Category: currently

Current Book(s): I’m reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It’s highly mediocre: just good enough so that I want to finish and know how it ends. I’ve also been listening to an audiobook called Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky. I never would have picked it out myself, but my husband brought it home for me from the library one day simply because I lived in Kansas for 4 years. It’s actually not bad.

Current Playlist: I’ve whipped up my Christmas playlist and am loving every minute of it. I hate the Christmas music on the radio, but I can’t get enough of the music I’ve acquired over the years. Here are the albums in rotation: Andrew Peterson – Behold the Lamb of God, Eleven Eleven Band – Christmastime, Sarah McLachlan – Wintersong, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Over the Rhine – Snow Angels, Your King Has Come. Of course I’m always open to new music, so let me know if I’m missing anything essential!

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Taking a complete and total break from exercising. It’s amazing how much less guilt I feel when I don’t even plan on it. I spent a couple of weeks intending to exercise every day, and when it didn’t get done I felt terrible. Now I’m just like, “Nope, not doing it right now.” (Although my plan is to start triathlon training again after the new year, so I’m enjoying this while it lasts.)

Current Color: For Christmas I like pastel greens and jewel tone reds.

Current Drink: Haven’t had any yet, but I absolutely love wassail during the holidays. Can’t wait to try making some myself!

Current Food: Christmas cookies! Time to start baking up a storm.

Current Favorite Show: I’m not watching any current shows, but David and I are still going through The Office on Netflix.

Current Wishlist: All the items on my Christmas list, but what I’d especially like right now that doesn’t fit into our budget is more good Christmas albums, some house slippers, knitted boots, and more cold-weather clothes.

Current Needs: To regain my confidence at work. An accumulation of small mistakes and unwelcome, trivial criticism has me feeling like I’m a new nurse all over again.

Current Triumphs: Completing NaBloPoMo with very few cop-out posts. My goal was to have good content every day and refrain from whining about the task. For the most part, I think I accomplished that!

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: Cold weather. I’m not adequately prepared for it, and it came so suddenly! This morning my husband turned on the heat, and I only protested a little bit.

Current Celebrity Crush: I guess if I have to think about this one for too long, it’s probably not really a crush, right? Guess I don’t have one.

Current Indulgence: The aforementioned not exercising, Christmas cookies, and turning the heat on.

Current Blessing(s): A husband who knows exactly what to say to make me feel better about myself, doctors who don’t get upset when I bother them because of a silly mistake, warm socks and a warm home.

Current Outfit: My #3 soccer sweatpants from college, a blue Old Navy fleece, and fuzzy socks. In a few hours I’ll find the energy to change and venture out into the world, but not yet.

Current Excitement: I’m looking forward to seeing The Pioneer Woman this Saturday with Chelsea and Lauren. (My secret is that I’m more excited about seeing Chelsea and Lauren than The Pioneer Woman. Also, I need to buy her book, and quick.)

Current Mood: I am well-rested and intent on accomplishing much today. Happy, for the most part, although thinking about work puts my stomach in little knots.

Current Link: I love the blog Style Lush. It’s written by a group of women around my age, and features anything and everything that they enjoy or think is pretty. Recently they put out a pretty great holiday gift guide.

Happy December!

Current Book(s): Finishing up Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout for book club. It won the Pulitzer Prize this year, and believe me when I tell you that there is a reason for that. I love it so much.

Current Playlist: Mostly this month it’s been silence. The exceptions are my Over the Rhine Pandora station for when I’m cooking, and the Les Miserables original cast recording for when I’m cleaning. I guess I like a soundtrack for my chores.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Probably NOT exercising the way I should be. All the days that it was raining provided the perfect excuse. But it’s sunny and beautiful today, and I should go for a run. Not really feeling it, so we’ll see.

Current Drink: Actually enjoying coffee lately, and slowly learning to be a snob about it (a la Peter Kline). At home right now we have Newman’s Own French Roast, which I make every morning I have to drive to work. (I try to skip it on the other days; I don’t want to become too dependent on it.) After tasting this, I can’t even bring myself to drink what’s at work.

Current Food: The dinner exchange we’ve started with Scott and Vanessa is going strong in its second week. Last week we kept it simple and (somewhat) healthy by making tacos. My next cooking night isn’t till Saturday, so hopefully I can come up with something good.

Current Favorite Show: David and I are behind on our favorite shows and are trying to catch up on Netflix. Right now we’re on last season’s The Office, and it’s one of the best things ever. The words, “It’s as good as Seinfeld” actually came out of my husband’s mouth, which is incredible if you know him.

