Catch-Up no. 40: On wandering without an agenda, paying attention to what catches your eye, and finding more in the life you’re already living
Your end-of-week scroll break
Your end-of-week scroll break. A cozy little catch-up full of links, loves, and things I can’t stop talking about. A spark of inspiration you didn’t know you needed.
I’ve noticed how often I say the words I’ve noticed lately.
I’ve noticed when someone’s energy changes halfway through a conversation. I’ve noticed which songs make me want to write. I’ve noticed the little details people tell me and the things they leave unsaid. I’ve noticed what makes me feel more like myself and what leaves me feeling depleted. I suppose I’ve always been observant. I read rooms quickly, remember small details, and probably spend more time than necessary wondering why something caught my attention in the first place. But lately, noticing feels less like something I happen to do and more like something I want to practice.
I spent part of this week in Southern California visiting my college roommate, a long way from the Central Valley town where we first became friends. Life moves differently here. There are people everywhere, traffic moving in every direction, cafés spilling onto sidewalks, galleries tucked between shops, surfers crossing the street barefoot, and the ocean appearing unexpectedly between buildings. You would think all that movement would make me move faster too. Instead, it made me want to slow down.
So I did.
I gave myself a day without much of an itinerary and wandered through Newport and Laguna Beach. I drank coffee from a bright yellow cup because I liked the cup. I stopped to photograph words painted on walls. I wandered into bookstores and flipped through books wrapped in paper so you had to choose them by their first line instead of their cover. I found a Billy Joel record and then a Rush album in an old record shop. I ate a lobster roll overlooking the Pacific. I walked through the Laguna Art Museum and stared at paintings of the same coastline I’d been driving beside all morning. I photographed storefronts, striped umbrellas, handwritten notes and things that probably wouldn’t have warranted a second glance if I’d been trying to get somewhere.
One card in a shop told me, “Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.”
Maybe that’s what I’ve been trying to do without realizing it.
There is an art to noticing your own life while you’re still living it. Noticing what delights you. What makes you curious. What you keep photographing. What makes you stop walking and turn around for another look. We tend to think an interesting life requires interesting things to happen to us, but I’m beginning to think it has much more to do with how closely we’re paying attention to what’s already happening.
So this week’s Catch-Up is an invitation to look a little closer.
Here are a few things I noticed along the way…
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📖 What to Read - In honor of August, pick up something that feels like Taylor Swift’s august: almost-love, growing up, nostalgia, and the people who change us even when they don’t stay. I put together a whole list for exactly that kind of reading mood.
🎧 What to Watch / Listen - Take a walk with a podcast instead of music. Lately I’ve been craving conversations more than background noise. Pick an episode about creativity, books, or a topic you’ve been curious about and let yourself learn something new while getting outside. May I recommend:
Happier with Gretchen Rubin — Not strictly a creativity podcast, but full of thoughtful conversations and habits that can help you build a more creative, intentional life.
🍽️ What to Make: Perfect Egg Muffins — These are one of those small things that make the week feel more manageable. You can keep them in the fridge for a few days or freeze them for up to three months, which feels like a gift to your future self when mornings get busy.
⏲ What to Try: A 20-minute “reset window” before your evening actually starts.
Set a timer, put your phone somewhere else, and do one small thing that shifts the tone, step outside, change your clothes, prep something for dinner, or just sit with a drink and no input. It doesn’t need to be productive, just intentional enough to separate your day from what comes next.🌅 What to Do: A quick Golden Hour loop (even if it’s just your block). Shoes on, out the door, no destination. Notice what’s blooming, what’s changed, who’s out. If a full walk feels like too much, sit outside for 10 minutes with a drink or your coffee and let yourself be there without reaching for your phone. It counts.
Weekend Question: What’s somewhere you love to wander without an agenda? A bookstore? Your neighborhood? A farmers market? A whole new city? Tell me where you’re happiest getting a little lost.
I’ve been thinking about noticing as a practice. Not in the stop and smell the roses kind of way, although I suppose there’s some of that too. I mean actually paying attention to what catches your attention.
I’m an observant person by nature. I read the room. I pick up on changes in people’s energy. I remember small details from conversations. I notice the song playing quietly in the background of a restaurant and the book someone is carrying. I notice when something feels slightly different, even if I can’t immediately tell you why.
For a long time, I thought that was simply part of my personality.
Lately, I’ve started to wonder if it’s also something I’ve been practicing.
The more I write, the more I read, the more I intentionally make room for creativity in my life, the more closely I seem to pay attention to everything else.
And the funny thing is, once you start noticing, you realize how much there is to notice.
Most days aren’t made up of particularly remarkable moments. We make coffee. We drive to work. We answer emails. We pick up groceries. We make dinner. We ask someone how their day was. We fold the laundry and start all over again tomorrow.
It’s easy to believe we need to escape those routines in order to feel inspired. A new city. A beautiful hotel. A museum. A vacation along the coast. Somewhere that gives us something worth looking at.
Of course those places wake us up a little. Everything is unfamiliar, so we’re naturally paying attention.
But I don’t think the location is really the magic. I think the attention is!
Think about the way you move through a place you’ve never been before. You look at the buildings. You read the signs. You notice what people are wearing. You wander into stores simply because the window caught your eye. You photograph things you would never think to photograph at home.
