Vibe Check: August 2024
Your Monthly Moodboard 🧚
At the start of each month, I share my own vibe check: a kitchen sink selection of recommendations, inspirations, and hyperfixations to set the tone—or the ~ViBe, if you will—for the month.
August has always felt like a bit of a dud month for me. It’s the only month of the year without a holiday or vacation days. It’s when the novelty of the summer heat turns from pleasant to stale, and time seemingly becomes a bit of a slog. As a kid, it symbolized my return to school and the not-yet-but-almost time of my birthday. As a corporate employee, it became the signal of summer Fridays running out. I don’t want to offend any Leos reading this; I know this is your time to shine, but honestly, August has just never hit for me.
So this year, I’m determined to reexamine my relationship with the eighth month and find things to love about it. Instead of resisting the slow pace and lack of big moments, I’m embracing it. As Lauren Marie wrote recently in her post- Boring Girl Summer —sometimes “an empty calendar is packed with pleasure.” Sometimes, it's nice not to be on a big a crazy adventure. We’re slowing. We’re growing.
This month, we’re eating ice cream cones, having dinner at the table, and going for long drives with the windows down. We’re sipping on glass bottles of bubbly water and getting our vitamin D every way we can. We’re honoring our boundaries—making time and space for the things we want to do. We’re wearing silk scarves on our heads, eating stone fruit, and buying ourselves flowers.
Since there are no holidays in August, we can make our own. We can celebrate everything and nothing. We’re going on road trips and to outdoor concerts; we’re going bowling and doing karaoke. We’re sitting in kiddy pools in the back yard.
Below find some fun things to engage and inspire and set your August off on the right foot.
Take an art class. If you’re in LA you can check out Nova Community Arts Center or Junior High LA
Check out some of Jordan Kay’s illustrations for some noisy neon delights to brighten up the day
Go out dancing! 💃 I’m aiming to hit up Abba Night in LA this month 🕺
I just finished the audiobook The Age of Magical Overthinking, and I highly recommend it. Examining our modern-day cognitive biases in a super relatable way, Amanda Montell (host of one of my favorite podcasts, Sounds Like a Cult) navigates staying positive and open in our age of digital overdose 📚✨
Take an Italian vacation without leaving your yard. 🇮🇹 Set up this cute inflatable pool (or a striped one,) pour yourself a non-alcoholic Aperol spritz or Negroni on ice (or if you drink, this cute bagged Italian white wine looks fun,) and make yourself some Stuzzichini 🍷🍝
Vibe out with my current favorite Sativa gummies by Wyld Canna 🍓😶🌫️
I’m diving into a new chapter in my life with my love for photobooths and this article about the Photomatica team by the San Francisco Standard is fun. 🎞 (If you’re looking to try some out in LA, you can find one near you in my guides part one (West Side) and part two (NorthEast Side) 📸
It’s not too late to have a tomato girl summer! 🍅 Lounge around the house in this adorable tomato print robe, or basically anything from Lisa Says Gah’s Buon Appetito line, try out this tomato shaped dutch oven (perfect for serving hot dips IMO,) add a Pomodoro pop socket to your phone, or snag this abstract baggu. 🍅
I’m obsessed with these hand-made collage tarot cards. 🔮 I can’t wait to see how they turn out! If you, like me, enjoy doing tarot spreads at home, I recommend How to Read Tarot: A Modern Guide by Jessica Wiggin.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Diane Von Furstenberg, queen of colorful prints and the wrap dress (which is a perfect August wardrobe staple fwiw) as she talks about the beauty and importance of aging
Spruce up your salad with this egg and fish-free Ceasar Dressing Dupe I’ve been making all summer 🥗
Find yourself mesmerized by the process of designing book covers by following cover designer Elisha Zepeda 📚
Try out tattoo ideas with this DIY temporary tattoo marker kit 🖋
Keep the summer looks going strong with these huarache sandals: men or women. (Ben and I both just got pairs)
If you haven’t seen the viral Somebody That I Used To Know dance performance by CDK Dance Company, I am so excited to show you. (And if you have seen it, enjoy it again - I’ve watched it no less than fifteen times.)
Someone please make these cute stamped dish towels
I’m dying to try this fun fabric-covered frame DIY 🖼
Perfect activity to keep basking in summer travel: design & print a groovy photobook of your most recent vacation 🧳✈️📚 OR start building out a magazine of your year (I need to try this!)
Tie your bandana or neck scarf in a new way 🧣
Spruce up your reading time with this pressed flower bookmark 🌸
Learn how to do the Brat Dance 💚 or finally teach yourself Texas Hold ‘Em 🤠 (my husband caught me in the kitchen the other morning making coffee and working on the former)
Use your extra citrus to make homemade pledge 🍋
Host a tote bag decorating party (and invite me plz)
Have a wonderful month!