5 Summer Hacks.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I hate summer. I mean, hate is a strong word - but it's also accurate. I am a cold weather girl because years of summers in Alabama, DC, Mississippi, and the like traveling throughout the Southeastern US have made me loathe those days of hot, sticky, buggy awfulness. 

HOWEVER. 

In surviving 28 summers so far, I've learned some things along the way. This list is a completely random assortment of things that I can't make it through the summer without, whether it's in the kitchen or in the great outdoors. Hope it inspires and helps you! 

1. Terro Fruit fly traps

One of the few perks of this scorching weather is the delicious produce that is available. The downside is, you have to be so careful about leaving your beautiful fresh fruit out to avoid breeding an entire army of fruit flies in your house. Last year, I made the mistake of leaving a bowl of apples unattended for a few days and we had ourselves a minor infestation. A friend recommended these traps, and they work LIKE A CHARM. We have three hiding in our kitchen and haven't seen a fruit fly since. 

2. This hack for shucking farmer's market corn

Another fabulous piece of produce you can buy at the farmer's market, but who wants to get covered in all those corn silks? They're like awful little witch hairs. PASS. 

Instead, try this! It works every time and is actually kind of a crowd-pleaser if you're cooking with guests. 

3. Chemical-free bug spray for a good cause

I am a person who is absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes every time she steps out the door. Meanwhile, my husband sits next to me and never gets bitten. And I ask you, people - WHATTUP WITH THAT?? 

This bug spray is chemical and deet-free (which you'd think means "This bug spray doesn't work!"); however, it works better than most things I've tried and is much safer for you, especially if you have young children and dogs around. And it's for a good cause, to boot! Thistle Farms is an organization in Nashville whose employees are survivors of human trafficking, violence, and addiction. They provide housing and jobs as these women get back on their feet. Not a bad thing to contribute to, right? 

4. Dog cooling mat

We have a black dog absolutely covered in hair (seriously, how does he even have hair left after he sheds all over our house?) who gets plum tuckered out in the summer heat. We carry this in the car, and voila! It's a cooling mat that doesn't need to be chilled or frozen - just stays nice and cool for your buddy in the dog days (get it?!) of this season. The gel inside is non-toxic, so if you have a chewer, no fear - you're okay. 

5. A big ass hat. 

The one above is from J Crew (it's 30% off today!) -  I have it and wear it ALL THE TIME. The material is actually pretty durable and responds well to being folded/packed up. Gardening, at the beach, at the pool - it's great for covering your face and neck, which as so prone to sun damage and wrinkles. Ain't nobody want a wrinkly neck. 

 

What are some summer products you can't make it without? Please recommend, otherwise I will be staying inside for the next 60 days. 

Happy Wednesday! 

My Mom is Here to Make Life Better!

Oh my gosh MY MOM IS HERE!!! 

A few weeks ago, Jordan and I decided that we needed to clean out our whole house in preparation for the incoming third human member of our family (fourth overall member, obviously). As we started to look around, the amount of stuff started to overwhelm us. Had it multiplied somehow?? How had we accumulated all these things?! 

So we called in a professional. We begged her to come see us and help us get our lives together. Our conversation was basically: 

Thankfully, she is the world's greatest and it didn't take much convincing. She arrived last night, we had dinner on the porch, got treated to a neighborhood movie night (thanks, Carlsons!) where we watched Spaceballs and passed around April (my mom)'s homemade caramel popcorn. QUITE the start to the week! 

Our goals are: 

- Clean out all closets and donate items to Goodwill
- Clean out, organize, and get preliminary designs done for the room that will be the nursery
- Attempt to start cleaning the basement (YIKES) 
- Buy me some freakin' maternity clothes

You guys, the struggle is real. I'll update more about that later, but I brought a dress that is normally my "fat" dress (you ladies know what I'm talking about - the dress you wear when you need a little extra room) to a wedding this past weekend, and put it on to discover that my fat dress has now become skin tight.

Turns out, being pregnant makes you gain weight. 

So much to do, so little time. Jordan and I may have to forego a podcast this week because of my mom's visit, but if we do, we'll double up next week. 

