#274: Themed Thanksgiving, Pasta Christmas & Other Traditions

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Emma:

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You're listening to The Beautiful Mess Podcast, your cozy comfort listen. This week we are

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talking all about holiday traditions, things we do for Christmas, things we do for Thanksgiving,

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anything cozy, interesting or quirky. That's what we're talking about this week. And at the end of

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the episode, we'll also have a book report.

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Elsie:

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Okay. So basically we wanted to do an episode where we could talk about our themed

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Thanksgiving, our pasta, Christmas Eve wine and Dr. Pepper, and getting matching tattoos for

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Christmas. So this is a chaos zone. This is just one of those weeks where Elsie got what she

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wanted.

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Emma:

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We were like, what do we feel like talking about? Yeah. Is there a way we could theme all that

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together? It's like loosely Sure. Let's why not?

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Elsie:

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Yes, you sure can. With the golden thread of, it's something I'm interested in, right?

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Emma:

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Pretty much. Yes. No, I like it's, I mean, it's holiday season. We got to talk about holidays, not

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talking about holidays most of the time. Then we're missing it.

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Elsie:

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Yeah. If we have time, we can talk about movies too. Okay. Yeah. It's the most wonderful time of

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the year. I love this time of year, just as soon as there's a twinkling Christmas tree in my living

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room that is the happiest that I ever am until the day it has to go back into the basement.

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Emma:

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Yeah. It's a good feeling. I feel like if you're a little on the sad side, first prescription that should

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be written, get out the Christmas Street with the lights, try that first and see what you think.

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Because it helps. It helps because it's just magical. It's just magical. It's just vibey.

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Elsie:

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It's true. One year, it was the year 2020, you might remember it. I bought a Christmas tree in

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March, so you never know. Know what It might cure. You can try it. Okay. But before we get into

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Christmas, let's talk about our themed Thanksgiving. This has been the controversy of a lifetime.

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Emma:

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Oh my God.

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Elsie:

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But I support it. And so talk about the origin of why we decided to start doing theme

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Thanksgiving, because I think a lot of people will relate to this.

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Emma:

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So I don't even know how many years it's been now, but essentially here's what happens for

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both of us. Our parents live in town and our in-laws also live in town. This is wonderful news in

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that we get to see our family all the time, and I love it. I don't ever want to move because of that.

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I love it. But for Thanksgiving and holidays generally, I suppose, but Thanksgiving in particular, it

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means that there's two big meals kind of back to back. Most of the time it's literally one day and

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then the next day usually. So I tend to do a lot of cooking too for these meals because I love

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cooking. I legitimately do enjoy it, which is better than anyone. I dunno about that. But especially

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since I had kids, it's just kind of a lot. And I don't have a lot of time to do it except for when

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they're asleep and it's just sort of tricky as far as when do you that, and for me as a blogger, I've

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cooked the same dishes. So American Thanksgiving kind of has a lot of the same dishes you

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think about. It's a lot of casserole. How many times would you say you've made your mac and

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cheese casserole or stuffing? Yeah, stuffing green bean casserole, definitely more than 10

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times. Definitely. There was one year, I think I made it, I want to say four or five times within a

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month. It's just sort of how it goes. And I love those dishes and they have a special place in my

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heart, but I also get tired of cooking them. I just find it a little bit boring. And for me, in this

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season of life, I don't have a lot of time to cook. And so when I do, I want to enjoy it because it's

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kind of like the hobby that I have. So I'm like, I want to make this a little more fun for me and I

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want it to feel like enjoyable work and not just work. So how can I accomplish that? This is my

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holiday too. It's not just a holiday for everybody else but me. I'm not just the hired help here, I'm

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a part of it. So Elsie and I were talking about this and we were like, what if for our family, we did

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some kind of themed Thanksgiving. So that way the food is different. So I get to cook something

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different, we get to eat something different. And then for our in-law meal, we do the more

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traditional thing. Everybody likes that too.

