#70. 15 things I consumed in July
keychains and kitties, books and beers, cakes and cabins.
Happy August, my sweet Substack readers! A long time ago, I decided that August is my favourite month of the year, and it still stands. I love so many things about it - the way I am flooded with desire to eat the ripest nectarine I can get my hands on, the way I wake up early without even trying, the way I dry off by sun bathing on a warm rock after jumping into a fresh water lake or river. Even the way it sounds phonetically pleases me (I think August is a beautiful name). The last time I sat down to write an intro to this monthly roundup, I was on a ferry in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca heading down to the US, and this time I am on a ferry in the middle of the Strait of Georgia, heading up to the mainland. Myself and 6 girlfriends are heading to Osoyoos for the August long weekend. It’s going to be sweltering hot in the Okanagan, and I’m ready to do nothing but lounge, chat, play cards, read my book, drink my margarita, and swim, on repeat.
July was a bit disorientating, albeit super fun. Chris and I were still in Ontario at the beginning of the month visiting family, I road tripped down to Portland for the Fourth of July, celebrated my friend Sofie’s bachelorette on Cowichan lake, had a girls weekend with my sister-in-law and niece, and ended the month with one absolutely necessary weekend in Victoria without plans. It was frenetic but I do it to myself (willingly), and isn’t that the natural yang energy of the summer anyways? Speaking of Summer… I’ve been watching the olympics with full blown obsession. The swimming has been exceptional - both Marchand and McIntosh’s 400 IM finals made me cry, as did Beaugrands epic triathlon finish, and the memes emerging from the silver medalist shooter from Turkey remind me why I love the internet.
I hope you’ve also been spending your summer in whatever sweet way suits your fancy. Don’t forget to eat that peach, and jump in that lake, and have that intimate conversation that goes into the night. I’ll be in Copenhagen in less than 3 weeks to witness and celebrate Sofie and Nicolai getting married. But until then, I’m planning on staying put on my lovely slice of island paradise.
📚 READ - I visited my pal Kelsey in Portland, Oregon in early July. We went to Powells, of course, and I took home 3 books that had been on my to-read: Berlin, Exit Interview & The Door. Berlin by Bea Setton was a quick and fun read. A British expat named Daphne moves to Berlin to reinvent herself, but right away she stumbles into a series of unfortunate and hard to explain events. She’s a bit reckless, unreliable, and has many compulsions, specifically around food and exercise. It was a bit of a who-done-it and while I found the plot was a bit thin, overall I liked the writing style and sentence rhythm, and found myself ear marking quite a few pages. I’m now eating up Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter, which is an exposé on Amazon’s work culture told by an employee of 12 years who made her way up the corporate ladder. It’s funny, it’s brave, it’s relatable if you’ve ever worked for a tech corporation (and even if you haven’t). I highly recommend it.
I should note that I got this lot for under $50 CAD - thank you Powells sales section! 🎬 WATCH - it was 38 degrees while I was in Portland, so we thought it would be wise to spend the evening in an air conditioned setting. We went for dinner at Bar Diane (where I was reminded how unrated devilled eggs are), for wine at Negotiante (where I was reminded how nice it is to go for a second glass post dinner) and finally to a movie across the street from the wine bar, at an adorable theatre (where I was reminded how bizarre Yargos Lanthimos’s brain is). We saw Kinds of Kindness, the newest film from the director of Poor Things, which starred Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. This film was divided into three distinct stories and had nothing to do with eachother but were equally absurd. Don’t try to “figure this movie out”, was the advice we received from the man sitting next time us while we were sipping on our wine… just “let it happen to you”. My favourite scene of the whole movie was this one of Emma Stone dancing this incredible COBRAH song that I now can’t stop playing.
🎬 Other movies I watched this month: The Bikeriders, Roadhouse, The Idea of You.
👗 WEAR - I was recently surprised by the Left on Friday team when they asked me to be an Ambassador for the brand! I’ve been teaching their private strength classes and I guess they liked them :) My favourite workout set has been the Frame Top and the Super Moves Tights, but the back of this playsuit is pretty special. The quality of the activewear is crème de la crème, reminiscent of early lulu lemon days. Not to mention the swim suits, which I can confidently say are some of the most flattering and comfortable bathing suits I’ve tried on. Stay tuned for sponsored (AKA surprise and delights for YOU) class announcements from now until my contract ends in January.
the weekender playsuit + the day trip pant. 🎧 LISTEN - Armchair Expert had three fantastic episodes in July that I listened to and loved.
Andrea Dunlop on Munchausen and Muchausen by Proxy, the psychological condition where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately makes someone else ill so they can take on a “care giver” role. Dax, Monica and their guest Andrea discuss deception, reality distortion, and the betrayal trauma.
Alegra Kasten on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Alegra is an OCD specialist and educates the listeners on the difference between OCD and OCPD. This episode was super super interesting and made me realize that I had no idea what OCD actually is/can be.
Ke Huy Quan, from Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indiana Jones, and the Goonies, tell us about his harrowing life story that is both beautiful and unbelievable.
🍽️ EAT - Diane and I made the Monica Padman salad for lunch one day while she was visiting me and now it’s all I want to eat. It’s incredibly easy to whip together - you can even just throw all the ingredients onto a cutting board and roughly chop everything up. All you need is - arugula, celery, an apple, chicken thighs or rotisserie chicken, chives and parmesan. The dressing is olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon, freshly minced shallot and I also add a tsp of maple syrup. Trust me when I say, this is the salad of the summer.
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