A Chill Summerween Cozy Night: Luigi’s Mansion and Journaling

welcome

Welcome to the Lost in the Nooks blog! My first blog post, how exciting! I’ve only ever written a blog for my coursework in grad school, so this feels good…different. Thank you for reading, I hope you feel at home here. I just want to hang out and talk about cozy stuff with you. This blog will document how I’ve been caring for myself via cozy hobbies and random musings and, in turn, give you some ideas to do the same and share. You can expect posts about baking, crafts, gaming, journaling, reading, and anything else that feels like a big hug. I run an online bookshop called The Lost Shelf, which is entirely on Bookshop now that I plan on moving, but we’ll get to know each other more soon.  For now, let’s jump right into this coziness.

summerween?

One of my closest and dearest friends lives in another state, and we generally celebrate halfway to Halloween in April by sending a series of cozy Halloween Pinterest pins, talking about what we will get up to in the fall season, and generally daydreaming about the fall/autumn season. I find April to be in sync with reminiscing on the previous fall activities. This year, we’ve done the usual, and we even started a shared Pinterest board for random crafty things we want to get up to during the Halloween season.

This year, more recently, I’ve seen so much Summerween content on the internet. Summerween seems to be coined by the show Gravity Falls; you can read more about it here on their fandom wiki. I love Gravity Falls, so I went back and rewatched this episode. I can’t believe this aired over a decade ago. Ah! Ok, it’s celebrated on June 22nd or the second to last Friday of the month. I am a bit late to celebrate; it’s nearly the end of July, but what better time than now?

What I’ve seen the most out there on the interwebs is folks recreating the Jack-o-melons. Essentially, jack-o-lanterns but of watermelon, just like the show. Very cool. At its core, it’s simply celebrating Halloween in the summer, so I did a chill version of this, and it felt both like having a tall glass of lemonade on the hottest day of the summer and your favorite sweater in the chill of the fall at the same time. It truly soothed my soul. 

setting the scene

So, while I didn’t whip out all the Halloween decor, I did set the scene. I chose a perfect stormy night, by chance (or I’m just a wielder of the skies that way), and quickly tidied up so it felt more relaxing; I already had dinner, so the night was mine. The sun began to set when I picked some cozy blankets. I got these on sale years ago, and they are so comfy. It’s made of cotton and chenille, but it feels velvety. I rummaged through the cabinet for my ghost-shaped mug, which, honestly, I have at the rear round-end. Next, I added a couple of pine essential oil drops to the diffuser and let it fill the space. I  tapped the power button on the remote, grabbed my Nintendo Switch controllers, and went straight to download Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD.

While it was downloading, I took a nice long hot shower. I grabbed some cozy pajamas and an oversized old Beetlejuice t-shirt and put on my pumpkin slippers – which, yes, I also keep out year-round. When I returned to the living room, the ambiance was very inviting, and it smelled divine; the game was ready to play – I just needed a few finishing touches to set the vibe. I went to the kitchen, filled snack bowls, and put them on the coffee table. I set the pot on for some tea and filled my ghost mug with chamomile and lavender tea (this one), and everything felt magical.

playing luigi’s mansion 2 hd

(don’t worry, no spoilers!)

Let me be straight up with you, dear reader: I’ve never played Luigi’s Mansion 2 on 3DS, so I cannot say what it was like to experience it back then, but I did play the original Luigi’s Mansion on Gamecube, and I remember loving it. When Luigi’s Mansion 3 came out on the Nintendo Switch in 2019, I also devoured it. Easy. I loved it. I knew undoubtedly, going into the game on my Summerween night, I would enjoy it regardless, so there is my bias. And I did.

If you’ve never played the series, Luigi’s Mansion is an action/adventure game where you (Luigi) need to catch some evil ghosts. In Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, a remake of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon on 3DS, the Dark Moon keeps all these ghosts in check, but it’s broken. The mission is to restore it by capturing these evil ghosts running amuck and solving puzzles.  I’m still playing it. I am in what I imagine is part two. I’ve yet to get 100% on any of the levels; my grades are pretty low. Will I go back? Only time will tell. It was (and continues to be) a blast.

Setting the scene nailed home the ambiance. The soundtrack for Luigi’s Mansion is also solid. I can have a little shoulder bop to it, and it’s repetitive, but not in a way that bothers me at all. As I write this, I am humming it because it’s memorable.

Screenshot taken on Nintendo Switch from Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD

wrapping up the night + Journaling

Because this was low energy, there wasn’t much to do to wrap up my little cozy celebration. I put things back where they belonged and saved the game. I did decide to pull out my journal and write about it before bed. I’ve been on a roll journaling in the mornings, primarily stream-of-consciousness morning pages, but whenever I have a good, cozy old time, I’ve been trying to document it. Journaling on paper allows me to capture what happened, and I find it meditative to capture my sensory experience. Documenting the visuals, tastes, smells, and sounds fills me with gratitude for the space and experience and warms my archival heart.  I will say though, I release pressure by doing this, if I do it that is lovely, and a wonderful practice, and if I don’t that’s just fine too. It helped me write this blog, which is undoubtedly a bonus. 

Alright, I’m not sure how people end blog posts. It feels a little like when you give a presentation in school and you sort of wrap it up by saying, “That’s it!” Actually, though, if you’ve gotten this far, please leave a comment telling me if you’re playing Luigi’s Mansion! Are you getting a good grade on your missions? Have you celebrated Summerween? Okay, see you soon!