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06/24 Minimal Monthly — Midsummer Nostalgia 🍒
Published 2 months ago • 2 min read
June 2024
Minimal Monthly
Hi Reader,
It's hot out. AC is not a thing here. So it's also hot inside.
The sun doesn't go down until after ten at night, and it's up again at four in the morning. Afternoon naps are the way to go this time of year, if you ask me.
In between the midsummer drowsiness, eating pound after pound of fresh cherries and watching Euro Cup matches, I saw The Smashing Pumpkins last weekend.
The concert left me feeling rather nostalgic. Me and 16,999 other people at the sold-out venue, most of whom also seemed as if they wanted to bawl in the middle of Today when we all looked around while thinking about how great 1992 was and then collectively realised each one of us is just as friggin' old and crow-footed as all the other mid-life farts in attendance but everything is going to be okay because it has to be.
The nostalgia continued in the blogosphere (is that still a word?). One of my fave interior & home decor bloggers just retired. She certainly deserves to, but I'm sad all the same. I've been following Victoria from SFGirlbyBay on and off since she was on blogspot and made that "Keep Calm" placard hugely popular. She shipped me one in brown when she started printing them, must've been around 2007 or 2008. It's still hanging on my wall.
Not too long ago, she'd announced a move from publishing on her longstanding .com domain to Substack, and now she's officially hanging that up, too. It's over. Readership was dropping. Things have changed. The algorithms. People, too. She's 65 now, not into TikTok, and wants to kick back. I get it.
Nothing is forever.
Have some cherries. Watch the game. Take a nap.
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I may not have AC but I have one of these little USB-powered puppies and it's genius for when you're stuck at your desk in the heat. You fill it with water or, what I like to do, ice cubes, and it actually does a pretty good job of keeping you cool whilst you're typing, surfing, flaring up your carpal tunnel syndrome and/or living your best sedentary life.
Unintentional, unstaged evidence of aforementioned annually recurring cherry addiction.
My model is no longer available but this one and this one have good reviews. ☃️
End of ad.
Stuff I've Loved
An early tester of the Arc browser, I couldn't be bothered to change from Safari because it was just way too different. Last week though I took the time to make the switcharoo and boy-oh-boy. It's been SO helpful keeping my browsing mess and different accounts organised in a way no other browser can. If you're on MacOS, you're invited to try it. It's free.
More nostalgia: I would have loved to stumble into Jimmy Fallon and Green Day in the New York subway on my way to work!
...and spending. How, why, and what five things I stick to these days before deciding on making a purchase or not. Spoiler: money saved and better stuff. Win-win.
... but you're still itching to get something done at home, these quiet, easy projects will not make you break a sweat. My fave? Poking through the books.
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