Wish us luck! 

Fetch or Wretch: Met Gala 2017

It's that time again, people. Running down the celebrity styles, because you KNOW they care what we think. 

The theme for this year's Met Ball is Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons. Rei Kawakubo is one of (I think) only two designers ever to have been honored in their lifetimes at the Met Gala. As I'm writing this, it's Monday evening and I'm watching the outfits roll in. We should expect, per the theme, to see a lot of architectural and abstract looks. If there's ever a time to get crazy, now is the moment. 

A note: We at DHDG do not feature Kardashians or their spouses anymore. We're sick of them and they never wear anything worth noting. 

LINE 'EM UP! 

Fetch:

Gisele Bundchen

People, this one BARELY made the cut. Not because Gisele isn't a perfect human specimen (she is) or because the dress doesn't knock me out with fit and taste (it does), but because Gisele is one of the hosts of the party this year. And THIS is what she chose to wear on an evening celebrating avant garde designs?? I'm snoring. Next. 

Lily Collins

Now THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT. You werq that freaky goth Barbie ballerina of your nightmares baby doll wig, Lily! Perfect fit, perfect execution, perfect girl to wear it. 5 stars. 

Katie Holmes

Don't worry, I was surprised as you were that THIS name is on the Fetch list. I have had a longstanding, irksome feeling toward Katie Holmes and her stoke mouth-speech, probably precipitated by this bastardization of one of my all-time favorite Broadway tunes. Ugh I just made the mistake of re-watching that and somehow it's even worse than I remember. Anyway this dress is good I can't say any more about her, good job escaping from Scientology, see ya. 

Elizabeth Banks

I will never know if I actually like this or if I've just been hypnotized into believing I do. But for now, I'm so all over this checkerboard nonsense. Pretty hair, pretty makeup, pretty dress. 

Lena Dunham

Another one that I can't believe I'm including in this category, but it is so rare that Lena gets it even in the BALLPARK of right that we need to celebrate her choices. Even if she does look like a Scottish marm. 

Riley Keough

Feel like this would've been better suited for last year's theme, Manus x. Machina, but still. Cool, high-impact, well-fitted, and worn by a freaky girl. Do I know this person? What has she been in? 

Emmy Rossum

That bust line could be just a teeeeeny tiny bit higher to balance everything out proportionally, but that big ridiculous bow is the stuff of Southern girls' dreams. Keeping the styling understated was wise. 

Katy Perry

Okay this is very stylized, insane, almost difficult to look at, but I have decided that I like it. Katy Perry is also hosting the evening, and as I said, if there's ever a time to get weird, it's now. And Katy Perry is weird all the time. And her third eye is looking at you, so don't say anything mean. 

Zendaya

SHUTTING IT DOWN. 

J Lo

Yeah, it's boring, but she's still J Lo and she still looks amazing. 

Tracee Ellis Ross

YES. WEIRD. FASHION, BABY. Could've gone with a different shoe in my opinion, but I also just think Tracee is SERVING. She's had a great red carpet streak lately and it makes me happy. Although if you look at it just right, it looks like she put her coat on backwards. Or maybe even sideways. But no matter. 

Sean Combs

I couldn't care less about that dress over there, so please re-direct your gaze to Diddy, who is literally lounging on the steps in a CAPE.

Rihanna

Don't think about it too hard. Just love it. 

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen

Shhhhhhhh. No sudden movements. What we have here is a rare sighting of two New York specimens, old women at a young age, scary and fascinating all at once. They are THE ILLUSIVE OLSEN TWINS and they believe the camera steals their soul. (Just the one soul.) 

Blake Lively

This is crazy and I love it. Glad she chose something that wasn't too tight. I think this works really well on her and the blue feathers are everything. 

Cara Delevingne

Unlike fake British person Dorit Kemsley (you're either laughing at this reference or totally confused), real British person Cara Delevingne's metallic hair is FABULOUS.

Ruby Rose

Am I crazy for loving this?? Dead on the theme and I love that her tattoos are visible. I think it's cool. She looks great. 

 

 

WRETCH. 

