Happy fall! She says unconvincingly, typing this on a 100°F afternoon post-tennis where supposedly, the court adds at least 10°F. Thankfully, I just stepped out of the coldest shower of my life and I’m curled up on the couch finishing this letter with a freezing glass of salted coconut electrolyte limeade, yum. As always, I hope you’re having a lovely start to the new month—here’s what I enjoyed most over the last 30 days:
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BOOKS & FILMS
My favorite genre of book has to be delusional woman with unhinged inner monologue making terrible decisions, so I loved the author’s voice / dry humor in The Ten Year Affair. I was highly stressed by the narrator’s decisions but could not put it down. See also: My Husband by Maud Ventura, Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker, and Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke for similar situations
If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, chances are I’ve yapped your ear off about my love for Lance Oppenheim’s work. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Some Kind of Heaven since it came out (also included my other faves in case these mean anything to you) and cannot recommend it enough.
All of his past projects are documentaries that feel like scripted movies—which is what makes them so thrilling IMO—so when I learned he was working on his first feature film with Robert Pattinson and Phoebe Bridgers, you could only imagine my excitement. Primetime was incredible: I was locked in for every moment, and the visuals were unreal. And now we’re getting a joint doc between him and Nathan Fielder in just a couple of days…….can you even believe it…..thriving rn
SKINCARE/BEAUTY
Who else wandered the aisles of Sephora back in middle school, longing for every single product on the Philosophy shelf? People would fill their empty bottles with fairy lights and post them on Tumblr, and nothing felt more aspirational at the time, for whatever reason.*
Well, finally, I decided it was time to fulfill my teenage dream of keeping hope in a jar on my bathroom counter. It turns out that my skin loves it, which was nice to find out after all those years of pining!
*I tried scrolling back on my Tumblr to get a reference photo of the string light-bottle moment, which I unfortunately did not find. What I did find was a trip down memory lane: 13 years of content organized month-by-month is a better diary than any I’ve ever tried to keep, even if it’s mostly photos of Matty Healy and angsty quotes. Anyhow, the page crashed by the time I made it to 2013 and I didn’t have the heart to start over and try to sift back to middle school days—and google is not turning up any reference photos…but if you were there, you probably know what I’m talking about.
Ok let’s talk about theee most enjoyable product texture: this soy cleansing jelly. I’ve been dabbling in double-cleansing lately and have been liking this a lot, which I was surprised by because traditional cleansing oil has only ever caused my skin to break out. Counting it a win! And an honorable mention for another lifelong favorite of theirs: this lip treatment before bed
This is my holy grail scalp sunscreen for tennis: it’s totally undetectable and doesn’t force a hair wash any sooner than I’d normally have to
A simple powder bath upgrade: a pretty bottle of hand lotion. This was a buy-once situation and I’ll just refill it with something more cost-effective eventually. I also ordered this candle warmer for the downstairs bathroom after a year of searching and not liking anything that was out there lol, hopefully it’ll be worth the wait
Important life update: I believe I’ve found my lip combo…first we add some of this tinted lipstick in the color Bob, and then this gloss in Rosewood. Subtle but effective
COOKING
Here’s everything we made for my sister-in-law’s wedding a couple of weeks ago: seared ribeye with a pepperoncini compound butter; a grilled corn and sweet garleek moment; grilled and roasted carrots with lots of honey, a citrusy tahini sauce and a chive dressing; an array of garlic, chive and shallot compound butters; and a little heirloom tomato, peach and basil salad. So happy with how it all turned out!
Annnd I finally had the chance to wear my mom’s prom dress from the 80s :)
One-Pan Roasted Leeks, Potatoes & Red Onion with Cilantro-Lime Dressing & Cotija
This cilantro-lime dressing is the gift that keeps on giving: I use it on a few different dishes each week whenever I make it (chipotle-honey chicken tacos, breakfast tacos, served alongside biscuits and soft scrambled eggs, as a dip with carrots/Persian cucumbers, as a salad dressing).
If you’re looking for a low-lift side dish to make this week, or at the very least, a delicious sauce to use across multiple meals, might I recommend this one ?
Or these:
WORKOUTS
As promised last month, I’ve made my decision: after trying Pyro, I didn’t find myself drawn to the workouts at all and realized I preferred the faster pace on The Sculpt Society, so back I went. Few other workouts leave me feeling so cooked the next day, but ultimately like I’ve done something incredibly effective
CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES
How pretty is this blouse? For reference, it runs a touch big—I could’ve gone down a size! Realllly trying to will fall this way with rich browns and wine tones
I had a permanent bracelet put on about 4 years ago that finally bit the dust, so I replaced it with this (surprisingly affordable) one that can actually be taken off when needed, which I think is for the best
Garrett Leight sent me these gorgeous sunnies last week and they’re a great staple shape: I used to have a pair like these that I was obsessed with and of course they were the only ones I’ve ever lost
ONE SINGULAR SNACK RECOMMENDATION
This air-dried steak…..thank me later
HOME THINGS
We got my husband’s expansive protein powder collection organized with these glass containers, and now they all live neatly tucked away in a cabinet, yay
TRAVEL BAG
Always in my travel bag: engraved pill case, travel case of star stickers, coin purse, makeup bag, refillable hand sanitizer, cord rollup, laptop sleeve, and journal
PICTURE FRAMES
I think every last one of the vintage frames from this post have been scooped up, so I added a few more here: 01. Beachy frame | 02. Oval frame | 03. Crystal frame | 04. Double frame | 05. Ornate frame | 06. Burl wood frame
Thank you so much for reading! More soon xxoo
Disclosure: I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you decide to buy any of the products I refer to—I only share things I really love! All opinions are my own