Weekly Good Things 2025 Week 25

We've made it to SUMMER!

Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things – your guide to living intentionally and more fully one good thing at a time! I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.

Welcome to SUMMER!

Tomorrow to celebrate I have registered myself for a box lunch at the Scandinavian Living Center, which includes Princess cake, and a flower crown station because, Scandinavians know how to Midsommar!

It looks like we won’t be making a record 15 straight Saturdays of rain in New England in a row, so I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with myself with all that sunshine tomorrow!

I have to catch back up the ranking for my summer race, so getting outdoors is definitely the plan!

After staying in about 25th place each night or better for all of May, I’ve “slipped” in to the second page of the rankings at 300+ miles. Because I’m competitive, I’ll be working my way up one extra mile a day at a time! I’m reminding myself it’s a marathon not a sprint, I’m just about half way in the official leg, and hoping to get to at least 1000 miles by the end of summer.

👋 If you are new here, welcome! I try to fill these newsletters with a little something for everyone. (If you are just here for the food, it’s at the end! Feel free to scroll, I won’t judge!)

Bertram Enjoying Joyful Grass Rolling

Good Things The Past Few Weeks

1. I got a Berkey water system off of our Buy Nothing Group. People have historically been obsessed with these, and I won’t lie, I’ve been wanting one for about 15 years. They are essentially a big metal Brita that lives on your counter top, and encourages hydration through being enormous on your countertop, and also primarily because the water tastes really good out of them. (I did do a quick taste test, and yes, it does really taste great.) Now, to go down a rabbit hole: thing is not without controversy, including a labeling lawsuit with the EPA, and a cult following that overlaps with fringe wellness, and angry reddit threads. At the end of the day, I’m fairly certain this thing will not poison me, but it will likely keep me hydrated because of visual cueing (and because the water really does taste good!) at least until I’ve decided I’m done with it and give it back to the Buy Nothing group.

2. My friend Liz was visiting Boston for work, and we went on a leisurely two hour walk through the common, Back Bay, and the South End. I love catching up with people while on the move! We took a quick walk around the Copley Farmers Market, where the complaints about the redesign I think are overblown. I got a Levain Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip cookie, which is great, but several bites too much (so Liz got some, and I gave a bite to my mom, who we ran into with my brother on their way to Fenway Park). I also picked up some Mozzarella House burrata from my beloved Formaggio Kitchen (although I’m usually a Huron Village fan), and took a quick peek at the lovely Parkside Bookshop in the South End. [Shout out to Liz’s new special project:

   Liz Writes for 100 Days
   !]

3. I spent a lovely weekend adventure at a Lake house for a friend’s birthday (okay, technically, a pond!) in Groton, MA. Other than a broken stove top and a lot of rain, we all had a nice time, and highlights included playing the online party game Wavelength, a trail run, introducing an out-of-towner to Market Basket (and the current drama), and some deep dives on various topics including the Great Molasses Flood (21 people died, 150 people were injured, and everyone had sticky houses for years).

Random:

1. Why do these $500 shoes have such a grip on me? For those of you who don’t click on links, they are Lebucq Boomer Fisherman sandals, and I feel like I’d become a gladiator wearing them. “Pairs with: boxer shorts, button down, unread hardcover, Subaru” Woman-owned brand, high quality product. Cheeky marketing. I hate ordering shoes off the internet with my sasquatch sizing, so I’m not likely to have a credit card accident here.

2. “The future isn't “AI-first.” It's customer-first — powered, quietly and competently, by AI”: Wise words by

   Amanda Natividad
   in her latest substack essay ‘AI, but make it good’: “The goal then, for companies, shouldn’t be to dazzle us with their “AI-first” experiences. It should be to dazzle us with customer-first experiences… that happen to be powered by AI — done well and at scale.”

3. I do a version of Josh Spector’s Delete Week every so often to reduce digital clutter (and because I love deleting things.)

4. I loved this 612 POAP challenge via Jamie Thingelstad: “The 612 POAP Challenge is a citywide scavenger hunt running through Labor Day – Monday, September 1, 2025. Across Minneapolis, 31 iconic locations await – each tied to a unique POAP (short for Proof of Attendance Protocol, pronounced “poh-ap”), a digital token you can collect as a memento of your visit. It’s like geocaching, but with art, technology, and hometown pride.” – I’d love to do a local version of this. (Even if just for myself!)

Peonies the size of my head

Mixed Media:

• 📖 Reading:

  • I picked up The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad, thinking honestly, it may have been a fiction or romantasy based on the cover. But it’s actually a great essay-style prompt book about journaling, and how to do it better.

  • A friend recommended Dan Martell’s ‘Buy Back Your Time’ to better offload things that I don’t *need* to be doing.