Claire Danes

Let's play word association: sexy pirate hooker shirt from Seinfeld missing eyebrows barmaid. ...none of those words go together, girl. Whatcha got on your body?? 

Priyanka Chopra

I feel like I'm going to be in the minority of people who pan this, but I just...can't. She gets points for drama and impact, but that footwear is just plan wrong and the dress feels like weird cross between flasher and prom dress made by the weird girl at school. And it's a shame because Miss Priyanka usually turns it out. 

Rose Byrne

So close, and yet...not. I LOVE me some Rose Byrne, but this is just unflattering and bad in many ways. Although I am really here for that hair. Seriously. 

Sophie Turner

Off the rack at David's Bridal. 

Hailee Steinfeld

Do you think she looked in the mirror and thought, "YES. Nailed it. Overtly sexy, mildly culturally offensive baby. Exactly what I was going for." 'Cause, you know. that's what she got. 

Kerry Washington

That girl in the background is basically mimicking my exact facial expression. Girl, WUT?  

Celine Dion

Celine is self conscious so she's wearing a t-shirt over her bathing suit. Or, rather, under. 

Solange

Okay I wanted to like this so much. I sat here staring at it, trying to make it work. But I hate it. I just do. The puffer coat train is what did it for me. 

Nicki Minaj

NO.

Thandie Newton

CHIQUITA BANANA I LOVE YOUR WORK! 

Step Away From The Cellular Device

Last week, I was in Birmingham for a project that I'm working on with some of my former students. Ginny Tyler, one of my best friends and my host for the week, and I went to a cute restaurant downtown called Feast and Forest. We got our coffees and beautifully plated meals, and settled into our table. 

And then I watched a crazy thing happen. 

A group of four young girls, probably around 22, strolled in. They were dressed to hipster perfection: dark lipstick, topknots, denim cutoffs, mirrored sunglasses, ironic band t-shirts, tattoos of birds prominently displayed on the back of one of their thighs. To be fair, they were dressed more appropriately for the restaurant - Ginny and I looked like the lame young moms had arrived in our Lululemon. 

It was what happened next that blew my mind. 

Before they even ordered, one of the girls (we'll call her Sunglasses, since she wore them indoors the whole meal) made her way to a vacant table and started posing behind it. Another of the girls, Topknot, started snapping Sunglasses' picture. And not just one. Several. Maybe a dozen. Different poses, different angles. None of them included the girl looking at the camera -they were all candid. 

Ginny's back was to this scene, but my brow furrowed and I watched in disappointment as this experience became more about what they were going to post on Instagram than enjoying each other's company. It was far from over. 

The four girls sat at the table together, on their phones, waiting for their food to arrive. Not a one of them looked up or spoke to each other. One of them took a call and I realized that they were actually on vacation. This was how they were spending it: without interacting.

When the food arrived, like robots, all four girls took out their phones and started photographing their food. Once they were satisfied with those pictures, Sunglasses looked at Topknot, who wordlessly picked her phone back up. Sunglasses posed with her coffee: coffee cup on the table, coffee cup to her lips, coffee cup mid-way between table and lips while looking wistfully into the distance. 

Topknot easily took 30 pictures of Sunglasses before either of them actually took a sip of their drinks or a bite of their food. I was rendered completely speechless as these girls, totally ignorant of the fact that everyone in the restaurant was watching in horror, had photo shoot after photo shoot for their social media accounts. 

So here's where I confess that my hands are not clean: I love Instagram. I love taking pictures. I have certainly asked the waitress to take a photo of my friends and I after a special meal. I've taken pictures of my food. It took me a while to figure out what about this bothered me so much. 

Part of it was the lack of self-awareness; the open vanity and shamelessness of it all. But I think the bigger part was that it made me genuinely sad. These friends who'd traveled to be in a place together were so addicted to social media - to the idea of presenting the fun they were having instead of actually having fun - that they weren't even speaking to each other. They weren't having an experience, they were just crafting what they wanted others to think they were experiencing. 

How many of their friends, I wonder, saw those photos and were so jealous of the fabulous breakfast these girls ate together? How many wished they could be around that table, talking and laughing? Would they have been as envious if they'd known that there wasn't any talking or laughing at all? 

