the may review
a perfect spring read and thought daughters galore
Hi sweetpeas 🫛
I think I owe you an apology. I miss posting on Studio 168 so much. I’ve got guilt creep; every day that I don’t post here, the ball in my stomach gets a little tighter. I have no intention of leaving; I love posting here, I love this community, and I’m dying to do it more. The honest truth is I’ve been stretched for time. I’ve had more work coming in, good jobs that I want to do which is a massive blessing after the financial precarity of the past two years. I really want to build my savings so I took it all on — but most of that work is on YouTube, which is very time-consuming to make. Being a creator is a great career because it’s fun. It’s easy work (I’m no brain surgeon), but the flip side of that is it takes a lot of hours, especially making long-form content. Honestly I don’t know how people maintain a YouTube channel or podcast, Instagram, TikTok and then a side quest like having kids or starting a company when they’re working independently. I’m in awe of them.
As you know, my side quest is trying to release some songs — but paid work sometimes has to take priority as a girl’s gotta pay her bills, and when you add dad visits and writing sessions into the mix, Studio 168 ended up slipping off the edge. My plate has been very full and something had to give. I’m hoping that as things lighten up slightly, I can spend more time writing and creating here. Doing this fills my cup. I will also be delivering the goods you ordered — I believe I owe you two demos? I’ll do my best to catch you up over the next few months ♥️👩🍳
wearing —
I have been obsessed with this Damson Madder cami, the berry embroidery is so sweet and unique. They kindly reached out to gift me some pieces (honestly so kind of them, I love their designs) and they included the matching skort which I can’t wait to wear. Now I just need the warm weather to return so I can style them together!
I’ve also been loving my Polène Solé bag — I have the Ebony colourway and I think it’s such a pretty summer bag. I packed it for my Malaga long weekend with Lan and Mol because it’s so versatile, I could wear it in the day and the evening which was a saving grace when squeezing everything into my travel backpack. You can get a Kindle in it too — a major win.
reading —
I finished The Enchanted April and loved it. It’s a Penguin classic published in 1922, written by Elizabeth Von Arnim about four London women who take a spontaneous trip to a medieval castle in Italy after seeing an advert in the newspaper. As I was reading, I kept thinking about how fun it would be if someone made it into a rom-com — turns out they already thought of that in the nineties, so the film is now at the top of my to-watch list. It felt good to read something from a different era — I’m hyperconscious of suffering from endless scroll brain rot and how my lexicon is gradually becoming 2D, so reading different styles of work feels both enjoyable and almost nourishing for my brain. The writing stretched me just a little, and the story is good enough that once I was a few pages in I’d forget it was written over a hundred years ago. It’s such a charming story, I’d wholly recommend you read it next Spring, or even better if you’re going on a girls’ trip soon.
listening —
I get song fixations the way that some get stuck on certain foods or flavours — this month I came across putmefirst by 24mg deep in the scroll, and naturally I’ve listened to it multiple times a day since. It’s on my honey playlist along with all of the other best songs I’ve recently discovered — if you’re looking for new music this is somewhere to start 🎧
I’ve also started a summer playlist of fun, slightly dark summer songs — think predrinks, or the bus on the way home from the pub. All recommendations welcome (vibe-building is a community pursuit) and if you have any name suggestions please send them my way!?
following —
Petitioning for Chrissy Adane to start a podcast as I love her takes on TikTok. I put my phone down, screen open and listen to her — that’s how you know it’s serious!! She has a Substack called
which I’ll be subscribing to expeditiously.My favourite podcast journos interviewed Addison Rae and it’s such a good watch. Fascinated by her take that taste is a luxury — I’ve felt this way for a while, basically since making content became the gateway to many creative careers, but I had no idea how to put it into words. I have to compromise on my creative vision all the time because of time constraints, the need for optimisation and the hamster wheel effect leading to creative burnout (being rinsed of small ideas 24/7 is not a good way to nurture new, more developed ones.) If I reached my full creative potential, I’d probably make 1/4 of what I create now, but as a middle-class influencer I don’t feel I have that luxury. (By middle-class I mean I’m not in the 1mil+ followers category but I am making a living from creating content.) True creative freedom increasingly seems to be something to be earned in the arts, which is very much a recession indicator imo!
visiting —
Finally, I went to Malaga on a little girls’ trip. Lan’s staying out there for a while so we piled into her AirBnb and spent a lovely long weekend cycling down the coast and reading on the beach. Can’t tell you how much I needed it — floating around in the sea feels spiritually healing. Spain is such a beautiful country, we’re going back this month for Jack’s sister’s baby shower and I already can’t wait.
Omg 😭 thank you for the shoutout!! Starting a podcast soon 🤭