From Bands to Blankets, Here’s What We’re Loving This Week

Purple + Gravity Weighted Blanket

Courtesy of Purple.com

This week I want to tell you all about how I came to be obsessed with my weighted blanket. Mid-pandemic, my bed just didn’t feel the same, maybe because I was crawling into bed at 7pm and calling it a night, or due to the fact that I also used it as a desk—either way, a change was needed. I started by swapping my pink duvet for a floral mauve duvet (which was a big deal for me as I am a creature of comfort), but it didn’t do the trick. I invested in a real desk, which helped a little, but I still needed more. While scrolling through Instagram I saw an ad for a weighted blanket, and because I am easily influenced, I swiped up and peered at the images of people sleeping peacefully with jealousy brewing behind my eyes and decided to bite the bullet. “This would be the change I needed,” I told myself as I entered my shipping address at checkout. The package arrived and after a few days of letting it sit at the bottom of the flight of stairs leading to my apartment, I lugged the thirty-five pound box through my door and onto my bed. I laid down under it immediately because I needed to know what the deal was and without exaggerating, I was asleep in ten minutes. Three hours later I woke up from my unexpected nap and I haven’t slept a night at home without it since. So in closing, if you are on the fence about a blanket with some added weight, this is a sign from me to you to place your orders and sleep better ASAP.  —Magdalena O’Neal, assistant editor

Waxahatchee

The most decadent thing I’ve done in recent memory is buy two tickets to a LIVE music show in Sonoma on a Tuesday night in September. Waxahatchee, one of my favorite artists, is playing at the Gundlach Bundschu winery on 9/21 and just thinking about stretching out on a lawn at dusk in late summer listening to some of my favorite songs performed by in-person musicians is bringing me joy. I have not figured out who will be taking my kids to school or walking the dog, where I will stay, or how I will get there. I have time to sort it out. Right now, I’m just letting myself breathe a sigh of relief that live music is on its way back. The more practical matters can wait. —Christine Lennon, home and design editor

Dodger Dog 

Courtesy of NewsLifeMedia

I’m dedicating this week’s spot to a fan-favorite, the Dodger Dog. This past week I went to my first Dodgers game where I proceeded to eat a famous Dodger Dog (accompanied by a ballpark beer of course). It’s almost been a year since I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Los Angeles and every day I believe I’m becoming more and more of an Angeleno. Eating a Dodger Dog at the stadium and watching the Dodgers beat the Mariners 7-1 absolutely sealed the deal that I am officially a Los Angeles resident. Needless to say, I will be back for more Dodger Dogs with baseball season in full swing. —Teaghan Skulszki, editorial intern

Frameline45

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A post shared by Frameline (@framelinefest)

In a normal year, I would be eyeballs-deep in the Frameline San Francisco LGBTQ film festival catalog by now. But this isn’t most years. With constantly shifting rules and recommendations on COVID-19 protocols, this must have been a daunting time to plan a film festival, and it’s no wonder events for the happening’s 45th year are being revealed to the public in a slightly more…suspenseful way this year. But it’s starting to happen now. We know the dates of Frameline45 now: June 10-21, 2021. And we know when the full film lineup will be unveiled and tickets will be available: May 25. Over the weekend tickets were released for one major event, a socially distanced screening at San Francisco’s Oracle Park in partnership with SF Pride. The name of the film being shown won’t even be released until the end of this week, but I’m so excited I don’t even care. I immediately snapped up tickets. After the cancellation of the traditional Pride festival and a virtual, streamed Frameline in 2020, I am beside myself at the idea of getting outside with my friends and community and reveling in an event that is so unabashedly queer. In the topsy-turvy world of the Bay Area, that feels like life getting back to normal. —Nicole Clausing, digital producer