My Own September Issue
Hey, it's the September issue y'all! Goodness, just those three words still elicit excitement from my body. About 1,000 years ago, or what seems to be 1,000 years ago, I had a very intense habit of collecting magazines. I pored over high fashion spreads, and you guessed it, I coveted the famous one in the September issue. Just the memories of trying to figure out where to store all of the magazines is a hilarious vision to me now. I would stack them on bookshelves as if they were books, and whatever new issues were pouring in per month would sit stacked on my kitchen table, ready to inhale as I was chomping on my next meal. They littered the tiny condo I owned and became a "problem."
Now I honestly can't remember the last September issue I read. There's a little sadness that bubbles around this. Am I glad I'm not a hoarder anymore? Yes. Am I nostalgic for magazine-in-hand periodical? Also yes.
The legacy and history attached to that magazine is iconic and not to be messed with — I mean that literally. Vogue printed its first September issue the year after the magazine launched in the 1890s, and by the time I was collecting, the issue had ballooned into something absurd: the 2007 edition ran 840 pages, and by 2012 it had swelled to 916. That's not a magazine; that's a doorstop with a cover story. I didn't know any of this back then. I just knew the September issue was heavier in my hands than any other month, and that the weight meant something was coming.
I adore fashion, and even though I'd consider myself a little more on the used-clothes-and-wears-whatever-is-comfortable side of things now, I still drool over the fall fashions walking down the runway.
One of my favorite types of spreads had a genre all its own, though I didn't have language for it then. It's called a location editorial, or sometimes a fantasy editorial — the industry's answer to "what if we took the most theatrical, unwearable, runway-only pieces and dropped them somewhere that has nothing to do with a store or a city street." They'd take a waifish, underfed model out to a crazy remote area of the world — the desert, the mountains, a misty Eastern European forest — and bring the most outrageously couture clothing they could find. A giant gold pleated dress with a clown collar on a frizzy-haired redhead, eyeliner perfectly placed, walking down a dusty road in Colombia. You know the vibe.
The whole point of the contrast was to make the clothes read like sculpture instead of product — a beaded gown against cracked earth, a cocoon coat against snow, the body practically secondary to the shape. Stylists like Grace Coddington were the ones dreaming up those locations in the first place, and photographers like Peter Lindbergh and Steven Meisel built entire careers on making couture look like it had wandered in from another world entirely.
Karl Lagerfeld, Balenciaga, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Dior — the list goes on, and each one brought something different to that dusty road. Lagerfeld's Chanel was maximalist theater, gold sequins and exaggerated collars, tweed reimagined as armor — pieces that barely needed styling to look cinematic. Balenciaga went architectural, cocoon shapes and exaggerated volumes that turned a person into a form first and a woman second — that's the clown-collar energy, honestly. Tom Ford went the opposite direction entirely, sleek and controlled and a little dangerous. Marc Jacobs kept things playful, deliberately ugly-pretty, subversive enough to give the whole story some humor. And Dior was the most theatrical of all — corsetry and historical fantasy and those exaggerated ruffled collars he loved so much, gowns that looked like they'd stepped out of another century entirely to pose in the middle of nowhere.
When they created that September issue, it was always the fattest mag with the most advertisements, but the spread was what moved me. It seems like the old me was finally aware of the seasons changing because of that magazine arriving in the late days of August. I didn't know it at the time, but I was collecting right through the messiest stretch of an argument the magazine was having with itself — model or celebrity, model or celebrity, back and forth, cover after cover, the whole decade and a half I was hoarding issues.
Some Septembers it was a face you knew from a movie; other years it swung back to someone famous for nothing but being extraordinary to look at in extraordinary clothes. Whichever way the cover landed, the fantasy editorials inside stayed loyal to the older world a little longer — the girl in the gold dress on the dusty Colombian road didn't need a film credit to earn her place on that road. That was the whole job.
Now I sit on the small patch of grass in my yard, in my old Target shorts, on a Mexican blanket with my dog, drinking a glass of herbal tea, watching the sky turn the landscape golden. The zinnias have powdery mildew, and the sunflowers have been picked to death by the squirrels and birds. My cucumbers have seen better days, but the tomatoes are still rocking. This is how I tell summer is fading.
Late August gives us the gifts we dream about all winter — so much produce, beautiful flowers, bunches and bunches of herbs. As the signs start to show the flipping of the seasons, I will be here, soaking in every last ounce of what's good, basking in my new version of the September issue. No gold pleats, no dusty road in Colombia — just a golden hour of my own, and a dog who doesn't care what I'm wearing.
