Let’s Be Honest, July Can Be a Lot

"The light. The laughter. The long, beautiful days that won’t last forever."

Welcome to the very first edition of The Slow Living Catalog. I’m so happy you’re here! This monthly love letter is a gentle invitation to slow down and savor the season you’re in. Each month, you’ll find simple joys, seasonal inspiration, homemaking rhythms, and heartfelt encouragement to create a life filled with beauty, meaning, and peace. The catalog will arrive on the first of every month, and my hope is that it becomes a moment of pause in your inbox — a cozy corner to retreat to with your morning tea or golden hour light.

Though July is already underway, it felt right to begin now — to mark this moment, this breath, this beginning. Let’s wander into this month together.

July hums with warmth and wonder.
It’s sun-drenched mornings, sticky popsicle afternoons, freckles across your nose, and barefoot walks through the garden. It’s fireflies blinking in the grass and tomato vines growing a little wilder by the day.

But let’s be honest — July can also be a lot.
Schedules are packed. There are trips and weddings and weekend plans, late nights and early mornings, grocery runs and sunscreen reapplications. The days feel full — sometimes overwhelmingly so — but if you zoom out just a little, you’ll realize: this is the good kind of full. The kind we’ll miss one day. The kind that feels like life, buzzing and blooming in real time.

And maybe that’s the invitation of July —
Not to slow everything down, but to find little moments of stillness within the motion.
To breathe in the chaos and notice what’s good. To laugh during the cleanup. To let the sun warm your face while you wait for the burgers to flip. To be here, even if “here” is a little messy and loud.

It’s Sundays on the boat with friends, music floating over the water, everyone a little too sunburned and a little too happy to care. It’s coming home to a simple dinner — grilled corn, fresh tomatoes, a cold drink — and eating under the soft warmth of a July evening sky.

This month doesn’t ask for perfection.
It just asks for presence. For soaking it in.
The light. The laughter. The long, beautiful days that won’t last forever.

So let’s notice them while they’re here.

(photo inspiration via Pinterest)

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By July, the garden has come alive.
Everything’s growing like crazy — the tomatoes are stretching taller, the cucumbers are vining up the trellis, the zinnias are showing off in every direction. It’s beautiful and a little wild... in the best way.

This is the season of checking in and tending gently. You’ve already planted and watered and dreamed — now it’s about noticing. What’s thriving? What needs a little extra love? Are the tomatoes getting enough support? Are the herbs starting to bolt in the heat? Have you stopped to really admire what’s come to life?

Here’s a few small ways to tend your July garden: