What are you up to this weekend?

Yesterday I spent most of the day typing out essays for the fast-approaching end of the semester, an endeavor that never fails to thrill me in every nerdy way imaginable. My papers are my babies. They feel like extensions of me.

VINTAGE SIDEWALK SALES

But anyway. Today I ventured into North Park, my hipster neighborhood that feels like Southern California’s Brooklyn, if you will, to pop into some favorite shops. There was a vintage sidewalk sale with live music, overflowing bins of eclectic attire, and countless twenty-year-olds sporting tiny tops and bucket hats. It felt like a skit mocking my generation but I loved it all the same. There’s just something about seeing a bright orange, checkered, fuzzy sweater and a pair of pink corduroy pants that inspires you to be fearless with fashion. It’s fun knowing that you’re picking up pieces that no one else is going to have. It’s especially fun if it’s a piece that’s maybe a bit atrocious but that you know you can make work with the right pair of shoes. That’s the best. Triple points for self-expression right there.

Next, I ventured past the newest coffee shop that has a perpetual line wrapping around the block for reasons I have yet to understand and into a little alley of tiny, funky, shops. There’s one with crystals, hand-poured candles, and really interesting gold jewelry that I always pop into whenever I need a cool gift for someone. It’s owned by an edgy couple who hand-make a lot of the things they sell and it all gives desert-cowboy vibes.

BOOKS & BEANS

There’s a clean beauty shop, a gorgeous plant store, an açai shack, a matcha café, an entire place dedicated to toast, and my personal favorite: Verbatim Books. Think old, dark wooded library with dusty Persian rugs and overflowing shelves of hidden gems waiting to be devoured by people like me who, trust me, should really nOt be buying more books. But there are worse things to spend money on. At least, that’s what I tell myself every time I come out with another stack. They know me in there, what can I say. I’ve also converted a surprising amount of friends and ex-lovers to the place, which, can be alarming when you’re half expecting an old face to pop up between the shelves. It’s like my own secret garden but the secret is out.

For fun, and occasionally for spices and beans, I pop into a really cool Mexican store that is filled with hand-made ceramic dishes, tea-towels, cookbooks, and glassware. There are Spanish tiles, woven baskets, chocolate, painted bowls, and a million other little odes to the country that is just fifteen minutes South. I have a special love for such odes, for I grew up in a Spanish-style bungalow, going to Mexico every year and bringing back glasses and tiles that always made our home feel deeply inviting and warm. This little shop also sells the best dried beans and spices that I have ever had, by Rancho Gordo, a heirloom bean company. I like to cook them slowly and then pair them with rice, tomato, avocado, cilantro, and hot sauce (this one is the best). So so good.

WHAT I’M READING

But until dinner I’m out under the sun, devouring Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, probably the best novel I have read this year. Highly, highly recommend anything that Smith has ever written. She’s divine.

JOIN THE FUN

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Makenna Karas

I probably shouldn’t be telling you all of this. I’m Makenna. Welcome to my blog.