5 things i love right now

1. the iced oatmilk latte from dunkin' donuts

PLEASE, DUNKIN', NEVER TAKE AWAY THE OAT MILK, I BEG OF YOU. i've been using oat milk lately to make chia pudding so i'm on a bit of a kick, and when i saw that i had a dunkin' perks free beverage reward to redeem, i spared no expense and went balls to the wall with their latest offering. i swear to god it was the best coffee beverage i've ever had? 

...to make sure it wasn't a fluke and because i couldn't stop thinking about it, i obviously had to get it the next morning and my opinion remains unchanged. the creaminess of the oat milk and the bite of the espresso are just unreal. and i got it with one sugar, so maybe that takes it over the top. try it and let me know what y'all think.

2. this song by mad wave, "caroline"

i don't know what it is about september, but i feel like historically, my spotify september playlists are my favorites. the songs on them are just, like, much better than those from other months for whatever reason. and every year, there are one or two tunes that really stand out to me and capture the feel of the month. "caroline" is that song for september 2020. it's got a great, chill groove and earworm chorus and the harmonica is an unexpected and cool touch. it sounds like apple picking, the first day you put on a scarf, and pulling down your mask on a coffee shop patio to take a sip of your cider. :(

3. this extremely accurate gemini meme

personally. attacked.

4. this new hgtv show, selling the big easy

when i visited new orleans with gleni nearly 7 years ago on one of the best vacations ever, i was immediately obsessed and have been thinking about going back ever since. it's historic, charming, colorful, mystical and magical and slightly spooky, and full of amazing food and drink. so basically, it's me in city form...heyyyo (along with st. augustine, florida and savannah, georgia). 

while that return trip obviously won't be happening any time extremely soon, i can now live vicariously through folks who are shopping for amazing shotgun-style houses in the french quarter thanks to this show. it's essentially just house hunters: new orleans, but so what, who cares?

i must say, though, that HGTV really dropped the ball on the show's name; so many catchier options! ownin' NOLA, french quarters, big easy digs, etc.  

5. rediscovering this performance of kurt vile's "bassackwards"

to me, no musician quite captures the spirit of autumn quite like KV. i mean, yeah, i listen to him excessively all year anyway, but i go nuts when that first cool breeze hits—i've probably played "jesus fever" 20+ times in the past week alone. this mini-documentary on youtube that came out last fall is beautiful and autumnal and worth a full watch if you have 20 minutes to spare, but i always come back to this porch performance of "bassackwards." the rain is pouring and it's so earnest and cozy and brings a tear to my eye every time. can i just go hang in a huge catskills house with kurt vile and bake pies? i feel like it would be a great time.

5 things i love right now

you know, aside from "old town road."

1. this new album by the drums, brutalism



more than any other musical element, a great, infectious melody can completely make a song for me. and the latest record from jonathan pierce aka the only remaining member of the drums is chock-full of 'em. its dreamy, surf-y vibe is totally perfect for spring. apparently, many longtime fans don't like the new sound...which, of course, means i do. :) my favorite tune so far is the breezy "626 bedford avenue."

2. this movie, the boy band con

as a bona fide "old millennial," the boy band craze was an integral, amazing, wonderful part of my life from ages 11 through 32. i mean, uh, 16. i loved backstreet (nick!), 'n sync (ehh, JC i guess), o-town (dan!), LFO (brad?)—basically everyone except 98 degrees because they were too vanilla for my edgier pop palate and by that i mean they had zero songs with bizarre, heavy-handed sexual innuendo. lame!

i digress. i obviously had to watch the tell-all about the man behind it all: the late, disgraced, ponzi-scheming mogul lou pearlman, so i signed up for a youtube premium trial and canceled it immediately after viewing. honestly, i can pinpoint the moment back in high school when my friend molly and i knew he was creepy as fuck: during a scene early on in making the band when he said "papa's here to protect." shudder. we started saying it apropos of nothing because we thought it was as funny as it was gross, but...ugh.

there wasn't much it revealed that i didn't know before, but the nostalgia of the TRL clips, ashley parker angel's surprisingly insightful commentary, and aaron carter looking ROUGH while defending lou made it worth watching, especially if you're a woman of my certain age.

3. this clothing company, stoned immaculate

okay, so this brand showed up in my instagram feed as a #sponsored post and i felt personally blessed and attacked at the same time. blessed because every single item of clothing is extreeeeemely my shit. their tagline is "vintage inspired woman’s clothing for the dazed & confused," for god's sake! attacked because big brother is clearly watching and because every single item of clothing is at least $100. blaaaah.

4. this now-defunct podcast, mystery show

the great poet lil uzi vert once said, "all my friends are dead." well, all my podcasts are dead. it never fails that my favorites always get canned after a short while (FOUND, why oh why) or, by the time i discover them, they're long gone. such is the case with this one, which came recommended by my friend sarah last week. i dug into the first episode on monday and binged all six by wednesday.

the premise is simple: host starlee kine solves kinda quirky human interest mysteries (i.e. a writer whose obscure book only sold 1,000 copies total sees a paparazzi picture of britney spears holding the book and confusion/intrigue ensues).

my favorite episode, however, was about this badass belt buckle a child found in the street—pictured above. yes, that's a toaster, and a frying pan with eggs, and the name "HANS JORDI." but who's hans jordi, and what was the deal with this belt buckle? you gotta listen to find out, folks. probably the most entertaining podcast episode i've listened to since the reply all "long distance" one. and really, all of the episodes are incredible.

5. this new chocolate-cherry cold brew from dunkin' donuts

i've explained before that i'm one of those weirdos that always tries new food and beverages born out of desperation for product innovation at corporate headquarters. they're almost always short-lived, being discontinued mere weeks or months after they arrive. so i've learned to act fast.

my latest foray is the chocolate-cherry cold brew from dunkin' DONUTS (i will never stop adding the donuts and nobody will stop me). it's basically just cold brew with some sort of "natural" syrup in it, but it is delicious, and the fact that i can drink it black is absolutely huge. now, i wouldn't say it necessarily tastes a ton like chocolate or cherries...it's subtle. refined, even. jk, that's a stretch.