Change is good. If you’re a returning reader, you’ve probably noticed that this blog has undergone a mini makeover. It’s nothing too crazy, but I was tired of the previous layout and wanted something fresher and brighter. I’ll probably switch fonts a few more times until I find the right one, like the dutiful overthinker I am. Please let me know if you have trouble reading anything, if the layout’s terribly confusing, or even if you don’t like that color green. (I don’t know what kind of MONSTER wouldn’t like that seafoam green, though.)

With this change in look, I’m also going to augment the content a bit. For awhile now, I’ve been bouncing around ideas for new kinds of posts, only to shoot them down in my head for fear of failure. That toxic fear is unfortunately pretty common for me, and I’m doing my best to get over it and just write. It’s my own damn blog, after all. I’ll still post all the clothes and cocktails I make, but I’m going to start peppering in some new types of posts and series. “On My Radar” is a random assortment of topical and not-so-topical things that I consider worth sharing. Simple as that.

Without further ado:

Sweat: Yoga with Adriene

Any yoga teacher that says the word “fart” during class is alright in my book. Adriene Mischler, the namesake behind the Yoga with Adriene YouTube empire, has a way of making her online classes laid-back and accessible while explaining each pose perfectly and still imparting some grounding yogic wisdom. She’s got a series for true beginners, a more intense series called Yoga for Weight Loss, and specialty videos for everything in between.

I don’t know where she studied yoga, but her cues are by far the best I’ve ever heard in online yoga classes. If you want to supplement your studio yoga practice or just gain some flexibility, you should check her out. It’s weird, but after doing Adriene’s videos a few times a week for months, I feel like we’re almost… friends? My guess is that the other 825,000+ YouTube subscribers feel the same.

Here are some of my favorite Yoga with Adriene videos:

• Yoga for Strength and Focus
• Strengthen and Lengthen
• Total Body Yoga (part of the 30 Days of Yoga series)
• Power Yoga
• Yoga for Runners: Cooldown Sequence
  
• How to Do Crow Pose

There are a few I’m forgetting, but you get the point. You can follow along with Adriene on her YouTube channel, blog, and Instagram. Namaste, y’alls!

Drool: leather bucket bags from Umbrella Collective

These bags. They’re so buttery soft I could rub my face on them all day. I came across Umbrella Collective at a Renegade Craft Fair popup at the Hideout in Chicago. At first, I bypassed the booth since everything looked EX-PEN-SIVE. My curiosity brought me back, though, and I fell in love with a super-soft, navy bucket bag priced at $138—not cheap, but reasonable considering each product is handmade in the USA. For better or worse, I take every clothing and accessory purchase pretty seriously ever since I started sewing my own clothes. It means something to me that I got to meet the maker behind the bag, and I’m willing to save up for her quality product instead of impulse-buying something else. (Steps off soapbox.)

I didn’t buy anything that day at the craft fair, but I’ve been eyeing the brand’s goods on Etsy and Instagram ever since. The camel and navy leather purses and the striped canvas totes are on point. If I don’t go for a bucket bag, I might snag a canvas-and-leather tote. Which style do you like best?

Listen: Jemaine Clement on You Made It Weird

I went back and forth for awhile about which Flight of the Conchords member is sexier, but it’s got to be Jemaine. (Sorry, Bret.) That voice—dem LIPS! Anyway, I’ve been a fan of FotC since their first season on HBO, and even saw them live in concert in Chicago. If you’re a fan of Jemaine, check out episode 276 of the You Made It Weird podcast. In his wickedly dry deadpan, Jemaine talks to host Pete Holmes about death, being a dad, and American–New Zealand misunderstandings. My favorite quote of the episode involves fanny packs, and I’ll leave it at that.

Drink: Bees Knees gin cocktail

Save for the piña coladas I mixed up on the reg this summer, I’ve felt a little uninspired on the cocktail front lately. And then my friend Sarah, who blogs here, posted her version of the Bees Knees. It’s a simple, classic cocktail with just three ingredients: “gin, lemon juice, [and] honey simple syrup.” YASSS. All things that I have in the house (or can easily make). I will be mixing one of these before the summer’s out, and then probably into the fall, and then winter. I’m a Gin for All Seasons kind of girl.

Thanks for reading the first edition of this series! Now spill: What’s on your radar?