Hello and welcome back to Consistent Distant Love! This is the third issue of the newsletter, and to switch things up I am trying out an external website to send this email to see if it butchers the formatting less than Gmail does. Otherwise, you can expect the same wholesome content and love!
Tweets of the Week
Here are some sweet tweets I particularly enjoyed this week :)
It goes without saying that the vibes of this tweet are immaculate.
This may be a controversial take, but any Fogarty girl knows this is what's good. (I can't even eat these lol)
Did you really grow up in Marin if you didn't go to one of these?
Sassy Celeb of the Week
Ashley Tisdale has certainly been one of the queens of quarantine, from her sunny positive tik toks to her High School Musical recreations its hard not to smile when I see her pop up on my feed. She is definitely a Disney star that I love to see pop up on my timeline.
Quarantine Anthems!
Last week I asked for music recommendations for songs that are defining your quarantines and I combined those with suggestions I got from Instagram to make this Quarantine Anthems playlist! It is certainly eclectic and I love hearing everyone's different tastes!
A song recommendation for this week is Bette Midler's "From a Distance."This song has a special place in my heart because we sang it in my middle school honor choir and though it has some funky lyrics, I love the overall message and of course Midler's vocals.
Caleb on the Water!
Many of you may know about Caleb's boat, but very few of you have probably actually seen it! Caleb has spent his quarantine working on building this vessel based on a basic design similar to an open water rowing shell. He has made significant modifications so he can use it as a platform to prototype kite sailing systems. He is excited to use it to camp on Tomales Bay, and if all goes well use it to row up the Inside Passage along the BC coast. Caleb never fails to impress me with his industrious and innovative work, and I can't wait to see what he does next :)
The time Abby's grandma met Lady Gaga???
A few days before quarantine started my dear friends Abby, Caitlin, and I were all having a dance party to some classic Lady Gaga hits in our drama classroom when Abby revealed her family's connection to the pop superstar. Here is her story: It was just a normal day in July of 2011 in Springfield, Nebraska, a small agricultural town that is located about thirty minutes south of Omaha. I imagine my grandmother sitting in the house that her family has lived in since the 1800s when my great-great-grandfather and his brother moved there from Germany and each had ten children, thus populating Springfield, the town that they founded. Little did she know, Lady Gaga, the queen of the monsters, would be coming to their sleepy Nebraska town with a population of 1,529 to shoot the music video for her classic anthem, Yoü and I. You see, Gaga’s ex-boyfriend is from Springfield and visiting him caused her to fall in love with Nebraska, hence the Yoü and I lyric,”There's only three men that Imma serve my whole life/It’s my daddy, Nebraska, and Jesus Christ.” In an MTV interview, she says, “I love this place [Nebraska] so much, and it really comes from a genuine place.” In 2017, during the summer before my sophomore year of high school, my dad and I took a train trip from Alameda to Omaha in order to visit my family and watch the solar eclipse. I had researched Springfield extensively before leaving as I was very interested in a town that my family had been living in for so long and in doing so, had found out about Lady Gaga’s visit. When we arrived at my family’s house I asked them if they remembered the day that she shot the music video. My grandma said that she remembered that there were a whole lot of trucks and trailers and camera equipment headed down the dirt road that went by their house. She walked down the long road with my aunt to see what all the commotion was about and although a lot of the filming was blocked by trailers that were meant to keep the fans out, she could allegedly see Ms.Gaga sitting in a chair and if my grandma speaks the truth, they smiled at each other. A “New York Woman” and a Nebraskan native acknowledging their shared love over the Cornhusker State.
Lady Gaga on Abby's family's street!
Abby's grandma at age 16, what a gorgeous gal!
Gaga climbing the family Silo!
Ooh La La!
My lovely friend Greer painted this gorgeous statement piece about respecting our home. I adore the color scheme and the message of course!
Alex painted this adorable froggy chair and I can't get enough!!
The news from Hanken Drive (what's up with Grandpa)
This week Grandpa was in a great mood! I delivered him a chocolate malt and we sat out in the sun for a while. I picked some flowers throughout his yard and then I brought them home to press in my giant dictionary! Our conversations lead to the topic of reality TV, something that he is not too familiar with. I ended up explaining to him the concept of The Bachelor, in which he responded: "25 girls is far too many for one man."
Recipe of the Week: Tahini Brownies
Ruby recommended me this unique Bon Appetit Gluten-free tahini brownies recipe and I could not help but try! I put a vegan spin on it by using the Bob's Redmill Vegan Egg Replacement (I use this in EVERYTHING). They were so rich and chocolatey and I totally suggest making them!!
Ruby's version (look at those swirls!!)
Ruby's version (look at those swirls!!)
Binge-Worthy Watch
Okay, so I might sound a little late to the party, but quarantine finally gave me some time to catch up on TV, and the Netflix docu-series "Cheer" was a the top of my list! The show follows the Navarro Jr. College cheer team on their road to nationals. My expectations were high after all my friends had been raving about it for months, and I have had an adoration for cheerleaders ever since I saw Bring It On when I was 9 years old. Without giving any spoilers, I want to tell you all some of the things I loved about the show. First of all, it combined all the drama I love about Dance Moms, the informative nature of a National Geographic documentary, and the heartfelt nature of a Disney Channel Original Movie. Though I could have finished it in one sitting, I watched the whole thing in a week, because I wanted to savor it as long as I could. One of my favorite parts of the series is that it really doesn't have a villain or antagonist, which is an interesting change of pace from the usual formula of a series featuring an underdog story.
Gamer Time
This week I made a 40 question Kahoot to play with my family over Zoom. We all had so much and I definitely recommend trying this out with your family or friends. The way you do it is by setting up an account on Kahoot and creating your own trivia game about whatever topic you want. Once you have made your quiz, invite your group to a Zoom call. Make sure participants join the Zoom call on their computer and have a phone or tablet in hand. Once you are all on Zoom, start the Kahoot game and screen share so your participants can see the game. Then everyone should visitwww.kahoot.iton their phone and punch in the game code, and it's time to begin! Our family got a little competitive and Minty ended up winning!
Movie Recommendations!
I want to compile a movie list for next week, so tell me in this form what you're watching!
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Okay well, given the current state, everything isn't coming up roses, but Berkeley certainly is. On Saturday, Minty and I went go visit Annie in Berkeley. We walked through her quaint neighborhood, to Timeless Coffee, an excellent spot where EVERYTHING is vegan (my kind of place). I got a hot chocolate, which was a perfect bittersweet treat for a foggy morning. As we walked the streets, Mint and I were impressed with the robust blooming flowers in everyone's yard, and Annie said, "If you think this is good, you should see the rose garden." So on a whim, we drove up to Tilden Park to visit it! We walked through every row of the garden picking out all our favorite types. Some reminded me of passionate tangos (I miss dancing with you Collin!), some were like real-life Alice and Wonderland Roses, and some were as yellow as fresh summertime butter (Little House on the Prairie stans know). The garden was enchanting and I would absolutely encourage you to go if you are ever in the East Bay in early May!
That's all for this week!! My inbox is always open (hatcherfogarty@gmail.com) and I love staying in touch with all of you so so much. As always reach out with recommendations, comments, or anything you would like to share and let me know if you would like to write something for me to include (like Abby's piece this week)! I miss you all :)
xoxoxo
Claire
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