Hi, me again. It’s been a while! Honestly this whole “living through a global pandemic” thing has seriously depleted my mental capacity for writing and reading and even actually thinking about things but stuff in general has started to “ramp up” again so let’s give this a try.
I got a car! It’s not brand new, it’s my parents’ old car which they sold to me for free because they are the greatest parents ever and I’m a spoiled piece of shit. But it’s my car! The official paperwork says so! It’s a 2009 Suzuki SX4.
Her name is Daisy.
I haven’t had my own car since 2006, when I hydroplaned and crashed my car into the median on 78 West near Harrisburg, PA. The car was “totaled” and then I had no car. It was a tough time because I felt like I NEEDED a car and was lost without one. I had a panic attack at a car dealership when we were getting a car for my 17 year old sister because I thought about how I didn’t have a car and like what was I going to DO?! It was a dark time.
In January 2008 I moved to the Heights in Jersey City and started my commuting to work in Manhattan duties and to my surprise and delight I DID NOT NEED A CAR AT ALL. Like it was mind-blowing, how little I needed a car. Growing up in a rural area where you needed to drive everywhere made me feel like you couldn’t get anywhere without one. But in “the city” we have a pretty robust network of public transportation, ever heard of it? I could get to work AND fun and back home again all on the PATH train. And if I wanted to go home-home, I could take NJTransit or the bus. The bus sucks but yes it is available.
And so it went for many years, until 3 years ago when I moved to The Hill and I was like holy shit I’m so far from everything and I don’t have laundry in my building and I might actually lose my mind. But before I lost my mind I noticed that when people came to visit or even if I just looked out the window, 95% of the time there were parking spots available. “Parking” was one of my biggest concerns when considering have a car in “the city” and it seemed like on The Hill there were always parking spaces close to my house (knock on wood, now they’ll disappear ugh).
So I figured it was time to get a car. My parents had an old one they weren’t using and Daisy was just sitting there sulking and collecting a layer of pollen all over her from the trees she was parked under and she needed a new human friend and it worked out perfectly!
My sister and my brother-in-law also played a part in this beautiful story by helping to get her checked out, fixed up, and road ready. AND I AM BEYOND GRATEFUL.
Now I use Daisy to do super fun shit like get groceries…
Go on hikes…
And drop off and pick up laundry.
I will say that my favorite thing to do is the grocery thing. Like it is so gratifying to not have to worry about the weight of the groceries you’re getting, like “Will I be able to carry them?” because you DON’T have to carry them until you get home and you can take your time bringing them all inside and up the stairs and it is just the best. I can’t recommend it enough.
Hiking is fun too, like really freaking fun, but I’ll tell you about that another day.
Anyway good to see you again and maybe if you need a ride somewhere I’ll give you one.
It took me so long to write about this and I know I keep saying that and I’m truly sorry but this is my recap of Walls to Smalls at Deep Space Gallery.
Walls to Smalls is a show featuring art from street artists that usually get their art on using a “wall” as their canvas but for this show they did art on smaller pieces of material that then went onto a wall for display. Walls and smalls, smalls and walls.
The cycle continues.
As always, it’s a great show! And it’s there for a few weeks so you have plenty of time to check it out. DON’T SLEEP, as they say.
Let’s talk about the art.
Duel ris had pieces that looked like they were made with sharpie in a notebook and I LOVE THAT. It really makes me excited that real art can be made with such simple tools. Tools that are fully available to me and everyone but only a special person, aka a person with a special skill, aka an ARTIST, could make art this nice with two very simple tools.
Please continue to blow my mind, thx.
Blusterone had work that showed scenes from the subway and it made me think about how I really haven’t gone on the subway in a REALLY LONG time. Like maybe not since last summer? The PATH train sure, but not the subway. Weird.
We stared at these Mustart pieces for a while and tried to pick out all the different elements we could see. It was fun to take the time to really stare and study.
Most importantly we saw a uterus.
Beyond that, we all were pretty pumped about the chains turning into birds.
Rubicon – do we know the people depicted here? These paintings made me think I knew the people in them because a few weeks ago I saw the artist post a call for old Polaroids that he would then paint. I don’t know why that made me think I knew them but the man especially looked really familiar.
This piece by TDee is a peacock, which is a kind of bird so I love it, duh.
