The Liz List - July 10, 2020
Happy Friday! 🥳 We got home late Monday night from California (ICYMI: full recap of our trip here), so it’s been a short week. I really just cleaned the house (and cleaned out the garage! 💃), did a ton of laundry, and caught up on work. Kate also started ISR swim lessons at a neighbor’s pool this week. She has a 10-minute lesson every weekday for the next month. She didn’t love the first couple lessons, but I think by next week she’ll settle in and be fine.
I’ve also been planning our upcoming RV trip in August. I got lucky and scored a space for us inside Grand Canyon National Park (apparently this is difficult, so I must have got someone’s cancellation), so I’m building a month-long road trip around it. At this point, it looks like we’ll be visiting the Grand Canyon, some cool parts of Arizona, and Zion National Park… then we’ll head north through Utah up to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, maybe up to to Glacier National Park (this is TBD), and then finally back home through Colorado. Part of me is worried we’re biting off more than we can chew, but oh well it’s happening! 🤪
I think the plan for this weekend is to stick close to home and relax. No plans, really!
Without further ado, here’s what I’ve been into for the past couple weeks:
HOME: If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I’ve been obsessed with Austin blogger Camille Styles’ backyard renovation for months now. It’s finally finished, and she just shared pictures of the completed project on her blog. Such a great way to make good use of a sloped backyard space (something very common in Austin). I love the plants she chose, and that HUGE fire pit is everything to me. Walking into her backyard would be like stepping into Spain or Italy! A dream. 😍
FASHION: Kanye West signed a 10-year deal with GAP. “Yeezy Gap” will be introduced in stores in 2021. Fun fact… Kanye worked at his local Gap in Chicago as a teenager, and has spoken about his desire to partner with the brand for years. Price points will be under $100 and the line with include men’s, women’s, and kid’s styles. Seems like a win-win for both brands! In other Kanye news, the rapper shared that he plans to bring clothing production for both his Gap brand and Yeezy empire to Cody, Wyoming. 👟
BEAUTY: I’ll just keep going with Kardashian family news… Kim’s KKW Beauty just inked a $200 million deal with beauty conglomerate Coty Inc. (the same group who recently signed a similar agreement with Kylie Cosmetics). For the price tag, Coty is getting 20% of the business, valuing KKW Beauty at $1 billion. It’s now estimated that Kim herself is worth $900 million. 💄
FITNESS: In other acquisition news, fitness apparel brand Lululemon has purchased at-home fitness company Mirror for $500 million. This is Lululemon’s first acquisition. 💪
FRIENDSHIP: Ever had a conflict with a close friend and weren’t quite sure how to handle it? I know I’ve been there! And I’m the worst at confronting conflict with friends - I hate it! This article gives some really good advice if you’re anything like me and need help in this department. ❤️
MENTAL HEALTH: Have you guys been seeing influencers mention “grounding” in their stories? It seems to be the mental health practice-du-jour as of late. I got curious about it and found this article explaining the benefits of grounding and why everyone should incorporate it into their life. It’s a bit woo woo, but I dn I kind of agree that there’s something about walking around in grass barefoot that’s kind of liberating. 🧘
TRAVEL: This round up of pretty, far-away places is giving me all the wanderlust. It’s lots of cool places, most of which you don’t hear about too often. I flagged Cascate del Mulino, Saturnia (in Italy) as a place to visit in the future, and we actually plan to spend a day on Lake Powell in Utah during our upcoming RV trip in August. Anyway, give it a look if you’re dreaming of destinations to visit once we’re free to roam about the globe again! 🧳
COVID TRAVEL: Have questions about the E.U.’s recently announced border restrictions? Like who IS allowed? When does it end? This article breaks it all down. The main thing I was wondering is when the ban on Americans will be lifted, and according to this the answer is… “in order for a country to be deemed safe, its reported Covid figures need to be below that of the EU's for the past 14 days” and that they’ll be re-evaluating the list of permitted countries every two weeks. In other post-coronavirus travel related news: Delta is bringing back alcohol service to certain domestic flights, airlines are calling on TSA to take temperature checks and commit to refunding passengers who are turned away, middle seats and packed planes are coming back, air travel demand is picking back up - United is adding 25,000 flights back to its schedule, and this article from the WSJ highlights how the French and Italian tourism industries are suffering without American travelers (this was a super interesting read!). 🦠
HOME: Is anyone else besides me weirdly obsessed with the idea of having an outdoor shower? Random, I know, but I love an outdoor shower! We’ve stayed at a couple hotels that had incredible outdoor shower set ups that sparked my odd fascination with them. Maybe one day I’ll be able to incorporate one into a future home, but until then I’ll be pinning all of these photos to my vision board. 🚿
CELEBRITY: Martha Stewart is coming back to HGTV! The lifestyle guru announced via her Instagram that her new show Martha Knows Best will give viewers an insider look at everything she’s been working on at her home during quarantine. HGTV said the show is tentatively set to air sometime in 2020. 📺
CANCEL CULTURE: More the 150 writers, journalists, academics, and artists signed an open letter criticizing cancel culture this week. Notable signatories include J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Gloria Steinem, and Noam Chomsky. The letter, of course, sparked heated debate about the topic on social media, leading a couple signers to publicly distance themselves from the letter (which, seems like they missed the whole point!). I, for one, am glad some of our leading minds are taking a stand against the dangers of cancel culture. ✍️
That’s it for this week! Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Liz