Welcome to THE WEEKENDER, your weekly dispatch full of ~Saturday spirit~! I fill you in briefly on the week, share a few Little Luxuries that make the mundane feel special and save the best for last with some Brain Food to mull over, expand your horizons, or discuss with your friends over a cappuccino. There are usually lots of links and pictures which perhaps will get clipped if you’re reading in your inbox— click here to read in browser!
Well, our AC was out during the heatwave this weekend and into the week. It is still out, and you’d see a tear trickle down my cheek if I had the body moisture to spare for such a thing. At it’s worst, it’s been 90 degrees in our apartment at midnight so… holy shit! The repair company thinks we’ll be waiting for the right part to come in stock for at least another week. 🫠
We have done our best to have fun with it, I guess— I was glad for ice showers and the Dune x Loops face masks I had just got in the mail. We popped them and the jelly mist in the fridge and they were the only momentary reprieve from what really felt like the bowels of hell. (Aside from feeling like a piece of cheese in a broiler, I love everything Dune does, I have a code: AZORA15!)
Another kooky thing I did in the throes of the AC breaking was to put a clean set of sheets (you know the ones, reader favorite) in the refrigerator for hours before putting them on our bed… it was silly, so at least I got a laugh out of it. They didn’t get as cold as I wish they had, but it was the most sleep I got in a series of very sweaty sleepless nights! I’m so hot at time of writing that I honestly might change our sheets tonight just so I can do it again.
Small wins from my week:
I signed up for a writing intensive I’m looking forward to! I’ve had my eye on retreats, intensives, workshops and classes, and have marked a bunch to apply to on my calendar (lmk in the comments if you have recs!) but when a 4-day course on writing tension fell into my lap, it was an instant yes. Feeling lucky that I’m in a place where I can dedicate time and money to things like this!
I had the best Thursday night ever, one of those evenings that makes me remember why I left NYC.
Ending soon!: if you’ve been thinking about upgrading, click here for 40% off for one year (the biggest discount I’ve ever offered!) and get access to my most reader-loved letters, monthly book reviews, and my entire archive.
Not to make a broken AC my personality, but it was all sack dresses and nightgowns for me in this sticky swamp— which ended up making me wonder why I don’t dress that way more often: Eileen West’s 100% cotton nightgowns (see my selfie above!) are perfectly fit to wear outside, so is my not-at-all twee lobster cover-up and a barely-there linen skirt. I think this will become my thing into old age, I picture myself with long grey braids wearing something breezy and fit for a nap while I sip an espresso in the town square. (In my vision of the future, I retire in Europe, where I have several homes, each with their own gardens. In my vision of the future, I’ve also somehow learned to keep even a single plant alive.)
My favorite skirt is included in Reformation’s 30% off sale! There is a fall-ish color version as well, I found it all very true to size. I ended up adding this 100% cotton oversized sweater and this striped cashmere crew to cart. The sale is HUGE, honestly— it took forever to even look through it all! I really recommending filtering by size or category…
When it’s this hot out, I can’t be arsed to cook! But I also like knowing I have one (protein or fiber rich) meal prepped for breakfast or lunch. I have been blitzing a ton of celery, a bit of red onion or shallot in the food processor and mixing it with the Fishwife spicy tinned tuna (the spicy is the best!), a lot of chopped pepperoncini, horseradish, dill and dijon mustard. With a squeeze of lemon, it’s a tuna salad that doesn’t even really miss the mayo. I shovel it from the bowl into my mouth with a thick rye cracker and life is good.
It’s a great day for people who love candles. Flamingo Estate’s LUXE scented candles are a rare 21% off and Hotel Lobby Candle is also doing 20% off! All my friends seem to have a different favorite scent— I like London, Linen, Adratic Muscatel Sage and Heirloom Tomato.
Art of the week this week (above!) is Egon Schiele’s The Port of Trieste.
This week I wrote about wanting to bear the hard bumpy parts of life with a little more grace, and wondering if those who are glass half empty can transition to being glass half full.
Last week I shared some articles about the “I’m just a girl” rhetoric that’s become so popular, this week I present you: deranged princess treatment, an attitude towards dating that I fear has become both prevalent and incredibly unhelpful to either side.
If you’re a creator, you have a fabulous side hustle, or you just enjoy design, you might want to save a few of these cute free Canva fonts!
Feeling stuck in circular thinking or a bumpy patch? Here’s a helpful prompt to get unstuck.
The fake middle aged influencers we all follow— no, actually fake, like not real people. This article is crazy. It really pissed me off. Menopause isn’t hard enough?
Lindy Segal did some REAL reporting with this piece on the wild price fluctuation in the ubiquitous product in every woman’s purse these days: the lip treatment. I would like to weigh in with my own findings— I have purchased or been sent a bunch of these, and I have thoughts on what’s worth it!
U Beauty: I was gifted this lip plasma after writing about how badly I wanted to try it for— truly— 2+ years. Upon receipt, I can tell you that there is nothing about it that merits that price-tag, so I’d only partake if you are in a place in your life where you have zero price sensitivity (those people exist! I’m just not one of ‘em… yet 😜).
Rhode: You gotta skip the peptide lip treatment, which is no good. It’s got some real formulation issues— I have tried to like it, but don’t waste your time. The real secret is the lip mask, which is SO GOOD. Absolute hands-down favorite here. I have three, one in my bathroom, one in my purse, and one on my nightstand. This is the stuff!! You don’t need any color in it, I just layer it over my Kulfi lipstain, which lasts all day. Tinted gloss smears off and is messy, but the lip stain and clear balm combo is elite.
Not mentioned, but absolute budget winner 👑: Experiment Beauty’s Softwear. $16, as good as the $68 U Beauty option, comes in colors now too!! I’ve been hard pressed to find a better lip product. (I have a code, hopefully it still works: AZORA10)
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