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Elsie:

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And in both of those situations, we have no vote in that kind of, not really. Yeah. You know what

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I mean? But in our own Thanksgiving, we're basically the ones doing it along with our mom. We

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do the whole thing. So we have all the boats. And I dunno, I also think there's something to the

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fact that Emma was wearing herself out, making the same casserole over and over is really sad.

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I feel like they weren't, there was a Thanksgiving too where I felt like everything I made was kind

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of bad. Yeah. Well, the year you were pregnant, I know the year she was pregnant, she had

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these smell aversions that were really extreme.

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Emma:

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I was gagging a full holiday season because I was like, everything smelled awful to me. If I have

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to cut garlic one more time, I'm going to die it. It's bad because anyone who's been pregnant

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knows sometimes you just cannot smell. You just feel sick the whole time. Anyway. I just feel like

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in a way, my food just isn't very good when my heart's not in it.

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Elsie:

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Yeah, well and okay, that's what I thought. I was just like, okay, well let's problem solve because

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why would you make the same thing twice if you hate doing that when we could make

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something crazy and fun? So we decided to do crazy Thanksgiving, and some of our family

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members didn't care, which was great. I would say most of them were, people didn't care. Most

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people were like, I'm going to show up. I'm going to eat whatever's there. I'm not going to

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contribute anything. I don't really care, which is the right way to, and then one particular family

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member anonymous who we cannot and won't mention strongly disagrees with themed

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Thanksgiving and will no longer come Thanksgiving. Well, yeah, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's

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fine. Overdramatizing it a little bit for the plot. For the plot does make a better story this way.

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Anyway, last year we did Greek Thanksgiving, which I even thought Mediterranean was kind of

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weird, but I think our mom picked that one. And I was like, okay, I think I picked it. Whatever.

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That sounds cool. And then this year, this one I kind of picked, I'm so excited. We're doing Ralph

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Lauren Polo Bar Thanksgiving, but it's going to be like the Pinterest Ralph Lauren with the big

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silver trays of french fries and chicken nuggets with cavier and all of that kind of Pinterest fancy.

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I think it'll be very fun. Yeah. Basically we're just thrifting a ton of silver and trying to, yeah, I got

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more the other day. Okay, good. And that is very fun. And then I might do a martini or

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something. I don't know, whatever. I actually think the food is going to be kind of more traditional

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this year. In some ways we might do, it's very American feeling that steak or that steak that's like

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a pie, that thing or something like that.

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Emma:

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It's Ina Garden Thanksgiving. That's what we're going for here. Yeah.

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Elsie:

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So we're really excited about that.

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Emma:

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But on the list, we want to do Indian. We want to do definitely a dim sum. Dim sum, yep. And I

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would like to do just a Chinese, but not dim sum necessarily. Just Chinese.

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Elsie:

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That would be fun because you want to do the duck.

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Emma:

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The duck would be fun. Also, I just like Chinese food. I also just really cooking from different

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cultures. I feel like I learn a lot. I like learning new things. When I cook, I enjoy that. So I want

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you to make me buy spices that I have never used before. I like that. To me, that's good. For

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some people, they hate that. They don't want that at all. And I understand, but I'm not that way.

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To me, cooking is an outlet for learning and for trying new things. So I love doing different

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cultures that I didn't grow up in because they forced me to buy ingredients that I'm not as

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familiar with. And it's fun. I like it. So yeah. So Chinese, I'd also really like to do Mexican. I think

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that would be fun. We could maybe do tamales or I don't exactly know what would be on the

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menu.

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Elsie:

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That would be nice.

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Emma:

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But yeah, so we have a lot of things on the list, but this year it's fancy Ralph Lauren, Ina Garden

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Thanksgiving. So excited for that.

