What I’m Into (April 2013 Edition)

I’m joining my friend Leigh Kramer today to share what I’ve been into this month.

Bookish

I’ve been reading, reading, reading in preparation for this year’s summer reading guide. It’s coming in May, and it’s gonna be great. I don’t like to recommend books I haven’t read, so I’m working through a big pile to find you some winners for summer 2013.

I talk about books pretty often around here, so I won’t give you the play-by-play, but I’ll share my favorite and least favorite:

My recent favorite is Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work. This business book made laugh (which I expected, the Heath brothers are funny guys) and cry (which I didn’t at all expect, but the book was the better for it).

My recent least favorite is Steven Pressfield’s Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work. This is the last in the trilogy that includes The War of Art and Do the Work, both of which are absolutely fantastic. Turning Pro felt disappointing (and honestly, unnecessary) in comparison.

The twitterature linkup has also been a fun way to share what I’ve been reading and to get all kinds of reading ideas from you. The next linkup will be on May 15. Mark your calendars!

Around the house

Spring is finally here, and my daughters and I have been bringing the outdoors in:

dogwoods in the living room

azaleas in the bathroom

(Also? I’m proud of those pictures. Not because they’re super-amazing, but because I took them myself, in bad light, in manual mode, and I kinda sorta felt like I knew what I was doing. That’s progress.)

Movies & TV

I haven’t seen a movie in ages, but we’re planning on Silver Linings Playbook this weekend. (Because, Jennifer Lawrence.)

I’m continuing my march through Gilmore Girls. I  watched 4 episodes from Season 3 on the airplane last weekend. My rationalization: I was too tired to work, and since I don’t really like to fly, Gilmore Girls does a much better job of distracting me from a bumpy flight than reading or writing. (Are you buying it?)

I caught a few episodes of early Veronica Mars this month (while I was waiting for Netflix to deliver more Gilmore Girls). I was so happy (and relieved) to find it was every bit as good as I remembered.

In my ears

Happy discovery: If you start Spotify radio based on a random Ben Folds Five song, they will kindly play you a delightful mix of The Decemberists, Guster, the Avett Brothers, and Cake.

Catching my eye online

Eighth Grader Designs Standardized Test that Slams Standardized Tests. Just what it sounds like.

The daily routines of famous writers. Joan Didion’s was my favorite.

On embracing habits of being. Elora Nicole distills what she’s all about down to 5 words.

How to raise an outstanding student by studying only 4 subjects. This post is from 2008, but it found me at just the right time.

I share a lot of these on the MMD facebook page. To follow along, you can like the page here.

On the Blog

Best conversation starter: Unused Creativity Isn’t Benign. It Metastasizes.

Most likely to resonate: Sometimes You Need to Go to Counseling. Sometimes You Just Need Permission to Relax.

Most popular: The Really Short Version of Why We Traded Private School for Home Education.

Most “aha” moments in comments: I Blame the Telephone (or What a Week off Routine Taught Me About My Normal Life).

Hardest post for me to hit “publish” on: The Likable Damsel in Distress.

For more “What I’m Into” posts, head over to Leigh’s blog.

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