The Side Counter
A little life-building, a little blistered cheese, a few links worth clicking.
Welcome to The Side Counter, a midweek edit just for you, paid subscriber ❤️. Think of it as the quieter shelf of Style Pantry: links I’ve loved, obsessions in progress, small shifts that matter. Nothing polished. Just life, unfolding.
I sent my best friend a handful of photos from our USC college tour, Luke mid-stride across campus, the light all Southern California golden. I probably said something like, “How is this my kid?”
She replied:
“I love how you build yourself instead of trying to find yourself.”
It caught me off guard. Not because it didn’t feel true, but because it felt like something I didn’t realize I needed to hear.
Later, I thought of a business course I’ve been taking, a kind of business therapy for creatives. One of the assignments was to ask a close friend, “Why are we friends? What is it specifically about me?” I never completed it. But her answer found its way to me anyway.
And she’s right. I build myself through learning. Always have. Not through “finding” some hidden, truer version of me, but through constant curiosity. Business courses, cultural meals, wine classes on Coursera, etc. Parenting. Traveling. Getting it wrong, then trying again. Every time I stretch into something new, it adds a layer.
It’s not reinvention. Its construction.
