The Week In Recommendations 7.2.25
Summer vacations, water-friendly footwear, and stopping Trump's "big, beautiful bill" from passing in the House.
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Over on Love To See It this week, we’re talking “Love Island USA” and the fallout of Casa Amor!
Civic challenge of the week:
Call your reps and tell them to do everything in their power to prevent the passage of Trump’s absolutely disastrous “big, beautiful bill.”
Claire has been reading… 📖
Nothing this week aside from posts — I even scoured my browser history, and zilch — but I did, optimistically, bring four books on our five-day summer vacation to Connecticut. (See the contenders below) Perhaps I will read an entire one tomorrow, while supervising two children and taping a “Love Island” recap from our Airbnb. Let me have my fantasy!
Emma has been reading… 📖
I’ve also been absolutely useless on the reading front this week. Beyond scouring lists of “best restaurants in Iceland,” “best brunch in Iceland” and “best shops in Reykjavík,” I’ve mostly been reading texts. (LOL.) But I’m heading up to the Catskills on Friday, so I’ll be bringing some books to maximize my reading / relaxation potential.
Claire has been watching… 📺
“Love Island,” yes, of course, always. No matter how rocky the ride, I can never stop it and get off! It just goes on and on, my friends! This week turned out to be a particularly brutal drop from euphoria to revulsion, but we soldier on. Maybe by the end of next week, these himbos and himbettes will have made me love them again!
After our live show, I treated myself to a little extracurricular TV this weekend: the “Hacks” season finale, a grim foray into Deborah Vance’s version of clinical depression, and an episode of “The Rehearsal” that I will only say bore a startling resemblance to episode 16 of “Love Island."
Emma has been watching… 📺
Honestly mostly just “Love Island,” since I’m in Iceland most of this week! I purchased a month of NordVPN just so I could watch all of our faves melt down after a Heart Rate Challenge!!!!! And boy was it worth every god damn penny. This show has me in a chokehold, perhaps because so much horrible shit is going on in the world that I am fully entranced by the opportunity to watch beautiful sex idiots fall in love in Fiji without any access to the outside world. (Update: As of Tuesday night’s episode… I’m finding even my happy place depressing.)
Claire has been listening to… 🎧
So much Bachelor in Retrospect — I’ve been digging into the Patreon archives this week so I can keep the vibe going. It brings me back to simpler times, specifically the times when Bob Guiney was Bachelor and Chris Siegfried was publishing tomes of his original poetry. Between the state of the world and the post-live-show crash, it’s all I’ve been able to face lately.
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
We just did a big rewatch of Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of “The Bachelorette” to prepare for our 10-year anniversary live show, so I’ve been truly delighted that Kaitlyn herself is doing a series of podcast interviews with guys from her season. I listened to her episode with reality TV stan / resident narrator Tanner Tolbert, and this week she released an episode with JJ Lane, a mid-season comedic villain who also happened to be one of our very first Bachelor Nation podcast guests! (A truly delightful human.) It’s so much fun hearing people reflect on something wild they did a decade ago, with all of the perspective, remove and lack of contracts that that space and time provides.
Claire has been buying… 🛍️
A few supplies for our vacation, which is, as our preschooler demanded many times, a Beach Vacation. Beach toys, beach games, mesh beach totes to haul everything, glaringly orange swimsuits and rash guards so that the kids will be highly visible all week, and even a couple adorable outfits for them (because the very concept of vacation inspired me).
I also got myself this Baggu small crescent bag, because I have grand plans of matching it with my old Teva Hurricane Drift water sandals when I’m dressing to impress at the splash pad.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
A few items from the Left On Friday x Loeffler Randall collaboration! Two of my fave brands, even better together. (Especially Left On Friday, home of my beloved workout playsuit and the some of the best swimwear in town.) I snagged this leopard Streamline one piece, which is now mostly sold out, but there are other styles left in the washed leopard print and a red colorway in the Streamline. (I think it will double nicely as a bodysuit for non-water occasions.) I also hit buy so fast on these deep brown Dana jelly sandals. (If you have tiny feet, go grab some of the last pairs!!) They’re en route to me right now and I can’t wear to wear the fuck out of them.
Also, shout out to my recent Quince wins! I truly would have frozen to death via windchill in Iceland without this perfect, fairly chic, praline-colored windbreaker with a tucked away hood. Plus, the extremely well-priced strappy heels that I preordered months ago finally arrived — and they are now back in stock in all three colors.
Claire has been making… 🧶
Aside from the Meghan Markle skillet spaghetti (which has become that rare thing, a favorite of the entire family, even the five-year-old): just vacation plans! Packing lists, rental house grocery lists. Even though it will be a partially working vacation, I’m giddy at the idea of unplugging even a little bit from the reality TV firehose and letting my mind repopulate with other thoughts for a few days.
Emma has been making… 🧶
The trip to Iceland! Highlights include: The Hvammsik hot springs (way less touristy than the Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon), Hotel Budir (the most gorgeous sitting room view I have ever seen), seeing puffins in Stykkisholmer (THEY ARE SO CUTE!!), and exploring the Highland Mountains on a day trip through a new(ish) hotel in the remote region, Highland Base Camp.
I am, admittedly, not really an ~outdoorsy~ gal. (Much like Victoria Ratliff, I am not meant to live an uncomfortable life.) However, we curated this trip in a way that felt just adventurous enough without it ending up feeling obligatory and ultimately kinda miserable. Iceland is just as stunning and otherworldly as everyone says it is, and I couldn’t be happier with how our lil trip turned out!
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Keep the Iceland content coming! I went there in 2014 for our honeymoon and it was such an amazing trip 🤩
Claire I too have had weeks recently where the only thing I can face listening to to is Bachelor in Retrospect.
Also please report back on what beach games are a hit! My son is the same age as your youngest