Recently Enjoyed Things | July 26, 2024

A few things I enjoyed recently and maybe you will too.

Happy Friday guys! I’m off camping on the Pere Marquette river with a bunch of friends and all our kids/dogs this weekend, and boy does it cost a lot and take a ton of work to pretend we’re homeless for a long weekend. And to double the fun, I’m already thinking of how much work it’ll be on Sunday to unpack it all, wash it all, and go back to work so I can afford it all.

That sounds laced with pessimism, but indeed I love camping. IMO all the prep is worth it for a few days of feeling vaguely dirty, reading a lot, and not being at home where chores just sort of self-populate in some kind of Virgin Mary reproduction scenario. There’s no laundry to do when you’re out in the woods!

We don’t have anything too fancy - just a truck bed camper, but it does have a bathroom that my husband yells at us not to use. Such luxury in the forest! This camping trip wasn’t planned for my birthday, but happily it contains my birthday, so I think we’ll be using that as a reason to celebrate all weekend long. Cheers!

What are you up to this weekend?

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But first, some housekeeping: there’s some affiliate links in here. But aren't they everywhere? Anyway, if you click on something and buy it, I might earn a commission at no cost to you.

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Recently Enjoyed

Reading

I’m passionate about reading and sharing books that are readily available at your library and don’t feature a waitlist 47 people long. So these are rarely new, hot releases, but if you’re intrigued, there’s a good chance for instant gratification at your library.

• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty // The matriarch of a locally famous tennis family goes missing. Her four adult children work together to find her, while side-eyeing their suspicious dad. And you know how much I love a book with a screen adaption, so guess what I’ll be doing next week.

• My annual birthday gift to myself is a big old book haul. Here’s what I ordered: Happy Go Lucky by David Sedaris (I love Sedaris and I’m missing this from my collection), The Six-Minute Memoir: Fifty-Five Short Essays on Life by Mary Helen Stefaniak, and Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us by George Zaidan.

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Shopping

I am just not in my shopping era this summer. Or any summer for that matter. I’m too busy spending my money on popsicles at the farmers market, and cocktails on a patio. My brain is 100% focused on enjoying the dog days.

• ⭐ I did treat myself to this Galison Beside The Sea puzzle, currently in progress on my kitchen table. I expect to enjoy placing a piece or two every day for the rest of the summer.

• Less indulgent but more practical, I got these Merrells for my 7 y/o son. A good, beat-up-able shoe on sale for $35.

• I decided I’m an anklet girl now. I got this stack on Prime Day and also grabbed this sort of sparkly silver one. Evidence of obsession below -

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Recent Saves

A birthday cake, just for meeeee.

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3 Things

Some commentary on pop culture and news -

JD Vance and the Cat Ladies // Look, I don’t want to make light of a really shitty comment, but personally I think Mr. Vance underestimates how attractive being a cat lady is to women in the throws of cleaning up after their husband and kids all the time. Miserable is actually not the word I’d use for that life. A fucking delight, or perhaps, lovely.

If they kill Steve….// Like, how much shit can this character have shoveled at him?

What it’s like to live in the Olympic village // Ooh interesting!

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Sending You on Your Way

(Interesting things I found on the internet this week)

• Heartily cosigned on this and the *elite* car lunch in general.

• An ode to Brenda Walsh.

• I can’t decide if I hate this or think it’s really cool.

• ⭐The Lord’s Work: A crowdsourced list of the actual best books of the 21st century.

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Last Week - In case you missed it:

My birthday is coming up and all I’ve learned is that botox does the job.

PS - Follow up that this year’s birthday cake was a little lighter on the candles -

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PS -

I’d love to see you over on Instagram. You can find me at recentlyenjoyedthings.

I’m also talking books, beauty, and style over at recentlyenjoyedthings.com

Here’s a few things I wrote about recently:

• Weekend Musings.

• My Daily Drivers

• Everything I liked and recommended, all in one place.

And if you enjoyed today’s newsletter, would you consider subscribing? I aim for one newsletter a week, and usually on Friday, so if I may be so bold, it’s a lovely treat for you inbox, just before the weekend.