Four Fun Things

You and Freddie reading short stories to each other over the phone reminded me of my college boyfriend and I reading chapters of Ethan Hawke’s “The Hottest State” to each other in bed. Swoon!

The bow croissants are likely from a London bakery called Sourdough Sophia – she’s an amazing woman who started baking bread and selling from her kitchen during the pandemic and now has a growing bakery empire across London! She’s brilliant (and her bakes are delicious)

Is it possible to get a link or brand name if that amazing brown suede bag in the photo?

“They’re Made Out Of Meat” is a laugh out loud funny very short story that I think about all the time: https://web.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/thinkingMeat.html And also Ted Chiang does beautiful short stories that weave science and history and so much good stuff in, and I love them! Even though I don’t usually read science fiction. I am excited to listen to them with out middle school boy soon. Two of my favorites are “Exhalation” (also the name of one of his collections) and “Tower of Babylon.”

Desperate to get the link for that brown suede bag in the photo! pls pls anyone?

All time favorite bumper sticker: “Your mom likes it when I go slow”. 🙌🏻

In case you’ve not already seen: the New York City Ballet has started a “One Day” series that I’m loving! Each video features a day in the life of one team—the costume department, the orchestra, the dancers, the school program—I want a whole tv series, it’s so amazing! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbxhFnOczS7g&si=xvR_fa8ExVpdpNrG

OMG, the detailed Loeffler Randall Café happening here https://jessieloves.substack.com/p/jessie-loves-every-magical-detail

A guardian and a thief is really good!

so good to read!! I need fun coming at me from every angle as I live some horribly sad family happenings…. so here’s mine: 1- at age 65 I’m taking swimming lessons at the community pool and I feel like a kid! 2- the leaves are gorgeous now (near Toronto) so I walk for waaayyyy longer than I usually do. 3- the rose gardens at a nearby park are LOVING LIFE right now so I smelllll them every time I can get there 4 – I’m making play lists of music my kids listened to when they were teens – here’s to music of the 2000-2010 decade!

For the Jhumpa Lahiri’s article, it would help to put a Trigger Warning! Child loss. She is my favorite author by far.

Rewatching Stumble on Peacock, trying to get people to read Dungeon Crawler Carl with me, and putting on sandals if it hits 70 for one last pedicure hurrah.

A few things I’m loving: I just finished the book The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. It’s such a good book. It takes you into early 1900s China and Japan. There’s a dreamlike quality to the book since it’s about fox deities that can shapeshift into humans. Lots of yearning and longing, which I’m partial to in my books of choice. I’m watching Deadloch. Thank you to all Cup of Joers who recommended it in the past. It is a perfect fall show- murder mystery, police procedural and absolutely hilarious. I’m also watching Great British Bake Off. Nigella Lawson is a breath of fresh air and the contestants kindness always gives me hope for the world. The Knicks are back. They’ve lost both games in the pre season games but it’s good to have them back on the court. Proud of the Yankees, they had a good run. Last fun thing- I’m a teacher and I like to get in early to get things done around the room that I can’t do when the kids are in. I’ve been blasting the Backstreet Boys (I was obsessed with them as a teenager) as loud as I can and it puts me in such a good mood. I get so nostalgic, almost weepy for those innocent times when my biggest concern was how can I get Brian Littrell to understand I am his soulmate.

I loved reading about Loeffler Randall’s café! Tres chic and also incredibly fun!! You are so cool Joanna. And have the coolest friends! Makes sense but *swoon*

There is a car in my neighborhood that has a bumper sticker that says “Bestie, please let me merge” and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Saw a funny bumpersticker yesterday “Pretend to honk if you like mimes”!

I’ve been going through a bit of a tough time (secondary infertility: boo, wah), so I’ve been really looking for good, fun things lately. Here are some: +Starbucks pumpkin cream shaken espresso. It’s so basic, and I don’t care. This drink RULES. +I bought a plain wooden Halloween decoration thingy from Michael’s and spent three hours painting it and then put it up in my house. +Decorating for Halloween in general +Watching older (80s/90s) movies with cozy fall vibes (send recs if you have any!) +Saying “yes” to my almost-three-year-old son as much as possible. You want to get naked and eat a popsicle on the front porch? Sure! You want to blast Hot Snakes and Jimmy Eat World and scream-sing along? Let’s do it. You want to sit under the duvet while I floof it high up in the air to make the bed? Yeah, buddy! +A teeny tiny Kodak camera I bought that’s literally a keychain (it’s called a “Charmera”) that takes really crappy videos but is impossibly cute and way more fun than pulling out my phone

Recommending “The Wind” by Laura Groff for your next short story! It’s one I’ll probably think about for the rest of my life.

My four fun things – butternut squash ravioli at Trader Joe’s, my daughter coming home for Fall break this weekend, the honey locusts changing colors outside my office and starting Love is Blind UK this week!

FRESH FIGS AT THE MARKET. They are unreal. I made friends with the vendor and sometimes I get a free extra. I feel like a princess whenever I eat them.

