Ready to get existential? Last weekend I had a very existential conversation: about what the purpose of life is if you don’t have kids. Like what are you doing it all for, my friend asked. What do you do when every year is the same. What’s the end goal? What’s the point? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? (This conversation was not actually that intense, but it did get me thinking a lot about this topic this week.)

Being a woman in my 30s who does not have children makes me an oddity in most parts of the country but a completely normal 30something adolescent in New York, where I live. But the thing I always come back to is that I feel like there is so much life to be living. I don’t feel like every year is the same. Every year is completely different and there are so many things I want to experience in life! I have endless lists of books that I need to read, shows that I need to see, restaurants to try, wines to try, countries and cities to visit. Most of the time I feel like I am running at a pretty frenetic pace to try to EXPERIENCE ALL THE THINGS. Over President’s Day weekend I dragged my husband around the city to three new restaurants we hadn’t tried yet (Nowon, Kopitiam, Win Son Bakery; all very good! Highly recommend!) and saw a screening of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and a Q&A with the director Celine Sciamma; then on Tuesday we went to see the play Medea at BAM (starring my fave Brooklyn power couple Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale!). My to-read stack of books keeps growing faster than I can finish them, and I often feel like there are so many books I need to read and not enough time to read them all. And I have so many articles and books I want to write myself, too.

There is so much culture and art to be consumed in the world, so much life to be lived, as I like to say, and never enough time to consume it all. How could one ever be bored?

What I’m reading

Why high-achieving women pretend their lives are in shambles, Forge/Medium. The insidious popularity of “hot mess” syndrome, aka having your shit together but acting like your life is a mess to seem more ~ relatable ~.

The end of Miss America, Jezebel.

Was Jeanne Calment the oldest person that ever lived — or a fraud? The New Yorker.

Why do corporations speak the way they do?, Vulture. Oh you know, like: Let’s loop in Jon so we can all get on the same page and then parallel path two solutions and then circle back with the results!

Millennial women made LuLaRoe billions. Then they paid the price, Buzzfeed News.

Inside the cult of Starbucks egg bites, MEL Magazine.

Don’t marry a man who doesn’t vacuum, Gen/Medium.

Sally Rooney’s attention span has improved, New York Times. 🚨Sally Rooney does the By The Book column!

The immoderate Susan Collins, New York Magazine. Why the longtime moderate Senator decided to gamble her legacy on Trump.

Breaking the salary-sharing taboo, New York Times Magazine.

What I’m cooking

These spicy sesame peanut noodles with chicken and peanuts are so so good! Make them now! (If you are vegetarian/vegan you can sub crumbled tofu or tempeh!)

Recommendations

If you're in New York, see Medea at BAM before it ends in March. Portrait of a Lady on Fire was unforgettable. Zoe Kravitz is great in the High Fidelity TV reboot. And the book I'm reading currently is a classic: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

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