summer on my mind 🐇🍅

ideas on how to enjoy the warmer days ahead 🌞

When the days get longer, what do we do with the time? Take the boredom and turn it into leisure. Summer looms over us with an expectation of fun. There is no right way to appease the god of each season, but I have some ideas!

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about as sunnier days approach:

• go to a drive-in to watch a movie

• make yellow cake with chocolate frosting

• flower arrangements in empty bottles

• join leagues or clubs (padel, volleyball, adult gymnastics, etc.)

• eat strawberries, blackberries, and peaches

• drink diet coke and beer

• play pool or cards (black jack, slap jack)

• binge a comfort show: downton abbey

• make a sandwich: mozz, prosciutto, pesto, tomato, olive oil, salt, and pepper

• braid your hair, add some tinsel, wear a headband

• make a birthday mum

• love your sunglasses

• don’t forget the baseball cap

• late night burger, fries, and shake

• have a glen powell double feature: top gun: maverick & twisters

• make pancakes in the morning

• dance in private

• dance in public

• appreciate neon signs at night

• collect things: coins, matchbooks, pins, coozies, stamps, stickers

• buy a puzzle, complete the puzzle

• decorate with bubbles, streamers, and colorful paper chains

• order an ice cream sundae, rainbow sprinkles, hold the cherry

• look up and take pictures

• wander around, lollygag, peruse

• see a movie during the day at your local theater

• stick your feet in a body of water and kick them around

• wear sunscreen

• get temporary tattoos

• drink iced tea

• take a nap

• freeze some bananas and then dip them in yogurt (and then freeze them again)

• paint your toenails

• make smores

• sweat without remorse

• send postcards

• defeat your enemies at mario kart

I had wanted to explore “food” in this letter. (TW: ED)

Lately, I’ve been more attuned to its trending power on social media: food in beauty ads, food in Pinterest style boards, aesthetic snacking plates, messy floral cakes, at-home TikTok chefs, and non-talking food creators a la Emily Mariko. Add in Erewhon hauls and fresh groceries, which are starting to be seen as a wealth indicator. Along with your usual local food influencers, mukbang videos, and “come with me to try mi mi mi mi mimimimi.”

We all need food, and we all eat food. Food is a very normal, typical thing in our daily lives. However, it’s so interesting to me that alongside everything I just mentioned, simultaneously, there is the trending “fashion” of early 2000s skinny, the continued pop culture reference of “almond moms,” and increasing fatphobia across the internet and real life.

Somewhere on this corkboard with red thread overlapping is also the lack of diversity in run clubs and pilates classes—the privilege of feeling welcome.

Is the notion that we can post a cute picture of butter but not eat it? I just bought “butter yellow” linen pants, but God forbid I wear those while I eat a hot dog. Actually, no, hot dogs are “in” right now because of summer.

I feel insane.

All to say, I don’t know what to do with this observation yet.

I’ve never been under a size 4. My belly has never been flat. I only started to learn healthy eating habits in my early twenties. Even in the years I felt less confident, I never felt the blatant judgment, and I have started to feel it creep in now.

I know there is personal accountability in all of this.

I’ve seen people decide to make a change in their lives with movement, exercise, and diet. But I’ve also been privy to many more conversations and comments about miracle oils, fasting, villainization of food, calorie counting, organic, and raw options.

Layer in cultures that are fatphobic, but then get snarky when someone is actually trying to be healthy, and we have another couple of pages on this.

When we say we want strong, healthy bodies, do we mean it?

Two letters in May? Who is she?!? I’ll take it.

June is my birthday month, and I feel like it’s time to share another Cherrywood excerpt. Does that sound like something y’all would be interested in? Let me know in the comments.

As always, thank you for supporting Sunday Romantics. I hope you are taking care of yourselves. Don’t let the summer heat keep you down.