  • In Fiction, I loved T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart which was a quirky and fast read, so much so that I started reading her Nettle and Bone (which I’d also recommend), and think that she’ll be my next binge author.

• 📺 Watching:

  • TV: Dept. Q. on Netflix was great – it’s a remake of a Scandinavian crime thriller series with Matthew Goode. Chilling, great twists. Wonderfully developed characters. // I’ve been party watching Andor (although boy do I miss Disney’s group watch features!)

  • Film: I saw Jane Austen Wrecked My Life in the theater – it was cute (and French!) // I *loved* Ballerina (a John Wick film with Ana de Armas) which was like John Wick meets Buffy meets Home Alone, with some of the most genuinely creative ways to kill people I’ve ever seen on film. Aggressively violent – phenomenal choreography! – and plenty of “fighting like a girl”.

• 🎧 Listening:

  • It’s a new season of

    Mel Joulwan & Dave Humphreys
    Strong Sense of Place, and I’m enjoying last week’s episode about our National Parks!

  • We made two new Night Owl Meditations for night shift workers on Ompractice:

    • Seated Grounding Meditation — great for a quiet break or transition

    • Walking Meditation — ideal for hallway walks or mindful movement on the job

• 🤣 Memes and randomness of the week:

  • A nice visual resource for understanding some film terminology.

  • This guy biking to every single Dunkin’ in Boston on National Donut Day: here’s what happened.

  • Owls in Towels.

  • Jaws at 50.

Slow Drip Gardening:

• Everything is very happy in my front pot garden, and somehow the back plot has managed to sustain my lettuce plants, zucchini, peppers, and herbs without actually remembering to water things. Might be the weekly rain!

• Tomato plant is about triple the size since I took this photo last week.

Scandinavian Treats at Berserk!

Weekly Meal Plan:

My meal plans tend to be more of a directional support for me than what I actually end up eating in my week. (I think a lot of people who do meal planning feel obligated to actually eat the things they come with rather than just using as a placeholder/inspiration. I do not feel so constricted.)

One of my favorite combos: cottage cheese with avocado, olive oil, black pepper (and some beans)

A WILDLY fascinating taste

🍒 Good Eats from the Past Few Weeks:

• Pretzel Shortbread from Lost Bread Co. This might have to become one of my signature gifts. (Thank you, Sara!)

• Monkfish Avramila: a Sephardic sweet and sour plum sauce; with mashed potatoes and stewed leeks

• Dip Dip: Soom Chocolate Tahini, Koy Pistachio Spread, Taramosalata from Sophia’s, Trader Joe’s Whipped Feta Spread, Trader Joe’s Labneh with Tomato

• Fruits of Note: Watermelon with whipped feta and black pepper, blueberries with TJ’s high fiber cereal and milk

• Takeout: Halva in Watertown, MA: liver plate, piyaz (white bean salad), and pistachio helva (a semolina dessert)

• Treats at the Scandinavian Living Center: a cardamom bun from Hulda’s at the Kaffestugan, Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs with all the fixings (apparently you can’t get Scandinavian hot dogs imported, so they make their own mix-meat blend. It was great!

• From Trader Joe’s: grab a jar of Organic Tart Cherry Preserves (swirl into yogurt)

The Weekly Bean (excellent)

This week’s meal plan: prepping for HOT HOT HOT weather! A reminder to peruse this 2007 classic article from Mark Bittman in the Times: Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less (gift link). I did a second weekly bean: Yellow Eye beans that I’m throwing into everything.

• Sunday: Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry via Woks of Life

• Monday: Steak, dumpling and smashed cucumber salad with peanut sauce

• Tuesday: Crab salad with crispy fries

• Wednesday: Fancy Annie’s with corn and basil

• Thursday: Delivery from Viet Citron in Burlington (this has been on my bucket list for years now)

• Friday: Naengmyun Korean Cold Noodle Soup I have a pre-made bag from H-Mart, but would absolutely enjoy doing this as a project cook.

Lunch Options: Lamb vindaloo. Blueberries. TJ’s Bibim Guksu with chicken or sardines.

Snacks: Soft boiled eggs. Yogurt and passion fruit granola (or chocolate coffee granola). Cheese sticks. Chomps. High Fiber Cereal. Aggressive amounts of fridge-cheese. Cottage Cheese.

Treat options (mostly in the freezer): The Half Cookie freezer cookies. Lime Popsicles. TJ’s S’mores Bars. TJ’s Passion Fruit Tartelettes. Trader Joe’s Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. Apple Blossoms. Trader Joe’s Key Lime Pie. I will likely pick up a TJ’s Strawberries and Cream Cloud Cake.

What are you eating this week?

Here’s to a very good week!

xo, Sam