Sale PSA: A simple crewneck pullover from J.Crew, now 50% off, a delicate floral shirt by Isabel Marant, now 60% off, a simple cotton turtleneck from Everlane, now $20, a casual midi dress from Treasure & Bond, now $35, cropped joggers from Sweaty Betty, now 40% off, and also love these silk pull on jogger pants from ATM, now 40% off
Also, if you are organizing (who isn’t)? my favorite glass shadow boxes are 25% off from West Elm and they also have a variation of these on clearance for half off!
Also – one more note for anyone who needs to hear this, Uniqlo has free shipping on all orders this weekend (yes I got another pair of sweatpants).
1. Another week, another lounge wear recommendation – this time this faded neon sweatshirt, via Madewell, also 40% off:
I love this color (more neutral/easy to match than you think) and it’s a sweatshirt and fun and it’ll lend some cheer to our days. And the price is nice. What else can you want? What are your favorite lounge items during this period, by the way?
2. An interesting piece, via The New York Times, about how fashion magazines are managing through Covid-19. This is a topics I’m very interested in – how luxury fashion and influencers and all of that look on the other side. For a follow up piece on the influencer bit, read this piece, on Arielle Charnas of “Something Navy.”
3. A slightly infuriating article from Vanity Fair – about how working moms are now juggling childcare during the age of Covid-19. Who are these husbands?? Actually I see a lot of examples like this and it sucks – and also if yours is like this I also have no judgment, it’s a hard situation and I feel for everyone –
4. As a palate cleanser (still grounded in reality), check out this interview with Fran Lebowitz, via the New Yorker. I love her.
5. This week, I finished Conviction, by Denise Mina.
Ahh I’m excited because I’ve recently plowed through a few good books to recommend!! But I wanted to do Conviction first, because I consider it excellent Covid reading. A well written thriller – isn’t this what we are all looking for? HOWEVER – while I say I loved this book, I will caveat that a) the narrator swears/is not traditionally “likeable”, and b) there are lots of various storylines. If you know Mina’s other work (I’ve never read, but I read a description that she does Scottish crime thrillers) – this isn’t the kind of European, single detective hunting on the case story. It’s a little more Elinor Oliphant kind of tone, wrapped up in a thriller pacing if that makes sense. But, like I said, I loved it. if you’re looking for some cleverly written, engaging thriller/crime fiction – I recommend Conviction.
10 Comments
Diane W.
April 10, 2020 at 1:00 pmI’ve always liked Fran Lebowitz. She seems to have softened some as she’s aged….but I don’t think she’d like hearing that.
B
April 10, 2020 at 1:08 pmSO glad you posted the buzzfeed article about Arielle’s behavior after being told to lock down. She and https://www.insider.com/taza-influencer-backlash-left-new-york-city-nyc-quarantine-rv-2020-3 this woman make me so mad! To be fair, so many things make me so mad these days.
Ann
April 10, 2020 at 11:26 pmHi Kat,
Can you do a post on how you protect yourself and your family from Covid-19? Do you wear a mask when you go outside? Do you have people deliver groceries to your house, aka InstaCart, like most well to do people? Do you wipe down your Amazon packages with antibacterial wipes or spray? And do you wash the new clothes you ordered before you wear them? I noticed you seem to order a lot of stuff. Nothing wrong about buying things. People need a hobby.
People disinfect their grocery bags with bleach and soap in the sink and microwave their food before eating. I wonder what tips you have picked up as well.
A.S.
April 11, 2020 at 1:02 pmNYC doctor here. I know you didn’t ask me but still 😉
The single most important thing in social isolation, for everyone in your home. Go out as little as possible. If you must, stay 6 feet away from other people.
Yes, wear a mask when you go out. This will protect you a little bit, but most of all, wearing a mask protects people around you. Even if you aren’t sick, by wearing a mask you will help make it normal behavior for everyone else to wear one too, which will decrease transmission rates. You likely don’t need to wear gloves, but if they help you remember not to touch your face, then go for it. Remember that you need to wash your hands to the full tune of Happy Birthday or use a good amount of hand sanitizer and let it dry before considering your hands remotely clean. Sanitize anything you touch outside the house that you plan to bring into your house, like your phone, with a wipe or Lysol and paper towel. Remember that whatever chemical you use to wipe down has to dry for a few minutes in order to work. So many phones are waterproof these days you might even be able to wash it in soap and water. This will help you let your hair down a bit within your own home.
