three small bites: 🎃☕️🏠
a fall holiday made summery, my new favorite out-of-state coffee shop + the Home Alone house (+ book updates!)
Hi hi! (Does using these two words together remind anyone else of Mr. and Mrs. Smith? 😆 I feel very mysterious.)
I’m back with more small bites for you, and I may be changing up the cadence of how often I send these out. I am playing with the idea of not doing my keeping time monthly round-up anymore, mostly because by the time I send that out, I’ve 1) already shared several of the books/TV shows/movies with you, and it feels slightly redundant overall, and 2) I want to shout about things I’m enjoying and loving sooner than the last day of the month. A couple issues will be free, but the rest will be paid, so if you enjoy them, I’d be grateful if you considered signing up for a paid subscription. I’m excited to try this new format and share more recs with you!
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1. 🎃 Summerween
Last week on social media, I noticed that Halloween decorations are now available at Home Depot…in July! To me this felt much earlier than usual (??), but now I’m wondering if I’m just out of the loop. Are Halloween decorations available because of Summerween? Summerween is a mash-up of Halloween and summer. How have I not heard of this before? According to the NYT article, “the term “Summerween” originated on Gravity Falls, an animated mystery TV series.” In the show, the residents of Gravity Falls (a fictional town) love Halloween so much that they decide to celebrate it twice a year.
Summerween is taking over social media, and influencers are having Summerween parties. The vibes and color-schemes of these parties are very pretty—and a little less haunting. These parties are decorated with pink, red, and orange pumpkins and tombstones, pillows with skulls wearing flowery sunglasses, inflatable tubes with skeletons floating in them, carved watermelons, ghoulish towels, and jack-o-lantern-shaped cheese on burgers and pizza. Apparently, any day from mid-June onward is okay for a Summerween party—you’ve still got time to throw one! Given that Halloween is usually cold and rainy, these parties actually sound kind of compelling. It’s still light out and warm in the evenings, you can hang pretty string lights overhead, and carving watermelons actually sounds delicious (and slightly easier?).
As someone who loves fall and wintery holidays and the seasons themselves, I’m into this. (Just like I’m very into Christmas in July. I’ll be busting out my holiday reads here soon.) It also feels like a great way to decorate…and then not have to take down all that hard work for several months. 👻
2. ☕️ A weekend in Columbus, Ohio + my favorite coffee shop there
I spent last weekend in Columbus, Ohio, at the Columbus Book Festival, which was such an incredible event. I highly recommend! My heart was so happy getting to meet reader friends old and new, as well as author friends (also old and new). The experience kind of felt like camp, in a way, because I got to hang out with said friends and explore bookish vendors and pick up new reads and talk all things books. I also got to be on a panel with Kerry Winfrey, Ali Rosen, and Jen Devon! There’s nothing better than being in a space with others who also love books. These are truly my people. I shared photos from the event on my Instagram this week.
If you ever find yourself in Columbus, I highly recommend Parable Coffee. It was recommended by author Julia Vee, who is so wonderful, and I wish I could go back like, every week. The space was comfortable and chic, they had unique pastry offerings, and my iced lavender oat milk latte was maybe my favorite ever? It’s so hard for coffee shops to get the ratios of coffee, lavender, and milk right, and this one was perfect. I did grab a scone and cookie for the road, both of which saved the night when my flight back home was delayed (more than three times).
3. 🏠 The Home Alone house
Well. We’re already talking about off-season holidays, so might as well continue doing so! I read this article about the Home Alone house a little while back and was fascinated by the details. First of all, the house itself came up for sale not so long ago for $5,250,000 (and looks like it’s currently pending). I eat up behind-the-scenes details—here are a few of my favorite:
Eve Cauley, the set decorator, shared that there weren’t saturated green or red upholstered furniture available in stores. But then the movie came out. Then, “A red dining room became the in-style trend of the 1990s. My decor and wall-covering choices for Home Alone changed the color palette of the nation for the upcoming decade,” Cauley said. I love how media can influence things like this!
