in my apartment (to keep out drafts in the winter), which necessitated creating my own pattern.

(The house design here is a single Hurry Home block.)

I’ve also completed two quilts: one for my friend Terri (who just had a baby!) and one for my friend JP. Unfortunately I forgot to take good, full-sized photos of either of these quilts before I gave the away!

Quilting in progress

For Terri’s quilt, I used the Mabel patchwork pattern from Penelope Handmade and I used a spreadsheet to help keep track of the arrangement of fabric, which was very helpful.

For JP’s, I used Joz Makes Quilts’s checkered squares pattern and a great Alexander Henry cowboy fabric for the backing. This also marked my first foray into hand-quilting, which I really enjoyed. (That’s what gives it that “big stitch” look.) 

I’m currently working on my first quilt for myself. It’s a variation on the Joz checkered quilt—basically, the same two-color approach as JP’s, but utilizing smaller, 5” squares (so, closer to the Mabel in that regard). I’m currently just waiting on the backing fabric to arrive; I also need to decide if I want to machine-quilt or hand-quilt it. (Anyone have strong opinions on this??? Please let me know.) 

In other news, Kiyana and I got our garden going last month with Erik’s help! I haven’t been able to get many great photos of it yet, but I’m very excited for this year since I now have more experience and more opinions on what we grow. It’s also been fun to see the things that have come back on their own just from the seeds scattering last year, and to grow several plants from seed. I’ll do a full post with the latest there soon! 

That’s what’s up with me! And I’m excited to get back to posting here more regularly now that I have a little more time! What’s up with you all? 

Just some good subscription and membership gift ideas

I’ve never been super into “experience” gifts (like travel, concerts, fancy dinners) because I generally prefer to spend money on things that will be useful and delightful for a long time. If someone specifically requested something like this, I wouldn’t not get it for them, but it’s not where my brain goes immediately. However, I’m starting to change my mind on this, both personally and when gifting! I’d rather give someone an experience I know they’ll appreciate as opposed to a physical item that they may or may not like or use. Also, so many popular gifts right now just feel like cheap crap that no one really needs or wants! Meanwhile, giving someone the ability to access art, in particular, feels really great. And a lot of subscriptions and memberships will be useful and delightful for a long time (or at least for a year, which is good enough for me since it’s not going to a landfill after it’s used up), so those feel very in line with how I like to gift. 

If you still need some holiday shopping inspo, here are some of the non-physical presents I’m into right now:  

A museum membership

This, to me, is a great present because it’s not always something people think to buy for themselves, but they will absolutely make use of it if they have it. When you go this route, you’re really giving the gift of motivation to go out and connect with art, history, science, or culture on a more regular basis, opening up a whole new world of possibilities. 

The Criterion Channel

After my friends Nathalie and Doug enthusiastically recommended this streaming service, I’ve been making a point to watch more Critieron films, and have been getting so much joy and pleasure from it. You can gift anywhere from 1–12 months, with the yearlong subscription costing $99. 

YouTube Premium

This falls more into the category of practical gifts, but the right person will absolutely love it. I did this for myself earlier this year because I couldn’t bear to keep sitting through commercials as I watched and re-watched crafting tutorials, and it’s been life-changing. Get an annual plan for $139.99. (This also includes access to YouTube Music and YouTube Kids without ads.) Related: If there’s a streaming service (Peacock, Paramount+, etc.) that they watch a lot of, an ad-free version of one of these can be so nice. 

BritBox subscription

If you know someone who loves period dramas, cozy mysteries, and comedies from across the pond, consider BritBox, which has a huge catalog of soothing and chill entertainment. I got into it last year right around the election and I especially love Make It at Market, an extremely mellow series that centers on very nice crafters trying to turn their hobby into a business. Get an annual BritBox subscription is $109.99.

Upgrade their favorite podcast

If your person is obsessed with a particular podcast and doesn’t currently have access to bonus episodes/content, this makes for a fantastic present. It’s also just nice to be able to support creators directly in our crumbling media landscape! Patreon makes it extremely easy to gift subscriptions; for example, it will cost just $43.20 for a year of If Books Could Kill, and you also have the option to do shorter durations. If podcasts aren’t their thing, you could take a similar approach to any newsletters or independent media outlets that have a paid option! 🎁

Related: Some Mother's Day and Father's Day gift ideas

How are you coping with....everything?

