The Fourth of July fireworks barely finished before it happened this year. My social media feed started filling with pumpkins and flannel patterned backgrounds. Autumn collections, fall previews and blaring keywords like “Crisp leaves”, and “Cozy season.” As a candlemaker, I completely understand why. Retail moves early and fast. We have to think months ahead. Fall collections don’t magically appear when the weather changes. I know that they’re planned, tested, poured, photographed, and packaged long before the first leaf ever falls, so I get it. But there’s another part of me. The reader. The homebody. The girl who’s trying really hard to live in the season she’s actually standing in. If I’m being honest with you, I’m not ready for pumpkin spice just yet. Maybe that’s because healing and living life has taught me that when you’re always reaching for the next big moment, you have a way of missing the one you’re living.

I believe Summer still has stories left to tell. There are still beach books waiting to be read on my bookshelf. There are still late sunsets to grill outside, still sandy towels and wet shoes piling up at the back door. Still days that smell like sunscreen and salty water. Still 100-degree afternoons where, I’m reaching for wax melts instead of lighting a candle because that’s simply what this season calls for. The ambiance is still there, it just looks a little different than blankets, fireplaces, and lit candles for now.

A few weeks ago I went to the beach and I couldn’t help bringing a little piece of it home with me. Seashells! I tucked them away knowing I wanted to make something with them. Not because the market was asking for one more summer product but truly because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. I’m making one very small batch of summer wax melts. A quiet little farewell to Summer 2026. They’re poured and topped with the seashells I collected along the shore and scented with a blend that reminds me of sunshine lingering a little longer than expected.

It smells like:

• sea salt

• white orchid

• sunlit citrus

• warm driftwood

• soft amber

• ocean air

It’s my way of slowing the market down and of reminding myself that not every season has to end the moment the displays change.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about buying intentionally, creating intentionally, and even sourcing intentionally. That same mindset has found its way into this little collection too. The shells were gathered one by one from a beach that gave me a peaceful afternoon with my family, the wax is poured by hand here at my home candle studio, and every wax melt is made with the same care I hope readers feel when they open one of my boxes.

Fall is coming and yes, I’m genuinely excited for it. The planning has already begun, just like it has for every other candlemaker. But it isn’t the chapter I’m reading today. Today, I’m still finishing summer, and I think that’s okay or rather I maybe think it’s necessary.

Anyway...that’s just something I’ve been thinking about this week.