The Cat That Loved Me & Other Things I'm Gaga Over
At Beauty Hunter, when we say "olé!" we mean: My senses are exalted in this very ordinary moment of living & c'est beau!
Dear Beautiful Friends,
I have a list of Things I Love this week: beautiful, delightful, gasp-worthy, delicious, adorable, artistic, animalistic, and I’m going to deliver it to you within a creative constraint.
The creative constraint is this:
Seven items, each with three lines of accompanying text and a photo. I like 7 and I love 3’s—and you, xo.
Let’s go!
One, Two, Three by Laurie Frankel
This masterpiece tragicomedy about the citizens of a small barely-hanging-in-there town ravaged by chemical poisoning blew my mind. What could have been an earnest issue-y morality tale was instead funny and real, suspenseful and thrilling, told from the shifting POVs of 16-year-old triplets who you will root for, delight in, fall in love with, all of it brought to vivid life in sentences so beautiful and imagery so three dimensional, you might, like I did, want to steal some of this language for you own. Read it, write me and tell me what you think, and then head straight for Frankel’s new book.
Surface Tension, by Helen Dooley
I spend a lot of time looking at art online, and one of go-tos is Saatchi Art, which I’m not here to promote or in cahoots with, but they have living working artists and it takes me away from looking up dead artists, although I do that, too, but what I really want to say is:
Look at this lovely pink guitar and then check out her other work which is reminiscent of sister Swede Hilma af Klint.
Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal being cheaky & adorable
When the dazzling TV series Sherlock came on the scene, I didn’t flock to the Cumberbitches curdling their milk over Benedict C as Sherlock. Oh, no, I was flat out razzled-dazzled enamored by the eerie, bewitching talent of Andrew Scott playing Moriarty, Sherlock’s nemesis, and I couldn’t get enough of him, even replaying this scene a number of times. He went on to score more roles, including the Hot Priest in Fleabag, and is now in the film All of Us Strangers with Paul Mescal who I hear is very good but haven’t seen but I watched the two Irish actors laugh it up in this little How-Well-Do-You-Know-Your-Costar Quiz, and I think it might tickle your fancy as well and perhaps go on to watch a few more vids of theirs like I did, yes, you’re welcome.
My White Booties
When autumn descended, I noticed my eye following every pair of white-cream-colored booties with a pant of desire, which is the sign of an incoming style hankering. I found some, I bought them, I love them, and every time I wear them, someone tells me with a big grin and twinkle in the eye “I love your boots”—friends, a passerby at the mall, my waitress the other night. To be clear, this isn’t an approval-seeking thing (although I adore a good drowning in approval), but in the last decade or so, I’ve taken to wearing things that delight other people—so here’s my 2c: wear things that makes friends and strangers smile, you never know if the gold tennies, the leather choker, the flower vest or a bright pink pair of pants worn with the white boots and flowered vest might make someone’s day.
Whipped Cream
I once worked with a woman who told me about going home one night, dead tired after a long day, and sat in front of the TV with hot chocolate and a can of whipped cream, filling the top of her cup with white-cap curls, sucking then down with a few sips of hot chocolate, then filling up her cup again with more whipped cream, and so on—sip sip, whip, whip, repeat, and I admired her more after that story than I already did. I LOVE WHIPPED CREAM, and especially whipped cream in my coffee on a Monday morning—why I don’t do this every Monday is beside me, shall we have a bit of whipped cream in (on?) our coffee this Monday? My niece, Taya, used to call it “whooped cream” which I think is the best name ever.
The Cat Who Loves Me
I love cats, their weird, quirky, cranky, fuck-you, hate-you-love-you, zen-like, bipolar ways, but I don’t have cats because of allergies but do I really still have allergies, could I possibly, get a cat? In the meantime, Henri Rousseau’s La Reve hangs on the bedroom wall at the opposite side of our bed, and while I have so much pleasure looking into the landscape of this dream world, you know who has my heart? The big cat lion who’s staring straight at me right into my soul with curiosity and a great deal of care.
Ozzie the Talking Dog
Didn’t mean to end this on a Pet Central note, but doesn’t Ozzie look like Scooby-Doo’s stunt double, or young cousin, on the verge of saying, “Ruh-roh, it’s haunted!”? Or maybe like the feline in the painting, he’s looking deep, deep into my soul and thinking to himself, “I can help you.” Or maybe he just needed to go outside and pee.
Is there something you’d like to show and tell us about? What is an everyday thing you love that delighted you recently? Share in comments, the more ordinary, the better. xo