This is part of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

If you ask most people what their goals are, I guarantee time and time again, the phrase that comes up is something like: “I want to be more creative” or “I want to get back to crafting or creating art or sewing or whatever.”

Since you’re here, I’m going to assume you fall into the creative or creative-adjacent profile. Maybe you consistently do craft projects and create things that make you feel fulfilled. But most likely, if you’re anything like me, you loved taking art classes in school. You’ve dabbled in a ton of different hobbies and crafts. You’ve got piles of unfinished (or unstarted) projects lying around in your house. But without fail, if you try to make something, you feel stumped. Creatively blocked. Unsure how to proceed. And you end up doomscrolling on your phone again.

Or maybe you have all these grand ideas, but end up scrolling Pinterest and blogs to gather inspiration… until you realize you’ve spent three hours thinking about this project without actually doing anything about it, but you’re exhausted mentally now and just call it a day.

Or, then again, maybe you successfully create stuff all the time. So much so that friends and family are always asking you to make stuff for them. Or hey, why don’t you sell them on Etsy and make a few bucks? You could try local craft fairs too! And suddenly, your nice relaxing creative outlet is a side hustle that has sucked all the fun right out of the endeavor.

Sound familiar? I’ve been there. For, like, a decade. Between creative dry spells, forcing everything into a side hustle, turning one of those creative side hustles into my full-time job and then burning out spectacularly… I’ve seen it all.

And in the past couple of years, I’ve been slowly restructuring my relationship to creativity. Busting myths I’ve believed for years (such as waiting for inspiration to strike). Figuring out how to build a practice that is sustainable and realistic to my actual lifestyle, not some imaginary life where I spend endless stretches of time painting in a sunny garden studio.

So, if you’ve felt creatively burnt out, overwhelmed by inspiration, and unsure where to start—this post is for you.

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This is part six of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of a “power outfit.” Not in the corporate girlboss sense — I mean the phenomenon of putting something on and immediately feeling like the most coherent version of yourself. The outfit that makes you walk differently. The one you reach for before big days without consciously deciding to.

The interesting thing about power outfits is that they’re usually not complicated, and they’re never particularly trendy. They tend to be the same things you’ve been reaching for for years, in the same silhouettes, in the same palette you keep returning to. They work because they’re not performing anything — they’re just you.

The whole project of building a wardrobe that actually works is, really, just the project of having more days that feel like your power outfit day. Fewer mornings standing in front of a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. Fewer pieces that looked appealing in the store and live in quiet exile in the back. More getting dressed in ten minutes and feeling good about it for the rest of the day.

This month, we’re building that wardrobe — season by season, category by category — not as a minimalist exercise in wearing eight items forever, but as a genuine guide to the pieces worth having, whatever your specific aesthetic happens to be. Think of it less like a capsule and more like a well-stocked pantry. The staples are the staples. What you cook with them is entirely your own.

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This is part five of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

My all-time favorite class that I took in college was REL 303: Goddesses, a course that studied the religious canon through the lens of feminism and gender. It had absolutely nothing to do with my journalism degree. I honestly don’t even remember if it satisfied a general ed requirement. All I remember was that it made me think about things in a completely new and exciting way.

Our term project was to select a goddess and construct a research paper organized around some central thesis or research question. I transferred into this class during the second week, so all the classic goddesses were spoken for. The only one left that sounded vaguely interesting was labeled, simply, The Fairy Queen.

Instead of phoning it in, I spent a good chunk of time in the library looking through dusty tomes of Celtic folklore, mythology, Shakespeare, and more. It was difficult at first to find things that were relevant, but I was so into the topic that I was more than happy to keep digging through archives.

I say all of this to say that this was one of the first times I realized that learning and research could be, well, fun. I LOVED writing that paper. And apparently it showed, because my professor even suggested I consider publication, something I still wish I would have done.

That’s why when this concept of creating a personal curriculum went viral last year, it really piqued my interest. I love learning about stuff, but it often falls apart without a structure to keep it all cohesive.