I have been really heads-down working on my manuscript, which is why I haven’t written anything here in the past month. But friends………..things are not looking good out there. Every day brings a new horrible video of ICE tearing a family apart, or a fresh assault on some foundational aspect of democracy, or new evidence of egregious corruption that no one will be held accountable for. Meanwhile, the mass shooting that happened yesterday was in my hometown, which feels terrible. And this is all going on at the same time as some of the dumbest, most unhelpful shit imaginable.

It’s taking a lot of effort to stay disciplined and not totally spin out, but here’s what’s been working for me lately in terms of coping mechanisms…

• Continuing to organize around affordable housing and street safety. It’s helping me stay optimistic and it’s been especially nice to see some small wins in this realm!

• Participating in an in-person book club through NYC DSA.

• Working on my book! I didn’t realize how much I’d missed the experience of interviewing experts, and this has been an exceptional bunch—they’ve all been particularly inspiring, open-hearted, and just…lovely. It’s also been fascinating to see everyone hit on similar themes, even when I haven’t asked them about those things specifically. (“You are not your job” and “You don’t need to buy a ton of stuff but you do probably need to go look at a flower” are two sentiments that have come up again and again and again.)

• Consuming art! This is one of the core ideas of The Nice Life, so I’ve been extra aware of it lately. We watched a very good ‘90s movie called Daytrippers a couple of weekends ago, and My Fair Lady (which I’d never seen before!) last night. I also saw Death Becomes Her again, and went to Lady Gaga’s Mayhem ball with my entire family. It all helps!

• Being as creative as I can without getting distracted from writing. (Right now, that looks like playing a lot of Animal Crossing, which also conveniently keeps me from doomscrolling.) And I’ve made plans to have a papier maché day with Kiyana and JP after I turn in my manuscript next month, which I’m really excited about.

• Hanging out with people who share my values, and who make me laugh. It really does make a difference!

How are you all doing? How are you getting through this, and how are you actively pushing back? I’d love to know! 💛

Growing a terrace garden in NYC (part III)

Hello, friends! It’s been a minute! 

I haven’t written much lately because I’ve been out in these streets organizing around housing and traffic safety and out in our garden tending to my crops. But I’m happy to report that across the board, good things are growing! 

Backing up a little: At the end of June, right before the mayoral primary (which: LONGEST YEAH BOY EVER), NYC had a nasty heat wave and our plants suffered a bit. The nasturtium had a pretty rough go of it, and there were some nutrient deficiencies all around. Meanwhile, the hanging petunias, which were already having a hard time, got super dry and scraggly, despite the fact that the soil was definitely moist. Erik has been amazingly helpful in terms of how to solve these problems (a little fish fertilizer here, a little hydrogen peroxide solution there!), but his best general advice was to give everything way more water to get it to start growing like crazy. I had him show me exactly how he’d water everything, and…yeah, it was definitely a lot more water than I had been using! Our plants weren’t dry, but I was definitely being too timid with the hose. The extra water has made a huge difference; everything is looking way more colorful and lush. 

The other big change is that we bid farewell to our cooler-weather veggies (the radishes and lettuce) and are now growing bush beans and “bush” cucumbers. I put the latter in quotes because these guys are still extremely viney. After a couple of weeks of them flopping all over the place and wrapping their little fingies around everything, I put in some small trellises; giving them something to cling to really helped and is also doing a lot for the planters aesthetically! The yellow flowers have attracted tons of big fat fuzzy bees, and lots of little cucumbers have started appearing.

The boxes were feeling a bit empty without all of our leafy lettuce plants, so Kiyana and I picked up a hot pink Volcano phlox and a bunch of reddish-pink petunias at the farmers market, and those are all doing very well. I also planted some seeds at the end of May that have now either started to flower or are very close to it—my Thumbelina (!) zinnias popped open last week, and the first of the marigolds I planted literally opened up a couple hours ago. 

Meanwhile, our tomato plants have basically doubled in height since my last update and are now producing lots of fruit. We’ve been able to harvest a ton of the Super Sweet 100s, which are delicious (and I don’t even like cherry tomatoes that much); I think we’ll try to do two of these plants next year because we’re so into this one.

