Officially Declaring Fall
Montana, Creative Resources, & Cantalope
MOOD 🧺
Hi all!
As the summer comes to an end, I’ve lit my first pumpkin candle, started my ‘Fall ‘24’ Pinterest board, and committed to buying a brand new Packer Jersey. I spent most of the summer making my way down to the amish produce stand, checking up on my garden and working to save up more house renovation money (a brand new well is being drilled this week $!). I feel like fall is when my newsletters were thriving last year, so I am super excited to get back into them (which I know I’ve been saying for months – so sorry).
My summer highlights:
Paradise Valley, Montana (this place has my heart)
Riding horses & starting horse riding lessons here in Wisconsin
Watching my garden grow (baby pumpkins!)
Beautiful Day to be Your Own Best Friend
Take. the. solo. trip.
A few weeks ago I took my very first solo trip – ever. I flew into Bozeman, Montana, and I took a rental car through the mountains and through Paradise Valley. I spent a week alone with the intentions of riding horses, taking photos, and sight seeing on my own clock. Did I cry? yes. Did I have a few moments where I didn’t have any clue what to do next and just kinda sat there? yes. Did I talk to strangers? yes. It was the best trip. I am so glad I went and pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I was reminded that there are still really great people out there despite all of the negative things you hear/see online (shoutout to the guy who gave me a free Dierks Bentley ticket). I also realized, no one is really paying that much attention to you. You have no reason to feel ‘dumb’ or embarrassed. Just go, no excuses. I saved a post in my phone a few weeks ago to foster more trips and moments like this: Keep in mind there is a clock ticking that we can’t see. Love whoever loves you, and enjoy life.
Montana is such a hot/trendy destination right now, so I might highlight a few of my favorite places/things I did on this trip. Overall, it was extremely peaceful, and I need to get back ASAP.
What I’ve been Telling Myself Lately
You never hear a garden grow.
I might not always be the most talented or smartest person in the room, but I can always have great character.
Beautiful things come and go. (But they come.)
New Resources/Gathering Inspiration
By this point, I am sure you have all gathered what my personal style is (when it comes to both interiors and fashion) - neutrals, vintage/antique pieces, wood tones, western, earthy, cozy, etc. So, these next few images will come as no surprise. Sharing a few new – and not so new – resources that might be beneficial for any kind of creative project/visual.
Milanote.
Milanote is great because, like Pinterest, you can create separate boards/folders to store images and links. I have separate boards for each room of my future house where I drop in images like shown below, but I can also link images to websites where I can buy specific lamps, rugs, lights, etc. You can use this for a variety of projects, but I find it especially helpful in sourcing interior supplies and creating a mood board in one large place that you can revisit online.
Landing is one of the easiest ways to make mood boards/collections of images for exporting. You can even remove the background of an image right then and there. Lately, I’ve been using it to plan fall outfits, and plan for my future office. (Hello, officially obsessed with the Smeg mini fridge after seeing one on my Montana trip.)
My landing here.
Chat GPT.
Hear me out. You may have already seen this on TikTok, but I found this use of ChatGPT motivating and unusually helpful in seeing my ideas and goals clearly and directly in front of me.
Step 1. You are going to write a list of your biggest goals and dreams in life. I started mine as follows: Hi chat, A few of my biggest goals in life are…
Step 2. You are going to add this at the very end: “Tell the story of a day in my dream life as my future self who has all of this already.”
That’s it. Mine ended up adding extra details that were extremely accurate to things I enjoyed without even alluding to them in my original prompt. If anything, this is a fun little escape from whatever task you are trying to avoid as you get back to work this week :).
‘The Perfect Day’
I have fallen off my podcast listening lately, however, this week I listened to Andrew Huberman talk with Dr.Martha Beck. I thought their conversation was refreshing, and similar to the ChatGPT prompt, their talk about visualizing ‘the perfect day’ and accessing your subconscious intrigued me. They discussed the idea that, as we grow older, we are socialized away from expressing deep down what our body tells us and what we truly want.
DOWN THE HATCH
No recipe this week – however, I have been eating a large amount of cantaloupe. It’s not for everyone, but for me it’s considered very underrated. (*with a dash of salt) 🍈
THE SMALL THINGS
Movie dates with your mom
Brown nail polish
Tapas
Best friends getting engaged <3
I hope you were able to take away something useful from this newsletter. Check back for my Montana favorites, what’s in my bag, and my ‘fall dopamine menu’.
You can find me on TikTok @betadeflorian and on Instagram.
Thank you for being here <3.