On My Mind: A Status Hoodie and Toddler Aprons | The Strategist

11 items in this article 1 item on sale!

“Strategist Brain” is a series where staffers share the stores they’ve stopped into, stuff they’ve spotted, and extra tidbits from stories they’ve worked on. You’ll hear from a different writer every week.

My big complaint these days is that I constantly feel overwhelmed — I blame a combination of mom brain, too much screen time, and age-related hormone shifts — and I struggle to remember important doctor’s appointments, plans I’ve made with friends, and endless boring errands or menial tasks. So I’ve been thinking about what I can do to self-optimize (in a non-creepy-tech-bro way, of course). My latest move was to buy a combination whiteboard/wall calendar/to-do list that I installed above my desk so that all the important stuff would be literally in my face at all times. With a paper planner, it’s too easy to forget to take it out of my bag, much less open it, at the end of the workday. Now, even if the calendar is looking too empty, it’s a reminder that I need to check in on things.

I wanted a whiteboard that I would actually be excited to use. This one was easy to hang, had the right ratio of calendar to bulletin board to notes section, and the logo is a cute but stern penguin that I like to imagine is my personal assistant.

I briefly considered this nicer-looking one with rounded edges, but it looked like it would be harder to put up and a little too subtle for my purposes. It also doesn’t come with smiley-face magnets in bright colors.

One thing I never forget, though, is Halloween, and more importantly, my responsibilities as organizer of the family Halloween costume. This year, because he’s obsessed with balls, I am making a basketball costume out of felt for my almost-2-year-old son, a baseball costume for my husband, and a Magic 8 Ball costume for myself. I want my costume to be “interactive” and have at least two classic Magic 8 Ball answers to people’s questions, which Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio suggested I achieve with a lift-the-flap-style felt panel sewn onto my black sweatshirt. But we also briefly brainstormed me carrying a Magic 8 Ball die that I could toss in the air to tell people’s fortunes.

This roll of fish stickers, from Portuguese fish-bag-maker Don Fisher, is another recent addition to my workspace. I haven’t used much of it yet, but am planning to break it out in a big way for holiday cards. It’s an incredible deal for how beautiful they are in real life. Just be warned that shipping is expensive — but if you can coordinate placing a joint order with friends, orders over $150 ship free.

I was feeling pretty good about my skin-care routine until I ran out of the Japanese enzyme-powder face wash I’ve been using since April, when I bought what seemed like an excessive amount of these little powder pods to bring home from a trip to Tokyo. I should have bought even more. I love how clean and tight they make my skin feel without drying it out. And I love mixing the powder with water in the palm of my hand like a 17th-century herbalist. I don’t love the amount of plastic waste they produce, however, so I am looking for a non-individually wrapped alternative. According to beauty expert and Strategist senior editor Crystal Martin, CosRx makes (or used to make) a similar powdered face wash, but I haven’t had much luck finding it. She also recommended Tatcha’s Rice Polish Enzyme Exfoliator as a very similar product, but it’s pretty expensive at $68 for the full-size jar. That said, you can find it for a decent discount if you wait for Black Friday– or Prime Day–type sales.

While searching for vintage toddler barn coats on Etsy and eBay, I stumbled across this incredible kids’ varsity-style jacket with an attached hood. It’s a kids’ size L, and I can sometimes get away with wearing size L or XL children’s sweatshirts and jackets, so I was hopeful that this might fit me. I checked the measurements before buying and decided to go for it; I am awaiting my package for a final try-on. Oh, please, oh, please, let it fit.

Seeing as it’s now officially hoodie season, I am already shopping for another even though the first hasn’t arrived yet. This off-white one from Driftless Goods, with its simple but brag-worthy logo, is my top contender for October hoodie purchase No. 2. The brand’s founder is a sustainable-fashion expert who designs fleece jackets made of merino wool — the only non-synthetic fleeces I have ever seen — and the logo hoodie I am eyeing is made of 100 percent reclaimed-waste cotton that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill.

It’s also cold and allergy season, and my son was sick last week with a honking cough and an astonishing amount of snot. I felt so bad for him that I went searching for an indoor toy that he would hopefully like as much as picking up acorns and trash at our local playground. I found this windup train book at Little Things toy store in Park Slope. You can set the train chugging along each individual page or pop out each track from its page and assemble them like puzzle pieces to make one big track. He is now obsessed with it to the point where we have to pretend to put it to bed every evening to avoid a tantrum. Because I am a toy writer, I set out to hunt down all of the other windup books in the series and will be buying the car and the plane books next.

I have been slowly introducing my son to painting, which is messier than I could have ever imagined. He already has a cooking apron, but I wanted to get him one that he could cover in paint and still look cool. So I cut an old Marimekko tote bag in half, stitched it here and there, and proceeded to feel very proud of myself — it turned out to be a very easy DIY. Then I looked up the tote bag for this article and realized it sells for more than I probably would have spent on a ready-made apron. Oops. Maybe I’ll add a reminder to “check eBay before starting new sewing projects” to my whiteboard.

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