“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is that I am DONE with that asshole,” Jessica crumples into her seat, cradling her wine. “Want some?” You raise a brow- it’s ten AM on Tuesday.  However. Her normally perfect hair is thrown atop her head, the antique coffee table she spent five figures on is lit…

Janine loves this apartment. When they moved in, she designed the space intentionally- an aesthetic she calls “elevated embrace.” Cozy velvet upholstered furniture. Mahogany coffee table with organic edges. Everything is awash in warm, amber-colored lights. None of that sterile industrial vibe or harsh furniture from Max’s loft. It can be especial…

I rode my bike past the outskirts of Marblehead. I don’t know what time it was when I left the house. Don’t think I grabbed my phone. Can’t remember if I locked the door. All I know is that after she told me, my stomach dropped, my throat felt tight, and a buzzing started in my head that was somehow inaudible yet deafening, threatening to rip m…

The rain was merciless. Torrential sheets pelted cars and pedestrians as wind bursts ripped umbrellas out of hands, leaving their tattered skeletons drifting in gutters and perched at the rims of sidewalk trash cans. It seemed to defy gravity, pouring down and somehow to the side so that even the floor-to-ceiling windows of Carl’s office looked a…

Do you like spending time alone?  This is a question I’ve asked myself quite a bit over the years. Some of this is because of how much time I’ve spent being single or in whatever you call the female equivalent of bachelorhood (which is super annoying because why does that word or concept even need to be gendered? Ugh. Patriarchy). After so many …

Capitalism is crazy when you think about it. The constant push to produce and consume, produce and consume. More and more and more and MORE. Just a continuous machine of output, and to what end? Money? To line the pockets and metaphorical safes (because, honestly, half of this stuff is digital nowadays, anyway) of the few while being forever chase…

Ten thousand dollars. That’s about how much money I’ve spent on handbags. At least. I’d probably find it closer to twelve thousand (or more) if I went through receipts.  Purses! Leather and zippers and buttons and canvas and logos. Pockets and patches and invisible microchips to confirm authenticity. Bulky orange boxes from boutiques that can’t st…

Have you ever tried really, really hard to be something that you aren’t? Maybe something that you’re super close to being, something that your natural state is ever so adjacent to, but that just isn’t on the mark. It doesn’t seem like it should be that far of a stretch, so you go for it and feel that much worse when you can’t achieve it. Well, thi…