Wear, Watch, Want #212: The Fleece Survival Stick Edition
Wear: Aquaphor Lip Repair Stick
I love Aquaphor, but only in certain forms. Tubes? No. The formula separates and it’s a mess. You have to knead the tube just to avoid accidentally spilling oil all over yourself and staining your clothes, and that tactic only works about 20% of the time. The tub is good, but not the huge one, you’ll never get through it and you’ll wonder if it’s gone bad or if it even CAN go bad and it’s been five years and you’re only halfway thought this enormous, hard to store, tub of goo. Small tub is the way to go. I thought this was the ONLY acceptable form of Aquaphor, until I tried the Lip Repair Stick. I am picky (as if my Aquaphor rant wasn’t proof enough) and I need a plain lip balm in rotation that is moisturizing, not too liquid-y, not sticky, easy to apply, and preferably unscented and unflavored. This is surprisingly hard to find. Aquaphor Lip Repair comes in a tube as is therefore trash, but Aquaphor Lip Repair STICK is all the things I love about Aquaphor, AND in a formula I support. Amazon recently had two-packs of the Lip Repair Stick on sale for half off, so I stocked up. Now I can have one by the couch, in the kitchen, in my car, in my bag. They’re everywhere, and it’s great.
Watch: Station Eleven
Last month my book club read The Glass Hotel, Emily St John Mandel’s most recent book. I was the one that recommended we read it, and my reasoning was that I read Station Eleven and liked it, so why not read another book by the same author? Sound reasoning, except we all kind of thought The Glass Hotel was just okay, and when I was asked what Station Eleven was about, I kind of blanked. I know I liked it, but all details had left my brain. Pandemic. Shakespeare. Connecting Stories. That’s all I had.
So while I have read Station Eleven (I’ve even recommended it on this very website), the HBO Max miniseries based on Station Eleven is all new for me. They did change a few things (enough that I, a person who doesn’t really remember the book, noticed) but it all seems for the better. Three episodes of the 10 dropped on Thursday, and while I’ve only watched two as of writing this, I’m totally in on Station Eleven. I will watch anything with Mackenzie Davis, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the performance from Matilda Lawler, who plays the younger version of Kirsten, Davis’s character. Child actors are often too saccharine, or too unbelievable, or just too much. Lawler is perfect. In a show full of good performances, for a child actor to be among the best? That’s impressive.
You may think a show about the aftermath of a pandemic is a little too much to watch in These Times, I get it, but Station Eleven isn’t about tragedy and suffering, it’s about surviving and living. And it’s beautiful.
Want: Fleece Sweater
So I have this ugly fleece sweater from Target, I wrote about it before, and it’s my favorite thing. It’s now a part of my pajama ensemble, and I wear it every night. I’m also in desperate need of a fleece pullover a TikToker I watch wears, that she says she got at TJ Maxx (which means no one will ever find it again ever). It’s a 1/4 zip/snap type deal, so now I want one of THOSE. I am picky about how material feels on my skin, and I loathe that fleece that’s too fluffy, or too velvet-y, so I also have to take that into account. Here are some fleece layers I have my eye one. If this Athleta Coat was available in a color other than white, I’d already own it. This is actually a men’s jacket, which is fine, but it seems a little too short and boxy for my bod. Patagonia is kind of the ultimate in fleece, but I’d have to CHOOSE which is hard when you want everything. I’ve only recently become an LL Bean person, but they’ve got a whole fleece section on their website that is calling to me.