AND IT IS SO BRILLIANTLY BLUE😍
This piece by Boogierez reminded me of Sara Fasolin, an artist I admire on Instagram. In my notes I referred to this as “bird/teeth Instagram thing.” Because this lady ALSO has teeth on her in a weird place. Teeth in weird places is so creepy but in a fun scary way.
Ntel had this fun piece with a bright green background and PINK FROGS. Pink animals? Can’t go wrong.
Optimo almost always has this top hat guy around but this time he was IN GOOOOOLD. And I loooove goooold.
Chris RWK’s pieces had this friendly looking little robot and I love this friendly looking little robot.
Of course the one with the little red bird is my fav.
It’s essential that we befriend the robots so we’re on their team when they become our overlords.
Another favorite recurring character is this guy by Keith VanPelt. This time around I really loved the one with a feather in his hat. Because feathers are from birds.
Barc The Dog I’ve never seen before but LOVE the dog and its shark/dino teeth. It’s very cartoon-ish and cartoons have my heart forever.
Boogierez had the only photos in the show and photos are hard to make special, in my opinion. Especially because everyone has the ability to take photos at their fingertips. But these are special! They stand out.
That’s not even everyone! There are a ton of artists in this show. These are just some of my personal favs but I think you should go and check it out to see what YOU like. Don’t take MY word for it, I’m an amateur.
Walls to Smalls is at Deep Space Gallery for the next few weeks. You can DM them on Instagram to make an appointment!
It’s BROOD X, BABY! Brood X is back in a big way and they’re ready to crawl around and make some noise and breed and also get eaten by some birds! BROOD X IN DA HOUSE.
On the news I’ve heard them say “Brood ten” but I personally prefer the “Brood EXXX” pronunciation because it’s WAY MORE BADASS and these bugs are BADASS AS FUQ.
I spent some time communing with them this past weekend and I’d like to give you a full report.
First of all, I was super pumped for them to come out.
I knew they were coming because we all did, and I started to think about the last time they were here. When the cicadas came out 17 years ago in 2004 I was 19 years old, between my freshman and sophomore year of college. It was an interesting time. It felt tumultuous but I think I was just dramatic. I remember thinking about what my life would be like now, 17 years from then. And I reflected on it like “the next time these cicadas come, who will I be?” I didn’t think about how old I would be, it wasn’t a number. It was more a…vibe? What would my LIFE VIBE be. I kind of didn’t know. I just wondered.
It’s weird how something that happens periodically can be used to track growth or decline or whatever. The cicadas, the olympics, the seasons. A reference point for a place and a space in time and the person we were at that particular space and place.
Back then I was off school for the summer and working at our community pool as a lifeguard and also teaching cheerleading camp. I definitely had more than one “boyfriend”…IT WAS THE NAUGHTY AUGHTIES. Also I was 19. Like come on. Who DIDN’t have more than one “boyfriend”?!
I remember partying like all night every night and sneaking into the pool we worked at for late night swims. Legit scaling a large fence and running and jumping into the pool. Shh, don’t tell my old boss.
I guess that was probably illegal.
During the day the cicadas took over THE WORLD and crashed into everything and made little kids cry and many dogs ate them and barfed. It was a whole thing.
Back then I tried to think about/remember if I had seen them 17 years before THEN, in 1987, but I only would have been 2 years old so I didn’t remember. Apparently they were around, but more in Long Island. I guess. According to the Internet.
So fast forward to now and I am who I am now and only have one boyfriend (like a real one, no “quotations,” a significant improvement from multiple in quotations ones) and I was excited for them to come back around mostly because I love birds and especially my mom’s chickens and they love to feast on regular-ass end-of-the-summer cicadas so I thought they would be PUMPED to feast on a whole big swarm of them.
It’s part of their cicada strategy! There are so very many of them that they expect to, as a majority, get gobbled up by predators. They “expect” it from like an evolutionary level. I don’t think they really planned this with actual cicada thought processes.
Or maybe they did.
BUT there are so many that even though a ton get eaten there are still a healthy amount of them that breed and produce larvae and the larvae end up underground and the whole party starts again.
Unfortunately there weren’t very many at my parents’ house this time. They live in a river valley and I wonder if that has something to do with it but what do I know. My sister’s house, on the other hand, HAD A TON. And it’s very near the pool I once worked at that also had a ton. Both places are at a high elevation for the area. Maybe that has something to do with it but again what do I know.
Either way I made my parents take me up there so I could see more than the insufficient amount of periodical cicadas I was seeing at their house.