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Not because you bought something irresponsible. Not because you’re in financial crisis. Just because there’s this quiet, nagging gap between what you said you valued and where the money actually went. The gap between “I value experiences over things” and the seventeen subscription services you forgot to cancel. Between “I’m building a beautiful home” and the fact that you spent three times more on delivery fees than you did on anything that lives in your home. Between the life you’re designing in your head and the receipts that tell a different story.

April is when we look at that gap. Not with shame, but with the same curious, design-minded eye we’ve brought to everything else this year.

In this issue…

• Why money conversations are actually lifestyle conversations

• How to audit your spending without spiraling

• What “values-aligned spending” actually looks like in practice

• How to build a money manifesto that acts as a decision-making tool

This post is for paid subscribers only. Want to join the club? Upgrade here.

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Most of us were handed a specific story about work before we were old enough to question it.

Work is what you build your life around. Work is how you introduce yourself at parties. Work is the measure of whether you’re doing something with your life. And if you’re lucky – if you’re really doing it right – you’ll find work you’re passionate about, and then it won’t feel like work at all.

I spent years trying to live inside that story. And I know a lot of you have too.

This month, we’re examining work differently. Not “how do I find my passion” or “how do I turn what I love into a career” or any of the other questions the internet would love to help you obsess over. Instead: how does work fit into the well-designed life you’ve been building since January? What makes work actually good – not transcendent, not necessarily your calling, just genuinely good? And what do you do with that information once you have it?

In this issue…

• Figuring out if your work is your identity, and what to do if it is.

• Auditing your current work situation and identifying gaps between your dream life and the current one.

• What makes work “good” and “good enough.”

• Practical next steps in your career, depending on where you are now.

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Because here’s what I’ve learned from years of design work: aesthetic coherence isn’t about perfection. It’s about recognizing patterns. When something matches your aesthetic identity, you know it immediately. And when you understand your aesthetic DNA, decision-making becomes exponentially easier.

This is the filter you’ll use for everything else we’re building this year. Let’s dig in!

This post is for paid subscribers only. Want to join the club? Upgrade here.

Below the paywall:

• The problem with borrowed aesthetics.

• The Aesthetic Archeology method for mining your unique style and preferences.

• Creating your visual inventory.

• Writing your aesthetic manifesto.

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This is part 1 of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

When I started Parenthetical, one of the first things I wrote down was: “I want this to feel like a good old-fashioned slumber party.”

I had an image, clear as day, in the back of my mind. Me at 13, surrounded by a half dozen of my best friends, our sleeping bags in a semi-circle, whispering our wildest dreams in the dark. What we wanted to be. Where we wanted to live. The kind of life we imagined for ourselves.

We didn’t qualify our dreams with “but that’s not realistic” or “I should probably be more practical.” Everything was possible; nothing was out of reach. We made no apologies for what we wanted.

Somewhere between then and now, we learned to stop doing that. We learned to narrow our ideas to fit into a neat little box, to align with the current trends and ad campaigns. To feel guilty for desiring more, or for not fitting into the cultural mainstream.

But here’s what I’ve discovered: your dream life isn’t something you achieve someday when everything aligns perfectly. It’s something you build, piece by piece, through small intentional choices.

It’s choosing the book that actually calls to you instead of the one you think you “should” read. It’s wearing the vintage cardigan that makes you feel like yourself, even if it doesn’t match the current aesthetic trends. It’s making your morning coffee a ritual instead of a transaction. It’s saying no to obligations that drain you and yes to quiet Saturday mornings.

This is what we’re doing with this curriculum. We’re going back to that slumber party floor at 2 AM, but this time we’re bringing the tools, frameworks, and permission to actually build the life we’re talking about.

This post is for paid subscribers only. Want to join the club? Upgrade here.

Below the paywall:

• Your dream life vs. a well-designed life.

• The six pillars of a well-designed life.

• The gap between how you live and how you want to live.

• Creating a sensory framework for your life.

