happy thursday! four years ago today, i was extremely ill with a mysterious fever after returning from london. turns out me and tom hanks were starting a trend! glad we can all laugh about this now.
this is how i’ve been walking around brooklyn this week at 6:30 pm while the sun is still out:
good things ahead!
1. being so mentally well that you don’t scroll through and check who is viewing your instagram story
having a crush is a form of mental illness that i frequently suffer from. but i don’t really have one right now,1 which means i’m not dealing with the symptom of posting an instagram story and waiting for a specific person to see it. give it a few weeks!
2. poor things
when i first pressed play i was like hmmm… idk about this… but i LOVED it by the end. i get why people don’t care for it but also, grow up! i’ve never needed anything as bad as i need every outfit emma stone wore. lily gladstone probably should’ve gotten the oscar but emma certainly slayed.
3. being ever so slightly tipsy on the train home and listening to your music at max airpod volume
leaving happy hour or an early dinner a little bit buzzed, stepping onto the train, and taking a seat while your music blasts is one of the best feelings humans can experience. here are some songs i recommend for this scenario:
4. really good songs that have about 20-40 seconds of chaos that i can’t vouch for
(my siblings used to torture me by fast forwarding to the part of this song where everything is crashing and blasting it… but now i consider that exposure therapy)
5. instituting a coffee curfew and a cap
i already have a curfew of noon for any coffee consumption2. if i have one past the 12 o’clock hour, my mind and body join forces to start an uprising against me. but i recently learned the hard way (after 2 coffees and 1 giant cold brew) that i also need to install a cap. the other night i was laying in bed at 11:45 pm (nearly the middle of the night for me) unable to sleep, heart racing and having chest pain. i spent the next few hours tossing and turning, certain this was the end. i realized the next day it was because of the large la colombe cold brew i had after my 2 regular morning cups. never again! learn from my mistakes.
6. sentimental garbage
shoutout to molly hussey for telling me to listen to this show after i posted about how much i loved the rachel incident. caroline o’donoghue, the author, hosts this podcast which is about “the culture we love that society can sometimes make us feel ashamed of.” so up my alley it’s crazy! i started with the episode where they rank all the love actually relationship plot lines, and i’m looking forward to binging more when i’m in a podcast drought.
♡good thing from a good person♡
kk sullivan is my sister and also my best friend. she has such a good thing for us today! i was sobbing reading it? i think because of a two things:
1. i also love the lake and bodies of water immensely.
2. reading something that someone you love wrote about something they love is beautiful and special and makes me emotional!
i constantly feel so lucky that kake is my big sister and partner in crime. here’s her good thing:
“you wanna love me, better love the lake”
good things fans! thanks for having me. my good thing, the very best thing I could think to write about for this newsletter, is the chicago lakefront3. lake michigan. known simply as the lake. a beach surrounded by skyscrapers. 18.5 mile path for walking, running and biking. cement for jumping in or sharing some cold drinks with friends. more sandy beaches up north.
my feelings are summed up through this song, LSD by Jamila Woods, feat. Chance the Rapper. put it on while you read the rest of this.
“A body of water inside me, reminds me of oceans though I’ve never known one. I’m born by a cold one, it’s only a small one compared to the coast, i prefer it to most… you wanna love me, better love the lake” ….
a visit to said lake for me is spiritual. its beauty is unchanging, consistent, and straight up sacred! It is my go to for joy. each time I visit the lake, I feel compelled to capture it with a pic, video, snap/ig story. i understand this isn’t some revelation. bodies of water are appealing to everyone. we experience water with all of our senses. the color blue is therapeutic. the sound is soothing. being near a body of water boosts your mood, regulates your nervous system.
when I meet people, i tend to judge them by how much they, too, love the lake4. when I met my now husband, not a Chicago native, one of the first questions i asked him was about the lake. he had never jumped in before! I was mildly horrified at first, but he assured me he was willing to try it! our third date was a bike ride and lake jump. I knew he was a real one. working on my son now.
the last line in Jamila’s song is: “even though you break my heart, the water’s gonna save me” … life can be filled with feelings of hopelessness, heartbreak and frustration5 (especially in 2024). if you’re feeling any of that, get your ass to the lake!! it is perfect in all 4 seasons. take a picture while you’re at it, post to your story, spread the lake love.
that’s all for this week! i did indeed watch oppenheimer. it was fine! i also saw dune 2 — i loved it and i didn’t even come close to fainting!
bye xoxo
at least not one that follows me on instagram
this does not apply to espresso martinis
(kk footnote) sorry to all those not living in Chicago; come visit and make the lakefront your first stop!
(kk footnote) s/o to bridgeyco, carmeltobin fellow lake fiends and my parents for instilling the need to “say hi to the lake” on a regular basis
(kk footnote) and if you want to indulge any of those feelings, listen to Jamila Woods! Her music is dope with lots of water themes.
The Sentimental Garbage series on SATC (Sentimental in the City ofc!) is GOD TIER!!!!! I teared up listening a couple of times ❣️❣️❣️
As a 'The Rachel Incident' super fan, thank you for the podcast recommendation. I also wanted to share that my coffee curfew is 10am. More than that and I will bid my sleep goodbye.