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Elsie:

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No, and yeah, it's fun. And it's like we're really not missing anything because we're still having

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traditional Thanksgiving and so are our kids and so are our husbands and whatever, you know

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what I mean? Pretty much our dad, our parents are the only ones who aren't having, and they

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don't care, which is great. They don't care. Yeah. No. But I think it's going to be so much fun.

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And the only thing I really care about for Thanksgiving is that we get together and watch a

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movie in my kitchen and cook for a few hours, which is the best part to me. And we'll do that no

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matter what we cook. So I'm just happy no matter what.

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Emma:

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And I just spending time with our family. I mean, that's really what it is. That's what a holiday is,

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is just spending time with your family. It doesn't really matter what you're eating. It should be

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something that everyone likes, but whatever. It's just about hanging out. And my kids at their

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age don't really eat anything I make anyway, so it doesn't matter. We'll be air frying. Some fish

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sticks for them, just so they eat something and we'll make them try things. We do them even on

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holidays, but I'm not going to make them clean their plate. That's really not the level we are at

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anyway.

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Elsie:

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Okay, so let's talk about pasta Christmas Eve, because I think that this started out, I put a little

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Christmas fettuccine as I think that we originally started out in homage to the movie, The

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Holiday.

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Emma:

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That's what I think is the origin too. But I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's it. But I'm also

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like, is there pasta in The Holiday?

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Elsie:

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There's two scenes, the Jewish scene, and then I think there's one in England too where she

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makes pasta too, right? Cameron Diaz makes pasta. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure they

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both have fettuccine, but maybe it's just in the big Jewish theme, but it's like whatever. It's

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amazing. So anyway, we decided to do pasta Christmas Eve. I think this is our third or fourth

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year to do it. So it's been a while. It's been going.

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Emma:

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And how we do it is I make fresh pasta that day right before we boil it and eat it. And so Elsie's

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kitchen, I don't really have the proper drying racks. I should buy them just for this one day

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making a lot. I make fresh pasta at home from time to time, not super often. It is a special thing

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to me. Not that it's that hard, but you just buy dry pasta. It's used to it. But when I make it at

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home for Trina, I don't make a whole bunch. You don't really need a whole bunch. But for pasta

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Christmas Eve, our whole family's there, so I make a lot of fresh pasta. And so it's kind of all

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over Elsie's Kitchen. It's like I set up really any contraption. I have drying racks, and it's just kind

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of all over everywhere. You don't want to clump it together before you boil it or it can stick, so

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you're kind of meant to hang it or let it kind of dry out a little bit. You can turn it into little nest

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after that. But like I said, we're making it and then cooking it pretty much right away. So pasta is

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just kind of everywhere in the kitchen as it's being made and cooked. And I think that's

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something about that chaos to me. It's very charming and fun, but it's a mess.

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Elsie:

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But it's really, really fun. It's getting the flour in your face and stuff. It's that kind of vibe. And it's

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also a thing to do. I'll say it does make a huge mess on Christmas Eve, which is a little

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annoying, but whatever. This is the problem of hosting too. It's fine now. I have little pantry

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where I can hide the dirty dishes and that'll be nice. A new experience. Yeah, I think I'm going to

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try to make ravioli this year. I really, really want to make cutesy Christmas. Oh, I love it. Ravioli. I

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feel like it'll, maybe they could be shaped like Santas a wreath or something. Stars maybe.

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Yeah, that'd be cute. I don't know. But yeah, that's my goal.

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Emma:

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I was going to make meatballs this year too.

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Elsie:

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Oh my God. Yes. I love meatballs. But yeah, Christmas Eve fettuccine. If you don't have a

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Christmas Eve tradition, just take ours. Just we're handing it to you. It's free. Make pasta. And

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we took it from Nancy Myers, so we did. It's for all of us. And I guess also we took it from the

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Jewish scene, so it's also for our Jewish friends, for everyone.

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Emma:

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There you go. Because that's Christmas. I don't know, Hanukah.