I’ve been driving for a long time and I still would love a bumper sticker that says “I’m Freaking Trying!” lol.

I feel like a student driver in my own body a lot of the time. Solidarity!

Well, I read this “four fun things” before bed and then promptly fell asleep and dreamt that I was in your home, Jo, blabbing on and on about my favorite four fun things. 1. Fall; 2. My bookclub; 3. Being my current age; 4. My kids. Talk about the most mundane, middle aged lady dream.

My current fun thing is that I got a super cheap dollhouse from Michaels and am turning it into an NYC psychotherapy practice (it’s a townhouse). I just last night finished the interior (minus the furniture) of the typical psychoanalyst’s office (it has French doors to a balcony, I made a herringbone wood floor and a wood ceiling, and striped wallaper below a chair railing and floral above). I am also trying to make some of the furniture myself and made a coffee table last night. Next up is my personal dream office which will have Nathalie Lété pink cat wallpaper. I’m making a lot of mistakes – but it is so fun.

Fun find: I recently completed a documentary about the culture of materials, wrapping, and care in Japan, which is home. A couple of days before the decision from our very-first-choice-all-fingers-crossed film festival, I had the clearest of dreams that our team was having a blast on the red carpet. Two days later, we received our acceptance letter. Deeeelight! But also, as a mostly dusty art-studio-teacher-person, what on earth to wear?! I scoured the dream and recalled wearing a long black dress. My first online search brought up Jennifer Lawrence in a beautiful Dior gown from years ago. Exact match! But, not exactly being in the market for Hollywood couture, I cast about for something similar. Found nothing. Considered having something made. Got distracted buying old ceramics on online auction sites. Fast forward a month and at the top of the auction list… THE VERY SAME DRESS. The actual Dior dress being sold from the back of a magazine closet (I think). Made from beautiful raw silk that’s often gathered wild from forests after the silkworms emerge from their cocoons – and from a runway show in Morocco celebrating intercultural exchange through craft and materials. Huh! Though not in the habit of doing this, I wrote a note to Mother Nature, asking that, as the film is very much in her honour, she might consider this my battle armour. Set a max bid, paid respects to the full moon, and fell asleep. And Mother Nature only went an obliged. So, fun thing: I’ll be wearing it to our premiere in a fortnight! I’ll likely still be a little dusty. 🖤

I’m loving Aysegül Savas’s latest collection of short stories, “Long Distance,” if you need a new collection to read together. :)

I have a request to parents of teens-learning-to-drive. I live in a college town, so traffic surges during the school year with younger drivers who seem to not understand the importance of a red light/Stop sign. (It’s bad.) Please impart to your young drivers that STOP is not an acronym meaning “Suggest To Only Pause”. It literally means, FULL STOP. Same with a red light. Stop and actually look for other moving vehicles and pedestrians. You can’t control them when you’re not in the vehicle, but help them understand that not stopping and looking could impact someone else’s life in a horrible way. They have to pay attention.

My fun thing is Brandi Carlile doing the Ted Lasso theme song on the season 4 finale!!! Is there anything she can’t do??

I recently made this apple bread from the butternut bakery bread with some orchard apples that were otherwise ‘meh’ – my family cannot stay out of it https://butternutbakeryblog.com/apple-cinnamon-bread/ It’s full blown fall in MN and so glorious and beautiful. We’re in a ‘heat wave’ this weekend and going to take advantage of the last 70’s/80’s til May and wear dresses and sandals and play outside. We’re remodeling our kids bathroom, a project we’ve been saving for years for. It’s been so fun to pull the design together and slowly, carefully select materials and picturing them as teenagers getting ready at the vanity.

Highly recommend Claire Keegan’s short stories particularly if you can pop into Daunt Books in Marylebone for a copy. Why are Europe editions so much more appealing? Smaller size and better cover designs or is it just the joy of unknown bookshops?

A couple fun things from my sphere: I have a porch goose (basic, I know) and I just changed her outfit to a witch costume. I get lots of great feedback from neighbours, including the three little kids across the street. Also, it might only be fun to my nerdy self, but I’m changing jobs and desks within my department soon, so I’m shopping for a fresh pretty notebook and a new pen holder.

It’s not “fun” fun it’s exhilarating and inspiring and it makes me mad and hopeful and alive (but mostly hopeful): joining the highschoolers in their protests, to show support. They are joyous and brave and bright. I am proud of them. Love from Paris

If you re into short stories Lucia Corbin is the greatest, A manual for cleaning women, her writing is fun and brilliant and unexpected. Love from Paris

Those bow croissants look absolutely adorable and delicious! What a creative way to celebrate a store opening. Wishing Jessie all the best with the new shoe store in London The Freak Circus

I am 55, never loved driving but do it daily, and would rather have a horse :). My sister bought a 4 pack of “student driver – please be patient” bumper stickers and she only needed two for their vehicles. Guess who is sporting one of the extra ones? Except for my colleagues at my middle school who have been behind me while I was driving, no one else on the road knows my secret. Everyone could use a little grace and patience on the road these days!!

