alice, sunday

When we asked Alice, a freelance writer, if she'd be up for a wfs visit she agreed with the caveat that "for better or worse there is literally no difference between my weekends and my weekdays." But that didn't stop us—Saturday, Monday, whatever—really what we care most about is anything that happens outside of work: the midday lunch break Alice takes, her "insane stamina for walking," and her favorite beer (Bud Light Platinum, a fantastic new discovery c/o of Alice, best enjoyed on a roof). Whatever day these things occur doesn't make one bit of difference. Although—if you're not self-employed—it does provoke intense jealousy at approximately 3pm on a Monday.

wfs: Hi Alice! Describe a perfect day. How would it unfold?

Alice: Soy lattes are my order, but I only let myself get them every fifth coffee. I always feel bad not tipping so it ends up being like six dollars. I love public pools. I love the Red Hook pool and the Hamilton Fish Park pool in the Lower East Side. So on a perfect day I'd walk to one of those—I love walking—and at the end of the day I'd probably drink beer on a roof. 

wfs: What's a typical day like?

Alice: I wake up usually around seven I would say. I try really hard to make my own coffee which I do for about three days and then I give in and buy coffee at that place Tazza. Oftentimes I try to bring my computer somewhere and work—I like Ted & Honey but my stamina isn't that great [for working in a cafe]. Then I come home and make…god nothing cool. Usually something involving Jarlsberg cheese.

On weekends I try not to check my phone as much, but when you go too long you get scared to check it. So it's about finding that sweet spot.

wfs: What places do you like in your neighborhood?

Alice: I like Iris Cafe a lot, Cobble Hill diner. I'm really into diners. I always want to get eggs but I feel like it's financially irresponsible.

wfs: Isn't it equally financially irresponsible to get, say, pancakes?

Alice: Usually I get half a grapefruit. Old lady food. Maybe, maybe I'll get an omelette. I want to be a two eggs, bacon and toast person, but it just feels wrong.

wfs: Guilty pleasures?

Alice: Getting tan is a pretty guilty pleasure. Splenda. Stevia tastes like poison to me, but I love Splenda. It's so tacky—I judge people that are pouring Splenda into their coffees. But nothing has that tang to it.

I like Chinese massages. If I get it in my mind that I could go get a massage, then I have to go. The place I like also has these amazing melon candies.  

wfs: Tell us about what you're wearing. 

Alice: These are Minnetonka slippers, my socks are by Vanishing Elephant, an Australian brand—I got them at an event when I was writing an article about Australians in New York. I usually wear multiple pairs of the same Gap jeans—these are not those. These jeans were sold to me in some organic vegan place [wfs: Alice's google search turned up these]. I like that the actual denim is really thick. I got the sweater at a cancer charity shop in Cambridge and underneath it I'm wearing a Veda shirt.

wfs: What about your jewelry?

Alice: My jewelry...this is my grandmother's wedding ring from a marriage that didn't last but it has an inscription in it. Every single day on the first day of school I would get a bee sting and one year I got a bee sting on this finger and it was so swollen they had to cut it off. I had to have it soddered back together but now the inscription is twisted. 

Alice's Saturday/Monday by the Hour

9am: Reading on the promenade—most recently Fashion Is Spinach, a memoir about Parisian couture in the thirties

1pm: Back home making lunch

2pm: On a really long walk to my best friend's house in Manhattan—on the weekends I walk over the Manhattan Bridge, weekdays the Brooklyn Bridge

5pm: Showering—usually I take two a day

7pm: Drinking a beer—Bud Light Platinum is a new favorite—on the roof with friends, waiting for delivery from either Waterfalls or Andy's

10pm: Ending the night at a party or at a friend's house

Alice has an amazing list of 5 reading recs and we suggest you click (and then click x5) right here.