June Vibes

are apparently green?

( A note: It’s June, which is one of my favorite months. Lately though, the Horrors in the news have been hitting extra hard. Basically, I launched this newsletter because I wanted a place where I could chat about books, petite joys, lovely things, and treats in a way that Instagram didn’t allow. I want to reiterate, as I do every so often, that I write and take photos to provide some respite - if only just for a few minutes - and some beauty, and to celebrate books.)

After meaning to read Angela Thirkell’s ‘Wild Strawberries’ for literally years, I finally just purchased.

I’m not a rep for Whittard (MORES THE PITY), but every time I turn my head, another enchantment pops up, so I am constantly shouting them out - Turkish Apple is next on my Must Try tea list.

Almost never paint my nails. But if I did, this kelly green shade from Paintbox would be on my nails right now.

Italian Fig & Almond soap. I’d love this also as a fragrance.

Speaking of perfume, Lily of the Valley from Penhaligons seems very June-ish.

DO NOT SLEEP ON MEN’S CARDIGANS. This Summer Polo Cardigan is so great.

Last year, my husband gave me ‘Cooking With Fernet Branca’ by James Hamilton-Paterson, and I happily got started with it, and then ACCIDENTALLY became SUBMERGED by ‘Fourth Wing’ and ‘Iron Flame’ and then the entire ACOTAR series.

So I’m picking it back up now, as it very much fits the ‘summer in Europe’ vibe I’m creating for myself via books. Like it says on the cover, it is indeed laugh out funny even though I’m only a few chapters in, and if it makes me chuckle even half as much as ‘A Year in Provence’ by Peter Mayle, I’ll be thrilled. The book takes turns with the POV of the two main characters who are neighbors in Tuscany (a Briton who has Moved To Italy To Write, and a neighboring composer who has left her possibly mythical and fictional Eastern European country of ‘Voynovia’) — both of whom we learn to be equally unreliable narrators. Hijinks ensue.

I desperately would love a Pooky table lamp, but the varieties are so endless I think it would take years for me to choose a favorite.

Also, I have been pining for this Greenwood duvet cover for over a year now, it’s even more beautiful in person - THE PROBLEM IS…..I have a somewhat boldly patterned rust colored rug in my bedroom which takes center stage, and I think the combo of the rug plus this duvet would be TOO MUCH. I don’t know….maybe I just need to embrace the too muchness of it all? You’ll note in the other photos on the website, the duvet is paired with a more neutral rug, for balance. This duvet seems so fairytale-ish to me.

I told my husband that I thought it would be like sleeping in a fairytale and he said well you’d be asleep, so not really like sleeping in a fairytale. Then I got mad at him. Because HOW DARE HE BE A CRUSHER OF DREAMS.

Happy June!

Melissa