I talk a lot about how great it is to live in New York City, but I must be honest with you - I’m feeling a bit sad this week. I am experiencing FOMO because Europe is having a heatwave, despite knowing it’s hell on earth living in a London flat with no AC when it’s too hot. I also feel like everyone in the world is currently in the South of France and I want to be in the South of France. Never mind that the last time I went there my gold jewellery was stolen and I kept muttering under my breath, “I think I don’t like it here as much as I used to…” Can you tell I’m in my luteal phase?

There are lots of things I miss about living in London — The NHS, living near friends who’ve known me for 20 years, people being paid a living wage so you don’t need to tip every single person who so much as breathes in your direction… Below is my exhaustive list of what I miss about London this week.

1. Having a washing machine in my apartment by default

I would like to know how many millennials were brainwashed into thinking doing laundry in a laundromat is fun and sexy because of the Josh Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon led 2002 romcom 40 Days and 40 Nights. This film also romanticized living in San Francisco and being a web designer… hmmm sounds familiar, I didn’t base my college location and choice of major on this at all.

Moving to NYC is the first time in my life I’ve had to leave my house to do my laundry and you know what? I absolutely hate it!

At first it was sort of fun because I didn’t have a job yet. 4 years later it’s a chore I put off for as long as possible because I own an absurd amount of underwear. Every 2-3 weeks I wheel my laundry cart over to Lavanderia Express and spend about 3 hours there being annoyed about it and occupying around 6 machines simultaneously. Tell me why hours of uninterrupted scroll time on my phone at the laundromat doesn’t give me any dopamine? I think it’s because I’m trapped there.

Sure, I know I could drop it off and pay someone to do my laundry but I’m too much of a control freak for this. I could move to an apartment that has in-unit laundry, but I don’t want to move! I’d rather complain about it, and when life gets hard I just think to myself… someday you will have a washing machine again Jade. Dream big!

2. M&S

I miss M&S Food so much that I choose my hotels in London based on proximity to an M&S. When I visit I walk around taking photos of the shelves as if it’s a museum.

@scorpionicsaviourI love me an m&s #marksandsparks #britishhumour

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3. The milk

I miss being able to buy small bottles of milk. The milk in America is weird and doesn’t spoil for weeks. It doesn’t ever go bad, but somehow smells ‘off’ to me the moment it’s opened. I tried so many different milks to find a good one and this is the best - but the only shop in my neighbourhood that sells it only sells it by the half gallon. As a result I have so much milk. Sometimes I have to bake cookies just so that the milk doesn’t go to waste.

4. Channel 4 and the BBC

When I’m back in Europe the ads on TV seem like high art in comparison to the barrage of drug and political smear ads here. I really long for the days when I didn’t have drug jingles stuck in my head 24/7. If you’re wondering which is my favourite, it’s 🎶 control means EVERYthing to ME 🎶 woah-oh-oh-oh! 🎶

I pay to remove commercials from every streaming service I have but still somehow know all the jingles. Does everyone in America have plaque psoriasis? What even is plaque psoriasis?

5. The Tube

I don’t miss the Central, Bakerloo, or Piccadilly line - but the Lizzy line might just be the most perfect public transport experience in the world. The Crossrail project disrupted almost my entire 15 year stint living in London — from beloved bars and venues being knocked down (RIP Astoria 2) to my bus (the 55) being on diversion for over a year. I am bitter that the Elizabeth line only opened a month or so before I emigrated! It’s not fair!

The tube also has escalators galore. The NYC subway has sooooOOOoooooo many stairs, and I am lazy!

6. The Eurostar

I miss knowing that I could hop on a train to Paris on a whim. Yeah, I did only do that 3 times in 15 years, and it was never on a whim, of course it was planned months in advance… but just having the option feels so nice.

In NYC I find myself constantly googling stuff like “city break near NYC no plane no drive car”… it’s not the same.

7. Boots

I miss being able to buy my toiletries without ringing a little doorbell 10 times because all of the products are locked up behind plexiglass. I haven’t impulse bought a bronzer or nail polish for years because of this… and that’s just not right.

8. No Roaches

I had never seen a roach IRL until I moved to NYC.

The 1996 film Joe’s Apartment had done a great job of anthropomorphising them for me so I am blessed to be not terrified of them but I still don’t want the little creatures in my apartment.

