your august plans

how are you staying cool this summer?

Author

Melissa Serrano
August 01, 2025

Hello! I’ll start with the obvious…I’ve taken a slight hiatus from writing my newsletter this year. One of the main reasons is that I have been finding it difficult to be creative this year due to my all-consuming job hunt and general life planning. In pursuit of more creativity, I have decided to pick this up again. I hope this newsletter takes us on a journey of discovery, excitement, and, of course, magic.

Lucky for you, I have lots of content that I’m excited to share! I hope you enjoy my recommendations of what I’ve been consuming so far in 2025.

xoxo,

Melissa

listen

I was recommended a podcast (shoutout to Danielle!) that I ended up loving and thinking about days, weeks, and months later. Dying for Sex is co-hosted by best friends Molly Kochan and Nikki Boyer. After Molly was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, she decided to divorce her husband and embark on a journey to explore her sexuality and body. I don’t want to reveal too much, but I will share that this podcast not only recounts unfiltered and fun sex stories (I was fully laughing in public), it also touches on themes like trauma, healing, forgiveness, friendship, and death.

Some questions I asked myself after listening: What kind of life do I want? What does life mean to me? Who do I want by my side through it all? This podcast made me laugh, gasp, cry, and want to call my best friend.

read

This is the year of the audiobook! I hit my reading goal last month (yay!) because I have been listening to more audiobooks. I rarely sit in silence anymore, especially while driving, on my walks with my dogs, or lying in the park. Here’s a mix of audiobooks and physical books that I’ve enjoyed:

events

I’m in NYC! Instead of sharing my usual roundup of SF and Sonoma County-based events this month, I’m sharing what’s happening in NYC and some events I plan to join virtually.

new york city

virtual