350 miles, 10 chapters edited, and approximately a million hours spent researching the intricacies of single-pilot aircrafts later, we are at the end of another week!

I do fear there’s precious few of those remaining in 2025. (Three. There are three as of this typing.)

There’s been lots of highs and lows. Literally, because the weather in Texas can’t make up its mind. Is it Fall, is it Winter, or is it most people’s idea of the perfect Summer?

As mentioned on last week’s blog, I visited my friend in College Station this week! Her dog, Penny, has to be a shout-out for my favorites for the week.

This precious girl has to be over a decade old now. She has few teeth and few cares. She shakes when she’s excited and also when she’s cold. (Her sweater collection is immense and themed, and I’m jealous.)

It’s a delight to know my friend’s pets almost as well as my own. And truly I wish every place I visited could have a dog.

Speaking of which!

Favorite new bookstore: Wonderful Words Bookshoppe in Bryan, Texas. They have a built-in secret shelf that leads to the mystery/thriller section of their shop. Need I say more?

OH WAIT, YES, because they have a shop dog!! (Their name is Benchly.)

My friend very casually slipped into conversation that I had a book coming out and they were effusive in their congratulations and request for me to visit when the book debuts. Hopefully next time I’m visiting her, we can organize that signing after all!

Favorite parasocial moment: Evelyn From The Internets is posting for Vlogmas and the scream I scrumpt!!! I know parasocial relationships are kinda weird and can be dangerous and can blah blah blah, okay? OKAY? I DON’T CARE. Literally, it was a joy to see her on my screen with a new video again. She made a video — ages ago — where she referenced, “Don’t be afraid to be seen trying” and it’s become a mantra for me. For a couple years, that’s all it was. A thing I’d repeat to myself. I needed just to hear it, to work my way up to living it. I’m not sure I’m always there now, but I feel it. And it’s because of her. (Also her entire recent-ish Thirsty Thursday series is iconique, if you’d like to start with something. Pick any, they’re all great.)

As for another thing I’ve been watching…

Favorite show: Dexter: Resurrection. Holy. Shit. Holy shit holy shit holy shit. Okay, so I weirdly watched Episode 4 of this with Becca at Comic-Con because I don’t mind coming into a show halfway through and told The Husband that we needed to start watching immediately. We didn’t. A half year later and finally, we got around to it, and I hesitate to call the show perfect TV, but it’s pretty damn close!

Favorite recipe: The skillet gnocchi with miso butter and asparagus by Ali Slagle in NYTimes Cooking was, indeed, incredible. As delicious and nutty as I’d hoped and an incredible way to eat more greens (something I’m always on the search for!).

I think next week I’ll try the Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake by Ali Slagle, too! See if she’ll do me right again.

Favorite bite: Unfortunately, there’s nothing like other people cooking for me, and so the meal my husband made of stovetop mac’n’cheese mixed with more cheese and also pulled pork does in fact take the proverbial cake. The above recipe was incredible and delicious and I did eat all my leftovers, including the single serving I had still in the fridge when I returned from College Station, but was it better than mac’n’cheese and more cheese and pulled pork? No. Credit where credit is due.

Favorite sports moment: Watching Lando win his maiden F1 Drivers Champion title. Do I wish it were my boy, OP? Yes. But I assigned myself a McLaren fan as I began watching the sport and have so enjoyed Lando raising McLaren from the midfield. And I love seeing a man cry (happy tears), which he did spectacularly. Also donuts! Vroom, vroom.

Favorite new jewelry: Your girl got pierced (again)! I finally have a second lobe piercing on both of my ears and will have these tiny silver hearts in place for the next four months, or however long the piercer recommended. I currently have a gold moon in one ear in my original piercing, and a gold star in the other original piercing, and the piercer wanted to confirm I was down for the mixed metal look. I am.

I do fear that this has unlocked the desire for more piercings. Just in the ear though. I think I’d still like my helix, and maybe tragus done. But I’m eyeing a tattoo place to book up in the future for when my brother graduates from his PA school so that we can get our sibling tats. (The current plan is matching N64 controllers.)

Favorite cursed object: This Santa from Dollar Tree. I didn’t buy him, but he won’t be soon forgotten.

It’s like looking into a mirror for this week. Technically it has the shape of the thing, but something about it isn’t quite right. That’s how I always feel with mid-week travel. I was here, but I wasn’t here. It was wonderful, but it was A Lot.

ARCs of THANKS FOR WATCHING are almost out and my emotions are in a whirlwind. I’m excited for people to read my story. That’s what I want. I’m also nervous for the reaction, because the little Doubter and Impostor tells me I should be, but I know I can’t control that. I’ve done everything I can to create the book exactly as I want it to be, and I hope it finds its readers. That’s what I keep having to tell myself. (Even when sometimes that voice feels like it’s being drowned out.)

Next week, I think, will be a lot of the same. I have jury duty. I have a holiday party. I have videos to film and words to write and books to buy and hopefully all of that will be a growing chorus of so much fun that the Impostor Syndrome doesn’t stand a chance at getting a word in. Fingers crossed.

Let me know some of your favorites for the week. Thanks for reading! 🙂

It’s the end of the week, and the end of November, and I keep asking myself, “Where did the year go?”

I fear it’s the thing my parents always warned me about: that time moves faster the older you get. And even though — logically — I accept this inevitability, I also reject it. AWAY, YOU UGLY TRUTH, AWAY.

