no. 48: october digest
the best things I read, watched, shopped, saved, and ate in october including comfort food recipes that are toddler approved, *the* home maintenance checklist, and a deep dive on my open tabs.
The monthly digest is a summary of the best things I have read, watched, listened to, saved, 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.
Hello hello In this week’s sunday edition, I asked y’all how we were feeling about “business as usual” content versus “nothing is normal let’s not pretend” following the results of the US election last week. The vast majority of you responded that you’re somewhere in the middle, and I’m finding myself feeling the same way. If you’d like a reprieve from all the “what do we do now” and stress about the future, delighted to share a slightly belated October digest, largely written prior to the election and full of a bit more enthusiasm than I can say I currently have.
I started the month completely focused on a full factory reset after leaving my full time role of six years. I spent a lot of time intentionally slowing down, prioritizing recalibration (and *attempting to rest*). Maybe it’s not as crazy as it feels, but October was like my own personal life administration to-do list Olympics, with things that had been sitting “on my list” to do for months getting knocked out in a matter of days (which might be evident by the sheer number of posts I managed in October — an earlybird record!)
I know this isn’t a permanent state of being, but for now I’m grateful for the time, the flexibility, and the perspective.
Without further ado - October!
xx
Books:
A light month for reading, with just two books as I spent more of my time listening to news and podcasts in the lead up to the election. Finally finished Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo, a book I started over the summer but had to wait to renew from the library until this month. I really enjoy Lombardo’s style (she wrote one of my favorites from 2023, The Most Fun We Ever Had), which tends to focus on internal experiences, multi-generational relationships, and different points in time. I saw the twist coming, and the last few chapters still stopped me in my tracks. Also read and reviewed Whoever You Are, Honey, by Oliva Gatwood, and Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, and I highly, highly recommend both!
Currently reading: Liars by Sarah Manguso (and it’s an absolute gut punch, post election), otherwise fall is dramionie fan fiction season. I don’t make the rules!
Open Tabs:
- . “Men are socialized to see their spaces as utilitarian, spaces that serve them. Women, we serve our spaces." WOOF (especially considering how much of my newfound flexibility has been utilized to *clean stuff*.
- , an as-ever thoughtful piece by one of my favorite food writers on fast fashion and consumption.
Holding your sh*t together when you can’t get a break from
. I found this incredibly helpful as a primary caregiver whose partner currently has a high demand job.Felt extremely seen by this essay on the (divine) discontent brought about by creative pursuits by
Is Everyone But Me Taking $10,000 Vacations? I’ll read just about anything from The Purse’s
, but found this one hit extremely close to home as I’ve been feeling very much like everyone else has been doing extravagant travel (it’s safe to say it’s just the algorithms).We Don’t Know how to Talk About Girls Online from
- loved this piece about the meaning of words as labels, from young lady to sweetheart to ma’am.Relatedly: cannot stop thinking about: My Year as a Hot Girl For Hire,
’s gripping essay about her job managing onlyfans accounts for their creators.
Kids books:
I feel like I saw this every month, but Little Bear LOVES books and I cannot check new ones out from the Seattle Public Library fast enough. Right in line with taking him to “swim” in the pool at my gym, he has been loving Our Pool, by Lucy Ruth Cummins, a beautifully illustrated celebration of a city neighborhood pool. I will always grab anything illustrated by Jon Klassen, and we both LOVED Circle, Square, and Triangle, a trilogy of shapes in collaboration with Mac Barnett. Also checked out Here We Are, by Oliver Jeffers, a very sweet primer on the world for new babies (I definitely teared up when I read it).
Spent most of October working my way through Disclaimer on Apple TV+ (reviewed here) and broke up the fairly heavy subject matter with an unusual for me choice in Doctor Odyssey, a short, soapy dramedy on ABC/Hulu following the new doctor on a luxury cruise ship. Joshua Jackson and co-star Phillipa Soo (love to see a Broadway fave make it to TV!) absolutely ooze charm in a way that is effectively distracting from the substantial gaps in plot and seriousness.
Also watched and enjoyed Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut telling the story of a serial killer in the 1970s who won the reality tv show The Dating Game. I appreciated how Kendrick centered the women in the story, and even more so that she donated all proceeds to RAIN and the National Center for Victims of Violent Crime (respectfully - Blake Lively could never).
