Consumption 8

This is a monthly series, published near the end of the month summarizing what I found, ate, watched, googled, and felt this month. New categories added from time to time.

Books Added to My TBR (e.g., books I just learned about that I’m excited to read… maybe)

• 59 Minutes (Holly Seddon)
• The Ten Year Affair (Erin Somers)
• Anatomy of an Alibi (Ashley Elston)
• Untitled Cornish Mystery 1 (J.M. Hall) – not sure what this is, but I’m there for it
• Dissection of a Murder (Jo Murray)
• Permanence (Sophie Mackintosh)
• The Road to Dalton (Shannon Bowring)
• Then Things Went Dark (Bea Fitzgerald)
• Death Writ Large (Susie Dent)
• The Parkwood Murders (Chris Chibnall)
• Chosen Family (Madeleine Gray)
• The Armchair Detectives (Matt Dunn)
• The Artful Anna Harris (Tracy Maton)

Notable Meals (new recipes, old favorites, and restaurant items we ate this month)

• Cafe sandwich: Tofu, peanut-ginger sauce, soy-based slaw on a panini-pressed sourdough bread with a side salad of greens, carrots, and beets.

Television, Movies, and Music (watching and listening)

• Only Murders in the Building (Season 5): Sometimes the episodes are great. Sometimes they’re okay. I always enjoy watching it, but I don’t crave watching them a second or third time as I do with other comedies.
• The Office: We missed this years ago, but we decided to try it now because we’re enjoying The Paper. We’re only a couple of episodes in, and it’s slowly getting better. I think we’ll stick with it but watch it slowly.
• Taskmaster Season 20: The episodes are currently rolling out on YouTube. This is one of my favourite casts. We like everyone. It’s so funny.
• The Diplomat: New season! I did not see that twist coming at the end of the first episode but it totally makes sense on how the rest of the season will roll out. Such great storytelling and character exploration.

Added To My Ongoing Mix Tape

• “Smile” (Lily Allen)
• “You Get What You Give” (New Radicals)
• “Natural Blues” and “Honey” (Moby)

Tabs I Left Open (things I Googled and left up on the screen)

• A website about historic Sugartown
• Women’s wellies on the Barbour website (debating between Barbour, Hunter, and Bogs)
• How to get email notifications from Libby
• Location of Lyra’s bench in the Botanic Garden at Magdalen
• A sweater I liked at Hanna Andersson
• Exeter Cathedral’s new treasure room
• A Wikipedia page for the show Inside No. 9
• The advice song from the Hunger Games from Wiress on priorities: “First avoid the slaughter / Get weapons, look for water / Find food and where to sleep / Fire and friends can keep.”
• A page about the now defunct Bowcraft Amusement Park

Micro-Joys

• Seasalt (my other favourite British clothing brand) is opening stores in the US in same-named cities as where they have stores in the UK. There is a Seasalt in Shrewsbury UK, and there is now a Seasalt in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. We were nearby, so we drove over and I fell in love with the first skirt I tried on. I felt so good in it, and I can’t wait to wear it this winter.
• There is a black cat with a white foot who prowls around the neighbourhood and loves to sit in our bushes. One night, we came home, and there was a fluffy grey cat sitting upright on our top step, outside the front door. While we always expect to see the black cat, this was a cat we had never seen before, waiting for us. It stared at us as we watched it from the car. Finally, we opened our car doors and started up the steps, and IT VANISHED. It didn’t jump off the steps and run away. It literally vanished. We think it was a ghost cat.
• The apartment building I lived in during graduate school changed its name and quintupled the rent after a refurbishment. But it was driving me bonkers because I couldn’t remember the old name. I ended up having to message Serenity because I knew she would remember the name. So forgetting something meant I got to catch up with an old friend.

Mood

• Trying to keep things in perspective and take a step back when I notice that I’m not.

What about you? Let me know what you’re eating, seeing, listening to, googling, feeling this month.