Weekend Reads for February 15, 2025

Weekend Reads

I was mentioned in The Express! Information from my article How to Prevent Pinholes in T-Shirts And How To Repair was referenced. It would have been nice if they actually linked to me (FYI, if you are in a position to create a web-based article, do always link back to your source as a thank you/courtesy), but it's still cool to be mentioned.

Beyond Amazon: Black-owned brands to shop directly. (Shoppe Black)

Guns vs border security. (The Preamble)

50 people shaping our society in 2025. (Washington Post – gift link)

My friend Dawn Lucy got the chance to be on The Price is Right! (Fashion Should Be Fun)

No need to toss your cookies. Girl Scout Cookies are both delicious AND safe. (Unbiased Science)

Speaking of which, if you are looking for Girl Scout cookies and don't have a troop nearby, my daughter is selling them and you can ship them right to your front door.

An IKEA bookshelf's third coming. (Dirt)

I love checking out celebrity homes via the Architectural Digest YouTube channel. Current favorite is Waltom Goggins' Hudson Valley lodge. (YouTube)

Colman Domingo leads with radical love. (Time)

The biggest trend at fashion week is copycats. (Washington Post – gift link)

Texas v. Becerra: What it is and How You Can Help Stop the Attack on Section 504. (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund)

If you're looking to upgrade your luggage this year, you have to check out the Calpak Evry Starter Bundle. You get one expandable Carry-On, one expandable Large Check-In, a 5-piece packing cube set, and one Luggage Tag from a highly-rated brand in a range of colors for just $299. If you bought these items separately, it would be $545! I love my Calpak bags, and if I didn't already own some of this, I'd totally get the bundle (my color would be Raspberry!).

The SAVE Act is voter suppression disguised as election integrity. (Ms.)

What do you think of the “fisherman aesthetic” for 2025? (Marie Claire)

There's no such thing as an ethical museum. (The Conversationalist)

EVERYTHING you need to know about CALLING YOUR REPS. (Emily in your Phone)

Sale Alert

Woo-hoo! Universal Standard has provided us with a 10% off discount code for new customers, and it will work on purchases through March 31st. Use NFS-ALISON10OFF at checkout.

• The Universal Standard Mystery Box promotion has returned with up to 85% off over 25 themed boxes. Boxes start at $84 but can be valued up to over $1K. The box themes are Classic Essentials, Denim on Repeat, First-Class Style, The Ultimate Luxury, and more.
• I'm kinda sorta obsessed with the new elevated denim vest, denim blazer, and denim trousers. So chic, and so on trend for this year! Wear together or separately; the vest is chic on its own, over a striped tee or white shirt, or a shell under a blazer.
• You KNOW I love this dress!
• If you're looking for a cotton shirtdress for the midlife closet basics capsule wardrobe, I think this one is a great choice.

M.M.LaFleur is having a suiting sale! Use code SUIT20 for 20% off one item or code SUIT25 for 25% off 2+ items. This promotion only applies to select styles and colors available at this link. For everything else, you can use my code ALISON15 for 15% off.

• This includes a lot of the OrigamiTech suiting, which I reviewed
• The Elena Travel Culotte is very similar to the Zhou Culottes I own and wear ALL THE TIME. The wide-leg style is a cute ankle pant on us shorties and an on-trend shorter length for taller folk. Machine washable, travel friendly, dress up or down, and the matching blazer is also part of this sale.
• A pretty perfect (washable and travel friendly) not-so-little black dress
• IMO, these washable wool pants and matching blazer create the kind of suit you can wear to work or a wedding, with sneakers or heels, and the pieces are great separately too.
• The full list of items eligible for the suiting sale is available at this link

Lands' End is having 40% off sitewide with clearance 75% off. This is when I search the clearance for winter gear for next year.

