Mid-August feels like the moment where half the people around you are burnt out and the other half are frantically trying to make something of the remaining summer. I'm somewhere in between.

So here's what's actually worth your time right now. Not because it's optimized. Just because it matters.

_{SAVOR SUMMER}

🎭 Do one thing that feels slightly out of character for you. Go somewhere alone. Wear a bold color. Say yes to a spontaneous plan you'd normally decline. The idea isn't to reinvent yourself. It's to give yourself a story to tell later.

📸 Take a disposable or digital camera with you for one full day and photograph ordinary moments. Don't chase the perfect shot. Take pictures of your coffee, lunch, a funny sign, your friend's face, the flowers outside. The snapshots become your favorites.

🎵 Make a playlist that captures your summer. Songs on repeat, recent discoveries, tracks that remind you of specific moments. Save it somewhere you'll find it next August when you want to remember this one.

🏘️ Revisit a place you loved as a child or teen. Go back as an adult. Seeing what's changed and what stayed exactly the same is surprisingly fun and grounding.

📝 Create a list of 20 things that make your everyday life feel good. Keep it very specific: your morning coffee in the good mug, clean sheets, a certain walk, your favorite grocery store, Sunday phone calls with your mom. It's a reminder of how much good stuff is already tucked into an ordinary week.

🚗 Take a scenic drive with no strict itinerary. Pick a direction, put on a good playlist, grab a coffee. Take the scenic route, stop if somewhere looks interesting. Don't need a productive reason.

🏖️ Spend an afternoon learning something completely unrelated to work or your usual interests. Go down a rabbit hole just because you're curious. Documentary, beginner class, museum exhibit—anything you know almost nothing about.

🎬 Plan a "yes day" where you say yes to small spontaneous invitations. Let the day have more spontaneity than usual. Keep it realistic but follow what sounds fun.

👤 Plan a solo day out with yourself. Hours with no one else's schedule. Change plans whenever you feel like it.

🤝 Take someone you love somewhere you've always wanted to show them. A favorite restaurant, beach, bookstore, street you love walking. Sharing what's special to you makes an ordinary day memorable.

🎨 Try something creative purely for fun. Painting, baking, photography, flower arranging. Give yourself an hour to play with it without worrying about being good. Follow a tutorial or make something completely your own.

🍷 Host drinks and snacks at home on a warm evening. Cheese, olives, fruit, music. No production. Let it unfold naturally.

📸 Print a few favorite photos from summer instead of leaving them on your phone. Five to ten. Small album, frame a favorite, or tuck them somewhere you'll rediscover later.

📖 Make a "summer favorites" list. Restaurants, recipes, places, books, songs, discoveries you want to remember. Keep it in your notes. It can be as random as your favorite iced coffee or the best book you read.

🌙 Create a small end-of-summer ritual to mark the change of season. A favorite dinner, long evening walk, final beach day, or sitting down to write about the summer. A simple way to acknowledge what's shifting before you move into what's next.

🎓 Learn one small skill you've been curious about. Learn a few phrases in another language, make fresh pasta, arrange flowers, figure out how to use your camera properly. Pick something you've casually thought "I should learn that" about.

🎲 Spend an evening playing games, doing a puzzle, or doing something fun without turning on the TV. Pull out a game you haven't played in ages, start a puzzle on the dining table. Keep snacks nearby and let the evening take its own course.

🕯️ Have a late-summer dinner outside. Keep it simple. Order takeout, light candles, pour something cold, eat slowly. Make the most of the warm evenings while they're still here.

📚 Make something you'll be able to enjoy once summer is over. A photo album, collection of favorite recipes, playlist for the first chilly evening of fall. Something that carries summer forward.

🗓️ Make one plan for September that you're genuinely excited about. Having one thing to look forward to makes the end of summer feel less like an ending.

_{OUR PARTNER}

July showed me something about rest: the right environment does most of the work. When I chose a Kindred home in Costa Blanca with a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean, slowing down stopped being something I had to remind myself to do. It just happened.

If August needs a reset, a long weekend somewhere quiet, a week in a real home in a city you have been meaning to visit. Kindred makes that possible without the hotel or Airbnb bill. List your home, earn credits, stay anywhere.

Sign up through my link or use code val.alv2 and you will get 5 credits to use toward your first booking.

^{CURRENTLY LOVING}

🛍️ Daphne's Cloud Bloomer and Heatwave Bralette in Striped Linen. Real linen, not synthetic. The pair breathes, wrinkles intentionally, and looks elevated without trying. Worth the money because they actually work in 40-degree heat—light enough to sleep in, structured enough to wear outside. No performance fabric nonsense. Just linen that does what it's supposed to do.

❄️ Shark ChillPill 3-in-1 Personal Cooling System — portable fan, cooler, and air purifier in one. The summer essential nobody talks about enough.

✨ Root + Renew The Refresh Hydrogel Eye Patches — a fifteen-minute hydrogel eye patch that hydrates, brightens, and de-puffs the under-eye with niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and botanical extracts—no gimmicks, just lightweight moisture that actually absorbs.

📖 Read: Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer — the August read. Everything Andrew Sean Greer writes earns your full attention. Clear your afternoon for this one.

✍️ A physical notebook — not an app, not a voice note. August deserves a real page. One in the morning, no format, no prompts. Just whatever is there before the day gets loud.

_{WEEKLY THOUGHT}

The second half of August is about noticing what actually mattered, not optimizing what's left. You've made it this far. That's enough.

See you Sunday!

Valerie