Greetings from a completely saturated Southern California. It’s been a wet and wild week. Here’s the roundup!
Quote of the week:
“if anyone is magically going to appear
and suddenly make your life better,
just know that person
is always going to be you.”
–Brianna Pastor (go pre-order her book Good Grief–it’s wonderful)
What I’m reading:
Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. A story of women killing despicable men–fun read haha.
What I’m listening to:
Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate. I’m a big fan of Ashley Audrain and she has said that Ashley Tate has been her writing partner for years… so I had to check out this book. I’m liking it. Curious to see how the story ends.
What I’m watching:
Movies: Anatomy of a Fall. I took myself to the theater for this one. It’s been on my list since I heard it got a standing ovation at Cannes. It also won some Golden Globes. I really enjoyed it. It’s one of those films you need to discuss with people.
TV: I finished Beef on Netflix and loved it. I started Loudermilk last night. I’m a big fan of Ron Livingston but this show isn’t really capturing my interest so far.
Writing news:
I am starting work on a new novel. I’ll have some exciting news to share soon!
Interesting things I learned this week:
- This past Sunday was the wettest February day in Los Angeles in nearly 110 years and the third overall wettest day since record-keeping began in 1877. Nearly half of the average seasonal rainfall of Los Angeles fell in TWO DAYS
- More weather news: Last month was the hottest January ever measured, according to the European Union climate monitor
- Taylor Swift’s private jet emitted about 8,000 metric tons of CO2 over a 7-month period in 2022. For context: You’d have to live for 536 years to emit what Taylor’s jet did in 7 months
- Australia is introducing “right to disconnect” laws giving workers the right to ignore unreasonable calls and messages from their bosses outside of work hours without penalty, with potential fines for employers that breach the rule
- Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 was originally titled Catch-18. Shortly before publication, Leon Uris’ book Mila 18 came out and it was a big hit. So the title was changed. If you haven’t read Catch-22, do it! It’s one of my all-time favorites
- About 2/3 of the countries in the world drive on the right including the US, China and Russia. Canada used to drive on the left but changed to the right to make border crossings with the US more manageable
- The most expensive painting ever sold was Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450.3 million in 2017
- The Japanese word misogi refers to difficult challenges in nature that aim to “clean off” the “contamination” caused by modern life
- The longest-ever recorded wait time at Disney World was 480 minutes (8 hours!!) for Tower of Terror
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“largest litter of puppies.” Most of my google searches are in response to my daughter’s inquiries. Here’s what we learned: A Neapolitan mastiff named Tia currently holds the Guinness World Record for largest litter with 24 pups born in 2004. Whoa.
What I’m grateful for:
- The rush of starting work on a new novel. It feels like the beginning stages of a relationship and I love it so much
- Watching the marathon Olympic Trials. They were held last Saturday and it was such a fun morning watching everyone on TV. So inspiring!
- Unlocking a new level of parenting in which my daughter and I do face masks together (and she says, “Alexa, play calm music”)
- Guinea pigs! We have purchased two guinea pigs, which we plan to take home tomorrow after we get their habitat set up. I’ve never owned guinea pigs so this will be fun (right?!)
- Rainy days. I’m guessing our California reservoirs are full up at this point. I’ve enjoyed the rain, but I’m very ready for us to dry out. Everyone’s yards are going to explode with growth this Spring!
Snapshots:
