The 📖📺🎧🔪🛍️ List
Incredible homemade veggie burgers, wrestling matches galore, migraine relief, and more!
WHEW. It’s been a week in the best possible way maybe ever. I want to thank every single person reading this who has DMed me, left a comment, or simply just sent positive, happy thoughts my way. The outpouring of love that our growing family has received already is overwhelming in the best way.
On Monday, I warned my audience that I would 100% act like the first person who’s ever been pregnant and more than likely make my new personality “pregnant woman,” and I have delivered in strides this week. Just yesterday, I sent out a 3,000 word letter to paying subscribers breaking down every detail of our journey, from starting to try, our losses, our success, and the first three months of pregnancy.
The Pregnancy Diaries: Vol. I
This time last year, I was about two weeks recovered from my first chemical pregnancy. I was coming around, feeling better. And then Mother’s Day happened, and it triggered me in a way I hadn’t prepared myself for. But this year was different because this year, I finally got to share the news that
As I said at the very end of this letter, “This is such a journey and one that I’m so excited to share with whoever is willing to be here for it… I’m just so excited for this next chapter and to evolve with the community I’ve spent so many years building, and I thank you for being along for the next phase of EMMASTHING.”
With all the excitement, I feel like I have next to nothing to share for this week’s list, but I’m going to go for it anyway.
READING 📖
HAHA. Ah. I remember last year, I said to my mom “when I do get pregnant for real, all I’ll be doing is reading books.” That was cute of me because I haven’t physically picked up The House of the Spirits in over a month at least. HOWEVER, we Texas summer on the horizon, the bigger I get and the warmer it gets outside, the more I’ll be posted up on the couch in the A/C and I think that’s when I’ll plow through some novels. So… stay tuned.
WATCHING 📺
We watched The Iron Claw over the weekend, and oh my God? I had no idea how depressing and dark it was. I didn’t grow up watching wrestling (shocker), so I wasn’t at all familiar with the lore of the Von Erich family and just… whoa. SPOILER ALERT: It’s a story about a wrestling family consisting of six brothers, five of which die tragically, one after the other. In fact, I read afterwards that the director purposely left an entire brother and his death out because it was already so dark, he felt audiences wouldn’t believe it. And he’s right — when I read that, my jaw dropped. It’s a good movie and Zac Efron (who I don’t care for and who is just so fucking hard to look at) did a great job. If you’re into true, very sad stories, watch… it? Available on MAX.
Right after it ended, Zac toggled to a documentary about Kurt Angle, an Olympic wrestler turned WWF wrestler. Zac was actually a wrestler in high school and was undefeated and has explained the absolute gruesomeness of using every muscle in your body to win, so I find wrestling stories pretty interesting. I guess I just find sports documentaries interesting because I am so far from an athlete and find the dedication and talent these people have fascinating. Anyhow, it’s called Angle and it was good. Another sort of sad story, but with a much happier, uplifting ending. Available on Prime.
Season three of Hacks dropped, and Zac and I watched the first episode last night. I follow so many comedians on Instagram, so it’s very fun to see them pop up here and there in TV shows and movies. Tommy Do has a very quick part in episode one, and I know Luke Cook is in a later episode, too. Anyway, I’m happy to see Ava and Deborah hopefully getting back together because they so clearly being with each other in the professional sense. Can’t wait to see what this season brings. Available on MAX.
LISTENING TO 🎧
All podcasts are starting to sound the same to me. The only one I actually get excited about dropping every week is Caleb Hearon’s So True. Although I will say I’m catching up on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Wiser Than Me season two, and I just love her so much. She is the perfect person IMO.
As for music, I’ve been revisiting Nirvana lately (9 years ago, I watched this documentary on Kurt Cobain and became obsessed), and on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve been bopping to Hamilton because we’re going to see it in Dallas in a few weeks (“Dear Theodosia” hits different now).
MAKING
Because I’ve been carb-loading for three months, I vowed to have a very veggie-forward approach this week with dinners, and I did.
Monday, I made this incredible Pasta Primavera. It was so good, you guys. My tip: add more garlic than it calls for (always) and an extra tablespoon of lemon juice for the perfect level of acidity. It was so fresh and so gorgeous.
Later in the week, I made these Veggie Burgers from total scratch. It was definitely a bit labor intensive and *involved*, but it paid off because Zac and I were wide-eyed with every bite. They came together beautifully, and we put them on butter buns with amazing garlic dip by Toom, smashed avocado, pickled red onions, and some fresh Bibb lettuce from our garden! Absolutely scrumptious.
I wanted to make these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, too, but didn’t have semi-sweet chips on hand. I do now, so I’ll be making them this weekend and I hope they’re as amazing as I once claimed them to be.
SHOPPING 🛍️
Heads up for paying subscribers: Early next week, I’ll be doing a round-up of the maternity clothes I’ve bought thus far in my journey. I’ve barely been sharing clothing purchases the last few months because, well, YA KNOW.
In April, I wrote about buying Tatcha moisturizer and getting samples of their night cream and eye cream. I’ve run out of both samples, so I invested this week and bought full-size of each, plus this gorgeous SPF lipstick that’s new to their line in the color “Camellia.”
I’ve been wearing my brown mascara a lot lately, and always get compliments on how my lashes look. If you have brown eyes and are looking for something new, maybe try this?
For the curly curls: I’ve giving my silk bonnets a break because my hair is just too short to need a whole ass head cover, so I’ve reverted back to satin pillowcases and my hair has held up all week! I got this 2-pack and love that they have zipper closures to keep those suckers on.
I’ve officially gone back to acupuncture to combat headaches and broken sleep, but in the meantime, my sister urged me to get this migraine relief cap. My head was so bad Sunday night, I was wearing sunglasses inside. 🙃 Have I mentioned how desperately I miss Advil???
I mentioned this last week, but we upgraded our countertop “toaster” with this 11-in-1 machine and IT’S SO AMAZING. I’ve been toasting my little heart out this week, and the results are glorious. I attempted to air fry some sweet potato fries but totally overloaded the basket instead of laying them out one by one, so they were super soggy and that’s my bad. Practice makes perfect!
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
— EGM