Thoughts

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

Random

Shout out to all of 90’s kids who thought they were punk but were really just wearing too much black eyeliner 😛 I had another post planned for today but am lacking photos and will save it for later in the week. In case you missed it, Kourtney Kardashian’s most recent brainchild Poosh launched yesterday and I am simply baffled. In fairness, Kourtney is my favorite Kardashian (don’t act like you don’t have one) and I am guilty of following the family on some level so of course I had to check it out. It’s just what you’d think; bright white, shiny, gorgeous photos of spacious rooms and stunning decor, pretentious recipes, DIY beauty that only works if you are already stunning and eerily reminiscent of Into the Gloss…Goop…literally any other lifestyle website you can think of…Oh, and it’s also everything I’d like my wesbite to be because obviously this shit sells. First off, you need a completely meaningless name that’s annoying to pronounce but inexplicably unforgettable, I call dibs on Schlep. Then you just need a bathroom the size of a large studio apartment, Beyonce’s makeup artist, a dozen staff writers, camera crew, a closet stocked with designer brands and the whole being gorgeous, rich and/or famous thing certainly will not hurt your cause. The whole idea of putting these ultra-decadent, mostly unattainable lifestyles on blast generally just irks me and yet, I can’t look away. None of the content adds any real value to my life unless of course, I am looking for an $800 sundress or wondering what Emma Watson’s skincare routine is or I have a hankering to become a spiritual herbalist (whatever the fuck that is). That sundress won’t make me look like Gwynnie and in fact, no product mentioned or sold on these sites will transform me into the lifestyle goddess that I so desire to be. When I peruse these sites and take in the perfectly choreographed candid photos I can’t imagine that it’s real, nobody lives like this and that’s just what these sites are for me – a fantasy, an escape from the daily schlep. I find them more fascinating somehow because of how foreign they are to me and probably most normal people.

POOSH

GOOP

ITG

Honestly though, do they all have the same web designer?! Anyway, if you were just dying to know what a day in the life of Kourt looks like, head on over but be prepared to not have your life enriched in any way 😛 If you haven’t got sucked into the whole lifestyle site, I recommend Into the Gloss as they are the OG, the content is pretty varied and not completely asinine. Let me know your thoughts on these types of sites, why do people care (myself included)? Also, let me know your thoughts on Schlep, I think it could work 😛

🖤

March Happenings

Random

Everyone is seemingly of the opinion that January is a long schlep of an uneventful month but March is that month for me. It’s still kinda winter, nobody knows what to wear, produce is terrible. I’m glad to see the end of it, I’ve been gone for a bit so let’s have a catch-up!

My new car is still the main event of this past month. I definitely like it and am happy to report that I sold the Mazda to someone who seemed excited to fix it. I think it will ride again 😭

I think that I found the most amazing burger replacement ever. I picked up these Beyond Meat patties randomly even though I’m not big into meat replacements and I’m so glad I did! They have a grilled flavor to them and the texture is perfect, not at all like a mashed bean patty. I definitely recommend!

I didn’t read a single book in March and I blame Desperate Housewives and BuzzFeed Unsolved for my lack of reading time. I do plan to read more in April but if the weather gets really good, I might whiff again 😝

Lent has been trying and we’re not even half-way through, I’m not having trouble sticking to my penitence but I’m getting burnt out on going to mass. I think I’m the only person under 60 at my church, where are all of the hot Irish Catholic guys?! It doesn’t bother me when I’m only going once a week but when it’s three times a week, I want some eye candy! I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Not much else to report, our busy season is ramping up at work but I have some fun excursions scheduled in the coming months. How was your month, what did you get up to?

🖤

A Week’s Review

Random

Spring has sprung, I have officially started taking allergy meds again, have seen at least 3 dead squirrels in the road, I have no idea what to wear and am still recovering from the time change. Ahhhhhhh – Spring, can you feel it? The sunshine has been a welcome change but the rest of Spring can go straight to Hades. Here’s a little rundown of what I got up to this week.

One full week in the new car went mostly OK, it doesn’t feel like my car and still has that new car smell. My old car had a very distinct scent to it because I have a very distinct scent, I miss that familiar scent but I suppose the patchouli seeping out of my pores will eventually transfer to the new car 😉

Some of the Lulroe leggings that I ordered have arrived and they are interesting. I didn’t realize that there was such a bustling market for these leggings on apps like Mercari and Poshmark but I managed to find quite a few Halloween prints that are awesome. It’s interesting how varied the pricing can be, some sellers will list certain patterns as being unicorns or rare while others don’t. Mercari I feel has less variety than Poshmark but sellers can offer their items at reduced prices for a limited time and some even offer free shipping. The leggings themselves are very unique feeling and remind me of the material that seamless undies are made of, they have the infinite stretch thing going on. They don’t provide a lot of support and I couldn’t see myself wearing these in public. I’m not a big leggings in public person anyway but these feel like you aren’t even wearing pants. The patterns also don’t stretch weird on the body, the Wolfman pair are so far my favorite. I have a few others on the way and kinda’ want to do like 31 Days of Leggings for October or something, I’m literally just sitting here waiting for Halloween 😆

IMG_20190319_173313

I started listening to the Serial podcast and am so hooked! I enjoy police procedural books and documentaries so it’s right up my alley. I just finished season one, I almost want to listen a second time over in case I missed anything.

