watching lately

I'm never going to be breaking any news when it comes to streaming recommendations - usually pretty behind the times over here - but lately I have watched some things that I have really enjoyed, enough to make me want to stay up a little late, or make an excuse to take a little stroll on the treadmill with my iPad and headphones... so I thought I'd share a little roundup in case you've missed any of these!

Only Murders in the Building: such a great cast, with Steve Martin and Martin Short, plus Selena Gomez as the perfect , about an unlikely trio of murder-mystery podcast lovers who decide to create their own after someone is found dead in their building. Great comedy but also some very fun and unexpected twists and turns, in the way a show like Dead to Me left me with my jaw dropped at the end of a few episodes. Peter and I watched this together and really enjoyed it - clever writing and plotting, but not stressful to watch like some murder-y shows... I guess it's kind of a cozy comedy mystery in tv form?

Abbott Elementary: if you're a fan of the docu-style sit-com like Parks & Rec, definitely check out this show! It's about a group of teachers at an underfunded school; a lot like Parks & Rec, you sort of have these underdogs just trying to do their best, so the show has this underlying good-heartedness to it but still deals with some real-life issues like school funding and race in a smart, funny way. Lots of characters to fall in love with. I'm all caught up on what's available on Hulu and am excited for more (I think it's also currently airing on ABC?).

Vivo: of course Encanto is the big hit at the moment, but are you aware of this Netflix family movie that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote for (and stars in)? It's about a little monkey who goes from Cuba to Miami to try to deliver his owner's song to his long-lost love; the songs are delightful, the cast is great, and the range of characters fun too. We all loved it, and Hendrik immediately added the full soundtrack to his Spotify playlist (all of which is doing wacky things to my algorithm - as it also includes a whole bunch of Queen, Billy Joel, Star Wars soundtracks, and BTS...)

Drive to Survive: if you need some sports stuff to get behind, check out this Netflix series that recaps the behind-the-scenes of Formula 1. It's in season 4 now, but when season 1 came out a few years ago Peter watched it and got totally hooked on Formula 1 because of it. Last fall he went back and re-watched all of the available seasons with me, and now I'm on a first-name basis with all of these drivers and team principals too. The latest season just came out (recapping the 2021 racing season), and even though I know how the season turns out, it's still an addicting watch. The drama and behind the scenes are pretty fascinating, with lots of big personalities, and you can also travel vicariously to lots of places following the races. 

Queer Eye: I am late to watching season 6 (the Austin one), because I watched season 2 of a couple of other shows recently - Cheer and The Morning Show - and was rather disappointed in them, finding the magic of the first season had worn off a bit and I was a little bored, and also a little meh on having to watch stuff related to Covid in them. This season of Queer Eye also deals with Covid aftermath, but the magic? ALL THERE. I really loved this season.

Now to see if the magic is still there on Ted Lasso season 2....

mini me Monday: Freddie's spring wardrobe

Just in time for the changing of the seasons, Freddie's going through a changing of the sizes! Which means that I get to pull out some sweet little onesies and such that I bought back when I was pregnant - and just maybe pick out a few new goodies too... Here's some of Freddie's spring style that I'm loving:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Big surprise, there's plenty of stripes in his wardrobe at every size. Primary.com is my new fave for stripey pjs and onesies, but Baby Gap is also a go-to on that.

The little "Wee Farers" sunglasses just slay me - and he's actually pretty good about keeping them on! Which is nice as he's really not a big fan of bright sunlight, so now our walks and also our new favorite activity of swinging at the park are an extra big hit.

