Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Sitting Behind Travis Birkenstock on a Plane

erica’s things

  • Loving the crap out of T’s “Take Two” column, which asks two people who would probably never otherwise be in close proximity (um, Azealia Banks and Katie Couric?) to review five things.

  • Remembering how freaking delicious this roasted carrot and avocado situation is.

  • Feeling more drawn to the Financial Times than ever before, thanks to the lace-like pieces that artist Myriam Dion makes from the newspaper.

  • Spooning up the best oatmeal of my life at Lincoln Station, my new neighborhood breakfast go-to in Prospect Heights.

  • Adding some serious animal action to my Instagram, ℅ @bunnymama—which tracks bunny besties Eddy and Rambo—and @usinterior, the account from the U.S. Department of the Interior that proves America really is beautiful.

claire’s things

  • Discovering that when all else fails (slash you waited until the last minute to go to the dry cleaner, which turns out to be closed) a cotton sock is the trick to getting out deodorant stains.

  • And, speaking of socks: Loving the punnily-named Feetures for running—they hug your feet in all the right places and don’t fall down or chafe.

  • Having my mind blown by this breakdown of the psychology behind Nacho Doritos.

  • Falling into a New Orleans Bounce rabbit hole—start with this and try not to do the same. (Hat tip to my future husband who has been trying to get me to a Big Freedia concert since the night we met.)

  • Putting The Best American Infographics 2013 on my coffee-table book wish list—if only so I can reference this hilarious (and handy!) guide to email checking.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Field-Tripping to our Warehouse

erica’s things

  • Eating and eating and eating the best ginger cookies I’ve ever had, made by Claire’s mom from this Emily Luchetti recipe (ice cream optional).

  • Prepping for sweater season with one of those super-handy electric depiller things.

  • Wanting to catch up on every last one of the Fine Brothers “Teens React” videos. Basically, you watch something viral-y alongside a panel of REAL LIVE TEENAGERS and hear what they think, with some Pop Up Video-style intel thrown in, too.

  • Celebrating the BF’s husband’s b-day at the totally awesome, super-classic Melody Lanes bowling alley in Brooklyn.

  • Failing this really hard quiz from Bon Appétit: apple breed or Essie nail polish shade?

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Having a “Moment” Over Ann Street Studio

erica’s things

  • Digging the awesome husband-wife, tech-and-fashion podcast The Needle & The Mouse from Dan Frommer and Lauren Sherman. Smart AND entertaining.

  • Eyeing all of this splattered kitchenware from Crow Canyon—do I need a tea kettle? canisters?—that would look so freaking rad hangin’ on my countertop.

  • LOLing over this account of the repercussions of quinoa’s newfound popularity, by Juli Weiner.

  • Spending the afternoon poolside at Williamsburg’s super-polished King & Grove hotel—it feels more L.A. than L train.

  • Rooting for Fifth Harmony to become the girl-band answer to One Direction. Go on, now: Check out this and this.

claire’s things

  • Finding a video game I can get behind—Nowness’s Ballroom Battles. They call it an “interactive Voguing experience.” I call it Paris is Burning for the digital age.

  • Signing up for Contactually—it’s a like a really, really smart and helpful digital Rolodex that plugs right into your email.

  • Loving DailyCandy’s short films in collaboration with Tribeca Enterprises—this parody of a fashion blogger-slash-stylist is SO GOOD.

  • Prepping for the cooler weather by dropping off my arsenal of boots at Leather Spa—they return everything looking brand-spanking-new. It’s magic.

  • Getting super into Luther—a British serial crime drama in which Idris Elba fills the void in my life created by Elliot Stabler’s departure from television.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Cooking Up Something Good

erica’s things

  • Itching to plan an apple-picking adventure. Remodelista has some awesome-looking orchard picks around the country.

  • Trying out the super-cool Coast—which bills itself as “the browser that should have come with the iPad”—that I discovered via Sight Unseen.

  • Keeping some homemade arugula pesto in the fridge. Next time I’m gonna try the freezing-in-an-ice-cube-tray trick.

