Weekend Mode: In Progress

Chardonnay for people who don't love chardonnay, a peel to tackle summer sun damage, a cooling hat, liquid hand soap, and healthier crackers for summer snacking

Jul 17, 2025

Hello, Gorgeous!

As mentioned last week from now through Labor Day, the weekend roundup will run on Thursdays. This time around you’ll find suggestions that are a little indulgent, a little practical, and all thoughtfully curated.

C Blanc du Castel

You’d think with a last name like Weingarten (which means exactly what it sounds like) I’d have a fine understanding of all things related to wine. You’d be mistaken.

While I love everything about wine — from the vineyards to the growth methods to the brand names and vintages— my allergy addled palate remains woefully unsophisticated about the specific nuances of wine tasting. I know when I’m sipping something spectacular, I just can’t always explain why. But after years of tasting and reviewing wines, I can try to explain why this is one of my new faves.

C Blanc du Castel from Israeli winery Domaine du Castel is a white wine made purely of Chardonnay grapes and fermented in French oak barrels. Notable: I don’t love chardonnay as a rule, and I prefer my wines less oaky. Maybe it’s the fact that this wine matures in its residual sugars for about a year (Bourgogne style, a winemaking technique dating back to ancient Roman times!), but the taste is light, crisp, and softer than most chards. The acidity doesn’t bite you back when you sip, but rather offers a gentle little punch. I love this wine and it’s perfect for light summer weekend meals ($66, wine-searcher.com).

Better Crackers

If you’re trying to curtail your mindless snacking this summer, you should check out Ella’s Flats. The crackers come in several varieties and are jam packed with nuts and seeds including pumpkin, sunflower, flax, sesame and poppy. If you tend to have tummy troubles, the flax and sesame might not be your best bet. Check Target and Walmart for in-store availability.

A cooling cap and hat

Planning on spending a lot of time in the pool or on the coast over the weekend? You seriously need to check out Mission’s line of cooling bucket hats and baseball style caps. I’m not even sure how to begin to explain the water and sweat activated technology. Suffice it to say that if you wet the hat with even tepid water, the hat stays cool for up to two hours. It also wicks sweat away from your forehead. Let it be known that the hat doesn’t actually absorb a ton of water, so the cooling effects won’t be drastic. It will however protect your face and the top of your ears from UV rays. I feel like everyone should get this for pool days. The bucket hat and amazingly light and cute baseball cap are both under $25 right now on Amazon.

Native Lavender & Rose Liquid Hand Soap

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a great smelling hand soap. Native’s new launch is sulfate free, paraben free, and dye free. So you can degunk your mitts after a long, hot drive or gooey barbecue without damaging the delicate skin on your hands ($6, nativecos.com).

Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily Peels

I tend to regularly rave about these. Probably because despite the way these pads swiftly and visibly tackle skincare damage, they’re gentle enough for even those with extremely sensitive skin (🙋‍♀️). And there’s an ultra gentle version as well. If you spend too much time in the sun over the weekend, you can add this to your post-weekend treatment routine. Simply open packet one and gently wipe it over your face paying special attention to oily parts. Be sure to use the second packet (after waiting a minute or two) to calm skin down (5 individual two-packs for $20, Amazon).

Meanwhile, are you planning on binge-watching anything over the weekend?

(Spoilers ahead).

Heartland Season 18 ended with an awww (doesn’t it always?), while Dept. Q went more than a bit too far with the missing persons story.

If you do plan on bingeing Dept. Q and have gotten this far, I invited you to fast forward all the parts of Merritt in captivity. You won’t find out enough details of her backstory to make it worth watching that level of misery. Worth watching though is the absolutely incredible ensemble cast with each one offering award-winning performances. But it probably could have comfortably been a six-episode series.

On a lighter note, Acorn’s cozy detective mystery Art Detectives is Acorn TV’s #1 new series premiere of all time (nicely done!) though not compelling as I hoped it would be. It is fun and interesting though with a Paul Newman-esque former Vampire Bill on True Blood Stephen Moyer heading the Heritage Crime Unit as DI Mick Palmer. Moyer is a delight in his quirky tweeds and duffle coats along with Nina Singh as his protogee Shazia Malik, and Sarah Alexander (remember her from Coupling?) as his colleague and love interest. It’s a really pleasant show with some interesting art information. Also. Stephen Moyer with his British accent is definitely worth a watch.

And while the weekend roundup was on Thursday, tomorrow will be a short and sweet newsletter. So do you have anything planned for the weekend ? Let’s meet in the comment section to discuss!

Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