Coffee Grinds 10: I flooded my house and finished my book and some other stuff too

plus, book recommendations, recipes for sweet tooths, scary movies, and more

This week I’m obsessed with: 90th birthdays, family get-togethers, avocado toast, outdoor living, Saturdays in Seaport.

*Note: I guess I had a lot to say this week, so you’ll need to view this in your browser (rather than email) for the full experience)

📚 Reading:

I’m still making my way through Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen as my primary read, so this week I’m taking a page out of

Madeline Paige

’s book and recommending a few things for you.

Romance:

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan — a light, breezy romance to add to your TBR before the summer’s over.

Read if you like: A quick read that’s not that deep but full of small-town summer vibes, a guitar-playing love interest, tree houses, warm and fuzzies.

Women’s Fiction:

Tell Me I'm An Artist by Chelsea Martin — I never see this one mentioned in lists but I enjoyed it. It’s one of the first books I read when I was getting back into it and I think it captures being a creative in college well.

Read if you like: art school settings, family dynamics, coming of age.

substacks I read this week:

In L.A., Love is Essential + Part Two by

Em Gallagher

A comprehensive guide to: television shows. by

Emily Gilbert

chasin' shadows in the grocery line (ranking every song from taylor swift's folklore) by

Madeline Paige

The Big Fall Book Guide by

Book Enthusiast

having compassion for yourself as a writer by

Madeline Mills

The Best Creative Advice, a compiled list, and their origins by

Amy Mif

🫶Love

Outdoor living: Our patio is officially my favorite space. I can be completely stuck on my book and if I go out there to write, it all comes flowing out.

This sale by Reformation. Go crazy!

Honey Graham lattes: Need I say more?

Saturdays in Seaport: I don’t usually get Saturdays at home, but since we visited my gram on Friday instead of Saturday this week, I had the whole day to do whatever! So, naturally, I filled it with accidentally flooding my kitchen when all I wanted to do was clean the sink, a bit of writing, and then taking Sawyer to Seaport in his little puppy cart:

Note to self: don’t plug sink, then leave the house with the water running for twenty minutes. This took HOURS to clean up.

Have you ever seen anything cuter??

🍿Watched:

Expedition X: Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum: My dad recommended this episode based on my love of abandoned buildings + ghosties, and it definitely delivered. I now own a Spirit Box.

Laci Peterson (Netflix): You’ll never convince me Scott didn’t do it. Feel free to challenge that.

Cruel Summer (Hulu): I don’t know if this is good or not. It’s not, but it is, you know? Major Pretty Little Liars vibes.

Oddity (movie): Somehow both scary and funny?

🎧Listened:

Dial A for Aunties (14% complete—and I’m listening at 1.5x speed!!)

The Shit About Writing Team

latest includes an interview with CoCo Mellors on Blue Sisters

Me five years ago eating the best potato taco ever. Where has the time gone!?

🧁Ate:

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies: This week was my grandmother’s 90th birthday! I decided to bake a few treats for the occasion, mostly things I wanted to eat myself. One of the many desserts now living in my kitchen is these brownies. There’s a reason I don’t make them often. I can’t stop eating them.

(it doesn’t count if you simply walk by and snag a bite, right??)

Potato tacos + Mexican Slaw: Re-creating my favorite tacos in the whole world using this recipe . It’s inspired by the potato tacos from Pedro’s. We used to have a Boston location, and I miss it dearly. Paired with a simple Mexican slaw.

Lemon bars: Also for gram’s birthday. Also currently begging to be eaten.

✍️Wrote:

• To All the Friends I’ve Loved Before: roadtrips and mixtapes, John Mayer, and moments I'll never get back

• A draft of a new book review that I’m hoping to publish next week 👀

• A draft of a new To All the Friends I’ve Loved Before. This one I’ve been working on foreverrrr but it’s still not quite right.

🔭 Looking ahead:

Next week I’m PRINTING OUT MY MANUSCRIPT because, I’m calling it now—I will have FINALLY FINISHED THIS DRAFT OF MY BOOK!!!!! Ahhhh!!! We are sitting around 72k words which is about 12k down from what it was when I queried the first time (which was 20k words down from the very first draft 😆)

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT the final draft, but it IS the (hopefully) second final draft which is why I’m printing it—I want to have it in my hand to read as an actual book and mark it up accordingly. I’ve never done this before!

It may have taken a solid 3+ months longer than I anticipated and maybe these last few scenes have almost KILLED ME with all the major revisions, but we got there, didn’t we?! And yes, I will 100% be breaking out the champagne when that baby is printed! Stay tuned!

Hope you have a lovely Sunday!!