Living in an older apartment makes you catch yourself saying things like “Well I only see 1 or 2 a year so it’s not an infestation” or “they’re just passing through” or “they crawl out of the walls to die in my apartment, there’s no food for them here… I don’t cook!”

They’re really hard to kill you guys! If you want to know how I do it, I use my Swiffer Sweeper with kitchen roll wrapped around it to bludgeon them to death. It requires a level of force that shocked me.

One shouldn’t be too negative… here are three things that I prefer about NYC currently.

1. You’re allowed to buy more than 12 ibuprofen at a time

Oh how I love to be allowed to buy the 360 pill bottle of Advil without getting special permission from the pharmacist. Still, I do have to ring the little doorbell and wait for someone to unlock them from pill prison.

2. Ok I do agree about the ice thing actually

It didn’t happen after one year…

It didn’t happen after two…

… but after three years, on a visit back to London, I started thinking, “God they really give you hardly any ice in your drink here.”

3. Plastic bottles

The annoying thing where plastic bottle caps stay permanently attached and hit you in the face every time you drink happened after I moved abroad. So now it’s a little surprise that I’m met with each time I visit.

A shorter post this week because life is busy and when not working, I’m spending most of my time at the pool reading precisely two pages of my book because I’d rather gossip with my sisters or eavesdrop on strangers’ conversations.

Last Sunday I went to see Disclosure Day. It was so disappointing so that’s all I’ll say about it! Beforehand I picked up a strawberry shiso danish and cheese sandwich from La Cabra to eat at the movie. I’m a huge proponent of an early morning movie at the Regal on Essex and Delancey. I enjoy seeing what feasts other people bring in to eat on their little tables. It’s how I found out about the chicken caesar wraps at Bobwhite Counter - I had to ask the girl beside me where her wrap was from because it looked so perfect.

I also walked by a girl wearing the Doen dress I’m currently hyper-fixated on and she looked so amazing in it. I was wearing my Doen Frederica top which I bought in spring to hoard for summer weather (it’s now sold out). We geeked out over her dress and my top. I do love walking down the street in New York with my little cheese sandwich and talking to girls about clothes along the way.

Sunbathing on the roof at 10am

🎧 spotify / 🍎 apple music

I made a little playlist for sunbathing on the roof at 10am for 40 mins. When you hear the beginning of Turn! Turn! Turn! it is time to turn over. When Alright starts, seek shade! For the dorks and type As like moi who care, Turn! Turn! Turn! is the 20:15 mark and Alright is the 40:43 mark

1. Madonna - Hollywood (2003)

2. CSS - Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above (2005)

3. Kylie Minogue - In Your Eyes (2001)

4. Ace Frehley - New York Groove (1978)

5. Groove Armada - Superstylin’ (2001)

6. The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) (1965)

7. Fcukers - L.U.C.K.Y (2026)

8. Beyoncé - CUFF IT (2022)

9. Solange - Way to the Show (2019)

10. Kelela - idea 1 (2026)

11. The Strokes - Oblivius (2016)

12. Supergrass - Alright (1995)

Are you happy to be in Paris?

I went to see Frederick Wiseman’s 2011 doc Crazy Horse at L’Alliance last night.

My favourite parts were the dancers watching a compilation of “Ballet fails” backstage and displaying the most emotion they did for the entire documentary by scream laughing watching dancers fall over.

I also loved this creative director who went on a rant about how he thinks the French government should force every French citizen to see the Crazy Horse show because they need to see how much beauty women are capable of (except the lazy ones ! ! !)

I am trying desperately to find the song D-E-S-I-R online because I need it for my yé-yé girls playlist. Pictured below is monsieur creative director having the time of his life while they record it.

It is a great companion film to Showgirls. Next I’m going to watch Burlesque (I’ve never seen it!) and Sweet Charity (also never seen despite knowing every word to Hey Big Spender but has been on my watchlist after seeing lots of clips of it in Marc by Sofia).

Afterwards we felt Paris pilled so made a spur of the moment decision to walk briskly over to Le Relais de Venise, where usually you have to wait in line, but at 9:30pm we breezed straight in. This place only has steak frites on the menu. For $39.50 you get a heavy on the vinaigrette green salad with walnuts, entrecôte de boeuf, and a mountain of fries.

When you enter they immediately ask you how you like your steak cooked and they scribble it on the table.

