Le Freak Chic

Old Navy Low-Rise Loose Jeans, $35.99 Buying jeans is an exercise in optimism, delusion, and increasingly reckless spending. I convince myself that a new $300 pair will change my life or at least give me an ass resembling Cindy Crawford’s in that famous Pepsi commercial. I have an entire rail of denim proving otherwise: sold on the dream, while my rear end delivers the reality. Because let’s be honest, most jeans are not designed for women over a size 6.

Sweaty and sans makeup in a grocery parking lot in New Hampshire. My mother is going to kill me for putting this photo on blast.

Another famous white dress from Taylor Swift’s closet, on display at London’s V&A Museum in July 2024. Full disclosure, I had a real come to Jesus moment with myself about an unexpected emotion last Friday. Let’s just go ahead and give that moment a name: jealousy. I was reading about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tying the knot and I instantly rolled my eyes at the pomp and circumstance around the whole thing, the media circus. I stopped for a moment to think about my sudden change of heart.

I’m reading again. I finally have the space to take an hour at the end of the day and watch the sunset with a sweet tea and a few good books! Let me be absolutely not the first person to tell you that you need to take a cruise to Alaska. It’s taken me a while to write this here and I’ve debated whether or not you want a full run down of the event or tips from the cruise itself, lessons learned etc (if so drop in the comments and let me know).

Before we begin: this is not sponsored! I am just an unpaid, self-appointed ambassador for the summer-saviour brand every woman needs to know about. We’re sitting around a table at the Electric in Notting Hill, London. It’s a hot day in the middle of summer, and I’m sitting across from a girl I met on Instagram. I don’t remember how we connected, but I remember how easy it felt—like sitting with a sister. I wish I knew who introduced us so I could thank them.

From brunette to blonde—and frizz in between! I was a brunette for 45 years. Healthy, long, glossy shades of chestnut. To be honest, I naively thought I’d always be a brunette. Then, at 44, my hair changed. And I kid you not, it was overnight. One morning I woke up and the hair that was once a magnificent mane was now a tangled, dry, frizzy mess of string. And that string had a new color all on its own. Grey had come to say hello.

Brody and Boomer, the golden boys. “I knew we were losing a dog today, I never even thought about the pain of losing our vet family.” Those were the words I said as I choked back tears on the drive home from putting Brody to sleep last week. Le Freak Chic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Struggling to find the beauty that’s right in front of me right now. But it’s coming back. I need to start this with an apology. June hasn’t had the best start, as you’ve already read. It has felt like a bit of a deluge. My dad falling out of the ceiling, a sinus surgery that was a lot more painful than I was anticipating, and the death of a best friend, which transformed the sinus surgery into the most painful experience of my life. That’s been June so far. And we’re only half way through this month.

The evolution of a good scream cry. It’s been a while since I “scream cried.” You know those moments when you’re crying so hard you can barely breathe but somehow find the inner spirit to roar while you’re doing it? The moment is fleeting, but it’s also life-altering. For me, these moments usually coincide with a song that plays in exactly the moment it needs to, like the universe knew what you needed right then and right there.

One minute we’re enjoying snow capped mountains in Alaska, 24 hours later we’re applauding the emergency services of Beaufort, South Carolina. On Monday night at 3AM, Mom and I returned from our trip to Alaska. We’d been gone a whole week and were exhausted when we finally pulled into the house in the wee hours. At 7:30am I was stirred from a very deep sleep as I heard water running. I was still on West Coast time or I would usually be up at this time. I knew I hadn’t left anything running.