Welcome to faux spring!
This first bout of warm weather brought me right back to my college days. I went to Boston University, which was on the Green Line, next to the Charles River, which has its own personal wind system that I’m convinced is sentient. I bought a coat in September that turned out to be laughably insufficient by November. Nobody warned me. I survived anyway.
Which is all to say: I feel like I’ve earned every spring I’ve ever seen. I collect them. And I have been celebrating the first warm day like it’s a religious holiday since approximately 1997, and I will never stop.
Seeing grass finally after weeks of post-blizzard dirty snow felt revelatory. We had a wonderful weekend having dinner in the city last night with my in-laws for my stepson’s birthday.
This week I’m working on training for research for a new client’s newsletter, writing and reporting for four total stories for 914INC (Westchester Magazine’s business publication) and Westchester Magazine. I’m also working on a founder bio and fact sheet for a new beauty client I’m super excited about.
A sponsored thing: The fertility-plastic connection doesn't end in the kitchen
When Netflix drops The Plastic Detox on March 16th, a documentary about fertility and plastics, everyone's going to audit their home and forget to look at the thing their baby wears 24 hours a day. Classic. Kudos was already ahead of this: the first disposable diaper with a 100% cotton liner against baby's skin, OEKO-TEX certified, free of phthalates, fragrances, and parabens, and transparent about ingredients before New York's new disclosure law required it. My son has been wearing them, and I'm obsessed. The founder is an MIT engineer who went through her own fertility journey while building this brand. The timing feels intentional. It wasn't. That's the better story.
I’ll get into my February favorites shortly, but first I want to intro a new series:
☝️One singular sensation
One Singular Sensation is a series dedicated to the single best product in a given category, chosen after years of obsessive testing and a lifetime of buying things as a civilian. No runners-up, no honorable mentions — just the one.
This week: the best-in-class foot exfoliant.
During the pandemic, I discovered giant foot microplanes, — the ones that remove every callus you’ve ever accumulated in your life in about four minutes flat. They were the answer to DIY pedis and I used mine religiously for years. Until it disappeared somewhere across the three moves I’ve made since 2021, at which point my feet entered a dark era I’d rather not document.
A few weeks ago, I found the one I’d given my late mother at my dad’s house and was thrilled — which, yes, I realize is a lot of emotion to have about a foot file, and I stand by it. I could have simply repurchased mine at any point in the intervening years. Somehow that never occurred to me. I immediately filed off half my foot into the trashcan and my tootsies are smooth and beautiful, no Baby Foot masks required. (You know the ones — where you feel like a molting snake for a solid week before your feet shed like a science experiment.) Try it between pedicures and you will be shocked at how ready for prime time your feet can be in under five minutes.
Related: My mother’s organizational philosophy was the opposite of Swedish death cleaning. Hers was Jewish life cluttering, for better and occasionally for worse. But I’m glad she held onto a pristine black Petite Bateau long-sleeve I’d bought in college and long since decluttered, because it’s all I want to wear right now. Because CBK, obv.
February favorites
A few selects from Nordstrom’s spring preview:
A striped sweater that instantly upgrades any weekend‑trip capsule. The kind of piece that makes you look like you planned your outfit even when you didn’t.
A denim peplum jacket that’s a dress‑topper cheat code. Structured, flattering, and secretly the most useful layer in your closet.
A textured top (three colorways!) that plays well with everyone — jeans, trousers, pencil skirts, whatever’s clean.
My comfort‑first denim brand dropped a cropped straight‑leg in a lighter spring wash, and it’s exactly the “I’m trying, but not too hard” jean I want right now.
A classic cable-knit sweater that carries you straight through early spring without looking like you’re clinging to winter.
More February favorites
An oil-in-gel cleanser that dissolves stubborn foundation and SPF like it has a personal vendetta against them, leaving my skin clean without that tight, stripped feeling that makes you question all my choices.
This sophisticated rose scented trio is my ideal lo‑fi rose. Soft, not stuffy, and perfect for a month that was vaguely themed around amour.
These motion‑activated stair nightlights (an 8‑pack!) have saved me from using my phone flashlight during the Reid bedtime shuffle — both going up and coming back down without waking him via the Big Overhead Light of Doom.
Gap barrel jeans have exactly zero stretch, yet are somehow flattering and comfortable. The high waist is doing heroic work.
Fly by Jing Noodles have become our Thai takeout stunt double. They cook in minutes, you toss on the sauce, add tofu or chicken and some scallions, throw a salad on the side, and bask in your domestic genius.
Last, my favorite Ruti pants I wear on repeat are 20% off. The sale was extended from this weekend to today. Not sure how long this will last, so I’d snag them if you were thinking about it.