Also can't get over the cuteness of these Robeez soft sole shoes. I mean, the little french fries and hamburger! When paired with his Monica + Andy pretzel patterned romper, he 100% earns one of his nicknames - Freddie-snacks.

wearing lately: Madewell picks

I'm not your regular "influencer" constantly posting about the latest sales... but I can't help but mention the current Madewell Insider sale (20% off everything for members of their free rewards program, or 25% off if you're a higher-level rewards member...which is me...whoops) because of how much I love my wardrobe staples from Madewell. Pretty much all I have been wearing this winter is a Madewell jeans + sweater combo (such as this), and it's going to be the same as the weather warms up too, as you can see:

I love a nice, sturdy cotton sweater for transitioning into spring when - as I've mentioned a zillion times I know - the weather is still decidedly chilly but I'm sick of all of the winter stuff and don't quite need the heavy wool ones any longer. This recent acquisition just makes me happy with the embellishments, and paired with my trusty roadtrippers (seriously, I've had these for probably 5 years) and some nice off-white (it's not spring YET) sneakers, I've got a perfectly cute and comfy and weather-appropriate outfit. Early spring wardrobe, done and dusted! Though obviously I have a bit of a wishlist while this big sale is going on:

The above are some things hanging out in my cart as I mull them over - some great basics that could fill some wardrobe holes for me, but also some fun springy things too. Especially liking the look of those off-white jeans in a new silhouette. I will always love my skinny jeans from Madewell, but the cropped stovepipe/straight leg has been a new favorite style, and after not getting to wear white jeans at all last year because I didn't have any in my maternity wardrobe, I think it would be fun to re-enter the arena with these. Especially if I start to be able to actually go out to more places this spring! 

If you're looking for the classic, totally worth the investment but event BETTER when you can get them on sale like this type of items that I swear by from Madewell, here's a great roundup, all 20-25% off till next Monday!

(Post not sponsored in any way, but does contain affiliate links.)

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Wednesday wishlist

Just because I understand the realities of dressing for this time of year - it's still winter coats, not all the pretty spring things that retailers and influencers are peddling at the moment - doesn't mean I'm immune to some spring shopping desires... luckily just the act of making a wishlist can partially satisfy cravings.

Here are some things that have caught my eye in online browsing. I'm especially intrigued by the new-to-me site Vetta (advertised to me by Instagram, of course). They market their selections in the form of various capsules, like the casual capsule, the minimal capsule or the edgy capsule. In the capsules it looks like all of the pieces can all be worn in multiple ways - such as the jumpsuit on my wishlist, which can be worn as an apron front jumpsuit as shown, or a v-neck jumpsuit, or even just as pants/top. This ready-made capsule and versatility really appeals to my sensibilities... it's like my beloved old mix & match suitcase posts that I haven't gotten to do in FOREVER. But I actually might be having some work travel this summer, which has got my brain back in that mode a little. Curious if anyone out there has tried this company yet!

five things Friday: March TBR edition

I've been craving spring, but March in Michigan doesn't usually oblige... so instead I'm going with spring-ish covers on my reading list for the month! Some florals and green and butterflies all caught my eye - plus this seems like it'll be a great mix of reads, from memoir to mystery to middle grade.

I've got two non-fiction this month - unusual for me, but the authors and the happy covers are enticing me: Lift was actually a random library grab from an author whose previous work I have loved, Kelly Corrigan; it's written as a letter to her children and sounds like a balm I might need right now in motherhood. Thanks for Waiting has actually been (ahem) waiting on my shelf to be picked up, a memoir by a favorite podcaster.

Mystery and middle grade have been regular parts of my reading life lately... for this month there's We Are All the Same in the Dark, which I have actually already picked up and it is gooood. Just the kind of literary mystery with mix of character development + procedural - secrets being uncovered that I'm always looking for. And A Place to Hang the Moon has been on my radar for a while; a WWII evacuation story, I'm getting Narnia and The War That Saved My Life vibes. Good and heartwarming things - looking forward to cozying up with it while I wait for spring to come.

And finally, have to throw in a bit of rom-com to the month too - I received The Bodyguard from Netgalley and hope it'll be a good escape, though I have had mixed success with Katherine Center (loved Things You Save in a Fire but was meh on What You Wish For). I'll report back and let you know whether it's worth picking up when it publishes in July!

