Since I’ve always admired your taste and if you’re up to it, I’d love to hear what you’ve loved or been obsessed with watching/reading/listening to lately!

Hope you’re doing well!

Hi, dearest!! I'm always happy to chat about media (#mymedia) — other than heavy hitters like Heated Rivalry and The Pitt and Hacks and Project Hail Mary, here are some things that I've enjoyed lately:

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (TV show; mockumentary sitcom about a former football player and his family but it features essentially no football)

Dolls of Our Lives (podcast; two historians recap the American Girls series)

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian (book [specifically, the audiobook was not for me]; m/m romance between very different acting costars)

St. Denis Medical (TV show; sitcom set in a hospital, by the same creators as Superstore)

Suffs soundtrack (musical [some of the songs are less good lol]; focuses on the history of the women's suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th amendment)

No Matter What by Cara Bastone (book; romance between a m/f married couple who experienced trauma together and need to learn how to come back to each other in the aftermath)

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (movie; comedy about two middle aged best friends going on vacation and also there's an evil plot going on?? My whole family watched this together Saturday night before my brother's engagement party and we all liked it)

Man on the Inside (comedy; Mike Schur + Ted Danson teamup about a grieving former professor who decides that his retirement hobby will be working undercover for a PI)

Reading Glasses (podcast; I've been listening to this one for years, it's just two big readers talking about books and giving tips and thoughts on reading and reading culture)

This is Part 1 of a thank you gift for the lovely @teaandatale (who made it possible for me to draw this in the first place!) ❤️

(Edited to add: The Roxxon ad on the boards in the background is not my design. I thought I was drawing a version that had appeared in the MCU, but in fact, it is a fan design that you can buy here.)

(Part 2, a related Battle of the Blades AU Steggy fic, is coming soon!) Here’s a preview of the fic:

The first time Peggy Carter met Steve Rogers, they’d both just won Olympic gold medals, and they bumped into each other - quite literally - during a raucous evening celebration at the athlete’s village.

The force of the unexpected impact very nearly caused Peggy to spill her tumbler of whiskey all over Steve’s Team USA sweater, but he caught the glass so neatly in the air that she stopped and stared at him for a full three seconds before coming back to herself and apologizing. He flushed slightly as he handed it back, then introduced himself.  “Steve Rogers. Pairs skating.”

“Peggy Carter,” she said, still blinking at him. “Ice hockey. That was an impressive catch, although I suppose in your line of work you do need rather good reflexes. It wouldn’t do to drop your partner on the ice, would it?”

Steve grinned. “No, they tend to take off marks for that. You’re British,” he added, and Peggy raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, I’m aware, actually.”

Steve flushed even redder. “I just - it’s just unusual to see a British athlete in a Team Canada hoodie. Not that it doesn’t look good on you, red really suits you. Not that - ” he cleared his throat. “I mean, I’m just surprised you play for Canada.” The poor man was, by this point, nearly as red as Peggy’s aforementioned Team Canada hoodie. “Uh, do you play for Canada? Or is that someone else’s hoodie?”

Peggy blinked at him. How was it that a man who looked like he did - and who certainly seemed to be attracted to her - appeared to have absolutely no idea how to talk to a woman? It wasn’t that he seemed unnerved, as some men were, by the discovery that she almost certainly had a far better slapshot than he did. No, he just - he was somehow actually just that awkward.

You deserve to hear those three words, but the truth is, I'll never be able to say them to you, he’d said, and Chloe wants to groan. In all honesty, he caught her by surprise then, but she also should’ve done something sooner. Like sat him down and put a mirror in front of him maybe.

She looks down on her phone, her ride will be here in less than 10 minutes. She turns her head to the drawing of Trixie and Lucifer hanging on her fridge. “Words aren’t love, Lucifer,” Chloe tells it, annoyed with herself for wanting to hear them. However human it may be. “Taking care of my daughter is love. Jumping in front of an ax to protect me even when you know it could kill you is love.” She considers it for a moment. “Also stupid, and I don’t want you to try and sacrifice yourself for me ever again.”

Set between 5.09 and 5.10. Chloe gets some answers.

Hi! Thank you for asking!

JARVIS POV is the one I was originally going to write for Steggy Week 2020: Outsider POV. Jarvis notices that something is up because Peggy is all of a sudden humming and smiling a lot. He later finds out exactly who is responsible, and then we get to see his thoughts on Steve and Peggy’s relationship as he watches them go through their reunion, their wedding, and then has to witness them going through something awful.

I realized that to make the plot actually work, it couldn’t all be from Jarvis’ POV so I had to put it on the back burner so I could write something else, and then I just never ended up finishing it (even though it’s almost 6K words long yikes). 

Here’s a little snippet:

"What do you mean Peggy’s secretly seeing someone?” Ana asked later that night, finally looking up from her book.

“The evidence points that way,” Edwin continued, almost exasperated now. “I have only seen Director Carter smile that certain smile once before, when we spoke about Captain Rogers and how he valued her.”

“Are you sure you didn’t misinterpret it, sweetheart?”

“But she was also humming Ana. Humming!”

“God forbid she dare enjoy a good song,” she gasped, clutching her hand to her chest. “Honestly Edwin I thought I was the dramatic one in our relationship.”

He frowned.

“I know what I saw,” he defended. “Director Carter is in love.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @teaandatale! Yes, your birthday was in August, what can I say speed is my specialty 🤣! 

Anyway... this also turned into a fix it of sorts too *sigh*! 

So here you are Steggy as ice dancers! I believe you have a couple of fics this could fit into! 

Don’t believe for a second I knew what I was doing with Peggy’s outfit. 

as if Steggy AU wasn’t my absolute first thought.

Thanks for sending me these :) Honestly, it was fun, but also quite hard to answer them. A good type of self-reflecting challenge.

reflect: what are 3 things you have accomplished this year that you are proud of?I got involved in a national mental health project, though I'm not that proud of the fact it means I have to interact more with Doctor Dick. Also, a small thing, but I managed to keep up with my personal planner. Previous years I usually abandoned it after few weeks, but this year I regularly filled and used it.

Last, but the biggest accomplishment - though not dependent on personal skills - is getting an apartment! Yes, after years of searching and being frustrated, I got an apartment.

aspire: what are 3 things you want to achieve next year?

I hope to present my own report at a conference. It's been a few years since I've done that.

Exercise more regularly than I have this year.

Travel more. Short, weekend trips, simple sightseeing.

venture: name 3 new things you tried this year.

I've successfully attempted making my very first cherry cordial.

Yoga. To be honest, I only went twice, so I don't have an opinion on it yet.

Salt cave therapy. Which is absolutely amazing! I need to make it a regular once-a-month thing next year.

Ugh Trader Joes and buying an abundance of snacks is a mood

I don’t do a lot of TJ shopping (cause their produce is very short lived and their frozen foods are usually super sodium heavy) but my god the season snacks THE SEASONAL SNACKS.