october

leather jackets or oversized wool blazers, borrowed from boys from long ago, she leaves therapy to get to her 9-5 with a lukewarm latte in hand, big bag strapped over her shoulder. she’s carrying the great american novel and scattered bits of her identity. her therapist’s last biting comment sticks with her, stings her, “..i hate to sound condescending but maybe you’re just growing up.” with all this growing up, she looks back on past autumns, but it is the same. the ritualistic rewatches of gilmore girls, thinking about a rereading of the secret history. or maybe she’ll finally read the one that nobody likes, the little friend. her stylist are her friends over facetime, calls before bed to set up the outfit for the next day. blokette or carrie bradshaw? brendahashtag or bella hadid? why can’t i have a boy like marc kalman? marc and bella were the ultimate power couple. their break up broke me. should i rewatch satc? after work, listening to sade makes so much sense when the world twilights over into happy hour. spicy margaritas. something warm, something cool, autumn warmth in 2008 infinity scarves with a summer breeze on her mind, pokered kisses in the dark with that now unmatched tinder boy. what was his name again? who cares, i’m growing up.

is the girl boss dead? is the snail girl alive? keep your peace. in doing so, you have stressless in one hand and happiness in the other. the world is hard enough. why make it harder?

don’t be afraid to ask your friends for fit advice. of course, your intuition is there, but if you’re unsure of an accessory or a color choice, it doesn’t hurt to ask those that love you for a bit of input. because you can make one wrong move like this, and the rest of the world will laugh. most authors don’t get the freedom in choosing the covers for their books, jhumpa lahiri stresses this when publishers chose the covers for her work. so when you purposefully choose an ugly cover to make a statement about the literary world at large when it comes to “chick-lit-fic”, perhaps the advice of others for a very reclusive ferrante would’ve stopped her from defacing her own creations with ugly faces. really, the neopolitan covers is like getting a harsh summer aqua peel an hour before a wedding. why show up to the world at large like that? do better. be better. ask around.

i’ll be honest. i’ve been having a hard time girlbossing and being hot through the changing of the seasons. strangely enough, the past has kept me going. or the people from the past. friends i don’t talk to often, but should. I’ve been making it a habit to nurture friendships that mean the most to me out of months and months of neglect. just the other night, i was on a call with a friend for four hours, catching up, picking each other’s brains on projects and prospects, talking like we used to. it brought so much warmth, and though by the end of the call i yawned and he yawned, it was the good kind of tired. we went to bed with hearts at ease.

i hope that october brings you a bounty of the past that melts into comfort. be it memories, in people, in moments. i hope you do call up that friend you haven’t spoken to in a long while, remember something together, learn of something new of each other. be somewhere good and whole and happening in the daily workings of the week.

as always,

be well

do good work

keep in touch.

<3,

N

*all photos are from over the weekend, hence the tardiness in the monthly post! hope y’all had a cute ass weekend!