We got out of the car and could hear a low echoing creepy sound. They make the craziest weirdest robot dinosaur alien sound. I don’t even know what it comes from as far as a part of their body generating it but it’s kind of like a weird screech or scream. There are groups of them in trees and grass kind of constantly singing and calling out to each other, but if you pick one up or it flies into you and gets pissed it FREAKS THE HECK OUT. I mean I don’t know if they can get mad, I think they’re just disoriented and screaming out to their pals for validation or whatever.
They seem to have a lot of trouble navigating, overall. They just kind of randomly fly around and bump into stuff. I question whether their freaky red eyes can even see sight. I guess I should Google it.
If I looked up toward the sun, I could see them skittering past in a flutter of translucent wings. In some spots it was a cloud of them, in others just a few random stragglers.
There were a ton of them dead on the road, on the sidewalk, in the swimming pool.
One day we went back to the river at my parents’ house and the Brood X crew seemed to be having a ton of trouble dealing with open water. The dragonflies mocked the cicadas that fell to their demise, their thin wings so wet they could never fly again, screaming as they were swept away by the current.
I used a small stick to save a few, mostly because I wanted to pick them up and check them out. Fish jumped up out of the water to eat the others.
IT WAS A FRENZY.
Overall it was most weird to hear the cicada noise at the beginning of the summer instead of at the end. There are always regular cicadas every summer and I’m sure they’ll be back this year in August, but it’s a very “end of summer” feeling I get when I hear that sound and I had to keep reminding myself it’s still the beginning.
IT IS STILL THE BEGINNING, YOU GUYS.
I’m pretty sure they’re fading away now and they’ll all be dead soon, and the larvae will be safe underground to appear again in 17 years.
Who will we be then?! What will be our life vibe?! How many boyfriends will we have?! WILL THE ACTUAL ALIENS COME TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES?! I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
On Saturday I was VERY hungover from a wedding I went to Friday evening (weddings are back!) But I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed and onto my boyfriend’s scooter and made it to Canco Park for the Jersey City Women’s Collaborative summer clothing swap.
First of all, Canco Park is awesome. WHY HAVE I NEVER BEEN TO CANCO PARK, YOU GUYS? WHO EVEN AM I?
Now that I’ve been, I have to go back on a sunny day, because they had a TON of flowers…I think it may be like, their “thing.” I also swear I saw a goldfinch but I could have just imagined it because a little boy kept talking to me and I felt awkward and was looking for more things to have a conversation with him about because he was a person deserving of my attention.
I really hope it was really there.
Beyond that it was the perfect place for a summer clothing swap AND a self-serve tie dye station with gentle expert “try dye” guidance from Kiki Buccini!
When I arrived they had already set up a small area of the park with clothes that gals had brought with them to swap. It was a little grove of trees surrounded by a kind of railing thing that was great for hanging clothes on! They also had some tables and clothing racks there but I was really impressed by the use of the space that was already there.
I LOVE A GOOD USE OF SPACE.
Just like at their swap in January, we took timed turns picking out new items and it was all very organized and nothing scary or competitive happened. Anytime I go anywhere my biggest fear is that something competitive will happen.
Please no.
Unlike the other swap, we didn’t drop off our items in the days/weeks before and instead brought them with us on the day of. I was a little worried that it could get confusing or overwhelming but it didn’t at all! Again, very well organized. I’m always impressed with folks that pull off full-on fun and relaxing events with ease and make the whole thing look effortless. I know it’s not! But I applaud their ability to make it look easy and also make it fun.
FUN FUN FUN!
Speaking of fun I got a TON of stuff that I love including but not limited to: 3 pairs of dangly earrings, a black Tahari suit (like what do I even need a suit for? BUT I LOVE IT), some sundresses, and a lace LBD. I love these swaps. I LOVE THEM. Just because I love shopping so incredibly much and it is 100% a problem and I definitely need shopping-specific therapy and/or support groups to stop myself, but this gives me a shopping experience without shopping! Like I’m not spending any money besides the money that I have already spent on the clothes I brought with me that I don’t want anymore!
It seems like the perfect activity for women like myself, really.
Another perfect activity for me is tie-dyeing because it is FUN and COLORFUL. We were instructed to bring whites we wanted to dye and I brought all kinds of whites except for the one white (shirt) I REALLY WANTED TO TIE DYE that I got from The Grind at the Jersey City Mural Festival.