We’ve also picked a few of the Genovese tomatoes, which look like tiny fairy tale pumpkins and turn the most beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and then red as they ripen.

We’ve also got tons of little jalapeños growing, along with several beautiful Italianelle peppers and a few big fat green bell peppers. 

I gotta say…I’ll definitely never love summer, but this garden is making me wish it away less than I have in the past! I’m already sad thinking about a future where I don’t get to come out and water the plants every morning. 

If you’re currently growing anything, I’d love to know how it’s going! 🌼

Growing a terrace garden in NYC (part II)

So much has been happening in our terrace garden over the past eight weeks! 

First, Erik came back in mid-May for our second round of planting! This time around, we added white hanging petunias, a mini skirt hosta, and a peachy climbing rose; planted peppers, jalapeños, and basil; and transplanted the tomatoes into their forever homes. About a week later, I took a trip to the farmers market and picked up some additional pepper plants, zinnias, and marigolds, along with a lavender stream plant. Kiyana and I also added some easy-to-install decking from IKEA to half of the terrace, along with a box that serves as a flower stand/extra seating, all of which has made a huge difference aesthetically.

Also pictured here: pizza dough focaccia and the best hummus, topped with parsley from our garden. Also, the tomato plant in this photo from May 25 is now as tall as the railing!

We’ve also been able to start harvesting! I picked a ton of chive blossoms and turned them into chive blossom vinegar. We’ve had several nice radishes, which we’ve been pickling. Kiyana used thyme, oregano, and rosemary a couple times when roasting a whole chicken, and I’ve been drying bunches of herbs to save.

The nasturtium has become the goldendoodle of the planter box. It’s very nice but it’s also….too enthusiastic? Borderline badly behaved? It’s growing at an incredibly fast pace and in every direction. (“Leave her alone!!!!” I thought as I pulled a huge branch off the zinnias, which it was fully pawing.) I keep cutting it back and it just keeps going. The last time Erik came by, he suggested leaning one of the plants fully to the left (it was already moving in that direction) to see if we can get it to sort of grow toward the far edge of the planter as opposed to over everything else. Then he brought some of the stems of the other nasturtium around the front so see if it could essentially becoming more of a cascading plant, which is working well. (You can see some of the tendrils creeping over the front in the photo of the snapdragon below. Those tendrils are now reaching the ground.)

Meanwhile, the pink snapdragon emerged as the star of the show. About a week after we first planted everything in April, we had a terribly windy day; everything outside was whipping around like crazy as I watched in horror. Everything came through unharmed, except for the pink snapdragon; the stem broke about four inches from the top. Erik told me to leave it and it would probably be OK, so I did…and, like a gorgeous hydra, it came back so much stronger and more beautiful. It’s actually doing better than the yellow snapdragon, which initially fared well in the wind. Feels like a metaphor! Don’t peak in high school!!

Other good things are happening: There are currently dozens of tiny green tomatoes on the Super Sweet 100 plant, which has gotten so tall, and little baby jalapeños have appeared. The beardtongue got super tall and then finally bloomed lavender flowers, immediately attracting BFFBs (big fat fuzzy/fucking bees). The nemesia is thriving—just really solid/consistent/pretty. The rose has also been quite consistent; we’ve had a lot of beautiful blooms so far. And three mushrooms have popped up, which Erik says is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. 

There have also been some losses. The ranunculus was doing well for a while and then just…decided it had had enough. Some of the radishes bolted (meaning they went to seed too quickly, probably because the soil got too hot), and the carrots, green onions, and cilantro seeds we planted have been a little hit or miss, though I think everything now is ultimately on track now. 

We also had a petunia disaster a few weeks ago. The first time I watered them, I did a half-gallon of water + a half portion of fertilizer. Everything went well, so the next time, I decided I’d do a full gallon so I didn’t have to water them again so soon. (Erik had said I could go either route with the fert.) About 15 minutes later, I heard a loud thud.

All the extra water had made the soil really heavy (duh, in hindsight, but it hadn’t occurred to me); the planter’s bottom fully broke from the extra weight, and the petunia came crashing down. It actually survived the fall so I gently transferred it to a bucket until a replacement planter arrived. It’s currently doing…okay. It’s not exactly mounting a snapdragon-style comeback just yet and looks, well…like it got bashed on one side! Overall, I’d say that the petunias have been the most fussy/hands-on plant so far, at least relative to everything else. 