Bleu, végétarienne, saignant (rare en français)

If you are veggie you get a cheese plate instead of a steak but to make up for this they let you have a free dessert. So it’s quite a hack going with a vegetarian because at the end of the meal when you are all simply too full for dessert you “have to” choose one to share because it’s included! We had crème brûlée.

This is exactly the sort of spot that is great to decide to go to at the last minute. It’s not exactly known for having great food but it hits the spot when the mood is right.

Cool Facts™️

I’m the millionth person to say it, but for the last week New York has truly felt “like a movie”. As someone who grew up in Europe, America kind of always seems “like a movie” to me, but the collective joy the city is feeling after the Knicks win is so uplifting.

My cool fact is that last year I found out that Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York was released in 1980 (!) Originally sung by Liza Minnelli in Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York, Frank covered it 2 years later.

I enjoy cornering people at parties and telling them this fact because everyone I’ve said it to also assumed it was a song from the fifties or thereabouts. I think this is a prime example of the collective effect of seeing a movie on TV as a kid and not realising it’s a period piece. Scorsese’s film is set in 1945. So the song is supposed to sound like it’s from the forties.

Things to look forward to

💄 Fara Homidi teased her next release “Blonzer” (blush + bronzer) coming June 29th. Her bronzer compact has been doing overtime for me this week so I can’t wait to try it. I really do think that all you need in the summer when it’s this hot and humid is a bit of under eye brightener, bronzer and blush swept across the nose to look a bit sunburnt, a freckle pen (I swear by this one), and boy brow.

🎥 John Early’s directorial debut Maddie’s Secret came out this week - showing at the IFC.

I had a really nice Sunday downtown this week. I was having what I call a “Jade Day”. A Jade Day means that you go for breakfast alone (and usually get to skip the line of couples who give you a filthy look for being allowed to sit at the counter without waiting) and then go shopping and get a beauty treatment or go to a movie.

My June Vibe - Clockwise from top left: Mango Dress, Stray Rats tank, LA Apparel shorts, Kotn off the shoulder tee, Thistles sunglasses, Telfar bag, Dave & Buster’s and Regal Unlimited card for some air conditioned R&R, Le Labo Gaiac 10, Mansur Gavriel sandals

I started my Jade Day with (oreo stuffed) pancakes at Shopsin’s and then mooched around the LES for a bit. I saw that Sweet Pickle Books has opened up another space next door with a more curated selection of rare books. It is very pleasant to browse in there. I stopped myself from buying this book on lucid dreaming.

Sweet Pickle Books

Spencer’s Spa, Soho

I was all movied out from having seen I Love Boosters on Thursday night and Cool World on Friday night, so I capped off my Jade Day by visiting Spencer’s Spa in Soho. I had not been there yet. The space is gorgeous but the music lets them down. It was very royalty-free-lofi-beats-to-study-to on this particular day.

They are positioned as something between a budget spot and a true luxury spa. In that respect, their pricing is really only competitive if you sign up for their monthly membership - but I wanted to try them out before I committed to that.

There are no showers, steam, or sauna, but upon arrival they give you plush slippers and chic brown socks that I ~think~ you get to keep (sorry, I did). You are separated by curtains rather than separate treatment rooms - but they’re thick luxurious floor to ceiling curtains that look and feel expensive. They use Aesop oils and wipe you down with a warm wet towel at the end so you can go about the remainder of your day without feeling like you are getting oil all over the cupro skin tight halterneck dress you are trying on at Mango across the road when you just popped in to check out the Eckhaus Latta collab for a quick second.

My massage was really good, and because the therapists all have to whisper due to the lack of walls the requisite end of massage lecture about how my shoulders are so very tense was way shorter than I’m usually forced to endure.

I’ll be trying their Williamsburg location next month for a Lymphatic Face Massage Facial so will report back swiftly!

I enjoyed a perfect peach iced tea at Din Tai Fung in Las Vegas which led me to become obsessed with re-creating it at home.

I feel like a lot of my friends from Ireland and England have their ‘summer holiday drink’ - the drink you have on your patio with a bowl of salty or paprika crisps after having a shower and changing into your holiday dinner outfit. You’re probably a bit sunburnt and going to dinner with wet hair. You’re probably going to a local pizza place that doesn’t require dressing up but you all do because it’s your summer holiday. For people who went to Spain it was usually Fanta Limón, for people who went to France it is usually Lipton Ice Tea Pêche.

