rec edition: september

favorite things over the last month

September unintentionally became a month of reset for me. I spent a couple weekends finally tackling some long overdue projects in my apartment, which mostly consisted of me moving a few things around and organizing- which to the naked eye doesn’t look like I did anything but to me I feel like I’m in a whole new living space. Some highlights were I finally re-organized my bookshelf to create some harmonious spacing between my Dodger bobbleheads and I lined the cabinets underneath my bathroom sink. I even got rid of my living room rug, something I’ve put off for awhile but this time around the jute was catching too much dirt and I’ve given up trying to clean it. I’ve somewhat been enjoying a rug-less life but I’m still checking Facebook Marketplace every few hours for the perfect rug to find me.

@brett_neustyand the change is putting a candle on my coffee table

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In my personal tasks, I also tackled getting my taxes finally settled, seeing the dentist for the first time in a too long time and getting a bunch of much needed repairs on my car. It’s been nice to check off these things that have been slowly building anxiety in my life because of how much I’ve been putting them off. I even surprised myself at one point during the month by doing a clean up of all my Pinterest boards. It’s been a rocky year over here but at least my car and teeth are running well and I don’t have 5 different Pinterest boards all with different versions of spelling short hair (new) (this one).

So here are my twenty recs/things I’ve liked from this month, which originally I wanted this as a bi-weekly Substack but finding twenty things over two weeks was a bit ambitious for me and this feels like a better way of wrapping up my favorite things from the month.

1. I feel like I’ve been singing the praises of this face mist sunscreen for the last year so I will be putting it here at the perfect time to recommend sunscreen, the end of summer. It’s from Sun Bum and it’s their face mist with witch’s hazel and I think I overall just really enjoy the smell and feel of it on my face.

2. If you dare, I highly recommend my friend Michelle’s Substack where she details her dating life as it pertained to being in a dom/sub relationship. It is very NSFW and she doesn’t hold back on any details and I’ve loved every single one that’s hit my inbox.

3. These nails I got done for my birthday (which if you know me, I really never get my nails done so this felt great).

   

4. I was gifted this face wash for my birthday and I really love using it for a double cleanse type of wash. It’s so light and refreshing and just feels really good to wash your face with.

5. On a whim I bought this planner from Poketo, maybe because September really was a reset and buying a new planner with a few months left in the year seemed liked the ideal time. I will say I thought it was more of a daily planner when I purchased it but now I kind of love how it has a week-at-a-glance page and space for your to write about your intentions for that week. I’ve been loving using it and I think I will stick to this over a daily planner for the foreseeable future.

6. Last newsletter I wrote about playing Solitaire on my phone and this Substack I’m here to say I have graduated to endless rounds of Gin Rummy. I can only imagine that in a few months I will finally have mastered all the other card games and will be ready to finally learn chess.

7. I’ve been slacking on reading this summer but I did finally finish The Rachel Incident and I liked it a lot and my best review of it can be summed up by saying it’s a book that makes me want to read other books.

   

8. Sometimes I feel like with my age ticking higher I need to be “gentler” with my body and time but it felt nice to say fuck that last week and make an extremely last minute trip to Palm Springs to join some friends there in the 20 hours I had between work shifts. Take the trip! Waking up in Palm Springs and sitting by a pool for a few hours really did help me solidify my September reset and I’m so glad I did it.

9. My friend Jordy was the costume designer for the movie You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah and even though I do have this personal connection with the movie, I truly did love it. It made me want to text my high school best friend that I missed them and it felt very authentic to being a teenager.

10. And if you would like to read about the clothes in the movie, Jordy was interviewed by GQ for her work on the film! I am overall just very proud of my very talented friend.

11. If you know me, you know my roommate loves all things Germany and he recently suggested we watch a German crime show called Dear Child and it is so good. If you liked The Fall or The Killing you will definitely love this show (and now I do want to rewatch The Killing).

12. I’m fast forwarding to Halloween/Fall right now in my apartment and I’ve already decorated and started adding cinnamon to my coffee grinds in the morning. It feels nice and for once September isn’t brutally hot in LA.

13. With that being said, my friend came over and we decided to watch a scary movie and although I do love the idea of a scary movie I end up hating the execution of watching a scary movie. Last Halloween season I took a break from watching horror but the other night we decided to try and cross off some scary movies we’ve never seen which led us to watching Insidious, which I ended up really liking. I think it’s a great scary movie for someone who is looking to just have a few good jump scares here and there.  

14. It finally happened: the green Adidas Gazelles with the gum sole I had been wanting for about a year finally came into my life via a very generous birthday gift. I love them so much and cannot believe my size was finally up for grabs (and full disclosure they are technically Sambas but they carry the same vibe).

    

15. Popping this in here because every time I post pictures from it people ask when the next one is but ! Abba Night ! is ! October 7th ! at the ! Monty Bar! 10pm !!

16. The first sport I truly watched and loved (because of my mom’s love for it) was football and I recently happened to be in a restaurant showing the Dolphins first game of the season where they won and now I feel committed to making sure their win streak stays alive. I still remember being a kid and choosing a wings place in Ft. Lauderdale to eat at whenever it was my turn to pick lunch after church because I knew they showed the Dolphins games. So I guess phins up, baby?

17. I’m about to hit a year back on Classpass so just in case someone was wondering, I do think you should sign up for it. I do around 3 classes a week and have about 4 studios in my rotation and I’ve never regretted it. Also if you have Kaiser insurance, you do get a discount on membership! And if you do sign up let me know so I can refer you :)

18. I tried on this dress from Anthropologie because it seemed very fun and over the top and then I realized it actually fit me like a glove and was super on sale. I did the smart thing and left it at the store, only to think about it days later and have my group chat implore me to get in the car and return to the store to buy it. So now I have this dress with absolutely no reason to wear it in sight so just plopping it here in case it never gets its day in the sun (okay it will somehow, life finds a way).

    

19. My last tv rec for this month is Below Deck: Down Under. I loved this season a lot and feel like Captain Jason, production and the crew all handled a very scary incident on board so well. I’m making my way through Below Deck: Med and it hasn’t been as good but I’m such a sucker for the Below Deck universe.

20. My last rec is less of a rec and more of my quick thoughts on the big, viral article The Cut dropped that had to do with friendships and parenting. I feel like it was a clickbait article to make each side feel rage instead of just accepting the fact that kids do change things and thats ok! Some of my best friends are parents and we figure it out. I might write a longer piece about this since I’m perfectly stuck in the middle of this debate (a very single woman who loves being independent and also works a job as a childcare worker). I just feel like… sometimes we just gotta accept things change and life is hard!

Things I’m wishing for: 

Some things I have my eye on or I’m looking for- right now I’m on a big spending freeze till my trip to New York in November so mostly these are just nice things I’ve come across that maybe you might like as well.

1. This swivel jewelry organizer. One did come up on Facebook Marketplace but to be honest, my jewelry is already very organized! I do not need this but I like the idea of it.

   

2. For some reason I didn’t catch that somewhere along the way I signed up for Audible and I have a bunch of credits I need to use so looking for recs. Preferably memoirs narrated by the author but also anything fun you’ve maybe listened to.

3. A new rug for my living room and to make things harder, I have no idea what kind I’m looking for :)

4. I’ve just really been liking this J.Crew rugby that makes it way to my targeted ads every day.

   

Okay that is my rec Substack of the month! I will see you next week and would also like to say thank you for all the kind words of support for my last Substack. I really appreciate anyone taking the time to read my stuff and I’m very grateful for this little community.