Happy World Scrapbooking Day! (and World Naked Gardening Day, if you’re that way inclined). It is May Day weekend, the sun is shining and flowers are blooming, “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter” this morning, and my hubby is back from his first dealer conference in Vegas. It’s a good day.
Some of my favorite scrapbooking bloggers did a blog hop this morning answering these questions about their “right now” so I thought I’d join in too. Maybe later I’ll adapt it into as a scrapbook page.
YouTubing: My favorite clip right now is actually on ellentube – I just love Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s performance of “Uptown Funk” with audience participation. I love the song – it makes me want to dance and sing along. And that’s what the audience did. Its happiness is infectious. I swear I’ve never seen such a fun musical performance on a talk show. They’re usually quite awkward. (btw I find this song even better now that my SIL told me that my nephew J can’t pronounce the “n” in “funk” – lol! gives the song a different spin…)
Listening: to the music from the ABC TV show Nashville. Over and over again. I can’t stop. I have never liked country music, but I love this music. I have so many favorites on these albums. I had no idea how many different kinds of country music there are, and the only stuff I really dislike is the “big hat cowboys” singing “beer and truck” songs. And I even like a few of those when I hear them on the show.
(Just don’t ever make me listen to the Kenny Chesney song “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” again. I heard 2 lines of it walking past a neighbor’s house and that was enough!)
Watching: Nashville. Again. Still. I’ve been completely obsessed with this show for the past month or so. I’m not even going to hint at how many hours I’ve spent watching and re-watching it lately. It’s my favorite prime time soap opera. Jane the Virgin is a close second. I’m still loving Once Upon a Time. And Brooklyn Nine-Nine. We are giving Last Man on Earth a try. We finally gave in and got Hulu+ and Netflix subscriptions. We might finally watch all those shows that everybody loves – Mad Men, House of Cards, Breaking Bad. We love TV.
Reading: Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente, right now. I’ve barely begun, but so far, so good. I was most recently underwhelmed by The White Princess (Philippa Gregory) and Not That Kind of Girl (Lena Dunham). The last book I loved was Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. The next book waiting for me on my kindle is All The Light We Cannot See. My goodreads reading challenge is going well – I’m on track to finish 42 books this year.
Eating: lightly, lately. Until this week. This week has been a bit crazy, eating out, mostly diner food at odd times, paid for by other people. I did a few favors for friends this week and got compensated with meals. Delicious meals. A fish burger, bacon and eggs, lentil sausage soup, pad Thai, something else diner/fried that I can’t remember no matter how much I visualize that meal. (An hour later I finally remember – a guacamole burger!) I made one good meal at home this week – delicious Greek lamb and pita and salad, assembled like Greek tacos.
Drinking at 4pm: water or not-coffee. Not-coffee is what I call my chicory coffee substitute. I can’t drink coffee. I have a tiny bit in the morning sometimes – about 1 fluid ounce in my not-coffee, but that’s my limit for the day. Caffeine gives me the jitters. A Thai iced tea at 4pm is tempting, but I wouldn’t get to sleep until 2am if I gave in.
Wishing: for a perfect pair of ballet flats that are comfortable and cute (and preferably come to me by magic without me searching for them because I hate shoe shopping). They have to be suitable for walking in because I walk a lot. And I absolutely hate “toe cleavage.” So, yeah, I’m picky about the details.
Enjoying: the sunshine and the warm temperatures and all the signs of spring (and summer) around here.
Funny story – the other day one of my friends was trying to have a serious discussion at work when she spotted a couple of squirrels going at it against a tree outside her window. Very distracting. Ah, spring.
Quoting: I’m not much for collecting quotes, but the last thing I highlighted in a kindle book (Deathless) was:
“If the world is divided into seeing and not seeing, Marya thought, I shall always choose to see.”
Smiling: at my nephew (who is visiting this week) and my little friend, both starting school later this year, both smart and articulate and hilarious.
Smiling/Laughing: at myself at the playground, going down the giant slide 5 times, but being too chicken to go fast. And getting tired arms from swinging. (I must be old!)
Smiling/Proud: of the design work I did for my friend’s grad school project, which seemed really daunting a few days ago, but is now feeling really close to finished, way ahead of schedule (hopefully! we’ll get feedback next week).
Favorite project: I’ve been working on Ali Edwards’ story kit prompts for the last few months, and I’ve been really productive, making a couple of pages most weeks.
I’ve been telling older stories and reflective stories and little stories and big stories. And I’ve been editing and using some of those old photos I scanned last time I was in NZ. This month’s theme is Click, which allows me to go on and on about how much (and why) I love photography and pictures. It’s been a great opportunity to gather photos together from different eras of my life and tell stories that draw them all together.
What’s going on with you?
Thanks for stopping by today,
Jo:)
adventures in the here now 
Nothing much going on with me. I loved your blog and am glad to read that all is going good for you. Did Al have a good and successful time in Vegas?
Love Dale
If I manage to find a good pair of shoes for work I’ll let you know… My go-to pair of black ballet flats are about to go caput and I can’t seem to find a good replacement! I’m trying to find one with a small heel just for arch support, but nothing fancy. I bought a pair of boat shoes (which was a big fashion leap for me, I’ll tell you!) from LifeStride and I love them. They have some in dept stores and some online, I tried mine on at a DSW outlet in Indy and ordered them cheap off Amazon. I think they’d be a pretty solid walking/comfortable shoe brand if you can find a style you like! I’ve spent like 10 hours shopping for plain black flats in person and online these last couple of months, so take my advice, you don’t want to do it if you can avoid it!! Nothing in stores and 3 pairs sent back to Amazon makes me one sad lady!
I also hate tow cleavage. And it is so refreshing to hear (read) someone else say that! Lol!