Extensive research taught me that cold brew iced tea tastes better, so I picked up this carafe from MUJI. I wanted something glass, with a wide neck, so that I can put tea bags in it. I cold brewed 2 bags of Yorkshire Gold for 12 hours (Don’t shoot me! I am usually a Barry’s girl but Yorkshire is easier to get my hands on in NYC).

I bought frozen peach slices with the intention of making my own syrup but then I saw this Liber & Co peach syrup and swiftly got real with myself.

I also bought these teeny tiny measuring beakers because I wanted to make sure I was using the exact same amount of syrup once I had perfected my recipe (15ml btw)

When I poured my first glass I was bracing myself for disappointment. I had just had an utterly disappointing iced tea at Pura Vida the day before. I took my first sip and IT. WAS. PERFECT!

Drink of the summer = found.

Cool Facts™️

The legendary Captain America’s restaurant on Grafton Street in Dublin closed last week after 55 years. Credited with introducing Ireland to both sesame seed burger buns and iceberg lettuce, it’s hard to explain this restaurant to somebody who didn’t grow up in Ireland.

In the 70s it was (according to my anonymous source) a genuinely cool place to hang out. Said anonymous source also let me know that she didn’t get hired there because she “forgot to take her bra off that day”.

I spent my childhood summers there having birthday meals with my cousins. For some reason their vanilla ice cream with melted chocolate sauce felt really special and elegant to me. Something about the way the chocolate would solidify on the ice cream. Something about the texture of cheap ice cream and cheap chocolate combined (see also Vienetta and Romantica).

The walls were covered with signed rock memorabilia as well as large hand painted murals of Captain America. This was pre Marvel pop-ification and saturation. I remember being scandalised by one of the murals depicting a German soldier with horrible teeth saying “Holy Shit!”

When I moved back to Dublin for college one of my friends from San Francisco was visiting. I told him to meet me at Captain A’s and we sat at the bar. This is where I was when I found out that happy hour had literally just been made illegal in Ireland. They hadn’t even updated the menus yet.

Anyway, the cool fact™️ that I learned this week was that Jim Fitzpatrick, who painted the murals, is also the creator of the iconic Che Guevara poster. This print was ubiquitous in Dublin when I was growing up. Because we moved around a lot, I never quite know if something is an “Irish” thing or just a “my family” thing. I had to ask around to find out if this print was everywhere in 90s specifically because it was Irish or was it global? I have since confirmed with my sources that teen boys in America and England were also wearing the t-shirt and hanging the poster.

The artwork and memorabilia is going up for auction, including Jim Fitzpatrick’s murals. Here is an old menu I found (signed by Rod Stewart) - worth a look if you want to see what their menus looked like when a hamburger cost 40 pence and a 10oz steak would set you back a little over a quid.

I am back on the east coast after a few days in Las Vegas. I didn’t partake in much gambling other than ordering matcha lattes from places that seemed highly unlikely to have good matcha. I guess lady luck was on my side because the matcha at Donutique in the Venetian was very good!

Donutique became a daily ritual for us on this trip because it was a word we all greatly enjoyed saying. “Where are you going?” … “DONUTIQUE of course!” … “Meet me at Donutique” etc…

L-R: A terrible matcha from the LavAzza coffee shop at the Regal in Union Square; a disarmingly good matcha latte from Donutique in Las Vegas; A perfect poolside Coke after multiple “Is Pepsi OK?”s in a row

Peppermill straight off the plane

We landed and went straight to Peppermill whose vibes are impossible to capture on film. Imagine getting off a 5 hour, 7am, flight, walking 20 mins in the dry Vegas heat and entering the air conditioned sunken lounge. Everything is velvet, neon, and chrome. There are fire pits with blue flames. You are surrounded by 100 TVs and they’re all playing XTC music videos. It RULES!

I mentioned last week that the last time I went to Peppermill they served us an absurdly large omelette - well I was not prepared for the size of the pancakes. People were stopping as they passed our table to point at them. They just DID NOT NEED TO BE THAT LARGE!

We ate very well in Vegas, and only one of the restaurants mentioned in this post gave only one of our group food poisoning (!) Maybe it wasn’t the food… perhaps it was handling the dirty coins at Slots-a-fun, the last coin operated slots place on the strip, and smoking Capris with said dirty coin hands. I am not a germaphobe, but my fingers were black after handling about 10 quarters and then getting bored because I wasn’t winning anything.