• I own and love this packable raincoat; so many great colors! For a longer, stronger raincoat, check out this vented rubber one in a gorgeous color or this waxed option!
• The perfect any situation jersey dress; love the green!
• Fellow Marylanders, I think you'll like this
• Super cute mariner top for less than $30
• I know it feels early, but now is the best selection and price for swimwear. I think this one is so cute, this is a cute one for those who don't love their tummy on display, and I own and love this suit but now want one in the new colorways!
• Parents of smaller kids, I've gotten snow pants, coats, and boots for pennies on the dollar, and they last forever. Buy their next size or grab a few cheap coats and donate to your local coat drive!

Style Inspo

This season is looking very prints-teresting! So many fun prints and so much color! Some of the items that caught my eye this week:

Top row: blue dress with feathers | colorful maxi dress | B&W sweater and matching skirt | horizontal stripe dress
Bottom row: floral dress | polka-dot top and matching pants | vertical stripe dress | blue shirtdress

See/Hear/Read

Prime Target is a new series on AppleTV and the premise looked great. Starring Leo Woodall (The White Lotus, One Day, the upcoming Bridget Jones film) as a post-graduate mathematics student who discovers an effort being made to destroy his work in finding a pattern in prime numbers that would allow him to access every computer in the world.

I saw someone on Threads (I thought it was @designmom, but the post and my reply are gone) say that Prime Target seems like a show written by AI. It's a great description because this show makes absolutely no sense.

Woodall plays Ed, who is passionate about maths and folks don't expect it because he's so handsome, though he looks like he rarely showers or launders his clothes. He's working on prime numbers. His mentor has Alzheimer's, so he has been reassigned to a different professor who is trying to stop him from continuing because prime numbers are the key to the universe and the reason for decades of deaths of mathematicians.

Taylah is a beautiful young woman who isn't qualified to work for the NSA but does anyway. She looks like she's wearing a bad wig, and talks like she watched too many espionage films from the 70s and 80s. She's observing this professor because the government tracks all the smartypants maths folks across the globe because they have the key to unlock the world's cybersecurity.

Taylah gets her job from Martha Plimpton, who is horribly miscast as some sweet, motherly type who is also an NSA badass. I love Plimpton; she was awesome in Raising Hope and Sprung, but she is not awesome in this. I get she is supposed to be a two-faced viper, but she never really carries off the godmother role and isn't very savvy as an NSA badass.

Taylah can break into any network, and it never seems to set off any alarms or announce where she is. She can run from any bullet shot her way. She makes wild promises about protecting people, though she has no qualifications beyond fast typing and a “godmother” with connections.

I believe Woodall is playing the character of someone who is neurodivergent, but it just feels like acting. The pacing is weird, the script is weird, the acting feels wooden, and the only person I like is Sidse Babett Knudsen, who plays Andrea, the professor's wife and archaeologist. Maybe I like her so much because she looks at Taylah as though she has no credibility and Ed like he's a mess (both true).

I wish I never started this series because I really want to know how they tie all this up, but each episode leaves me exhausted and annoyed. At the end of each episode of Prime Target, my husband and I complain how inane and fake and full of holes the show is, but a few days later we find ourselves wanting to know what they're going to do next. Consider this a PSA to not even start.

For Your Entertainment

Claire Elizabeth Cottrill who performs with the stage name Clairo began recording covers from her MacBook at the tender age of 13. Through high school she continued to make music, sharing it on social media platforms and Bandcamp. She had a couple of her songs go viral on YouTube which got the attention of record execs.

While Clairo's first full-length album came out in 2019, garnering a lot of press and making “best of “lists for the year, the artist didn't really gain mainstream attention until her third album, 2024's Charm, which was nominated for a GRAMMY.

You may have heard her single, ‘Juna,' which became popular for its romantic, 70s R&B vibe that highlights her beautiful voice. The video for her next single, ‘Terrapin' (also on Charm) was released about a week ago. It caught my attention because I went to the University of Maryland (Go Terps!) and the thumbnail has the song name. But then when I saw it, I KNEW I had to share it.

You're going to recognize the star of this video and it is NOT who you would think would be in Clairo's video. Heck, at age 26, I wasn't sure if she'd even know who he was!