The BLUGH: November 12, 2025
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
Hi BLUGHies! I am great and I hope you are doing great too. I have to be honest: it has been a really nice fall and I am feeling very 🍂grateful🍂 (perfect timing ?!?! 🦃 🦃 🦃 ).
Grateful though I am for my so many things, New York is in dire straits and I don’t know what to do. For weeks (months??) Jason and I have been searching for our favorite popcorn brand, Pop Secret Jumbo Popping Corn, and it is nowhere to be found.
It’s perfect for a number of reasons including:
The lid is a 1/2 cup measurement, so you don’t have to guess how much to put in.
It’s stove top (we don’t mess with microwave popcorn).
As advertised, the popcorn pops BIG. It’s so good.
It’s widely available in bodegas and big box stores OH WAIT NO IT ISN’T WE LITERALLY CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE.
We’re going to be ok, but it still makes me SAD to not be able to find this popcorn anywhere. Movies don’t watch as good without it.
LEARNING OF THE WEEK
In my continued mission to make myself cry in public via books I am reading, I just finished Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. It was great and yes, I want to talk about it with you, but in terms of takeaways that are sticking with me from this book, top of mind is Paris Baguette is a Korean chain. PARIS. BAGUETTE. Did you guys know this??? I don’t go there often (ever?), but I assumed it was French. I luv 2 learn!
PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION
I know. Damn. This image of Smokey always gets me too. I just want you know know how seriously I am NOT promoting smoking when I tell you my product recommendation of the week is:
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
ASHTRAYS. Ashtrays are a remnant of smoking accoutrements that I think are great. Use them for jewelry, keys, coins, general decor. I am working on my collection and let me tell you, you can and will ALWAYS find a cool/weird/interesting ashtray at a flea market or an antique store. So fun.
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BOOK RECOMMENDATION
I read Demon Copperhead late last year and COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN. How much couldntputdown? So much couldntputdown that I had a physical copy but ent and paid for the kindle version too so I could read it everywhere (the hard copy is thicccccc!).
It was interesting to read a fictionalized story about the opioid epidemic after having read the non-fictional Empire of Pain about the same thing. I literally have no idea how Barbara K. does it. How does she embody and tell the story of a young man battling addiction and familial tragedy when she is decidedly not that?? Pulitzer Prize: EARNED.
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LISTENING RECOMMENDATION
Sorry to be like everyone else but this new Rosalía album is amazing. I can’t stop listening!! AND we get a new Orville Peck EP on Friday?! What a time.
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October 2025
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I love this picture. On our AMAZING trip to Ireland last month, I had the interesting experience of getting VERY sick one day. It was a day that was meant to be filled with hiking, pubs, and generally the Northern Coast of Northern Ireland. BUT MY STOMACH SAID MAYBE NOT. I got violently ill and we had to turn back home where I was nursed to health by Jason and our dear friend, Charlie. Before we turned back though, I was in the state of mind that I could will myself to be well and power through. This picture was taken during that period of denial, but vomiting out the car in front of dozens of Irish sheep grazing in a verdant pasture soon made me face the truth: my tummy was rumbly.