issue #68 - the late, late, late one

I don’t know where August went.

On the first of the month, it felt like summer would never end and school would never begin.

Yet here we are, a week into September and the eve of Rho’s first day of (Zoom) kindergarten.

I am tired. I am thrilled. 

I am terrified (about both Zoom school for the next 3 weeks and the upcoming election and the fate of the free world as we know it).

I am feeling a lot of feelings - as I’m sure you are as well.

I keep coming back to the ’surge capacity’ article I shared a few weeks back, and try desperately to refill my tank a little bit every day. While I’ve given up on all hopes of filling that tank full, I do try to maintain the 1/4 tank I’ve been running on for the past 6 months.

These e-mail canned responses and tools have helped. So has Headspace’s Focus mode (I’m thrilled to be partnering with them again, and was able to get a 25% off discount link for first-time subscribers). 

And then there’s the ubiquitous advice - drink more water, move your body every day, spend more time off your phone. It’s ubiquitous because it works.

Especially the phone one.

A 1/4 tank is not a full one, but it’s doable right now. And I’m going to need every drop of energy and sanity as my firstborn starts kindergarten (which has me oddly emotional), as my second baby fully embraces toddlerhood, and as we continue to navigate the unknown.

Welcome, September. Please be kind.

What we read and loved

Hitha

It was a week when my tired brain could only handle romances focused on food or books. And these three books did not disappoint.

• Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish(ARC provided by NetGalley) - give me a hate-to-love trope with some redemption and hidden depth, and I’ll stay up way too late to read it. This book was a little slow to start and did have more misogyny and sexism than I typically like in my frothy romance reads, but it paid off in the end. I liked it, didn’t love it, and would request this from the library rather than buying it outright.

• All Stirred Up (ARC provided by NetGalley, out December 31) - former loves reunited while opening (or in one case, re-opening) their own restaurants in Edinburgh. It’s light (and light on the steamy scenes), fun, and a perfect vacation read. Highly recommend pre-ordering it and devouring it when it’s released over the holidays. 

• Much Ado About You (ARC provided by NetGalley, out February 2) - I LOVED Samantha’s Fight Or Flight (which I re-read after finishing this title). Much Ado is very different, but equally excellent and steamy. Evangeline escapes her Chicago life to live in a seaside English village and run its local bookstore, and she quickly falls in with the local crowd and one gent in particular. This book reminded me of the first season of Rom Com Pods (in the best way), and I tore through this book in a couple of hours. DEFINITELY pre-order this one. 

Majesty was released on Tuesday, and I LOVED IT. If you need to have your faith restored in politics, I highly recommend Symone Sanders’ excellent book (purchase it here).

Julia

• Never Split The Difference - a how-to on negotiations from a former CIA hostage negotiator. From attention-grabbing anecdotes to actionable tips for your next negotiation, this book taught me so much—and I know the ROI on its $20 ticket price will be sky high. Highly recommend!

LaToya

• The Bride Test - Moving, smart, fun with a protagonist who knows her worth despite being economically disadvantaged? I rooted for Esme the entire novel. I also love how Helen’s books explore love between people with disabilities and mental heath challenges. (Note from Hitha - I adored this book and Helen’s first book in this series, The Kiss Quotient. Highly recommend)

The top 5

1. Melania Trump’s Ex-BFF Tells (Almost) All (New York Magazine)

2. How 'Namaste' Flew Away From Us (NPR)

3. 12 Ways to Mess Up Your Kids (The Atlantic)

4. Breaking Down the Brandy and Monica Beef (Zora)

5. How "COVID fatigue" clouds judgment and endangers public health (Axios)

All the smart reads

Monday

• Inside Trump’s pressure campaign on federal scientists over a Covid-19 treatment (Washington Post)

• ‘Bring It On’ Is More Than a Cheerleading Movie (Zora)

