The 📖📺🎧🔪🛍️ List

Brian Malarky, House of the Dragon, my To Be Read list, and yellow-tinted sunnies

This week on “Pregnancy is Stunning,” I got three steroid shots in my hands to combat my carpal tunnel and trigger fingers that have been brought on by Baby Miller. Have you ever had a needle poked directly into your thumb muscle? Well, let me tell you — it’s fucking brutal. The pressure of the liquid against all the nerves in your hands and fingers is not cute, and I was lamaze-breathing through it. To make it worse, the hand doctor was very attractive, so I tried to be cool and brave but failed. Good thing I’m taken and knocked up.

The bad news is my thumb is incredibly sore this morning. I can barely stretch it enough to text, but it should subside in a few days and my trigger fingers and tingly hands should be on the up and up. We’ll see.

Anyway, HI! Happy Friday. I used my influence for good this week and polled my IG audience on Dallas dermatologists they love because one of my best friends asked if I knew any dermos, and I said "no, but I can find some for you. Y’all delivered, and I was able to put together this entire spreadsheet of recommendations! Bookmark the link if you’re a local and in need of a skin specialist.

Okay, let’s chat about this week’s list of things I’ve watched, listened to, read, made, and shopped.

WATCHING 📺

Willy Wonka is one of Zac’s favorite movies because of Gene Wilder’s portrayal of Mr. Wonka, so it was a no-brainer for us to watch this documentary about Gene Wilder’s life and success. There was no one quite like him, and he had such a prolific comedy career. It’s a very well done documentary, especially because Gene wrote an autobiography that he also narrated before he passed, so they use a lot of that audio throughout the film. Definitely recommend it! Watch it on Netflix.

I’m just over here blazing through seasons of Top Chef. I tried to watch season 10, but found the drama of it incredibly unattractive just 10 minutes in, so turned it off and fast forwarded to season 17 instead. Supposedly, the focus used to be very much on the drama between all the chefs rather than the food itself, and y’all know I hate reality TV, so I think it’s a good thing that I didn’t start watching it until recently and that I’m only watching the more recent seasons. Anyway, season 17 is all-stars, including Brian Malarky who I literally cannot stand. It’s his full mouth of veneers and fake positivity and attention-whoreiness and goofy, dumb jokes and dumb face. The list goes on. I just do not like his vibe at all. Plus, nothing he makes looks that appetizing to me. I shared my dislike of him via my stories, and got these two replies which felt very validating:

House of the Dragon is back and more brutal than ever. I won’t give away any spoilers, but for those that watched… JFC, right? I thought season one, episode one was brutal… but this surmounted it. Shit’s about to be an all out war with no rules, and I’m terrified but intrigued to see how it all plays out. Speaking of…

LISTENING TO 🎧

House of the Dragon’s official HBO podcast is a great listen after each episode, and their debut episode this week featured Queen Alicent and Queen Helaena. I love that they get the cast and crew on almost every episode to dissect what we just watched. The hosts posed an impossible question: are you team Green or team Black? My gut has always been team Black, but shit’s getting out of hand. If you watch the show, vote below!

READING 📖

According to my Kindle, I have approximately 5 minutes left of The House of the Spirits. I have absolutely adored every sentence of this novel. Isabel Allende is an incredibly gifted storyteller whose knack for writing narrative is so strong, she hardly needs dialogue (and there’s hardly any in this book). Her ability to write to each individual character and describe scenes and emotions deems any kind of dialogue superfluous and literally transports you to the world in the book. The story is set in Chile from the 1910s to the 1970s, and brings to life the story of three generations of the Trueba family. It has magic, grief, triumph, pain, love, and so much more. I loved it.

But now I need to decide on my next book, and I’m hoping y’all will weigh-in. Here are my top contenders:

James by Percival Everett

Synopsis: From the author of Erasure (the novel that “American Fiction” was based off of, which I LOVED), James Percival, comes a new Huckleberry Finn novel but from the perspective of James, the slave. “A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.”

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Synopsis: Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path…

The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar

Synopsis: When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life. Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son, The Museum of Failures is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret…

Vote below to help guide my next read!

MAKING 🔪

Honestly? I didn’t make much this week. I made a tomato soup from scratch that was good, but not amazing, so I’m going to keep trying different tomato soup recipes until I find one that blows me away.

However, if you live somewhere that carries Blue Bell ice cream and you happen to love oatmeal cream pies, try to find their new Oatmeal Cream Pie flavor and thank me later. It’s the best ice cream flavor I’ve had in a minute, and I had to physically stop myself from finishing the entire pint in one sitting.

SHOPPING 🛍️

As a reminder to anyone who cares, I’m collecting all my maternity looks under the Maternity folder in my LTK shop. You can visit it any time to shop my #bumpstyle by either downloading the LTK app and following me there, or going to EMMASTHING.com, clicking on “Shop,” then clicking on “LIKETOKNOW.it”

Speaking of, I ordered this really cute set from H&M in two sizes, and my sister ended up keeping the smaller size because it looked SO cute on her, too??? Listen, don’t let anyone ever tell you you can’t wear maternity clothes unless you’re pregnant, especially if they look cute and feel comfortable. This is a great set, and no one would ever be able to tell it’s labeled as maternity IMO.

Yellow-tinted sunglasses seem to be very in, and I was intrigued so I ordered these cheapies from Amazon, and I’m kind of obsessed? They look orange here, but I promise they’re yellow. Also, please ignore the sunscreen splatter on my bikini bottoms. Oops.

My hands are fucked up, as we know, but so are my feet. Every morning, they’re sore on the bottom like I ran a marathon the day before. So, my parents let me borrow their foot massager for the duration of my pregnancy, and it’s a foot-saver. 10-15 minutes make a world of difference!

I love a reed diffuser for the bathroom, and grabbed this Seagrass & Bergamot one from Target this week. The container is so pretty, but the smell is amazing. Perfect for a bathroom, IMO.

I also got a few outfits for my best friend’s baby who I finally got to meet yesterday. This watermelon-themed swimsuit, and this terrycloth lemon romper (which I now realize is labeled “boys” but whatever. Cute is cute).

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That’ll do it for today. Hey, a quick favor: when you enjoy these letters, will you do me the honor of hitting that little heart? A little love goes a looooong way.

Have a wonderful weekend!

— EGM