hockey books, a summer reading challenge, a summery drink and more!
Well, hello there! So happy to see you today! I have lots of family in town visiting for my cousin’s wedding ~ the cousin who was very little when I nannied for him and his brother the summer I was 24 and pregnant with my oldest ~ 20 years ago 😀 Time FLIES.
It is so incredibly easy to call your representative and senators using the OneClickPolitics page ~ you enter your phone number and the service calls you and automatically connects you to each office in sequence, you just tap * in between the offices. They give you a script to use too ~ I just lightly personalized it as I was talking. Nervous about making phone calls? Call after hours (or this weekend!) and leave voicemails ~ that’s what I did! PLEASE consider taking time sometime this weekend to take action ~ right now there are $0 being allocated to libraries starting in October 2026 and we need to do whatever we can to let our elected officials know that this is NOT acceptable.
Now that this is on your schedule, I hope you have a restful day in front of you, and that right now you can just settle in with your favorite snack and enjoy what I have prepared for you …
My recent read recommendations this week are both about hockey, but are very, very different stories and also about so much more than hockey. Continuing with my love of books about a sport I never watch and know nothing about! These were both great on audio.
Read The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid for the sweetest gay-retired-hockey-players romance you’ve ever read. I loved the setting, loved the guys, loved it all.
Read What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange for an emotionally intense family drama that was exceptional on audio. Upstate New York, youth hockey, and gut-wrenching grief.
BIG NEWS, my friends. Well, big news for eye-challenged people like ME! I have shared my love for Goodr sunglasses numerous times, and wrote a lot more about my poor, poor eyes last summer. Today I get to inform you that I made a very large, potentially risky investment in putting prescription sunglass lenses in a pair of Goodr frames I already owned … and they are AMAZING.
Now I just have to get over my sadness about no longer being able to pick the just-right Goodrs from my collection for every outdoor outing, but I’ll still wear contacts occasionally, and may get clear prescription lenses put in one of the other pairs!
You can order Goodrs with prescription lenses directly from Lensabl, but I’m super nervous about that due to my picky face and picky eyes. I just brought the pair of regular Goodrs I bought in Maine last summer in to my usual eye place and asked them if they could do prescription lenses, and they said they’d sure try! They were able to match the coatings exactly, and make them pretty damn thin - I’m very happy.
Remember the mini spring reading challenge I did in April? Well, The Book Girls’ Guide has a new mini-challenge out for summer, with yet another adorable coloring page to track your reads! The prompts are all ones I would have definitely been reading anyway, but the accompanying book lists are always so fun to explore.
This message from a lovely reader a few weeks ago MADE MY DAY:
Hi Katy! I had to dig up this old newsletter to thank you for the Thigh Society recommendation. Somehow it never occurred to me that there was a better solution to the summer dress issue than cotton bike shorts, and now two pairs of shorts have rescued my entire summer dress collection from uselessness. Thank you!
YOU GUYS. I have no affiliation with Thigh Societybut I am 100% their biggest homegrown, unpaid evangelist. These super comfy, not-shapewear, under-dress shorts are well worth the money and last and last and last when treated with care. Yes, I bring them up all the time, but it’s chub rub season and no one should spend one second of their summer chafing!
Many of you are well aware of my love for Emily Arrow ~ she made my elementary library days so much easier and more musical! Her YouTube videos of original music that I would pair with a read aloud of the associated picture books made primary storytimes SO MUCH FUN and easy to plan! My kids and I also had all of her standalone music albums were memorized.
And this spring Emily released another one of her own picture books!
Dear Bookstore is just such a delight ~ a picture book love letter to bookstores that is inspired by and dedicated to Parnassus Books in Nashville. Definitely get the book to read to a kiddo you love, get it for yourself as a reminder of the magic of book shopping, and go ahead and listen to the song too!
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡
I also have prescription sunglasses...insanely expensive Ray-Bans, and worth every penny. I have heard great things about Goodr.
For when I wear contacts--cheap Target or J. Crew Factory glasses.
CHUB RUB SEASON. This.
I also have prescription sunglasses...insanely expensive Ray-Bans, and worth every penny. I have heard great things about Goodr. For when I wear contacts--cheap Target or J. Crew Factory glasses.
I love that we both have very pricey eyes too, Nina - at least we're not alone in wearing so much money on our face every time we go outside!