August Life Lately

I heard someone say recently that August is "the Sunday of the year" and I've never heard my weird feelings about August described so perfectly!

I always find myself feeling so much pressure in August to soak up as much summer as I can, as though as soon as the calendar reads "September" any second of sunshine evaporates.

And as much as I'm a basic autumn girl, there are so many things I love about summer and I hate feeling the soul-crushing pressure of not having "made the most" of it! Exactly how I feel on a Sunday!

In the end August was a bit like a Sunday for us - a quiet one for us this year with lots of BBQs, sewing and hanging out with friends which was much-needed!

Here's my One Second Every Day for August and below is everything else I got up to...

What I did

I might start calling this section "what I sewed" because I feel like all I talk about in this section now is sewing! 

In August I finished two projects. The first was a Tilly and the Buttons Lotta dress in this lovely teal animal print. I absolutely love this dress and have actually made another since - more on this next month!

I also made my second Stevie top in this amazing pineapple print! I am so proud of it! It was definitely much easier making something I'd made before, especially as I've been making notes after every project to help me for next time.

I've also now set up a separate Instagram account for my sewing adventures. Find me at sew_worries !

Where I went

We had a team social at work last month and I went to the cricket for the first time at Old Trafford. We went to see The Hundred and watched the women's game first followed by the men. Football is still definitely the only sport to have my heart but we managed to get great weather and it was a really fun day out with my team!

Thanks to the pandemic and most recently, train strikes, I hadn't seen my friend Ellen for over two years but a couple of weeks ago we finally had a reunion! I took the train down to Stafford where we had a lovely lunch and well-overdue catch up and I met her gorgeous little dog, Otis! It was the best day!

What I read

As I mentioned last month, sewing has definitely been eating into my reading time over the last few months so I'm definitely finding my reading goal taking a bit of a hit. Only 5 books read in August!

• Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout
• The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
• The Brimstone Wedding by Barbara Vine
• Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson
• The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favourite ever authors so I adored Lucy by the Sea, and Rebecca May Johnson's Small Fires is definitely going to be in my books of the year list in December.

I think I had a slow reading month because I really struggled with my other reads! The Twyford Code wasn't a patch on The Appeal which I loved in July, I found The Brimstone Wedding too slow and meandering and I didn't find The Cloisters as exciting as I expected! I'm finding if I'm not really enjoying my book I'll find myself sewing instead of reading!

What I watched

Quiet month = lots of film watching!

Two cinema trips in August - we went to see Nope on its opening night which was very entertaining and we also went to see Maverick again as it was somehow still on at the cinema (I loved it just as much second time!)

A few new-to-us films at home in August - Prey, Thief, The Princess and the Frog, Amelie and The Conversation.

We also got really into the Commonwealth Games and started Only Murders in the Building which we are loving!

Finally a rewatch of one of my favourite films of all time, La La Land.

What I read online

• Vox on How Envy Can be a Good Thing in helping us discover what we really want
• The Guardian on how TikTok bombards young men with misogynistic videos
• The Independent on how "Be Kind" is just another way to avoid accountability - this explains so much about why I find "be kind" messaging uncomfortable
• I obviously loved this series from The Ringer on emo music, and this piece on the women of emo
• My monthly Haley Nahman - this newsletter on the fear of forgetting and the trick of the epiphany 
• I've got a new favourite newsletter in the form of Embedded, which started with this piece on The Millennial Pause and led to my reading this piece - hell hath no fury like a millennial scorned
• This Virginia Sole-Smith newsletter on How Budgeting is Diet Culture for your Money absolutely blew my mind
• Very much relating to this Stylist piece - Is this Burnout or is this just life now? and related - you aren't lazy, you just need to slow down
• Then on the flipside of slowing down - how "slow-living TikTok is inherently capitalist"
• And finally, this Tweet on the best newspaper correction ever

Catch up soon!

Charlotte x