On this topic, after the film’s release in 1991, Benjamin Moore’s most popular paint color was Arroyo Red, a deep reddish-brown color. 😆
Cauley also did such a great job with the small details. In last year’s rewatch, I noticed the wrapping paper on the table in Kevin’s parents’ bedroom. Everything was sprawled out, like they had to wrap the gifts in a hurry. It was such a subtle detail, which impressed me even more. She also included a “little book about the care and feeding of spiders on the kitchen counter, as if perhaps Buzz was reading it, put it down when he went to the kitchen to get a snack, got distracted and ran off, leaving the book there.” Amazing!! I am obsessed with details like this, especially for visual mediums like movies where these details aren’t always noticed. It’s things like the wrapping paper and the spider book that really makes this home feel lived in, and less like a set. I’m not saying it’s because of these details that Home Alone is a classic, but it doesn’t hurt 😉.
All indoor scenes were filmed on set in a high school gymnasium (this allowed John Hughes to pop in and out of set), while a few memorable moments took place outside the red-brick house in the affluent town of Winnetka, Illinois. (And inside: the main staircase was used to film some of the most iconic scenes.) Director Chris Columbus mentioned that they “needed to cast a house that would work for the stunts and also a house that was visually appealing, and—if this makes sense—warm and menacing at the same time.” Warm and menacing!!! Mission accomplished.
Sadly (to me), the property was fully renovated and expanded in 2018 (they nearly doubled the square footage!). Though the owners apparently took care in maintaining the architectural detail and integrity of the home's most memorable and recognizable spaces, I think a lot of the charm was lost in the updates. The movie made the spaces beloved, but the house no longer has the 90’s charm besides maybe the entryway stairs that I can barely make out. If I came across this listing on Zillow randomly, I would probably only recognize the exterior.
📚 Extra bites: Book updates
👩🏻💻 Copyedits: I’ve wrapped copyedits on Yin Yang Love Song! I did a little sneak peek of what words you can find in the book, as well as a more in-depth look.
💕 Romance con: Steamy Lit is in less than two weeks! I can’t wait. If you come by and see me, I'll have goodies for you, as well as something extra special! I also get to be on the panel Some Like It Hot...Or Not: Not all romance includes open door spice. Come listen to me, Anita Kelly, Mel Walker, Noué Kirwan, Shirlene Obuobi, and moderator Tanvier Peart discuss the importance of developing intimacy and how powerful a romance can be outside of the bedroom, too. (This will be Session 2, Panel D.)
✍🏻 Signed books any time you want!: Do you want signed, stamped, personalized, and doodled books? I’d love to do that for you, now at any time!! I am officially listed under the “Local Authors” page on Parnassus Books, which…I really feel like this is home now. How can I not?! I’m a local! 😊 Please be sure to write SIGNED COPY in the comments section of your order as you check out, or your order may be filled with an unsigned book. And if you would like your book personalized or doodled or to include a quote, please also include the name (and details) to whom you would like your book personalized in the comments section of your order. Books will be stamped with their ORIGINAL Chinese name seals!
❤️ If you’ve stuck around to this part, I’d love it if you’d share this post or click the heart button. I appreciate you and your support—thanks for being here!
From me to you, in the present,
Lauren
Preorder my new book: Parnassus Books (signed, stamped, personalized, doodled copies with exclusive preorder goodies) | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Amazon | Target | Books-A-Million
Nine more bites:
About me: I’m Lauren Kung Jessen, author of Lunar Love, Red String Theory, and Yin Yang Love Song. Connect with me on Instagram for more on books and food.
I've always been obsessed with the tiny details in the Home Alone set -- I feel like I notice new things every time I watch, and it's ingenious the way they plant so much stuff in the beginning that Kevin will use throughout his scheme to catch the Wet Bandits.