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Elsie:

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I just think it is so fun to have these little things that you save and that you do traditions. You're

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describing a tradition. Traditions are good. Do you want to hear? Our family's really weird, but

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adorable tradition. We started the year we moved to Springfield, I'm sure. Okay. So we have in

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Springfield, Missouri, we have this restaurant called Mexican Villa. It is Missouri Mexican food to

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the maximum of that statement. So I think the first year we moved in one of our book clubs, one

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of our friends said, Mexican villa is so good if you only go once a year. And I was like, my brain

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just really took that. I was like, that is an idea. And that is true. So we go once a year only in

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December, and we only go to the cute location, which is on national. And then we only sit in,

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there's a backroom with a fireplace that's really decorated for Christmas. So we only sit in that

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room. So yeah, we have this very Missouri Mexican food one time a year. I don't know

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something about it when I drive by it, I think about Christmas now, and there's something very

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joyful. So if you have this restaurant in your town that you love hate, do this with it. This is my

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recommendation.

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Emma:

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I'm like, that's actually perfect for a restaurant. You kind of love hate because yeah, you don't

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want to go too often. It does kind of highlight the hate. But if you just go once in a while, then it's

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kind of highlights the love. Yeah, you actually anticipate it. Now I am looking forward to my little

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certain tacos. Very, I will say too, for all small businesses, locally owned businesses and big

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businesses, whatever I do, so appreciate everyone who goes out of their way to decorate for

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holidays, Christmas in particular, but any holiday that you enjoy and celebrate because it just

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makes it special. And it's a lot of work to decorate your business and we love it. So thank you.

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Everyone who does it, you've putting a Christmas tree up, thank you. Or whatever it is you said,

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whatever. But I just love it. It just feels festive and it makes it exciting to go out that time of year.

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Hell yeah. Yeah. It is a lot of work. It's work. I'm about to do it in my home and I'm like, oh god,

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Oscar has kept, because we're recording this, right? The week of Halloween and Oscar all this

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week has been like, it's almost Halloween. We need to decorate. And I'm like, well, I put out that

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hot. I didn't really decorate very much this year. I said this in a previous episode and he's really

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figured it out. And I'm like, oh, well, we'll see. I think we might've missed it. Let's do Christmas

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next week, whatever. And he's just kind of like, mama, we didn't decorate. I'm like, same story,

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different house. Exact same story. I did not decorate for Halloween this year. I felt immensely

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guilty also at kids, kids to make us feel less guilty. No, my kids made me feel horrible, but at the

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end of it, I was like, this is a one-time thing. This is a one time thing, and next year I'll do it. And

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same, it was not my year. We don't have to get into it. It wasn't okay. My goal for the year, Hugo,

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not choking on something. Yeah, so far going great. We were at the library yesterday. This is

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random. Hugo kept running off as we were checking out books, and I just kept having to go grab

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him. And we got done finally in the library and goes, you're doing great, mom. Hang in there. I

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feel like anywhere I go now they're like clocking the age that Hugo's at. And everyone's like,

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hang in there. It's just a very busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. You're like, yeah, man. And that's why

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we didn't have Halloween decorations this year. I just don't know what we're going to do with

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:36.000
Thanksgiving. We're going to figure it out though. Okay. It'll be good. Next tradition, we want to

00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.000
talk about wine and Dr. Pepper.

00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:38.000
Elsie:

00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:39.000
Wine and Dr. Pepper. So okay, when, this is sad, but when we came to the part of life about 10

00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:40.000
years ago where our family members started to die, I decided to have a tradition for each one

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.000
that is specific to them. And it's like a food tradition. And our grandma does get extra stuff

00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:42.000
though, because she's Karina and she gets extra. So for our Uncle David, it's Lemon J for our

00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.000
grandfather. It is Boston Baked beans, the candy, no one likes them, but we grew up eating

00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:44.000
them from his candy machine at his furniture store. So it's very special for us. It's his thing. And

00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.000
for our grandmother, Karina, it is wine mixed with Dr. Pepper at about a 50 50 ratio.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:46.000
Emma:

00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.000
And so there's a real cocktail that is wine mixed with Coca-Cola. And I forget the name of this

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:48.000
cocktail, but you can order it places. It's a real thing and it tastes great. It's a Spanish cocktail.

