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What I’m into (December 2013 edition)

Linking up with the lovely Leigh Kramer to share what I’ve been into lately.

What I'm Into | Modern Mrs Darcy

December has been lovely. We managed to (mostly) keep the holiday crazy in check, enjoyed the season, built on old traditions, and if the weather was terrible … well, at least I got plenty of wear out of my new rainboots.

I’m looking forward to January’s fresh start, but first, a look at what I’ve been into lately:

What I’m reading

I’ve been reading three loooong books: Winter’s Tale, The Goldfinch, and Five Days at Memorial.  All have been good but they’ve taken forever!

I’m also re-reading Happier at Home and skimming through The Happiness Project again.

Worth watching

bride and prejudice

My favorite this month: the Bollywood film Bride and Prejudice. Thank you for convincing me to watch it!

The whole family enjoyed city.ballet, a documentary about the New York City ballet in twelve 6-minute episodes.

The 84-minute documentary Bill Cunningham New York, about the New York Times On the Street photographer, is just the ticket for anyone in need of creative inspiration.

We’ve been watching a million flash mob videos and Christmas movies with the kids. My unexpected favorite: the Raymond Briggs documentary that came with The Snowman and the Snowdog about its creation.

The Downton Abbey Christmas special, of course. I thought the ending was lovely–although I would have liked to see a little more resolution on at least one plot line. (How long till Season 5?)

I’m keeping up with Emma Approved.

Geeking out on:

enneagram flashcard session

Leigh came to town with her enneagram flashcards, fanning my obsession.

Rituals, structures, habits.

Deliberate practice, again. (Currently reading: The Sports Gene.)

Goals, goals, goals. More on this soon.

In my kitchen

macarons

Our Christmas baking spree was fun while it lasted. We made macarons (from this book) and marshmallows and paleo cutout cookies, which we never do the other 11 months of the year.

We also baked two of these, which isn’t enough, because it’s fabulous. (I first saw this recipe in this memoir, which is pretty fabulous itself. Think about adding it to your reading list for 2014.)

And five minutes after I schedule this post to publish, I’m making these.

And then we’re going on a Whole 30 to recover from all that sugar. Whew!

Pinning

workroom from Life in Grace

I am in love with this “workroom” from Life in Grace. (The whole home tour is pretty fabulous.)

You call this a bad hair day?

I adore this shirt. And Shana.

That’s right. Don’t believe ’em.

A Lego food truck!

Why wasn’t this in my stocking?

The girls and I are making these. If we can figure them out.

What starting married life right looks like.

I am seriously thinking about making my own.

Silas would love this.

And I’m pinning a zillion things to my new Whole 30 pinterest board.

Best of the web

This will keep you busy for a while.

12 social media predictions for 2014.

5 reasons millennials are quitting Facebook.

The agony of instagram. (And why I think it’s not as widespread as the author suggests.)

FIMBY asks, Where are the women like me?

Coming soon: the Motherhood and Jane Austen Book Club

What tech hasn’t learned from urban planning.

Some feedback is magical.

I regret to inform you that my wedding to Captain Von Trapp has been canceled.

What were you into in December?

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22 comments

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  1. I LOVE Bride&Prejudice! And now you have me hooked on Emma Approved (you also got me hooked on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries), which is just fine since I’m on Christmas break. 🙂 Happy 6th day of Christmas!

    • Anne says:

      I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! I wasn’t sure what to think of Emma at first (I kept reminding myself the point was you’re not supposed to like her . But she’s growing on me. 🙂

  2. Erika says:

    I have been enjoying Emma Approved as well. Very good, so far. 🙂

    That Home Tour you pinned is AMAZING. So bold and creative and colorful! I must share!

    I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the social media predictions for 2014. I am not a fan of Google Plus. :-/

  3. Amy E Patton says:

    Happy New Year, Anne. I love the book shelf pin, and the Huff Post 12 things about social media article was interesting. I am nervous about having to learn a new social site. I too have been ignoring Google + for too long. Amy

  4. Leigh Kramer says:

    Love that picture of you and Will! Bride and Prejudice is great but my favorite Bollywood film is Monsoon Wedding. I double checked on the title of that Enneagram book- it is The Wisdom of the Enneagram. So glad we got to do the flashcards! It was so great spending more time with you and your family.

  5. Em Miller says:

    I have conflicting feelings on “Happier at Home” (and I haven’t read the first book). I took some good ideas away from it, but overall, I felt like it was bad memoir. It was like a really long, detailed letter from an uninteresting relative. I feel like memoir should use a person’s experiences to tell a larger story, and I felt like this book took an interesting concept and somehow lost it in the minutae of everything she was doing.

    • Anne says:

      Hmmm. Was it supposed to be a memoir? I took it as a more practical/self-help (I hate that term, but that’s what the bookstore endcap says!) kind of book.

      I did like it, but having read the first book, I definitely knew what I was getting into with the second book.

      Also, can we talk about favorite memoirs one day? I’d love to hear your list. 🙂

      • Em Miller says:

        If it’s practical/self-help then I DEFINITELY could have gone for less detail about her personal life. 😛

        And, YES, though I’m afraid my list will be pretty predictable. There are a ton on my best-of list for the year coming later this week. Memoir is my favorite genre.

  6. Tim says:

    Isn’t Bride and Prejudice a hoot! And I’m so glad you picked up on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and now Emma Approved. Those folks are so creative!

  7. Ginger says:

    I promised to check in after my flash mob experience with an update. In short, it was amazing fun!

    First, the details, in case any of you are planning on mobbing … the organizer was hyper-organized. She had arranged four short Christmas carols and even designed the order so that we would start the next on the same note the former ended. The extreme organization not only gave focus and kept calm in a large group, but also made sure the event went really really smoothly. She had location scouted out, back-up plans, had alerted the mall authorities and the news… I can’t say enough about how far the organization went. It was the perfect blend of plan and (apparent) spontaneity.

    I think we definitely learned a few lessons that we’ll (hopefully) implement for next year. For one, we had a fairly large group (over 35), but in a large mall in the central section, it was much much quieter than it sounded in our practice session in the church. I think for numbers, whatever you think you need, double it. Luckily, the smarties in the group who were meant to harmonize thought quickly, and just switched to melody. Perhaps the sound wasn’t as interesting and full, but we were heard.

    My favorite part of the day was that since we were singing familiar Christmas carols, I was surprised at how many shoppers joined in and sang along. The looks on shoppers and vendors’ faces was priceless. It was the perfect way to spread Christmas joy and cheer.

    We had so much fun. I would definitely say it will be a repeat for next year!

  8. Ginger says:

    I clicked on your city.ballet link – and now I’m hooked! I’m no ballerina, but I can live vicariously through them! 🙂 Loving your links and book list – will be adding more to my GoodReads list! Hope you have a wonderful January!

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