Welcome to the intermission. We are halfway through the year.
I feel so middle, poised so exactly at the crest of the hill, that I can’t imagine how it would feel to climb back down again. So far 2025 has been a year of becoming. I’ve dedicated myself even deeper to my creative practices, and with that I’ve found a lot of success, but there’s also a lot of waiting.
Sometimes waiting is the greatest gift we can receive. If life handed you every fanciful dream right when you requested it, you wouldn’t know how sweet it feels to want. Life can’t be all about having, the best parts of life are about wanting. I know this, and I understand patience to be my virtue, but there still comes the voice from deep in my chest that’s yelling for things to hurry up.
There are enough forces in my life telling me to hurry, though. Out in Brooklyn I rush to the subway to get to my job, to do that job faster than I used to, to create things better than I used to create. I try not to bring that to my personal life, creative or otherwise. I abhor the phrase ‘optimize’ when it comes to people. There’s still that pressure though, that ticking clock that says you’re not doing enough and you don’t have time, so how do we turn those voices off?
Thank God for July, it has been created by the powers that be to do exactly that. July does not expect you to figure things out. It isn’t asking you to make more money or become more powerful. It is asking instead for you to swim through blue waters, to feel grass between your toes. It wants you to see how light it still is at 8:30pm and watch the sun set over dinner. If you haven’t heard it calling to you yet, take a few moments right now and shut your eyes. Breathe in and remember you’ve made it this far. Breathe out and forget how much is left to go.
July: Intermission
Making time to do nothing, quieting thoughts, savoring the last bite
♡ Cancel your plans. Okay not all of them, but if there was ever a month to do less it is this one. I love saying yes to people, but it’s equally important to learn how to say no. Take a look at your calendar and make sure you’re not stretching yourself too thin. If you have no plans on a particular day remember to that sometimes no plans is the plan. You don’t need to fill all your time with activity, you can rest and reflect too.
♡ Confide in your journal. For the month of July I’m going to try to write at least a sentence a day. I’m doing more writing than ever between working on keepsake and my first novel(!!), but I don’t always take the time to write for myself. If you need journal entry ideas consider upgrading to paid and joining club keepsake. I send out creative prompts and inspiration every month!
♡ Romanticize boredom. There’s something sexy about sighing, draping yourself against your couch and proclaiming ‘I’m bored’. How intriguing! Some of my favorite romantic ways to be bored include: making up scenarios in my head, slowly applying makeup, cuddling with my cat, going for a long walk without music, lying with my legs up on the wall.
♡ Press pause on hustle culture. We need to invent some kind of pavlovian response to help us remember this one. Every time you catch your thoughts spiraling, whipping up into that I’m-not-doing-enough panic, you need to take a second and remember: It’s my intermission. I’m not allowed to freak myself out right now. This is my dedicated time to be anti-productivity, and there will be a time in the future where I will hustle again, but that day is not today.
♡ Embrace the elements. I know we’re scattered all over the world and it isn’t summer everywhere, so the elements will vary. Here in New York I’m going to embrace the salt of summer, from sweat to ocean. I want to feel sun and eat fruit and freckle.
Bonus: I made a checklist for June, and I’m making one for July too. Place this in your notes app, save to your camera roll, add it to a collage that you build on throughout the month, whatever makes sense for you. It’s posted on the club keepsake instagram if you want to share to your story and check off what you’ve done throughout the month too.
I have a few friends that I refer to as world expanders. It’s a concept I’ve been talking about a lot lately as I keep collecting more of them, more people who make life bigger and more exciting. This is the type of person that makes you want to go out and do. I think there’s an equally important type of friend to have though, and that’s the world quieter. The type of person that simplifies, that distills madness to a moment. They make the world so small that you can hold it in the palm of your hand.
I think both of these exist within me, and I’m gonna be annoying and say it has to do with astrology. If anyone was wondering I am a sagittarius sun, leo rising, and most critically of all a virgo moon. This is the push and pull, the fire and the earth, the two sides of my coin. If you’re fire all the time though, you’re going to burn yourself out. I am still learning when to stop stoking the flames and let myself feel grounded again.
It’s a very particular skill, and one that’s often overlooked. Sometimes we get so caught up in doing that we forget about the moments in between. We don’t leave time for stillness. I get impatient when I’m still. I think there are things I could be doing, and seeing, and knowing, if only I were able to push myself forward.
I’m here to tell you though that forward is not the only way to grow. You need time to incubate. If you have a world quieter within you please remember to appreciate it. Taking a breath is just as important as taking a leap.
World expanders
I went to a prom themed birthday party that made it feel like 2010s high school all over again.
Duckfacing with the birthday girl Ahliyah <33 I started working on a novel. Right now this is kind of quiet, but something tells me it will be a world expander eventually so watch this space.
I finished Spanish class! I’ve been taking Spanish every Wednesday at 8pm and it’s been such an amazing way to show up for myself every week.
My roommate and I hosted a spring fling in our tiny railroad apartment and as many friends as we could fit showed up.
Can you see my sink full of ice and drinks in the corner it was extremely cute. Also I broke out the Parisian butter that’s been in my freezer since November, sliced radishes, and warmed it by tea light with some flaky sea salt. I loooove hosting and making cute little plates for friends! I gave my first interview on Substack Live with Jessie Pagliari for her publication Beyond the Stack. If you missed it she has posted it in full on her page, The Secret to Living Creatively and Developing Your Intuition with Julianna from Keepsake. If you were with us on the live just know I was so happy to see you there :) oh— and keepsake made it to #64 on the Substack rising in Culture list!
I voted for Zohran Mamdani in the NYC mayoral primary and he fucking won.
World quieters
Fresh cherries. Enough said.
Maybe the chicest photo ever?? Organic cherries and watermelon juice in my Sezane tote. I went to my parent’s house for the day to swim in the pool and be held by the feeling of childhood again.
I read God of the Woods and stayed up late with a reading light for it. Highly recommend as your summer read!
Lovely friend Claudia (who lent me God of the Woods, bless her) invited me over for my first outdoor dinner of the season and I almost stole her table runner.
Watched Bonjour Tristesse (the 1958 and 2024 versions) and I haven’t been as mesmerized by the concept of moody teen European summer since Call Me By Your Name. Possibly blasphemous but I really preferred the remake? Durga Chew-Bose saturated such emotion into such peaceful vignettes.
Explored The Frick and caught the Sargent and Paris and Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibits at The Met, finishing the day with a glass of sauvignon blanc on the roof.
My list for July is going to have a lot more on the quieter side. I can’t wait to be off work for a whole week and only worry about reading, swimming, and making dinner with my friends.
Hope your July is off to a slow start.
xo,
Julianna
Thank you for reading keepsake! If you liked this post please consider supporting my work further and becoming a paid subscriber. You get even more posts and it helps me do more of what I love which is writing for all of you <3
In case you missed keepsake:
I did a mini keepsake tour of bookish artifacts and perfume bottles with my friends over at Lit Girl. Read Keepsakes of a Lit Girl to get the inside scoop!
If you’re looking for more inspo I have a full list of writing prompts in this piece 10 Prompts to Kill Your Writer’s Block.
Keep in touch:
follow club keepsake on instagram, email me at julianna.salguero@gmail.com, or drop a message in the chat any time.
I also abhor the phrase ‘optimize’ when it talks about anything in the real world...we aren't machines.
Can’t believe we’re halfway through the year! I really do plan on making July my most relaxing and creatively fulfilling month of the year so far!!