Weekend Reads #177
Shop the collage: rug | lamp | chair | mirror | sofa
If you follow me on Instagram you know I rented an office space in my town center and have been slowly furnishing it. The building will be open Monday and I'll be working out of there most weekdays. Above is a collage of what I have thus far… which does not include a desk.
I really want to get a vintage desk. My dream is a desk like this one, but I'm not in the UK and they don't ship to the US and such a desk costs more like $2,000 in the States which is way more than I can afford. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get to a few vintage places in the area to see what they have; I'm okay with something with a few dings and scratches. I also reached out to some folks on Facebook Marketplace and my college friend is a bit of an MCM picker and has sent me some ideas I am mulling over. I've been working for the past year from a chair or couch so I can continue, but it would really nice to have a home base for all my office stuff. Cross your fingers for me I find something great!
I'll have a post about my office next week in detail, but I am just too excited not to share now! If you go to Instagram, I have a “Highlight” called “New Office” where I am sharing all the details. And above are links to the pieces I've gotten so far. Thank you to Albany Park and Interior Icons for gifting items for this office; I have never done such a collaboration and was really surprised these stellar furniture retailers wanted to work with a small fry like me!
Albany Park also has extended a promo code for Wardrobe Oxygen readers: use ALISON10 at checkout to get 10% off your order. I know a lot of furniture retailers are saying it will take months for delivery; Albany Park, a Black-owned business based in NYC has sofas, chairs, loveseats, and sectionals in stock you can receive in just weeks. I have dreamed of a green velvet sofa for eons and Albany Park made my dream come true. As an owner of this sofa with this ottoman, I can say it's comfy, well made, and easier to put together than IKEA!
Weekend Reads
Modern-day trackers reinterpret Stone Age cave footprints (spoiler alert, they were female footprints). (Science News)
‘It’s a walkout!’: Inside the fast-food workers’ season of rebellion. (Washington Post)
How Pinterest utterly ruined photo search on the internet. (Input)
How I came to believe I deserved more. (TueNight)
Gen X women are realizing the upsides of being middle-aged. (Fourth Wave for Medium)
Is “cozy season” a cry for help? (Mothers Under the Influence)
Shopping for a guy in your life and struggling to figure out a gift? This gift guide for men is full of fresh ideas that don't suck. No alcohol, no sports memorabilia, no socks, and no hot sauce memberships.
The hidden costs of living alone. (The Atlantic)
My friend Susan just got back from a 4-week trip to Europe and she shared what she packed, what she wore, and what she wish she had in her suitcase. (Une Femme d'un Certain Age)
Why we should talk about what Kyrsten Sinema is wearing. (New York Times)
Actually, everyone is thinking about you. (Vice)
Our dining table is a handmade one that is an atypical size and it's near impossible to find tablecloths to fit it. I recently learned about Loom & Table, which offers custom size tablecloths and matching napkins in a variety of fabrics, prints, and textures. For decades, this NYC-based company has been crafting table linens for the finest restaurants, hotels, and resorts and now are available to everyday consumers. I placed an order and will be sure to share my thoughts after hosting Thanksgiving dinner!
On Botox and sharing reading glasses. (Crow's Feet for Medium)
From Jane Austen to Rosa Parks, from Joan Didion to Stacey Abrams, saying no has been the key to female self-respect and political empowerment. (The Atlantic)
The fallacy of eating the way your great-grandmother ate. (Burnt Toast)
Moms with access to remote work were most likely to leave their jobs in pandemic, new research shows. (The 19th)
The last drugstore: Rural America is losing its pharmacies. (Washington Post)
If this country won't listen to moms, I'm asking men to start shouting. (New York Times)
Changing fashion’s buying practices: What’s to come for brands. (Vogue Business)
Are you a fan of Wirecutter? Then you MUST read this. (Wirecutter Union)
In case you missed it, Universal Standard launched 100% cashmere sweaters in sizes 00-40 for just $98 and I got one early to review it!
Hear/See/Read
We finally got to seeing Dune, which is available on HBO Max through November 18th and is also in theaters and IMAX. We watched it on HBO Max and if you can see this movie, do it!
