I’m Loving…

Hi, friends! Hope you had a great weekend (or are having a great weekend, if you are off today!). Popping in with a rather random mix of things that I’ve been loving lately, for closet, for mind, for blog, and for soul. I can’t believe we’re already into late February! Here’s what’s been on my radar:

You already receive Everlane’s emails, right? If so, you know how much they have been killing. it. lately. This week, they’re launching a new “kick crop” cut in their denim line, and you can bet I’ll be ordering these straight away. (They’re the jeans pictured above! Those amazing flats are the new Editor slingbacks, debuting later in March. I’ll be getting those, too.) Learn from me: I recently hemmed and hawed about getting a pair of these perforated sneakers in a blush color, and now they’re all sold out. Same story with these gorgeous oxford shirts in blue. That’s the thing with Everlane—you really have to strike while the iron is hot for some products. I won’t be making the same mistake with these jeans come Wednesday! Also on my list is this striped cotton sweater, and this super chic cotton boatneck. I’m also oddly drawn to their new utility wide leg crops (totally not the silhouette I usually opt for, but I kinda like these!). Everlane is opening a new flagship store here in SF next weekend, and I’m stopping by mid-week to get a sneak preview. Can’t wait to check it out!

What did everyone do for Presidents’ Day Weekend? Did you have today off? We spent the weekend up in Sonoma, just outside of Healdsburg, with a bunch of college friends. Several of us live in the Bay Area, but one couple lives in LA and recently had a baby. It was so fun to get together and reconnect, even for just a few short days! When I take a step back, it’s been incredible to watch everyone journey through this next stage of life, together. It feels like just a few short years ago (ok, like 15) we were all studying for finals, and now people have babies and their own houses and are putting down roots. So cool. We rented this wonderful house (it was one of those “whoa, the pictures didn’t do this place justice” moments), grilled, winery hopped, played bocce, wandered through the home’s adjacent vineyard, and played a lot of What Do You Meme while sipping local beers. A great weekend, but glad I can spend today recovering. ;)

Last week was so nuts that I didn’t get a chance to mention it, but I’m very proud to share that Lisa and I launched new plugins at <em>press! (If you haven’t heard about the WordPress themes and plugins shop we’re building, check out this post.) What’s cool about our latest plugins is that any WordPress theme can use them (not just themes from us!). And if you’re new to WordPress or blogging and wondering what the heck a plugin is, it’s basically like an app for your blog. We are so proud of this latest set! There’s a plugin for adding a “Grid” layout to your blog archives; one for a customizable newsletter pop-up window; one to create a customizable Shop page; and, we relaunched our original Shop the Post plugin to work with all self-hosted WordPress.org blogs. Learn more about the new products here, and shop all our plugins here.

This is kind of a random thing that I’ve had my eye on, but I was recently at my aesthetician’s studio (for a facial and a wax) and noticed this cool coffee table book sitting out in her waiting area. It’s called The Book of Symbols, and it’s a TOME. Every page features interesting artwork related to a particular symbol—whether a shape, an animal, a plant, anything. It was fascinating to flip through the pages and see how various symbols have been used in art, decor, and of course, religions of the world. It’s been on my Amazon wish list and I’m going to scoop up a copy soon! You know I love a good coffee table book find.

Last October, right before we went to Kauai, Joe and I saw Chris Rock live in Oakland. It might sound odd to say this, but it was a bucket list show for me. When I was 15 or 16, my boyfriend at the time gave me a CD (haha!) with a recording of Chris Rock’s Bigger & Blacker show, which he had pirated off of Napster (double haha!). I remember listening to the show in my car and having to pull over because I was laughing so hard, I was afraid I would get into an accident. Years later, on a road trip from LA to Austin, I introduced that show to Joe and it pretty much had the same effect on him. We’ve watched Kill the Messenger more times than I care to admit and can quote it embarrassingly fast. Suffice to say, Chris Rock has been one of our fave comics for years, and we promised ourselves that if he ever came back to the Bay Area, we’d get tickets at any cost. Keep in mind Chris Rock does standup tours pretty infrequently (the last one was in 2008!), so when we found out his latest show, Tamborine, was going to be in Oakland last fall, it was a no brainer.

Here’s something interesting. When we saw the show, it didn’t have the name Tamborine, as it does on Netflix, now (the show was released last week for everyone to watch!). The tour itself was called the Total Blackout tour, but I was convinced the Netflix special would take its name from a single set piece: at the live show, there was a large light fixture behind Chris for the duration of the act, which in bold red letters said “Comfort is the poison.” It’s a phrase that has been burned into my mind ever since, and I think about it a lot. Comfort is the poison. It’s applicable to so many things. I’ve had it on my list to write an entire post about it for a while, but now that I’m here, I realize the phrase is so powerful that it kinda speaks for itself. I’ve come back to it when thinking about my career, when thinking about politics, when thinking about how I want to direct my life, when thinking about any task that feels too challenging or insurmountable or scary. I’ve googled it a bunch of times, and the top results I get are always about Chris’ show, and this random ass article that I find very profound nonetheless. Comfort is the poison. Chew on that this week.

As for the show itself, it was amazing to see in person. Compared to his previous work, this show was a lot more reflective and personal, and if you’re married, provides interesting perspectives on longterm relationships. I really, really enjoyed it. Definitely watch it on Netflix if you get the chance; you can read the Times review of it here.

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Wishing you all a great (hopefully short!) week ahead!