Friday, April 12, 2019

CURRENTLY

Every few months I like to do an update on the things currently going on in my life. Here's an update since my last CURRENTLY, in November.


Reading...

That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam was a great story about a mother's journey through discovering who she is as a mother, what it's like to be a white mother with a black son, and how your life sometimes turns out much differently than what you think. The beginning of the book was difficult to get through, because I struggled to connect with the story, but I'm really glad I stuck it out because the meat of the book was worth it.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin is probably my favorite read of the year. We follow the story of siblings who discover a psychic who prophecies their death dates, which they are prohibited to share. The novel dives into each character, what they do with the information, how they choose to live leading up to their dates, and how the winding bond of family is often stretched and pulled in various ways and times through the mountains and valleys of life.

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline is an interesting story following the life of a small town farm girl. She becomes a sort of muse or inspiration for a well-known artist and we learn about her childhood.

Traveling...
In January, KJB and I drove to Tennessee to spend some time with family. They are currently converting a Sprinter van into a home, so we helped them paint cabinets, ate some delicious Mexican food, and had some quality time. It was SO nice to get away for just the weekend, put our responsibilities on hold and do something selfish.



In case you catch me mid-daydream, know it's because I'm dreaming of fluffy sand beaches. A couple of weeks back, we vacationed to the Emerald Coast of Flordia and I pampered myself with beach reading, enormous amounts of iced coffee, and allowed the sun to tint my skin just the tiniest bit. (Not much, just a bit. My favorite sunscreen saves the day yet again.)



I'm currently planning a work trip to Chicago this summer (there WILL be time for fun and cinnamon rolls at Ann Sathers) and in a surprise turn of events, I'll be headed back to NYC in December. In November I shared all about our weekend trip to the city, and how I likely wouldn't go back again. *shrugs* but you just never know what exciting thing is on the horizon!

Doing...
The past six months I've loved becoming involved in group fitness classes like yoga and pilates. I tend to go on my lunch break for a short, 30-minute class, but those 30 minutes really rejuvenate me. Getting out of the office and giving my brain a break has been really nice.

If you don't follow me on Insta, you may be wondering about the organ donation I announced in November. Unfortunately I found out in January, after 5 months of testing, fasting, dieting, collecting, and a million other verbs, I had been denied the donation. There were several factors that went into the committee's decision (yes, there's an entire committee that decides if you are accepted or denied!) and if you want to know more about that, I have everything saved under my Insta Story highlights. So that's something I haven't been doing - but what I have been doing is REFOCUS. Ironically, just four days after settling on this word for my work of the year, I found out I couldn't donate. I thought the word would force me to concentrate on my health, recovery, and the very emotional and spiritual aspect of this surgery. Instead, I was forced to refocus; the #52weekchallenge helped me with that. I've been slowly, week-by-week actually decluttering, purging, and reorganizing.

Wearing...
As I mentioned, I've recently been doing a lot of yoga and pilates, which means I've added some new workout clothes to my wardrobe. These leggings are now my go-to (literally, I almost panicked one morning while packing my gym bag because I couldn't find my favorite pair). Also, these tennis shoes are the loveliest color called icey pink and they are super lightweight. Great for a walk or a HIIT workout.