What I'm Up To Lately

After a little bit of a break from writing around these parts, I thought I'd jump back in by catching you up on what I'm enjoying these days!

What I'm Watching:

This was my "single lady weekend" this month (ie the hubs was at training), and I used the few minutes not spent cleaning to indulge in a little non-husband-friendly viewing. First Position has been in my Netflix queue for so long, and surely did not disappoint. It's a real-life Center Stage, as wonderful as Dance Moms is terrible, with a cast that will make you wonder what exactly you've been doing with the past 10-15 years of your life. I spent most of the movie lamenting to the cat that I'd never in my lifetime be as successful as 11-year-old Aran nor as mature as 14-year-old Michaela... but beyond the self-esteem issues it might provoke, it really is a fantastic movie and definitely confirmed my conviction that in my next life, I'll be a dancer.
I also started Parenthood and made it through the first two episodes while folding laundry/finding excuses not to put that laundry away. I'm definitely intrigued so far, and I can even get over the feeling that Lorelai Gilmore has a secret second life, but someone please tell me: am I supposed to like Erika Christensen? I can't put my finger on quite why, but as much as I love the rest of the cast, I just can't stand this girl. I'll definitely keep watching, but I may be (not so) secretly rooting against the baby sister.

What I'm Reading:

I finally (finally finally) finished All the King's Men (which I erroneously referred to as "All the President's Men" once or twice... oops), after two long months. I ended up liking it a lot (it certainly earned its Pulitzer), but I'm a little relieved to be free from the heavy weight of the 1930's south. I am looking forward to watching the movie versions, even though usually all that does is make me long to read the book again.
This weekend, I started a book I've been wanting to read for a while: Marcelo in the Real World. It's great so far and certainly won't take me another two months (my goal is to finish it in time to catch up on my book-a-month resolution, even though I neither started nor finished All the King's Men in January... again, oops).
I'll spare you the pain of recounting all the dry history I've been subjected to lately thanks to my coursera class... but rest assured that it's dry and painful.

What I'm Listening To:

I downloaded a bunch of old purchases to my iPhone a few weeks ago, and so I'm rediscovering some great songs like Foy Vance's Gabriel and the Vagabond and Tina Dico's One (both of which were originally discovered with the help of Grey's Anatomy). I'm also pining over Simon and Garfunkel's Live from New York City, 1967 album, which features stunning performances of so many of their hits, including The Sound of Silence.

What I'm Eating:

Yep, that's right: I just took a wild left turn from entertainment to food. Hang on, friends. As always, I've been snapping badly lit pictures of especially yummy meals, including  pasta (with shrimp and squash and a side of red wine), an impressive super bowl spread (I'd be lying if I told you I exercised self-restraint with the homemade cheese sauce and herbed sour cream. I'd also be lying if I told you this wasn't snapped just before the pizza arrived...), a turkey sub from the best sandwich place in town (a lunch treat thanks to my sweet delivery-husband), and the most incredible white bean chicken chili (please go try the recipe). Thankfully unpictured are the blackened chocolate chip cookies that suffered from a momentary lapse in oven awareness yesterday, on which I'm currently feasting. Crunch, crunch.

What I'm Loving:

You didn't think you could actually get out of here without a pet picture, did you?? I was lucky to have these two to keep me company over the weekend... and to keep things interesting, as Toby interrupted my relaxing Saturday night by sliding off his napping perch and crashing to the ground, taking a lamp with him. At this point, I'm not sure whether these guys are adding or subtracting years from my life...

Happy Monday, all! What are you up to these days?

   Love,

    Meg