// the mood & vibes this week
— hi, friends :) writing this to you again from my kitchen table at the silver laurel. what can i say, habits!
— i can’t believe it’s already the end of may and the start of summer. it really snuck up on me! i’ve been very locked into work, travel, friends, family, and the general swirl of life these last few weeks. things have been busy busy.
— two weekends ago, right after i last wrote to you, my momma & sis + her gf came to visit me in silver lake and we had a very cute little weekend together. my mom stayed in a yurt a few streets away from me, which is kind of crazy because she’s very glam queen, not exactly granola lol. but it was actually very sweet and fun. my sis and her gf stayed in my extra room, which will soon be occupied by my new roomie, who is moving in this coming week.
— we spent the weekend mostly noshing and walking around silver lake / echo park. one of my favorite meals was at blair’s in silver lake, this really adorable italian restaurant tucked on rowena ave. our table was in the loveliest little corner of the place, with walls that felt like italian stucco and tiny vintage lamps glowing around us. just very good juju.
— one thing i’ve been thinking about since that weekend was a little shopping trip my momma and i took on the last day. we went to aritzia, where i have historically had good luck finding cute things. this time, though, it was not exactly fruitful because of their serious lack of sizing.
— before transitioning, when i existed in a pretty typical male body, i didn’t have to give much thought to size ranges. i was almost always a medium or large and those sizes were everywhere. but as i’ve transitioned and my body has changed, shopping has become a very different experience. for transfem folks, when you start taking estrogen, it changes your body mass pattern and redistributes it in a more feminine alignment. i’ve become more curvy / mid-size, which i LOVE. it has been beautiful and affirming and it has also made me keenly aware of how limited so many size ranges still are.
— i was honestly kind of shocked walking around aritzia and realizing they barely had anything available in an XL in store, and even online, those sizes were often sold out; there was a blazer in a size 12 that wouldn't be available until JULY. meanwhile, there were endless double 00s and smalls. and of course, this is not just an aritzia thing. so many brands still operate within this narrow little idea of what feminine bodies are supposed to look like, implicitly urging us to be smaller and smaller. and honestly? f*ck that.
— what has really helped me is intentionally changing what my digital world looks like. my feed is now full of feminine-identifying folks with similarly curvy bodies, who are hot and stylish and absolutely slaying the house down. and on the flip side, i have unfollowed / blocked accounts that constantly put extremely skinny, malnourished-looking bodies in front of me in a way that messes with my brain. the digital world is such a powerful tool, and i think we have to be really intentional about what we curate and absorb. it shapes how we see ourselves so much more than we even realize.
— i definitely still have body dysmorphia sometimes, but i am so glad i’m not letting diet culture and extreme thinness get to me the way they used to. i just wish the aritzias of the world would catch up and make exceptionally cool clothing for more bodies, in person and online. until then, i will not be subscribing to the narrative that i need to take up less space, thank you very much ;). i am building a wardrobe that makes me feel like the earth goddess i am!
— in the week after my momma’s visit, one of my closest friends moved out for an abroad trip and then grad school, which has been so bittersweet. i am so excited for her and incredibly proud-i can't think of anyone more deserving of this next epic chapter of life. it's bittersweet because i will miss her SO much. in happier friend news, one of my other close homies is adopting a cat, which i’m extremely excited about. i can’t wait to bring her treats !!
— and last weekend, i went up to northern california for the epic wedding of two good friends. they got married on the raw norcal coast and it was basically a perfect weekend. asilomar was the venue - an epic compound of wood and glass buildings designed by california’s first licensed female architect in the 1920s, perched on the sand. incredible!
— these friends have the kind of love i have always looked up to as something deep and true and real. a connection that reminds me of my own brushes with the divine; with great love. so the whole weekend felt emotional, magical, mystical. we spent it rolling around in all of that, dancing, hanging with my homies who were also there, and making some fabulous new homies too.
— i drove back down to LA early on sunday for my dad’s 70th, which we spent very lowkey at a nancy-meyers-esque airbnb estate in pasadena. we were renting the guest house, but got to use the fabulous grounds.
— in between all of that, i’ve been putting in the werk - client showings, writing offers, working on my listing in topanga, the whole nine.
— that’s pretty much where things have been at!
— in terms of what’s coming up … continually on the hunt with my slew of buyers. prepping houses to launch. always searching for the best houses in CA. below you’ll find a collection of listings i love on the market.
— if you’re considering buying or selling in LA or NorCal in 2026,
message me here.— if you’re looking to buy a wood house elsewhere in CA + the US, there’s a good chance i can refer you to an agent in your city. referrals are a great way to support me. whenever i send a client to one of my cool out-of-area agent friends, i actually receive a portion of that commission! and like most things in life, a recommendation from a friend is the way to go. if that’s you, respond to this email and i’d be happy to connect you.
— talk to you soon, and sending love.
xx,
sam
