All The Things, May 2023

A totally unoriginal link round-up

Hi, hello, happy Monday! I feel a tad melodramatic using the phrase “existential crisis” to describe my current status with the suddenly elusive term Newsletter, but, if you’ll indulge me …

Once upon a time, I had A Monthly Newsletter, as in singular, as in a letter I wrote once a month and sent straight to inboxes through an email service called Flodesk. Every newsletter had the same format: a short story followed by a handful of recommendations / links around the web / a playlist, etc. From August of 2020 to August of 2022, I did not miss a single month.¹ 

In August of 2022, however, I started flirting with Substack. We started out slow, as many romances do. A coy glance across a dim room. A casual touch on the arm. An enticing smile. I wasn’t sure I wanted to break up with Flodesk yet, and because Flodesk and I never agreed to be exclusive, I was well within my rights to experiment and whisper in Substack’s ear. 

After seven months of butterflies and banter, I officially migrated my email list here. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Substack and I are exclusive, but I recently passed Substack a note that said, “do you like me y or n?” and Substack circled y and here we are.

(Flodesk and I are just friends now.) 

(Is this metaphor getting weird?)

I’m pleased to report things between Substack and I are going pretty well. There’s just one thing I’m still trying to figure out. While some people use this platform to send once-a-month or once-a-week letters, there are far more people, it seems, using this space to simply … write. Sometimes on a schedule, but often not. Kind of like … blogging?²

On the newsletter front, it kind of feels like I spent the past two years making specific recipes from a cookbook, but now I’m in the kitchen staring at a poster on the wall that says, “Everything in the fridge is fair game. Have fun!”

I like writing on Substack without the confines of an official newsletter structure, but one thing I do miss is rounding up links to share. I love recommending books and TV shows and skincare products. I love sharing essays and lifting up the words of others. And yeah, sometimes I just want to tell you about the amazing tank top I found.

So I guess what it’s taken me 401 words to say (brevity is not my strength!) is this: while I could, theoretically, keep trying to round up links to pair with a specific story once a month³, I think what I’d rather do is write stories when I want to write stories, and drop links when I want to drop links.

Way way way TL;DR—here are some links for some things, May edition!

People often ask me about my favorite candle and are always surprised to learn it is the $3.99 grapefruit candle from Trader Joe’s. They’re only in season for a limited time. Run!

A few books I’ve read and loved recently: All My Knotted Up Life, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, The Sweet Spot

After feeling frustrated for weeks about the state of my daughter’s dresser, I finally went to town on it yesterday, filled up two giant bags of clothes that no longer fit, and promptly dropped $80 at H&M for a few summer staples. Favorite picks: this cute floral set, this romper, and this straw visor.

Some lovely Mother’s Day gift ideas. On my personal wishlist: this necklace and this cocktail book. Okay, okay, okay, and I definitely don’t need this, but HOLY CUTE.

Related PSA: All adult books at Target this week are buy one get one 50% off, including Create Anyway (!) which is currently selling for $18.89 in stores, which means you can get two copies for around $28.50, or $14.25 each. I don’t mean to shout, but ALERT ALERT THIS IS A GREAT PRICE. 

Exhale, my favorite corner of the Internet is officially open for enrollment! Come create with us! Want to take Exhale for a test drive first? Join us on Zoom next Monday morning for a conversation about expanding your creative palette.

My friend Eleasa is pregnant with baby #3 and I popped over to her house a few weeks ago for an easy, breezy backyard photo session. If you’re local to Sacramento and looking for candid photos at home / in your backyard, I would love to chat!

More low stress dinner invitations, please. Related: we just talked about hospitality over on the Coffee + Crumbs podcast.

Presley and I are loving this adorable board book about feelings. Sometimes I feel like a jelly donut, too. 

Are you watching Jury Duty? We’re only a few episodes in, but loving it so far. Also loved the new John Mulaney special. 

I sobbed reading this. 

A couple shameless plugs: I really enjoyed this conversation with Jonathan Rogers and this Q+A with Stephanie Duncan Smith.

Five songs on repeat to keep you company while you do the dishes for the 87th time.

I’ve been doing this face mask every Friday night like the party animal I am. 5/5 stars.

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That’s all for now. Give me all YOUR links! What are you reading? Wearing? Cooking? Watching? What’s on your Mother’s Day wishlist? Tell me all the things!

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Currently blessing my inbox:

I just finished reading your book. I am NOT one of your target readers, I am almost 72, and even most of my grandchildren are nearly grown. I wish I could have read this 50 years ago, but even now, your book spoke to me and encouraged me. Especially chapter 14. I encouraged my sister to at least read that chapter. I have not been retired long, but I felt like this was the first time in my life I had time to express all the creativity that has barely leaked out of me all my life. I guess it is not too late!!! Thanks.

Big favor alert: if you read and loved Create Anyway, would you consider leaving an online review or telling a friend about the book? I’ve been sprinting hard these past few months and *so* appreciate the continued word-of-mouth recs as I start to slow down on the marketing/PR efforts. ❤️

1. 99.5% sure this is true but I did not fact check.

2. I cannot figure out what Substack means for the future of my personal blog. We’re currently in a pretty serious DTR.

3. Current stories in progress include an exploration of the phrase vibe shift, a story about the ant colony living under my house, and what is currently a 2500-word dissertation answering the question, “When did I become obsessed with wearing beige and what does that really mean?!”