• Writing your Perfect Ordinary Tuesday manifesto.

• Identifying and embodying your personal values.

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When I was a teenager, growing up in the cultural wasteland of the rural Midwest, circa early-2000s, I spent most of my free time obsessively imagining what my life would be like when I was an adult and could move to a big city and have a cool, creative job and a beautifully furnished apartment within walking distance to coffee shops and bookstores.

I’d go to my glamorous office in a trendy, slightly over-the-top outfit that no one would bat an eye at, because it’s not weird to be stylish when you’re not in a rural small town. I’d come home and order takeout and sit on my couch watching TV or reading a book by my white brick fireplace. On weekends, I’d walk my dog (a corgi!) to the park and get coffee on the way home. I’d spend the afternoon with friends, exploring vintage stores and little shops (or, okay, the mall downtown, it was 2007 after all).

I had this vision in my head for years, and while the specifics shifted as I grew up, the core idea of my dream life remained – one where I was free to be creative and express myself in the ways I loved (style, decor, beauty, etc). Where I was close to friends and lived in a cultural center where there was always something fun and interesting to do. I valued a life full of beauty, creativity, self-expression, and community.

And not too long ago, I was hit with a realization. I was walking home from my job (at an all-women creative agency with a gorgeous studio), wearing my new gingham pants that I splurged on, and that would have definitely gotten me weird looks in my hometown. I was heading back to my vintage pre-war Chicago six-flat with crown moldings, hardwood floors, and a white brick fireplace. My husband was going to meet me on the sidewalk with our dog (a corgi) like he did most days, and then we were going to get takeout and sit in our living room watching TV.

And I realized – holy shit. I did it. This is the life I’d been envisioning all those years, and building piece by piece and brick by brick ever since. I felt so deliriously happy, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

I don’t share this anecdote to brag, but to say that it got me thinking. It’s easy to feel like a lot of coincidences, fate, and sheer dumb luck had gotten me where I was, but that’s not the truth. I’d done so much work to identify what I wanted and figure out the steps to take to get it – from taking a leap of faith to move to a city where I knew no one for what I thought was my dream job, to being brave enough to quit said job when it turned into a nightmare and start building my own business and schedule.

And then suddenly, I was writing. A new series idea was forming – a primer on how to design your own dream life. Not just surface-level Pinterest moodboards and cutesy decorating tips from Nora Ephron rom-coms, but in-depth, actionable exercises to help you envision the life you truly want to live (NOT what an algorithm or an influencer or your mom thinks you should want) and then figure out how to get it.

I’ve been sitting on this for weeks, turning it over in my mind, refining it, getting it just right. And now I’m finally ready to share it with you:

Introducing The Well-Designed Life, a 12-month syllabus for creating & inhabiting your dream life. (Yes, there will be homework). Let’s break it down.

What this isn’t:

This isn’t a productivity program. It’s not about optimizing your morning routine or hitting ambitious goals or the rise and grind mentality.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s not about having the perfect capsule wardrobe or reading all the “right” books or decorating your home like a magazine spread. I’m not here to tell you who you should be or what you should like.

And this definitely isn’t about resolutions you’ll abandon by February.

I’m not purporting to be some sort of lifestyle guru or coach (I hate that kind of stuff). I’m just a girl who has done a LOT of curation, soul-searching, self-doubting, and rebranding over the years. I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating the life you truly want to live.

This isn’t a manifestation, woo-woo, money-mindset course either. If that’s your thing, no shade, I’m happy for you, but I have too much of a skeptical streak in me. Asking the universe for a favor has never gotten me anywhere; staying curious about the world, believing in myself, and putting in the work to uncover what I truly wanted did.

What this is:

The Well-Designed Life is a 12-month framework for designing a life that actually fits YOU – not the person you think you should be, not someone else’s aesthetic, but the life that makes you feel most like yourself.

Every Friday for 52 weeks, you’ll receive a post with practical exercises to work through. Each month includes a comprehensive workbook with all the tools, worksheets, and templates you need.