The white that didn’t make it.
Nay, that particular white was left at home. I was pissed.
But I did have a grand time dyeing the whites that I managed to remember and for that I am forever grateful. Kiki walked us through how to tie dye and went over some different patterns, and then it was time to party! Well, the “wear gloves and carefully dye stuff on a tarp so as not to mess up Canco Park” kind of party.
It was an ebullient afternoon and I can’t wait for another swap. I’ll start looking for old clothes now. I also still have some whites to tie dye so hopefully that comes up again. If not I might do my own tie dye activity, I’ll let you know!
It’s summer and it’s time to talk about this and I’m so sweaty. “This” being how sweaty I am all the time. Like constantly.
I know it’s gross and not appropriate to discuss but I’m so sweaty and I’m really struggling here and it seems like no one else is dealing with this at the same level so this is a cry for help/commiseration.
It’s not that I’m just hot (in temperature) (and in hotness) (I’m a hottie), I’m hot AND full on sweating. It is literally dripping down my face and getting into my eyes and stinging and burning.
In the 90s/early 2000s when I had very thin eyebrows the sweat getting in my eyes was even WORSE and I was forced to run to the bathroom in stinging pain during cheerleading practice.
I’m glad my eyebrows grew back and now offer me slightly more protection but the protection is still LIMITED. My eyes still BURN.
Even my thick ass eyebrows cannot protect me from how much I sweat.
When I arrive at a fitness class I am already sweating from the frenzied effort of merely getting there. It is already pouring down my face as I scamper up the stairs and hurl myself through the door.
As I get set up in my spot the sweat continues to pour. I have to dry myself off with a towel BEFORE CLASS EVEN STARTS.
The worst part of this is that NO ONE ELSE IS VISIBLY SWEATING. I am the only one every time. I’ve checked! At least during this before class time, I’m truly the only one sweating. Once class begins like 10 or so minutes into it I can see other people sweating and I feel a little better.
But then I realize they are just normal sweating and I have a LITERAL PUDDLE on the floor under me and am constantly wiping my face with my towel.
The towel thing has been difficult for the past year, too. My gym stopped providing “dry your face during class” small towels, I think because of covid. Which makes sense! Totally cool with it. But this means that in my morning rush to get out the door I have to remember to grab one of my hand towels from home to bring with me.
And I don’t always remember.
And class is next to impossible for me without a towel so then I have to use a PAPER TOWEL and it just doesn’t feel right.
IT JUST DOESN’T.
I’ve spoken about my face at length but I sweat a lot everywhere. If I wear shorts, my shins get SOAKED and SLIPPERY and it’s difficult to get a grip on them if I need to stretch or something.
Perhaps the most embarrassing part of sweating a lot is when the BACK of my legs/my butt sweat when I’m sitting down and I’ll either leave a puddle of sweat on the seat I was in or completely soak my pants/skirt/whatever and it will have a big wet spot in the back of it and like Jo at the fancy party in Little Women (are you a Winona Jo or a Saoirse Jo? I’m still deciding…), I have to walk around with my butt toward the wall until it dries.
What a nightmare.
I’ve always gotten so sweaty and I guess there’s really no way around it. I like to say, “It’s because my body is highly eifficient!” But that’s probably just a scientific fact I made up. Who knows. Of course one can use deodorant/antiperspirant and I DO, and not even the “natural” kind because that stuff is “garbage,” but that’s only on one part of your body. And it’s more about the SHEER VOLUME of sweat all over all the time, making everything wet and uncomfortable and slippery and embarrassing.
UGH IT’S THE WORST.
Okay so, does this happen to anyone else? Please say it does. I need some validation on this one thx.
Last night we greatly enjoyed a wine tasting with Lourdes of the Vine at lil dove cafe in the Jersey City Heights. I had it planned as a special date night and it didn’t disappoint with its special-ness.
Full disclosure, every time I go to a wine tasting I’m drunk beforehand or I get too drunk during and forget everything. I’ve even gone on a wine-tasting only vacation and didn’t learn a single thing.
But this one I remember some things from!
We were seated in the backyard kind of class-room style facing the front FOR INSTRUCTION and I made us sit in the front row because we sit in the front row in this family. Because I’m deaf and can’t hear in the back…but I also like being in the front and raising my hand and volunteering for things. I’m basically an ideal audience member.
lil dove cafe’s backyard is so peaceful and lovely and there were lights and trees and art and a water dispenser to the side to promote hydration. And wine!
