no. 39: august digest
the best things I saw, read, watched, listened to, done and shopped in August, including a deep dive on my open tabs, a quest for better air dried waves and my fall shopping bookmarks.
The monthly digest is a summary of the best things I have read, watched, listened to, done, shopped and considered each month. As usual - she’s a bit long, so you might want to check out the browser version or expand in email.
I consider myself a late summer person — the sliver of a venn diagram between summer and autumn that is a bit dried out, sun-faded. The brisk mornings that burn off into sweltering afternoons, leaves with the earliest tinge of changing colors just on the tips. Perhaps my brain is just programed for late summer to signal new beginnings after decades mentally preparing for a new school year, but I find myself ready for the crisp first page of a new notebook both literally and metaphorically.
August was what it was, and now I’m looking forward to settling in and hitting my stride in the ‘ber months. I will not quote the Taylor Swift song at you, but I will quote another:
I’m doing better, I made it to September, and I can finally breathe.
that’s it, love you!
xx
a quick reminder: today is the last day on a September surprise sale on paid subscriptions. The sale is 25% off, which comes out to just $3.75 per month or $42 per year.
Open tabs
Googling KPI’s, babe, to give us a better life, by Julia Harrison. I just loved this.
We don’t have to work it out on the remix, by Sarah Cucchiara. A beautiful ode to female friendships.
I couldn’t help but wonder… who gets to be a writer?” by Postcards by Elle I have generally opted out of participating in the extremely meta discussions that have been happening on Substack (the platform where I publish this newsletter) about what qualifies as “good writing” prompted by this article. I enjoyed Elle’s perspective because it’ mirrors a lot of my experience trying to figure out if my writing is good enough to be taken seriously, by myself and others.
36 Hours: Seattle, (Mike Seely, NYT). Surprised and delighted by all the new-to-me recommendations here (my version is still great though!)
A new generation of elite female runners embraces strength over thinness (Maggie Mertens, NPR). File under: about fucking time.
Brands love influencers, until politics get involved. (Sapna Maheshwari, NYT).
Books: After a little bit of a slump (I’m sorry but 2.5 months in a row crushing through the Throne of Glass Series is both a high and a low, and that’s a hill I’ll die on), I’m very pleased to report that ¾ books this month absolutely knocked it out of the park for me. I started the month with the appropriately late-summer early fall spooky generational mystery The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (reviewed here), and immediately followed it with the surreal speculative fiction romance novella This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El Mohtar & Max Gladstone (reviewed here).
Took a quick detour into pop-culture with the refreshingly optimistic Honey, by Isabel Banta, a story of a young woman navigating the entertainment industry finding her voice (literally and metaphorically) and her identity in the late 90s, early 2000s (#justiceforbritney and all that). I finished the month absolutely crushing Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (literally - it’s 400 pages long and I finished it in like 3.5 days). Real Americans is told in three parts, telling the intergenerational story of a first generation Chinese American woman, her son, and then her mother. All three protagonists fight to understand their own agency, purpose, and relationship to one another through a maze of deceptions, mysteries and self-discovery.
Kids books: In a heartachingly cute development, the “comfy corner” we set up in little bear’s room is now his preferred spot to “read and cuddle” (I die). My husband comes from an *extremely* musical family, and we have been loving Welcome to Jazz and Welcome to the Symphony , both by Carolyn Sloan. The books are interactive, introducing kiddos to musical genres, concepts (like harmony, melody and themes), and instruments with correlating examples. We’ll read through and have him tell us what each section’s instruments are, then play the correlating button to hear each instrument’s sound. A highlight this week: watching a video of the Boston Philharmonic playing Beethoven’s 5th symphony to point out all the instruments we know. Also recently loved I’ll be Your Polar Bear and the beautiful Green on Green.
Currently working my way through Industry (HBO MAX, reviewed here) - Mark didn’t watch with me in 2020, so we started at season 1 to get him caught up. I continue to enjoy workplace drama that is *so different* from anything that happens in my own life. I’m not entirely sure how, but I managed to finish the entire season of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Nextflix) exclusively by having it on in the background while configuring newsletters this month. Based on a novel of the same name, the show follows a high school student who begins investigating a murder suicide that rocked her small town. It was… fine? Lots of angst, lots of melodrama, some truly batshit twists you kind of not really saw coming. During my week solo parenting, I’ve been treating myself to a nightly episode of Sunny (Apple TV+), starring Rashida Jones as a woman navigating the death of her husband and son, and the delivery of a custom “home-bot” that undoes everything she thought she knew about her family. I’m loving it so far!