  • Taking a nice long ride down Clueless memory lane, thanks to this if-Cher-was-on-Instagram Buzzfeed story and this HuffPo post on the site of the Valley house party (which happens to be for sale).

  • Falling hard for the HIGHLY entertaining science writing of Mary Roach. I just finished Gulp—subject matter: the gastrointestinal tract—and am already diving into Stiff about, um, cadavers.

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Getting Psyched for our Sunday Suppers Event

erica’s things

claire’s things

  • Consuming most of Fashion Week from my couch, thanks to Style.com’s SO GOOD iPad app—really makes you question the hassle of actually attending.

  • Getting psyched to see the upcoming film Enough Said due entirely to its powerful trifecta of stars: the late James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the Style Rookie herself, Tavi Gevinson(!).

  • Loving these personality-filled paintings and photographs of Coco Chanel, now on display at the London College of Art.

  • Making the most of the final days of grilling season by throwing some fruit on the flames—this Food52 tutorial has all the tips and tricks.

  • Feeling mesmerized by the beautiful and innovative layout of this Pitchfork feature on R&B star Janelle Monae. Oh, and: The story itself is super-compelling, too!

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Mazel-Tov-ing Erica and Thomas!

erica’s things

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Being Matchy-Matchy

erica’s things

  • Drinking up Bon Appétit's absolutely awesome if-these-walls-could-talk account of the history of the San Francisco bar Tosca.

  • Freaking out over the fact that Buzzfeed unearthed a Delia*s catalog from 1996—the height of my obsession. I died for the model in #21, and Claire and I discovered that we both owned the platform sandals in #30.

  • Crowning Prune the best brunch in NYC. Get the fried oyster omelet. Or the spiced chickpeas. And definitely the Chicago Matchbox bloody mary.

  • Achieving some big hair, c/o GLAMSQUAD: They do at-home blowouts in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Yes, brilliant.

  • Laughing harder than I should at these literal New Yorker cartoon captions.

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Cooling our Jets

erica’s things

  • Eating up the socialites-at-Burning Man ridiculousness, as chronicled by Mickey Rapkin in DuJour.

  • Trying to wrap my head around this whole wedding-registry business—too much research led me to the very-charming Merci Registry.

  • Ripping off Noho restaurant The Smile with a perfect it’s-too-hot-to-cook dinner: two pieces of grainy, seedy bread toasted and smeared with lots of good ricotta and topped with halved grape tomatoes, a little olive oil, and some crunchy sea salt.

  • Falling hard for the smart, useful blog from Equinox—a gym I don’t even belong to.

  • Chopping off my hair. Into the Gloss has, oh, 65 inspirational-slash-motivational pics if you’re looking to get that mane off yo’ neck.

claire’s things

  • Pre-ordering multiples of the genius product Tile—attach it the things you lose (keys, wallet, etc.) to make their location trackable via app. Oh, the hours and dollars this thing could have saved me over the years.

  • Loving Meet the Ipsums, which offers replacements for your standard Latin copy placeholder with much more entertaining text, like Bluth Ipsum, a goldmine for Arrested Development fans, and my personal favorite, Corporate Ipsum.

  • ID’ing the one sports bra that actually keeps (all) things in their place on a long run: Lululemon’s Stuff Your Bra, cheekily named for its built-in pockets for keys, cash, etc.

  • Predicting the next big thing in wedding snacks will be the popcorn bar: freshly popped corn presented alongside an array of seasonings and topping options—way chicer (and healthier) than a mashed-potato bar.

  • Discovering the perfect frames to display (and gift!) the zillions of pictures I have as a result of my addiction to my Fuji Instax Mini.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Bagging it Up

erica’s things

  • Ponying up for the Dark Sky app, which delivers rain news you can use: Will water fall from the sky during the next hour and, if so, how hard?

  • Spending some quality time with this cat rock band video. Yes, there’s a chicken playing a tambourine, too.

  • Discovering the rare D.I.Y. project that I have the skills to accomplish: the painted-tin-can vase, as spied at the website for The Informal Florist and at my neighborhood floral-slash-skate shop (yes, really) Park Delicatessen.

  • Appreciating the data-driven, why-aren’t-there-women-in-summer-movies? rant by Amanda Dobbins over at Vulture.

