say more: May 2026
clothing that works *with* me RN, potential upcoming changes to this format, and letting the star of the season shine 🍅
In therapy, clients will often recount something to me and then wait. Waiting for me to have a set reaction. But often, they haven’t said what this something meant to them, how they experienced it, what they felt. Which leaves me responding, “Say more…”
This is a monthly series where I explore what I engaged with—TV, books, movies, food, movement, people, lessons, clothes—and what they made me feel.
I show up very much as myself here. Myself first, and all my other labels are secondary. If a therapist speaking candidly feels like too much to your system, that is absolutely is OK and this may not be the best particular newsletter for you.1 There are affiliate links on this page.
“I’m but a person.”
“We are all just floating around this circle in the sky.”
“I’m doing my best over here.”
These were my refrains all month long.
Heard at any of the one too many events at my son’s school in a single month (who am I kidding? it was five too many) or carting myself from doctor appointment to doctor appointment to treat a shockingly large disc herniation (humble brag—pictures below) or dealing with contractors who—bless their hearts got it all done by the absolute dead of the deadline—can’t understand the phrase under-promise, over-deliver no matter how many times we said, “It’s OK if it’s gonna take longer, just tell us when you actually think it will be done by.”
“I’m a threenager!!”—reflections on three years of sobriety and going to my first meeting (for me)
“say more: April 2026”—we get into The Pitt, songs that are time machines and exciting news about the next phase of my career…
It was an honor to be featured in Maggie (of early bird) coffee with… series last month. I got teary eyed reading my responses. I think I was taken aback by how honest I’d been—I sounded so much like myself. I even felt a tingle of pride at that.2
Announced our summer workshop + book club series The Summer I Learned How to Let Myself Be Bad 😈!! We will be covering Elise Loehnen’s On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good a sin or two at a time. Up first is Sloth 🦥 on Sunday June 28th from 10-11:30 am (MST).3
READING…
🗞️🗞️🗞️🗞️🗞️
I look at the following round-up of newsletters and just feel filthy rich with the scope of topics and women we get to hear from on this platform. No matter how disillusioned I may get, this remains:
📚
My Mother’s Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family’s Fractured Past by Tracy Clark-Flory
I have more coming soon on this memoir—it inspired it’s own essay—but I wanted to say this here first: Buy this book. I felt betrayed at night when my body would pull me to sleep when all I wanted to do was keep reading. Caution: May cause weeping.
Famesick by Lena Dunham
She, to quote Becca Freeman “wrote the shit out of this book.”
I consider it a public service when people with a seemingly-enviable role in society pull back the curtain and remind us the mountain top isn’t what it seems. It’s perhaps a drum I’ve beaten too many times here, but maybe we need to hear it over and over: All the success, fame, money, accolades are for naught if we are in misalignment with our selves.
One favorite excerpt (of many):
“I was safe. I was safe now and I was going to be safe. No matter what happened, what he asked for, who he turned out to be, I would remain. I had become the person I had once hoped to be. Not perfect. Not blameless. Not shameless but total.”
What I was left with more than anything, what I heard from every single other person who had been reading it, was a buzzing.
We were lit with a match. Alive, alive, alive. 🐝
It’s no easy feat to inspire every creative bone in my body while also feeling aware, painfully so, there is no one like her.
Also:
I was sent an ARC from Infinite Books of Shooting up: A memoir of love, loss and addiction by Jonathan Tepper. An incredible story of Jonathan’s youth spent in a neighborhood of Madrid with his missionary family building a religious community and residential program for those dealing with addiction in the 80’s during a heroin epidemic and HIV crisis. At times heartbreaking, at others life-affirming, and most of the time, a bit of both. In his own words, “I wrote this book because words keep time from bleaching the colors out of memories, the fading snapshots of the past. I wanted to tell my friends’ stories. I hope the memory of my friends may be a blessing to others.” 🥹
I read Book Lovers by Emily Henry in fits of sun-soaked moments. As someone from a very small town I found the setting very comforting and nostalgic. Beach Read is still my favorite of hers, you never forget your first 😉, but I will say this is the only time I’ve felt called to annotate one of her books. There were some wisdom mic drops in there. 🎤
|| You can find my Bookshop.com storefront here with all the books I’ve mentioned in dialoguing over the years. ||
WEARING…
With my ongoing back saga, I’m almost exclusively in items that drape over me like caftans and do not require a zipper. Moving through the world like when you’d throw a sheet over yourself and pretend to be a ghost as a kid. 👻
From MDW sales, I kept:
The A&F shorts and tee (pictured above). Still waiting on this dress to arrive which I’m predicting is either going to be the love of my life or a total flop
The J. Crew Cosmo pant in luster charmeuse—wore them for 3 days straight level of love—and beach tunic
The Skims cozy crew neck and straight leg pants. As predicted, I look like Santa because I got them both in red, but IDGAF they are comfy as hell. The pants look really cute with the A&F tee above.
Everything from Uniqlo. I thought people were blowing smoke, but I’m officially bought-in on this brand. These Baggy Jeans,4 Jersey Barrel Pants, Barrel Jeans and Slouchy Socks are 🙏
I haven’t consistently worn perfume since I blasted myself with whatever body spray was making the rounds in middle school, but I’ve been wanting to try again with something that represents me—eyeing the selections whenever I walk by them, but too intimidated to try, let alone choose one. So when DIME reached out to gift two of their best-selling perfumes, I jumped at it. I thought the Stay Awhile was going to be my favorite as I’m typically more of a musky scent gal, but this 7 Summers scent (think pear, vanilla, and woodsy) really grabbed me. They are both subtle, lovely scents. You can read more about all the ways they are being consciously made here.
**Also check out the Father’s Day collection I just started crafting. She’s a work in progress, but I’m obsessed already. It’s full of short sleeve button down and short sets, polos that don’t make me want to barf, classic long-sleeve shirts and some peacocking items—if you know my husband, you know why. 🦚
What lies ahead:
📋 An idea for switching things up with these round-ups—input requested
☀️ A new favorite artist that is PERFECT for summer.
🪩 Lots of collective joy—dancing and singing with strangers
🍅 a meal prep situation that touched on breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week
