My Latest Score: The Asymmetrical Sweater.
Rebecca Taylor has an epic sale raging right now, and I couldn’t resist this asymmetrical sweater I’ve been eyeing all season long, on sale for even CHEAPER now at Saks here! (My loss is your gain.) I also love this (for a Baptism / shower of some sort), this (with bare feet at a summer BBQ), and this (the perfect sweater!)
You’re Sooooo Popular:
The most popular items on Le Blog this week:
+This drugstore shampoo and conditioner, which is supposed to be incredible.
+The fastest, easiest way to shine your rock. (I’m obsessed.)
+One of the top books on my reading list.
+The baby shades I’m ordering mini.
+The best laundry baskets ever. I know it’s weird to rave about laundry baskets, but these are seriously sturdy, and they stack, and they have handles. Incidentally, might need to update my favorite home products because I’m also now obsessed with these kitchen towels. They’re absorbent and I like that one side is terry-cloth (great for drying) and the other is waffle (great for wiping hands and leaving items to air dry because of the texture).
+My new favorite cosmetic toy.
#Turbothot: The Bomb Cyclone + Metereology.
When we heard the phrases “bomb cyclone” and “bombogensis” thrown around on Wednesday evening, Mr. Magpie and I exchanged skeptical glances. We’ve long felt that the whole weather “industry” is insane — it’s oddly National Enquirer-esque with its overwrought sloganeering and over-hyped headlines, but it somehow finds its way into serious national news outlets. On Thursday morning, I watched in confusion as the normal news hour (we watch the news every morning while eating breakfast — yogurt, fruit, and a peanut butter-smeared waffle for Mr. Magpie; toast for me; fruit and yogurt for mini) was entirely supplanted by a segment on “The Bomb Cyclone” that showcased stretches of ten minutes or more of uninformative footage of buses driving around Queens and Manhattan, freezing weathermen shivering as they explained that it was “slushy” and “mighty cold” outside, and occasional shots of the snow-covered highways around New York. I mean, yes, the storm was intense and dangerous and something the likes of which we’ve never (?) seen before. But an hour of mulling over the same uninformative bit?
It got me thinking: maybe intense weather “does well” for news programs because it legitimately impacts our lives in the narrowest of ways and people are innately self-interested. (And I don’t mean this in a soapbox-y way, either–I’m just as self-interested as the next Tom, Dick, or Harry.) Like, we might react strongly to or have opinions about the daily news headlines, but I would elect that it’s rare that watching the news elicits much of an immediate reaction from any of us on a daily basis. Intense weather, though: it might send us to the store to stock up (as it clearly did in Manhattan on Wednesday night, when Instacart had no additional delivery windows for the following day and the checkout line at the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle snaked all the way to the produce section), or lead us to ask our bosses whether we can work from home, or nudge us to trek down to the storage unit for snow boots.
Or maybe weather is just one of those topics that all adults gravitate towards. How often do you mention the weather over the course of a week? I probably do it twice daily. It’s an easy bridge to build with a stranger; it often plays a role in our plans — derailing them, or changing them, or stalling them; it can impact our mood; it can serve to remind us that we are, at the end of the day, just (wo-)men in a vast and often unfriendly natural landscape.
In short, I’m sure that news stations cover these intense weather situations for a reason. They know what markets well to their demographics; they know when people will be turning on the news, and for what reasons. But my God — I am so tired of the hype! These weather pieces feel like an elaborate marketing machine, marketing…what? Fearmongering to what end? Why must they send these reporters out onto frosty beaches with 60 mph winds and tidal waves topping out at 8 feet? Just to prove to us that the weather is “really bad”? I wonder whether they think of themselves as courageous for such pieces. No doubt it takes a certain amount of gumption to brave those conditions, but — for what? I’ll take your word for it: it’s cold outside.
#Shopaholic:
+OMG this sweater! It looks so Missoni-esque, and I love the shape! (Bonus: under $60).
+This raffia-trim dress is so fun! (And an extra 40% off!)
+I’m into this striped, blouson-sleeved top — on sale for $20!
+Super fun dress for a spring event. Love the ribbon detail!
+One of my favorite children’s clothing brands, La Coqueta, has a great sale with amazing finds like this and this.
+A girl can dream…obsessed with this top!!!
+Well THIS in the blush pink looks like the coziest thing ever!