The Friday Five, 12/6/24: 5 things I've been up to this week

Welcome to December, aka snow already, it seems. I had a busy week, the weekend isn't super busy but I'm looking forward to a game night tonight with some friends.

HelloFresh ravioli with Panko and garlic cream sauce
HelloFresh ravioli with Panko, zucchini, and garlic cream sauce

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Thanksgiving in Indiana. On Friday, my husband and I drove the five hours-ish (four hours with no stops, we usually stop for lunch at Culver's and one other time to use the restroom) to Indiana to see his parents and sister. On Saturday, we had a Thanksgiving meal with them, and we left on Sunday, so it was a quick trip, but we'll be back in a few weeks for Christmas. 
  2. Cooking. I had HelloFresh this week and we made a lackluster meatloaf meal (not pictures), some very tasty sweet and spicy cashew pork tacos, and the ravioli pictured above, with Panko and cream sauce, which was also super delicious but not super filling (we each got about five ravioli each).
  3. Seeing movies. I watched Sweethearts on Max and would give it 4/5; it was super cute, and the ending was unexpected. By contrast, I turned on Nutcrackers, the new Ben Stiller movie on Hulu, and only watched like 15 minutes of it ... I love his movies, usually, but I didn't really like this one. I also rewatched the original Moana on Wednesday in preparation for Moana 2, which I saw on Wed. night in EMAX. The original is definitely better, with better/catchier songs, but the new one is also very cute and worth seeing. I heard that the new one was originally supposed to be a TV show on Disney+, though. Apparently a third Moana is also in the works. 
  4. Receiving work packages. I'm very fortunate to receive a lot of snacks, bakery items, and candy in the mail, due to my job as a snack/bakery and candy editor, and this week had some cute stuff. Paris Baguette sent me a holiday-themed package including a gift card, a very cute baguette keychain (see below), a small coffeemaker and coffee, chocolate bars, a nutcracker, and an ornament with a miniature of one of their cakes on it. I don't drink coffee so I may regift that or my husband may use it (they sent whole beans!). 
  5. Watching TV. The Ultimatum is back on Netflix, for a third season, so I bingewatched all five episodes yesterday and the day before. The remaining episodes will air next week and the week after that. Abbott Elementary (ABC/Hulu) actually has TWO new episodes this week, which was great (and then nothing until 2025), and Shrinking (AppleTV) had a new one up this week also. I also started watching Before, the new Billy Crystal show on AppleTV, and it's super creepy—it reminds me of Servant a bit, weirdly, which was also on AppleTV—but so far I'm liking it; I binged the seven episodes that were out, and now I have to wait patiently while they dole them out week by week, lol. My husband and I have been watching Silo (AppleTV) together and also How I Met Your Mother—a rewatch for both of us, but we've never watched it together. And my Friday shows that hopefully are new today include Matlock and Elsbeth (both on CBS/Paramount+), The Sex Lives of College Girls (Max), Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage (the Young Sheldon spinoff, on CBS/Paramount+), and Before.
baguette keychain from Paris Baguette
Super cute keychain from Paris Baguette

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