00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:49.000
Yeah. Yeah. It's a Spanish cocktail. Our grandmother, Karina is from Venezuela. She was from

00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:50.000
Venezuela. Anyway, she updated it in her own way with Dr. Pepper, which I'll say is better.

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.000
Elsie:

00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:52.000
We did a test. Yeah, we have this old Instagram video. But yeah, we did one of those taste

00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.000
testers with blindfolds one time. And the Dr. Pepper is the clear winner and it's kind of good. So

00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.000
I'm just saying if you have a bottle of wine and if you have Dr. Pepper in your house, maybe just

00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.000
once, maybe just a small little glass. Just try it. Just see. And then you can be a part of our

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:56.000
tradition. You can give a toast to Karina or you can just drink it. It's a spritz in honor of our late

00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:57.000
grandmother. It's kind of a spritz. Let's call it that. Karina Spritz. Okay. So yeah, last but not

00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.000
least, I wanted to mention, I think it's been a few years since I mentioned the book, the Power of

00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.000
Moments, and we haven't talked as much about, I feel like in our early podcast, I was still only

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.000
reading self-help books. So it was always a self-help book. And now it's like we're talking about

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.000
novels all the time. But the Power of Moments is still to this day, one of the best, most helpful

00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:02.000
self-help books I've ever read. And one of the main things that I read from it or took from it is

00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.000
that you always remember your first time. So if you go to the same for a while, Jeremy and I

00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:04.000
were going to Palm Springs every year for our vacation and they start to blend together. And

00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.000
that is a normal thing that can happen. And actually this is a case for crazy Thanksgiving. It kind

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:06.000
of is. I'm making a case for crazy Thanksgiving. So if you instead go to a new place, a new city

00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.000
for your vacation every year, scientifically, you and your family will remember it more. And that

00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:08.000
goes for big things like vacations. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having traditions.

00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.000
We do the same thing over and over, obviously. We just done a whole episode about that. We

00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:10.000
love that too. We love traditions, but try within it to do something new. So this year is going to be

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.000
our matching tattoos. Christmas. We've already planned it. We need to book it though. Yes. We

00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.000
need to book it with one of our family members. We are going to all get a matching tattoo that is

00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.000
personal, very unhinged, very no one. It's an inside joke. And it's an inside joke tattoo.

00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:14.000
Emma:

00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.000
It's not for you.

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.000
Elsie:

00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.000
Yeah, it's not for anyone but us. And it is a story in honor of our dad. So it is definitely a, we

00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.000
usually don't get meaningful tattoos, but this one is really meaningful, which is different for us.

00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.000
Emma:

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.000
My tattoos both mean something. And also, I don't know that sometimes they change, however.

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:21.000
Elsie:

00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:22.000
Okay, I'll speak for myself. I usually don't get meaningful tattoos. But yeah, this one I think will

00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.000
be kind of special. So we're going to do that. And it'll always be the matching tattoo Christmas

00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:24.000
after that. So yeah, that's the last thing I wanted to mention is just if you have a chance to just

00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:25.000
add one new weird thing to your Christmas, that might be the thing that your family, your kids,

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:26.000
your siblings, your parents, remember. And I mean, it's really special.