  • Preordering Vedge, a cookbook from the Philly restaurant of the same name that’s hanging at the very top of my eating to-do list.

claire’s things

  • Downloading About Herbs, a mobile app created by Memorial Sloan-Kettering that gives you straight talk re: that $30 herbal supplement tempting you from the shelves of Whole Foods.

  • Tearing my way through Where’d You Go, Bernadette—talk about a perfect beach read.

  • Marveling at how inescapable family truly is via these photographic mash-ups of relatives.

  • Hoping Boston eatery Life Alive opens up a branch in NY ASAP—this place achieves that rare combo of very healthy, very delicious, and not crazy-expensive. I am into it.

  • Fantasizing about living here.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Shopping our Stellar Sample Sales

erica’s things

  • Mixing up some raspberry- (and, ok, whiskey-) fueled Heatwave cocktails.

  • Wanting to gift made-in-L.A. Dominik cutting boards for every wedding on the summer calendar.

  • Scooping up vintage NYC postcards on eBay—about 324 times cooler than any you’ll find at the gift stores on Canal.

  • Applauding the brilliance that is the Cosby Sweater Tournament. Only one piece of knitwear will walk away a winner, guys.

  • Going analog with the super-cool illustrated city maps from Herb Lester Associates. When this thing shows up in my mailbox, I’m going to start planning my trip to Copenhagen for real.

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides BEING AMERICAN

erica’s things

  • Giving the fantastic Toddy cold-brew coffee thingy a real workout, for the third summer in a row. $35 well-spent, y’all.

  • Wanting to plan a trip to Storm King to see this solarium with CARAMELIZED SUGAR WINDOWS.

  • Dying over NPR’s playlist of all of the songs of the summer since 1962. Finally, an excuse to listen to “The Boy Is Mine.”

  • Learning so much about avocados from Food52—including that fact that sailors spread them on toast way back in the 1700s.

  • Ogling all of the amazing lighting by the Vegas-based co. Onefortythree—ideal for our Of a Kind office makeover?!

claire’s things

  • Signing up for so-brilliant We Think Alone, Miranda July’s latest project in which you receive emails culled from the “sent” folders of folks like Lena Dunham and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

  • Discovering the wonder of cheese paper via Formaticum’s handy little storage bags—game-changers for cheese lovers who stock their fridges with the good stuff.

  • Scrolling for ages through National Geographic’s tumblr, full of amazing pics from throughout the decades.

  • Realizing Wendy Davis wasn’t the only one wearing sneakers with a suit last week.

  • Getting psyched at the prospect of a swimming pool that sits in the East River acting like a giant Brita filter.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Mainlining Ice Cream

erica’s things

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Thanking Tina Brown for Her Support

erica’s things

  • Looking for an excuse to stock up on what is, without a doubt, the most brilliant thank-you card ever.

  • Applauding our pal Kate on the launch of her super-smart company Piccolo: Get your social-media snaps printed and mailed to ya. Use code OFAKIND for one free month!

  • Appreciating the crap out of Flavorpill’s weekly streaming movie guide. Netflix and Hulu Plus: not just for mainlining teevee.

  • Keeping a homemade vinaigrette in the fridge—this tomato one and this anchovy one are both killer—to use on greens, grains, fish, whatever on nights when cooking feels way too hard.

  • Discovering a genius, low-budge beauty trick ℅ Fashionista: Kool-Aid lip stain

claire’s things

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Other Than Going to Music Festivals

erica’s things

  • Making the most of strawberry season with this cake—pretty and easy.

  • Watching this mattress commercial featuring a bunny cuddle puddle on repeat...and then doing the same with the behind-the-scenes video.

  • Understanding, thanks to these awesome linguistic maps, why I’m the rare Midwesterner who says soda instead of pop.

  • Seriously appreciating the business posts Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn writes on his Medium—refreshingly honest stuff.

  • Loving that food-plus-fashion is now a total THING. Proof: Check out The New Potato.

claire’s things

  • Downloading the new Eater app—the perfect solution for when you’re in an unfamiliar neighborhood and the only thing you know for sure is around the corner is hanger (hunger-induced anger).

