A Few Good Things

Including what we wore in Mexico, an easy pesto pasta, and our favorite new show

Happy Friday!

How was your week? We’re back from Cancun, where we spent our first vacation together without our kids in two years, and reader, it was such a nice little getaway. We ate and drank way too much, took in the peace and quiet, and took so many photos that we can’t publicly share just yet ;). Still, as much fun as it was to get away for a few days, it also felt so good to come home and squeeze our babies. There’s no place like home with your people, is there? I’m putting together a little recap of everything we did, where we stayed, what we ate, and lots and lots of photos (that are a little too…spicy to post anywhere else), if you’re interested in seeing all of that for next week’s newsletter.

Also, I loved your input on last week’s letter re: having crushes. It feels like a taboo topic for people in relationships, but your responses were so good. What do YOU think? Is having a crush on someone else when you’re in a relationship a make or break deal for you and your partner? We took a deep dive into this and shared our current crushes, if you want to check it out.

Lastly, we hit 20k subscribers on the newsletter! Writing Okay McKay for the last almost three years has been such a highlight for me, I can’t even begin to explain it to you. The growth here has been slow and gradual. We weren’t an overnight success like some other publications on Substack, but I am so proud of our devoted, close, family-like community here that I love so very much. You, my dear readers, are what make this newsletter so special every week, and for that, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

PS: this email gets long, so you may want to click through to Substack to read the entire thing.

Hope you have a splendid weekend, and here are a few good things from the week.

1. Mexico Dinner Outfits

PJ’s shirt / PJ’s shorts / my shirt / my pants

When we shared this video of us heading out to dinner in Mexico, a bunch of you asked where our fits were from. I didn’t even think about it at the time, but one was very high and one was very low in terms of cost. PJ’s entire outfit cost under $40 from Amazon, while mine was more than four times that amount, all from Todd Snyder. Both bring us joy (and we didn’t mean to color coordinate either—that’s what happens when you’ve been together almost two decades). Either way, linking everything from both outfits above!

2. I Post, Therefore I Am

I found this article from Airmail completely fascinating. Camille Charrière, in her debut column for Airmail, explores the growing pressure to “perform” intelligence online, arguing that in the age of A.I. and social media, knowledge has started to feel more like a status symbol rather than a deeply personal pursuit. She goes on to talk about how people increasingly outsource thinking, creativity, and even emotion to apps, summaries, algorithms, and A.I. tools, often at the expense of genuine curiosity and self-discovery. Through personal stories about writing, relationships, and internet culture, she questions whether we’re becoming more focused on appearing smart than actually living, feeling, and thinking for ourselves. Ultimately, I found it to be less of an anti-A.I. manifesto and more of a thoughtful meditation on authenticity, burnout, and the value of struggling through the creative process instead of shortcutting it.

3. An Easy Pesto Pasta

When was the last time you cooked with pesto? I used to cook with it all the time, but in recent years I’ve scaled back since it seems I’m one of the only people in my household that likes it. Well, that changed this week when I made this easy creamy pesto sauce with pappardelle pasta and grilled chicken. I used Rao’s store-bought pesto, since I have yet to tackle the seemingly intimidating task of making it homemade, and it was delicious! Just mince garlic and sauté it with butter, add a bunch of heavy cream, season with salt and freshly cracked pepper, a splash of lemon juice and lemon zest, and then about three heaping scoops of pesto. Once the pasta is al dente, reserve 1 cup of pasta water and pour it into the sauce along with the pasta, and voila! All the kids loved it, with our daughter even having seconds, which never happens. I just grilled the chicken on the stove in a pan. Simple!

4. Widow’s Bay

I hope you’re not sleeping on Apple TV. I feel like I say that every week, but I can’t stress it enough. They have SO many good movies and TV shows! Case in point: the new mystery/comedy Widow’s Bay. Set in a sleepy (but dreamy) coastal New England town, it follows a mayor’s (Mathew Rhys) attempt to revitalize the town and bring in tourists to save it, all while trying to actually stay alive. See the thing is, there’s something in the fog and bad things happen when it comes into town, and it’s threatening to take over the entire island. It’s somehow both hilarious and absolutely chilling at the same time, which is such a hard feat to pull off. Watch it! You’ll love it. I know it.

5. 30 Greatest American Songwriters

The New York Times released a really fun list last week: the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, and it includes some of my faves: Lana Del Rey, Diane Warren, and of course, Taylor Swift. I found the entire thing endlessly entertaining, especially because I am obsessed with lists and countdowns and rankings like this. It was a real treat to hear Taylor break down her writing process and get the behind the scenes on some of her songs, like how she doesn’t like to begin a word in her song with the same letter that the previous word ended with. Case in point: in “Our Song” the line originally said, “When you’re on the phone and you talk real low" but she changed it to “real slow” instead. Fascinating, right?

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1. My favorite neck pillow that saved my back

2. Our new dog grooming rake

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This Week’s YouTube Video

In this week’s vlog, we’re taking you along as we give major updates at our flip house renovation, sharing what’s new and how far we still have to go. Major updates are happening over there and it’s looking so good!

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Tuesday’s Letter

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What about you? What have you been up to recently?
PS: last week’s good things

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