L-R: Gorgeous Pastel de Merengue con Fresas cake at Cantina Contramar; some New Yorkers whose first time at Carbone was in Las Vegas

We had dinner at Cantina Contramar, an outpost of the famous CDMX resto which famously moved one of my sisters to tears because she found the Tuna Tostada to be so delicious.

Their strawberry meringue cake is now up there on my favourite desserts of all time list. I will be attempting to make this so please wish me luck because I dabbled with making meringues during COVID lockdown and it did not turn out so well.

L-R: Dinner and a show, pre No Doubt concert; perfectly balanced Flan at Cantina Contramar

We also got the flan, a dish I definitely learned about from this 1997 episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch . I have to report that the line “There’s no better way to celebrate than with a wobbly jobbly flan!” is in fact… true!

The reason we were in Vegas was to see No Doubt’s residency at the Sphere. I have not seen No Doubt play live since 2002 at Glastonbury. Being inside the Sphere felt like visiting the Millennium Dome in the 2000s. There are math equations and formulas everywhere as decor because… it’s a sphere! I paid $32 for a single shot of tequila in a commemorative No Doubt plastic cup, and then I went and did that a second time.

We were unfortunately seated next to the only man in the Sphere who truly understood No Doubt. He was irate that people weren’t standing up during the ballads. He really needed everyone to know that he was from Orange County and was the only person there that knew about real music.

While I’m usually pretty good at ignoring the sound of a drunk man rambling, it became too difficult to ignore when he turned down to face our row and started shouting, “You’re all fucking idiots!” over and over and over. I told him to “Chill” and this pushed our sensitive diva over the edge. He stared me and my sisters down and went, “You weren’t even born.” (little did he know I’m such a fan of third wave ska that I had a literal 2-tone prom dress) … he continued, “You’ve never heard good music, and you’ve never been fucked”… he paused to search for the words, “…by a cowboy!”

So what I’m getting from this interaction was that he thought I’m really ~ young ~ and that unfortunately men quite often have to ruin things because they get so emotional. We couldn’t get away from him because he was blocking the only exit to our row and flipping us off repeatedly.

Drama queen from the OC aside the show was great and made me rather emotional too but because I am a woman I’m able to control my emotions really well and just sang along and danced with my sisters as an expression of joy.

L-R: Antique Alley and Main Street Peddlers finds that I’m shocked I didn’t purchase: Pam Anderson and Dan Aykroyd Coneheads Playboy, Sandra Bernhard Playboy, a cute little Eire swizzle stick

On our last day we went to the arts district to hit up the antique shops. I am alarmed at the level of self restraint I demonstrated by not buying anything. The arts district is a nice way to get a break from the strip and dig through glassware and ashtrays from the older casinos which make far better gifts than the slop in the gift shops of today. I like my slop to be from the 80s! In the arts district the buildings are low, the pavements are empty, and it’s full of vintage shops and breweries. You feel a bit like you are in Austin - I imagine… I have never been to Austin. My sister found a Luella (RIP - the brand, not the person) handbag for $30 at the Buffalo Exchange.

We capped off the trip by seeing Backrooms because I simply have to make use of my Regal Unlimited™️ subscription as often as possible.

We couldn’t fit in a trip to the Neon Museum - maybe next time!

Things to look forward to

🎥 Low Cinema is screening Cool World on Friday night. If, like myself, you enjoy watching films rated 4% on Rotten Tomatoes in a dark room with your friends and neighbours, you might enjoy!

🛍️ The Cou Cou summer pop up is open til June 20th - 262 Mott Street - in case ya need to restock your undies.

Cool Facts™️

No Doubt came out to this song by The Specials which I hadn’t heard in ages. Here’s the Dance Dance Revolution version.

… and here’s a little video of Alan Cumming playing “Mick Jagged” in The Flinstones in Viva Rock Vegas which subconsciously influenced me to want a tiger print bikini.

I’ll be at Donutique if anyone needs me.

PRISCAVera shirt / Tibi trousers / Camper shoes / Glynit bag / Miu Miu sunglasses

I have been on the lookout for a slightly transparent chartreuse button down shirt. I can’t find one! I picked up this PRISCAVera shirt from Desert Stars Vintage at Shop 86 in Greenpoint over the weekend. They also had a lot of 90s Morgan de Toi mesh tops (blast from the past from the British high street).

I am going to wear the shirt with my Tibi Crispy Nylon Winslow Pants. I love these trousers because they have snap buttons on the inside that allow you to adjust the length depending on the shoes you are wearing or how much you can tolerate your pants dragging on the floor on any given day.

Something about the yellow sunglasses and patterned shirt feels appropriate for a Las Vegas trip - maybe I’m channeling Hunter S. Thompson. Maybe I just want to look like a Eurotrash side character in season 2 of Sex and the City (the best season).

The other week in the laundromat I felt compelled to read Moby’s entire Wikipedia page. I had completely forgotten about the South Side remix with Gwen Stefani - which, incidentally is not available on any streaming platforms and was not the album version. I might have to buy the CD single.

Since then, I’ve been hearing Moby everywhere I go. I kicked off my Memorial Day weekend by having my quarterly Rolo’s Lasagna - they were playing Moby and The Cardigans. The next day on my walk back from the vintage store in Greenpoint, new shirt in hand, some sign painters were sitting in the sun listening to Porcelain.

On Saturday, like every other bitch in New York and her dog, I caught the last day of the Domenico Gnoli exhibit. The textures on these paintings in person were incredible. He mixed sand into his paint.

L-R: Curly Red Hair, 1969; Armchair 1968

Robe Verte 1967 - This wasn’t part of the exhibition but is close to my vision for the chartreuse green shirt I have been dreaming about.

After the exhibition I had pancakes at a nearby diner, Viand, and then caught the 6 train back downtown to restock my Manic Panic dye and mooch around in the pouring rain.

For some poolside reading I picked up Richard Hell’s first novel, Go Now, in Codex books - look left as you exit and you’ll see the John Varvatos store that used to be CBGBs. The book was signed and the clerk told me that he had come in a few days ago and started signing all of his own books without asking. How punk of him!

Clockwise from top left: What I’m bringing to Vegas - Go Now by Richard Hell, Chanel green eyeshadow in Jade Facetté, Manic Panic Electric Pink Pussycat hair dye, Ilia green shadow stick in Filigree, Miu Miu pink and yellow sunglasses, Biodance PDRN mask to de-age me by 10 years, Beauty of Joseon Centella mask in case I get too much sun

I will leave you with one of my favourite scenes from Showgirls, which I rewatched today while packing (PSA it’s on Tubi, my favourite streaming platform)

“Different places!!!!!” Maybe I’ll start to respond in this manner when people ask me where I’m from.

This scene was shot at the Peppermill. I went there a few years ago and my friend was served the biggest omelette we’d all ever seen.

My friend’s absurdly large omelette at the Peppermill

Okayyyy I’ve got a plane to catch. See you next week!

L-R: Pellador Scream if you love Ireland baby tee; Some clovers in Brooklyn this weekend

In last week’s blog I mentioned my personal florist, aka my sister Tara. Well this week her childhood best friend Fi was visiting from London. I refer to her lovingly as my personal pastry chef. Tara says I’m not allowed to call her my personal pastry chef and that I should refer to her as my pastry chef-in-law.

L-R: Fi made my 40th birthday Strawberry Shortcake (breakfast cake !) and my mum’s 70th birthday Guinness cake (midnight post theatre cake !!)

Tara had us all over for dinner and spatchcocked a chicken and served it with potatoes and the Alison Roman Vinegar-Marinated Butter Beans. Fi made a dessert so delicious that we all devoured it before any photos could be taken. It was an almond friand with stewed strawberries, whipped cream, and an oaty crumble on top.

L-R: Fifi’s incredible find in Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, a vintage cookbook shop in the East Village; Fi’s delicious freshly baked soda bread and the butter that sent me down a vintage butter mold rabbit hole.

This year NYC kind of skipped over spring and straight into languishing-on-a-hot-roof weather. I am lucky enough to have roof access. We can’t leave furniture up there so I have been looking for something that folds down VERY small because I am lacking in storage space. This Zara Home lounger is exactly what I’ve been searching for. She can be stuffed under my bed when not in use. Find me on my roof this week reading Slutever by Karley Sciortino and watching the man across the street take his pigeons for a walk. I don’t know how better to describe this - he has a pigeon coop with dozens of pigeons and he lets them out, they fly around in a circle and then return to him within a few seconds. It is mesmerising to behold.