  • Crying buckets watching this ad about gay marriage...from Expedia of all places.

  • Finally finding at-home wax strips that work and don’t leave gunk all over your legs, ℅ Completely Bare.

  • Catching my breath after hearing David Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s isolated vocals from "Under Pressure". A cappella nerds, you are welcome.

  • Loving The Cut’s Out of the Box series in which they leave photographers to their own devices to style fashion shoots. The Ina Jang edition is a winner.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Wishing We Could Curl Up Inside a Freezer

erica’s things

  • Itching to own the single-subject, pamphlet-style cookbooks from Short Stack Editions. That cover art!

  • Sweating Tavi Gevinson’s Q&A with Emma Watson for Rookie. God, they’re both so likeable.

  • Logging a summer reading list with the help of this stellar Flavorpill guide to highbrow beach reads.

  • Buying some more Soapwalla deodorant—the best natural stuff on the planet. For serious.

  • Whipping up this Sicilian farro and tuna salad on the reg—a weeknight-meal home run (that works with quinoa or whatever other grain you have, too).

claire’s things

  • Discovering a spice in Mexico that rivals my love of Old Bay—Tajin. Sprinkle it on mangoes or pineapples with some lime.

  • Applauding the launch of The Sweethome, which is basically America’s Test Kitchen for home products. Yes I do want to know what the best toilet paper on the market is.

  • Giving my nails a break from manicures for the summer, with the help of Nailtiques, a crazy-good protein strengthened.

  • Adding Shit Bloggers Wear to my list of hilarious tumblrs pokin’ (artful!) fun at fashion, right alongside Wear This To That and Real Men Swear.

  • Ordering hand rolls galore at Momo Sushi Shack—a delicious Japanese spot offering the Bushwick crowd a dining option besides fancy pizza.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Fantasizing About Vacation

erica’s things

claire’s things

  • Activating every craving imaginable while browsing Mouth, a site selling indie food products, packaged perfectly for gifting.

  • Admitting that half the reason I am in-the-know about anything outside of work is because I keep on top of Nora Sherman’s personal-but-still-so-servicey blog.

  • Not knowing whether to feel depressed or optimistic to learn that a price increase of 10 cents per garment would be enough to modernize factories like the one that collapsed in Bangladesh.

  • Stocking my freezer with Barry’s Tempeh after discovering it at Smorgasburg. I’m far from a vegetarian, but this stuff is delish.

  • Feeling inspired by Jessi Arrington’s talk on unapologetic enthusiasm—yes, it’s long, but it gave me the courage to approach Mindy Kaling when I saw her on the street this week, which makes it totally worth it.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Now That all our TV Shows are Ending

erica’s things

  • Doing a deep dive into the highly entertaining blog Sad Stuff on the Street. Don’t worry—not half as sad as it sounds.

  • Slow-roasting the crap out of some grape tomatoes. Put ‘em in pasta, on sandwiches, in your mouth...

  • Treating myself to the best manicure/pedicure in NYC (IMHO!), over at Tenoverten.

  • Falling a little in love with The Mandate Press, which made us jazzy new letterpress biz cards. You can even use their Patrick Bateman template, if you so desire.

  • Cracking up over this New Yorker “My Wedding Hair” story, which cites watercolor teacher and animated Maid Marian as day-of inspo.

claire’s things

  • Steadily maintaining my popcorn addiction, thanks to Pop Karma’s weird and delicious flavors. (Which, BTW, also make the perfect party food—big hit at Erica’s engagement fête.)

  • Applauding (Of a Kind alum!) Fort Standard on the design of these survival kits, which are way chicer than a backpack and machete hiding under your bed.

  • Gushing over how faithful Dave’s Hoagies in NYC is to the real-deal Philly version. (If you happen to be in City of Brotherly Love, Salumeria is where it’s at.)

  • Realizing I spent way too much money on Mother’s Day when I could have gifted The Momtract for free. (JK, Mom! Love you!)