You’re curious. And curiosity makes the world feel bigger. What would happen if we brought even a little of that curiosity back into our regular lives?
Maybe we’d notice the flowers blooming outside the place we’ve driven past hundreds of times. Maybe we’d finally go inside that little shop we always say looks cute. Maybe we’d hear something funny at the table beside us and write it down. Maybe we’d realize we always feel better after sitting outside for twenty minutes or that we’ve been reaching for the same color over and over again.
Those things sound insignificant until you start collecting them.
As a writer, that’s often where ideas begin for me. Not with some enormous bolt of inspiration, but with something small that I can’t quite stop thinking about. A sentence. A question. A strange interaction. Something someone said that didn’t match the look on their face. A tiny detail that makes me wonder what else could be underneath it.
But I don’t think you have to consider yourself creative for noticing to matter.
Because paying attention also teaches us something about ourselves.
What we notice is information.
What makes you linger?
What do you photograph?
What do you keep bringing up in conversation?
What makes you lose track of time?
What makes you think, I want more of that?
I’ve started to think those little moments are breadcrumbs. They tell us what we’re curious about, what delights us, what we’re hungry for, and sometimes what we haven’t been giving ourselves enough of.
Maybe that’s why I’ve been saying I’ve noticed so much lately.
I’ve been paying attention.
Not because I’m trying to turn every moment into something meaningful or beautiful. Some things are allowed to simply be funny or pretty or strange. But I do want to be awake for my own life. I want to notice the things that would be incredibly easy to miss.
Because I’m starting to think an interesting life isn’t necessarily one where interesting things are constantly happening. Maybe it’s simply a life someone is paying attention to.
A few things that caught my eye, made life a little prettier, or earned a screenshot this week. Basically, the things I noticed and haven't stopped thinking about since.
Canvas Utility Tote Bag - My new work bag! So many pockets inside and out, which means I might actually know where my keys are for once.
Lace Terry Track Shorts — Sporty with the sweetest little lace detail. Basically what happens when comfy lounge shorts decide they want to be cute enough to leave the house.
Stargazer Mini Star Tendril Light Strand - Twinkle lights EVERYWHERE. I’m entering my make-every-corner-cozier era.
SANTAL 33 Eau de Parfum - I finally gave in, and now I can’t stop wearing it. Woody, warm, a little spicy, and easily the bougiest thing in my bathroom.
Tiger Eye Earrings Dangle Earrings - Such an easy way to make jeans and a simple top feel a little more put together. I love the warm tones for late summer into fall.
Houndstooth Print Tie Front Skorts - Fully planning to wear this into fall with loafers, a sweater, and maybe tights when it finally cools down.
Colorescience FLEX Tinted Mineral Sunscreen SPF - OBSESSED. Mineral SPF with buildable coverage that evens everything out without feeling like heavy makeup. There are a ton of shades; I wear Medium.
Oversized Vintage Barn Jacket - Apparently I'm already mentally dressing for fall. Throw this over a white tee with jeans and suddenly you have an outfit.
Adjustable Sports Bra - A sports bra that actually keeps everything…up. Supportive, adjustable, and officially workout-approved.
Round Handle Bead Bag — The cutest little statement bag. I love the texture, the vintage-y feel, and how it makes even a simple outfit feel more interesting.
Calling it now: this is my fall nail color. Rich, moody, and exactly what I want the second the weather starts pretending it's autumn.
Asymmetric Lace Skirt - Feminine without feeling overly precious. I love this with something really simple on top so the lace gets to be the whole moment.
My T-zone has been VERY happy about this mud mask. Perfect for those days when my skin is feeling a little extra congested and needs a reset.
Boho Off Shoulder Flowy Top - The amount of compliments I got wearing this was honestly ridiculous. Breezy, flattering, and one of those tops that makes it look like you tried much harder than you did.
Maybe noticing is really just another form of being present.
Not every weekend needs an adventure. You don’t need to drive the PCH, wander through an art museum or eat a lobster roll overlooking the Pacific to find something worth paying attention to. Most of our lives happen in much more ordinary places: kitchens, school pickup lines, grocery stores, neighborhood sidewalks, the few minutes before everyone else wakes up.
There is a whole life happening there, too.
So this weekend, I hope you look up a little more. Take the long way home. Wander into the shop you’ve passed a hundred times. Notice what makes you reach for your camera and what makes you forget about it entirely. Pay attention to what makes you curious, what makes you laugh, what makes you linger.
And when something catches your attention, don’t be so quick to move on.
Maybe that’s the whole art of noticing: letting something ordinary matter simply because you were there to see it.
Before you go, tell me in the comments: what’s one small thing you noticed this week that you might have otherwise missed? I’d love to collect a little list of ordinary things that caught our attention.
See you Sunday. 🤍
The Second Act is an entirely reader-supported publication written and created by Danielle Wraith. Click here to subscribe or gift a friend a subscription here (if a friend sent you this —tell them thanks!). Anything you want covered? Questions? Reply with a comment below! You can also find me on Instagram. Please come say hi!
I love taking pictures of sunsets. This week I caught 2 as the sun was sinking beneath the trees. It's amazing how fast the sun drops those last few minutes. Also the glow and the colors have just been unbelievable!
Those track shorts have been on my mind. But you need that skort for fall!