The Fluff Stuff #92: Rolling Into June

☀️ Summer drinks & books, the best M&M cookie ever, and reader suggestions for a Scroll-free Summer

Welcome to the Seasonalist, a happy place to land, where you’ll find all things seasonal and seasonal-adjacent (books, movies, food, and fun) from Austin, Texas. If you’d like to subscribe, click below.

Seasonal living last week

Happy Friday, y’all.

Welcome to The Fluff Stuff!

Here you’ll find a quick seasonal living recap and a weekly reminder to live your best seasonal life. Along with a few Fluffy Things for the weekend.

How I lived seasonally last week (pictured above)

1. The Sauvy B with Shishito Peppers (perhaps the Drink of Summer?)

2. Trader Joe’s Peonies

3. Patriotic M&M cookies for a Memorial Day party¹

4. Summer reading!

Now for…

🌎 Seasonal PSA Stuff

• Seasonally-influenced (the best kind of influence) by Things That Make Me Happy (it was you, right?), I rushed to Target for Bubbly Ice Pop. Reviews: my husband said it was “fine.” My friend T. said “It smells like a popsicle!” (she loved it). I thought it was quite good. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

• In last week’s Fluff Stuff, I mentioned that I would be making the Drink of Summer, the Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc. I altered the “recipe” (the recipe being “drop peppers in drink”) by swapping out Shishito Peppers for the Jalapeños because I have SO MANY SHISHITO peppers.

  

  The only thing I’m good at growing—the shishito pepper

  Review: I sliced the shishito (and removed all the seeds) and I give the drink a 10/10—crispy cold Sauvignon Blanc plus a slightly edgy pepper flavor. Delicious. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Peonies are available for $9.99 at Trader Joe’s. Run don’t walk. Git-r-done.

📚 Book Stuff

• Check out my Fluffy Summer Reading Guide for all the “light reading” recommendations for summer.

• First up—Beth O’Leary’s Swept Away (she’s an auto-read) was a bit more stressful than anticipated. In my Fluffy Summer Reading Guide, my librarian bestie expert warned us that it’s more of a RomAdventure than a RomCom. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• I finally read Ashlee Piper’s “No New Things” (I’ve been on the library wait list forever). It was a timely read to go along with my firmest desire for this summer—to be Scroll-free. She advocates a 30-day challenge to reorder your brain from shopping. Instead, she recommends creating a Love List (I made a frugal joy list here). Keep a list of your needs (not wants) and when you do need something, shop secondhand first (and repair or mend items). I highly endorse this book for everyone.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📱 Scroll-free Summer Stuff

On Tuesday, I wrote that summer wish is to be Scroll-Free and break the phone addiction. My family has watched me like a hawk since I announced “no screens” from 3-6 pm. That adds another layer of accountability. “WERE YOU ON YOUR PHONE?” “I was checking my texts!”

*Throws phone across the room.

It’s a journey. Accountability partners help.

I was touched by how many of you liked and shared my Tuesday article about a “Scroll-free Summer.” It seems we are ALL struggling.

I loved hearing all your ideas and comments on how to get off the phone.

Reader tips:

• Katie O. recommends the Kindle app! (I will toss my Kindle in my summer tote when I’m out and about).

• Michelle Martin recommends reading “Stolen Focus” by Johan Hari.

• Sam Vander Wielen plans on taking a digital Sabbath this summer to focus on writing.

• Amy has an interesting method—she blocks websites with time limits and a password that can only be overridden by her husband.

• Jojo B. (great name!) advocates going old school—and print things out.

  

  Well hello old friend.

• Missy H. purposely leaves her phone at home when going out with friends (leaving the house without my phone leaves me with the SHIVERS, which indicates that I absolutely need to try to do this sometimes).

• Karen Mitchell turns off all notifications (I’ve done this—it does help).

• Kim Sutphen makes her phone too boring to pick up by going greyscale.

• Anne recommends reading “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. She also has some great suggestions for my greatest addiction: checking emails.

My email checking got reduced purely from unsubscribing emails, opting out of any pop-ups, and by creating throwaway email for brands so it's not mixed into my primary, everyday email. I make sure I'm opted out of any unnecessary emails that are related to bills, subscriptions, etc. I'm tied to. I'm less influenced to buy which helps my wallet and less likely to scroll a sales email when I can't see it.

I also saw someone say they created a fake email account as their "assistant" and they use it to filter only critical emails (appointments, interviews, etc.) or tell people to send XYZ to that email and it ends up serving as a checklist.

Work-specific email is still a struggle for me but I don't check after 5pm.

And in my feed today, “Technology is Getting Worse” from Stephanie Seferian. Please stop by and read.

It’s no longer enriching lives; it’s detracting from living. Not just the tech itself, which is over-the-top with planned obsolescence in the forms of cheap parts, lack of spare parts, and even death dates.

No, it’s not just the gadgets. It’s ALSO the software. The apps. The search engines. The social media sites. The internet as a whole. It’s polluted with ads, AI fluff, and other generalized garbage.

We can do this! Together. The consumer does have power (just see Target’s earnings report). We can put the devices down and have a wildly present and creative summer offline.

💗 Touching My Soul Stuff

My eldest just graduated FROM COLLEGE. All the feelings. This was a touching project from a high school in Tennessee, with 6th graders recording and asking questions of their 12th grade selves. Warm fuzzies.

💙 Wrap-Up

Coming June 1st, the June Super Stack with all the fun stuff to look forward to this June (for paid subscribers—but it’s only $35 for a year-long membership).

May your weekend be fluffy.

• Great reads this week! A banger article, “Hot GIRLS Summer”—by Hannah Connolly.

  (t)hese lives are ours to live, on our terms. Not in a you-are-an-island-fuck-everybody-else way, but in a oh-wow-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-perfect-summer-but-i-do-have-the-luxury-of-knowing-who-i-am-and-also-what-i-like-doing-so-i-might-spend-my-summer-doing-that way.

• From the New York Times (gift link), How to Have Self-Compassion. This might be woo-woo, but we should all be putting our hands over our hearts.

  What does the suffering part of you most need right now? Understanding? To be forgiven? A kind message?

  Put a hand over your heart or use another soothing touch that feels caring.

  Send a kind message inward: “It’s OK to feel this.” or “You’re doing the best that you can.”

1. I meant to make Ina Garten’s Flag Cake, but it was too daunting. I am pushing it back to the 4th of July. This M&M recipe is killer. I used 1 and 2/3 cup flour per the recipe notes (and chilled 30 minutes). Perfection.