00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.000
Emma:

00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.000
Yeah, and I think too, and I guess I'm speaking a little bit to parents right now as a parent, I think

00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.000
sometimes you can feel, I feel a little overwhelmed at trying to make everything special. I want

00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:30.000
my kids to have a special childhood, and it goes by and you just think like, oh, it's so

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.000
overwhelming and I'm so tired and I have so much to do and now I have to do. But it's just focus

00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:32.000
on a few small things and just adding else, you said maybe one novel special moment. That's

00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:33.000
sort of the idea. They're not going to remember entire holiday seasons. They're going to

00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:34.000
remember one or two things that were meaningful to them. In some sense, you can't even really

00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.000
control that as a parent. You can't. So I'll also say, make it a good moment for you so that you

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:36.000
enjoy their childhood too, because that's also important. And they will remember that as well.

00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.000
And we're all in this together. The holidays are a lot, and they're also wonderful. It has both

00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:38.000
sides of it. And if you're feeling either of those, that is normal. But we love traditions, we love

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.000
new things, and we love getting amped for this time of year. So hopefully we're getting you

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:40.000
amped a little bit. All right. Should we do a book report?

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.000
Elsie:

00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:42.000
We should. I have a good one. Ooh. Okay. So the book I want to share this week is called

00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.000
Audition by Katie. So this is awful. Was so weird. So I think it was a booker shortlist also always

00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:44.000
with the book of shortlist. Yeah, it was another one that my friend said you have to read. So I

00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.000
dunno, she just wanted me to read it to see. She said that this is a book that is really cool to, but

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:46.000
also you can have strong feelings and a lot of people don't like it. And I love that. That's a thing

00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:47.000
that attracts me to books.

00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:48.000
Yeah. You like polarizing books? Yes. I like polarizing books. Actually. I've been fantasizing

00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:49.000
about, I want to make at some point, some kind of a blog newsletter. I don't know, whatever

00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:50.000
about books that I read because of their negative reviews, because sometimes a negative

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.000
review can attract me to a book more than a positive one. You know what I mean? Your little

00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:52.000
devil's advocate comes out inside of you. Interesting. So anyway, so this book was about, it

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.000
starts off with a woman who it seems like she's maybe cheating on her husband. It seems like

00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.000
her husband's maybe cheating on her. She's in midlife. It kind of seems like that's what it's going

00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:55.000
to be. And then this young man that she's having lunch with ends up asking if, saying that

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:56.000
maybe she's his mother. And then it turns out she's not. And so we do have the book like that.

00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:57.000
She's in this play. She's been an actor her whole life. There's a lot of stuff about her career. The

00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.000
writing is very clinical and I found it very fun to read. It's really strong, unique writing. And that

00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.000
was probably my favorite thing about the book, just the whole, I don't know, it's just I've never

00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:00.000
read another book that sounded quite like it was a very unique voice. And then halfway through

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.000
the book, it changes the part two and it just is a different story. And the man who kind of asked if

00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:02.000
she was his mother is her son literally, and he's moving back in with them and then the whole

00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:03.000
rest of the book is like that, and she's kind of feuding with his girlfriend and it has kind of a

00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000
messy ending. So it was like, I don't know, I'm probably not doing it justice, but I guess it's my

00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.000
book report. It's my book report to Crash and Fail if I want to. But anyway, what I took away from

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.000
it, I was like, I loved the writing. I thought it was fun to read. I don't get it. I did sense though. I

00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.000
did know that it wasn't going to explain itself. Whenever I read the reviews later, it seemed like a

00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:08.000
lot of people were expecting it to explain itself, and I wasn't expecting that. So I was not

00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.000
disappointed. I didn't expect it to tie up at all. I knew, I was like, this is a concept. And it kind of

00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:10.000
gave a little bit of like, is it you and me and everyone we know. You know that, what was that

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:11.000
movie that was about the different timelines?

00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:12.000
Emma:

00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:13.000
Everything Everywhere, All at Once?

