weekly bits #2

friday round-up time!

Hello hello my friends. It’s been so nice to have a place to feel at home on the internet again — while I also feel at home over on YouTube thanks to all of you — I’ve missed writing to you like my special penpals. We used to have a good thing going over on Twitter, but as we all know, it’s devolved even further into a cesspool than I could have imagined. RIP.

How was your week? Hot? It’s been hot. It’s also been dreadfully cloudy in my neck of the woods which most people (rightly) celebrate, except I am such a sad little baby who gets instantly bummed when there is only gloom. Rain, I like. Cloudy but dry? Sad. Excited to remember life isn’t hopeless once the sun comes out again.

Let’s get to the bits, shall we?

A quick reminder that in the future, these full Friday posts will be available for paid subscribers only but I want you to get a taste of what it’s like so you can decide what might be worth it for ya.

1. It’s been a wonderful week for wildlife sightings, my favorite, and especially for turkeys. They’re back, baby! Maybe they never left. I’ve only lived in this area for a little under a year, and I only remember seeing them last summer. In fact, the day we moved in, I drove through town in the most beautiful sunset, and as I turned towards our house a rafter* of turkeys waddled across the street. Magic. Today the dogs and I were out on our morning walk, and I got to spy on a flock hanging out in a field — so cool!!!! Maybe I’m easily impressed, but I just love turkeys. Give me more wild birds. Even better this morning, the dogs somehow didn’t notice them so Otis couldn’t even ruin the moment. A blessing.

* Credit: Google

2. I’ve been watching Season 6 of The Circle on Netflix, one of my faves, because somehow I missed it? I’ve seen every other season including 7, and as a dedicated fan, I’m disappointed in myself for missing it because I even regularly check. I was bummed to get some spoilers watching Battle Camp as two of the players were from S6 of The Circle, but alas, we move on. I actually quite enjoy spoilers to a degree — it’s fun to know if someone succeeds and watch how they do it. You can pay better attention to the strategy moves that work, you know? Anywho, if you’ve never seen it, it’s essentially a popularity contest where players are alone in their apartments interacting only through a social media profile with the other players. Meaning, you can play as your real self, or catfish as someone else, and when you get ousted by the more popular players, your identity is revealed. Sounds kinda boring, is actually so gripping. My real point in bringing this up is that they introduced a new element this season where one of the contestants is secretly an AI chat bot, and it’s terrifying. They all love him. They all feel certain he is not, in fact, AI. I’m only on episode 4, where they all know there’s an AI bot and are trying to figure out who it is, and I hate how bad they are at it. It’s not their fault! He’s very convincing. Too convincing! Life is getting scary. Help!

Credit: Netflix / People magazine

3. Sticking to reality TV, juicy news in Golden Bachelor world…apparently, rumor has it that only weeks out from the beginning of production, their slated lead is out. Mel Owens was announced as the new lead of Golden Bach back in April along with the show’s renewal, but has reportedly been sacked after some off-putting comments on the In the Trenches podcast — which is like, for University of Michigan football? I get he’s a retired football player, but what are we doing on this podcast? Where’s the PR manager?! He said things like, “they asked me, 'what's your preferences?' So, I just said 45 to 60, just being honest. And then the process went, and I was selected, right? And then we had lunch with the executive producer. I said, 'you know, if they're 60 or over, I'm cutting them.'“ Uhhhhhh….the show (almost) exclusively casts contestants over 60? That’s…kinda the point of the show? He also allegedly made some comments about not wanting “wigs” or any fake hips. Cooool cool cool. As the Bachelor team has notoriously made horrendous decisions the past few years when it comes to protecting any of their leads or contestants, I’m both shocked and thrilled he got the boot. Give these ladies a nice man! Fingers crossed an official announcement is headed our way.

4. This at-home chicken shawarma is a winner. Had it Wednesday night over rice, a little Greek salad, a little homemade tzatziki…SO good. Love this guy’s instagram. I’ll be releasing a What I Cooked this Month for my fellow kitchen-lovers where you’ll hear more about it.

5. After months of yearning, I finally picked up Hello Kitty Island Adventure. It’s been a balm to my soul. I’m someone who always has a little itch for Animal Crossing, but every time I pick it up again I get burnt out too quickly since I’ve kinda done it all. Hello Kitty is a great alt with some fun new additions, and the characters are just way cuter. Cliche warning, but I got into the Sanrio characters during our trip to Japan due to our quest for hanamaruobake after we couldn’t win him in a claw game (it was rigged!!!), so I was primed and ready to enjoy what Island Adventure had to offer. A perfect fetch-quest, calm, cozy game to play on your Switch in bed as the world burns.

6. Really enjoyed this piece on making bad decisions on purpose by Haley Nahman. She’s maybe my favorite writer on Substack, and I highly recommend a subscription.

7. I recently switched all of my shampoo & conditioner to Acure, which I’ve been loving. Affordable, cleaner ingredients, effective. Big ups! I ordered in bulk during a sale, which they’re having right now in case you’re interested. No affiliation, just a recommendation! I also really like their dry shampoo, which is a shakeable powder as opposed to aerosol which probably isn’t great for our health (though of course, not a doctor).

8. I’ve been haunted this week by the pair of harnesses and leashes I bought off of an Instagram ad for my dogs a few months ago that I swore I would not regret. I regret. I don’t use them and they don’t help with anything! What’s funny is that I’m really good at warding off Instagram ads for things marketed towards me, like clothes or jewelry or what have you, but when it comes to my pets I’m a sucker. The cardboard cat flippy tunnels I’ve bought, the toys, the leashes. I hate them all! They’ve been useless! Lesson learned. Until next time.

9. Sam had some unexpected car troubles this week that resulted in a total breakdown in the middle of a highway, stuck completely blocking a busy lane. Not awesome. What was awesome? Everyone was so nice. A plumber bumped his car out of the way into a coned-off turn lane, another guy stopped after that just to ask if he needed anything else, the cop who came to check out what the dealio was was so nice and just sat behind Sam’s car with his lights on, making sure nobody hit him. The tow truck was only 20 minutes away!!!! Miracles do happen. I spend a lot of time worrying about preventing anything bad from happening, which I do think can have some upsides depending on the subject at hand, but this whole car situation was a really nice reminder that when stressful, bad things do happen, there are solutions and you may even be blessed with some really helpful, kind people along the way.

That’s a wrap, folks. Share a little weekly takeaway in the comments — and if you’re in the US, how are you spending the ole 4th of July? We’re popping over to a fireworks show over a lake near our house, and eating many hot dogs. xoxoxo