Currently 1/19

Posted January 19, 2023 / Currently, Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

I haven’t done one of these since 2021 (these latest prompts stolen from Hannah at So Obsessed With) and wanted to share a little more about my life and what’s been going on lately. Lauren Lately kind of fell by the wayside thanks to Covid (literally my last one was March 2020…) and we’ll see if I plan to ever bring it back. I thought this would be a nice way to capture how I’m feeling right now!


Bookish

I’m thrilled that my love for reading is back. I’m feeling so much less slumpy than the past two years. I think it took a lot out of me always being behind on my Goodreads goal (such a stupid thing to care about that much but I can’t help it!) and I just never wanted to sit and read, thinking it was fruitless or putting too much pressure on myself to get back on track. 2023 feels like a fresh slate for reading and I’m feeling so good!

Currently reading: At the time of writing this, I’m reading LUNAR LOVE. I told Chris about it when I was debating which books to read in order this month and he told me I better get going on the Lunar New Year-ish book so it’ll be done by our celebration with his family on the 21st! This is super cute and I’ve been blazing through it. I’m assuming I’ll be done with it by the time this post goes up.

Currently audiobook-ing: Soooo thrilled that I got a review copy of the latest FINLAY DONOVAN book! Not a huge fan of cops or books centered around them so the whole “citizen police officer training” Finlay and Vero are doing isn’t super up my alley, but I’m convinced I’ll love these books no matter what happens in them haha. This comes out at the end of the month and I’m hoping to finish the audio this week. Without my daily commute, I tend to listen to audiobooks a lot less and podcasts more for short bursts. I go into the office once a week so I’m sure I’ll get a lot done this Wednesday as I get ready for work and drive back and forth!

Currently recommending: Between the beginning of this year and end of last year, here are four books I recently gave somewhere between 4-5 stars to:

  • THE STOLEN HEIR BY HOLLY BLACK (obviously – almost as good as the original trilogy!)
  • THE VILLA BY RACHEL HAWKINS (her adult books lately have been so good!)
  • ANON PLS BY DEUXMOI (wouldn’t rec to everyone but it was super fun for the most part)
  • STAY AWAKE BY MEGAN GOLDIN (couldn’t put this one down – fun thriller!)

Currently on hold at the library: I just had a Library Love post go live yesterday so I can let you take a look at that one to see more details, but here are the books I have on hold at the moment. I’m expecting to get to REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES via audio on Scribd well before this one is ready for me, but you never know.

Currently pre-ordered: Hmmm, nothing right now! I had a few preordered recently like the latest SAGA installment in October and THE STOLEN HEIR earlier this month, but I haven’t added anything else. I will probably preorder THE BROTHERS HAWTHORNE soon but I have to decide from where.

Currently in my cart: Nothing right now! I haven’t really held back on book buying lately though so I’m sure something will be purchased soon enough. I almost bought TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW but it’s a little out of my norm lately. Luckily I found it on my library’s shelf last week!

Currently adding to my TBR: I have been going wild on adding books to my TBR this year so far. I feel like I’ve been super behind on keeping up with unreleased books. I like to add them ASAP so I can keep track! I just opened up a bunch of tabs on my Feedly to keep adding more though, like Books to Explode Your 2023 TBR from It Starts at Midnight and 50 Most Anticipated YA Books for the First Half of 2023 at Pop! Goes the Reader. Also worth noting that I have been going a little crazy with fantasy/paranormal books again. I have another post going up about this in the coming weeks but it feels nice to be ahead or on track with my reading goals so I feel like I can enjoy slower-paced (for me at least) reads.

Currently NetGalley-ing: Here’s a quick snapshot of my Netgalley feed right now. I’ve been alright about not requesting too many things but I’m still a little behind from the past few years. Ugh.


Other Hobbies & Things

Currently listening: Aside from working on FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN, I’ve been listening to my usual true crime podcasts pretty much exclusively. I used to listen to a wrestling podcast but I just haven’t been as into it lately. This screenshot shows a few of the ones I’ve been enjoying lately, with my favorite being And Then They Were Gone. I’m really not a murder podcast kind of girl and avoid cases that have already been solved, so missing persons podcasts are my top favorite.

