My current faves for this installment of First Friday Favourites for August 2024, inspired by one of my old planners by Pipsticks & Workman.
WATCHING:
Movie:
We watched three movies together as a family in the span of three days last week, after a little dry spell of not doing family movie night. Two of them – The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day – were oldies and maybe not the most appropriate for our younger two, but the third one was Matt’s choice for his birthday and was loved by all of us. If you have Disney+ and are in the mood for a feel good movie, Young Woman and the Sea is excellent and worth the two plus hours! Even though I am not a fan of swimming, I love watching others swim and triumph in and out of the water!
Show:
After hearing a lot of buzz about My Lady Jane, a new series on Amazon, Matt and I finally decided to see if it was a worthy watch. Usually the first ten minutes of a television pilot will give you an idea of how good a show is going to be. At least, that’s how Matt likes to approach new shows or movies. And I have to say, after the first ten minutes of My Lady Jane, I was hooked.
The writing was sharp but not too pretentious, the acting was smart and all the casting seemed really spot on! Then there are twists in the storyline that I did not expect and it made me want to keep watching to find out what happened next. If you are looking for a new action/adventure/comedy/romance show to keep your evenings occupied, I highly recommend this one!
YouTube Channels:
Alexandra Gater – another YouTuber that I have been following for the past year and a half, so she is not just a current favourite but has been a constant one. She is “an editor, stylist and home decor expert” based in Toronto and does home makeovers on her channel, mostly for renters and millenials. She is also a fellow cat lover, Taylor Swift enthusiast and introduced me to the wonderful world that is HomeSense.
I sort of wish that I had started watching her channel sooner, when we were living in Toronto, because I might have had the nerve to apply for one of her callouts. But probably not, as you are supposed to be comfortable on camera… and I am not. The girls and I would look forward to watching her new “episodes” on Saturday mornings and Blythe would often ask if we could watch more of her older videos right after. I must admit that her handyman Graham is a big draw for me – he’s sort of a younger, hipper version of Matt (tee hee) – but it’s also the whole vibe of the videos and the chemistry between all the members that makes for an easy, enjoyable watch.
Alexandra, herself, is always fun to watch and I discovered so many great home decor resources from her videos. Her decorating style and tastes are somewhat similar to my own and I even bought her book because I admire all that she’s accomplished so far.
READING:
I only saw the cover of It’s cool to be quiet when I was staging with In Fine Order recently, so have no idea about its contents. But I imagine it is filled with various quotes about being introverted and well designed pages with cute illustrations. It is currently out of stock online but I hope to be able to source it somehow.
One book I started reading but have yet to finish is Value Creation Kid: The Healthy Struggles Your Children Need to Succeed by Scott Donnell and Lee Benson. I had seen Scott Donnell promoting this book on YouTube and decided to borrow it from the library.
If you are a parent, this book can help you teach your kids about money – how to earn it, save it, spend it, share it and invest it – and also how it shouldn’t be tied to your self-worth. I wish my parents had taught me more about how to manage money when I was younger, as I’m still learning about that. To finish the rest of the book, I may end up buying a copy or signing up for an Audiobook membership.
LISTENING:
Coldplay has been one of my favourite bands for years, but I had sort of stopped listening to them for a while. Lead singer Chris Martin reminds me of my hubby at times, but it’s his vocals that really stand out. I have been loving Hymn for the Weekend with Beyoncé, which was released back in 2015, but I don’t remember hearing. With two kids five and under, I don’t think I was listening to much of my own music back then. It was a lot of kids’ songs on repeat.
FOOD:
Matt has been spoiling me with many tasty home-cooked meals as he loves to add to his kitchen gadgets collection every so often. And he also loves to experiment in the kitchen, pretending he is Jeremy Allen in The Bear.
His latest purchase was a sous-vide he spied on sale at Canadian Tire one afternoon. One of the meals he made included this steak and carrots both cooked in the sous-vide, prior to being finished in a cast-iron pan. Not the tenderest cut of steak but everything was delicious together, including the purées he made.
Tonight he will be making salmon in the sous-vide, while Whitney and I will be in charge of the side dishes.
You can find my previous month’s favourites here.
Enjoy your long weekend if you’re in Canada and I’ll be back on Tuesday!