My hair is slowly but surely getting longer, I’m almost to that weird phase where I’ll just want to cut it but so far so good. I don’t have plans to grow it out terribly long and will probably end up with super short hair again in the future but it’s growing for now.

Have you been following the Operation Varsity Blues bust?! First of all, who got paid to come up with that name? Second, I know that there were loads of wealthy people involved but it especially irks me that people like Olivia Jade got into a great school by lying. Like, what was the point? You’re already rich and pretty and that will get you a long way in today’s society. Didn’t anyone involved think at some point that they were testing their luck? Also, I had no idea who Felicity Huffman was and am now mired in season two of Desperate Housewives.

That’s about it, oh, I joined a bags league with some co-workers to get out of the house this summer. It starts in June, I’m already exhausted 😭 What’s new with you?

🖤

TOMS Wishlist

Sustainable Living

Have you ever eaten something really disappointing and thought, well fuck, I wish I could get those calories back. I wish I was one of those people who could create recipes but I’m not and depend on the internet for most of my recipes. Usually this works for me but this one was a dud.

It was supposed to snow 10 inches today, it didn’t. Instead it rained for hours and only just started snowing about an hour ago. The rain put me in a panic because I need new rainboots. I wear rainboots from about April 1 to Thanksgiving, I wear out a pair a year. Does it rain everyday for 6 months in Minnesota? No, in fact it does not but a few years ago, I stepped in a puddle of slimy water and woke up with a rash all the way up to my thigh. I got a skin infection, I had a fever and now I wear rainboots all of the time because water in the city is wretched. I didn’t find a new pair of rainboots but fell in love with about 10 pairs of new TOMS that I don’t need. I like TOMS, I’ve been sporting them since they became available in 2006. Over the years though, I’ve become more skeptical of this for-profit organization and its good intentions. It’s a couple of things for me, the influx of donated shoes must disrupt the local economies, canvas shoes aren’t great for most terrain, 40 bucks is a lot to pay for some canvas shoes that have basically become the trendy footwear of hipsters and yuppies. Do I like the idea of One-for-One? Yeah, absolutely but it makes me wonder if local businesses struggle to compete with a foreign supply chain. The donated shoes are exported to Ethiopia, Kenya, India and Haiti. Now, their shoes are plenty durable for my pedestrian, desk job working life but that 1/2 centimeter rubber sole wouldn’t hold up to much more. Are they the best shoes for kids in these countries? Being a middle class American, the cost of the shoes is a bit prohibitive. I own about a dozen pairs that I’ve collected over the years but wouldn’t they sell more pairs if they reduced their profit margin and cut the cost of them? I mean, I’m just sayin’. I’ve also owned my TOMS for years so I don’t really consider them fast fashion or wasteful, I get a lot of wear from them. I know that the organization now supports other causes like vaccines, clean water and eyecare so trendy shoes were obviously a great gateway cause. Anyway, I still like the shoes and appreciate the effort and need some spring kicks 😉

Also, I just noticed that the canvas classics are 54.95! Let me know your thoughts on TOMS. How much good are they really doing? They’d just be ugly ass shoes if they weren’t TOMS, right 😉

🖤

A Week’s Review

Random

This week was pretty pedestrian, I didn’t really do anything exciting but I am so pleased that it’s Friday. On Sunday I worked at Ulta, I have only been working there a couple of days a month and I get to do the fun stuff like unpacking new product and setting displays. It’s crazy how many new brands are coming to the store that I work at, we just got Smith & Cult, Peach and Lily, Boscia, Kiehl’s – it’s like I am just doing unboxings for hours and I love it. Also, if it’s not something crazy anticipated like the Morphe collabs then I can purchase it that same day. I haven’t picked up much lately but it is cool kinda having first dibs.

Remember how I was bitching about being asked what kind of gas I want? Well, the gal at the gas station turned on the wrong pump for me yesterday. So I go back in, and she does something at the register and tells me to swipe my card again and so I do. Then something else goes wrong and she had to cash out the transaction and I had to swipe my card again. Now, I don’t know how it works in other places but where I live, if I pre-pay over the amount that I need then it just goes back to my card so I assumed this was the case. I ended up paying over $60 for $17.50 worth of gas. Then I had to go back to the gas station the next day and they couldn’t put the money back on my card, they had to put it on a gas card which is fine since I always get gas at that location anyway. But seriously, why did they complicate things so much!?

