Doing a new thing to break up the bulk and heavy nature of my adoption story and to have a little something for my free subscribers. Introducing free fridays: a short and sweet newsletter with some thoughts and recs I would love to pass on. Think of it as running into me at a party and instead of asking what you do/what you’re working on I tell you about something new I found at Trader Joe’s. Also feel free to comment with anything you found this week that became a little game changer in your daily routine.
Speaking of Trader Joe’s, I actually do have a little rec that has been around for awhile but is new to me and has quickly escalated into becoming a hot kitchen staple in my home: Hot and Sweet Jalapeños. I have been using them in everything, including the recently recalled-for-possible-Botulism-risks canned tuna at Trader Joe’s. Putting aside botulism, I have fine tuned my tuna to include a little sliced and diced shallot, TJ’s Sweet Dill Mustard (another rec!!), reg mayo and the jalapeños thrown onto some toasted bread with cheddar cheese. I have eaten this twice a week until the botulism word decided to enter the tuna vocab.
I was supposed to go to a wedding in Florida last month but due to the fires I had to cancel (more on that in a future substack). But I do need to show off these perfectly Florida inspired nails by my favorite nail person
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TV is so back. I’m excited that all my shows are finally back and this feels like something that hasn’t happened in years. It’s been a long time since I’ve viewed days of the week by which show had a new episode. Honestly, I fell off from scripted TV big time and pivoted strictly to reality but now there’s a good mix to bring me back. New Severance, Yellowjackets and The White Lotus with some The Traitors, Below Deck, and Love is Blind- finally putting my subscriptions to use. I’m also excited to break up my recent Survivor binge of making my way through the first ten seasons (mainly for Boston Rob). And again, if anyone wants to watch Survivor for the first time let this Virgo know I have a google doc waiting for you!!
I’m going to Vegas in a few weeks and I’m just so excited. Its been a few years since I’ve gone and this year I am excited to play a game I recently learned and am still about 40% unsure how to actually play: craps. 2025 is becoming the year I get into gambling- I also won a segment of squares at the Super Bowl party I hosted Sunday.
I’ve started a little yearly tradition at the end of the year where I gather a bunch of friends over to my apartment and we surround ourselves with magazines, glue sticks, a million snacks and pizza for a little vision boarding for the new year. I love this tradition and I also tacked on an Ins and Outs list to begin 2025. Both of those fell to the wayside though on January 7th when the fires began but I’m trying to slowly crawl my way back to getting what I want and locking in. For this free friday I’ll share my little In and Out list and I am absolutely open to criticism!! (sorry Tarot!)
Lastly, some really good friends of mine lost their place to live due to the Eaton Fire. They need somewhere to live and the housing market in LA is abysmal. If you have some spare cash to donate it would greatly help as they are also expecting a baby in a few months. It’s been such a heavy year in LA and not having a home while prepping for a baby is truly unimaginable!
That’s a wrap on this first free friday. Hopefully soon I will actually be able to write about one single book I have read but feels like I will be talking lots of TV coming up. My next newsletter will be paid content and a little preview: I do discuss the phone call I had with my birth mother. If you are interested in that you can sign up for a paid subscription- thank you!