Ah, September. Something about this month has me thinking of late nights in diners, quick lunches in crammed pizza joints, and sharing milkshakes by the water. Here's a list of tunes perfect for playing on the jukebox in your local retro-inspired or so-old-it's-new-again dining establishment.

August always feels bittersweet to me. The end of summer has a way of making you look back on all the fun you had, but also remind you of everything you failed to accomplish. There's always a bit of regret for all those unchecked bucket list items. I did pretty well at actually getting through a majority of mine this year though, as well as a few fun surprises that were never on the list. So while we're all trying to squeeze in that last dip in the pool, camping trip or late night adventure, here's some of the things I loved this month.

August is a month of revelry. I hope you spend time laughing with friends, dancing around bonfires and shimmying alone in your living room at midnight. Here are some songs to keep the good vibes going and get you grooving.

Silvia Pasqualetto is an Italian painter, illustrator, and digital artist who creates beautiful fantasy and science-fiction based pieces. I am totally in love with all her work - each piece seems like a fully created world. The beauty of both her landscapes and creatures is absolutely breath taking. I also adore the way her scifi pieces seem to be inspired by retro futurism, which has always been one of my most favourite aesthetics. 

Make sure to check her out over on Art Station or on her Facebook.

July has been slow in the best possible way - I've spent so many days just lazing about with a book or hanging out with friends doing nothing. It's been super nice to have a month where I've just been able to wander aimlessly, make spontaneous plans, and go on adventures with no real itinerary beyond "I've heard there's cool stuff here, let's explore it". I've gone to fantastic public theatre performance, wine tours, concerts, art nights and so so many little hole in the wall restaurants and shops and have been loving every minute of it. Venture beyond the cut for a full list of things I've loved this month, online and off.

I've never been particularly interested in football.​ Sure, I have that low-grade knowledge of the game that comes from growing up in a rural town where football and high school were practically inseparable as experiences, but I was always more excited about getting out of class than the opportunity to watch the game. Those Friday night lights never did much for me.

So when an article titled "What Football Will Look Like In The Future" started popping up in my social media, it took a while before my curiosity got the better of me and I decided I had to see what everyone was freaking out about.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please go read it now, because I would hate to spoil the experience for you.

​Really, I mean it, if you haven't read it, stop and do so.

I hope you all enjoyed this month's book club pick! Last week I talked a bit about the first half of the novel, and asked a bunch of questions about themes and ideas that were emerging. Click on "read more" to find out what I think now that I've finished.

I think the Meow Wolf collective has to be one of the coolest things to exist on this planet. I have a deep love of interactive art pieces, and Santa Fe-based art collective takes this form of art to new levels. This group, consisting of over 100 artists from a variety of disciplines, works of large scale projects such as their House of Eternal Return (pictured above). This art piece, which consists of an entire house built inside an old bowling alley, literally puts the viewer inside the art.
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"The premise: Something has happened inside a mysterious Victorian house that has dissolved the nature of time and space. Venture through the house of The Selig Family and discover secret passageways into fantastic dimensions!" - Meow Wolf

How cool does that sound? I am in love with experimental forms of story-telling, and the idea of telling a story by placing the audience in the set and having them learn it through exploration is beyond brilliant. I am absolutely dying to see this project in person, and not just in the snippets posted to the internet, as I fully believe in the necessity of full immersion to experience pieces like this, however what I have seen is more than enough to convince me of how incredible this project is. I can only hope that I somehow manage to get down to Santa Fe while the project is still open. If this, or any of their other projects, is something you have a chance to see, please go! I will be madly jealous but also want to know all about your experience.

Alright! It's time to review the first half of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (aka the first 7 chapters). I hope you've been enjoying it so far!

If you haven't caught up to the halfway mark yet I don't want to spoil anything for you, so the rest of the discussion is under the cut.

July's playlist doesn't have too much in the way of new music on it. Instead, I've been listening to a mix of songs from a variety of eras, all of which inspire that dreamy, hazey feeling of the endless days of summer that sprawl out ahead of us. These songs are the perfect soundtrack to all of your July adventures.