5SmartReads

Before we dive in, let’s catch up on what you might have missed: The weekend letter is always free, and my paid subscribers are why. Paid gets you the tools/AI prompts/strategies files, plus the personal stuff I don't share anywhere else. I'd love to have you. I’m an astrology girl. I’m also a Cancer stellium. Both of these have everything to do with this post.

I’ve become a broken record about how much I love Littlebird. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it’s changed my life. It’s saved me time, energy, and given me back some mental capacity to do the things I’ve been tabling for a while (reading more books, applying for various TEDx conferences, and building out a proper business plan and projected P&L for Hyphenated). And that was just last week.

I had an entirely different topic planned for this week’s check-in, but it’s going to require some extra time and thought than I have capacity for right now. Capacity is something I’ve been reflecting on and communicating about.

Before we dive in, let’s catch up on what you might have missed: The weekend letter is always free, and my paid subscribers are why. Paid gets you the tools/AI prompts/strategies files, plus the personal stuff I don't share anywhere else. I'd love to have you. It's been a week since I finished House of Stassi and I still can't stop thinking about the show. It is so earnest in a way we rarely see on reality television.

I want to be transparent about my health updates, while protecting myself in sharing more personal updates, especially ones that feel vulnerable. These essays will be behind the paywall, and I’ve priced my subscriptions as low as Substack will allow me to go. a quick catch up: why I went on a GLP-1, months 2 & 3, and my most recent well check. Working with BBR for a year helped me establish a really solid health foundation to stay successful and strong on a GLP-1.

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I love the idea of an article club. Aliza Sir and Aja Frost wrote about it in Platonic Love, and it’s the kind of gathering I want more of - and I feel like it’s something we can reimagine virtually. Here’s what I propose: a Wednesday lunchtime (Eastern time zone) virtual hangout here on Substack live. I’ll kick things off with some thoughts on an article from this week’s check in, and I’ll open the floor for folks to share their own smart reads and thoughts. Please come.

I didn’t think I could’ve had a harder month than March. July really said “hold my wine. Hell, hold the whole bottle.” This month was terrible. One of my best friends from college passed away suddenly. Hosting a family reunion for my mom’s 75th birthday took a major toll on me, and I stupidly tackled some major home projects before my mom’s major surgery next week. All of this, and in my birthday month no less.

I love a brain dump. There’s something about filling pages of a mini legal pad, or furiously typing harebrained ideas into my Notes app (only to come back later with absolutely no clue why I wrote it). During a brutal stretch this spring – one of my kids was in the hospital and we were hitting a critical moment at work – I’d open a new voice memo in Monologue and just talk. How I was feeling, what needed to get done, an idea for a Substack, a feeling I was trying to unpack.

They say to never meet your heroes. But if yours is Jo Piazza, your life will become infinitely better for it. Jo is one of my favorite authors (of 14 (!) books), podcast hosts, and people. She is wickedly funny, brilliant in a way that brings you along her curiosity ride, and generous in showing up for her friends and giving them a place to shine.