september round up
I’m back. I took August off this year as I was travelling with the kids in Canada and managing work around school holidays. I say it every year but welcome to the season of books and reading 🎉🪵☔️🕯️
On the heels of re-naming this The Enthusiast I thought I might change the structure of the contents with a new idea named R.E.P.O.R.T. See below.
Read:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The White Rock by Anna Hope
On Connection by Kae Tempest
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Girl Crush by Florence Given
My favourites these past two months were Demon Copperhead and Hello Beautiful. The first based on the classic David Copperfield, set in rural Virginia at the start of the opioid crisis. The second a re-telling of Little Women via 4 sisters in 1960’s Chicago.
Eat: I made this cheesecake for my co-parent’s 40th birthday. He then went away for the weekend to Edinburgh and left us to finish it off. And that we did.
Play: Brighton Pride was a brilliant rainbow coloured joy this year, despite the rain. Followed by a fun night on St James’s Street at Block.
Obsess: Fashion wise I find these in between seasons challenging. Connie is very inspiring with her genderless outfit inspiration.
Recommend: Miriam Margoyles, the person who I want to be when I grow up, has written another book this time named Oh Miriam! Stories From An Extraordinary Life. Like her previous book it’s stories, she isn’t short on them, and I have been really laughing out loud at my desk this week listening to the audiobook of her telling them. What a hilarious and unusual life she has lived. She helps me to focus on what’s important in mine too and for that I’m grateful.
Treat: Last weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday with a weekend away at The Carn in The Wye Valley with some friends. It was stunning, an incredible spot, breath taking views, an outside shower, fire pit and a bath on the decking where we gazed at the view, chatted, made and ate epic food and enjoyed some plant medicine. Pure magic and the perfect trip to enter this next decade of my life.
There were many changes in my life this past lap around the sun (a wise person I know tells me that this often happens in a year which end in a 9, due to reflecting on the past decade). The end/pivot of my 17 year relationship, a new career trajectory into permanent employment, new status as a co-parent. Change is uncomfortable, can feel scary and has woken me up in many ways but I feel on the right path now and I’m here for this next decade of my life. Cheers to being brave and really squeezing every drop out of this life.
