Hi!! I’m fresh off a Galentine’s weekend in Connecticut expertly hosted by my friends Kristin and Shannon that was so lovely and chill. They’re the type to make friends everywhere — work, pottery class, kickball, cornhole (I admire their commitment to hobbies) — and are thoughtful enough to bring everyone together by throwing creative, curated events.
This weekend there were ten of us staying in a nice big house in Chester, CT. It’s a Hallmark movie town. Like, they literally filmed a Hallmark movie there. Imagine twinkly lights, a hand-blown glass store, a romance bookshop, etc. It’s a place where cars don’t honk and idk there’s probably a shit-ton of gazebos. I love that the East Coast is full of all these cute towns with a train station in the middle that’ll take you to NYC, Boston, DC. And this was a good week to travel by train…
We explored Chester, went to a brewery, made candles, had a cocktail competition, played board games, and listened to the Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack. So wholesome. Some of us even synced up!
Grammy predictions
The Grammys are tonight and I’m excited because the telecast was actually good last year and we’re coming off a great year for music. I know award shows shouldn’t matter but I like rooting for the millionaire of my choice to take home a trophy. We’re in the midst of a trade war, let me have my escapism.
For Album of the Year, god it’s such a bad situation the Grammys have gotten themselves (itself?) in. Beyonce is so criminally overdue in this category, it’s offensive. There was no excuse to not award 2013’s self-titled or Lemonade, and IMO Renaissance is her best album. Cowboy Carter isn’t one of my top Bey albums or 2024 releases, but it’s got a handful of songs I love and I want her to win because I’m a Libra who’s obsessed with justice. More realistically, Billie Eilish will take it and we (including big bro Finneas) will have to sit through another one of her acceptance speeches.
While I mostly like the Tortured Poets Department album, the world may end if she wins AOTY again so let’s root for her to miss this one. It’s overly long and there are stronger, tighter-edited nominees. If she does win, celebs in the audience won’t even be able to muster Olivia Rodrigo’s dead-eyed clap from last year.
For Record of the Year, it would be so funny and so Grammys if the Beatles won for their sleepy song, and even though we all love a Paul-Ringo reunion, come on, no. My preferences are Good Luck, Babe!, 360, and Not Like Us. I expect Espresso has the best chance followed by Birds of a Feather. What a year for the girls.
I kinda fear Charli XCX misses all the big categories and even worse, Chappell goes home empty handed besides maybe Best New Artist.
I predict Blue Ivy looks gorg, Taylor wears too many accessories, and Timothée (second Timmy reference on my Substack so far, let’s keep count) surprise-performs with Bob Dylan wearing matching skinny scarfs!
Here, some recs:
ICYMI, an absolutely cray read about a bunch of soulless, flaccid wannabe-villain losers.
The 50 Years of SNL Music doc on Peacock. Even if you don’t sit through the full two hours, it’s worth watching the opening five minutes for the most incredible mashup of performance clips, including Cher with MMMBop. Respect to Questlove for such seamless, inspired editing. If you’re into pop culture, music, and SNL, you’ll like this. I loved the Rage Against the Machine bit and learned that Jack White does cleanses 🥴, but I desperately wanted the Lana SNL lore!
I tried Farm to the People this week, which I think is still limited to NYC. I’ve been a Misfits Market subscriber since 2020 but have been underwhelmed by the quality and price for a while. I got my first Farm to People box for $19.99 and made a huge veggie soup using all of it so I could eat a jar of Nutella after. I appreciate that you can directly Venmo your delivery person so you know they actually get the money.
Playing the long game on Poshmark. I have a love-hate relationship with Reformation but because I reliably know my sizes there, the brand stays in my rotation. I've wanted their Olina linen pants for liiike two years ($178) but knew I could get them used for a better price. This week, I finally did for $60 and I'm going to wear them every day this summer. Oh, I also started selling stuff on Poshmark so you should think of me as a small business owner now.