This week randomly became a tough week after Vulture posted this article about taking pictures of open books. It criticizes the bookstagram community as well as readers who love to get creative with their books. You’re more than welcome to read it here.
Then pause a take a breath. It’s finally Friday.
I’ve been needing some self-care because book shaming or even bookstagram shaming feels very personal to me. I’ve been shamed a lot in my life and that unsettled feeling that you’re not good enough sits with me. I don’t want it to sit with me all weekend. So I’m putting together a list of some self-care motivators to get me through the weekend. What do you like to do for self-care?
When it coms to tv watching, I don’t do a lot of it. Most of the time, it’s on in the background while I’m cooking because I’m too focused to be reading or listening to a book. So, I recently started watching Cheers, a show I didn’t watch when I was a kid because the themes were just too adult for me.
This show is addictive and thoroughly well-written. I mean, “they don’t make ’em like they used to” comes to mind when I think of this show. It’s incredibly funny. The characters are all well-developed and your pessimistic mind can continue to create terrible scenarios for these characters. However, what you’re going to get is a cast of characters that deeply appreciate and love each other. They’re not even related. They all just come to the same bar.
This Kat Von D lipstick in Lolita OG
In the fall, most people start using their darker shades of lipstick. Cold weather means cold colors. However, I live in LA now and I wanted a neutral pink that I could easily swipe on and go on with my day. I think I found it in Kat Von D.
She’s not my first choice and sadly, the formula for her lipsticks is a little too drying for me. But when it came down to the shade I wanted, I looked to her line of products. I finally have the pink of my dreams and it wasn’t crazy expensive.
Making an exceptional bowl of gluten free pasta and a simple red sauce
Self-care means indulging a little bit. For me, that’s a big bowl of gluten free pasta and pasta sauce from the jar. All you do is make your pasta of choice, drain, and then add a few dollops of sauce into the pan. You definitely want the sauce to cook in the noodles. It may not sound like indulgence, but for someone who doesn’t eat pasta on the regular this is most definitely a treat.
I like to also add a little nub of butter and lots of parmesan cheese. The butter gives a little bit of richness to the sauce and who can resist a good dose of parmesan cheese?
This Skinfood Black Sugar Mask
I’ve been noticing my face has been a little dull lately. I think it’s because the excess exposure to the sun here in LA which my body is just not accustomed to. But my self-care regime includes a little bit of pampering and I’m going to do that with the Skinfood Black Sugar Mask. All you do is apply a little bit across your face (post cleanser) and then let it sit for a bit. Because the ingredients are all natural, you don’t have to worry about forgetting you’re wearing sugar on your face.
Happy Friday!
Simone and Her Books 
I recently started watching Cheers a few weeks ago too! I needed more Ted Danson in my life after The Good Place. I’m loving it so far.
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That was the same reason I started! I love Sam Malone despite his antiquated thinking. I also can’t stop looking at his hair lol
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Yeah, there are a few moments where he says something sexist and I grumble. But I guess you just gotta view the show as it being a product of the time period it was made in and not through a 2018 lens.
And yeah, I find it so weird looking at him because I’ve only really ever seen him at his current age and he looks basically the same, but without the white hair. I feel like there aren’t a lot of examples where I’m only familiar with an actor in old age and go back to earlier stuff. It’s usually the other way around, lol.
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I love that despite the sexist comments every once in a while, Diane seems to be his foil. She’s super intelligent, unafraid of being herself, and thwarts all of his sexist comments. Love her!
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Yeah, she’s the best! And I love their chemistry. They’re definitely a great pair.
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Ugh, I stumbled across that Vulture article yesterday, too. It’s garbage. If it’s any consolation, pretty much all the comments on it are some variation of “dude, why are you so bitter?” She’s free to have her opinion, but most people disagree with her. Photograph books however you want. That article is the weirdest gatekeeping nonsense I’ve read in a while.
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Yup! I totally agree with you. It’s a fruitless attempt at just rocking the boat. Like are you even a professional writer?
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The whole drama with the Vulture article was a bit over the top even when we try to not consider the actual rude statements. I just don’t understand why people feel the need to go out of their way to shame someone for liking something as natural and normal as reading or having hobbies that include setting up books with some props. Where’s the harm in that? Those bookworms paid for their books and who are those ‘real book people’ to judge them?
I mean, I try not to let things like these affect me but somewhere a niggle of doubt rears up as I read those things. That’s the thing that really makes me mad, that little doubt rearing up in my mind even as I know logically that what they are saying isn’t right. It’s weird but it’s just effective enough for them to make us look bad but it also shows them in the bad light for being petty.
As you can see, I have strong feelings on this that get all tangled up. Hehe.
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I, too, am very fed up with the shaming – bookstagram, book reviewers in general, book bloggers… we’ve al taken a hit lately and it is old and ugly and unnecessary. From the publishers who do it to fellow writers, it’s more about their own inflated egos than it is about US or the industry itself. So – I’m glad you are pampering yourself. We all need it from time to time and we don’t do it nearly enough! I love Kat Von D’s lip colors! They are so fab!! Also, I went to Lush this week and stocked up on bath bombs and got a terrific face brightening mask that is BLUE and FUN and I look like a SMURF which makes it all the better!! I hope you have marvelous weekend!
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