December Favs

The one with some favorites from the month.

Hi friends!

I hope you all had a great Christmas, if you celebrated. We’ve come to the end of another month, and, well, year! I almost can’t believe it. Today’s also my wedding anniversary, though TBD on how we’ll be celebrating (we ended up canceling our dinner plans due to the rise in Covid cases here in LA).

Anyways, despite December feeling like a blur, here’s a recap of some favorites of the past month:

Fav Eats

Of the things I’ve cooked this month, bacon cheddar biscuits from the Gramercy Tavern would be my hands down favorite; the recipe is in the cookbook “Serving New York,” which I got last year as a Christmas gift (proceeds went to ROAR, which was/is supporting restaurants in New York City who have been impacted by the pandemic — more on that here). Anyways, long story short, they were delish. (And if you’re interested in the recipe, email me!)

As for other favs, I’d say the pancakes at J. Nichols Kitchen, a restaurant in Marina del Rey for Los Angeles locals. (That’s them in the photo above… and they’re maybe my favorite pancakes in all of LA??)

Fav Listen

I’ve listened to far less podcasts this month than usual, but I really enjoyed this episode of the Be There in Five podcast, with guest Caroline Moss (who is hilarious, and from the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It” podcast), talking through style and holiday gift-giving. They’re both so entertaining and sarcastic that I could probably listen to them read the phonebook (do they still publish that?) and be equally amused.

Fav Read

I can’t say for sure that this is my fav of the month, but I’m currently reading The Magic of Found Objects, which is by the author of one of my favorite books Matchmaking for Beginners. Highly recommend the latter, and the one I’m currently reading is good so far!

This is so grossly self-promotional and narcissistic to say, but my favorite thing I read this month was probably the essay I wrote for the Los Angeles Times, mainly because it was so wild to see my name in print. I am literally planning to cut it out of the newspaper I saved and frame it — that’s how excited I was/am.

Fav Watch

Earlier this month, I started watching the television series “Jane the Virgin” (it’s on Netflix), and it’s so fun! I never watched it when it was actually on TV, and assumed I would hate it, but it’s actually very cute and not at all what I was expecting. It’s a nice distraction these days.

Also………. this month wouldn’t be complete without all the Hallmark and Netflix cheesy Christmas movies. Granted I haven’t watched as many as I normally would in a normal December, but don’t worry — I didn’t give them up completely. 😉

Fav Thing Bought

For Christmas, one of the gifts I bought for my husband was a personalized 2022 calendar. It features entirely photos of our dog, and I could literally not be prouder of it. I made it with Shutterfly, and was dying to give it to him. It was super simple to make, as long as you have some time and a lot of photos.

And, while I didn’t buy this but rather someone else bought it for me as a gift, I’m obsessed with this mug of a “Red (Taylor’s version)”-era Taylor Swift with “F*ck the Patriarchy” written on the back of her coat. So good.

++++

That’s it for this month! What would be on your favorites list for the month? Big or small, you can tell me in the comments. Also, as we head into a new year, let me know (comment or email) if you like this style of posts, or what you’d like to read more about/see more of in this space. You know I write these posts because they’re fun for me, but it also matters to me that the content is resonating… so if there are certain subjects you’d like to see covered in 2022, I’m all ears.💛

Have a safe and happy New Year’s, and thank you for being here! And if you’re reading this and you aren’t subscribed, make my 2021 and subscribe here, what do you ya say?

Thanks for reading,

Joelle

P.s. If you enjoyed what you read today and want to support me + my writing, consider sharing this post with a friend, leavving a comment, or ‘Like’ it by hitting the heart button at the top. xo