Everyone these days needs to have some hot take that will motivate people to click, to share, to write counter think pieces. I saw a lot of articles saying this movie isn't all that. I don't know what junk they're smoking because this movie was beautiful, it was possible to follow along even if you haven't read the book (or didn't finish it) or seen the last film (or can't recall if you did or not because you likely did in college at 3am while both inebriated and half asleep).
The cast is great, the film is beautiful, the story is made current and relevant. I cannot wait for Part 2 which is to come out in 2023. If you are comfortable going. toa movie theater, this film would be best on the big screen. If it's at home where you watch it, try to have the room as dark as possible so it feels really immersive.
For Your Entertainment
You know those love songs, those swooping ballads that make you think of the moment when two characters finally kiss in a movie, the songs that would play at homecoming and you wished your crush would ask you to dance, those songs you hear at 20 and swear you'll play someday at your wedding? I'm such a sucker for those kinds of songs, so when “Angel Baby” from Troye Sivan came out, I was obsessed. Doesn't hurt that I love me some Troye Sivan. And then I saw this video and was blown away.
I know there are going to be some folks who will be horrified by this video. I'd like those folks to recall the videos from the '90s and envision Janet Jackson or Britney or Fiona Apple and all those Calvin Klein ads. They were seen as artistic and edgy and iconic and I think this video is as well, and clearly inspired by that era. It's even in the square shape of videos from that time. “This song and video are a celebration of love and queerness and tenderness and sex and fantasy,” said Sivan. Enjoy.
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I love the vibe of your new office SO much! Really cool. You might want to check out a place that’s near both of us:
https://evolution-home.com/. It’s in Arlington and I’ve scored some fabulous finds for our small house. Happy sleuthing!!
You aren’t too far from Baltimore, have you ever been to Second Chance? Enormous warehouse of used furniture and more — think enormous stained glass windows rescued from churches, 10′ tall marble mantels from old mansions, architectural salvage, etc. Some junk, some $$$, plenty in between. Spendier but helpful and lovely folks at Paradiso in Hampden; they have lots of mid-century modern.
Not too far away are some vegan eateries (or vegan friendly) — Johnny Rad’s Pizza, Gangster Vegan, Liquid Earth. A little further would be STEM, Pauli Gees, Dodah’s Kitchen, Sweet 27, or Golden West.
I do love that video Angel Baby…so sweet and so real. Thank you for posting it.
Alison, Sweet Modern in Akron, Ohio specializes in mid-century modern. Link to their beautiful desks – and they ship! https://sweetmodern.com/products/desks/c43/
I cringe every time I see an article about coziness. I live in Hawaii. I don’t need cozy sweaters, cozy throws, cozy socks, etc., etc. Not that I expect magazines to ignore that it’s cold for some people but they could at least find different descriptors, couldn’t they? And honestly, when I lived in cold climates, I was an Army nurse and a single parent so while I would have enjoyed a little coziness then, I was working my butt off at the hospital and at home. So thanks for that article. I loved it.
I admit, I love that song Angel Baby too;)
‘It’s a walkout!’: Inside the fast-food workers’ season of rebellion. (Washington Post)
What I liked about it was the story of the workers and how they are strong and supportive of each other, despite their difficult circumstances they proved they did something significant. I wish I could contact them and tell them they are awesome and I respect them.
This is my hometown. I am actually the direct descendant of one of the more minor of the town’s oil barons, but the money didn’t make it beyond his daughter, my great-grandmother. Jobs have been leaking out of Bradford since the early seventies. I am so ptoud of Dustin. I am so angry at the the economic forces that milked Bradford and so many other towns with abundant natural resources bone-dry and at a legislature which sees $7.25 as an adequate minimum wage.
Another great collection of reads. I especially enjoyed the Burnt Toast essay re eating as your grandmother did, both the essay and the comments expressed exactly what I’ve thought about that quote. As often happens i read something that’s proclaimed as universal truth and wonder if I’m the only one who thinks its not, so it was/is so nice to see others saying, and so elegantly, what I’ve been feeling
I think you are on the mark about Dune being a beautiful movie.
If you read the book, and remembered it well, then you knew the plot followed the book pretty closely.
If you didn’t read the book, or you read it only once long ago, I think you might feel the movie could have had a little more dialog.