Zara Home Foldable Floor Beach Lounger - my aching millennial back needs this.

I have this completely fine IKEA dining table. I want something more textured but don’t want to buy anything too heavy or specific while I’m still renting. It only just occurred to me to get a tablecloth. Because I have no chill I had to order one immediately to make this vision come to fruition. Now that I know I’m a tablecloth girl I will be on the search for the ~ perfect ~ vintage one (or two, or three) at Brimfield if I make it there this September.

L-R: Zara Home Clover Print Jacquard Tablecloth; said tablecloth on my table featuring Sophie Lou Jacobsen La Pomme sugar bowl, my Glossier peppermill (my absolute favourite piece of corporate merch - it’s Peugeot!), vintage silver “Baby” cup from my recent visit to Alfies Antiques Market, Noah Verrier Happy Meal Print

You might think I opted for the clover print because I make being a first gen Irish emigrant my whole personality at times. But clovers are actually more ingrained in Scandinavian culture than Irish culture.

I’ve had this Josef Frank wallpaper, designed in the 1940s, bookmarked for years. On the left is Margherita Missoni’s guest bedroom.

As a renter, I can’t invest in wallpapering my ceiling or custom blinds ( yet ! ) so I LOVE patternmaxxing my bedding.

L-R: I got it from my momma. Foreshadowing both my move to NYC and affinity for wearing the merch of sports teams I know nothing about in a Mets tee on the left with my baby sis Sarah, and a Yankees sweatshirt on the right - but more importantly showcasing my Mum’s ditsy print Laura Ashley wallpaper and my favourite Laura Ashley floral bedding - the first set of bedding I picked out for myself.

Clockwise from top left: My beloved Sophie Conran clover bedding in my bedroom in London; D. Porthault Trèfles bed linen; Kathy Hilton’s emotional support pillow

My favourite bedding set of recent years was the Sophie Conran clover set pictured above. I moved it to America despite knowing that bedding sizes are different over here thinking maybe it would look OK - it was way too small for the mattress.

I noticed Kathy Hilton is often clutching this pillow in episodes of RHOBH. “Great”, I thought, “I should just find out what that is and I can get the duvet cover in an American size” … I found out that it was D. Porthault. You can read up on the history of this specific print here. A queen sheet set would set you back a mere $2,750.00 - so the Zara Home tablecloth will have to do for now.

Buy this so I don’t have to

1960s French Chrome Swan Handle Tray on Etsy

Things to look forward to

💄 Marc Jacobs Beauty re-launches June 1st - I need Velvet Noir Mascara back in my life! This is how he described it to Vogue in 2016:

“I think my mother actually learned that from a drag queen. She would take velvet ribbon and scrape the pile and apply it on top of mascara to make her lashes very clumpy.”

💿 The Strokes new album comes out June 26th. I’m in the “just let Julian use autotune if he wants to” camp - so I can’t wait!

Right, I’m going up to the roof.

My favourite Harry Gruyaert photo: Ireland, Galway, 1984

L-R: Wild Cherry, Leo’s Cafe, Dover St. Counter

In a move very unlike myself I went to Wild Cherry, Frenchette’s new restaurant in Cherry Lane Theatre the night before my flight to London. I was there seeing You Got Older starring Alia Shawkat (all those TV shows I like) and Peter Friedman (Succession!) which was fantastic.

When I landed in London I had a fry up at Leo’s Cafe in Dalston because… you gotta. I moved rooms in my hotel because the TV was broken and I simply had to watch Channel 4 or I’d die. They were very accommodating.

I met my friend at Aire, a bathhouse located in a townhouse where J.M. Barrie (the author of Peter Pan) used to live ~insert joke about Peter Pan being the first avoidant twink with mommy issues I had a crush on~.

When I am in London I usually go to the spa at The Corinthia but it has become prohibitively expensive. I’m glad this pushed me to finally try Aire. They give you little slippers that you also wear in the water so you don’t have to listen to the sound of people’s wet flip flopping sandals. There was a cold plunge inside the steam room, which I found to be chic and dramatic.

After Aire we had chicken sambos (that’s sandwiches for the un-Irish of you) at Dover St. Counter and were alarmed that the bill was so low - dear reader, it was low because we didn’t get wine or a cocktail and we always get wine or a cocktail when we are together.

