"In March I'll be caught up, rested, and human."
Your Weekly Breakdown
Sylvia Path’s quote is certainly aspirational…but achievable? Not so sure.
I am never caught up, somewhat rested, and always feel far from human. January and February were essentially a hibernation season for me, my life stripped down to the bare essentials in order focus on myself, my family, and my work. I do resent that thriving in those areas of my life often comes at the cost of my social life. My friends are very important to me, and digital relationships with them don’t really cut it.
That said, the month of March brings a renewed sense of possibility, and I’m hoping the consequences of my self-imposed isolation are about to pay off. The last two weeks have been heads-down while I work toward expanding the newsletter into a full-fledged online media property: designing and building a website, transferring old posts and writing new content, planning exciting columns, hiring writers…the list goes on and the work feels fun, energized, and electric.
It’s been very exciting to begin to build an online…magazine?…publication?…blog? that will be both entertaining and insightful for you, my digital friends. The media landscape is a dumpster fire right, but that’s only emboldened me to just go for it!
You are all busy, dynamic, hard-working women and it brings me great pleasure to write and curate for you each week. That is the premise for continuing and expanding, with this newsletter as the bread and butter weekly column of what will soon be more broadly known as Hard Copy Media. We’ll expand with more pieces, interviews, and essays, and podcasts about lifestyle, culture, style, and career, all in service of helping you continue to create a life well lived.
Recommendations
📺 Watch
Drive Away Dolls, a hilarious and raunchy film with an odd and perfect cast including Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and Colman Domingo. It has mixed reviews but honestly it’s such a fun, silly, road trip gone wrong movie that I stand by this recommendation 100%.
The Disappearance of Shere Hite, the documentary about the 1976 bestselling book The Hite Report and the uproar it caused in the media. The book brought the female orgasm front and centre in cultural conversations, where many tried to silence Hite’s work and studies.
How to Have Sex, an explicit coming-of-age movie where we follow 3 young, British women on a holiday that’s meant to be a ‘rite of passage’ trip filled with partying, drinking, and - yes - hooking up.
Bonus: Taylor Tomlinson’s whip-smart comedy special Have It All for non-stop laughs.
🎧 Listen
When my friend Aidan makes a new playlist, we listen to it all weekend, alright?
Abby Sage’s album The Rot is the ideal blend of mellow and musical.
The Print is Dead podcast had THE Tina Brown (journalist, author, Editor-in-Chief Tatler, Vanity Fair, etc) on and it’s well worth the listen if you’re interested in the life of a clever and successful woman. A really entertaining interview.
📚 Read
The Young Man: renowned author and memoirist Annie Ernaux details her affair with a man 30 years her junior. Given all of the discourse about age gaps in relationships, I found this both timely and moving.
A Woman of Pleasure: one of the most highly anticipated novels in 2024, this historical fiction centres around the historic Japanese courtesan strike and the red light district at the turn of the 20th century. Phenomenal.
The Witch Hunter: book 1 of 4 in a nordic thriller series by Max Seeck. Our protagonist is investigator Jessica Niemi, and she’s got me hooked so badly that I’ve already ordered the 2nd book. Who wants to get absolutely lost in this series with me?!
🛀🏼 Indulge
We had not one but two (!!) snow days this week on the west coast, which meant entertaining both of my children whilst trying to be productive (unsuccessful). We managed to do some baking, some outdoor play, some math challenges on the computer, but they got the biggest thrill slapping this facemask on with me during some “quiet time”. Skinceuticals is a really great brand, and this particular mask is a very gentle and calming option for those with redness. We then enjoyed reading some of the Boxcar Children books together, which is a total throwback as I used to read them as a kid.
The goods from Craighill, like these minimalist and fun bookends, and this simple and beautiful match striker are on my radar. I love their really elegant selection of bits and bobs for the desk or office.
I really enjoyed sourcing this outfit for you, my favourite busy women - highly recommend shopping my pick for the outfit of the season!
Oak & Fort doesn’t sponsor me (can you imagine lol), but I’m not here to gatekeep! Sometimes I come across great duds in their shop, like this extremely reasonably priced wool-blend coat and this very, very cozy sweater that appears to have matching pants. Ideal WFH outfit! I might even add this perfect, fuzzy, very old-lady-style cardigan to my wish list as well.