26. Adventures in small town Pennsylvania
Wedding weekends, designer deep-dives, and your guide to basic girl fall activities (affectionate).
Today’s letter includes: The only Buck Mason store designed by Leanne Ford (yes, it’s in a small Pennsylvania town), why all-girls schools are having a moment, the most exciting GAP collab yet, and proof that Jisoo was just chilling this whole time.
Hi friends. I hope everyone is hanging in there.
Last weekend we went back to Ben’s hometown for a wedding. It’s a cute little town near Pittsburgh. As far as I’m concerned it has two claims to fame - 1. “The Happiest Season” was filmed there (the LGBTQ Holiday Film starring Kristen Stewart and Dan Levy, which is just an OK movie but we love that it exists) and 2. The only Buck Mason with Leanne Ford store is located there. Ask any local and I’m sure you’d get a very different list.
Is anyone else obsessed with Leanne Ford (I mean besides me and her husband)? Her tastes align with mine much more than a Joanna Gaines or anyone else on HGTV these days. I think my interest in Ford started with her Crate&Barrel collection, which led me to watch her old show in which she designs and her brother does construction.
It’s not a coincidence she did a collab with Buck Mason - she is married to one of the co-founders and current CEO. They met in 2015 and married in 2017, eloping in New York City in a wedding that was apparently planned in just 4 days. His name is Erik Allen Ford and yes, he took Leanne’s last name.
It seems she also convinced him to leave LA and move to Pennsylvania (ok, ok they go back and forth) where Ford has restored quite the roster of homes: a midcentury modern home, a 1945 farmhouse, and a 1868 Preacher’s House. Buck Mason now runs some of their operations in the state. The website reads: “Pennsylvania is an important place for us. It’s home to our factory and mill and a special endeavor bringing together Buck Mason products with home essentials in a space curated and designed by Leanne Ford,” ie. the Buck Mason with Leanne Ford store I spoke of above.
Anyways, enough about my idol and back to me. We’re leaving for Korea next week on a wild 18 person trip organized by my husband’s friend Suj. There will be no letters while I stay overnight at a Korean temple and buy countless Marge Sherwood bags, but there will be plenty of good content upon my return. This I promise you!
Please leave your Korean cosmetic treatments, shopping, and food recommendations in the comments. Ty.
Mark your calendars. Abby and I have been chatting about the The Sandy Liang x Gap collaboration, which will be available to shop on October 10, beginning at 9 A.M. ET at gap.com and select Gap stores. Some things are really not to my taste, but this younger-seeming video creator seems to disagree so what do I know! Promo is super cute, giving Miyazaki vibes but also following the broader fashion trend of using illustration in ads going on rn. I will definitely try to snag some coats that I absolutely do not need.
Do you want juicy nails? Speaking of Korea (see you soon Seoul!), these Korean Fruit peel manicures are making their way around the internet. I’m simultaneously impressed by the realism and put off. I don’t want my fingernails to look that edible.
It’s pumpkin season, put it in pasta? I finally caved and bought Graza Olive Oil. I’m sure the olive oil itself is not that different from what I buy at Union Market but sometimes its worth paying for good design and the little serotonin boost that comes with it when you use it or look at it on your counter. They recently shared a pumpkin pasta recipe that I am interested in trying. If you make it, let me know.
Basic girl fall activities are fun, admit it. It’s time to go apple and pumpkin picking, perhaps eat an apple cider donut. Here is a good list of where to go for NYC ppl.
All-girls schools are having a resurgence. It makes sense, as parents seek “safe spaces“ for girls to build confidence and escape social media pressures.
Taylor’s new album is objectively bad, right? Still, in its first five days of release, Swift’s new album broke a record set by Adele’s “25” a decade ago selling 3.5 Million copies. Honestly, the only kind of good song is the Charli XCX diss track. Pitchfork gave “The Life of a Showgirl” a 5.9 out of 10, The Guardian two stars out of five.
For my San Francisco friends. Viv from The Molehill and Arabelle Sicardi are talking about their new book The House of Beauty, followed by a perfume swap and press-on nail bar on Sunday 10/19.
Salesforce won’t pay the ransom. The cybercriminal group ShinyHunters has taken credit for hacking Salesforce and sending extortion threats, claiming to have stolen 1 billion records from roughly 40 Salesforce clients. Salesforce refuses to “engage, negotiate with or pay” hackers.
The government is shut down, if you haven’t heard. I hope they have enough air traffic controllers when I go to Korea. Twelve Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facilities saw staffing shortages on Monday, according to an evening advisory from the agency — followed by another roughly half dozen on Tuesday. Air traffic controllers played a key role in ending the last government shutdown, which stretched on for 35 days, from December 2018 to January 2019. Nothing can bring enemies together like the need to take an airplane somewhere.
I guess Jisoo’s doing nothing period has come to an end! BLACKPINK’s Jisoo has confirmed an upcoming duet with Zayn Malik. While other members Jenni, Rose, and Lisa were dominating across music charts and TV screens, I like to imagine Jisoo was just kicking back on Jeju Island like - “aren’t I rich enough?”
Rumor has it that Substack is suppressing free content. If you’d like to resist the algorithm pushing paid content only, then liking, sharing, quoting and restacking this newsletter will help! <3
Ay - I’m walkin’ here!
A third claim to fame... the small PA town is where your husband was born, raised, attended school and became the wonderful guy he is. :-) <3