I love, love, love that tradition, Joanna. “Ayiti” is Roxane Gay’s compilation of fictional short stories about and related to Haitians and Haiti- mainly the female experience. It was gripping, heartbreaking, and eye-opening. I couldn’t put it down. It’s actually physically small in size, too, so it comes off as a humble, but mighty gift. One year I included it in a favorite things gift for my teaching department and everyone raved about it (unsurprisingly, since we were all middle school English teachers).

Bought the bumper sticker for my teen.

It came out a while ago, but I just watched “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” on Peacock and really enjoyed it! I was lured in by Daniel Radcliffe and Tracy Morgan, and ended up loving the lead actresses as well. It’s hilarious- from the producers of 30 Rock.

The series Riot Women on HBO.Five women over 50 start a punk band. By the director Sally Wainwright of Happy Valley fame. Sooo goooood

I saw the best bumper sticker today: GO AROUND ME. I LEFT ON TIME!

Love it all. Random blog idea: Joanna, I do not know if you are a perfume person (I sort of think no, but I do not know why) but I have been hooked lately. Maybe you could do a round-up of perfume your friends wear or something? Just a thought.

Was recently walking in New York and saw a vanity plate, “ELEMNOP”. Took me a minute but then I giggled thinking about the previous posts on here of other vanity plates. Thrilled to have spotted one!

In the pandemic a friend started a book club that was revolutionary – we picked a book of short stories and then we would read the story out loud at the meeting before discussing – so no homework! It was so much fun. We made it all the way through NK Jemisin’s When is Black Future Month (so good!)

The song “Fabulous” by MEEK! On repeat for dayssssssss in my house!!! Such a bop!

Fun things: Buying cheap concert tickets (I’m talking $25 for tickets to see Edgehill in Portland) months and months ago and realizing I have a show this weekend, and two next weekend (DJ Shadow and the Rocky Horror Picture Show)! Present me is thanking past me for thinking ahead and saying YES!

I love Madewell bags! I own at least three, two are the same one in different colors. They are well priced considering the quality and cost of designer handbags these days. I always wait for the sales.

I’ve been noticing a lot of “new driver/learning” type bumper stickers lately and I think it’s a great idea! I grew up in Vancouver, BC where drivers with their learners permit have to put a red “L” magnet on the back of the car (totally humiliating when you are a teenager haha) and then graduate to a green “N” magnet once you pass the road test. Now that I live in the US, while I know I should be more patient and give some grace with other drivers, it’s hard when the culprit is usually just someone on their phone. The magnets help! I’d be curious to hear readers from other countries share a bit about new driver regulations where they are from!

I’ve re-discovered the marvelous mental health benefits of having a big analog creative project! I’ve always been a big knitter, and lately I’ve been into needle-felting. I just made a life-size portrait of a friend’s pet tortoise – the challenge of getting the pattern on the shell and the shading on the feet was a very welcome respite from a) work and b) the news! Now I have to find a medium that doesn’t give me repetitive stress injuries!

I know there are lots of movie-related posts here on COJ, but can anyone recommend a good one for a ladies night in? Open to all genres. Just looking for something that’s great for enjoying with besties. Thanks!

Somebody get that teen driver a bow croissant.

I’d highly recommend the book pictured next to Emma Cline’s also! A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF by Megha Majumdar? It’s wonderful and worth reading as well! Asks terrific questions about what it means to be a good person, a mother, care, harm, and our climate future.

Fun of late – breaking out all my tweed now that crisp cool autumn days are here in Ontario. With frosty nights here, I went on a frenzy cutting armfuls of flowers from my garden and the house is bursting with delicate pink blooms. Reading the new Rolling Stone interview with Harry Styles and Thom Yorke, so much coolness in one room!

“A Temporary Matter”! I feel so seen, Jo! Writing perfection. ❤️❤️

I would especially look to indie presses for some great short story collections! They are publishing amazing work on this front.

I just reread Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection from 1999, and was reminded how good it and she is. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction—for good reason!

The picture of the books has the wrong title for Jhumpa Lahore, but instead is another title by a different Indian author.

For short stories, I can’t recommend Curtis Sittenfeld enough! I can never put down her short stories. Highly recommend both of these collections https://bookshop.org/p/books/show-don-t-tell-stories-curtis-sittenfeld/9a12a8937b0e4607?ean=9780593446751 https://bookshop.org/p/books/you-think-it-i-ll-say-it-reese-s-book-club-stories-curtis-sittenfeld/c20c0deb35c5905c

Currently reading Kiran Desai’s “Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard” and rewatching The Nanny sitcom from my teenage years!

“A Temporary Matter” is so so good. Lahiri is a genius. I reread Unaccustomed Earth every year.

it’s late in the evening here, I open coj and I see bow-croissants. life is good and I do not even want to know about the other 3 fun things. thank you.

The woman holding the bow croissants…her outfit is dreamy! And teenage driver over here, newly minted. Love the sticker. Lol at “but whatever I know you guys will get it.” At this point we’re all tried and true friends.