Other less important things but still reasonable if you want to be super careful: If you know you might be in a high risk situation (hospital, doctor’s office, crowded grocery store) have inside clothes and outside clothes that you shed at the door. You can definitely get grocery delivery. Have the deliverer drop it at the door. We either tip in the app or tape an envelope to the door with cash. Either wipe down the plastic boxes, or just dump the contents into a clean container, then dispose of the box, then wash your hands. Wash fruits and vegetables (especially if you will eat them raw) in soap and water or some bleach diluted in water. For cardboard boxes, just quarantine them for a day or two. For more information on surface stability, see: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
Hope this helps at least a little!
Ann
April 11, 2020 at 6:41 pmGreat advice!
My concern is new clothes purchases. What if an asymptomatic person wore the clothes (or shoes) and returned it…like the Amazon employees in the clothes and shoes return dept or Nordstrom complained about…then we wear it? There is no study showing how long the virus lasts in clothes. Of course, common sense says to wash the clothes first before trying it on which makes the clothes unreturnable. I am wondering if Kat doing that. I heard Amazon employees in the clothes and shoes returns department have covid 19 which sparked controversy on the company’s PPE for their employees.
I am not sure that I would bleach my raw food. I think you can have a tummy ache doing so no matter how small of an amount of soap or bleach use. But I do agree to be wary of eating raw food as someone may have cough on it.
I have heard people buying restaurant food to go. Upon pick up, you can see the workers have mask and gloves on. That is a great way to support these restaurants at this time. I remember Kat said she crave pho and Chinese food! We buy to go and so far so good.
My hats to you A.S. for being in the front line especially at the covid 19 epicenter! You are a hero. Stay safe!!
A.S.
April 17, 2020 at 9:12 amFollowing up…
Thank you for your kind words. At the moment, my colleagues on inpatient are the real front line workers.
I wouldn’t be too worried about clothes. In the NEJM study, the virus lasted on surfaces for at the most a few days. While they didn’t test clothes, I bet the results would be pretty similar. Hanging up the clothes for a few days should be enough to let the virus disintegrate before trying them. Never say never–there’s a lot we don’t know–but I personally would be comfortable with this system. This is what I’ve been doing with groceries anyway: wash things I plan to eat right away and quarantine the rest for a couple of days. Here’s NYT’s opinion: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/well/live/coronavirus-contagion-spead-clothes-shoes-hair-newspaper-packages-mail-infectious.html
Stay safe out there 🙂
Kat
April 13, 2020 at 9:23 pmYou are amazing. Thank you for sharing all of this!
Jen
April 11, 2020 at 9:54 amThanks for the heads up on the Marant blouse. I have a couple of them and love the weight. And Nordstrom has just started their Canadian online shop duty free. Off to disinfect the groceries… Stay well.
Anonymous
April 11, 2020 at 6:24 pmWell, looks like Trump is going to make us all go back to work very soon. Dr. Fauci is now talking of antibody testing and putting people who had covid 19 back to work. Plus, Trump needs people to visit his hotels and make him his millions so he can’t wait for this stay at home to end.
Enjoy your time with the kids! I feel for you. It is kinda tiring hearing mamas complain, but there is a thing called birth control.Like you said, unless you can bestselling books, writing is not super lucrative business. No stocks to be vested as an author. It is more of a hobby. A hobby that let’s you go shopping without the jlhisnand complaining. I am sorry to say. the stereo type is what women make of it. Just look at the AMD CEO. No kids, and she ain’t complaining. And she doesn’t throw her husband under a bus. There are a lot of women who work and do it all even with kids. They just figured it out and have a different mindset to go with it.
***
From Kat: I think you meant well so I left this comment up but I did edit out my husband’s name for privacy – I’m not talking about him in the article above, just to be clear, but I can see how it might be taken that way! He’s actually great, I’m talking about other examples – take care!
Anonymous
April 13, 2020 at 8:29 pmWhat an insulting comment, there’s a thing called birth control? Like mother’s aren’t allowed to be stressed or need a break especially when going non-stop in the season of a global pandemic. Please think before you type or just be quiet.