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July delivered.
Not in a flawless, every-habit-perfect, routine-never-slipped kind of way. More honestly than that. It was the month I came back from Costa Blanca and finally understood what slowing down actually requires. The month the World Cup made the world feel electric. The month I remembered that the habits that cost nothing are sometimes the ones that matter most.
We covered a lot of ground. And before August takes over, I want to close this month properly with everything we wrote, everything that stuck, and the things I am actually carrying forward.
MONTHLY RECAP
Everything we covered this month, all in one place.
🌅 July Is the Month. Here Is How to Be In It. — A first-of-the-month reset: new month energy, World Cup, and where we actually were at the start of July.
🌿 The Edit: The Summer Wellness Rituals That Cost Nothing — Cold water, long walks, late dinners outside: the habits that existed before wellness became an industry.
☀️ The 8 Euro Summer Habits Worth Stealing — Eight European living habits that make ordinary days feel beautiful, no flight required.
💧 The Hydration Edit: Beyond Just Drinking More Water — Electrolytes, water-dense foods, and the mineral habits that actually keep you functioning when the heat is high.
🏖️ If You Need a Reset This Summer, Read This — Workcations, staycations, wellness vacations: how to figure out which kind of break your body is actually asking for.
🤍 The Art of Slowing Down — What it actually looks like to stop rushing through the life you have already built.
OUR PARTNER
The Next Trip Is Already Waiting
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
☀️ Morning water, then this — A glass of water with a pinch of sea salt before anything else. Free, takes thirty seconds, and the single habit from July that made the most noticeable difference. Then the coffee. The honey salted latte that has been on rotation all month and is not going anywhere in August. Honey salted latte: one espresso shot, whole milk, honey, salt, shake or froth and pour over ice.
❄️ 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 Vitamin C Serum — a month of sun means your skin needs the repair work now. What I reach for every evening post-summer. Brightening, antioxidant protection, layers cleanly under everything else.
📖 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
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July is almost over. August is three days away.
The question worth sitting with this week is not what you want to accomplish next month, it is: how you want to feel while it is happening?
That answer tends to be more useful than any goal.
See you Sunday!
Valerie