  • Loving that Patagonia is putting its money where its mission is by launching a venture fund focused on companies that share its values.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Besides Celebrating our Moms (and giving you free shipping to do the same)

erica’s things

  • Cracking up over Richard Prince’s new piece: an amalgamation of Jerry Seinfeld’s 57 fictional girlfriends. To be released in an edition of 57, obviously.

  • Getting even more bummed about missing Jazz Fest, thanks to Vogue.com’s predictably gorgeous guide to New Orleans.

  • Celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a kick-ass creamy (yet vegan!) tortilla soup from Love and Lemons.

  • Looking for any excuse I can get to drink rosé and eat cheese at the bar of Andrew Carmellini’s new NYC spot, Lafayette.

  • Downloading Nocturnes, the new album from Little Boots—per Lucky, her boots really are little. Size 3!

claire’s things

  • Telling everyone I know to snatch up tickets to Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 —a Baz Luhrmann-esque electro-pop opera based on a section of War and Peace.

  • Celebrating soft shell crab season with this classic Pierre Franey recipe passed down from my mom, and with the plate-lickingly good version at Al Mar in Brooklyn.

  • Spending hours in the bookstore poring over gorgeous and inspiring Victionary books.

  • LOL-ing over this spot-on Lucky Peach cartoon poking fun at all of the fancy-shmance celebrity chefs.

  • Feeling like a mini-Martha for hanging this West Elm ledge planter in my bathroom as extra bottle storage.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We're Doing Besides Drinking Micheladas in the Sun

erica’s things

  • Embracing the weekend-morning, lazy-coffee-drinking robe—Eberjey makes good ones.

  • Wanting to own, oh, EVERYTHING from the Lower East Side home store Top Hat.

  • Appreciating the hyper-digestible news digest The Skimm—it doesn’t talk down to you (but also acknowledges your short attention span).

  • Discovering a volumizing hair product that works, from Bed Head. Just can’t promise that you’ll feel like a grown-up reaching for the bottle.

  • Loving this article on celebrity nuptial mastermind Stefanie Cove over at The Cut. Alternative title: The Olivia Pope of Weddings.

claire’s things

  • Showing off evidence of genius in my genes with the release of my brother’s new book—a genuinely fascinating story about 16th-century religious outcasts who clawed their way to power.  

  • Finding the perfect background music (a.k.a. dinner party soundtrack) in Beacon’s newest album The Way We Separate.

  • SMH at these visual time capsules of my teen years.

  • Ogling the gorgeous antique rugs and quilts at Shark Tooth—all hand-picked by adorable owner Kellen Tucker at estate sales and auctions around the country.

  • Breaking up my green tea boredom with genmaicha—the brown rice flavor tastes like...exactly what I’ve been missing in my life.

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Catherine Krenzer Catherine Krenzer

10 Things We’re Doing Now That We’re Back At Our Desks

erica’s things

  • Freaking out over the fact that Claire and her beau Chris got engaged! (And Lauren Wolf made her so-stunning ring!)

  • Singing the praises of body oils to anyone who’ll listen. Coconut oil is basically made of (really cheap) magic, and this Caldrea stuff (recommended by our Birchbox pals!) smells amaze if you’re down for something fancier.

  • Loving the series of collaborators vids that Daft Punk is releasing around their album Random Access Memories—’cause we obviously heart a back story around here.

  • Trying to eat anywhere other than the schmazing ramen place in my Brooklyn ‘hood, Chuko. Get the kale salad—I know, I know, BUT SERIOUSLY.

  • Getting really pumped about Lizzie Skurnick Books—a brand-new imprint that’s going to re-release old-school young-adult novels.

claire’s things

  • Lurrrrving this smartly done art-world take on Us Weekly’s best feature, Who Wore It Better.

  • Finally finding a bold lip color that my guy and I can agree upon (from the drugstore no less!): Cover Girl Lipstain in Saucy Plum.

  • Mentally decorating my mid-century modern dream home with the help of Circa 60.

  • Prepping for my upcoming Tulum trip by snagging a swimsuit from the so-good Derek Lam for Kohl’s collection.

  • Learning that my version of utopia is being (slowly) realized in this piece about the healthy fast food movement in the New York Times Magazine.

    photo courtesy of our bud Elizabeth Kott, the mastermind behind Closet Rich

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