1- The MMD Summer Reading Guide is out, and she’s posted her Minimalist Guide for everyone! I don’t know if I’ve ever been so excited for summer reading. This year’s picks just look SO GOOD. I actually ordered a print version of the guide — I’m hoping it will arrive today or over the weekend.
Our book club (I hosted last night + it was fun!) already selected one of Anne Bogel’s picks for our next meetup:
Two of the members actually have boys in C’s grade and they are his friends so this particular meetup was a combo book club / 6th grade hang. Despite our house being very echo-y (ie loud), it worked pretty well!
2- The Reframe (my friend Kathleen Paley’s excellent podcast) had such an interesting ep on mistakes Kathleen and her husband made and still managed to retire early (and quite comfortably).
As noted yesterday, we are not on a FI path. I do think we may be able to safely dial things down in a decade or so, and we are on track for a ‘normal’ retirement. And yet I still find FI content very interesting! I think it comes down to watching people use money with such intentionality (rather than according to convention).
3- Ezra Klein has had some fascinating episodes lately! I enjoyed his recent GLP-1 piece, and today he’s interviewing Pema Chodron. I find his more political episodes useful and thought-provoking too, but it’s been nice to listen to other topics.
4- The Girl Next Door pod did a super fun summer ep: the annual Designing Our Summers! I love how Kelsey and Erica talked about workbooks. I think at least 2/3 of my kids would be very excited to receive workbooks (but maybe less excited to actually DO them).
5- Weekend plans: kid-activity-filled Saturday, G’s piano recital Sunday, and Belle & Sebastian! Definitely shaping up to be a good one. I’m going to start playing B&S music from now until the concert. (If You’re Feeling Sinister and Dear Catastrophe Waitress tie for my fave albums. And I have no idea what the band has been doing since ~2005 or so, but I guess I will be finding out!)
(I am realizing I am now in the “Old Person Happily Goes to Decades-Old Artist Concerts” Era. I mean, I still want to see Olivia Rodrigo and Ariana Grande, but I’m equally excited about this concert and Weezer/the Shins, which we’re going to in the fall! I’m even somewhat looking forward to Weird Al, though that’s really mostly for Josh. It’s definitely a fun era because at least it’s not AS hard to get tickets to these somewhat-retro acts . . .)
(And not in any way disparaging Oasis or Tori! Especially Tori.)
((I think Kae is right there with me with her Garth Brooks tickets! I feel less alone, ha.))
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That episode is next in my podcast queue! It is always interesting to hear people talk about money, partly because we all deal with money, and mostly because it’s stuff that most of us keep private so it’s refreshing to hear other people open up. Everyone needs to work toward financial independence, and the early retirement part is optional. But now that I’ve taken the option, it’s a blast! Obviously the past six months have been great for the stock market, so what I’ve spent is tiny compared to how much has come in…just like when I was working but without all of the aggravation.