Each week builds on the last, creating a holistic framework for creating and living your dream life.

Here’s what we’re covering over the next 12 months:

January: Defining Your Dream Life
The difference between aspiration and authenticity. You’ll learn how to distinguish what you actually like & want from what the algorithms have told you that you should want, and set up your vision framework for the year.

February: Your Aesthetic Identity Blueprint
Move beyond borrowed aesthetic labels to discover your true visual preferences through pattern recognition in your past and present choices. Define your personal color palette, material preferences, and compositional tendencies. Create a written aesthetic manifesto that guides every visual decision you make going forward.

March: Designing Your Work Life
Examine how work fits into your well-designed life instead of building your life around work. Audit your current work situation across time, energy, values, and money to identify gaps between ideal and reality. Define what makes work “good” for you specifically and identify three concrete actions to take in the next 30 days.

April: Money & Values Alignment
Complete a 90-day spending audit to see where your money actually goes versus where you say it should go. Identify spending leaks and reallocate money toward values-aligned categories. Create a money manifesto that guides spending decisions based on what actually matters to you.

May: Building Your Personal Curriculum
Design your intellectual life across books, podcasts, documentaries, courses, and skills – not just a reading list. Identify your intellectual identity, learning style, and the subjects and questions that genuinely fascinate you. Build a curriculum framework with core subjects, exploratory interests, and practical systems for actually engaging with learning in your real life.

June: Curating Your Personal Style
Learn to dress like yourself, not someone you admire, using your aesthetic identity from February and budget reality from April. Develop your style formula including silhouettes, color applications, and signature pieces. Build four seasonal capsule wardrobes and create a values-aligned shopping strategy.

July: The Art of Seasonal Living
We’ll cover how to live in harmony with seasonal rhythms instead of fighting them. You’ll learn how to embody your personal style and goals in ways that match your energy throughout the year.

August: Building a Creative Practice
Establish a sustainable creative practice – whether writing, cooking, crafting, photography, or any form of making – that fits your actual life. Learn the architecture of consistency including time, space, and tools, and work through resistance and perfectionism. Practice making things for seven days straight without sharing or performing.

September: Creating Your Sanctuary Space
Your home should be a sanctuary that embodies your ideal life and aesthetic goals. We’ll cover room-by-room strategies for creating a home that feels like you, no matter your budget or aesthetic inclinations.

October: The Art of Connection
We’re covering how to be the kind of friend and partner you want to be. You’ll gain practical skills and resources for listening, remembering, hosting with generosity, and building rituals with people you care about – aka, how to throw amazing dinner parties, be the best gift giver in the friend group, and never forget your mother-in-law’s birthday again.

November: The Practice of Documentation & Evidence
Build a daily documentation practice that helps you notice patterns and stay present in the life you’re building. Create evidence of your well-designed life through photography, journaling, or other methods that work for you. Develop your joy inventory and prepare for December’s annual review.

December: Your Annual Review & Future Visioning
You made it! In the final month of the year, you’ll reflect on everything you’ve learned and accomplished, celebrate your progress, and create a plan for the year ahead – so you never find yourself up at 2:30am on January 1st, frantically “rebranding” yourself again.

Here’s what this means for you:

The Well-Designed Life is exclusively for paid subscribers.

Every Friday, you’ll receive a new post in the series. Each week builds on the last. By December, you’ll have worked through all five pillars – Learning & Growth, Aesthetic & Creative Life, Space & Environment, Connection & Work, and Resources & Rhythms – with a complete framework for designing and maintaining your intentional life.

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Final Thoughts

I’m so excited (and nervous) to share this with you. I’ve been working on it in some way or another for ages, and I agonized over whether it fit with my current content or should be its own new Substack. But as I read over your feedback from our State of the ‘Stack survey, I saw how many people liked having lifestyle content hand-in-hand with book recommendations, and how many of you were craving more tips for living seasonally and intentionally. This feels like a natural next step, but I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

All my love,
– Lizzie