00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:14.000
Elsie:

00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:15.000
Yeah. Okay. It was kind of giving everything everywhere all at once. I perceived it as these are

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:16.000
just two different realities and that's what it is. But I don't know. I tried to kind of look it up and

00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:17.000
understand it, and I like that kind of thing. I like TV shows where you can't really understand it

00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:18.000
without the analysis. I think that's fun. So you loved Lost? I didn't go on that journey. I want to

00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:19.000
know about it, but I feel like it's a moment past kind of thing. It's more of a soap opera version of

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:20.000
what you're saying in some ways. Yeah. Anyway, so anyway, I was like, okay, maybe I can read

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:21.000
some analysis and understand what this was, and then I kind of couldn't. So I was like, okay, I

00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:22.000
get why people wouldn't like that, but at the same time it's like was it a fun read or not? Yes, it

00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:23.000
was. So that's my book report. It was fun. I think it was meant to be confusing.

00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:24.000
Emma:

00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.000
Okay, well, trying to think of a weird segue.

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:26.000
Elsie:

00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:27.000
Segue into yours. No, tell me your book.

00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:28.000
Emma:

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:29.000
So am reading the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and I think I might be the only person on

00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:30.000
the planet who hadn't read it yet. So I'm sure many of our listeners have already read this. It's

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.000
been out for I don't think quite 10 years. I want to say it came out in 2017 and it has just been

00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:32.000
sitting, I got it out of a little free library while I was on a walk one day just in my neighborhood. I

00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.000
have one outside of my house, but my neighborhood has a number of them. And I saw it and I

00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:34.000
was like, oh, I definitely want to read that. So then I just carried it the rest of my walk and it's

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:35.000
been sitting on my shelf ever since. I feel like this was in the summer. Amazing. And I've just

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:36.000
been waiting to read it, reading other things. So the other day I'd finished a book and I was like,

00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:37.000
time to walk into my little room with the books. Let's see what's on the shelf. And I was like, oh,

00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:38.000
Evelyn Hugo, I haven't read this yet. So anyway, so I'm reading that I'm actually not quite done.

00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.000
I'm like three fourths through. I want to say I'm probably going to finish it in the next day or two

00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:40.000
at the rate that I'm going. So I've been staying up late and then really regretting that choice in

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.000
the morning.

00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:42.000
But I've been enjoying the book. But if you don't know what it's about, Evelyn Hugo is a fictional

00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:43.000
character, probably based on many old timey Hollywood celebrities. Little bit Elizabeth Taylor.

00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:44.000
Yeah, it seems it vibes Elizabeth Taylor's mixed with other people. So it's about old Hollywood,

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:45.000
someone who came to fame in the fifties and sixties, and she has seven husbands and the book

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.000
is told she's telling a biographer her life story. So that's the structure of the book is she's telling

00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:47.000
her life story. So you sort of feel like you're going through her life chronologically, but then

00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:48.000
there's chapters where the biographer is dealing with her editor or different things like that. The

00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:49.000
book also throughout has these little excerpts from tabloids, old timey tabloids or magazines,

00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.000
and it literally makes it look like a page that was ripped out and then scanned, and it's really fun.

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.000
I really like that detail. I think it's really fun when books do that if they're like, here's a newspaper

00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:52.000
article. And even if they don't do the visual that this book is doing, I just think it's really fun. It

00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.000
also just as a reader, it almost kind of gives you these little breathing breaks and it's just

00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:54.000
enjoyable. So anyway, so that's it. It's kind of like fake celebrity gossip. And I like reading about

00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.000
celebrities probably slightly below the average. So I think I wasn't necessarily attracted to this

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:56.000
book because of the premise. I was attracted to this book because this author is very famous

00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.000
and seems to write about lots of different subjects that I'm kind of interested in. And I know she's

00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:58.000
a great writer and the writing is excellent.

