The Noteworthy Edit #3: Where are my certified summer girls?
My week in links - let’s go!
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I’m writing this week’s newsletter from one of my favourite places in the world. My parent’s kitchen table.
The three of us normally sit here every morning when we have breakfast and we debrief on the days and night before, laugh about my past missteps, all the while my parents continue to offer me sage advice as I go through yet another breakdown or crisis of confidence.
My dad wakes up first and usually journals and meditates from this table before he makes coffee for my mom and I. I like to watch the cardinals and bluejays dive through the ivy on the fence in the backyard. I’m finding being at home again a comfort and a respite. Life isn’t particularly hectic for me at the moment, but I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads, but I suppose that’s a conversation for another newsletter.
Shall we get into this week in links?
📖 READING:
One of my toxic traits is that I can never just read one book at a time. As soon as someone recommends something to me, I can’t help but pick it up and start reading despite being in the middle of something else. Book recommendations are sacred, a small peek into someone’s soul and I am always so honoured to receive one. Someone I was seeing recommended Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City and I feel like it’s come at the perfect time. A memoir about loneliness and isolation in a big city is perhaps a little on the nose, but hey, we must live in our truth!
I really enjoyed this piece by Avalon Afriyie for Refinery29, Single Files: Dating Is Important To Me, But My Recovery Is My Priority, where having read that I thought Avalon had cracked open my skull and lifted out directly what I have been thinking, having been dating for only 10 months at this point. She writes, “I’ve come to realise, I’m motivated by love” which is such a small recognition of a feeling that really touched me.
Modern dating feels akin to admin at best or entering into battle at worst, and it was that sentence that made me think, at its core it really is that simple.
🎧 LISTENING:
This has been a real moment for me in terms of live shows and nostalgic music from my childhood. I don't know if you know but I SAW BEYONCÉ. I’ve been so lucky to see her live every time she’s toured since 2013 if memory serves, and I absolutely ascended into a higher plane from my seat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. When I arrived in Virginia, I went to see Paramore with my best friend in DC and gave myself whiplash from headbanging to “Decode” and “Misery Business” so my 35-year-old body is now recovering from self-inflicted injuries.
So apart from that excitement, I have to recommend a podcast that I watch on YouTube regularly, Emotionally Online by Maddie Dragsbaek, who is one of my favourite people on the internet. The podcast feels like a slumber party where you’re catching up with a friend, “spilling guts and sharing secrets” as she puts it, but it’s so much more than that. It’s sage advice, it’s a safe place for vulnerability about love and intimacy, it’s loving ourselves for who we are, it’s loving our bodies unapologetically. Maddie is just the coolest, wisest person I’ve seen on the internet in a long time and I adore her.
🎥 WATCHING:
I am simply not okay now that Succession is over. Truly my favourite TV show ever made, and I will not be taking any questions at this time. I’m still processing this loss. I can’t believe I’ve grown so attached to such a despicable family, but here we are.
On the other end of the spectrum, my favourite feel-good programmes have also ended for good - Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I didn’t enjoy the final seasons as much as I had hoped, they felt really rushed and forced to me, but by the time the final episodes themselves came I was happy with how they tied things up.
On the flight over to Virginia, I watched Tár, a psychological drama about a woman (Lydia Tár, played by Cate Blanchett) who is considered to be one of the greatest living conductors and how she is accused of sexual misconduct. It was totally captivated by start to finish by that film, I absolutely loved it. Cate is incredible in this role and the way the music plays its own part as well as the conversations about how music can make you feel, really resonated with me.
👗 WEARING:
I am a certified summer girl, so it is my time! So many people say they hate summer dressing because it’s too hot, they prefer layering, but I am completely the opposite way. Give me easy sundresses any day of the week!
The Instagram algorithm knows me too well because I immediately fell in love with this Farm Rio green topstiched midi dress and bought it as soon I saw it. It’s unfortunately sold out, but pop the notifications on for this one!
Aside from being a midi dress girl, I’m a matching set girl for life and this Damson Madder x Amanda Djerf collab has me smitten! Any excuse to feel like I’m wearing pajamas is a win.
BEAUTY/SKINCARE/HAIRCARE:
Now that summer is officially here - well, it feels like it right now in Virginia - I needed to get an SPF so I found myself in Sephora as I always do and fell in love with the Paula’s Choice Youth-Extending Daily Hydrating Fluid Broad Spectrum SPF 50. I love a lightweight SPF that doesn’t leave a whitecast and this one is a great one as well if you have oily skin because it dries down pretty matte and wears well under makeup, if you can bear that in the summer!
Thank you so much for reading and being patient with me as I’m travelling and getting to grips with timezones! Looking forward to talking to you again next week.
About me: I'm Nicole, the writer of The Noteworthy. I’m also a content creator and the co-host of the award-winning Mixed Up podcast. Having been chronically online since the age of 13, you can also find me on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest. I’m working on my first book, The Half Of It, which you can pre-order here.