Now we’re meaningfully thinking about summer plants; Erik dropped by last week and planted beans and cucumbers. I’m very excited to see how things start to change now that it’s getting warmer!

If you’re tending to plants or a garden, I’d love to hear how it’s all growing! Also if you have any suggestions for what to make with copious amounts of parsley…hit me up. 🌿

How I’m thinking about politics and despair right now

I saw someone say on BlueSky the other day that it looks like we’re heading toward another “Summer of _____.” And…yeah: Things are fucking shit in the U.S. right now, and are likely going to be bad for a while. It’s all extremely overwhelming and demoralizing, but the best course of action is, of course, to try and do something about it.

The idea of doing something can also be overwhelming! Like, what can I personally do about the likes of someone as rotten and powerful as RFK Jr.? This is why I always return to the idea of taking action at the local/state level, as that’s where so much of what meaningfully affects our day-to-day lives (not to mention actual state/federal policy, eventually) actually happens. As I wrote back in 2020: “Change isn’t limited to general election years; it happens at city council and school board meetings and late-night legislative sessions. It happens when state supreme courts decide which cases to hear and police budgets are allocated. It happens no matter who the president is, or what party controls Congress. Now is a great time to learn the names of your reps, follow local organizers and reporters, sign up for a few relevant newsletters (and make a habit of reading them), start regularly consuming your local news, and set up a few recurring donations.” 

I stand by this…but I’m very aware that focusing on your county or state can also be overwhelming, or at least just super confusing. Local politics can feel impenetrable to anyone who hasn’t been doing this full-time for the past 20 years, and there’s just so much bad stuff happening right now—everywhere, all the time, and it’s all worthy of our attention.  

So this spring, I took a similar-but-different approach that I’ve been finding quite helpful: I chose a “major” and a “minor” for myself with regard to city politics. The idea is that I’m pushing myself to go really deep on those two issues for the next several years (which is how long it takes to get anything done anyway) so that I can be truly effective. I’m still generally aware of other issues—taking my general ed classes, so to speak, which isn’t hard because everything is so interconnected—but I’m putting the bulk of my time and energy into organizing that’s happening around two core issues. 

My major is housing. If you don’t have a safe, affordable place to live, you don’t have much of anything. Housing is connected to other things I care about (public health, literacy, incarceration, homelessness, art/culture, inequality…the list goes on) so it feels like the obvious choice to me. And because there’s so much going on with housing in NYC—we need 100,000 new units, according to one estimate I read, and building them won’t be fast or cheap—I think this will keep me busy for a very long time. 

My minor is street safety. I’m a huge fan of safety in general (lol but also…it’s true) and I feel quite passionate about making New York City’s streets less deadly for pedestrians and cyclists. (This also has the added bonus of fighting climate change!) Honestly, this might turn out to be my major; I simply love to see protected bike lanes, low speed limits for vehicles, congestion pricing, Open Streets, and accessible sidewalks! And because there are a lot of members of the Seething Dork Community actively trying to shut down anything that even remotely undermines what they see as their fundamental right to mow down an elderly person with their car, there are a lot of opportunities for action here! 

I’ve joined organizing groups for each of these issues, which is helping me stay on top of what’s happening week to week and making me aware of what I can be doing in a given moment. I’m also getting an education in how things happen on a very technical level, along with what’s been going on for the past decade (or more because…everything takes so long). It’s been a very good time for this; because of the upcoming Democratic primary/mayoral election (please, for the love of god, don’t rank Cuomo!!!), lots of people are just casually chatting about, say, the specific, nitty-gritty ways a city council candidate has blocked affordable housing in their district. 

Anyway, I’ve been trudging to my community board meetings, Zooming in to City Council hearings, talking to my neighbors, and doing so much reading. (I recently learned, for example, that Community Board 1—an entirely unelected group of people—bought itself a car using a City Council grant a few years ago??? And nothing was ever really done about it? Honestly, this is one of the wildest stories I’ve heard in a minute!!!) 

