Welcome to The Weekend Edit, a Saturday ritual from The Good Trade featuring our top 10 reads of the week and a note from one of our editors.

Happy Saturday!

I’m in that liminal space waiting for my baby girl’s arrival, the uncertainty and excitement is building, and every night I dream of holding her little form in my arms.

As I prepare for maternity leave, I wanted to introduce Kate, our Community Manager, who many of you have likely interacted with over the years. She co-hosts our monthly meetups and somehow manages to read every incoming email from our community of 350,000+ subscribers.

We’ve also put together a wonderful summer lineup featuring guest editors (including a few very notable names I’m especially excited about!), along with personal essays and recommendations from our own editorial team that you can look forward to over the next several weeks.

With all my love!!

Warmly,
AmyAnn

At the ripe age of 19 I decided to major in Communication Studies. Luckily, I chose a useful degree that has served me well. But now at 32, sometimes my mind will wander and daydream about what I would study if I could go back as the current version of myself or if I decided to pursue a graduate degree. My interests and priorities have certainly evolved over the last thirteen years.

Earlier this year our Editorial Director Emily McGowan wrote How To Create A Personal Curriculum You’ll Actually Stick To, and her essay is the inspiration behind this edition of The Weekend Edit and has inspired us to host a virtual event for our community where we will create our own personal curriculums for the summer.

So ahead of our event, I’m sharing what’s on my own personal curriculum. I’m reminded that I’m in charge of what I continue to learn, and we are living in an era full of accessible resources.

And, as it turns out, our family of four has decided to cancel all of our media subscriptions for the summer in an effort to trim down our spending and spend our time more intentionally. I hope this will lend itself to more quality time, a bit of boredom, and plenty of creativity.

Strength & Nutrition

• Strength Training — After five years of shapeshifting in order to grow and bring my babies into the world I have committed to a three month personal training program to rebuild my strength. I’m nervous and excited — but ultimately, this feels like a relief and a promise to myself that I can and will be strong in my body again. We are focusing on rebuilding bodily trust and developing habits that will lend themselves to longevity. For anyone interested, here’s my trainer’s self-paced app.

• Cooking Fast and Slow — I’m leaning into simple, home-cooked meals that prioritize whole foods and legumes in an effort to reduce our grocery budget and make more nutrient dense meals. Natalia Rudin’s recipes are always perfect to me, so I’ll be cooking through her cookbook in the coming weeks.

Gardening & Home...