Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T: April 1-7, 2024
Alison Pegg
How many weather apps is too many?
Ask me at the beginning of this week and I’d tell you “the limit does not exist.”
But after this week, even my weather nerdery was tested and I can confidently say, you really don’t need more than three. Somehow I had one that shouts at me where there’s lightning, another that tells me it’s raining after it starts raining, and of course the Apple weather app telling sending me notifications for the weather in Toronto.
Needless to say, there was a mass deletion this week.
(Speaking of nerdery, I’m just now realizing this entire intro was about weather apps. Oh my goodness).
Anyway, here’s this week’s Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T.
Reading
I can’t tell you the last time I read a magazine, cover to cover. In an age of on-demand digital publications, it’s been a long time since I flipped through a magazine start to finish. It’s also been a long time since I’ve watched HGTV having cut cable years ago. But after a recommendation from my Mother, and a ffree Libby download, I dove into the April issue of HGTV magazine and devoured it. Midcentury modern birdhouses? Totally fun. Landscaping a 1950s home? Exactly what I’m trying to do right now. A black and white house? My dream. If modern and mid century is you style, this issue is totally for you.
Eating
Baked Ziti (Two Peas and Their Pod)
Sunday night dinner is a tradition in our family, its the one meal where make something substantial and gather round. Harboring a craving for a baked pasta dish, I came across this Baked Ziti recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod to solve it. It couldn’t have been more easy, nor more delicious. With an almost lasagna-like texture, the filling was cheesy and tomatoey and kept the pasta from drying out in the oven. Plus it made a TON of food, and with a busy week ahead of me, its perfect to reheat for leftovers when I’m short on time.
Playing
This kdrama hit me like a freight train and I’m obsessed. I haven’t even finished the last kdrama I recommended because this one has consumed all of my tv watching. Queen of Tears has everything you could want in a kdrama, two wildly popular leads with phenomenal acting, really great villians who you want to punch, family members that range from ridiculous to loving spanning both sides of the family, but most importantly is has a couple you actually want to root for at the very center. Plus an epic Vincenzo cameo, it’s an all-timer.
Obsessing
Is there such a thing as an art stalker? Because if there is, I’m totally guilty. After stalking Gavin Benjamin’s Heads of State artwork for months, I finally headed down to Brandt-Roberts Galleries during Gallery Hop to check them out in person. To describe them in one word would be breathtaking. Each piece is a collage of black and white photography, paint, and intricately laid jewels, resulting in a baroque-like portrait that feels modern and fresh. You have to see them in person.
Recommending
Glasting Melting Balm (rom&nd)
As someone who has way too many tinted lip balms, its a big deal when I find a new favourite formula. Rom&nd’s glasting melting balm mirrors a lipstick, in a bullet, but the balm formula is up there with Summer Fridays when it comes to how moisturizing it is. But the glow is the best part of this product. Glossy but not sticky, sheer and not to goopy, it matches perfectly with the shade collection for the softest look you could hope for. I picked up 04 Kaya Fig, a your-lips-but-better mauve shade that’s great for every day wear.
image courtesy of rom&and
Treating
Oval Sunglasses (Simply Vera Wang)
The small, oval sunglasses trend of the last few years has always scared me. As a card-carrying member of the large melon club, thin, east-west glasses have never looked good on me, often looking like their too small for my face shape. If you were given the opportunity to try on all shapes of sunglasses in an empty store, wouldn’t you take it? That’s how i ended up with this pair of Simply Vera Wang Oval Sunglasses from Kohl’s. Oval in size, they’re also an oversized shape which I prefer, and give me the opportunity to try out the trend, at a price point I can easily justify.
image courtesy of Kohl’s