June Favorites: Rituals, Reads & Little Luxuries
A soft landing into summer — one book, balm, and body ritual at a time.
Hi Friends,
June swept in like a warm exhale — the kind that finally lets your shoulders drop. School ended, summer began, and suddenly I found myself craving both spaciousness and structure. Maybe you’ve felt it too? That pull between rest and rhythm. Between letting go and gently holding it all together.
Here are a few of the things that brought me joy, grounding, and a little bit of sparkle this month. A love letter to rituals, relationships, and small pleasures — the kind that make life feel just a little more like your own.
What I’m Reading
1. On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen
This one cracked something open. A bold, smart, feminist unraveling of the invisible rules so many of us — especially women — live under. I kept underlining like I was prepping for a final exam in "unlearning internalized patriarchy."
2. Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
I’m not much of a drinker, but I am deeply fascinated by our cultural relationship with alcohol, especially for women. The “mommy needs wine” branding, the social lubricants, the quiet coping. This one had me thinking about the stories we absorb without consent — and how we might rewrite them.
What’s on My Skin
3. Ami Abi Summer Skin
Sunshine in a bottle. Lightweight, nourishing, and makes my skin feel like it just got back from a very expensive, very restful vacation (even if I’m actually just answering emails in sweatpants).
4. Soft Services Theraplush Hand Cream
A little bougie, very necessary. I keep one at my desk and another at my bedside. The scent is clean and calming, and it actually works. Consider it my post-session salve for therapist hands.
What’s Supporting My Nervous System
5. Morning movement + media rituals
This was the month I stopped overcommitting and started committing to myself. Two mornings a week, I move with my dear friend Roshni and our trauma-informed trainer Joey, who treats movement like a nervous system practice, not a punishment. It’s joyful. It’s embodied. It’s mine.
And I’ve officially muted the majority of my social media feed. Not out of drama, but devotion — to my own nervous system. I want my digital world to feel nourishing, not numbing.
6. This one playlist I keep returning to
You know the one — the sonic equivalent of a hug and a hype woman.
What’s Making My Home Feel Like a Sanctuary
7. Stone fruit season
Peaches, plums, nectarines… June’s golden gifts. I’ve been cutting them into salads, tossing them on yogurt, and — let’s be honest — eating them over the sink like a feral goddess. No regrets.
8. Late afternoon swimming with my kids
That golden hour glow, their laughter echoing off the water, the deep exhale I didn’t know I was holding. It’s chaotic and sacred all at once — like most of parenting, really.
9. Heart-to-heart conversations with my husband
End-of-day check-ins, post-bedtime debriefs, those quiet moments where we catch up on each other. Nothing fancy — just real connection, the kind that softens the edges and strengthens the center.
The Medicine of Friendship
10. Time with my women
The real reset button. Slow mornings with coffee and no agenda. Group texts that double as emergency therapy. Dinner conversations that make you laugh until your mascara runs. Sleepovers at fancy hotels with sheet masks. The medicine is real — and it’s communal.
11. Our annual photo day
We gathered our team at The Process to celebrate another year of showing up for the work and for each other. And yes, we looked cute. Shooting with our dear friends at Cove Laguna (Gemma & Ahmet — we love you!) felt like a ritual of witnessing. I left feeling proud, connected, and so deeply held. So grateful for this Process family we’ve built.
12. Coffee Club with The Well Lived Woman
On Saturday, June 28th, we co-hosted one of my favorite events to date: The Process Coffee Club x The Well Lived Woman. My dear friend Jaimi Brooks and I gathered a room full of healers for coffee, connection, and conversation about what it means to care for ourselves while tending to others — basically, our collective superpower. We sipped Schmooze Coffee, had photo portraits by our girl Jenny, and listened to a panel of some of my favorite humans (and ride-or-die sisters) — Cassidy, Chrissy, Zabie, Jessica & Andrea — drop absolute gems. If I could bottle the energy in that room, I would. It was that good.
On My Mind
June was a month of recalibration. I kept reminding myself: softness is not weakness. Rest is not indulgent. And pleasure — true, embodied, unapologetic pleasure — is a compass.
I’m heading into July with more clarity about what nourishes me, what drains me, and what I want to make more room for. Which, right now, looks like fruit in season, movement with intention, and women who make me laugh until I cry.
Tell me — what’s been saving your life this month?
What rituals, relationships, or tiny luxuries are anchoring you?
With love,
SM