There was a cute little wine and pairing items menu and a cool placemat thing that I didn’t fully understand and still don’t but respect it as a system.
After we sat down they immediately brought out the BIGGEST AND MOST ALLURING CHARCUTERIE BOARD OF ALL TIME. I mean, it was MIND BLOWING. LIKE WOW.
We started to ravenously gobble it right away but then were embarrased to realize we were probably supposed to save it for the pairing/tasting. So we stopped eating it but by the end of the night we hadn’t eaten it all but we couldn’t eat anymore and I still feel guilty about that.
But the wine! It was “natural” wine, which seems to be defined in some capacity by “farming that doesn’t f**k over everything else on the planet.” And it was good! The first one we tasted was Lambrusco and of course that’s a fav because it’s the perfect pizza wine.
For the second wine Lourdes really broke down the tasting process and I learned a TON I am NOT JOKING. She spoke a lot about “sensory memory,” like using senses and things you’ve sensed before and apply that to the new current thing you are sensing. And I loved that!
It turns out that accessing old sensory experiences to interpret new sensory experiences in your brain is a great and mind blowing idea. I never thought of it that way and it makes me understand wine tasting better as an an activity.
When people smell wine and swirl it around and look at the color and have opinions and conversations about it based on their senses…I pretty much have thought that was bullshit for a long time. Maybe not bullshit but like, “I don’t understand how it works so it’s not for me.” But last night I felt like i found some understanding! Like something just finally clicked, between wine and I. The smells and tastes made sense. I was killin it.
The sensory memory thing really got me, you guys.
Lourdes also reminded us that when the wine is first poured – don’t drink it right away! “Take a moment with the wine. Namaste with the wine.” In the past I have always gulped all of mine before we even talk about it and then I have nothing to test out. So I believe this is probably a good thing for me to remember and I’ll be a better wine taster in the future.
Hi hello just a quick recap of the Jersey City Mural Festival, 2021. It was the hottest day in the history of time and I didn’t even do my hair or makeup and I got incredibly sweaty but it was OKAY because we were among art and that’s what it’s all about.
Tools of the trade.
I would have loved to go to the opening night event on Friday at &co, but it started at 6:30pm and I had a work call until 7.
So rude.
The opening night event was an artist talk with Ron English and I just know it was great because my friends’ Instagram stories said so. Many know him as the “Godfather of Street Art” and that is pretty badass. I would have loved to learn more about Ron in person but all I have is this Wiki article and that’s all I will provide to you.
Deal with it.
The article says he was born in Decatur, like the Sufjan Stevens song, so I’ll give you that too. I hope it softens the blow of the horrified outrage felt over me not being able to attend the artist talk. (it’s a fav)
Moving past that, the actual mural festival was on Saturday and Sunday. There were things to see in a few different spots around town, but I was only able to make it to the Downtown area, and I’m sorry. I know that’s rude and unforgivable.
The Jersey City Mural Festival was held under a bridge/overpass area and maybe that seems weird at first glance but it was so hot and sunny out and DUSOO (“Down Under the 78/139 Overpass”) was protected from the sun’s harsh rays and pretty cool in temperature like a basement. So like, GREAT IDEA EVERYONE.
As we entered the festival we had to sign in for contact tracing and we were asked to wear our masks. The end of mask time is upon us but we went out with a bang, rocking masks on our sweaty-ass faces at this fest.
It was the right thing to do.
It’s worth noting that going into it I didn’t realize the artists would be art-ing BEFORE OUR VERY EYES! I guess I just thought the stuff would all be painted already and there would be beer there and we’d all hang out and cheers like, “To murals!” And look at stuff and then go home.
But that wasn’t it at all! The artists were THERE and they were painting AS THE FESTIVAL and it was AWESOME. They had all these fun kinda…lifty trucks(?)…that had platforms on them and they were extended into the air and they were painting from there.
Lifty truck, in repose.
Some artists were also using old fashioned ladders and others were simply standing on tiptoe and I respect that because I can’t ever reach anything and am constantly forced to stand on tiptoe.
I should have taken more pics and learned a little more but I was kind of enjoying taking it all in with my pals and I don’t think I should be in trouble with myself for that so I forgive me.
With that being said I just want you to know that this is by no means a full, comprehensive report of the Jersey City Mural Festival. I was there for 45 minutes. I’m just going to share a couple of things I liked and maybe you’ll like them too.
