Links we sent our friends #56

Summer dish inspo, indie designers, the best deodorant, and more

Hi! It’s Aliza. Can you believe it’s already July? I’ve been doing my best to soak in all the summer: going to outdoor concerts, taking day trips to Maine to hang out with friends,¹ and eating lots of ice cream.

Today’s guest is

Nicole Garelick

, a writer, mother, and Instacart power user who writes

The Performance Plan

, a newsletter about the comedy of errors in everyday life. Some of our favorite recent pieces include Decoding your wife’s questions (Aja: too accurate) and Nipples for spring!

Nicole’s Links: 

1. One of my life goals is assembling the perfect season-agnostic capsule wardrobe.² I spend a lot of time perusing Garmentory, an online shop featuring thousands of emerging designers and independent boutiques from across the world.

2. Speaking of shopping: I’m currently on the hunt for the ideal black skirt, and this one might be the winner.

3. As a mother of two young kids, we often need things at the last minute. That’s where Instacart comes in. I recently got this Bluey backpack and lunchbox combo for my son’s first day of camp delivered. (We’re normally a Bingo household, but he let it slide.)

4. The eclectic playlist I use to get in the zone when I’m writing.

5. This clip made me howl with laughter. 

Thanks for the recs, Nicole! Check out The Performance Plan for more.

Aliza’s Links:

1. Would you open a joint savings account with your best friends? And what did you think of these tips on how to party?³ 

2. Digging this simple bathing suit collection. 

3. I just re-upped, so I thought this would be a good time to restate how much I love my natural deodorant. (Never thought I’d say those words.)

4. After I published last month’s essay about miscarriage, a reader put The Worst Girl Gang Ever — a support platform and podcast for miscarriage and baby loss— on my radar. I wish I’d known about them sooner. Thank you!

5. As my friend Suz said, it’s summer pasta season.

This is not a food blog. But we are serving up some good summer dish inspiration this week!

Aja’s Links:

1. How easy and delicious does this dip look?

2. The dreamiest paintings.

3. Like my friend Mollie, I was originally uninterested in this video about Graham’s number (the largest number ever!!) but completely engrossed by the end.

4. Very excited to have found cute sandals I can walk miles in.

5. Shipping Natalie Portman and Paul Mescal…

6. TIL.

Newsletter we sent our friends:

Crone Sandwich

is — as author

Catherine Newman

writes — a weird newsletter about all the midlife things: kids, parents, food, sex, holidays, rage, and sweating at night. As two women straddling our late twenties/mid thirties, we find her writing remarkably refreshing and candid.

Catherine’s most recent novel, Sandwich, details a woman’s summer vacation sandwiched between her half-grown kids and aging parents. No surprise, the book has been flying off the shelves — as evidenced by the fact that when Aja and I went to hear Catherine speak at Cambridge’s Porter Square Books on a warm evening last week, they’d already run out of copies.

Aja’s already breezed through it, but I know what I’ll be doing this week on vacation after Jude goes to bed.

Question we asked our friends:

We love hearing about the inspiring work our readers are doing. Some recent examples:

Allison works at Origin, a startup working to make pelvic floor physical therapy accessible for every woman and individual with a vagina. (Interview with Origin’s co-founder, Carine Carmy, coming soon!)

Annie is the co-founder of a startup making eco-conscious pickleball paddles.⁴ (Use code PLATONICLOVE for $25 off.)   

What about you? Tell us about yourself and/or the businesses and organizations we should all know about in the comments!

Final note: We’re skipping Thursday’s issue for the Fourth and will see you back here next Monday. Hope all of our U.S.-based readers have a lovely holiday.

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If you enjoy reading Platonic Love each week, there are a few ways to let us know: “like” this post, leave a comment, share Platonic Love, and/or upgrade to a paid subscription. Happy Fourth, and we’ll see you next week!

1. As a girl who grew up in Tennessee, I still cannot believe I get to say that. - Aliza

2. I know what you’re thinking… What incredibly ambitious goals you have! - Nicole

3. I’m sorry — needing to leave early is not (under most circumstances) a reason to decline entirely. But I do love the tip to eat beforehand. - Aliza

4. Read more about their story here in the Detroit Metro Times.