This is the Friday post, a weekly roundup of recommendations and delightful distractions.

Happy Friday! Today’s newsletter is free for everyone and is a shorter than usual mini edition.

Five things making my life better this week…

• Mini-rituals for connection. I’ve mentioned this game here before, but my husband and I have been on a NYT Connections streak. Every morning we’ll each make our coffees, settle on the couch, and puzzle out the answers together. It’s fun and often leads to a good laugh to start the morning on a light note. We’re undergoing a busy season of life at the moment (I shared more on that with paid subs here), so this time to pause and play has become a bright little break in our days. Do you have any fun routines that offer you a moment of connection in a busy day, even a brief one?

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• A good cream blush stick. If you’re looking for a matte finish that’s got a creamy, spreadable, and highly-pigmented formula (and want to upgrade from, say, Rare Beauty), this one’s a winner. The other end of the blush is a brush, making application super quick and easy. I use the shade Naughty N’ Spice, a dusty rose.

• Ina Garten’s playlists! Specifically her dinner party tunes.

• A podcast for pivoters. I’ve been in need of some fresh inspiration recently. The Second Life podcast is my go-to for exactly this mood. The host interviews women (often entrepreneurs) who’ve made interesting pivots in their careers. This recent episode with Maria Dueñas Jacobs caught my eye. She’s the founder of Super Smalls, a fun kids’ costume jewelry line I keep seeing everywhere that has the best branding, if you need a gift idea for tweens.

Lastly, sharing something that was just okay…

• Upgraded on Prime Video. This movie is a feel-good rom com about two strangers who meet on a plane after one of them gets—you guessed it—upgraded to first class. This movie was just…fine! It was goofy. I definitely have some questions. Like did the protagonists spend enough time with one another to fall in love? I was not convinced. I watched this with my s/o who declared, “It was not great but it was just what I needed right now.” And that’s exactly right, I t’s something to watch. (I recommend Love at First Sight instead if you like the strangers-meeting-on-a-plane thing.)

What I read this week

• Those two essays in The Cut: You’ve likely read these by now, they were all over the internet this week. This one tells the harrowing tale of how the writer, The Cut’s personal finance columnist Charlotte Cowles, gave away $50,000 in cash after falling for a scam. This one chronicles writer Emily Gould’s thoughts of divorce after hitting a breaking point in her marriage. Both stories were gripping and worth discussing with the group chat. After reading the scam article, I shall continue to never answer my phone .🫣

• Teen Subcultures Are Fading. [NYT *gift link'] —This piece looks at the mostly-online subcultures that teens can identify, like “preppy” or “cottagecore” or “dark academia.” The writer argues that these subcultures are not legitimate because they’re based on “thin cultural planes” that exist solely online and not in any gathering spaces in the real world.

• Tweencore: What the 13-and-Under Set Is Shopping For [The Cut] — A fun companion piece to the above from Casey Lewis. The tweens are buying a lot of Glow Recipe!

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• A Simple Trick For Getting Dressed [Gumshoe] — I love these color combos and palettes that always just seem to work, according to Harling Ross Anton . Red and pink >

• Fascinating thing: puzzle purses from the time of Anne Boleyn. ❤️

How are you liking our February book club pick, Good Material by Dolly Alderton? I’ve been bookmarking and taking snaps of funny bits that make me laugh out loud, which is to say, most of the book. 🥸

💬 Book Discussion: Our subscriber discussion thread will kick off this Sunday, February 25th at 12pm EST. Paid subs should get an email notif about it. I’ll have some questions ready, and I’d love to see you pop in to share any thoughts!

📚 Book Club Meetups: Downtime readers are organizing book club meetups in several cities. Details on how to join after the jump:...