Small Rituals
This month my goal is to stay on top of consistency — not perfection, which is my poison. I just need to keep showing up. What I know to be true in my body these days is that yoga and doing work with the Yoga Tune Up balls are keeping these old bones moving and grooving. There’s so much relief in rolling out a shoulder or a hip and finding all the little knots I didn’t know I was carrying around — it’s not glamorous work, but it’s the kind of maintenance that actually pays off. But in order for it to pay off, I have to find ways to make it work for me.
However, with the added pressure of perimenopause looming right around the corner, I know that weight lifting is non-negotiable at this point. It has always felt really good in my body to challenge myself and put myself in discomfort all in the name of growth (in the form of muscles) — there’s a part of me that loves that edge, the feeling of doing something hard and coming out the other side stronger.
I’m always energized after a lifting session, and my smile is brighter. But I’ve gone through many bouts of injury, even with a trainer standing right there, all in the name of picking up heavy weights and chasing some version of progress that wasn’t actually sustainable.
Recently I think I arrived at a familiar edge of hurting myself and being upset that I “did it again.” Another round of chiropractor visits and having to modify everything felt like it was in my future. I haven’t fully arrived on that doorstep yet, so...
So this time around, I’m working on pushing myself with a different lens entirely — the lens of doing it again tomorrow. That means not going for the super crazy heavy weight just to prove something to myself. It means checking my ego at the door and asking a different question: not “how much can I lift today,” but “can I still be doing this, pain-free, for the rest of my life?”
Consistency over intensity. Longevity over ego. That’s the whole game this month.
Vital Kitchen
Welcome to the Beautiful Chaos of September
September might be the single busiest month in our kitchen all year, and I say that as someone who makes every month a “the busy one.” My husband is a professional chef, and his main job at this point in the season isn’t working in the restaurant. It’s keeping me organized. Because when I am left to my own devices, I will absolutely blow through my life savings at the farmers market and come home with an amount of produce that no two humans can reasonably eat before it rots.
Even with him keeping me on the straight and narrow, it still happens. Every year. Because September is harvest season, and harvest season is basically one long, gorgeous celebration that I will not sit out. Melons and cucumbers and beans are still going strong, tomatoes are cycling through every color God gave them, and the peppers are really doing the most. Cooking right now feels like anything is possible — the world is your oyster, and also your cucumber, and also your seventeenth tomato of the week.
The Great Cabbage Project
We grew something like fifteen heads of cabbage this year; that's a lot, so obviously the only sane response was to ferment some of it into sauerkraut. This has become entirely my husband’s domain, which honestly works out great for me, because my role is simply to walk through the kitchen, get hit with that unmistakable fermenting-cabbage smell (pew, truly, every time), and marvel that something that smells like that turns into something so good for you and so satisfying to watch come together. If the phrase “cottage core” has ever applied to two people, it is currently applying very hard to us.
Cucumber Everything
We are drowning in cucumbers, in the best way, so juice has become a daily ritual around here. My go-to combo is celery, cucumber, cabbage, lemon, mint, and apple — bright, a little sweet, and somehow exactly what my body wants at 8am in September. But if you want something you can actually chew, this is the salad I keep making on repeat.
Spicy Peanut Cucumber Basil Salad
A recipe by Justine Doiron for a quick, crunchy Thai-inspired cucumber salad with sticky spiced peanuts.
Ingredients:
3 large cucumbers, seeded and cut into chunky spears
⅓ cup raw peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp salt (for salting cucumbers)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice, plus 1 tsp for finishing
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp tamari
½ cup fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp water
Gochugaru and fresh mint, optional
Cut the cucumbers crosswise into 4 chunky pieces. Halve each piece lengthwise and scrape out the seedy core with a spoon, then cut into chunky spears. Toss the cucumber chunks with the salt in a colander and let sit to draw out excess water. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the peanuts, brown sugar, sriracha, sesame oil, and water. Cook, stirring often, until the water bubbles off and the peanuts are sticky and coated. Pat the cucumbers dry, then in a serving bowl toss with the tamari, rice vinegar, lime juice, and torn basil leaves. Sprinkle the sticky peanuts over the top and finish with a squeeze of extra lime juice. For extra heat and color, finish with a light dusting of gochugaru.
Add fresh mint too if you want more brightness. Watch the peanuts closely once the water bubbles off — they can go from sticky to burnt in about four seconds flat, ask me how I know.
