Monday Missive: December 21

What We’re Reading and Watching

This week I got wrapped up in two different teen dramas, first Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix, a murder-mystery set at a high school for ballerinas. It was one of the most naked shows I’ve seen in a while, and was definitely very dramatic, but ultimately fun! I’ve also been watching The Wilds on Amazon Prime, which is about a group of 9 teenage girls who are on their way to a retreat when the plane crashes and they end up stranded on an island. Also pretty dark and dramatic, but a very teen girl “Lost” feeling. - D
I’ve also been following this Erika and Tom Girardi divorce and financial drama very closely the last few days! If you haven’t already, definitely read the LA Times article about it all. - D
I read Cobble Hill by Cecily von Ziegesar last week. I enjoyed it and read it in just a few days while I was sick, but it was one of those books that felt like it was written by a man for a man (the male characters were much more complex and sympathetic), so it was very surprising that it was written by the same person who created Gossip Girl.
Next on my list is The Talented Miss Farwell, which I was influenced to get by Grace Atwood.

It’s all secret until the big day, but we’ll be sharing some of our favorite gifts that we gave and received next week.
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This Frosted Mistletoe Margarita from Half Baked Harvest looks amazing, and it’s definitely on my list for festive cocktails to try during our holiday vacation. - D
We spent a very low key weekend at home and our major goal was to bake a different kind of cookie every day. We started with the Peppermint Bark Brownie Cookie from Hello Adams Family, and it was full of wild ingredients like chocolate pudding mix, but it was so good! Very chewy and just a hint of peppermint-it was the girls favorite. Then we were onto the Chewy Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookie from Half Baked Harvest, which is drizzled with chocolate and was one of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten. Our last cookie was the Crinkly Caramel Stuffed Brownie Cookie, which was delicious but had several steps so it took longer than I anticipated. I woke up this morning and realized that we still didn’t have any jelly cookies, so I’m off to work on that now! -E