It’s been a busy week, with both of us traveling home from Rhode Island, and pushing to get things done before a longer break coming up in a few days. We’ve both been hard at work on a million projects, and Eloise was also busy picking up the big girls from camp. We still found time to read new books and catch up on the latest Netflix shows, although some of them weren’t worth writing home about. The watermelon recipes that we tried out this week definitely did not disappoint and I think they’ll become a regular part of our rotation.

Monday Missive: July 19

What We’re Reading and Watching

• The newest season of Never Have I Ever came out on Netflix last week, and I devoured the whole thing. Devi’s love triangle sets up for some first rate teen comedy/drama and I love the addition of Aneesa as a foil to Devi. - D

• I also watched My Unorthodox Life, which is about Julia Haart, the CEO of Elite World Group (the modeling conglomerate), who left an orthodox Jewish community along with her kids 8 years ago and is now a fashion world powerhouse. I love the behind the scenes of her fashion line launch, her #2 at Elite, Robert Brotherton (such a good name) and seeing how her oldest daughter and husband are navigating their married life outside of the religious community. - D

• Leda and the Swan finally came up in my library loans, and while I pushed through and finished it (Eloise didn’t), I can’t say that I loved it. Maybe it was just too heavy and intense for my summer brain, but the level of descriptive detail was almost distracting and it was just a really bleak look at consent, drinking, friendship, etc in college. - D

• I was looking through my reading list to see what I liked enough to share on here today, and I have to admit, I have been reading such garbage books that I couldn’t even admit to it! They’re random books that I’ve been getting for free through Amazon Unlimited and they aren’t even good, but I just keep going with them. Does this happen to anyone else? I feel terrible that I’ve wasted so much time on terrible books, but then I also feel like maybe my brain just needed a break last week. I got We are the Brennans through Book of the Month and that looks like a great palate cleanser that I’m hoping to reset with this week. -E

What We’re Buying

• I ran out of my Drunk Elephant vitamin C serum (one of my skincare staples) and I want to try something less expensive, so I ordered the one from the Inkey List. It’s such a great price that I can’t help but feel a little bit skeptical about the efficacy, but I’m excited to give it a try! - D

• I’m wearing a backless dress this weekend for a formal party and have had to dive into the world of stick on bras, which is something I haven’t had to do for a very long time. After reading this post, I ordered the ones that Ashley recommends, but if you have any other recs, send them my way! -E

What We’re Making

• I’m still obsessing over watermelon and referencing our post from last week with recipe ideas! Grilled watermelon is definitely in my plans for next week. - D

• I made the watermelon cake from the same post and it was super easy and cute (see the picture above) although I think the kids at the party were a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a real cake underneath the whipped cream, haha! -E

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