Monday Missive: February 15
What We’re Reading and Watching
I watched the worst movie this weekend, but I so enjoyed making fun of it that I couldn’t turn it off, so maybe it wasn’t that bad? Squared Love is a Polish movie, so it’s dubbed and the plot makes no sense-both the leads seem be leading double lives as models? The lead actress was giving me Nina Dobrev vibes and would have benefited from better material, which I think is one of the reasons that I kept going with the movie, but otherwise it’s a mess that was very fun to hate watch. -E
I found a new podcast this week, Under the Influence by Jo Piazza. Piazza has written several books that I really enjoyed (ie Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win), so I was very excited to discover that she’s created a podcast examining the world of mom influencers. In the first few episodes she explores the history of female influencers and blogs and interviews some very interesting experts and influencers, and in upcoming episode she’s going to look at some very popular mom influencers and what it takes to succeed in the field. -E
I have been really enjoying Firefly Lane on Netflix this week! I needed a feel-good show about long friendships and I love that this is set across time so that I can enjoy seeing both of the main characters grow and also what doesn’t change about them. It’s definitely cheesy, and I am very distracted by Katherine Heigl’s face, plus their efforts to age everyone up and down across time, but love a low-stakes friendship drama! - D
What We’re Buying
I got Mr. Trucks the cutest blue gingham dog bed from Foggy Dog. It’s so nice to have something that goes with the decor of the room instead of looking like a sad after thought. - E
I’ve been struggling with covering up my under eye circles all winter, so I decided to take the plunge and order the Cle De Peau concealer. It’s expensive, so I was nervous, but they have a color finder on their website where you enter in the concealers and foundations that you currently use and it recommends a color match based on those. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and love it. It’s very thick, so it stays put and I’ve been using on my under eyes and the rest of my face and it feels very transforming. (I also bought their concealer brush because I recently lost my mine, but I don’t love it). -E
This might sound silly, but I really love drinking from paper straws at home and have recently been buying rainbow packs, so I can pick a different color each day based on my mood. For example, I drank out of mostly red and pink ones this weekend for Valentine’s Day! It’s a small way to add some fun and sometimes I will do things like drinking out of a green one to manifest some money-making mojo. - D
My motivation to blow dry my hair has gone out the window, so I have really been enjoying the Power conditioner from Lush’s new line of products for curly hair. It gives me moisture without pulling my waves down, so I have a better curl pattern and eliminates frizz. If you are air drying and have less porous or fine, wavy hair, I highly recommend it! - D
What We’re Making
I’ve been making the Barefoot Contessa Parmesan Chicken recipe on repeat the past few weeks. The kids love it because it’s kind of like chicken fingers, and I’ve realized that it’s a great way to cook chicken quickly because I always have the ingredients on hand. It seems like something that would take a long time, but since you don’t have to marinade anything, it’s actually just dumping eggs, flour and breadcrumbs onto plate and then running the chicken through it quickly while the pan heats up. We also love the lemony salad dressing and easy salad that go with it. -E