I think we all know, intellectually, that getting involved is both an effective way to build the world we want to live in and a potent antidote to despair…but it’s still so easy to freeze when confronted with the sheer amount of reactionary wreckage we’re dealing with. Breaking it down into “major/minor” has been a useful practical approach for me, and is helping me feel a little bit less bad. 🕊️

Related: Where I’m getting my news these days

My go-to source for custom frames

Hanging shit on your walls is one of the easiest/most effective ways to make your space feel homey, cozy, and nice. It’s also kiiiiind of a pain to do and can quickly get very expensive. 

For a while, I was using Framebridge, which was effective but also…not cheap. The price (and overall onerous process) meant framing multiple prints was taking a while, which isn’t ideal. When Kiyana and I moved into our new apartment last year—with a lot more wall space to fill—I knew it was time to find a better option. After poking around a bit, I decided to give Frame It Easy a try. I figured I’d order one frame and see how I liked it before committing to any more. Now, 12 (!!) frames later, I’m here to sing the brand’s praises. 

All the frames on this wall except for “New York Ain’t Perfect” are from Frame It Easy

The frames on the right and the left above the desk are from Frame It Easy

You can order frames to your exact specifications, and there’s a nice selection in terms of styles, mats, and clear covers. The prices are very doable (for example, one 11 x 17” frame cost me $56) and the products are made in the U.S. And when I had to contact customer service at one point—because I was assembling everything while sitting at our kitchen bar, and I accidentally knocked a crucial piece of hardware between the counter and the stove and that thing is not coming back until we get a new stove—they were great! They accidentally sent me the wrong replacement piece the first time, but were just extremely lovely and human in terms of getting me the right one, and it was an all-around extremely pleasant experience. 

My biggest/only complaint is that there aren’t more frame styles available, and that you can’t get very small things framed (5” x 5” is the smallest option). That means that I’ll still use other sources from time to time, particularly if I want to frame something super unique or special. But when it comes to, say, buying white square frames for a couple of prints that are going to go on a gallery wall, Frame It Easy is definitely my guy. 🖼️

Growing a terrace garden in NYC (part I)

When Kiyana and I started apartment hunting last year, our biggest non-negotiable was some kind of outdoor space, as that is functionally the only way we can socialize because of my weak immune system. We didn’t have major expectations for what this space would look like or even how big it would be…we just wanted something. We ended up getting really, really lucky: We found a place with a large terrace and an incredible view of downtown Manhattan. (The trade-off was that the interior of the apartment was aesthetically….challenged. More on that some other time!) We’ve been slowly adding furniture to the terrace since moving in last summer, but we knew that this was the year we would really start making something of it…which meant getting plants. 

I started doing research in earnest in March…and was immediately very, very overwhelmed. Gardening is science, and though I successfully grew tomatoes and basil at our old place, the flowers also fried. Figuring out what would grow 200+ feet in the air with our exact lighting and wind conditions was pretty intimidating, and I didn’t want to put a ton of effort into something that was ultimately destined to fail.  

While poking around on Reddit, I came across a website called the Gnome Network, which connects New Yorkers with plant professionals. I posted an ad describing that I was looking for (basically just some guidance/direction on what would grow well up here—and what we should avoid—to increase our chances of success). I got a lot of responses and we were ultimately able to find someone (Erik) who turned out to be a great fit; he’s just getting his solo landscaping and consulting business started, and he immediately understood what we were hoping to do. 

A few days after our initial conversation, Erik came over to see the terrace in person and learn more about what we were hoping to grow; the type of planters we wanted to use (e.g., we were hoping to make use of the two big pots we had at our last apartment); and where we’d ideally like to place them. Kiyana and I were hoping for a mix of flowers, herbs, and vegetables, but weren’t married to anything in particular and really just wanted plants that would grow. 

The next step was observing the light, which ended up being a really fun task. Basically, I set an alarm to go off every hour and then popped outside to see what the sun was getting up to. It was fascinating and also kind of beautiful—I loved it seeing how exactly the light moves hour by hour! I took photos and made detailed notes, and then sent my full report to Erik. A few days later, he sent over a doc with all of his recommendations. Turns out, even though our terrace is fully in the shade until nearly 2 p.m. every day, we get enough hours of afternoon sunlight to be able to grow a lot. 

