The week the internet went out

Hi Friends,

Let me take you back to last Monday morning. It was July 13th, but I was treating it like a fresh start, beginning-of-the-month kind of thing.

It was supposed to be my reset: no travel, a full week at home. We were going to eat healthy! And exercise! And catch up on work! And finally get all the things done!

Instead, I woke up to a text from our internet provider saying work was being done in the area and our internet service would be disrupted. The message was annoyingly vague, like “It could be out all day, it might be out tomorrow too. Maybe for the week? We’ll see where the wind takes us!”

After a morning of pouting, pacing, and plugging and unplugging our router, I decided, okay fine. I don’t need your stupid internet! I lived the first fifteen years of my life without it and can do it again.

We’re going to get into it, but I’ll jump to my conclusion here: I need more internet disruptions in my life. 😊

I was also laughing at how I’ve been reminding paid subscribers to download this Italian Girl Summer Companion every week, where literally, the point is to find joy in movies, books, food, outfits, and rituals that DO NOT INVOLVE THE INTERNET. God/the Universe are shaking their heads at me.

Anyway, if you need more inspiration to step away from your devices, go download it! Paid subscribers can also look forward to Designing the Month: August edition, next week, so we can ease into late summer together. Looking forward to it!

But for now, here’s a look into what I did during my accidentally analog week:

I pulled out an old weekly planning pad and sketched out my week, taking extra time to doodle around birthday reminders and appointments. I don’t need another thing to carry around, but there was something incredibly satisfying about putting pen to paper. (Not me casually browsing the planner aisle at Target later that week.)

I usually start my workday with Amazon Music or SiriusXM streaming big band music in the background. As in music from a different era that was not crafted to be played out of a MacBook Pro.

I can’t tell you how delicious it was to hear the real thing. I live for the crackle of the needle hitting the record, but I also loved that every twenty minutes or so I had to actually get up from my desk to flip the record over, or choose another album.

Without the constant pings from texts, emails, and notifications, I was so productive in the mornings that I actually had time to stretch out on the couch and read in the afternoons. Mother Nature even provided the perfect cozy thunderstorm soundtrack.

I was genuinely giddy padding into our guest room, browsing our DVD shelf, and pulling out my beloved I Love Lucy series box set (which, fun fact, was the very first thing I bought with my first paycheck). It transported me right back to childhood summers watching Block Party Summer on Nick at Nite, which we dedicated an entire Play Me a Memory episode to last year! Isn’t it silly that we sometimes have to be pushed into doing the things we enjoy?

Halfway through the week, we were still out and getting more elusive updates. We got on the phone with support, and they said they had to send a tech out to fix our issue (somehow it had become our issue?). Miraculously, we woke up Thursday morning, and everything was working, but I was having such a good time that I kind of stayed in that analog state of mind for the next few days.

I returned to the landscape I’d started “painting” with watercolor pencils back in the spring and happily lost myself drawing wildflowers.

With the internet restored, I was finally able to publish our newest episode of Film to Table, where we introduced a new way for listeners to submit episode suggestions through our figurative “Idea Jar.” Drop your suggestions here 😊

I needed an image for it, and AI generated an impressive rendering for me, but in the spirit of the week, I thought...Thx, ChatGPT, but I’m going to make a real one.

I painstakingly cut tiny slips of paper, styled a little scene on my dining room table, experimented with the lighting, and photographed my own version for the episode along with some stock video we’ll use in future episodes.

Did it take two hours instead of two seconds? Absolutely. But I got to spend an afternoon playing prop stylist, photographer, and art director, and damn, that is so much more satisfying than typing in a prompt.

You may remember that right before our trip to Los Angeles, we had a burst pipe in our garage. Thankfully, the damage was minimal, but I’d been putting off cleaning a few waterlogged picture frames and rescuing our vacuum. Both jobs took less than an hour, were far easier than I’d built them up to be, and best of all, afterward, I felt like I could conquer the world.

You all know I love my Heather Robertson workouts at home, but my sister-in-law was in town and invited me to a yoga class at our local brewery. In the spirit of the week, I said yes, and I can’t tell you how much I loved not just the practice itself, but being surrounded by other people. It felt kind of communal...almost spiritual? Someone even brought their sweet dog, which had us giggling through half the class, and I’m sorry, but the internet just can’t replicate that kind of joy.

Creativity floweth when it isn’t constantly interrupted by notifications and comparison. This week I meal prepped like a boss, made a delicious summer salad, and even whipped up an ice cream cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday.

I don’t know if this is a regional thing, but where I grew up in the New York suburbs, bowling birthday parties were everything. So when Jimmy’s siblings suggested spending Saturday afternoon at the bowling alley, I was giddy with excitement that this would align with the very 90s vibe of the week.

Last, but definitely not least, my favorite activity of the entire week. My in-laws live in the sweetest neighborhood where people leave painted rocks around for others to discover, so we had to make our own! I ordered a bag of rocks and some acrylic paint markers, and we spent the afternoon creating little works of art together.

What I loved most was that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both sporty girls, yet they were completely game to spend an afternoon painting flowers, animals, and little happy sayings. It reminded me that creativity doesn’t belong to “creative people,” but to anyone willing to pick up a marker and begin.

When we recognize what brings us the most joy, we invite more of it into our lives. Here are five things that made me happy this week. Share yours below!

1. Our oven was working overtime! I let our bananas get perfectly overripe and baked a batch of banana muffins using this recipe.

2. I finally took this pretty brown dress out for my mother-in-law’s birthday dinner, and it might be one of my favorite RTR rentals of the summer.

3. I’m still trying to master an at-home manicure and had fun experimenting with this gorgeous brown-wine shade from Olive & June with the most iconic color name.

4. I’m still loving Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, especially an episode I listened to last week with HAIM. It reminded me so much of me and my sisters and genuinely had me laughing out loud.

5. After what has felt like a giant chess match, I think we’ve finally figured out our travel plans for the rest of the year, and I can’t wait to share them with you soon!

Whether it’s a giant leap, a tiny to-do list item, a habit change, or something else, there is power in accountability, and this is a safe space to share your aim. Some weeks, we’ll fail, others, we’ll soar, but with support, we’ll always keep going together.

Until next week, get out there and make something beautiful.

Michelle

🫶 Paid subscribers keep this newsletter going! Thank you for supporting this creative community.

If you’d like to keep hanging out, you can also find me:
🍿 Talking movies, food, and nostalgia on Film to Table
📼 Getting playful with memory and pop culture on Play Me a Memory
📷 Sharing bits of everyday inspiration on Instagram

And if this newsletter made you smile, think, or feel a little more like yourself, passing it along is always appreciated!

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