Cookbook of the Season
Speaking of Justine Doiron, I’ve been living inside her book Justine Cooks lately, and it has become my September North Star. It’s pescatarian-based with a ton of vegetarian options, and her vegetable combinations are just wonderful — the kind of pairings that make you feel like you have the ability to make something you would read on a menu at your fav all-day café restaurant. Staying on my cabbage kick, I’m making her citrus ginger cabbage with sesame tofu this week, alongside a batch of green tahini sauce that I plan to put on everything.
Zucchini Tomato Socca
Another good way to use up a tomato glut.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups chickpea flour
2 eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk (water or thinned yogurt also work)
3 tbsp olive oil
¾ tsp sea salt
¾ cup grated zucchini
½ cup chopped cherry tomatoes
¼ cup feta cheese
Method: Whisk flour, eggs, buttermilk, and oil together; let the batter sit 20-30 minutes (or overnight). Grate the zucchini and chop the tomatoes, then fold in with the feta when ready to cook. Drizzle oil into a hot skillet and spoon in 2-3 dollops of batter, spread into a pancake shape, and cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden. Serve with salted Greek yogurt or extra feta on top.
The Sunday Frittata Ritual
Every single week I make a frittata loaded with whatever vegetables are on their last legs plus some chicken sausage, and it has become the unsung hero of our week. It’s not glamorous, it’s not new, but it means Monday morning I have an actual breakfast waiting instead of standing in front of the fridge negotiating with myself. Grab and go, no drama, endlessly adaptable to whatever the garden dumped on me that week. And here’s the thing about frittatas — if you know the right technique and you’ve got the right pan, it is genuinely very hard to mess up.
Here’s how I make mine: gather up whatever vegetables you want to use and cut them into small pieces. Cook them, along with some chicken sausage, in a large oven-proof pan on the stovetop with olive oil and/or butter, salt, and pepper until everything is fully cooked. Remove it all from the pan and set aside, then wipe the pan out and put it back on the heat. While that’s heating, preheat your oven to 350°F, crack all your eggs into a bowl, whisk them, and season with salt and pepper. Pour the eggs into the hot pan, sprinkle the veggie-and-sausage mix evenly over the top, add cheese if you’re feeling it, and slide the whole pan into the oven until the eggs are fully set.
Done. Breakfast — or lunch — sorted for a couple of days.
Swiss Chard, the Underrated Green
We’ve got a ton of Swiss chard growing in the yard right now, and it’s earned a special place in my heart. I love all the leafy greens, however, spinach, collards, and arugula have been a fight for us to grow consistently. Chard just doesn’t care. It’s hardy, it grows straight through from spring to fall, and it can take just about any weather or wind gust served up by Mother Nature. I’m also a big proponent of using the stems — no need to toss them the way you would with collards or spinach; they cook up beautifully and add great texture.
Here is a recipe I love using lots of Swiss chard.
Zucchini Tomato Socca
Here's another winner of a recipe that's easy to use up all the tomatoes.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups chickpea flour
2 eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk (water will also work or thinned out yogurt)
3 tbsp olive oil
¾ tsp sea salt
¾ cup grated zucchini
½ cup chopped cherry tomatoes
¼ cup feta cheese
Preparation:
Step 1. Combine the flour, eggs, buttermilk and oil in a large bowl by whisking vigorously. Let that sit for 20-30 min, you can also do that the day before.
Step 2. Grate zucchini and chop tomatoes. Add veggies and cheese to the batter when ready to cook.
Step 3. Drizzle a small amount of oil into a large skillet or griddle. When the skillet is hot but not smoking, spoon 2-3 generous dollops of batter into the pan. Spread into a pancake shape and cook until golden brown, 3-4 min per side.
Step 4. Serve with salted greek yogurt or more feta on top.
Gluten-Free Sourdough
I have also started my journey with the gluten-free sourdough bread book. It’s called the Art of Gluten Free Bread by Aran Goyoaga. What a crazy ride. Every time that starter bubbles up after I feed it out of nowhere, I get so excited. All the little microbes just working away in there is pretty cool. I have made 3 loaves so far! And another one is coming this Sunday.
Sunday will be my bread-baking day since it takes a bit of time to prepare for it. You make the sponge, it sits for 2-4 hours, then you mix the dough and add the sponge, and it sits for another 3-5 hours, and then you bake. Whew. Talk about patience, and when there is room for error, don’t worry, I will be making errors. So I see this as a long path to learning.
Baking bread actually feels like the first time I cut hair. I had a distinct feeling after that first haircut that it was going to take quite a while for me to get good at this. There are so many nuances that can make it or break it. I made some mini walnut baguettes a month or so ago, and they literally looked like large piles of poop when they came out of the oven. They tasted very, very good, but I have GOT to do a better job of figuring out how to shape the dough. I also have come to realize that equipment is everything.