Friend of the newsletter
recommended the Acquired podcast’s episode on Hermes (it’s excellent), which kicked me into a deep dive on their entire back catalog. I have also been revisiting Rabbithole, a show I listened to quite a lot in 2021 that digs into the ways that social media platforms and algorithms have changed our lives (and can quickly and easily radicalize).Our toddler loves music, and picking music to play on the record player is a top 5 activity. After a six month Kacey Musgraves / Harry Styles / Maggie Rogers kick, we had to rotate in a few other options for sanity. I picked up a few vintage jazz records from a local record stores discount bin, which have been a huge hit – Duke Ellington 1938 and Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain on repeat!
For other toddler parents who might also need a witching hour activity, highly recommend the plethora of professional orchestra performances on YouTube. We’ll pick a new composer each week and play different symphonies on my phone. Our little guy likes to watch for the different instruments he knows (and I’m able to get some stuff done without getting Raffi stuck in my head).
I’m on a comfort food kick this month, focused on things that are easy and satisfying. In celebration of
’s cookbook launch, I revisited the supremely easy lemon dill and red pepper beans (and made her excellent brown butter & sage pumpkin bread with little bear on a rainy day – chefs kiss!) is one of my favorite tiktokers (mills content is the best content!) and have been loving some of her recipes, including this excellent clementine vanilla jam that was super quick to pull together and absolutely delicious on fresh sourdough.Have been working on a few pre-prepped toddler friendly recipes to have on hand for lunches and snack time. Referenced *my own* recipe backlog to prep a few easy veggie-filled egg bites, we’ve crushed multiple rounds of these chicken and veggie taquitos, and this broccoli and cheese recipe was a literal smash hit.
I have been continuing to make my chai spiced apple cider on repeat – I recently tried the small brand SOUL Chai, and it is an incredible masala chai powder – perfectly seasoned and a little bit spicy.
Cannot stop thinking about: pistachio creme stuffed chocolate chip cookies.
I have been on a clothing-shopping freeze this month (season?) so nothing new to report on that front. I am saving up to do some vintage / thrift shopping during some trips we have coming up this winter – if anyone has recommendations for London or Paris secondhand shopping please let me know!
In the absence of adding much new clothing to my closets, I’ve been focused a lot on learning how to be better about maintaining things I own - part of this is being more proactive about cleaning versus tidying, and part of THAT has been learning about all the things you need to regularly and proactively clean (shoutout to the british cleaning lady and jack’s sunday resets). After running through this home maintenance checklist to set reminders, I’ve been slowly working my way through setting up a regular schedule and learning *how* to actually clean things properly.
A few winners:
I started using cleaning vinegar to sanitize and clean my countertop ice machine once a month - takes about 20 minutes and keeps the machine clean and running well.
After watching… every single one of Loui Burke’s videos I got fixated on his “How to make your bed like a hotel” series, particularly the tip to vacuum your mattress each time you change the sheets. Literally never occurred to me.
Picked up a handheld carpet and upholstery cleaner on facebook marketplace after either the dog or the toddler (probably both) made a mess on the couch - have already cleaned the entire sofa (twice) and two stains I thought were permanent on our rugs, and I’m *obsessed*. The color of the water is terrifying but also extremely satisfying. I fear this may become an entire personality trait.
I originally included my recommendations for the sephora sale in this section, since I try to time any purchases for hair and skincare with a time that I know I’ll get a discount. Since I delayed the send of this edition of the newsletter, the sale has ended, but I'm including a few things I have repurchased and can highly recommend if you’re still in the market.
I have extremely reactive, dry skin in the winter, and have found that a combination of this serum and this moisturizer is reliably excellent. (this is probably my fourth repurchase of this specific combo since ~2020). I also regularly repurchase this retinol (about once a year since 2021 minus pregnancy). I nabbed a trial size of this hypochlorous acid soothing spray over the summer and have found it significantly cut down on breakouts and dry patches, enough to grab a full size bottle. Finally, I purchased this hair oil and scalp massager set last spring and just wanted to report back it’s one of my favorite things – I reliably use it once a week, it smells / feels amazing and has lasted FOREVER.
The L Pod Orcas have returned to Penn Cove in Puget Sound for the first time in nearly 50 years (look at this joy!). Could not stop launching about Cvnty Freud halloween, or this sister reading her brother’s proposal plans from when he was 9 at his wedding. I don’t have a stand mixer but I am hyperfixated on making my own marshmallows???! Finally: I love you but stop stalling.
it was a big month on earlybird! *three* sunday editions for paid subscribers, a monthly digest, a fall beverage recipe round up, a travel guide from the archives about my yoga teacher training in bali (referenced in the last audio issue!), and my fall style guide.
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Thank you :)