Current Wishlist: My family uses lists for Christmas every year, so this year I decided to put mine together online. That way I can edit it without having to tell every person my changes.

Current Needs: Just to love and be loved. :)

Current Triumphs: My house is still really clean after three days. Sometimes it’s the little things.

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: The key to our back door broke off in the lock. This would be a good time to bite the bullet and have all our locks changed so that they open with one key instead of four different ones, except that we just started our new, very strict, budget and have not saved up the money for that yet.

Current Celebrity Crush: I don’t really have a crush, but I sure do like watching Dmitry Chaplin dance.

Current Indulgence: I just threw away the remainders of two pans of brownies and chocolate chip cookies which have been taunting me. Enough with that.

Current Blessing: The weather is gorgeous. I mean honestly, is it even allowed to be this beautiful?

 

Current Outfit: Striped fuzzy socks, grey lounge pants from Gap Body, and a long sleeved white t-shirt that I got in Kauai. Also known as what I slept in last night.

Current Excitement: Running the Seawall Crawl with Maggie this Saturday and spending the day in Galveston afterwards. Completing NaBloPoMo. Saving money.

Current Mood: I’m feeling very lazy, gotta be honest.

Current Link: I’ve been searching a little bit for well-designed personal blogs on frugal and green living. Anyone know of any?

Today is the first day of October, so I’m interrupting this anniversary week to bring you my monthly update!

Current Book(s): I’ve been wanting to start this one for months, ever since a friend of mine told me The Sword Of Truth books were her favorite series. This is the first one, Wizard’s First Rule. It’s total fantasy, geeky stuff, but I love it so far. Of course, I am only on page 94 out of 836. And there are eleven books in the series, all of which are equally as long. This might take me awhile…

Current Playlist: Big news, y’all. I bought an album! (Do they still call them “albums”?) Anyway, I haven’t done that in a LONG time. And I am very satisfied with my purchase, the self-titled premier of band Works Progress Administration. If you like Nickel Creek or Glen Phillips (from Toad the Wet Sprocket), you’ll love it. And you can listen to the entire thing on their website, too.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: WHEN OH WHEN will I be able to cut back on the ice cream?? I stopped by my in-laws’ house yesterday to watch some TV that I had them record for me, and I helped myself to some Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate. While I was still there, my father-in-law came home and brought me some Haagen Dazs. I couldn’t turn down a gift, so I ate the whole thing. Shame-inducing? Yes. Guilty? Yes. Pleasureable? Oh yes.

Current Color: Still a sucker for sage green, but dying to paint the rest of our house a nice neutral.

Current Drink: Water, of course.

Doesn’t it look refreshing?

Current Food: I made chicken marsala for the first time recently, and what do you know, it was amazing! Maybe I am a natural chef after all. Or maybe I just pick really easy recipes.

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Current Favorite Show: Oh Dancing With the Stars, you get me every time. I am not proud to admit that I teared up during the premiere, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t. I have no idea how something so ridiculous can make me so happy.

Current Wishlist: More money in the bank so my husband and I can execute all the travel plans we’re making for ourselves. Currently on the list: San Antonio, Kansas, Scotland, New York City, South Carolina, California coast.

Current Needs: To actually set a budget and stick to it. Help me, Dave Ramsey.

Current Triumphs: I taught a lesson at my church’s youth group last night, and I think it went pretty well. I celebrate inwardly every time I get through one of those, and then I ask my husband over and over what he thought of it. Last night he told me, “It was awesome! Your best one yet!” Gotta love him for that.

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: Air bubbles in the IV pumps. I hear the beeping in my dreams.

Current Celebrity Crush: This is anniversary week; my only crush is my husband. :)

Current Indulgence: Between DWTS and all the ice cream, I think I have enough indulgence in my life right now.

Current #1 Blessing: Last night after I went to bed my husband went and put gas in my car. Little things like that make me love him even more. :)

Current Slang or Saying: I don’t think I have one of these. Although when I’m with the teenagers at church all of a sudden I find myself saying things I never would normally. Things like “chill”.

Current Outfit: Same old scrubs. One of these days I’ll take a picture of something cute I wear on the weekend so this isn’t so boring.

Current Excitement: We’re going to San Antonio TOMORROW for our anniversary trip! Some things I’m looking forward to:

Staying in this bed and breakfast

Going to SeaWorld since neither of us have ever been

A boat ride down the Riverwalk

Current Mood: Slightly weary from work, but mostly REALLY! EXCITED!