Recently discovered sibling duo Lawrence ( recent album: Family Business), and cannot get their song Whatcha Want out of my head. We Love Noah Kahan in this house, (my toddler make constant requests for “NOAH!”), and was excited to see the Live From Fenway Park album – especially since it includes a previously unreleased track, Pain is Cold Water (don’t worry, it’s only lightly devastating). Have been loving Sabrina Carpenter’s (recently #1!!) Short n Sweet. Until this spring, I was generally unfamiliar with her work, but have become a huge fan of her – she’s witty, she’s got an amazingly over the top / campy style, and her music videos are rapidly generating their own cinematic universe (complete with phenomenal horror film references). LOVE.
I’ve still been chugging along as
’s weekly meal plans number one fan. (Mostly because a Sunday prep makes life WAY easy, and reduces overall decision fatigue – it’s out of my hands and I just do what I’m told!) I did love this Cava-inspired weekly menu so much I’ve made the *entire menu* a few times since – a huge hit at this house!I did take a few weeks off (schedules, dinners, etc), and had some great cookbook pulls – got out More is More from Molly Baz to make dinner for some friends who just had a baby and was reminded just how many bangers were in that cookbook – the coconut lime cornbread absolutely crushes, as does the mujadara chicken. I also picked up two phenomenal plant based cookbooks - Mastering the Art of Plant Based Cooking (decidedly chefy, but it’s beautiful and great for learning), and Weekday Vegetarians, Get Simple (I love the first Weekday Vegetarians from
, and very excited to work my way through this one!)As a product of the early 2000s, I came of age where *pin straight* hair was the only way. Long story short, I am in my early 30s and have not figured out how to airdry my naturally wavy / curlyish 2B-2C hair in a way that feels presentable. I am tired of feeling like my only option is to heat style my hair, and tired of men at the grocery store asking me where my child gets his perfectly luscious 3A-3B curls, so we’ll be working on this from now until forever.
I’ve gotten into a fairly good routine with the Crown Affair leave-in conditioner and new texturizing air dry mousse (attempting a few versions of the “twist and clip” after I found that “plopping” did not deliver what I was looking for, and “go to bed with it wet and generally hope for the best” was too variable to do consistently (see below). insights welcome!
I’ve shared before that I’m a big fan of all the Dieux products, and recently picked up their Deliverance serum after a few cycles of breakouts, irritation and sensitivity. I’ve dropped down to primarily just using this + a moisturizer (recently picked up this one and really like it!) and retinol every few days, and overall my skin is feeling great.
A friend (okay and tiktok) put me on to hypochlorous acid as a well researched solution to treat a number of skin conditions like acne, psoriasis and eczema. Little bear has struggled with eczema forever and and while we have it well managed with a rigorous post-bath lotion routine, a few summer heatwaves this year gave us a few flare ups. We gave this national eczema association-approved one a go and have been extremely pleased with how quickly it cleared everything.
Bookmarked recently: an update for an iconic rollneck sweater, I might finally cave and get birkenstock bostons, the entirety of the petit Sezané collection (potential for the world’s cutest holiday cards is so high). I did cave and get little bear this amazing blue sweatsuit and he looks like such a big kid! Finally: I’m not going to do it, I’m just thinking about it.
me, @ all of my friends (and the prompt for an upcoming personal essay currently in process)
fish are friends, *and* food.
no I don’t think you understand, I’m *obsessed*
a summary of my favorite hikes for all levels, plus tips for getting started, safely.
you know what it' its! the july digest includes the playlists that are inspiring me to crush workouts, a perfect summer cake, and a glimpse at my open tabs.
a personal update via our casual sunday chats.
a comprehensive guide to showing up for the people in your life (rather than saying “let me know if there’s anything I can do”), including my tips for bringing a top tier meal delivery.
a personal update via our casual sunday chats, vol 2. This one is a little more “what I’m up to” that “how i’m feeling”
Oooo thank you for the kid music book recs- my son also loves music and if you don't already have it, we LOVE "Zin, Zin, Zin, A Violin" by Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman
lawrence is so so good!!! and ugh isn't how you lose the time war spectactular! loved this recap as always x