When I’m talking to my clients at the salon, and they always say, wow your blow-out is so much better than mine, I say, well… what kind of blowdryer do you have? Is it a $20 Conair from Target on sale 5 years ago? Yes? Then there ya go. I have been baking without the right tools. I asked for a bread baking tool kit for my birthday, so I will report back with some pictures as the year goes on with (fingers crossed) hopefully some improvement.
If anyone has ever read the book Julie & Julia, then you know how cooking your way through a cookbook can be thrilling. I never have come across a cookbook where I wanted to make every single recipe. Well I think this is the one. I’m gonna try and make every single one! Let’s see how it goes.
Beautiful Finds
Every year at this time I feel the need to reinvent myself via my wardrobe. It’s a strong pull. This year it came on like wildfire. I woke up at 6am a couple days ago and immediately decided that nothing in my closet was cool anymore, especially my shoes, and I needed to research what people are wearing these days.
I’m actually convinced that if I lived in a rural area like the mountains or the woods I would be very happy in the same 5 outfits and maybe a cute dress once in a while. But since I live in a metropolitan area with lots of fashionistas, I believe my fashion lust just comes from the exposure I get from just walking down the street. Chicago isn’t the most fashion-forward city in the US, but there are some real cute outfits that I see out in the wild now and then.
Yes, I get influenced on the socials, and yes, consumerism is at an all-time high, and I’m sure that has something to do with the sudden “need.” But this year I’m trying to understand where it’s really rooted.
So after I decided I needed to redesign my whole closet, I spent an hour or so perusing the internet and its many offerings. What does that mean? Lol, well, it means I have 600 open tabs and 16 shopping carts and I’m just confused at this point.
I have some brands that are go-to’s for me however, thrifting has always been a love of mine. But as my body gets older and changes shape, I notice thrifting to be harder. I used to be able to grab something off the rack, eyeball it, and it would 9x out of 10 work out.
Recently I have felt a bit foreign in my body, not sure how stuff fits anymore. My body is a size that can skew almost plus size but usually too small for true plus size, and sometimes too big for regular brands, so I really like when brands have a lot of options. I love to thrift, but this makes it harder. AND…..I just don’t have the time to do it as much as I used to. I also think that there are a LOT more folks out there who have made thrifting their business, which makes the thrift stores in the city a little picked over. I would love to know where you all like to shop?
As I get older, I like to spend a little more on a really nice piece of clothing, but I gotta say I don’t have much of a budget these days for clothes. So what does one do when they got no money but still wanna look chic and not wear polyester clothes from the usual suspects that are filling our landfills with junk… H&M, Zara, etc. I think the answer is used and/or renting, so maybe that’s my next exploration.
But in the meantime, my hours spent on the internet looking at the current fashions helped me realize that I need to spend a little time in my own closet (which is fully stocked). I haven’t done a clean-out in a year, and maybe that’s actually what the doctor ordered. A large donation bag to start up the new season, and a wish list to make sure I really want what I want.
And of course, for beautiful pieces while working in the garden, here is a lovely website with all the cool things you probably don’t need but are fun to peruse. Because garden clothes are always rags that will get ruined unless you are fancy. I picture Pamela Anderson and Martha Stewart shopping from this site for their grand gardens.
What I Read
This article combines two things I am very passionate about. Perimenopause and psychedelics. The transition women experience in midlife can feel like grasping at straws. Understanding how psychedelics can help is groundbreaking. Together, they’ve changed how I understand myself more than almost anything else in my adult life. This is a short article about how San Pedro has been shown to help women in this transition of life. It’s an attempt to talk honestly about two things that are still whispered about instead of spoken about — and why, for me, they turned out to be deeply connected.
This article is worth the TLDR label
If you’re angry about books and AI destroying them, you should read what corporations do to seeds…
What I Listened To
The Telepathy Tapes are back in my rotation. I really want to get to season 2, but I’m stuck in the abyss that is the end of season 1. Seriously, 31 episodes?!
This podcast has opened up so much for me. I work with a lot of clients whose kids are on the spectrum, and honestly, connecting with them hasn’t always come easy. I couldn’t always read their body language or figure out what was bothering them, especially since their bodies often seem to be in some kind of discomfort.
But this podcast has filled me with so much compassion and understanding. The magic these kids carry is honestly astonishing, and it has humbled me. Can’t wait to keep going with the episodes.
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