I’m deep into the Lularoe thing, I purchased a couple of pairs and then a couple more and then like 6 more 😂 They are surprisingly hard to get your hands on, each seller has different stock and prices seem to be up to their discretion. There are do many prints and then these ‘unicorn’ prints that I must have for reasons totally unclear to me. I hope they fit.

I scheduled an MS screening for next week, finally. I’ve been putting it off because my hand numbness and weakness hasn’t been an issue but I had a string of bad days recently. I don’t know what to expect, it comes and goes and nobody has been able to figure it out. I hope it’s arthritis or stress.

We are getting 9-11 more inches of snow this weekend! I’m excited because I don’t have to drive in it, the snowshoeing is going to be amazing. I don’t know if I should put the rest of my Easter stuff up or not – somehow doesn’t seem right 😭

Like I said, nothing exciting. What did you get up to this week?

🖤

Dust to Dust

Random

And so it begins, 40 days of repentance, giving up all my favorite things and basking in all-around misery. But I’m Catholic and if I’m not suffering then I’m probably doing it wrong 😭 In all honesty, Lent isn’t so bad – I hated it as a kid but I have found some clarity and peace in making small sacrifices as I have aged. Lent is a period of reflection and rebirth that I’ve come to enjoy. It’s also free of my mother’s salmon patties which is probably a huge reason that I dreaded it in my youth. My mom was a lot of things, a good cook not being one of those things 😂 Anyway, in addition to the usual fasting I chose sugar and social media as my sacrifices this year. Social media was a bit of a softball since I don’t love it anyway but I have a pretty serious relationship with jellybeans and I’m already jonesing for a bag. Oh, and porn, decided to cut back on that too. Not really but I always wonder how honest people are about what they are abstaining from for Lent. Like you never hear anyone mention giving up porn or smoking crack – are sugar and social media really my only vices or are they just the ones that I feel comfortable sharing?! Who can say.

People in my life are generally pretty surprised when they find out I’m a fairly devout Catholic and honestly, same. In the year or two after my mission trip and deciding not to be a nun, I didn’t participate in the church at all, it disgusted me. I still find Catholicism pretty problematic, the entire organization needs a rebrand and I’m not talking about tambourines in the choir because that’s blasphemy. All the geezers who have been responsible for covering up scandals have got to go – from the Pope down. I think that people my age are extremely disappointed and distrustful of our church leaders and these issues need to be dealt with before we can find peace in our faith. Could I convert to something else? Probably but like I said, tambourines.

This post was really just to announce my abstinence from social media (aside from blogging) and a plea for jelly beans 😂 Do you celebrate Lent? Can it be referred to as a celebration? What are you abstaining from?

🖤

Death of a Paperback Romance

Minimalism

No, this post is not about my non-existent love life 😂This weekend I went to a used bookstore that I frequent on the regular. I haven’t purchased anything in awhile and mostly just go to check out their enormous collection of unusual sci-fi novels with hopes of picking up my very own Fox Mulder 😝 It’s a very cool shop operated by some old hippies and just one of those peculiar places that are disappearing. There are literally thousands of books in this store and this weekend I got to thinking about all the stacks of unwanted books and if books are becoming too much of a good thing.

There used to be a time when printed books were incredibly hard to acquire and treated like precious commodities. In the era of the mass paperback though, every household tends to have a few dozen books laying about. As a former educator, I certainly understand the importance of reading and literature being accessible to everyone. However, clearly there’s a lot of waste when it comes to books. While it’s important to ensure equal access to books, does there really need to be 20 copies of one Danielle Steele novel in existence?! Books can be recycled but it feels a bit wrong to throw a book away no matter how trivial the subject matter might be or how well-worn it is. Unwanted books can be donated which seems like a great way to waste not but are they really being purchased or rather sitting on a shelf in triplicate?

Even if the rest of the world doesn’t recognize what I refer to as book-waste or, seemingly doesn’t since I can’t find a single statistic on it, it’s something I’m trying to be more cognizant of. I rarely purchase physical books but always buy used when I do or simply check the book out from the library. I still absorb a ton of literature though through other mediums as well like audiobooks and yes, even the sacrilegious e-reader 😝 I don’t love the e-reader, I only just recently started using one and it doesn’t feel like a real book to me. That aside, my library offers a service where I can check out most any book digitally and access it on my device. There are also loads of free books available through my Amazon Prime subscription. My favorite zero-waste book though has to be the audiobook which I never would have thought possible since I love reading so much. Listening to a book though somehow makes me feel more immersed in the story. Even though I’m sure it’s more beneficial to my brain to actually be reading I still love a good audiobook. I’m still a total book junkie, whenever I need my book fix, I’ll visit a bookstore, do some browsing and then download the titles I’m interested in. It’s not quite the same but having consumed so many book already in my lifetime, I feel better about not creating more waste.

What are your thoughts on book-waste, is it even a thing to be concerned about? Tell me if you prefer a physical book or are fine with digital media! Does it make you a bit melancholy to see stacks if unwanted books or am I just a bit odd 😉

QuiteSimplyStella(1)