#91. The Princess of Genovia has healed my spirit

Shut UP!

Greetings from the deep chaos pit where I currently reside, otherwise known as Black Friday prep week!! As a Person in Retail™️, this week (and next) are my absolute busiest all year, so it is legitimately a small miracle that I find myself clacking this issue out on my keyboard as I come up for air between tasks.

There are a plethora of weird essay thoughts currently running through my mind brain and simply no time to get them out on the page in a responsible manner, so instead I’d like to tell you about the very first time I saw The Princess Diaries and how it was last Sunday at the age of 35.

Absolutely everyone has a list of movies or TV shows they somehow missed that are now considered cult classics. The one that typically flings the most sincere outrage in my direction is Gilmore Girls – that is, until my friends found out I’d never seen Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway making cinematic history circa 2001.

So last Sunday evening, I ate french onion Sun Chips with three of my closest friends and shot Genovia straight into my veins to remedy the situation.

I am both fascinated by and delighted to report that my spirit was HEALED, mostly by a man named Joe.

There is a possibility I am exaggerating just slightly. Maybe I have not been healed by the Princess of Genovia entirely, what with my wounds being ripped open again upon seeing headline after rage-inducing headline this week about a certain slimy nominee for U.S. attorney general while innocently scrolling Instagram.

But nonetheless, going back to high school and immersing myself in a feel-good story that the four of us agreed absolutely still holds up was exactly what I needed right now. And will surely need again next week.

Ah, Thanksgiving. Truly the strangest of holidays, where families across the U.S. gather on a Thursday (?) to eat the same exact food every year to celebrate You Know What We Did Back Then with relatives who want to question all our life choices instead of letting us eat pumpkin pie in peace.

Though I do love my parents and we have discussed exactly zero about the election results (as it should be), I am perfectly content to let them celebrate in Florida with like-minded relatives while Paul and I hang back in Minnesota where the most offensive thing I will need to deal with is having to use vegetable vs. chicken stock in a soup I’m making to accommodate a vegetarian. Bless.

If you need a little low-stakes ~comfort~ this week or next, possibly while you are hiding from your relatives in a post-turkey coma, I thought we might crowdsource a few feel good movies / shows to collectively experience the healing power of high school.

In the car on the way home on Sunday, my friend Emily and I were trying to come up with other classics that hit the same notes as The Princess Diaries we might want to watch next. We came up with five to get us started…

1. Bring It On (2000)

2. Now and Then (1995)

3. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

4. Clueless (1995)

5. Miss Congeniality (2000) – fine, this isn’t high school, but it stays!

What else???? Come drop a recommendation or two into the comments, and thank you for being here today.

“The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent” by Catherine Pearson for The New York Times

Catherine. GIRL! This is so not the vibe right now, but I do tip my hat to you for blessing us with such a spicy comments section (the comments on Instagram are even better):

“Cormac McCarthy’s Secret Muse Breaks Her Silence After Half a Century” by Vincenzo Barney for Vanity Fair

The way I DEVOURED this essay!!! Even if you haven’t consumed much from Cormac McCarthy’s catalog (I’ve only read one of his books, The Road), this essay about his secret muse, Britt, is an absolute must read:

“If, one morning, Britt woke up between the covers of a Cormac McCarthy novel, she’d find herself right at home: facing insurmountable odds with sustained courage. As previously mentioned, she has woken up between the covers of a Cormac McCarthy book—10 by my count, sometimes in two or three characters at once—and represented on the covers of two novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, in Ophelial repose. She’s had the sustained courage to live each one of them down, no matter how many times McCarthy killed her off, no matter how many times the blindsiding novelizations of her life sent her spiraling.”

“Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula” by Zoë Schlanger for The Atlantic

This is a very necessary PSA that I’m sure has sent the number of metal spatulas sold across the U.S. skyrocketing:

“Because optical sensors in recycling facilities can’t detect them, black-colored plastics are largely rejected from domestic-waste streams, resulting in a shortage of black base material for recycled plastic. So the demand for black plastic appears to be met “in no insignificant part” via recycled e-waste, according to Turner’s research. TV and computer casings, like the majority of the world’s plastic waste, tend to be recycled in informal waste economies with few regulations and end up remolded into consumer products, including ones, such as spatulas and slotted spoons, that come into contact with food.”

This was a very fun photo shoot and yes we ate the cake

Speaking of Black Friday, I had a work situation yesterday that was so stressful I broke out in a small rash (technology is super fun until it doesn’t work when you’re trying to launch the biggest sale of the year) but I am pleased to report that I’m fine now, and also that I bought 12 of these candles from my own sale as a reward for getting through the day because I like them that much!

I am obviously super biased, but this is simply the best candle I’ve ever smelled in my life and they almost never go on sale, so, ‘tis the season for my house to smell like smoky santal (and by that I mean forever).

P.S. It smells a lot like Le Labo Cade 26 except it’s less than half the price, okay bye!!

Please note there is every chance I will take the week off next Friday to maintain the last dregs of my sanity, but if there are any really good Black Friday deals popping off I certainly reserve the right to change my mind!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and godspeed to those of you spending it with relatives who have questionable voting habits :)