OOH LA LA! #17

why is laughing when you shouldn't be laughing the best kind of laughter?

Friends, it finally happened! I bought a bicycle!

After being without a bike for a year, I am feeling more myself again with my very own bike. She’s a red aluminum frame from Japan with vintage gear shifts and the cutest little bell on the handlebars. I also now own a proper helmet and lights for safety, and I’m very much looking forward to biking all over Brooklyn this summer.

I’m also still dreaming of long weekend bike rides to the beach or an epic adventure with camping along the way. I’m hungry for the way my mind is quiet but alive when I’m on a long bike ride, for sleeping under the stars, for the taste of salty lips after a big hill climb. I want to wake up with my hair smelling like smoke from a bonfire and I want to drink hot coffee while watching the sunrise. All this, reawakened in me because I’ve owned a bike for a week!

Here’s to doing more of what makes us come alive.

This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: hot humid air, laughing when you shouldn’t be laughing, a new-to-me jazz album on repeat.

Temps are warming up in New York and I’m feeling giddy about the start of NYC summer - so much so that I’m dazzled this week by humidity. I know, I know, but hear me out on this. After a day of rain, the air feels heavy and the sycamore trees in McGolrick Park glow in a just-been-kissed-by-the-rain kind of look. In the hot humid air, the sun light appears hazy, its edges softened and sweet. It strikes me that though it’s no longer raining, the water is still right there, hanging in the thick air, on the leaves of the trees, in puddles at my feet, even inside me - invisible, but still distinct. I remember in this moment that I’m part of a big wide web of seen and unseen forces that go on and on and on, without requiring my efforts or attention, and I exhale a prayer of gratitude in the hot humid air.

What do you call laughing when you shouldn’t be laughing? And why is laughing in these moments the best kind of laughter? Look, I know it’s inappropriate to not keep quiet when the social etiquette standard is to keep quiet, but I could not help myself from laughing long and loudly on a Queens-bound G train Tuesday night when I witnessed a small man fail to find his seat before the train sped off. It wasn’t just that his attempts to not fall resulted in a sort of silly, modern dance, him hanging on to the railing, and bouncing up and down, but also that in the space where he was sitting down was already sat a red-headed woman reading a book! It was absolute pure comedy and both parties were incredibly kind and no one was harmed. Perhaps then a better question is - why don’t we all laugh loudly and long at everything more often?! What a catharsis it would have been to laugh out loud on the train together. (I’m still laughing about this now).

Is there anything more OOH LA LA! then the feeling when you find a song that hits just right? For me, it’s a special kind of heaven to experience this perfect synergy of sound that’s suitable to my exact sensory preferences at the moment. Nothing like a perfectly curated playlist to soothe the spirit! This week I’m obsessed with listening to a new-to-me jazz album on repeat. The overall feel is upbeat and optimistic, with some funky rhythms that have without question been making my days feel brighter. If ya give it a listen, I can’t promise you won’t also want to start dancing in your kitchen.

And now some OOH LA LA!s from readers:

Natasha: A few things I love at our house: the roses in full bloom in our backyard, my daughter when she’s in here “I'm not sleeping pose” on the couch, and the inflatable slip-and-slide our girls are obsessed with.

Sonia: Lately, I'm having a major moment with whipped cream. Whipping it up by hand, making little desserts with it, adding it to my morning coffee, and eating it with a bowl of strawberries make the most mundane moments feel decadent and sweet, and fun.

For those interested, I reached out to Sonia to inquire about the recipe and have been told it’s so easy! All it takes is some heavy whipping cream and a splash of vanilla extract whipped with an electric hand mixer until it forms stiff peaks (don't beat it past that point, though, because eventually it will turn into butter). I can’t wait to try!

Thanks for reading!

I’d love to know - what is an OOH LA LA something you experienced or observed this week?

Reply to this email with 1-3 sentences about your current obsessions, passions, joys, and pleasures and why you love them! Or, simply send me a poem or a photo!

May we all laugh long and loudly more often!

XOXO,
LJ

(To read more about my love for biking, check out OOH LA LA! #14)