This week I am here to announce that it is now my mother’s turn to be under the weather this fall season. Confirmed with a bout of bronchitis by her doctor, she has since been resting at home for the past couple of days, taking over-the-counter medicine and watching K-Dramas on Netflix.

Additionally, we both started wearing cloth masks at home, something that amuses my dad greatly.

He’s been at home this past week as well, using up the rest of his paid leave for this year by painting stuff around the house. Our bathroom door was Señor Picasso’s latest project, recently given a fresh coat of Sherwin-Williams’ ‘High-Reflective White’ paint shade. Before, the bathroom door and most doors in our house leaned towards a slightly beige or ‘off-white’ color, but maybe that was to do with age more than anything else–I can’t remember the last time my dad or anyone else painted around the house.

As a result my family’s been seeing old paint chip off over the years, starting with the bathroom door, to the paneling around the windows, my bedroom door, and even the front door, displaying to the whole wide world just how old my childhood home is (built in 1950-something, back when suburbs and home microwaves were invented). My dad also wants to install a new toilet for the bathroom, which like most toilets will also be a shade of white (I tried searching online for toilets that are not white, but sadly the peach-colored one I saw on Wayfair is very expensive, and we–the Royal We–are on a tight budget). In the meantime, my mom and I will be watching paint dry, literally, until she stops coughing and I stop giving unsolicited opinions on interior design. I think the former is much more likely.

Making scents

Aside from books and White Barn candles, fragrances are probably my third-favorite indulgence to spend money on. However, with perfumes it is a bit easier to rein myself in from making too many rash purchases because (a) they’re usually pricey, (b) I don’t have space on my shelves for an unlimited assortment of perfume bottles and lastly, I only ever use one or two scents regularly, so what is the point of buying so many perfumes anyway?

However, these reasons don’t stop me from lingering around the fragrance aisles at Ulta and Sephora, since sampling is always free (provided you don’t accidentally break anything in the process, obvs).

One fragrance that came out recently is from pop star Tate McRae, who released what I believe is her first perfume entitled “TATE 01”, which is easy enough to remember.

While visiting Ulta this past Sunday I sprayed it on a sample paper strip and actually really liked it. For me, celebrity fragrances can be hit-or-miss, and in the past I’ve skipped over a few from big names like Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, and Billie Eilish. Not that I thought their scents were particularly bad or anything, but they didn’t fit my style, I guess. (As an aside, I also strongly believe buying fragrances just has to be an in-person thing, especially if you’re getting one for someone else; online shopping cannot reassure me that I’m not wasting my money on something that smells like a middle school gym locker room).

But with Tate McRae’s new fragrance, which has a sort of clean, unisex “freshout- of-the-shower” scent, I can see myself wearing it most days and not getting sick of it, or worry that others around me might.

I’m not even a massive stan of her or her music, so I didn’t have any expectations for what it might smell like or anything. All in all, I’ll definitely pick up TATE 01 when Black Friday rolls around.

Song of the week: Black Stars - The Smashing Pumpkins (2026)

This newly-released single was written for the latest Hunger Games film soundtrack for the movie “Sunrise on the Reaping”, which will come out Nov. 20 in time for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Great song, great book, and judging by the trailer, I’m sure the movie will be amazing too. Later on, if you see me eating a turkey sandwich with a slice of pumpkin pie in the movie theatre, mind your business– I’ll try not to make a mess.

Andrea Gutierrez is the managing editor of the Bryan County News.