• ‘Black Panther’ Director Ryan Coogler On Chadwick Boseman: ‘Because He Was A Caretaker, A Leader, And A Man Of Faith, Dignity And Pride, He Shielded His Collaborators From His Suffering” (Deadline)

• Rapid $1 Covid-19 tests exist. Why can’t we get them? (Vox)

Tuesday (curated by Julia Lynch)

• Prepping For Parole (The New Yorker)

• Click Here to Kill (Harper’s)

• Simone Biles Would Like to Thank Herself (Vice)

• Lured to America — then trapped (NBC News)

Wednesday (curated by LaToya Lewis)

• An American Surrogate Had His Baby. Then Coronavirus Hit. (The Daily Beast)

• At Talkspace, Start-Up Culture Collides With Mental Health Concerns (New York Times)

• Confessions of an Internet-Famous Cheater (Level)

• Comedian and ‘SNL’ writer Sam Jay represents herself on her new Netflix special (Fast Company)

Thursday

• Here comes the real recession (Axios)

• Startup accelerators don’t work for female founders. Here’s how to fix that (Fortune)

• Demi Lovato’s Deeply Personal Letter on the Pandemic, Mental Health and Black Lives Matter (Vogue)

• Gerald Ford Rushed Out a Vaccine. It Was a Fiasco. (New York Times)

Friday 

• I Work in Racial Equity, My Husband Is Working on COVID—Here’s How We’re Coping (Vogue)

• The Global Business of Glam (Marie Claire)

• The Women of the WNBA Are Leading the Way for Activism in Sports—And Have Been for Years (Glamour)

• The eerie prescience of HBO’s Watchmen (Vox)

Things I Love This Week

• I use my Everyday Pan from Our Place every single day - for runny eggs in the morning, to reheat pizza for lunch, and for hearty pasta or curry or an ‘empty the fridge’ dinner. They just launched the pan in a gorgeous lavender, and they gave me a code! HITHA gets your $10 off your order. And while $145 is a lot for a pan, the ROI on this baby is high. You’ll use it…well, everyday.

• Speaking of this I use everyday, my Click & Grow garden is just the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve harvested my basil (regular and Thai) and cilantro twice in the past 3 weeks, and my tomatoes have started to bloom. I purchased mine purely for aesthetics (I liked the design better than an Aerogarden, which does have a more powerful light), but I’ve been really impressed with it so far. You do have to keep an eye on your pods for mold - just scrape it off when you see it begin to form, and sprinkle some cinnamon on a new pod when you ‘plant’ it.

• I’m slightly regretting signing up for the September fitness challenge from Dryp By Soha - 20 workouts in 30 days. We’re 7 days into the month and I’ve only done 2 workouts, which means I have to get my butt into gear for the next 3 weeks. If you would like to pulse and flow with me this month, you can use Hitha25 to get 25% off your first month.

• And if you find yourself motivated by new workout outfits (like I do), you should definitely check out Fabletics. I started a new subscription earlier this summer, and having matching workout outfits that make me feel really good (and are cute enough to do a school drop-off or meet a friend for a masked-up walk in the park) does make me feel better - and more likely to work out. While I can’t link to specific outfits here, I swear by their Mila shorts and leggings, the Harlow reversible midi bra, and the Sartorial outfit. I just ordered a few 3-piece outfits (leggings, bra, long-sleeved top to throw on top) - Sychronize, Chakra, and Runway. 

• Julia - summer is the season of tortilla chips...which means you probably have a ton of half-full, stale chip bags in your pantry. Enter this fun gadget—which reseals any plastic bag using heat. Even better? The other side features a blade, so you can cut open any bag and then reseal it up again... a true game-changer!

• LaToya - these earrings are so perfect I now own 5 pairs. Classic, pretty, chic and easy. 

Looking for my favorite things? You can find them here.

If you like what I’m sending, please forward it with someone you love (or someone you don’t). Or both. Everyone could use some smart reads in their life.

xo, HPN