00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.000
And it's also definitely very, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so commercial, but it is. It's very

00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:00.000
much a page turner. It very much keeps you going. And she'll do a chapter where the

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.000
biographer is, I was feeling really close with Evelyn, but little did I know by the end of her story

00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:02.000
I'd want to kill her. And then it goes back into Evelyn's story. So it's just very page turny, very

00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.000
like, don't forget, there's going to be another reveal. Just those kinds of cliffhangers, which I

00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:04.000
think are really fun and very commercial. And this author does such a nice job of beautiful

00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.000
writing mixed with a commercial page, turning appeal, and it's a fun story. It feels like a story

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.000
that, but it also has lots of things you don't expect and yeah, really loving it. Five stars.

00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:07.000
Everyone's already read this, I'm sure, so you're like, yeah, no, but I'm like, it's great. I love it.

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:08.000
Everyone here goes so good. If you guys heard of it, it's been out for 10 years. That's where I'm

00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.000
at.

00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:10.000
Elsie:

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.000
I feel like that's the nature of a weekly book report though, is we're just going to say what we're

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:12.000
reading for real, and it's not perfectly curated. I love that. I like reading a banger. I'm actually

00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.000
about to start reading the Da Vinci Code. Oh yeah. It's so fun to read an old banger that no one

00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:14.000
in the world, actually, I'm not saying Evelyn, who goes that old of a banger, but you know what I

00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.000
mean. It's been out. It's fun to read one where people have kind of moved on, but then you're

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:16.000
just getting into the middle. Because the first time I read, or the first of reading, I read the Time

00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:17.000
Traveler's Wife and I couldn't find anyone to talk to me about it.

00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:18.000
Emma:

00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.000
If I bring this up, people are like, yeah, but have you read Atmosphere? And I'm like, whoa,

00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:20.000
whoa, whoa. That just came out. I was just reading Hugo just now.

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.000
Elsie:

00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:22.000
I love Evelyn Hugo. I think it's one of the most satisfying endings. I absolutely love it. And I am

00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.000
pretty sure it's going to be a movie or a TV series. I'm pretty sure it's really going to happen. And

00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.000
I just would. I can't wait. I can't wait. But yeah, my dream cast for it is Selena Gomez.

00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:25.000
Emma:

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:26.000
Oh, she would be lovely.

00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:27.000
Elsie:

00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:28.000
Wouldn't she be perfect?

00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:29.000
Emma:

00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:30.000
She would be perfect.

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.000
Elsie:

00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:32.000
Ah, she would be so perfect. And she can be blonde. She's been blonde before anyway.

00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:33.000
Emma:

00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:34.000
They just have to figure out how to do her as an old lady because obviously she's like, that's

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:35.000
Hollywood. You can see. They'll figure it out. They'll figure it out.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:36.000
Elsie:

00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.000
Cool. Okay. Well, amazing. I'm excited for you to finish it. Such a good book.

00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:38.000
Emma:

00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.000
I'll text you. I think I text you when I finished Secret History.

00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:40.000
Elsie:

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:41.000
Hell yeah.

00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:42.000
Emma:

00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:43.000
I was like it out himself. I was not into it. So I think I'll have a different review this time.

00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.000
Elsie:

00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:45.000
Not the point in the book.

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:46.000
Emma:

00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.000
No.

00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:48.000
Elsie:

00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.000
Hey Nova, what do you have for us this week?

00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:50.000
Nova:

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:51.000
A joke.

00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:52.000
Elsie:

00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.000
Another joke? Okay, I'm excited. Let's do it.

00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:54.000
Nova:

00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:55.000
What did the tree make sure to wear at his pool party?

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.000
Elsie:

00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:57.000
What did the tree wear to his pool party? I don't know.

00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:58.000
Nova:

00:06:58.000 --> 00:06:59.000
His swimming trunks.

00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:00.000
Elsie:

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:01.000
Amazing. I love it. Good joke.

00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:02.000
Nova:

00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:03.000
Happy week.

00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:04.000
Elsie:

00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.000
Thank you so much for listening. We love answering your questions and basing new episodes

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:06.000
off of your requests. So email us anytime at podcast@abeautifulmess.com and we will be back

00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:07.000
next week.