I really loved this octopus by Pawn. LOOK AT ITS EYE. There’s something with animals when you can really see their eye(s) and look into them and see their animal feelings on a basic primal level and I don’t know animal eyes always take me to A PLACE. I know this is a painting and it has no feelings. It’s just the SUGGESTION of feelings, to me. And the colors are beautiful.
I also really liked the tentacles.
I believe this painting by Keith Murray is of goldfinches, the NJ state bird. If it’s not, oh well. At least the picture has an NJ state chair (RU RAH-RAH!). But I do love birds. And NJ. Like a lot.
Joe Waks is already a fav of mine from Deep Space shows and I really love the yellow and the rainbow colored rockin polka dots of all this. Sorry it’s not that great of a pic of the actual art, more of the work in progress. And the lifty truck!
LIFTY TRUCK 4EVA.
Here’s another work in progress and lucky for him he did NOT have to stand on tiptoe.
The lady in a shell thing! Can’t go wrong! I do love this version by Ree Vilomar because the shell lady is holding a spray paint can and in the finished version the little naked angel baby Cupid things are flying over some graffiti…oh also with spray paint cans! Love it.
So, that’s it. That was my experience at the Jersey City Mural Festival. I loved it! Can’t wait for them to do it again. Let’s do it EVERYWHERE under EVERY OVERPASS. WHO’S COMIN WITH ME?!
My boyfriend has been bugging me to go spend the day at &co Jersey City. He thinks when I work at home I’m too alone and talk to the birds too much. We have full conversations in both human and bird so maybe I do. With this in mind, on a recent Friday I went to do my work at &co in Jersey City.
AND I LOVED IT.
It’s me. Loving it.
&co is a co-working space in the Silverman building on Montgomery and Grove St, by Kanibal! And Cool Vines! And Frankie! And Another Man’s Treasure! They’ve got a lot going on over there. I’ve been there before for an artist talk hosted by Deep Space Gallery, but never there to do actual work in the co-working space.
This place is amazing you guys. I felt like a rich person all day and honestly that’s the way I always want to feel. Like maybe someday I will be an actual rich person and not the actual poor person I am, but until then I have to make do with the experiences that make me feel like one. Faking it til I make it.
So a few weeks ago on Friday I was very LUCKY and <hashtagblessed> to have a FREE day pass and tour of the location. I think they probably offer this to anyone who is interested in trying it out but don’t quote me on that. I was really super pumped and picked out a cute outfit and wore makeup and everything.
Then I gathered all my work materials because the whole point of going there was to work, duh.
Backpack filled to the brim with my laptop, multiple pairs of headphones, chargers to charge everything, my tripod to take pics during my lunch break, my lunch, and my new fun water bottle I put cool stickers on, I entered this workday oasis prepared to be forever changed.
The friendly guy at the front desk took me on a tour and then it was time to get to work. Because &co Jersey City is a co-working space. For working.
There are a ton of little nooks and workspaces to use and I was kind of overwhelmed deciding which space to use first! I wanted to try everything so I made myself a little schedule in my notebook of the different spaces I wanted to try working in. It was very important to me to try them all because they were all so luxurious looking.
First things first, I needed to charge my phone and my computer, so I had to start out somewhere with enough outlets close by for that. It was a really pretty day and I’m obsessed with the outside so I really wanted to work there, but they don’t yet have outlets out there so I sat in one of the booths next to the kitchen area. There was a pretty intense outlet situation and I was immediately on my way to being fully charged.
Once my electronics were contentedly buzzing away, it was time to get some cold brew. I don’t know how you feel about cold brew BUT I REALLY LOVE COLD BREW. I haven’t been a big coffee person for my whole life, but within the past 7 or so years I have become increasingly dependent on caffeine and at this point it’s pretty serious. Luckily caffeine is a legal drug and at &co Jersey City they have it ON TAP for people to consume all day long, just for being there. And you can pour it yourself! You don’t even have to bother anyone!
I like my cold brew black so I excitedly filled a “Caffeine and Dreams” cup with ice and ran over to the tap to fill it. My excitement got the best of me as per usual and I spilled it everywhere, but don’t worry I cleaned it up. The cold brew at &co Jersey City is from Mod Cup and it is EVERYTHING. I took some notes in my notebook to prepare for this post and I’ll quote myself by saying, “I love cold brew. I love cold brew so much. I’m so excited to be here.”