I listen to a great podcast called Hidden Brain, and one of the most recent episode was called SchadenFacebook, playing on the term "schadenfreude," or, "taking pleasure in other people's pain." In it, the host, Shanker Vedantem, discusses how social media actually makes us sadder. Until recently, we weren't sure whether the fact that people who use lots of social media were sad was correlation or causation; rather - are they sad because they use it, or are they already sad, and happen to use it?

A recent study done by Tel Aviv University revealed that it's Option A: we're sad because we use it.  Here's why:

FOMO. It's all about Fear of Missing Out. When our friends used to go on a trip, or hang out without us, we didn't really know because they weren't posting pictures of it left and right. Now, even if you've had the best day of your life - an incredible vacation doing adventurous things - when you look at Facebook or Instagram and see your friends back home at dinner without you, you automatically feel bad. Your day starts to pale in comparison to that one dinner, simply from a fear that a joke will be made that you won't be in on. 

ISN'T. THAT. INSANE?! 

I am certainly not a model citizen in this movement: I check my phone WAY too much, post an Instagram a week (or so). And I don't mean to judge Topknot and Sunglasses and their two other friends, because Lord knows I've been just as obnoxious in my life. But it made me sit and wonder what we can do to free this upcoming generation from finding their validation in a screen instead of in the mirror, or in the faces of the people they love who are sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM.

To figure it out, I'm afraid, we have to actually put the phones down and speak to each other. It's suddenly a novel concept. But it made me look at my own social media usage a bit more critically. I can stand to do better. What about you? 

5 Things: Easy Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy

In case you missed it, Congress voted to dismantle a law that protected lots of elements of our online privacy. We've all had that moment when an ad for something we were just looking at on another website pops up on Facebook, but this is about more than cookies and ads.

The dissolution of this legislation will allow internet service providers (ISP's) to sell private information like your browsing history, app usage, location, who visits your house and logs onto your WiFi, location services, e-mail content, and more, to the highest bidder without your permission. Go ahead and imagine the most embarrassing thing you've ever Googled. Mmhmm. That's up for grabs, people. Yikes. 

While many think that the government has probably had access to this sort of information already (I mean, think CIA here - what can't they do??), the big difference is that this (often very personal) data would be sold to financial companies, insurers, financial companies, etc. 

SO. How can you give yourself a little protection? 

1. Use HTTPS. 

Most URL's begin with "http://." By enabling "HTTPS Everywhere," available here, your ISP will be able to see what website you're on, but not what specific page you're viewing. Installing the extension will automatically take you to the HTTPS version of the website (exactly the same as the HTTP version) and add a layer of protection to your Internet browsing. 

2. Encryption. 

Using encrypted texting is really easy through apps like Signal or WhatsApp. They allow ISP's to see that you're using the app, but not who you're texting or what you're saying. 

3. Two-step e-mail verification. 

E-mail is one of the scariest things that I can imagine getting compromised, because once someone has access to your e-mail, they can reset all your passwords for any other websites (like banking). If you have GMail, it's super simple to turn on a two-step verification (meaning, if you log in to your e-mail from an unknown network or computer, you'll have to complete a second step in order to get to your inbox, like entering a code you receive via text). It's a tiny bit inconvenient, but it's worth it when considering the alternative! 

4. Don't click on links directly from texts or e-mails unless you're expecting them. 

This one is definitely a pain in the ass, but, again, may be worth it. Experts have discovered that many links passed through e-mail or texts have picked up malware (software that will cause your computer to run poorly and/or shut down) along the way. Instead of clicking links directly from your e-mail, copy/paste them into a search bar and go to the website from there. Rule of thumb: don't click on any links, especially to services that require login information like your bank, Amazon account, etc., without being 100% that the e-mail is legit. 

Okay, so that's only four things. But hopefully they're helpful! It's easy to get spooked during moments like this one, but fear not. We're all okay. Deep breaths. Just take the extra steps, protect yourself, and, as always, if you don't like that this took place, call your legislator. 

Happy weekend, folks!