The Sunday Digest 016

Let's go on vacation.

Apr 17, 2022

Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.

Support The Sunday Digest by purchasing Sunday Scaries Scented Candles or perusing the merch store.

Sunday Read: A Cinematic Stay at Blancaneaux Lodge and Turtle Inn

by Sophie Mancini for Departures

This week’s Sunday Read takes on a much-needed vacation to the Belizean mountains. April always kind of has that “ugh, I need to get out of town before summer hits” vibe to it, and the travel bug has bitten me hard lately. Most of the time when that happens, I just end up looking at Goop’s city guides but this piece was forwarded to me and it was too good to pass up.

Here’s a taste —

ACCLAIMED FILM DIRECTOR and hotelier Francis Ford Coppola (the multi-hyphenate is also a writer, producer, winemaker, restaurateur, and all-around man of mythic versatility) says constructing a scene is similar to constructing a space. “I think it is the same process,” he explains. “First comes the instinct of how it ought to be, and if a satisfactory solution doesn’t come immediately, by gut reaction, I ask myself — what is the core theme of the overall pieces? If it’s, for example, an ecological or archaeological theme, I follow that lead to imagine something expressing that — a space that reflects it or seems to suggest that.”

Read it in full here.

Retail Therapy 007: Fast Fashion & Big Salads

A surprise episode of Retail Therapy where we covered all things Shein — their recent investment, the insane amount of products added to their site daily, and a greater conversation about the harms of fast fashion in general.

Being that it's #BigSaladSeason, they also discuss big salad recipes, favorite salad toppings, low bowls (obviously), and more. And to finish things out, they dive into the aesthetic-less aesthetic and add some items to their wishlists.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are found.

The Sunday Haiku

Should we go to brunch?

We’ve got that box of pastries—

Let’s just stay home then.

Relaxing Watch: Kacey Musgraves Home Tour

You’ve probably watched this already, but if you haven’t, it’s well worth your time. I’m a sucker for Architectural Digest’s “Open Door” series — especially when we get as many “monochromatic moments” as Kacey gives us during the tour of her Nashville digs.

If you’ve got an empty afternoon ahead of you, I highly recommend breezing through some of the Open Doors. My favorites include Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Paul, and Lenny Kravitz.

Things I Saved This Week

I Wrote Something: “What was I thinking buying this mesh polo?”

I haven’t been writing nearly as much as I’d like to lately, but a recent sick day allowed me to put the finishing touches on something I’d been tossing around for the last week or so.

In a frantic moment of trying to use a store credit on Aimé Leon Dore before everything sold out, I purchased a mesh polo shirt that put me into a spiral. Here’s a paragraph that felt like something I would’ve written on the first iteration of the Sunday Scaries blog eight years ago:

But even now, I can’t actually tell if I see if a nipple or not. I feel like I’m looking at a Magic Eye book from 1992. It’s a sensation I haven’t felt since watching scrambled channels at my buddy’s house at 2 a.m. after his parents had gone to bed. However, in this case, seeing a nipple doesn’t inspire the excitement it once did. Quite the opposite, actually — I mean, I can’t be the guy showing up to a casual group dinner with his nipples out. I’m not a character from Skins heading to a nightclub on a school night; I’m a 35-year-old father of one who simply wants to look sharp on vacation while eating ceviche.