So I work-work-worked away in this space for a couple of hours and enjoyed more and more cold brew. They also had cucumber water! OMG it was delicious. I drink so much more water when someone else is preparing the water. At home I have to put it through the filter and then refrigerate it for it to even taste good and it’s just exhausting. A fresh water supply I don’t have to put any effort into is probably the only thing I miss about working in an office.
Yes, yes that’s the only thing I miss about the office. (#teamnoofficeeveragain)
When I was fully charged up on caffeine and electricity I packed up my bag and headed outside to the terrace! I guess it’s called a “terrace”? It was the “outside office.”
AND IT WAS GREAT.
Luckily it was a beautiful day, and there are so many little beautiful spaces to enjoy outside. There are regular tables and chairs, lounge chairs, lounge couch type things, a table with an umbrella…the list goes on! I loved it out there!
I first settled in on a lounge couch with the umbrella over me because it was hard to see my computer screen in the bright beautiful sunshine. But soon the sun’s siren song seduced me into a giant comfy chair and I ripped off my shirt and adjusted the brightness on my computer screen and all was well.
It remains unclear if “tanning” is one of the intended activities for this outdoor area, but I will say I think they welcome it since nobody yelled at me to put my shirt back on. It’s important to multitask! I was tanning AND working!
It’s a beautiful thing.
After an hour or so outside in the sun all of my electronics started to explode so I had to put them away to cool down and it was time for a lunch break.
I grabbed the lunch I packed myself out of the adorable refrigerator in the adorable kitchen and went back outside to have a picnic and read for a bit. I took some pics and videos for social media during this time, because it’s always fun to take pictures of oneself in a new place! I know I can’t be the only person that enjoys that. I’m 100% sure that I am not.
During my hour-long work respite I also had the pleasure of investigating the mediation room.
IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.
I know I keep saying “beautiful” and I guess I need a thesaurus but like…that’s the word. I loved the colors and the textures and the vibes. There is a dream catcher!
And a hanging-from-the-ceiling-swingy-chair!
And velvet pillows!
Ugh I’m really such a sucker for velvet anything.
I spent about 10 minutes in there and it was so quiet and relaxing and lovely and when my phone alarm went off saying “BACK TO WORK, B*TCH” I felt refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day.
After lunch I had to do some more charging so I set myself up in the quiet room (The Quiet Room?) at a desk.
As the name implies, the quiet room was very, very quiet. It felt very work-like, very professional, very “getting things done.” I hung out in there for a while and got some work done and got charged up.
THEN IT WAS BACK TO THE OUTSIDE.
The rest of my perfect day at &co was spent finishing up my work at a table under an umbrella in a comfy chair. I felt freakin fantastic.
At the end of the day some folks started to gather out on the terrace by the table for a wine and beer happy hour! In addition to the cold brew, &co Jersey City also has NJ Beer Co beer on tap. Around 1:30pm I did judge a man for coming outside with a giant glass of it, and I apologize for judging. That was cruel and unnecessary.
In addition to the wine and beer they had snacks! This particular week the snacks were from Wurstbar, and included their Mexican corn dogs WHICH I LOVE A LOT.
I chatted with some people although I’m not much of a chatter when it comes to strangers. STRANGER DANGER! But everyone was friendly and one gal even gave me a delicious cupcake she made so the chatting was worth it.
In the end I would 100% recommend a day, a month, or A LIFE at &co Jersey City to a friend. I loved it so much that I went back the following week. It was $25 for a day pass, and it was well worth it if you take into consideration the BEAUTIFUL workspaces, cold brew, access to the outdoors, beer, snackies, overall wonderfulness, etc. I forgot how much the other memberships cost but you can find them here.
Go check out &co in Jersey City! Or don’t, I’m not your mom.
This year we had to have our annual MDW picnic inside and I was PISSED. I hate the inside. I’ve really been enjoying the time that we’ve all been spending in the outside over the past year and a half and I really didn’t want to spend this thing inside either.
But we had to, it was raining and we didn’t have an appropriate covered outdoor environment, ugh.
We only just realized today that we didn’t even get to have a picnic AT ALL last year because it was during the terrifying stay in your house and don’t leave unless you’re going grocery shopping time of COVID. So I guess this was better than THAT, but still made me sad.
My mom set up the house like it was actually a picnic on the inside. We had all the stuff!