I made it through all of my February books and enjoyed them for the most part. Definitely will be recommending The Maid to a lot of people, and David Sedaris' diaries to people who are fans of his. Here's a recap of everything:

• The Maid: this book is a "cozy" mystery in that it is a whodunit murder that is being investigated by characters who are amateurs rather than police - and isn't graphic or super suspenseful. With the grand hotel setting and the upstairs/downstairs feel with the maids and kitchen workers behind the scenes and the brash, rich guy being murdered in the penthouse, it would be a light and fun read. But the narration of Molly the maid makes it so much more. I've seen comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant for Molly, and I think these are apt, with her difficulty connecting with others, her loneliness, and her narration slowly revealing some repressed traumas; it also reminded me a lot of When We Were Vikings, another book with a protagonist with cognitive differences who loves her job but doesn't quite understand some things going on beneath the surface and thus puts her trust in the wrong people (or even the much more thriller-y version, Sally Hepworth's The Good Sister). Molly is a great narrator for a mystery because her way of seeing the world is so black and white that she notices everything - but she also makes it interesting because with her difficulties in understanding nuance in expressions and things like that, she's also a bit of an unreliable narrator. At the same time, Molly's literalness and keen observations lead to some wit and some chuckles, and her love of being a maid and cleaning is conveyed in such an endearing way. It's hard not to fall in love with her and root for her to solve the case and to find some friends along the way. [Received an e-copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review] ★★★★
• Winter Counts: much less cozy here - instead this is a gritty literary mystery set on a Native American reservation and starring a character who takes justice into his own hands on behalf of those wronged, since the justice system is so hands-off when it comes to the reservation. But when his nephew gets caught with drugs and is offered a plea deal to go undercover as part of a federal sting operation, Virgil has to reconcile that on the one hand he wants to protect his nephew and also protect his community from the influx of opioids, but on the other hand this requires working with federal agents and having his nephew be a snitch, in order to get to the bottom of what's going on and who is actually bringing the drugs in. If you liked Blacktop Wasteland or Razorblade Tears, this has some of the gritty feel with the protagonists skirting the line of the law as they try to protect or get justice for their family (but a bit less violent overall); also, if you liked the YA book Firekeeper's Daughter, this is in some ways the adult version of it - lots of similar elements with the undercover drug investigation on the reservation, and the half white/half Native characters trying to figure out where they fit into their community and what their tribe's traditions and beliefs mean for their own lives. I really loved Firekeeper's Daughter and liked the elements that Winter Counts shared with it, but overall this one felt a bit slow to me and then somewhat disjointed when the reveal of the mystery happened fast at the end. ★★★.5
• A Carnival of Snackery: the 2nd installment of David Sedaris' published diaries, this book is fun for longtime fans of Sedaris and his work, but not necessarily something to pick up if you haven't read his other books. If you do like David Sedaris, this gives a peek behind the scenes into his life, from everyday life with Hugh to travels for book tours. It's just little snippets of life, so you can read it a little at a time; there are lots of observations about the strange or absurd in the everyday, or even just records of jokes he hears, that he picks up from neighbors or people at his book signings - you can see in action his constant curiosity about humans and how the way he observes the world leads to his essays. I enjoyed reading the 1st installment of his diaries (Theft by Finding) even more, because covering the earlier years was interesting to see his as-it-happens reaction to finding his way in the world and slowly gaining success as a writer (which happened relatively later in life) and in figuring out his identity as an individual and as a gay man; this all gave it a bit more of a story arc. But both have their laugh-out-loud moments of course, and I also thought it was so interesting to see little mentions of current events across the years, in relation to the things happening in his everyday life. There are lots of funny tidbits but also some really poignant moments in his personal life and in his reflection on news items like school shootings, etc. ★★★.5
• Bringing Down the Duke: Annabelle Archer is one of the first women admitted to Oxford in the late 1800s, but as the daughter of a (deceased) vicar with no inheritance to her name, she needs a scholarship to be able to attend. In return for this scholarship, she's required to help out with the burgeoning women's suffrage movement, and a pamphlet-distributing assignment leads her to run (literally) into Sebastian, the Duke of Montgomery with the ear of the queen but no desire to hear out the movement. From their run-in, things develop in ways you might expect in a romance... I have to say: the more I read in the romance genre, the more I realize I need to find the ones that are more slow burn and less steamy - honestly, I find the love scenes just distracting from the story when they get so hot and heavy already in the characters' first encounter. I was interested in these characters and their progressiveness for the time, and in the bit I learned about women's suffrage in England, but then the romantic scenes just took me so far out of that part of the story when they popped up, and actually felt like they impeded character development so that I didn't really end up connecting with the characters that much or feeling swoony over their relationship. I probably won't continue in the series, but I know a lot of romance readers really love this one, so if you like reading period romances with some interesting women and a feminist twist, check it out. ★★★
• A Taste for Love: here's a less hot-n-heavy romance - picking a YA one is usually a safe bet for that! The blurb for this one said it's for fans of Great British Bakeoff and Jane Austen - definitely tempted me to pick it up! - but what I didn't realize is that it's actually a Pride & Prejudice revamp involving a Chinese bakery, a youth baking competition, and a mom trying to set her daughter up with the contestants. Lots of mouthwatering food descriptions all the way through, for sure. And I'm always a sucker for a P&P retelling, so I did have fun with it, especially as I think it uses a cultural setting that works well to modernize a story in which who you date/marry is of big importance to - and can involve lots of meddling from - your family (in this case with an Asian American family). I also enjoyed how it incorporated modern-day YA themes of finding identity in relation to your parents/their desires, especially with this interplay of immigrant vs. first-generation, reminding me of other YA books I've loved like Frankly in Love and Super Fake Love Song. But overall not my favorite YA book or P&P retelling - just felt a little long and perhaps convoluted at times, with some parts feeling like they were trying to be P&P retelling, some parts (like the bake-off setup of wacky contestants) feeling a little forced into being comical. ★★★

