The Weekend Edit No. 9

A big giveaway, switching things up on the newsletter, and our one-year anniversary!

Hi everyone!

Happy Saturday. How was your week? It feels like we’ve been going nonstop over here with little time to catch our breath. Between work deadlines, revisions, farm work, and all the sudden hoopla with the new house, I’m feeling kind of overwhelmed this week. Even as I’m squeezing in time to write this, I’m having to take big deep breaths to center my mind and remind myself that it’s all just temporary. We’re hoping for a slower week next week since the kids are on fall break.

In other news, and perhaps most importantly, the one year anniversary of this newsletter is next week!!! Okay McKay is officially a year old and I am wracking my brain trying to figure out where the last 12 months went.

I remember when I first had the idea to start a Substack a little over a year ago. I wasn’t sure how long we would be able to keep it up (the thought of adding one more thing to our already full plate seemed daunting), but I promised to give it at least one year and then see how I felt at the end of it. I had no idea how much joy this newsletter would bring me, how much it would challenge me creatively, how much it would make me question my writing abilities, my organization skills, and my personal determination. All of those things still need a ton of work, but what I’m getting at is this has been such a fun new endeavor for us and I can’t imagine giving it up after only a year.

I’m excited to see where the next year goes with Okay McKay. We’ll go into more detail next week when we send out our anniversary issue (like numbers and figures of this newsletter, where we plan on taking it in the future, and other tidbits).

Also in next week’s issue, we’re doing our first ever giveaway!

We’ve never done a giveaway on any platform ever in the whole nine years we’ve been doing social media, so this is a really big deal for us and we’re so excited! We’ll announce all the details on Tuesday, but in short it will be for paid subscribers only as a big thank you for supporting this little newsletter and helping us do what we love. Can’t wait!!!

We’re also going to be offering a discount to a year’s paid subscription to Okay McKay, also our first ever, so be on the lookout for that, too.

Lastly, to celebrate our year anniversary, I’ve slowly been making some design changes to Okay McKay like switching up the fonts and adding new graphics to make it more visually appealing. Going forward, The Weekend Edit will have a little different vibe than the Tuesday letter, and I’m excited to keep implanting these changes over the coming weeks. I’m thinking The Weekly Digest might live in the weekend edition, along with a few other recommendations we’re loving from the week.

It’s fun to switch things up every now and then, isn’t it?

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• We had a new vlog premiere last week and, amazingly, you made it our number one video out of the last 10! I must admit, it’s a fun one.

• We also have a new episode of Vino & Vent, our live chat show, that came out on Sunday, if you missed it.

• Allan, our oldest, was Student of the Month for September! This is his third time getting Student of the Month (he got it in 2nd and 3rd grade, too) and we are so beyond proud of him. He absolutely deserves it.

• At the grocery store this week, a woman stopped us to let us know she follows us on Facebook and loved our content. It was so sweet and unexpected as she told us she and her husband just moved here from Virginia. The best part? As we were saying our goodbyes, she whispered, “Vote blue!” and it completely made our day.

• Riah, our middle, had a field trip today at a corn maze which happens to be on the way to our farm, so we naturally had to stop by and see him. He came running up to PJ and gave him the biggest hug and it was so cute. He didn’t know we were coming, and when we asked if he just wanted to come home with us after the field trip (which parents were allowed to do since it was almost the end of the day) or stay with his class, he said he would rather go back to school with his friends, and I guess as a parent, our biggest hope is that they love school enough to want to keep going back. (We later agreed that we both would have wanted to go home when we were his age, lol.) He’s so damn precious.

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Watch: Will & Harper

Y’all. This documentary on Netflix starring Will Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper Steele, who recently came out as a trans woman, is touching, beautiful, and an absolute must-watch. The film follows Ferrell and Steele as they drive across the country going to all the places Harper used to frequent when she was a man, like dive bars and sports games, but only now she’s a woman and wonders if she will still be accepted. Throughout the drive and various places they visit, they have deep conversations, with Ferrell asking the sometimes difficult questions to his longtime friend about what it means to be trans. It’s such a delicate, funny, beautiful film. We laughed, we cried. It’s just a great film.

You can watch Will & Harper on Netflix.

Read: You can still burn out doing what you love.

I came across this post from

Adrienne Adhami

’s wonderful Substack the other day and dove right in. We’ve all experience burnout, haven’t we? I know we have over the years, and it’s rough. Adrienne writes, “It’s particularly surprising when it sneaks up on those of us who are super passionate about what we do. It’s easy to justify the long hours, the endless to-do list, and constantly being ‘on’ because we’re doing something we love. We tell ourselves we’re lucky to be doing work that matters. We’re supposed to be ‘grateful for the opportunity.’ And we are. But that doesn’t make us immune to burnout. If anything, it can blind us to the warning signs.” She then goes on to list four different ways to avoid burnout. A super helpful (and relatable) article!

You can read the article on Adrienne’s Substack

In The Room

.

Listen: Content People

I can’t remember who recommended this podcast episode (it was on a Substack I follow!) but I am so glad they did. Like most people who are very online, I’ve followed Cup of Jo for years and she has inspired me in more ways than I can count. That’s why I was so excited to listen to this episode of Content People that features Kaitlyn Teer, who helps run Joanna’s Substack

Big Salad

and parts of her blog. It was neat to get a peek behind the curtain in a way and hear her talk about how the sites run. If you’re interested in blogs or creating content for a living, you might find this episode informative!

You can listen to Content People on Apple Podcasts.

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• New fall colors for Stanley tumblers! How cozy is this pumpkin spice color?

• Speaking of tumblers, PJ has an Owala water bottle and absolutely loves it. This is my favorite new color of theirs from their Target collaboration.

• I want to live in this cozy cardigan all autumn long.

• This Jack Black Lip Balm looks super hydrating and perfect for this time of year.

• Looking for a gift for someone? This Dopp kit would fit the bill.

• This rib shawl cardigan from GAP is 50% off and only $39. Yes, please.

• I stocked up on this soap scent for fall (one in every bathroom) and it’s my favorite ever.

• After three years, we finally upgraded our phones to the iPhone 16 Pro! Here is the case I got and here is the one PJ got.

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We received a sweet package from a dear reader named Thomas, who made these wooden holiday figures for our family. Aren’t they warm and nostalgic in the best way possible? And the fact that they’re homemade! I can already picture us taking them out of storage every year to display in our home at Christmastime. Thank you so much, Thomas! We love them so much.

Have a great weekend, friends!!! We’ll see you on Tuesday.

xoxoxo,
PJ & Thomas