The TueDo List: Sarah Cooper + Green Retreat + Candle Duo

Jul 29, 2020

“I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.” AOC was ON FIRE last week. As was Sarah Cooper. People are buying more ice cream than deodorant now. Which means people are also gaining weight, but so effing what? An original Rosie the Riveter sewing polka dot face masks. Cher wears boots in her 1991 exercise tape. 21 creative and safe ways to connect with friends IRL. Why you can’t stay focused while working from home. Whoah: Bill and Ted reunite, and a Fleabag-Hot Priest reunion. On the value of befriending your neighbor. Enough with nap dresses, already. Meet the Barbie campaign team.

(Image: Glamour, courtesy Sarah Cooper)

STORY: Nope, It Doesn't Need to be Steamed, Sprayed or Douched

By Deesha Philyaw

Generally speaking, I don’t care what you do with your vagina. It’s yours. Steam it with Old Bay and call it a crab boil, for all I care. But can we stop with the lie that vaginas require more than soap and water for basic hygiene?

Keep reading…

(Psst: Want to write for us? Pitch us here!)

OBSESSED: A Greenhouse

Last fall, I finally built a greenhouse. It’s a thing I’ve wanted since the age of 19, when my friend Nancy and I smoked weed and wandered a local greenhouse looking at plants we couldn’t afford, awash in the scent of earth and humidity and fecund possibility. When a beloved uncle died unexpectedly, I vowed to go to India and build a damned greenhouse. I did both.

Who knew the greenhouse would provide succor during a pandemic? I am obsessed in the best possible way — first with how to keep it warm, then how to keep it cool. I’m out there first thing in the morning, checking all the seedlings and plants, the temperature (which I also have on an app on my phone), the various beds. I’m back at midday, poking a finger into a pot, propping up that little rosemary plant, turning on a fan. In the evening, I put them to bed. All through the months of pandemic, trucks have brought deliveries of shelving and raised beds, though I couldn’t get any seeds, so I used the ones I found in my garden bag. I planted tomatoes and cilantro and carrots like the beautiful red ones I ate India; I moved all my succulents and cactus in there. On rainy days, I sit inside and listen to the pattering on the roof. I smell the earth and the humidity and the fecund sense of possibility and hope, things that feel scarce in the world outside.

— Barbara O’Neal

What are you obsessed with? Tell us!

TUENIGHT 10: Tiffany Coln & Kayvone Harvey

Tiffany and Kayvonne on their way to pick up candle wax and jars in Pennsylvania. (Photo: Lita+Ro)

Ages: 41 and 45

Basic bios: Washington, DC life and business partners Tiffany Coln and Kayvone Harvey are the founders of Lita+Ro, a line of candles and scents inspired by family members, customers, celebrities, fictional characters, and historical figures. They just released the last of their summer fragrances and are working on creating incense and goat milk soap for winter gift sets.

Beyond the bios:

Tiffany: I’m realizing more that my path has taken many turns but always heading in the same direction: I spent my whole life eagerly anticipating my 40s and I'm coming to the understanding that everything I have learned and accomplished was building to this moment.

Kayvone: I am looking forward to the journey beyond the age of 45. I am a mom to two beautiful grown kids and a nana to two handsome grandsons. And I am blessed to have a beautiful and loving partner in my life.

What makes you grown-ass ladies?

Tiffany: I don’t have many f*cks left to give. The well of f*cks is dry.

Kayvone: Knowing you don't have to give a flying f**! ….and it's ok to say no at times.

Here are their TueNight 10s:

1. On the nightstand:

Tiffany: A lamp with two bubble-gum machine thingies from my nephew (a rubber duck and a lizard), the old iPad, Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards, Madame Bovary, The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth L. Buelow, a Puerto Rico travel book, a Moleskine, an issue of the Washingtonian, an issue of Real Simple.

Kayvone: 2 stuffed bears, a lamp, old TV remote.

2. Can't stop/won't stop:

Tiffany: Learning. I LOVE learning. If I could go back to high school, college, MBA again, I would. I’m pretty sure design school is in my future.

Kayvone: Being an essential worker and maintaining cell phone service during the pandemic. Continuing to work keeps me mindful of COVID-19 protocols, because it goes beyond work and fellow co-workers. You have to think about your family.

3. Jam of the minute:

Tiffany: “Can’t Get Enough - Extended Vocal” by Dimitri From Paris + Aeroplane feat. Leela.

Kayvone: “Cantalo” by Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, and Residente. My favorite verse is “feel what i feel/melting the cold/because I'm coming with my people.”

4. Thing I miss:

Tiffany: Working for hours in the coffee shop with the roaster and grinder making noise in the background and being surrounded by people all tapping away.

Kayvone: My mother and my sister.

5. ’80s crush:

Tiffany: Oh I can’t pick one. Can I combine Judith Light, Blanche Devereaux, Kelly McGillis, Kathleen Turner and Antonio Sabato Jr.??

Kayvone: Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

6. Current crush:

Tiffany: Hannah Gadsby, the lesbian comedian with autism… yes!

Kayvone: Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order SVU.

7. Latest fave find:

Tiffany: The Doux Mousse Def Texture Foam is magic on this mohawk.

Kayvone: Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies always.

8. Last thing I lost:

Tiffany: I seldom lose things. Everything has a place. It may not be in that place and need to be re-homed. But it’s never lost.

Kayvone: My Bluetooth headset.

9. Best thing that happened recently:

Tiffany: A special order for wedding candles from a past customer is probably the best thing. I put my love in my work, so when it is received and returned, it restores me and keeps me moving forward.

Kayvone: Decided to cut my hair. I haven’t had a haircut since the beginning of the coronavirus shutdown in March.

10. Looking forward to:

Tiffany: Traveling to new destinations and returning to old favorites: Puerto Rico, Brazil, Oaxaca, Holland, Columbia, Quebec.

Kayvone: Life with my partner, and growing the business, but most importantly, a vacation.