Current Link: I just have to share with you this awesome cooking website, Rouxbe. It’s not just a place for recipes, it’s an actual online cooking school. I used it to make the above-mentioned chicken marsala, and already I’ve learned about sucs, deglazing, and the fact that you can cut chicken breasts in half or even in three parts so they won’t be as thick – why did I not think of this myself??

Anyway, there is a whole lot of stuff you can access just by registering (for free!) and the website is so easy to navigate. For example, you can be watching a video recipe and if you don’t understand a word or a concept you can just click on that part of the outline and it will take you to a page to explain said concept, and then you can pick up right where you left off in the recipe when you’re finished. It’s amazing! Us newbie chefs (albeit naturally gifted) find it VERY helpful.

Happy October!

I am shamelessly stealing this survey from Lauren, and not only that but I am taking it one step further. A commenter on her post stated that she posted this same survey every month as a kind of recap. I love that idea! Should be fun, yes? Oh, and feel free to steal the idea yourself too. I don’t mind. :)

Current Book(s): I’m down from reading three books at once to one, at least for a few more hours. But for now I’m still plugging through Shirley by Charlotte Bronte in the attempt to complete my goal of reading all the books that I own. I do like this book, it’s just long and kind of slow. But I’m reading it out of The Complete Works of the Bronte Sisters, which is too bulky to carry on the bus. So today I think I’ll start on The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, which I’m borrowing from Margaret. It’s easy to carry around. :)

Current Playlist: This is really sad because I’m a singer, but I actually don’t listen to music all that much. Sometimes in the car, but I also like silence in the car so I can think or talk or pray. I do like it when walking the dogs, exercising, cooking, or cleaning. Tonight on my walk I was listening to Sandra McCracken’s “Live Under Lights and Wires” sampler available for free on NoiseTrade.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Being completely obsessed with the new season of Dancing With the Stars which starts September 21. As in, I follow many of the pros and celebrities on Twitter, and subscribe to a blog with tons of updates and information.

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You might say I have “Monday Night Fever”…or not.

Current Color: Caribbean blue. I wear it almost every single day of my life.

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I think I am going to adopt this pose for when I am standing around at work from now on.

Current Fetish: Let’s just skip this category and never bring it up again, okay?

Current Drink: Apparently nothing! Yesterday I didn’t have a single sip of anything until around 6:30 p.m. when I realized that I was a bit thirsty and my head hurt. I promptly poured myself a glass of ice water. I’d better get to work on my goal of drinking 64 ounces of water a day for a week straight. It might do my body good.

Current Food: I still hold to my obsession over Lean Cuisine’s chicken carbonara meal. I have it almost every day for lunch.

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Current Favorite Show: I guess DWTS doesn’t count because it’s not actually on yet. The only TV show that I am watching right now is Mad Men, from Netflix, and I am only 3 episodes in. Since it doesn’t have any competition, Mad Men wins.

My Mad Men avator. It actually doesn’t look a bit like me, but it’s the best I could do with what was available. Oh but here’s one I made for my husband:

I liked his so much that I tried to convince him to sign up for Twitter just so he could use it. He said no, and I pouted.

Current Wishlist: Are you ready for this? Because I haven’t allowed myself to shop in a long time. Here we go: A women’s specific bike seat, some more biking clothes, a flat tire kit, new running shoes and socks, some red flats, a griddle, sports headphones, multi-color pens for work, riding boots, a sweater dress, new scrubs, new pants and shirts in general, a rug for our living room, blinds or shades for our living room, etc.

Current Needs: To start getting up in time to do Bible study before I leave for work. To pray more.

Current Triumphs: Finishing my residency. Making it through my day on the orthopedic floor yesterday.

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: The handle to my car, which is broken. It’s still REALLY annoying to have to roll down my window to let myself out.

Current Celebrity Crush: Julianne Hough is my #1 girl crush. Oh, like you don’t have them too?

Current Indulgence: Waaaay too much Blue Bell dutch chocolate ice cream.

Current #1 Blessing: My husband, who sings me silly love songs and leaves me love notes to wake up to. :)

Current Slang or Saying: Trying to say “my pleasure” at work instead of “you’re welcome” like we are encouraged to do. Little things like that DO make a difference when you’re stuck in the hospital.

Current Outfit: See above entry on “current color”. Boring!

Current Excitement: In two weeks I’m changing my work schedule a bit so that I will have three days off per week instead of two. That means that two of the days I work will be 12-hour shifts. Here’s hoping it’s worth it!

Current Mood: Zombie. I’m not fully awake yet.

Current Link: I want to make another plug for NoiseTrade.com. It’s a great place to find new music, and all you have to do is either a) tell 5 friends or b) pay what you want. There are some established artists but also a lot of up-and-comers.

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Happy September!