Alfies Antique Market was on my list of places to go on my last London visit but since Chiltern Firehouse caught on fire (on Valentine’s Day last year) and has been closed for renovation, I just haven’t had a reason to go to Marylebone. On this particular visit the algorithm served me this Architectural Digest video and I decided maybe there are, in fact, other things in Marylebone that are worth my time.

L-R: A silver egg and soldiers set, a painting of a “beautiful girl” that my friends keep telling me looks like me, vintage Soviet Christmas ornaments that came home in my suitcase

I went to see Amélie on 35mm print at the Prince Charles Cinema. I’ve seen this film dozens of times but on this rewatch I became fixated on her red rubber gloves. She wears them when she breaks into Monsieur (mean vegetable man) Collignon’s apartment. My friend and I were convinced they’d made them custom for the film because of its red and green palette - “When have you ever seen red rubber gloves? they’re always yellow or pink!” we kept saying on the walk to the Lizzy line.

Anyway turns out red rubber gloves aren’t as special as I thought. I ordered some online. I was initially delighted by them and the flower pattern embossed on the cuffs, but I can’t say I recommend them because they smell too much like… rubber.

Unfortunately for my kitchen aesthetic I remain devoted to Clorox Ultra Comfort Premium Gloves because they are cotton lined and don’t smell like anything.

By the way, I didn’t use to have so many opinions on rubber gloves until I moved to a city (NYC) where the luxury of both living alone and having a dishwasher + washing machine means paying over $3000 a month in rent. I’ve actually started going into the office more often so I don’t have to do as many dishes because I can’t take it anymore!

L-R: Frame Denim The Hang Jeans, ace & tate Selma Sunglasses, If Only If Pandora Nightgown

I enjoyed Lena Dunham’s show Too Much last year. I had to know where all of Jessica’s (Megan Stalter) nightgowns came from. The answer is If Only If. Their branding and ecomm photography doesn’t do it for me but after seeing her dress in a matching one with her tiny dog whose tongue is always hanging out (my favourite type of dog) I was sold.

When I got back from London I framed and hung my John Kacere print (eBay) in my bedroom. At the Salon 94 show last year this was my favourite painting - so I was thrilled to find a print of it. His paintings inspired the opening shot in Lost in Translation.

While London has loving homages to American dive bars (Rasputins), in NYC Irish (Banshee) and English (Dean’s) spots are having a moment. I haven’t tried Dean’s yet but tell me why I’ve never wanted to eat a scotch egg in my life but now that I’ve been stateside a few years I romanticise the hell out of the idea of eating a scotch egg with an ice cold martini (“but Jade you don’t even LIKE martinis” my sister will be saying under her breath while rolling her eyes if she is reading - which sister you ask? The one who is addicted to rolling her eyes at me of course!).

My personal florist Some Occasions, aka the aforementioned sister who loves to roll her eyes at me, put me on to lily of the valley flowers. I’ll admit I only knew about this flower from playing Animal Crossing for 5 hours a day during COVID lockdown - and I’ll admit - I thought they were bigger! I’m obsessed with how cute and small they are. I brought them to the cinema to see Mile End Kicks.

L-R: How to keep your farmers market flowers fresh if you simply have to catch a matinée at the AMC, “My” Princess Tree, Diptyque Ortie Candle (smells like nettles)

My apartment overlooks a patch between two buildings that has this tree. It has only flowered twice in the four years I’ve lived here and I only thought to look it up this year. Imagine my delight when I found out it is called a PRINCESS TREE - and it’s normal for it to skip flowering if the conditions aren’t quite right. I’m glad to know there’s another little princess living on my block.

Lastly, I picked up the new Diptyque Ortie Candle in Heathrow duty free on the way home and it smells divine - clean and herby!

Things to look forward to

🖼️ I need to go to the Domenico Gnoli exhibit - it ends May 23rd so I’d better get on that.

🎥 Frederick Wiseman’s film Crazy Horse is playing at L’Alliance New York on June 18th - tickets

✈️ I am going to Las Vegas for a little R&R and to see No Doubt perform at The Sphere. Drop your Vegas recommendations in the comments. Before you ask, yes I have seen Criss Angel Mindfreak’s Las Vegas show. Yes it was fabulous. Yes I would consider going a second time.

Things that made me crack the fuck up

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