Have you read any of these? Or have any other best books from the last month that I should add to a future TBR post?!

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currently

collecting: ideas for another bathroom renovation... having sufficiently recovered from the drawn-out hassle of a process of our upstairs bathrooms (that was 2020 for ya), now all I can see is how much I love the master bath and the kid bath and how much I want to love the tiny powder room on our main floor. It's way too small for this exact look, but I love the colors and vibe as a jumping-off point.

craving: a vacation. Of course, who isn't these days - but being house-bound in covid + winter times with a baby on top of not having traveled anywhere for 2+ years, and oh does it sound good. Dying to take Hendrik somewhere fun like a theme park, but even more so for a adults-only beach vacation. I guess the upside of not having any occasion to spend our vacation funds is re-allocating them to revamp another bathroom?

picturing: spring. Literally: picturing the daffodils coming up in my mind's eye helps me remember that the snow covering their spot won't last forever. And that playground outings can be in our future again, by which time Freddie will be able to swing! Metaphorically: hoping and praying and working for a world that is renewed and at peace. War, discrimination, pandemic death toll... it's heavy lately.

playing: allll the Lovevery things with this sweet guy (the playmat sensory strands and the rainbow spinner from the 5-6mo box are a big hit right now; and in big-kid times, playing Super Mega Lucky Box with Hendrik - highly recommend this as a board game that I actually enjoy, not to mention that it has a solo play option that comes in very handy too...

wishing: I could wear all the cute spring things, but real life = winter, so it's still coats + boots as in yesterday's post. Doesn't mean I don't have a spring wishlist though - with this dress on it!

 

What are you currently up to as we head into March? Fingers crossed those of us enduring winter will be seeing some hints of spring come the next time for one of these: Wednesday, April 6. Let's chat about what we're currently getting, going, planning, posting, and thinking.

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wearing lately: real life

While retailers and influencers have had their spring outfits all over the place lately, I'm here with a dose of real life style... because it's still winter! (Case-in-point, I took these photos last Thursday, and by the next morning everything was covered by a couple of inches of snow.) 

Coats, boots, and sweaters are still 100% the norm (if I even set foot outdoors), no matter if the calendar does say March. Drives me a little nutty to see so much spring stuff online because it's hard enough to have winter drag on without having these unrealistic yearnings - but oh well, at least we had a couple of days last week before the snow came back when I could wear this cocoon coat that I love so much, and some cute booties. Back to the huge parka and snow boots now. The other upside for those of us still in winter is that the gear is all on sale now, like this coat, so you can get a great deal and still be able to wear it right away!

And for fun, here's what the outfit looked like indoors where I spent the day hanging with Freddie - had to take a couple of silly mirror selfies when I noticed how cute our stripes looked together 💛