The 📖📺🎧🔪🛍️ List

Toasters in bathrooms and whiskers on kittens...

Every day is Groundhog’s Day right now. Work is slow, it’s hotter than hell outside, we struggle to decide on dinner every night because everything is so painfully mid, I can’t even toast bread in our “apartment” without tripping the breaker because there’s so much plugged in right now including our absolutely necessary portable A/C that sucks up so much power (I’ve resorted to moving the toaster to our guest bathroom amidst all the clutter. See below), and not being able to cook and bake these past 5 weeks has solidified for me just how much I love doing both and rely on both as therapy.

In short, I’m not doing great.

The good news is we are less than a month away from our renovation being complete (I hope) and things have been chugging along at a fantastic pace.

Now let’s all distract ourselves with what I read, watched, listened to, ate, and shopped this past week!

READING 📖

I finished Lily King’s Writers & Lovers in a flash (two weeks for me is a flash, FYI) and loved every word of it. This was my first Lily King novel, and I think I’ll be exploring her writing more because I fell in love with her style right away. The story isn’t anything monumental — it’s essentially a coming-of-adulthood story set in Boston in 1997. Casey is an aspiring novelist who lost her mom suddenly and is dealing with grief while trying to find the confidence to finish and sell her book. Along the way, she begins dating two very different men, suffers debilitating anxiety, and flounders at her day job. I don’t think there’s any kind of big, important message in this book. You could definitely make some up if you tried, but for me, the point was just a very well-written book in a kind of writing style I don’t see often (read: honest. Just pure, honest writing) and wish I saw more of. It’s an easy read but not at all trite. Loved it.

A day after finishing this, I decided my next book would be Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I haven’t read an Ann Patchett novel before, but I trust my mom’s taste in books blindly and she loved Tom Lake, so it felt like a no-brainer. BUT, I got sidetracked. I’ve heard a lot of in-passing references to George Orwell’s 1984 lately and, because it wasn’t required reading for me in high school, I decided to challenge myself to read a classic. So first comes Big Brother, then comes Tom Lake.

WATCHING 📺

Last Saturday, we saw a matinee of Twisters, and here’s my honest review.

It was fun? It was cute? It wasn’t mind-blowing, even with the updated CGI capabilities of the 2020s. In fact, I was sort of annoyed because they never zoomed out and showed a full shot of the bigger tornados throughout the movie, which bummed me out.

I love Daisy Edgar-Jones, but I felt she was miscast. This is just my opinion, BUT she doesn’t have the kind of edge I felt the role needed? Her character was written more as a pretty-girl-nerd-who-doesn’t-know-how-pretty-she-is and she definitely fit that bill, but I just felt she didn’t have enough umph to match Glen Powell’s umph. I think a stronger, more outspoken personality was needed in her role.

I also was extremely disappointed because a) THERE WAS NO FLYING COW??? How could they not pay homage to that iconic visual??? and b) Helen Hunt didn’t make a cameo. I was sure she’d be Daisy’s mom, but no — it was Maura Tierney of all people. I’m sure they asked Hunt and maybe she was a bitch and said no, but still. It upset me.

Lastly, a big conversation is how the director didn’t include a kiss at the end of the movie. His argument is that this wasn’t a romantic movie, and that it was more powerful to show Daisy’s character coming into herself and finding community rather than love. My argument is, call me a basic bitch, but I like seeing hot people kiss, so it was a weird choice IMO. No worries, though, cause someone from the crew leaked this BTS footage of the kiss that was cut, so I got my fill.

On our flight to Florida the other week, I started a documentary about Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter stuntman called The Boy Who Lived, but promptly stopped it because I realized it’s something Zac would like to watch with me. So this past week, we fired it up at home and, an hour and a half later, were utterly depressed. David Holmes, the stuntman, suffered a catastrophically damaging accident on-set (I was praying the entire time, ‘please don’t let this have happened on-set, please’) which rendered this bold, incredibly active, life-loving young man completely paralyzed from the neck down for life. It’s a harrowing story, and Zac and I looked at each other halfway through and said “Welp. Our son definitely won’t be a stuntman. That’s for sure.” It’s a hard watch, but an important one.

Shifting directions completely, we also watched the new Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F this week, and it was so good? LOL. That’s unlike me to say, but I really enjoyed it. I never saw the original (I know, I know) and was delighted with this sequel of sorts. It was super entertaining and an easy watch, which we needed after that documentary.

Also, a side note: The Olympics ends this Sunday, and I’m already so sad? It’s been such a welcome gift during this summer of renovations and something exciting and inspiring to watch every day. I already miss it.

LISTENING TO 🎧

I’ve watched exactly one episode of Bridgerton, but my sister-in-law was playing the soundtrack when we visited her in Florida, and I fell in love with it. It’s all instrumentals of popular songs, which is exactly what I need when I write because if there are lyrics, I can’t think. I promptly downloaded it and have been putting it on in the background!

EATING 🍽️

I can’t call this section “MAKING” right now because I am not cooking; I’m merely surviving off the painfully mediocre food selection Dallas has to offer (I have an entire essay in mind about this that I’ll be sending next Friday). Two things I’ve discovered from having to dine out so often right now: 1) if you mix Chipotle’s red salsa with their sour cream, you get a creamy hot sauce that is a fucking delight and tastes great on everything. 2) Rao’s frozen meals are just as good as their jars of marinara. 10/10 recommend if you’re in a pinch.

Also, I need to shoutout Pie Tap pizza. It is quite literally down the road from us (I’m talking a half-mile walk that we 100% will be doing with our baby come this winter), and for some reason unbeknownst to either of us, we’ve been sleeping on it for years. We went there last week, sat at the bar, were served by a bartender named Dylan who looks exactly like Caleb Followill, and realized the food is SO GOOD? Their Caesar salad is BOMB, they have the best mocktail I’ve had this entire pregnancy (it’s basically a virgin Pina Colada on ice), and may I suggest their margarita pizza with pepperoni? Impeccable.

SHOPPING 🛍️

This is so niche, but I got a bagel slicer because we buy a lot of fresh bagels that aren’t sliced, and slicing them by hand with a serrated knife is so annoying to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I saw someone (I don’t remember who) sing this $7 e.l.f. eyebrow gel praises, thought “For $7, I’ll bite,” and HOLY FUCK? Guys… what. This shit is insane. Granted, I’m not doing much these days or going anywhere, BUT I’ve been test-driving it and my eyebrows. don’t. move. I got these disposable spoolies to apply it with, too! 100/10 recommend.

These suckers aren’t going anywhere.

I’ve been using a 3-in-1 charging station for my phone, AirPods, and Apple Watch for a few years now, and decided I’m tired of it and would much rather have my phone charging on an extra long cord so I can play with it while laying down. SO, I bought this 2-in-1 charging station for just my AirPods and watch, and it’s perfection!

Okay, lastly — I’ve become obsessed with ensuring I don’t have ugly, dry heels. It really upsets me when they’re like that, so I’ve been making a concerted effort to keep them as smooth as I can. I got this pack of pumice stones and, every shower, I scrub the fuck out of my heels and big toe, slather them with Aquaphor, and throw on socks to let it absorb undisturbed. My feet look great, too. Just saying.

❤️ If you liked or loved this letter, hit that little heart at the bottom to show some love. A little love goes a looooong way around here ❤️

As a reminder, I’ve been keeping renovation stuff behind the paywall and if you’re not there, you’re only getting half the story.

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and I’ll write y’all next week!

— EGM