You guys are in for a treat: two for the price of one this week. That price is free, but this week’s roundup is priceless if you ask me. Let me introduce you to my other half Isabel Wottowa. You know the type of friend you communicate with over text, Instagram DM, TikTok, and carrier pigeon all at the same time; that’s her! There is no one else I would rather talk pop culture, or really anything with, which is why this week I asked her to gab with us! Below you’ll find what we got up to this week. If we were still living a 15 minute walk from one another an AMC movie would 100% be on the list, but this will have to do! Without further ado…
let’s f*cking gab w/ Isabel
Isa’s week:
#1 French Press Coffee. This is how every morning should begin. Preferably french press coffee that someone else has made. I only get this at Oliver's because I don't have a french press. I have a rinky-dink Illy machine that has two settings: small burnt espresso or slightly larger burnt espresso. I am thinking of selling and replacing with a French press — I love a steaming mug of Joe!!!!!! NOTE: to have a perfect Sunday morning pair french press with an episode of Barefoot Contessa. I dare you to have a bad day after that.
#2 Ink Masters. I would get on my hands and knees and beg everyone reading this to watch Ink Masters. It is trashy, it is messy, it is America. Every episode a group of people walk into the tattoo shop, request something that absolutely cannot be done in 6 hours and then walk out with a tattoo of that thing. It isn't always (or tbh often) a good tattoo but it's with them for the rest of their lives!!! And the concepts are always stupid!!!! Like a spider tarantula hybrid or The Statue of Liberty but with huge boobs. Sometimes the artists SUCK and really fuck it up and sometimes they are masters of their art form being asked to do the impossible. I don't want it to ever end.
#3 Throne of Glass. I hate to be this person (I don't, I love it) but Sarah J. Maas has been one of my favorite authors since high school. I have BEEN here. So in preparation for Crescent City 3 in a few weeks I decided to reread her first series that was so near and dear to my heart in high school. I read most of the first book at Emissary on Saturday sandwiched between two terrible first dates. It’s just as fun as I remember — not nearly as smutty as her newer books, but I am so okay with that — between this and the first dates I am thoroughly entertained!!!
#4 Americanos. I have between one and three Americanos every day. There is a coffee shop across the street from my office that gives you up to 5 (five) coffees a day for ten dollars a month. That is ten dollars a month for a potential 150 coffees a month. Among the drinks they offer is the humble Americano, my bev of choice. I would try and tally up how many americanos I had this week but to be honest I don't want to know.
#5 Rachel Syme's Profile of Sofia Coppola. I read this on my lunch break on Monday and holy shit!!! Rachel Syme is one of my favorite writers. I want to be her when I grow up and I think she always picks the perfect people to profile — this piece is no exception. It's critical without being rude, complimentary without praising and does what I think a good profile should do: offer a nuanced, whole portrait of a person instead of something to be praised or belittled.
#6 Caffeinated Sparkling Water. Sunday afternoon was spent half watching New Girl and eating pizza on the couch and by 4:30 pm I was ready to go to bed but I had BIG plans to make a ribollita with Katrina so I needed a little kick. That kick ended up being a Heywell strawberry lemon energy + focus caffeinated sparkling water. It actually changed my life. My summer will revolve around walking to Foxtrot to pick one of these bad boys up before an outing. On Tuesday at work I took a walk to get one from the Georgetown Foxtrot. Consider yourself influenced.
Gabbie’s week:
#1 My first read and new book of the year. Okay, so, I won’t lie I did buy three books at Lost City when I visited DC during the first week of the New Year, but I’m not counting those towards my new year's resolution rule because it was sort of inevitable. And by inevitable I mean I was in DC for seven days and I’m almost positive I went into Lost City three times. It’s just the best bookstore ever.
#2 Red socks. A pop of red is always good and has definitely been on trend recently. I see it a lot with a monochromatic outfit which is lovely, but I dare you to wear your pop of red with other fun colors. I recommend a brightly colored shoe.
#3 This Dave Matthews song. I’m aware that liking them is kind of a joke, but I’m not entirely sure why (and if you know why please don’t tell me). I have this three-week cycle with the first song I play every time I get into the car and right now it’s Satellite. Not to be confused with the song from Harry Style’s Fine Line, which is also great.
#4 Thrifting without buying. I took so many pictures of the cool things I found while thrifting because I knew I wasn’t going to buy anything and honestly we should be doing that sort of thing more! Going into a thrift store just to see what things peek are interest and realizing why is helping understand what things I want and why. See below: Larry’s gigantic popcorn bowl and this silver case with a red velvet lining. Okay_____fine on TikTok and Instagram is an incredible jewelry account and on there she has shown her many jewelry box diys. This color way I saw in the thrift store gave me some great additional inspiration for what will perhaps be a future project.
#5 Vintage Jewelry. When I was in the city with Liz she wanted to pop into Ana Luisa. It’s a very similar vibe to Mejuri, dainty gold jewelry that’s kinda boring. In that moment I turned to Liz and insisted we leave because 1) it was absurdly crowded and 2) you can just buy cooler jewelry of better quality and price else where. I went onto the Mejuri website and found a couple of their popular ring styles and then searched eBay for things like it. My opinion on jewelry is that it’s special and should be unique to you. That doesn’t mean they have to be these elaborate or funky styles, you can get gold bands from jewelers and resellers that are of much better quality and uniquely yours.
#6 Library card. If reading this inspires you to do one thing I hope it’s to get a library card! I just borrowed Mona Awad’s new book Rouje because I hate hard cover books and I wasn’t the biggest fan of her other book Bunny, but I have higher hopes for this one! Regardless, no big deal if I don’t love it because I can just return it! Which I guess you could do with a book you bought from a store, but who returns books??
Honorable Mentions of Isabel’s week: Restaurant Week at Annabelle w/ Eli and Katrina, Warm Apple Cider, Las Culturistas, The Gilded Age, Wishbone Kitchen's Swamp Soup, Hockey Smut, White Rice, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Unsweetened Cashew Yogurt with Peanut Butter Granola + Honey, and a Baby Joint Paired With a Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson vehicle.
Honorable Mentions of Gabbie’s week: Live texting Isabel during the Oscar nomination announcements, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, that clip of Dominic Sessa talking about waking up his mother as a child by singing a song from The Phantom of the Opera, two Korean corn dogs (one sugar, one potato, both half cheese half sausage), @vicdeangelis, this Muji pen case, and a 2009 copy of War and Peace I have saved on eBay because I for some reason think I want to read that.
Thank you so much for reading each of our weeks dispatches. Let us know how you take your coffee and how often below. I’m a cappuccino at around 11 o’clock type of gal.
Xx,
Gabbie (& Isabel)
work from home and weekends: coffee right after waking up from the single serve french press i've had for three years
in office days: keurig coffee with pods that i had to buy myself, right after clocking in at 8:30
chemex, about 30 mins after waking up 💋