P.S. You will never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you.

Plus: A rebrand, an ode to Disneyland, and some really good butter noodles.

Jul 20, 2025

P.S. is a weekly-ish round up of things I’ve read, watched, bought, or enjoyed. If you like getting hyper-specific recommendations and recaps of my week, please subscribe! And, this email might get too long – click here to view in your browser.

Dear Friend,

If you haven’t noticed, I changed the name of my newsletter! When I first started this, like most things I start, I gave it very little thought. The name “But Wait, There’s More!” made me laugh, and I honestly do still love it, but the other day a new name popped into my head and I fell in love.

Parenthetical asides have really turned into a hallmark of my writing style, be it Substack posts, texts, or Slack messages. I think it really fundamentally sums up how I see the world and communicate with it – I’m constantly thinking of other things to interrupt my own train of thought, constantly remembering that maybe I should add some extra context to a statement, or maybe that I just want to make a snarky aside or joke.

Thus – Parenthetical was (re)born. I really dig it, and I hope you will to (or at the very least, not have much of an opinion one way or another). Cheers to another week in the books!

– Lizzie

Book Report

Just Finished

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Currently Reading

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Next Up

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

… are you sensing a theme? I’m EmHen pilled baby. After I inevitably tear through her entire bibliography, I’ve really got to get back to the ARCs languishing on my NetGalley shelf. I’ve got several that I’m super excited about.

Reading List

Links, essays, Instagram captions, telegrams… anything and everything I’ve enjoyed reading this week.

A Family Doctor’s Search for Salvation

By Joshua Rothman for the New Yorker

This article was so heartbreaking, but also incredibly hopeful. It follows a family doctor who had accidentally killed his toddler son many years back, and how dedicated he is to being an incredible pediatrician, as well as working with underprivileged youth around the city to help them get back on track and escape the cycle of addiction and violence.

He also was a huge proponent of the fight to make backup cameras mandatory in all new cars, legislation that passed in 2008 and finally went into effect in 2018. It’s just a really incredible story of the resilience of the human spirit and how good things can come from utter tragedy. It made me very emotional.

Looks Like the World’s Greatest Situationship is Back On

By Olivia Craighead for The Cut

Everybody SHUT UP because Stevie and Lindsay are reconciling. In all honesty, I lean more in the camp of “GET A JOB. STAY AWAY FROM HER.” when it comes to those two. But you can’t deny how devastatingly romantic it is to be in a 60-year situationship. Sally Rooney WISHES she came up with that. This quote from the article made me crack up:

Lover girls, do not let this have any effect on your own situationship. These are two people who were put on this earth to spend decades loving and hating and making generation-defining rock songs about their untenable passion. You and that one ex you never totally stopped talking to are not the same thing. It is actually pretty easy for him to get away from the sound of the woman that loved him.

I don’t exactly have room to talk. I drunk-texted my ex a decade ago and now we’re married. You do you, Stevie! To celebrate, I’ll finally watch the mini-series adaptation of Daisy Jones & the Six.

Dark Ride to the Source

By Leslie Jamison in Virginia Quarterly Review

I’ve never really been a Disney person, beyond liking the movies as a little girl, the way all little girls are sort of compulsorily drafted into the whole princess fantasy fairy tale thing. (I never shied away from girly stuff or princess stories, but to be clear, my all time favorites were Lilo and Stitch and Monsters, Inc. so do with that what you will).

Anyways, I’ve been to Disney World exactly once, when I was already a bit too old to truly enjoy it, but I had fun. And never once had the desire to return. I felt very little for or about it, especially once I’d left – but I know there is a wide subset of the population, especially among my own generation, who feels very, VERY strongly about Disney as a brand and a destination.

I started reading this essay in the hopes of gaining a fleeting understanding of the worldview of a Disney-lover, but instead discovered a beautifully written meditation on motherhood, fantasy, feminism, eating disorders, and the nature of our reality. It was really really incredible. This quote really stood out to me:

When the moment finally arrived to meet our first princess (Snow White), it was almost overwhelming to watch the little girls meeting her in front of us: their shyness; their stupefied silence; their bashful adoration. Their awe was like humidity in the air. They waited for the princess to tell them how to speak. She asked them how far they’d traveled, and what treats they’d eaten on the journey. She told them the dwarves loved gooseberry pie. It was like watching these girls meet in the flesh the ideals that would compel and tyrannize them for the rest of their lives: perfection, sweetness, and devotion to the comfort of others.

Treasure Chest

Things I’ve found this week to be coveted, consumed, or cherished.

This adorable gingham tote bag, which looks like it would hold a pretty epic used bookstore haul.
This week I was on my own for dinner, which does not happen very often. I was feeling a little nostalgic for the brief period of time when I lived by myself and would usually make some insane combination of noodles + sauce + toppings to eat, so I found this Drunken Butter Noodles recipe to make use of the things I could find in my kitchen and it ended up really really good. Plus nothing beats stirring pasta, drinking wine, and dancing in your kitchen to Fleetwood Mac, whether you’re 21 or 31.
I’m a sucker for unique, indie perfume brands (though I still use my trusty Le Labo Santal 33 pretty much every day) and I recently came across this brand called Fulton & Roark. Their scent descriptions were super intriguing so I ordered a discovery kit. I haven’t gotten it yet, so I can’t share opinions, but I’m sure I’m going to like at least a couple of them. (Other indie fragrance brands I love are Thin Wild Mercury and Imaginary Authors. Unsurprisingly, I love anything that tells a good story).
I ordered this dress with a built-in bra and liner, which is like… a dream come true. I can’t wait to wear it non-stop the rest of the summer. And probably go broke buying more dresses from this brand.
Since I walk about a mile to work three times a week, I’m always on the lookout for cute but COMFORTABLE shoes, especially in the summer. I took a gamble on these Aerosoles heeled sandals, and I’m so thrilled that they are indeed outrageously comfy. No blisters, no aching heels, nothing. I’m in love.
I know it’s still summer (someone tell the retail stores that) but I’m obsessed with this “fall grocery shopping in ‘99/’00” playlist, which delivers on exactly what the title promises.
Speaking of fall, I want to go to the Six Bells hotel SO BAD. If you’re not familiar, the Six Bells is a decor and lifestyle shop created by former Wing co-founder Audrey Gelman. This venture is a lot more cottagecore and a lot less millennial pink (and hopefully a lot less discriminatory???) – and they’ve recently opened a quaint little boutique hotel based on the same aesthetic and vibe.