Strawberry cream cheese pie, Jane the Virgin, and a propagation station

July 2024 Round-Up

Welcome to your July 2024 Bi-Monthly Round-Up!

Jessie and I just returned from our first week-long vacation together since we started dating (we celebrated our three-year anniversary right before we left). We drove to Crested Butte, Colorado, for peak wildflower season and beautiful hiking. And now that we’re back, I owe you lovely folks a round-up!

For those who are new here, every two months I put together a list of all of my favorites across a handful of categories, including what I’ve been listening to, watching, purchasing, and more (note that any affiliate links will be clearly marked with an asterisk). So let’s get into my recs for May and June of this year.

Music I’ve Been Vibing With

I’ve spent the last two months navigating moving chaos and getting our new place in order, so I’ve been a bit out of the listening loop. Here are a handful of songs that made their way onto my playlists in that time, though:

• “Risk” – Gracie Abrams

• “Burton St” – OSTON

• “Can’t Be Friends” - GRACEY

• “by now” - VÉRITÉ

• “JOYRIDE” - Kesha (please watch this drag queen absolutely slay this song)

What I’ve Been Watching

Every Friday night we’ve been tuning in to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 9 (and drooling over Plastique’s runways), but besides that, I finally convinced Jessie to watch one of my favorite shows—Jane the Virgin!

Jane is up there as one of my comfort shows that I love returning to alongside Parks and Recreation and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It is so EXTRA (on purpose since its source material is telenovelas), and I live for it. I’ll forever be #TeamRafael, delighted by Petra’s series growth, and singing to myself, “It’s another beautiful day to be Rogeliooooo!”

We also watched the second season of Perfect Match on Netflix, and it was pretty bottom of the barrel as far as painfully toxic-hetero reality TV dating shows go. I’d skip it if I were you unless you’re really hurting for TV to watch right now.

For My Book Nerds

I continue to be way behind on my 2024 reading goal (eight books behind, to be exact), and I’m not sure if I’ll catch up by year’s end. That said, I’m hoping now that we’re more settled I’ll at least be able to get back into a reading rhythm.

Something that should help with that is I finally bought a Kindle! I know, I know. I’m incredibly late to the game. But in my defense, I work on a screen all day and currently have a giant TBR of physical books, so I hadn’t previously felt the need to get one. The two things that changed my mind are (1) Jessie and I want to start doing more traveling, and a Kindle is way easier to pack than hardcovers; (2) our new place has a neighborhood pool, and I wanted something waterproof and glare-free I could take with me when I go.

So I got the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (16 GB)* (mine is the agave green color and Jessie’s is the black). We don’t have Kindle Unlimited since we also read physical books and listen to audiobooks, and we didn’t bother to pay extra to remove the lockscreen ads since we purchased cases. We both have variations of this case* because we liked that it has a hand strap (you’ll want to get a different brand if you’re lefthanded) and a stand.

On to the books!

I was accepted into the MacMillan Audio Influencer Program this year, meaning I’ve gotten to choose four free audiobooks a month from a provided list (usually books that aren’t out yet). One cool thing about the program is that it has me checking out books and authors I otherwise might not know about. Four Eids and a Funeral* by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé & Adiba Jaigirdar was a cute YA one I listened to, and Very Bad Company* by Emma Rosenblum is a good summer read if you like reading about terrible corporate people that you love to hate.

I also got lucky in that I’d already pre-ordered a copy of Casey McQuiston’s newest novel, The Pairing* (August 6 release date), and then it showed up on my list of MacMillan options this past month! I’m halfway through and being reminded at every turn that CMQ is an incredible writer, but I’ll save my full thoughts for a Queer Book Review when I’ve finished.

Lastly, I want to shout-out Gay the Pray Away*, the debut of my favorite audiobook narrator, Natalie Naudus. Natalie provided me with an ARC of the book, and I think it would be such a healing read for anyone queer who grew up evangelical and has had to disentangle themself from purity culture.

Products I Recommend

Do you know what one of the most practical things I own is? This VacLife Tire Inflator Portable Air Pump for car tires!

Buying this a few years ago has saved me from the plight of driving around looking for a working air pump at a gas station. It also makes it more likely that I’ll regularly check the air in my tires and fill them so they never get too low. I would say the only downside is that it’s pretty loud when in use, but that’s a small price to pay for the convenience IMO.

Other product recs:

• I bought a wallet and coin purse from the ElectricBubbleGum shop last year, and I get complimented on my wallet and asked where I purchased it pretty much every time I pull it out. If you need a little Y2K/Lisa Frank inspo in your life, definitely check out their liquid glitter accessories.

• I finally leveled up my plant mom game and made a spreadsheet for all my houseplants (including columns for when and how each plant was acquired, location in the house, care info, last repotting, last watering, and last fertilizing). I also bought a soil moisture meter* and this cute propagation station* for my cuttings!

• Speaking of plants, if you like to roll and smoke the green stuff on occasion, I recommend getting some of these “doob tubes” from HighTreeDesigns. They are smell-proof (can confirm), airtight, and waterproof. I have the pink and purple ones, and they are very sleek!

Miscellaneous

I realized that even though I cook and bake quite a lot, I’ve never shared any recipes in these round-ups! That seems like an oversight, so here are a few I’ve loved lately:

• Gruyere, Garlic, and Gouda Mashed Potatoes

• Instant Pot Coconut Curry Lentil Soup (I used regular potatoes instead of sweet potatoes, added chopped broccoli, and left out the kale because I didn't have any)

• A classic and decadent mac and cheese recipe I wholeheartedly recommend is this Million Dollar Mac & Cheese

• This Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie is perfect for summer (I made her graham cracker crust as well, and I added some powdered sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream part of the recipe)

That’s it for this round-up! If you have questions or want to chat about anything I included, don’t hesitate to comment (if you’re a paid subscriber) or reach out via email. You can also find all of the past round-ups you may have missed here.

Queerly yours,

Shohreh

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. If you purchase items using those links, I may be eligible for a small commission which helps support my writing and other content.

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