October was a busy (and fun) month! For my husband’s birthday we flew to the JFK airport and stayed at the TWA Hotel for the weekend. For an airplane nerd, he was in heaven! It’s a super fun hotel, and if you find yourself in New York or flying through JFK, I highly recommend checking it out for a swinging 60’s vibe that you can’t find anywhere else! A long flight and a day at the pool means reading time for me. Upon return home I was back into work and campaign activities (have you voted yet?!) but found some time to sneak in a bit of pop culture…

Reading

I really enjoy Annabel Monaghan’s romcom books – and had somehow missed Summer Romance. It was a cute, quick read and only gave me some minor eldest daughter PTSD. I had been hearing great things about Under Story so was excited when it came up at the library just in time for my flight. It took me a couple of weeks to get through, but I spent a lot of time thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it, and have been thinking about it since I finished it.

I have a bunch of audiobooks that are coming up right now, but was thrilled with Taylor Tomlinson’s book Actually, Nevermind came available. It has been very funny, and sweet. She also grew up as an eldest daughter in an evangelical household so there’s a LOT of stories that remind me of my own childhood/young adult years.

Listening

I started listening to Kara Swisher’s podcast On With Kara Swisher so I could catch her High Stakes pod with Hillary Clinton. I’ve found myself listening to a lot more of the show than I expected, and was thrilled to find my old pal Kirsten Grind, show up in an episode this week about Elon Musk!

Amy Poehler had some great episodes this month, but her fan girling over Paul McCartney and then Noah Wyle was REALLY fabulous. And Marcello Hernandez can do no wrong in my book. I love that guy.

Watching

Like everyone else it seems, I LOVED and devoured the new season of Ted Lasso. It was a fantastic season with the new team, and setup another season well (and we really need that renewal announcement to happen still…) I loved Lady Richmond and the season finale surprises were fantastic.

Luckily, one of my other favorite shows returned shortly after, The Diplomat is back and does not have nearly enough episodes to be satisfying! But it was a great show and I loved being back in this version of US foreign relations. I think I could watch these characters do just about anything, they are so fun to watch!

While on the flight to JFK I discovered Running Point was on demand, so I ended up doing a rewatch, and this show is so funny, and sweet, and if you somehow missed it, I highly recommend a binge of the first two seasons! We’ve really been enjoying The Detour with David Chang. It’s a weekend road trip with a friend from one point to another (Dallas to Houston for example) with some celebrity/friend where they just go off the beaten path and try interesting food. It’s filling that Bourdain hole in my heart that we all have.

I am really not enjoying the new season of SNL. The hosts have been varying levels of meh to WTF, and while I usually do a rewatch of the episodes to catch a joke, I haven’t had any interest yet this season. However, SNL UK is crushing it! The latest episode with Cynthia Erivo was fabulous, and their Weekend Update anchors are hilarious and raunchy and exactly what we’re missing.

November has some good pop culture in store, and I am hoping that after the election I can maybe go live in a movie theater to see You Can See Everything, Wicker, and Wildwood. I am also SUPER excited for Dig to come out next month! What pop culture have you been enjoying? What are you excited for?

Reading

With family visiting and some travel this month, I read two great books by authors I really like. I really loved The Parisian Heist. I read Everyone is Lying to You last year by the author and still think about it. Her latest book is so fun and a story I didn’t know anything about – Vincent Van Gogh’s sister in law took over his art collection when he died and then Theo (his brother) died. The book is about what it took to make Vincent the famous artist he is today. It was a VERY fun book if you like Paris and/or art history (and a fun heist!)

One of my favorite authors, Emily St. John Mandel’s latest book Exit Party came out the week I headed to the desert, and it was the perfect book to pick up for my trip. I love that all of her stories are tangentially linked (similar to Taylor Jenkins Reid books). Her latest is from the not too distant future in a post-war divided United States. It made me sad for what’s going on in our country and how close we are to what she envisions, but hopeful for good people doing the work.

Listening

Besides a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago it’s been a mixed bag of podcasts this month. I really enjoyed the Seth Meyers hiatus podcast episodes for news and pop culture. I also am really enjoying the NYT Book Review podcast and have gotten a ton of great recommendations from it. I didn’t love the De Niro episode of Good Hang but I did love the Sandra Bullock and Ashley Padilla eps!

Watching

I mentioned Colin From Accounts last month and the final season premiered at the beginning of September and it wrapped up the series perfectly. This was a lovely Aussie series I think you’d enjoy if you like my other recs. Of course we are loving this season of Ted Lasso and I am going to be sad when it’s gone…

We know I love a few of the Real Housewives and September has been a plethora of Housewives drama for me. Ultimate Girls Trip is over the top ridiculous and I’m here for it. I’m also thrilled to have both New York and Salt Lake City (my favorite!) back on my TV to make me feel better about oh so many life choices…Not as good as I feel after watching the horror show that is The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Taylor didn’t need to be the Bachelorette, she needs therapy.

What else have you been enjoying? What are you looking forward to in October? I can’t wait for the new season of The Diplomat, and I can’t wait to read Peck & Peck from Bonnie Garmus who wrote one of my all time favorite books – Lessons in Chemistry!