Welcome Summer

My guide to enjoying every moment this season has to offer

Jun 23, 2025

After a very tumultuous spring, I am very thankful and grateful to welcome summer.

After surviving the longest day of the year (and following that with a 4-year old birthday party), I feel like today I can sit and breathe in the blooms of summer. I want to embrace the heat this year. I want to be present in every moment this season has to offer.

Spring felt very lonely in a lot of ways, so summer is my time to slow down, rest, and enjoy the sun setting late.

My Midsummer

Books, TV, food, rituals. I know the world is very heavy right now (the news is on in the background as I write this). We are being fed curated aesthetics on Instagram while the world is literally burning and innocent civilians are dying. Life is still going. The sun is still shining, The berries are still sweet. My hope is to stay vigilant and aware while also living and loving my life. I read an amazing Substack on Gabby Writes Things on this the other day and encourage you all to read it too.

gabby writes things

are we allowed to dream when the world's on fire?

Are we allowed to have creative dreams when the world is burning…

8 days ago · 56 likes · 6 comments · Gabby Llewellyn

Now let’s dive in…

TBR

First up is The Sicilian Inheritance. “A multigenerational mystery that spans a century..”. I’ve been begging my husband to take me back to Italy. This book will do in the meantime.

Et Volia will be on my to-buy list! Manon Lagreve was on the Great British Bakeoff and has now written this book. Honestly, we will all benefit from me owning this! 😋

The Curious Gardener has one chapter for each month of the year. Truly a gardening diary and since this spring was chaotic and I was not able to do as much in the garden as I was hoping, I want to read this book and gather ideas for a fall garden and what I can do during the winter.

TV

We finished watching the first two seasons of Shrinking on Apple TV. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your to-watch list! The characters are flawed, but lovable. The pace is great and we both laughed and cried multiple times.

What I’m Loving

Dresses, Summer smells, Gardening, Enjoying my new planner, Spending as much time at the pool as we can, Sipping on rose, Reading, and Drinking as much water as possible.

Activities

Our summer schedule is going something like this:

Lazy mornings. Letting the sun stream through the windows to wake us up. Making breakfast. Reading a few pages of my book as the coffee brews.
Moving our bodies. Walking before the day gets too hot. Swimming as much as we can.
Studying. Doing homework for my grad classes. Zander studying for his driver’s permit.
Just being. Watching the summer clouds roll in. Enjoying the random thunder in the evening. Eating all the summer fruit.

Food

I’m not going to lie… I have HATED cooking lately. I have been finding myself cooking the same tried and true things my children will actually eat and it is nothing to add here (think chicken nuggets or spaghetti).

But with summer officially here, it is giving me grace to assemble meals that consist of whatever we buy from the farmer’s market. Fresh tomatoes and herbs. Zucchini and cold fruit. Jammy eggs. Pasta and bread. Espresso. Iowa Sweet Corn. Local honey. Cold lentils or beans with oil and herbs. If you are sensing a theme here…there is none! Just me giving myself grace that dinner doesn’t need to be a production every night.