Recently Enjoyed Things | September 13, 2024

New season, new me.

What I’m getting from the internet lately is that fall is indisputably the season for reinvention. More than January? I don’t know, but what is clear is that after more than a decade of social priming, no matter how far removed we are from the back-to-school years, we still believe that September is the month we can become one of the cool ones.

As much as I’d like to think I’m immune to waves and trends, I’m just…I’m not. I’m over here casually job hunting and tracking my macros and hunting around for trendy work bags, absolutely looking to reinvent myself this fall. It’s like finding out pretty much everyone likes the same weird snack that you do, and suddenly it’s not weird at all. We’re actually not that unique, are we?

This isn’t new information. Literally almost a hundred years ago, F Scott Fitzgerald said that line you’ve read a million times on the internet (or maybe even direct from the pages ofThe Great Gatsby): Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. Isn’t that something? This feeling, it isn’t new. It isn’t unique. It isn’t marketing teams or social media or even Nora Ephron manufacturing this. It just is. We feel brand spanking new in the fall and I intend to lean into that. It’s apparently the human experience.

Michigan is already crispy, with cool mornings that are frankly ominous, reminding me that it’s about to be very freaking cold for the next six months. The time for reinvention is short, but it is here and it is natural. If F Scott was feeling like a new man in October 1924, who am I to fight against this feeling? I was recently influenced to buy this Dream Wow spray and maybe because I aspire to become a new woman this fall, one without frizz. But arguably I bought it because all the cool girls on IG have been raving about it all summer. Is this is the year I become one of the cool girls too?

See? Do we really change at all? Ever?

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Unrelated, to anything here, but please enjoy this double negative genre:

Carrying on!

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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.

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas // I am so excited to be reading something that I’m very into. I feel like this summer’s reading has been pretty meh, maybe because my attention span wasn’t there, but this one has me hooked. Our protagonist, Starr, is a sixteen year old girl who witnesses her friend Khalil killed in a traffic stop by a police officer. It becomes a news headline where she is described anonymously as “a witness.” As she balances her place between the neighborhood where she lives and the fancy prep school she attends, she has to decide if she’s willing to say something. I’m about halfway through and tearing through it. I think it’s an important story, but also written in a really engaging way.

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Shopping

• This is such a college outfit for me. And I am feverishly searching for all items to recreate it. I’m thinking this Old Navy denim skirt, this Lands End crewneck, and these riding boots from LOFT. Et voila!

• ⭐ Not shopping, but related and funny. VISCERAL memories.

• Current wishlist items:

  • This slouchy, yet still structured bag from Anthropologie in Terra Cotta.

  • Or this butter yellow bag from J Crew. Although, not sure it’s the right color for fall. The red version is an option.

  • These jeans from LOFT.

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Recent Saves

I love this. My son recently asked me if I know what a noun is. I mean, obviously he’s learning about them in school, but it occurred to me that he doesn’t know the me that existed before him. The me that was an English major in college and has a BA in English Literature and routinely (but I promise silently) corrects grammar in conversation. I know about those nouns. But I also cackled at the comment on the linked IG post, “Unless I was a Pokemon before kids, my son ain’t interested.” Yeah, I hear that too. Haha.

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3 Things

Some recipes we have on repeat over here.

• Alfredo // I’m here to make the case that a good Alfredo recipe is as necessary as a good chocolate chip cookie recipe or a good martini recipe. Being able to make a sauce without consulting a recipe is elite, but having a go-to is imperative. I make an Alfredo at least once a week because it is a slam-dunk meal that everybody in my house is happy to eat. I always cook chicken in a pan, and then once finished, move it to a plate and then make my sauce in the chicken pan so it absorbs some of the left over bits and flavors. Et voila.

• Chicken and Potatoes with Dijon Cream Sauce // Another slam dunker that I usually have all the ingredients for handy. In the rotation because it’s easy and a one pot miracle.

• Camping Margaritas // I call them such because I premade a batch for a camping trip, but found them to be perfectly adequate at home and make them here just as often. It’s all about ease, baby.

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Sending You on Your Way

(Interesting things I found on the internet this week)

• Ohh this is interesting! 1 in 10 moms regret the name they chose for their baby.

• The Bridesmaid to Ex-Best Friend Pipeline. Okay, I can see it.

• ⭐ Romanticizing September. A delight.

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Last Week - In case you missed it:

Enjoying the week after Labor Day :)

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PS -

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

Here’s a few things I wrote about recently:

• Weekend musings and a few things on my Every Damn Day list.

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

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