Currently watching: Chris and I are in a weird place with TV right now. We’re doing a lot of football watching, as is usual during this time of year, and ran through Kaleidoscope on Netflix recently. (It was pretty good – the format and ability to watch the episodes in any order is what makes it cool.) We’re in the middle of rewatching Community because they’re finally making a movie (filming soon!) and want to enjoy it all over again. Easily one of my favorite shows and really awesome for watching more than once – it’s like Arrested Development where you pick up on new jokes every time.

Currently wearing: Lol right now I have on my pajama dress with a crewneck sweatshirt over it. I’m meeting with my boss for our weekly 1:1 via Zoom soon so I tossed it on top. Overall though, I’m mostly still wearing comfy clothes and lounge sets… minus the one day a week I go into the office or have plans on the weekend.

Currently in my cart: I actually don’t have anything in my cart right now! We’re still hoping to buy a house in the next couple of years so truthfully I’m not doing a lot of excessive purchasing. We got Amazon gift cards for Christmas and I used mine to buy new white boards for the fridge (weekly planner for meals and a to-do list one that I use to track expiration dates), a book light that wraps around your neck, and a purse organizer. My coworker/friend got me a purse for Christmas and I also bought one recently myself, so I thought it would be smart to have one insert with everything in it so I can easily switch between bags.

Currently drinking: I’m so excited because my mom got me a coffee bean grinder for Christmas! Each morning I grind my beans for that cup that day. Still getting used to it a little bit because I can’t tell if I’m using too many beans per cup, but it’s really nice to have fresh-tasting coffee each morning. I just placed an order from Bones Coffee for my favorite flavors so I’m pumped to have those again (even more fresh!).

Currently eating: I’ve been vacillating between being in the mood to cook fun meals and wanting to be as lazy as possible. Last week we had so much delivery and takeout that I told Chris we’re on a ban this week. Some recent favorites are above. There’s a place near us that makes rotisserie chicken bowls and we decided to recreate our favorite flavor… it was so good! I also made some naan pizza (including buffalo chicken and pepperoni recently) and homemade crunchwraps (a classic in our house). It’s a big time of year for the crockpot too: I made carne picada in it yesterday and some short rib ramen last week.

Current Feels

Currently celebrating: I guess the next thing to celebrate is Lunar New Year, which we are doing this coming weekend with Chris’s family. We’ve never really gotten together for it in the past but hopefully it’ll be a new tradition in the future. I’m always excited to eat whatever Chris’s mom is going to cook!

Currently loving: This season of life – I’m feeling like we’re in a good place overall. Chris is working a new job that he’s enjoying, my work is in a good place and I have a couple of direct reports that I love, and we have a decent balance of chill days and activities planned.

Currently looking forward to: Aside from Lunar New Year and some plans with my friends the next morning, we’re hoping to get away for a weekend next month. I’m not sure where or when but I keep browsing rental sites to see where we want to go. Ideally I’d like to hit Vermont but I keep filtering for places with hot tubs (that are also dog-friendly) and it’s slimmer pickins as a result haha.

Currently procrastinating: Setting up our filing cabinet! My dad snagged us one and I have yet to fill it with anything. We have a lot of random crap we need to organize, get rid of, or store somewhere else. Our house is super small and we’re probably going to be here for another couple of years so we really need to get things looking great to enjoy our time here, since it’ll be a little longer than expected.

Currently accomplishing: I’m back in the groove with blogging and reading, so those are probably my biggest wins lately!

Currently thinking about: What am I going to have for breakfast?

Currently feeling: Hopeful and happy. (This is what I put last year for my most recent Currently post and am leaving it!)

2 responses to “Currently 1/19

  1. I love that you are bringing these posts back! Also are you me? Lol I feel like I’ve felt the exact same as you the past 2 years with reading and blogging since COVID hit…I feel like I’m finally coming out of my “COVID reading slump” and feeling really refreshed to read and blog again in a low-pressure way (not concerned about stats, just doing it because I genuinely enjoy it and am having fun!)

    I love the idea of a purse organizer! TBH since COVID I haven’t really used a purse since I went out less and started living in work out leggings with side pockets and just shoving my card and license in them whenever I left the house, lol. I’d love to hear more about the Lunar New Year tradition you are starting with Chris’ family!

    • LMAO SAME ON THE LEGGINGS WITH POCKETS. Every day! For real, I don’t know what happened but the minute it hit 2023, I was like wait I wanna do nothing but read again! It’s been great haha. Hopefully I can share some details on what we did! My BIL got covid that week so we didn’t get to see our niece unfortunately but still had good food 🙂

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