burning concrete

the heat is settling in and the streets become busier. chicago in the summer is beginning, and i could not be more excited. i had the realization of how much i love chicago after going back home for a small vacation. i missed the business, the sounds of living outside - the knowledge that there is so much going on just outside my doorstep and that i could go and join in. i’m excited for what this warmth brings.

have you been thinking on your garden? did you test your soil? i hope it is beginning to come together for you. next step is to prepare your beds (garden and otherwise). loosen the soil. some ways to do this?

• ponder on your thinking style - do you think too black and white? where can you bring in some gray?

• consider your place you sleep. is it comfortable? do you feel ‘loosened’ in there? relaxed? we spend 8 hours a day sleeping, so try to make it a relaxed environment.

• try to not pick up your phone when you’re bored - do a more hands on activity/hobby. see how it changes your mental state

---

the sprouts ~ 25th may 2025

reading ~

• you by caroline kepnes

  • the hit tv show from netflix started off as a series that i am digging into. the book is even darker. joe is a bookshop owner that is infatuated with beck, a college student with a messy life. what lengths will he go to in order to get her?

• picnic at hanging rock

  • an early 20th century based novel, a group of girls on a school field trip to hanging rock wander off. only one comes back and no one seems to know what happened.

obsessing ~

• white pear and tea body oil (tjmaxx, thank you for helping me discover this)

• take care perfume (unlabelled from tjmaxx but smells like heaven)

• new things (i have gone on a spending spree)

• decorating my apartment!

• tulips (i am obsesssedddd)

• taking care of my body (going to appointments and such)

• an elaborate shower routine (i feel like a princess)

• online journaling

• starting 75 soft/medium

• hanging out in ur underwear?? > > >

• my owala

• sapphic movies (portrait of a lady on fire? devastating)

• clotheslines…

articles ~

• from capitalist pigs to poisoned puppies

  • substack, the drift

• sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meet

  • substack, henrik karlsson

• on the modern viewer’s lack of empathy

  • substack, the digital meadow

• romanticizing death: art in the age of tuberculosis

  • the collector, philippa ogden

listening ~

• sue me (SONG OF THE SUMMER!!)

  • SUE ME I WANT TO BE WANTED!

    • audrey hobert

• devotion

  • sunday (1994)

• unwritten

  • natasha beddingfield

• back to me

  • the marias

• tough luck

  • laufey

• letter to my 13 year old self

  • laufey

craving ~

• cheeseburgers

• veggie pizza (the one with ranch and its cold… yeahhhh)

• peanut chicken skewers

• brownbag’s miso cashew bowl

• a baseball game outfit and hotdog mmmm

journal prompts ~

• do you remember when music started to have an impact on you? how old were you? what song/artist was it?

• what catches your eye when you walk down the street?

• if you could buy one thing that could help you out with your daily routine, what would it be? (get it!)

• what fun fact do you think about? (bonus points if you comment it for me!)

• rank all the ice cream flavors at your local ice cream shop

quotes and poems ~

• there’s a method to growing rhubarb called ‘forcing’ where it’s raised in total darkness and tended to in brief intervals of candlelight. the plant thrives only because it’s looking for an absent sun, and extends so fast you can hear the growing pains. forcing can weaken the crop but if done correctly can yield a sweeter, more desirable result. not everything needs to be an allegory. all the same, i am aware that there are things that i have no words to describe and that only god’s eyes have seen.

  • Pyre House by lev st valentine

my caption

if anyone has any recommendations of other things that want to hear, or ways to make this publication better, let me know!

until next time,

xoxo my gardeners