So we hung out inside and played music and sat in beach chairs and drank beer and had a picnic. It was the best we could do.
We had burgers and hot dogs and chips and ice cream and DEVILED. EGGS. So all of the food was taken care of and that was most important, if you ask me.
Fortunately we carefully watched the weather radar app thing and the raining stopped for a little bit and we put on some boots and hiked back to the river.
It’s really so beautiful back there and I’m outraged it was raining but we did see a great blue heron and a juvenile bald eagle so that part was good.
Just a little report on the picnic. It seems it was possible to have an indoor picnic in effectively the same way we have outdoor ones. But I did miss the sunlight LIKE A LOT.
Hopes are always high for MDW because it’s supposed to kick off the summer right! The summer is here! And now! And it should be summery.
And hopes are always dashed. Because it’s not.
It’s been consistently raining Memorial Day weekend and the first weekend in June for like the last 10 years, at least that’s how I remember it. So sometimes an MDW indoor picnic is necessary I guess.
SKORTS ARE EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER WANTED AND MORE.
Like, you can wear a skirt. It can be a very short skirt. And underneath that skirt, there are shorts that are attached, shorts that COME WITH THE SKIRT. And this makes a skort! And you can wear it anywhere!
As a little kid I LOVED SKORTS. I always wanted to be wearing a dress but I ALSO always wanted to be on the move. Riding bikes and running and jumping over things and sitting in the grass reading a book and just living life. So a skort offered the perfect solution to wear a dress but also be able to move and groove and not be worried that people could see my underwear.
Not that I have ever really worried that people can see my underwear.
When I was 12 I became a cheerleader and an essential part of the cheerleading uniform is what we called “bloomers.” In some circles/regions of the country they were called “spankies” or “spanky pants” and I think that’s unnecessarily creepy and bordering on misogynist so we’ll call them “bloomers” here, thx.
But bloomers allow the cheerleading uniform to be cute and girly (two of my favorite things) while also being functional. Cheerleaders can wear a lovely little dress and look great in photos and they’re also able to kick their legs and do backflips and jump and bend over to lift whole other people and no one cares whether or not they can see their butts because they’re covered by a small piece of stretchy polyester fabric and that makes it socially acceptable.
And the skort FUSES THE BLOOMERS TO THE SKIRT. I’ll be honest, I forgot my bloomers on more that one occasion. Not on purpose! Maybe on purpose? But if I did, I would have to wear shorts I had in my gym locker or shorts I borrowed from a friend or extra bloomers my coach had. And that was annoying. It would have been great to just have a skort!
As a freshman in high school I had a pink skort I got at Express and I WORE THAT SHIT TIL THE WHEELS FELL OFF. I wore it to school and to the beach and to the mall and on vacation and I probably wore it to sleep. The summer before sophomore year, at cheer camp I spotted another team that had skorts as part of their “camp clothes” and we only had boring old soffe shorts and I lobbied SO HARD for us to have skorts as part of our “camp clothes” and we FINALLY DID when I was a senior.
Pink skort.
So then I had two skorts in my wardrobe, the hot pink Express one and a navy blue one that I also wore into the ground including when I played in the powder puff football game senior year.
Navy skort.
Because anything you can do I can do better AND IN A SKORT.
Sadly I don’t know what became of these skorts because they’d be like 20 years old now, but this spring I procured two NEW skorts, one from Girlfriend Collective and one from Free People.
The Girlfriend Collective one is very sleek, it’s a lovely smooth material. It fits perfectly and it looks great. It’s nice for a workout to look and feel cute and I didn’t have to do any tugging at the skirt or the shorts beneath. Zero tugging on the skort as a whole.
Skort screenshot.
The Free People one is super cute and flares out and I think could be described as “flirty.” It actually looks a lot like the traditional cheerleading skirt shape and I love that about it. I miss wearing cheerleading skirts! I like the way they look on me and feel like they’re inherently flattering to my particular shape (athletic, short legs, muscular thighs) and not many other clothes are. Especially not stupid jeans.
Flirty!
I really enjoyed wearing this skort and frolicking over the weekend, but it didn’t fit as well as the Girlfriend Collective one in that I had to keep pulling on it to reposition it. Maybe it would have been better in a different size but I still love it and will certainly rock it again.
Really looking forward to wearing both of these skorts all summer long for any and every activity I’ll see you there.
shanimal. 