In Which I am AJLT's Seema

Plus Tibi chitchat and fun outfits

Jul 14, 2025

As has been well documented, my love for everything in the Sex and The City universe is such that I seem to be the only true fan who actually enjoys And Just Like That. Like someone suffering from Stockholm syndrome, I’m genuinely happy for whatever madcap storyline Michael Patrick King and the writers throw our way. I will watch and rewatch until the end of time, and I will die on the hill of: any SATC is better than no SATC.

All the Aidan nonsense? Fine.
No Samantha? If I must soldier on, I will.
Che Diaz? Missing them, actually.

And yet.

I bristled mightily at the notion of Seema having her lashes done On The Cheap in Episode 7. With few exceptions, I will suspend my disbelief for this show. That said, I cannot - cannot - imagine Seema skimping on beauty treatments. Giving up the chauffeured Mercedes? Sure. But discount lashes? Come on.

When I can’t sleep, I play a little game with myself that goes like this:

Would I rather have a driver or someone to blow-dry my hair every day? The blow-dry.
A personal chef or hair color the moment I need it? The hair color.
Daily housekeeping or daily hair maintenance? Hair maintenance.

And so on. Possibly, this is because I have difficult hair, but more likely it is because I am so vain about my appearance - a trait I believe Seema and I share.

And yet.

I can’t help but remind myself that I most certainly have indulged in bargain beauty treatments this summer. I treated myself to a bargain keratin treatment recently and, while I was at it, had my roots done and got a (bad) trim while I was there. Though I have felt vaguely guilty about cheating on my hairdresser Tammie (like Aidan, I’m pretty sure Tammie and I have agreed to be exclusive even though we didn’t say it out loud), I have felt okay about my hair until this past Tuesday when I noticed what I thought was a gigantic bald spot on the back of my head. I have more hair than your standard Lhasa Apso so this is saying something. Upon closer inspection with my reading glasses on, it was clear that I had mistaken a giant patch of gray hair for my bare scalp. The bargain salon apparently missed a whole section at the crown of my head and I’ve just now noticed!

Would I rather have a bald patch or a patch of gray hair? Tough call, but let’s go with the gray hair.

Would I rather have an eye patch or a grey hair patch? Hmm.

The algorithm is onto me and somehow knows that I have also been looking for cheap botox. I have been getting injections from my board certified dermatologist like I’m supposed for the last decade-ish. Sadly, as my age goes up and face drags down, I just need more and more and more help and I’m looking for less expensive alternatives. And just like that, ads for Peachy, the “flat fee” botox business have invaded my instagram feed. A half of century of living - plus this week’s AJLT - have taught me that you get what you pay for. And yet, I find myself considering flat fee botox. What could go wrong?

While we are on the subject of AJLT, am I the only one that does not find Carrie’s oversharing gardener/landscape architect attractive in any way? Not in Episode 2 when we met him and even less in Episode 7 - the Birkenstocks, the headband, and omg the karaoke - ugh, ugh, and ugh. Honestly I would rather spend the evening with Old Guy Ed from SATC Season 2. It might also be that I dated a guy when I was in college who wore Birkenstocks, was obsessed with Phish, and had a ponytail. It ended badly.

Tibi Chitchat

Can we talk about Amy’s “what I packed for and bought in Europe” Style Class this week? So many hot takes! First, were you as surprised as I was that she has been wearing a white eyelet swim/bodysuit?!!!! The v-neck is down to the bellybutton so fine and it’s Chloe, but it’s so feminine and dare I say boho? Is it possible that Amy is just like me and she wears a frilly white situation sometimes?! Do you think she has a secret stash of DOEN in her closet? This made me so happy. Obviously it also made me interested in an eyelet bathing suit (which I know is not the point of her style class, but still!). The only one in my budget seems to be this J.Crew and I can’t imagine wearing it as a top but I digress. Also, do we really think she only packed two pairs of shoes? Plus the one pair that her husband brought. Goals. She’s been in Europe for weeks doing any number of fabulous things with two pairs of sandals and I’m fretting over what I will wear to visit my mother in Florida for seven days.
I loved looking at the Coming Soon collection with Rachel this week. And by “with,” I mean watching her break it down for us. More Serviette t’s - yay! Convertible jeans - maybe? Tie-dye denim - hello, lover.

Post-Scripts

Something in the algorithm has sent many new readers turned subscribers this way - thank you for being here!!!! I’ve gotten some questions about the whole “Almost Scarlett” thing. Here is the backstory if you are interested.
This week we dropped the bomb that if our 18 year old daughters want to drive our cars, they must pay the difference in our monthly auto insurance rates to have them on our policy. They, literally eye roll omg, cannot believe how unreasonable we are. We, literally, are ready to let them know they also need to pay their share of the five line cell phone bill as well. It’s no wonder I cannot afford botox.
Speaking of the Gen-Z daughters, they have introduced me to this cute as button headband that somehow works in my headband averse hair. I also learned this week that apparently all the cool girls carry an MZ Wallace backpack in college. I also been learning a new vocabulary word! “Dirty rush,” which is not as bad as it sounds if I understand it correctly.
Of course I loved David’s recent essay in The New Yorker and consumed it immediately. More on my parasocial relationship with David here.
Still documenting my closet and putting together fun outfits like these. Can’t stop, won’t stop.