Fall Update

What's up Brightside queens?

I hope this finds you in your coziest fall sweater, getting ready to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Sadly, no trick or treating is happening in my apartment building tonight, but I've had a lot of fun observing New Yorkers pull out all the stops this past weekend. I was 1/2 of the The Parent Trap with my friend Sarah, which was a blast. She'll be dropping a guest Brightside all about beauty later this week, so stay tuned!

But before then, thought I'd pop by on a rare Monday and say hello. I've been enjoying my first true fall living in Manhattan since 2019 -- it's been peak You’ve Got Mail weather in New York, which explains the primal urge I’ve had to dress like Meg Ryan and go to Central Park (check and check). I've been listening to this playlist and snapping an embarrassing amount of Tumblr-esque photos of my shoes in leaves.

On the real though, this season's been pretty good to me. My brother Stephen has been crashing on my couch as he applies for a French visa and gets ready to start a chapter living abroad, which to both of our surprise has been ... really lovely. We're impressing ourselves with how well we're cohabitating. Our shared love language is food, and we've been really leaning into that with walks over the Williamsburg Bridge for Leo & Four Horsemen (as Stephen puts it, NYC is not ready to have a conversation about how good the Leo bagels are, and I agree) -- and establishing ourselves as regulars at Little Canal (they'll get our drink orders soon enough!). We also have been watching Ted Lasso together, which has us absolutely cracking up every night.

Having a roommate again, even for a minute, reminds me of this piece that Haley Nahman put out for Maybe Baby in April about the over-glamorization of living by ourselves. Living alone was such an important milestone for me (funny enough, a milestone largely inspired by Haley's 2018 interview in Cup of Jo) -- but it's, well, lonely a lot of the time. I've really loved having another person around, and I feel lucky for this time with my brother.

What else have I been up to? I spent a good deal of September and early October on the road - I thought I was done traveling after the summer, but a few really exciting work opportunities sprung into my lap and took me to Detroit, Chicago, and LA. It was fun, but reminded me how much I love New York, and made me extremely grateful to return home in early October and enjoy the beautiful fall weather here.

Other things I'm working with right now - saying goodbye to my childhood home, which is selling (a hard lesson in detachment), trepidatiously re-entering the dating scene after a little hiatus the past few months (send prayers), and working my way through my to-read pile. A great spooky season recommendation - Verity - which I finished in a day. Rare for me.

I hope October was good to you, and I hope all your November wishes come true.

Happy Scorpio Season,

Bogs

PS, some great links for you:

• TV I'm excited for right now: new White Lotus on HBO and Wednesday on Netflix (star-studded Adamm's Family spinoff - Gwendoline Christie! Christina Ricci! Catherine Zeta-Jones!)

• I recently retired my acrylic nail extensions after almost 6 months of loving them dearly. It feels good to be back to my natural nails, and right now I'm rocking a delicious forest green (Essie's Off Tropic)

• I've been searching for a pair of new boots to replace my beloved, but busted Docs. I finally found my dream pair, and splurged on them.

• Happy to see Rollerblading finally getting some recognition!

I just like, really want a juicer. Thoughts?