Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T #3
just a little something to begin the week.
Hi hello happy Tuesday morning. Let’s talk through some things I like right now, my many run-on sentences in this being at the top of the list. Or don’t, I’m not the boss of you!
READING.
Nightmare fuel.
By the time I’ve edited this and hit “publish” I’m sure I’ll be done with this book. (Editor’s Note: I was correct and have moved onto yet another thriller I’m sure I’ll finish today after work.) While I do recommend it with the caveat that her writing is pretty intense and comes with several necessary trigger warnings, what I do not recommend is reading it to fall asleep. My dreams have been wild filled with mazes and anxiety and stress and other factors that would be spoilers for the story so I won’t list them out here.
I’m trying to get better and not bingeing but…it’s an intention that doesn’t seem to be taking. When I start something unless in the very rare case that I get immediately put off by it, I have to finish it. And because I have a borderline pathological fear of forgetting things, it makes me even more inclined to finish books, tv shows, games, my own thought process, as fast as I possibly can. This is great for my TBR list (kinda…probably not all) but it does also come as the cost of allowing Karin Slaughter’s twisted world(s) to weasel their way into my subconscious well into the wee hours of the evening/morning.
Perhaps it stems from years of sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor of my school’s library devouring V.C. Andrews, Joan Lowery Nixon, and Lois Duncan until someone dragged me back to whatever class I was supposed to be in, but something about a thriller scratches my brain in all the right ways. Over the last five/six years I’ve really reexamined my relationship to True Crime (another monologue for another day) and consuming disturbing shit for the sole sake of testing my own limits (looking at you, splatterpunk) but a thriller, albeit even one that is heavy and A Lot™, feels like a compromise I can stand by.
All of that to say! If you too are a binge reader who likes to say “what the fuck 🫨” multiple times within the first 100 pages, you’ll probably like this!
EATING.
Outside, preferably.
The past weekend was absurdly warm for Washington. Like record-setting absurdly warm. This is indisputably because of global warming and is probably a warning sign (that we’re all enjoying a little too much) that we’re closer to The Big One hitting than ever before, but we might as well make the most of it before we’re all living an IRL version of The Last of Us, I suppose.
This to me means dining al fresco. Slipping sunscreen in your purse so you can freely enjoy third and fourth rounds on the patio near the water without risking an inadvertent rosiness to your cheeks. Enjoying your eggs outdoors with a side of people watching and eavesdropping to the conversations taking place in passing along the sidewalk. Squinting through your sunglasses to determine which exact types of oysters on the half shell you’ll be ordering for the table.
Sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with summer, but these past few days of high 60s to low 70s have me ready for the warmer months. Ready to switch out the fleece comforters for linen, the leggings for bike shorts, the cuddling in cozy restaurants for perching on patios instead.
Considering we’re about to dip back into the low 50s and see rain again after tomorrow, if it’s warming up where you are please enjoy a shakshuka in the sun for me. Ask to sit outside, even if there’s an additional wait. Have a gossip sesh over a martini with a twist on the deck—there’s nothing quite like it.
PLAYING.
So many NYT games, every morning.
Brain this, brain that. Routine this, routine that. Sleep hygiene this, morning prep that. Be your best self this, do this to improve that. Here’s how to better your cognitive function this, we’re all probably rotting from the inside out anyway that. It’s all bullshit, this this this this this. And that.
While I find 99.999% of “how to improve your day” listicles eye-roll inducing (you can blame every Ryan Holiday-wannabe I had to deal with from 2017 to 2021), there is something very calming about waking up every morning, lifting my dog onto the bed so she can properly flop, cracking open my first of what will be many sparkling waters of the day, and doing my little NYT games. It’s almost meditative, one could say (I will not).
The order is sacred: Strands, Connections, The Mini. Strands in the hardest and I will never stop trying to beat my 22 second record on The Mini. For some reason I almost always get blue first in Connections, and if you don’t hit “shuffle” right away you’re doing it wrong. I giggle when there are words associated with inside jokes or just, idk, life. Like how “Meme” was in there today—sorry if that was a spoiler. It usually takes less than five minutes and then the world is my oyster.
Or rather, I get back to my mess of a morning routine. But these little games are always a nice part of it. A little touch I really enjoy.
OBSESSING OVER.
eternal sunshine.
I don’t really have the words to get into it right now but to me it is practically a perfect album that has come out at a really poignant time in my life and I really love it. Minus “yes, and?” because…well nothing is really ever perfect lol. A theme of the album!! Anyway!!!
RECOMMENDING.
Spring simmer pots.
A Spring Simmer Pot Recipe For Your Home:
Ingredients:
One Medium Blood Orange, Sliced
Two Small Lemons, Sliced
Two to Three Cinnamon Sticks
A Small Handful of Peppercorns
A Splash of Vanilla Extract
A Drizzle of Honey Over the Top
Add all of your ingredients to a simmer pot and cover just to the top of them with water. Place on your stove on low and simmer until your house smells *beyond* inviting.
Note: If this is some sort of witchy spell recipe I have no idea. I’ll ask a hot girl who rants about the moon a lot and wears moldavite about it at some point.
TREATING MYSELF TO.
The little things.
Things like crisp, dry rosés to welcome the end of the day. Organized pantries with a home for each and every thing. Iridescent nails. The sides of potatoes I don’t need but want. Homemade English Muffins. Kindle Unlimited. Honest conversations. Interesting debates with even more interesting minds. But following them up with trash TV because wtf was up with the Love is Blind cast this season?! Getting into bed before eleven so my thrillers are being read within the optimal setting. New sunglasses for the summer. New overalls for the summer. How blueberry season will be here soon. And then tomato season. Making tattoo appointments just because the sun is out. Watching myself change while also finding comfort in consistency. Running again, even if it’s slow. Springing forward, in all of the ways a person possibly can.
HONORABLE MENTION TWEET:
Because it’s just really good.
