at the moment ...
~ reading ~
I've been in a bit of a reading slump since mid-March and honestly have only read one or two books since then, which totally isn't like me. This is due to reading the same genre for about five books in a row and burning myself out, dealing with some stressful things that have gone on this spring, and having a bit of a hard time finding a book that clicks with me. At the start of May, I decided to try and get back to it...because I was really missing my reading time at that point. So, at the moment, I've got three books going. One is the first in a family saga trilogy set a decade after WWII, another is a cozy mystery with magical elements, and the third is a Southern fiction novel about friendship, starting over, and opening yourself up to goodness again. I'm really enjoying all three...thankfully. Here's hoping that keeps up!
~ watching ~
My sister discovered two new-to-her shows earlier this year and has since shared them with my mom and me...and now, we all love them. Definitely new favorites in our house. They are Monk and Psych. Both comedy-mystery-crime dramas, which is honestly everything I could want in a show. We're about halfway through each series and very much enjoying them.
~ listening ~
Spotify playlists continue to bring me much joy, both in creating them and finding just the right songs that I want for the feeling I'm going for, and then, of course, listening to them afterwards. Right now, I'm listening to a playlist I made that I named "my inner world". This is a playlist of all the gorgeous film scores that I've come to love over the last handful of years. And these arrangements and such are exactly what my inner world sounds like in my mind and in the depths of my soul. This playlist beings me endless joy and delight and I listen to it every chance I get. You can check it out here if you like. I like to put it on shuffle because I didn't want to take the time to arrange the film scores so that the songs from one movie or series weren't all together. I should have, but that is a ton of work. And the shuffle button works just as well. I highly recommend listening to this playlist whilst cooking dinner, baking bread or cookies, cleaning or organizing or tidying your home, working on a creative project, playing board games or cards, journaling, reading (if you can listen to music while reading), folding laundry, pretty much anything. These musical arrangements really take the most ordinary of moments and tasks and make them feel like some sort of magic just got sprinkled down over you...and that may be a bit over-dramatic, but that's truly how it feels for me. Oh, and don't forget to light a candle!
~ making ~
Over the weekend, my "making" was a whole bunch of meal and snack prep in the kitchen. I'm studying and learning from the Nourishing Traditions book, which is very informative and somewhat daunting, if I'm honest. This weekend, I made black beans using the method in the book of soaking overnight for an extended period of time and then cooking the next day. We also soaked a bunch of raw peanuts, and they are currently in the dehydrator for a very, very, very long time...maybe up to 24 hours according to the recipe. Some are going to be for snacking and the rest are for homemade peanut butter. And that, I'm super-duper excited about! I also made an incredibly delicious soup for dinner on Sunday. I doubled the recipe so we'd have lots of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. It's a cauliflower-based broth with chicken and veggies. It is seriously divine!
~ words ~
I am rooted, but I flow.
(Virginia Woolf)
I stumbled upon that quote last week and it's been on my mind ever since. I'm a firm believer in being rooted and living a rooted life. In today's world of nomadic lifestyles and very much nonrooted living, in every sense of the word---morally, physically, mentally, emotionally, you name it--- my belief of being rooted gets reiterated just about every single day. Sometime I want to share my thoughts on this rooted life thing, but I know it will definitely be against the cultural norm and modern value system, so I am a bit hesitant to share. But I also know that several of you have so kindly reached out when I've shared my thoughts on rooted, gentle living in the past and shared how much you believe that yourself, so I know there are indeed kindred spirits out there. Let me know if that's something you'd like to read about. I will tell you it definitely goes against the hustle culture, more-is-better belief, constant travel (especially international) lifestyle, nomadic/don't have an address/live in a bus or RV trend, ultra-materialistic/consumerist and inauthentic tendencies of today and such.
Do share your "at the moments" with me in the comments below!
Until tomorrow...
may your Monday be filled with beauty at every turn!