To contend with this pain, I thought I’d share some of my favorite things from the past seven days. Maybe reminiscing, recollecting, and sharing can be the solution.

In no particular order, here are some favorites:

Moments: Chatting reality TV (from Survivor to Married at First Sight, and yes, I promise there is a through-line if you’re a true trash panda) and playing Hot Streak at Friendsgiving. It’s not my favorite board game I’ve played, but perfect when you’ve drank nearly an entire bottle of champagne on a lazy Monday evening.

YouTube Video: Do you like sweaters? Do you wear sweaters? Do you enjoy falling down unnecessarily specific rabbit holes, specifically in regards to sweaters? Then I think you’ll like this video.

Thing I bought: Technically I ordered this a couple weeks ago, but my Holo Taco package finally arrived, which included the Sticky Base Coat. I am known to mess with my hands, especially my fingers, and will often peel my polish. Part of this is anxiety and part of it is the absolute satisfaction of a thing well-picked and/or torn and thus, my manicures often last me only a day or two, if I’m lucky. Up until now, the plus-side has been that I can change the colors I wear multiple times a week. The minus-side is perhaps everything else.

But now! Now I have a new holy grail and it is the Sticky Base Coat. It gives me about 3.5 days of manicure wear without any lift, meaning I have used it twice since it arrived and I am AMAZED. I’ve loved both manicures and finally feel like it’s worth applying magnetic polishes again.

(With the bonus that I still get to rip off my polish in a few days! The mani can still be picked at and come off in one fell swoop, hooray!)

An honorable mention goes to the NYTimes Cooking App subscription for the year. ($25 on sale.) They finally made it so their tiramisu recipe couldn’t be accessed over the paywall and I swear by it. Now I have a whole list of “Easy” recipes I want to make.

Made: The aforementioned tiramisu for family Thanksgiving. Marrying into a family with elite cooks often means that I feel incredibly satisfied, satiated, and grateful, but also like I haven’t contributed enough. So being able to share the oft-requested tiramisu makes me happy! (It’s also so easy.) I only have a single photo of the tiny bit I was able to take home, but my goodness, it was delicious.

Wrote: Is it terrible if I say this post? I wrote a lot of disparate things this week, several of them very fun bonus materials for THANKS FOR WATCHING. I am really excited for all of them, but I’m also nearing the point of being So Very Done with the story that I need a brief break from it. A little, loving hiatus, before I return and rererereread it in its final form.

Also, I’ve been wanting to blog again and this is the first post I’ve made in over two years?? Incredible.

Alternatively, I also came up with a brief outline for ANOTHER mystery that I might try to pitch Inimitable Books as a follow-up to TFW, so that’s quite fun as well. It even has a title! I also want to utilize a dual timeline, something I’ve never attempted before. How fun!

Read: A few short chapters (“short” as in a single page) of Murder Among the Stacks. It’s this adorable word search mystery, where on one page you have the story and on the other page, a word search! Eventually you’re supposed to be able to use the word searches to solve the whodunnit and honestly, this is the perfect “turn your brain off and chill” book. It also hits on some nostalgia of these activity books with a vague storyline from when I was a kid! 10/10, would recommend (if you like word searches).

Email I sent: Will this category ever come up again? I doubt it! But this week I sent off the email to my favorite local indie bookshop, hoping and requesting for them to host my launch day event. Not only did they agree, they also offered to help do a signed preorder campaign!!!!! ALL THE EXCLAMATIONS! I’m so giddy words cannot possibly do my emotion justice. I’ll keep y’all updated when those signed copies are available.

Podcast: The only way I clean my house is with my headphones on and a podcast playing. I’m currently working my way through Curse of: America’s Next Top Model, a recommendation from Clara, and it. Is. Incredible. I’m on episode 6 and absolutely riveted.

Show: My husband, the tech guy, has finally configured a way for us to watch allllll our British television and while I specifically had requested The Great British Sewing Bee, it’s Taskmaster that’s dominating our screen right now.

We’ve finished the series with Fern Brady (14), Noel and Mel of separate eras of GBBO (4), and chaos incarnate Jason Mantzoukas (19).

Now we’re starting from Series 1 and will work our way up until there’s no more new-to-us episodes to watch.

And then, maybe, I’ll finally go back to The Great British Sewing Bee. Or just start a rewatch of Taskmaster.

For some things I’m looking forward to this coming week: December! The small act of changing my calendars over always makes me grin, especially the freebie ones I get from my husband’s aunt every year that feature and support the National Park Foundation. (I also got to pick out my calendars for next year and oh boy, am I excited. It sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but that was a genuine “oh boy” and I stand by it.)

I’m also taking a mini roadtrip across Texas to visit my friend in College Station and it’ll be wonderful to see her. It’s been almost a year since we last chatted in person and I can’t wait to cozy up on the couch and binge watch some TV, nestled amongst all her holiday lighting. (She goes all out for Christmas and it quite literally is like living on the set of a Hallmark movie, but better. They should hire her.)

I also thought of a fun video idea that will require me to visit all the local bookstores in my city and maybe send off a goodie bag or two to end the year. One of the shops should even be on my way to visit my friend, so I’ll get to knock that one out early. All in all, lots to look forward to! 🙂

What was your favorite moment/podcast you listened to/email you sent this past week??

Thanks for reading! 🙂