My work has recently amped up, and I’ve been busier than ever triangulating the running of my agency, directing our creative client services, and overseeing our talent management. On top of that, I’m still doing my best to keep up with my daily posts on social media, and my lovely new apartment still doesn’t have a kitchen sink. (This will hopefully be remedied in just a few days!)

I also started taking classes at the Atlantic Acting School last month, sticking to my recently-minted goals to make more space for the things in my life that are personally fulfilling, even if they don’t create a direct path towards career growth. And even though my classes are once a week, there’s still that little bit of homework, like memorizing lines and rehearsing a scene, that are bound to steal some of the small moments I have left when I’m not tending to my day job. 

All of that to say: with so much going on, this newsletter might scale back a bit in the coming weeks (or even take a brief pause from time to time). I’m thankful to so many of you who continue to read—and take the time to tell me so! Because of that, I’ll still be here and will still write as much as my weeks will allow. Thanks in advance for continuing to read when I do decide to show up in your inboxes first thing Friday mornings.

Favorite links this week

DECLUTTER NATION

In the aftermath of the Marie Kondo effect, the biggest question is what to do with all of the stuff that no longer sparks joy. In a delightfully entertaining read in The New Yorker, Patricia Marx details all of the various ways to do so. And navigating the options might be harder than just keeping it all in the first place.

DNA STORIES

I’m a sucker for stories of DNA tests revealing long-held secrets, like this account in The Daily Beast of two women who were switched at birth fifty years ago. Sadly, not all such stories have happy endings.

NOTHING REALLY MATTERS

Believe it or not, Manhattan’s coolest new bar is located inside a subway station—in Times Square. Head to the 50th Street Downtown 1 train stop to check out Nothing Really Matters, which occupies a subterranean space that was once used as Duane Reade storage.

Hospitality industry vet Adrien Gallo has transformed it from a white box to a clubby speakeasy with some of the most exciting drinks in the city.

Gallo’s goal was to create the greatest cocktail bar in the universe, so he collaborated with Tabula on architecture and Ani Bradberry on neon lights for a distinctly New York look that includes exposed pipes and a long wooden bar. “I had all these crazy ideas and they helped me figure them out,” Gallo shares. “There is not one square foot that I did not stand in and try to understand what our guests would experience in that moment.”

Mixologist Cyllan Hicks is behind the impressive cocktails themselves, which range from the Empire State (vodka, maple, spiced apple, lemon) to the Knickerbocker Bramble (bourbon, rosemary-blueberry compote, lemon). Classic, low-ABV, and non-alcoholic drinks are all on offer, too. Any time I’m in Midtown—most often after catching a Broadway show—this new underground bar is my go-to.

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