Reading: I just finished Eve Babitz’s Eve’s Hollywood, which my friend Angie has been recommending to me for ages. (Thanks, A!)

Video: The final episodes of Better Call Saul. The new documentary The Princess. And the four-part documentary We Need to Talk About Cosby (really well-done, I thought).

Art: I visited the RISD Museum for the first time in a very long time. Their collection is even better than I remembered.

Audio: I made a disco playlist for a talk I recently gave at the Brooklyn Brainery, so…lots of that.

Tr(eats): Earlier this month, I had some fun meals at places in downtown Providence—Figidini, Durk’s BarBQ, Small Point Café, Kin.

Drinks: I made some rose- and apple-infused gin with a handy kit that my friend Cindy gave me and used it in some homemade cocktails.

Beauty Products: Korres Wild Rose Brightening Skin Cream on my face at night. LUSH Seanik shampoo bar. Plenty of Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunscreen on my arms and legs in the daytime.

Garb: A new backpack that would give me “first day of school” feelings if the weather weren’t still ridiculously hot.

Pleasures:  The fantastic people who showed up for my latest Brainery talk. Freshly picked blackberries. Air-conditioning. The end of a really aggravating detour on my local bus route. My spouse’s relief over meeting a book manuscript deadline.

Plans: I have plenty of freelance work to do right now but I also want to find time to be sociable in September. And I need to get rid of my latest phase of work- and stress-induced neck pain—maybe I’ll try acupuncture?

How about you? How was your August?

Image: Irene Fawkes, August, 1928. The Victoria and Albert Museum.