Then came planting day! Kiyana and I had initially planned to DIY it, but we liked working with Erik so much that we decided to have him take the lead and I’m really glad we did; he brought so much expertise and even just watching exactly how he watered everything was helpful. We learned so much from working with him that we simply would never have figured out on our own. (He also just has a great vibe!! We had a lot of fun chatting with him.) 

Here’s everything we’re starting with in our garden:

• Ranunculus 

• Peruvian lily

• Nemesia

• Threaded coreopsis

• Beard-tongue

• Snapdragons 

• Nasturtium 

• Lettuce! Buttercrunch, red oakleaf, summer crisp magenta, and encore mix

• Herbs: Chives, Italian parsley, lavender, English thyme, oregano, and cilantro

• Carrots

• Radishes

• Green onions

• Costoluto Genovese tomatoes

• Super Sweet 100 tomatoes 

(You can see more of the progress in the TikTok above. Also I am now on TikTok!)

The plan is that we’ll make some swaps in June/July—at that point, it’ll be too hot for a lot of these plants to continue to grow, so we’ll replace them with summer veggies. We’ll also be adding a climbing rose and some hanging baskets with petunias (!!) in a few weeks, once it gets a little bit warmer, and we’ll transfer the tomatoes into their permanent pots. I’m also getting a plant stand to go under the flower pots to elevate them slightly, and we still need to hang up string lights. 

Just planning this garden was a huge mood-booster, and actively tending to it for the past couple of weeks has brought me so much joy. All of the plants are thriving, and it’s really amazing to see how much they can grow and change from one day to the next, and even from morning to afternoon. The radishes and carrots—which, along with the green onions and cilantro, we’re growing from seeds—have started to poke through the dirt, and blossoms have appeared on the nasturtium and Peruvian lily. We’ve also been sitting outside a lot in the evenings to watch the sunset and then stargaze, two activities I love. (Lately we’ve been able to see Jupiter and Mars pretty reliably!) We still haven’t harvested anything edible yet…honestly, it feels crazy at this point to be like “I’m going to pick and munch my friends.” 🌱

I have to give it to the Stanley water bottle

After seeing the Stanley water bottle craze all over social media for the better part of a year, I finally gave in because I wasn’t drinking enough water during the day and I knew my vessel was part of the problem. (Look, I’m as susceptible to hype as anyone—that’s how I ended up at the Wicked movie.) The Stanley (sorry, the Quencher H2.0 Flowstate™ 30-oz. Tumbler) checked all of my boxes: I wanted something dishwasher safe and insulated, with a hard straw, and not too sporty.

You guys…I’m here to tell you that I love this water bottle. So much that I now own two identical ones, as well as a Stanley-shaped ice cube tray that you definitely don’t need and a straw cleaning kit that you probably do. 

Kiyana was anti-Stanley, but even she has had to admit that it’s pretty convenient and keeps water so cold throughout the day. She even borrows it from time to time when she’s working out! Her one complaint—that I think is completely fair—is that it’s kind of top-heavy, meaning it tips over easily if you set it on the floor next to the couch and then your partner doesn’t see it when she stands up. (My guess is the bottom is narrow to fit in a car’s cup holder.) 

I was surprised to learn that you can also put hot drinks in this bottle and sip through a different hole on the lid that stays covered most of the time. That’s not something I have any interest in doing (honestly, I can’t even imagine putting any other cold liquids into it) but I figured I’d mention it in case that’s a selling point for anyone else! 

Get it from Amazon or Stanley for $35. The ice cube tray ($12.99) and straw cleaning kit ($3.59) are also both on Amazon.

Also, I ended up really enjoying Wicked! Sometimes things are annoying on social media and also worth it. 💧

'Nocs walk 02

Our neighborhood ‘nocs walks are continuing apace! Here are some of the birds we’ve spotted in the past month…

Male mallard

Male mallard

Female mallard

Brants

Starling

House sparrow

White-throated sparrow

White-throated sparrow

Camera/lens: Nikon D3000 + Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED lens

Nocs: Pentax UP 10x21 pink binoculars (hers) and Carson VP series full sized or compact waterproof high definition binoculars (mine)

Location: WNYC Transmitter Park 🐤

🍑