Soaking Up the Sunshine and So Much Joy in August

Outfits, recipes, and lessons from this month.

A monthly edition of Morning Person, featuring the best moments, recipes, articles, and recommendations from the month. Let’s dive into some July highlights!

I started and ended this month in such different places. On August first, I was in San Francisco, still a graduate student, and losing my mind a tiny bit—I hadn’t been home for a weekend in months. This month, as a result, was mostly about getting my shit together. I wrapped up four years (!) of graduate school and quickly dove into tackling the chores, appointments, and errands I had let fall to the wayside, to clean the slate and prepare for my next chapter!

In the midst of all this, I sent out eleven (!) issues. If you’re a paid subscriber, that’s just 50 cents an issue—and they’re each packed with genuine recommendations and essays around living a more inspired and meaningful life. Never any sponsored content, never any affiliate links. This month, I shared:

• 42 things I passionately recommend, like the no-slip yoga mat I love so much I bought two and the sweater I wear almost daily in the winter

• The 13 most important lessons I learned in graduate school to become a therapist

• A mini travel guide to San Francisco and everything I keep in my toiletries bag for summer trips

• One-pan vegetables with cod and lemony harissa (!) that would go so well with the mushroom chili oil I shared

• The most-worn pieces in my closet and the Pinterest board I use for outfit inspiration

• 30+ life-changing ideas for getting organized immediately, plus a new strategy I’m using to organize my weeks, and my final week of grad school!)

Read on for a new morning ritual, a video demonstration (!) of a breathing exercise I’ve been loving, the outfit I kept repeating this month, and so much more…

I recently went on a cabin weekend with some friends, where I noticed one making a drink for her and her husband first thing in the morning. She shared that they each drink 32-ounces of warm citrus water (with a full lemon or lime) with a quarter teaspoon of salt (either Himalayan or Baja Gold, a mineral-rich sea salt) first thing in the morning. I tried it as soon as I got home, and immediately felt its impact—I had no problem drinking it down, an indication of how dehydrated I was from sleep, and it’s helped so much with maintaining regularity along with the probiotics I take! It feels good and tastes delicious. My friend added that when she’s backed-up from traveling, she added a little extra salt which always does the trick in helping things move along!