JULY 2026 VOL. 1
a monthly digital coffee table book, curated by myself, to share my favorite recent musings with you.
MUSIC
MUJI BGM
It only recently hit me how serene the background music in MUJI stores is, so I did a little Googling and discovered that they record original live instrumental music from countries around the world specifically for their stores and release the albums every year on apple music and spotify. i’m currently loving bgm27 scotland and bgm5 puerto rico. perfect reading and work music.
FOOD
escargot at sperry’s steakhouse
I went to visit one of my besties in Nashville for her birthday, and we went to this great restaurant, Sperry's Steakhouse, then proceeded to do one of my favorite things ever: sit at the bar, order escargot, and demolish heaps of bread. It's essentially like eating tiny hot tubs of garlic.
Nora Ephron once said that having dinner with friends in a city that none of you are from is one of her favorite things in life. I gotta agree with you, Nora.
FILM
captain fantastic and sharing opinions
Being back in college, I’ve noticed students often describe readings as merely “interesting” or “great” without explaining why. It always reminds me of a scene from the film Captain Fantastic where Viggo Mortensen tells his daughter that “interesting” is an illegal word after she uses it to describe the book Lolita, forcing her to dig deeper and articulate what she actually thinks.
PERFORMANCE
the rocky horror show revival
on broadway
Dammit (Janet), I'd somehow never seen either The Rocky Horror Show (stage) or The Rocky Horror Picture Show(movie). Maybe the universe was saving my introduction for opening night of the new Broadway revival featuring one of my other besties as dance captain and swing extraordinaire.
My hot date, Roz, became the talk of the town, even stealing a moment with original Janet, Susan Sarandon.
The plot is essentially a two-hour invitation to stop apologizing for what lights your fire. If it's “weird,” who cares? That's an invite I'll accept.
WELLNESS
KOCHI CHIMES
a couple of years ago, I attended my first sound bath at Official Ritual in chelsea (NYC). among the various chimes, rain sticks, tuning forks, and singing bowls was the instrument that unexpectedly made me giggle and cry: the Kochi Chime.
These bamboo chimes create deeply soothing, harmonic tones that instantly transported me back to infancy, lying in a crib beneath a mobile of gentle sounds and loving energy.
Their collection includes four chimes, each inspired by one of the elements. As a Fire Tiger, the "Ignis" fire chime resonates most with me. Softly swing one beside your ears, and the layered harmonics feel like they might add time back into your life.
travel
NAPLES, ITALY
Before my first trip to Italy, nearly everyone told me Florence was breathtaking and Naples was skippable. I could not disagree more. Florence felt overly touristy, while Naples felt like the ultimate snapshot of Italy: incredible pizza, opera houses, art, laundry hanging from balconies, and chaotic ancient energy. Then, across the horseshoe-shaped bay, you have Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, herculaneum, the cliffs of Sorrento, the islands of Capri and Ischia, and the flower-covered beauty of Positano and the Amalfi Coast. If someone could only visit one part of Italy, Naples would easily be my choice.
art
RETURN BY AGNES PELTON
The first print I purchased for my apartment was by one of my favorite artists of all time: Agnes Pelton. If you love Georgia O'Keeffe, I think you’ll love falling down the wonderful rabbit hole of exploring Agnes’ work. I chose this particular piece because simply looking at it feels meditative. Is it a dove made of stardust dropping a teardrop of light into a desert oasis? A star swan-diving into a sea cradled by sandy mountains? Or maybe it’s a fragment of the soul returning to its infinite self.
roller coaster
JACK RABBIT, KENNYWOOD, PITTSBURGH, PA
My first roller coaster feature had to be my first major coaster experience: the Jack Rabbit. Built in 1920, it remains one of the oldest operating roller coasters in the world and still one of the best. Its quirks are legendary. the biggest drop comes at the very end of the ride, the restraint system is basically just a loose, leather seatbelt, and its most famous element, the “double dip,” genuinely launches you up and nearly out of the ride entirely. Nearly 100 years later, it’s still an absolute blast.
coffee
FIVE FLIES COFFEE, 554 W 158th st, new york, ny
I lived in Washington Heights for well over a decade, and my favorite coffee shop was always Taszo Espresso Bar. Its owner, Haitem Weslati, is a world-renowned photographer, coffee expert, and all-around lovely soul. Years later, he moved the café into an incredible new space that has the energy of a mullet: sleek Scandinavian café vibes in the front and cozy, speakeasy apartment vibes in the back. on top of all that, the coffee is unreal and still one of the best affordable cafés in Manhattan.
literature
insomniac city by bill hayes
My dear cousin Lara, who worked at Bloomsbury Publishing for years and knows my book taste better than almost anyone, sent me this memoir a long time ago. It sat on my shelf for months because, honestly, the title did absolutely nothing for me. Then one morning, I grabbed it on my walk to the subway, and I've never really put it down since.
If you love memoirs and nonfiction, quick capsule-like chapters, or little espresso shots of "life is beautiful" moments, this book will absolutely satisfy your thirst. I've loved it so much that I've probably gifted more than 25 copies since receiving mine.
Thanks, Lara (and Bill! and Oliver!).
little wonders
organ stops
A friend of mine is a church organist, and I remember watching him practice one day when I asked what all the knobs next to the keys were for. He explained that they're called stops, and that the more you pull them out, the more air flows through the organ pipes, creating a louder, fuller sound. It was one of those "I was today years old" moments when I realized that's where the phrase "pulling out all the stops" comes from.
