Wednesday!!!

Apparently it's the middle of the week??

Spotify’s algorithms are the only good ones

BLESS THE SUMMER REWIND PLAYLIST!!!! Happy solstice (pronounced like the gym in Broad City*)!!!

Plus Larry gave me Airpods last night as an early birthday gift because he truly knows and loves me, so I’m writing to you from a sunny coffee shop with a yuuuge (sorry) hot coffee listening to Danny Brown at 8:55 a.m. and feeling like my best self yet!!!

So that’s ^ my version of the Summer Rewind, the songs I listen to most in summer, perfectly molded by the robot ar-teests at Spotify HQ. It’s a fascinating mix of songs I just love in summer, like One Dance (perfect) and God Bless America - and All the Beautiful Women in It (ideal), and songs I listened to a bunch when my brother died three summers ago, like The Swimming Song (because resilience), and I love them one and all!!! Life life life!!

You can listen to mine of COURSE, but you probably have your own, too, so don’t forget to look.

*And while we’re at it, let’s appreciate Paul W. Downs majorly

I forgot to update you on the strawberry cake!!!

I made it for our wedding anniversary *scary old gas station attendant voice* one hundred years ago this very night (JK it was two weeks ago):

Behold:

OK SO some of the strawberries sank and that’s fine (I would slice them a little thicker next time). I was IN LOVE with this beautiful beast! It’s suuuper light and smells so good, and the recipe asks you to grease and sugar the pan before pouring in the batter, and sprinkle sugar over the top before baking, so you end up with JUST THE LIGHTEST SUGAR CRUNCH ALL OVER IT. There’s hidden jam inside it! We didn’t have strawberry so I just dolloped like five different kinds in there! It’s fine! It’s better than fine! It’s cake!

Brittany Howard is making a solo record

This is great FOR ME PERSONALLY, THANKS BRITTANY, because I love her but/and have never gotten as into Alabama Shakes as I feel like I’m supposed to? I also have this problem with Brene Brown but we’ll get to that at a later date.

Howard says this is the most honest and personal she's been in her music but felt it was time to do something on her own, outside of Alabama Shakes. "I turned 30 and I was like, 'What do I want the rest of my life to look like?' Do I want to play the same songs until I'm 50 and then retire, or do I do something that's scarier for me? Do I want people to understand me and know me, do I want to tell them my story? I'm very private, but my favorite work is when people are being honest and really doing themselves."

Don’t read anything about John Early and Kate Berlant’s 10-minute awkward-unsetting short, just watch it!!!

Watch til the VERY END! (Then you’re allowed to read about it here.)

P.S. To subscriber Matt Sharkey, this is not actually scary and you can handle it, I promise.

On a related note…

Important question, please respond

(You can always just reply to these emails and they go to me, BTW!)

Q: Do you check all your locks physically every night before you go to bed?

I do, perhaps not compulsively but definitely uhh to reassure myself, and I made a deprecating joke about it the other night and Larry was like actually, I think that’s very normal. So now I’m curious!

We adopted Isabella Rossellini Looka So Nice ten years ago this week

Here she is in 2009, seemingly questioning her decision to leave the Humane Society.

And here she is last week, in the best, most primo sunlight spot of the day.

When the internet is good

A rambly web of longtime IRL and internet friendships led me to start following Julia Nunes in earnest (you probably know her from the ukulele videos she made in the earlier aughts) a couple years ago, and I adore her tender internet presence and the way she talks about self-care, especially when it includes food:

And now she released a six-song EP?? tiny album?? IDK and I don’t care, of beautiful cool post-break-up songs. You can listen above or outside of this email if you must. Dog-ear “Used to Want,” b/c it will be showing up on my future Summer Rewinds feeeer suuuuure OMG:

Looks like you’re glad I’m gone

Thanking God for saving you from what you used to want

Oh you’re glad you got away

OK OK OK

You can kick me when I’m down

And I will crawl into the bed I made

UGHHH I LOVE BRUTAL BEAUTIFUL THINGS!!

WOW IT’S SO SUNNY, are we in great moods this morning?? It’s summer!!!,

Lindsey