Weekend Musings | March 22, 2025
In my heart and in my cart + other things
In My Heart -
Yesterday, I was straightening my hair in the morning and out of the blue, it reminded me of my mom. Many years earlier, I remember watching her carefully fan out her bangs, “feathering” them, I do believe, like Farrah Fawcett circa 1976. I used to give her so much grief, specifically because the look was outdated in the 90’s when I was growing up. But now, here I am, viciously flat ironing my hair every morning, literally using the same flat iron I’ve had since 2008 (hardy little machine!). So too am I committed to the hairstyle I’ve had since my teen years.
It made me think of hallmarks of a generation. It’s not so uncommon, you know, to cling to beauty trends of an era when you felt most in tune and/or attractive. My mom was a teenager in the 70’s, a young mother in the 80’s, and by the 90’s, she was much like I am now - a harried mother who is not accepting unsolicited beauty or style critiques from her children. The media does that enough, thank you very much. All that is to say - I imagine the time she felt most like herself, unbeholden to anyone else, were those late teenage years in the 70’s. No wonder she was still feathering her bangs. It made her feel beautiful. It made her feel like her.
Following the same path, I was a teenager in the early 2000s, a young mother in the 2010s, and now in the 2020s, I am a harried mother just flailing around, trying to stay presentable the only way I know how. And for me, that’s straight hair and liner on my lower lids.
Look, I’m not putting a bump-it in my hair anymore, but would it be so wrong? Trends surely die out, but the way we feel (or felt then!) lingers. We must pick up new things and drop some of the other things, but it made me consider other hallmarks of my generation - old trends that I still spot on women (me too!) that grew up around the same time I did. They made us feel beautiful then, and probably feels comfortable even now -
Skinny jeans, of course.
Flip flops, even as birks became the preferred shoe.
Contouring (!!!)
The “millennial tuck”
Squoval manicures (in the face of the pointy nail trend!)
This uniform: black leggings + white shirt + denim jacket.
And yes yes, side parts and ankle socks of course. They have been particularly criminalized and on these items, I accept feedback about as well as my mom did. Aka: leave me alone!
What did I miss? Tell me your comfortable hallmark trend.
In My Cart -
+Casually shopping to restock my summer uniform. I anticipate no change from last year’s uniform which was diligently a skort + that $8 tank top from Target + J Crew flip flops. I wore about a hundred variations of this every day for 5 months and never got sick of it.
+For office days, I’m a diehard for a belted shirt dress like this number or this one.
+Spring puzzles! The white spaces on this one will kill me. But this feels so wholesome. This one would be fun for a family activity over the Easter holiday.
+21 Days of Beauty is still going strong. Today features a great deal on a cult favorite worth trying. And this new-to-me body oil has my attention.
+CUTE shoes for spring/summer.
+Okay Old Navy! The romper for weekends + this casual but also a little sexy shirtdress for date night + linen blend top and bottom I’ll wear just about everywhere.
Other Things -
+As you know, I’m in my woo-woo era, so this hits: Lucky Girl Syndrome, alias The Law of Attraction.
+Turn your shower into a spa. Thoughts on intention.
+Continuing my deep dive into the current White Lotus guests - I really enjoyed Walton Goggin’s home tour on Architectural Digest. Looks like people actually live there and I love that!
+See also, Michelle Monaghan on skin health.
+Interesting! I wonder if after years of oversharing, we’ll begin to see more of this.+
PS -
Last week’s musings. Time sure flies!
What’s your favorite mall store? Over on IG, a reader reminded me of FYE - oh my lord! The memories of pawing through stacks of CDs and the instant gratification of loading them up in my car’s CD player on the way home!
Don’t forget about Substack! More Walton Goggins appreciation, tbh.
The art of noticing things + 4 surefire books I reread when I’m in a reading rut.