How to Feel Alive When the World is Literally (and Metaphorically) Burning to the Ground
Cotton-candy colored sweaters, afternoon tea and whimsical art.
This week I asked myself a question: what is bringing you joy right now? Not in a Marie Kondo way, although I love Kondo’izing my life too. But in a “what makes you feel alive?” or that sense of “aliveness,” a term I’d never considered until I read Oliver Burkeman’s gorgeous new book Meditations for Mortals, the perfect daily morsel for your mind.
Speaking of daily morsels, my friend Amy (hi Amy!) brought me back these Nanaimo bars from Vancouver and my mouth hasn’t been this happy in ages. My plan was to savor them with my afternoon tea (I’m trying not to drink coffee after 12pm, something that’s hard to do for a coffee-addict like me) but I dug into them right away with Rob and Clementine and then ate the rest at my desk the next day while staring at my computer screen.
Paper. You know what else is bringing me joy? Paper. Now that I’m more regularly sending out snail mail (a dream of mine ever since I had a pen pal back in middle school), I’ve decided to splurge on notecards that say “From the desk of Ruthie Ackerman”. I have so many favorite letterpress studios that it’s hard to know which to choose (Dahlia Press, Egg Press, Mr. Boddington’s Studio) and then
recommended Paper Chase Press and it was game over.
Art. From book cover designer to solo show in Chelsea, I couldn’t be more excited for Na Kim’s show at Nicola Vassell gallery. I’m just waiting to have time for a solo date so I can take myself there and then to Sunn’s in Chinatown for lunch. And if you don’t live in NYC or can’t manage to flee your apartment, here are some artists I’ve been drooling over on Instagram: Isabella di Sclafani, Lisha Bai and Yuko Nishikawa.
Brightly Colored Clothes. Bright colors are nothing new for me. But in these grim days of winter (not to mention the trash heap of the world), nothing screams “I’m alive!” quite like this dress and this cardigan. And this mushroom vest gives me Alice in Wonderland vibes in all the best ways.
Nikki Chasin’s Ballad Dress Ceramics. I’m always looking for anything with clementines on it so that someday my kid says, “Mom, just because my name is Clementine doesn't mean I need to love *everything* covered in clementines.” But I can’t help it. Clementines bring together so many of my favorite things: bright orange, a cute motif and a reminder of my daughter. My new favorite clementine bowl is from artist extraordinaire Victoria Savka. Some of my other favorite pieces are my snake mug from Helen Levi and anything by Suzanne Sullivan and G’Day Thrillseekers.
How sweet are these? Little dishes by Victoria Savka. THIS HAT. If you know, you know. And
knows.
Whimsy. There’s nothing I love more than humans finding joy in the smallest, quirkiest things.
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Love this piece, Ruthie, and the ballet dress is so great!