A monthly report on the new things I tried, the things I’ve returned to, the things I’ve dumped, and the things I look forward to.
June was filled with a lot of family time, good food, and good enough TV. Josh and I even went on two dates.
June also felt pretty nightmarish! This mental whiplash (Yay, splash pads are open! Oh no, we bombed Iran?!) can’t be healthy and yet this is the world we live in —a deluge of horrible news mixed with play dates and birthday parties. What can you do? Stay informed and aware. Double check your sources. Continue calling your congress person. Vote, always. And try to give each other more grace — your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, barista, the person taking too long at the intersection… we don’t know everything that’s going on in someone’s life. Channel your anger where it matters. And find joy everywhere else. Recharge.
In this month’s edit:
7 new things tried, including a media literacy quiz. Turns out I’m more skeptical than gullible.
7 things I returned to, including 4 TV shows.
3 things I dumped, including 1 app.
5 things I look forward to in July.
New Things I Tried
Got a lash lift from the gal who apparently does Dakota Johnson’s eyelashes.
Made a quick appearance on Spectrum TV’s local news show.
Watched The Studio Season 1 (Apple TV+). Seth Rogen’s character gets promoted to head studio exec and faces the millennial manager crisis trifecta: wanting to be liked, wanting to be creative, wanting the business to succeed. I liked that it was a straight up comedy that didn’t succumb to the Hollywood urge to be a dramedy.
Finished Summer Sisters by Judy Blume. A rich, charismatic girl invites her poor, stressed friend to her family’s vacation island every summer over the course of 20 years. While Judy Blume is known to be an author for tween readers, this coming-of-age novel was intended for adults. Just in case you were thinking of getting it for your niece’s birthday.
Watched Mountainhead (HBO Max). Three tech billionaires and one aspiring billionaire enjoy their secluded vacation in the mountains. Meanwhile the world erupts into chaos due to a flood of AI-generated misinformation enabled by a popular social platform founded by the wealthiest of the four. Scheming follows. This movie was pretty mid but then I read that Jesse Armstrong wrote the screenplay in January 2025 and the film was released May 31, 2025. It could have used a couple more edits and maybe some casting swaps (I can’t NOT see Michael Scott). Casual critiques from someone who has never made a film before. :)
Tried “Vibe Coding”
Took a media literacy quiz. I scored a 70% in my ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news. 70% sounded good until I realized that’s like a C-.
Things I Returned To
Finished Andor Season 2 (Disney). The Empire is secretly creating a dangerous weapon, which we, the viewers, all know is the Death Star. The rebellion needs to get their shit together, including Cassian Andor who is pretty disinterested in being a hero. The first 3 episodes feel tonally disjointed but the rest is great. Just power through!
Finished Top Chef: Destination Canada (Bravo/Peacock). Accomplished chefs who have not already gone through the Food Network gauntlet compete for Tom Collichio’s approval. Ugh I love reality cooking competition shows1 but the Top Chef franchise feels too…nice? And not because this season was set in Canada. Maybe it’s because Tom decided to sport more turtlenecks and dish more compliments. Or because the new host and former Top Chef winner Kristen Kish empathizes with the contestants too much. But I mostly blame the lack of interpersonal drama. I wonder if the Top Chef-to-other-food-competition-show pipeline is so strong that it’s a deterrent from being “a villain.” And the result is their personalities feel watered down and forgettable. All I remember from this season is one guy grew herbs under his bed, which sounds nasty. And another looked like she exclusively wore LuLaRoe.
Finished Traitors UK Season 2 (Peacock). Set in a dramatic Scottish castle settling, contestants are secretly assigned the role of a “faithful” or “traitor.” By day, everyone competes in missions to collectively earn money for the prize pot, all while figuring out who the traitors are amongst them. By night someone gets banished from the castle by collective vote and then someone gets “murdered” by the traitors. Whoever is left at the end gets to split the money, unless a traitor is among them. Then the remaining traitor takes it all for themselves. As I’m writing this out, it sounds incredibly stupid but the show kept me on the treadmill, which means it’s solid entertainment. Season 2 of Traitors UK was the best season of Traitors hands down (between US & UK).
Finished 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing Season 2 (Food Network / HBO Max). I love a clock gimmick. Instead of The Pitt, this reality TV cooking competition seems to be inspired by Mr. Beast. Contestants battle in a series of cooking challenges for 24 hours straight. Last chef standing gets $75K. There were a lot of Top Chef alums in this season, including some of my favorites: Stephanie Izard, Nini Nguyen, and Brian Voltaggio.
June’s Journey. I’m back, babyyyy. In this free mobile game, users solve hidden object puzzles to discover who murdered June’s sister. Plus you earn coins to decorate an island. Women over 60 love it and so do I.
Huckleberry in Santa Monica, CA, where Josh and I had our first date back in 2011.
American Beauty in Venice, CA. For the steak.
Things I Dumped
A paid subscription tier for my Substack! Explanation here. If you were a paid subscriber, you should not be receiving any more charges.
The Matter app. I gave it about a month but I couldn’t build a habit. I read somewhere that a product needs to be 9x better than the default to break a user from their habit. This product was not 9x better than the Substack app or Notion.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I may try this again later but I haven’t seemed to want to watch this. There was something kind of novel about season 1 but now it just feels kind of sad.
Things I Look Forward To In July
My sister sent me a ChatGPT prompt idea for getting a personalized gym regimen after I told her that I’m in a work out rut. I’m all caught up on Traitors and have nothing to keep me going on the treadmill.
I still want to learn how to lathe!
I ordered some fragrance oil samples because I want to experiment with our homemade candle “house scent.” I didn’t like what I got but the shop is 15 minutes away without traffic so I’m thinking I’ll drop in and sniff. Gwen might like the adventure.
Maybe we’ll watch season 4 of The Bear. For being such an acclaimed show I’ve not heard much about it.
MY BIRTHDAY. I’m a Leo so I will be insufferable this month.
It’s the one genre of show our dog won’t bark at