Currently... Swanky Edition

Welcome to another edition of Currently, a quick and easy way to share what's going on. Thanks for the idea, Katy Upperman!

Loving

I have been absolutely loving the Swanky 17 Photo Challenge on Instagram. For 10 days, the Swanky 17s (a group of debut Middle Grade and Young Adult authors with books releasing in 2017) have been sharing images related to books and writing and it's WONDERFUL. You should definitely check it out at the hashtag #Swanky17PhotoChallenge.

I loved getting back into the Instagram habit - and the timing was perfect to think about THE LAST THING YOU SAID as I finished edits on it last week! Here's a wrap-up on Storify of my Photo Challenge posts - I made nine of the ten prompts.

Reading

I just finished DREAM ON by Kerstin Gier, the second book in The Silver Trilogy. You probably know of my extreme love for Gier's RUBY RED, SAPPHIRE BLUE, and EMERALD GREEN, and I love this trilogy almost as much. Liv and her sister Mia are so awkward and charming and funny, and Henry - the boy of Liv's actual dreams - really is a dream. As soon as the audiobook is available, I'll listen to that, too.

How sad that I have to wait another year for the third book, but at least I have the recipe for their German au pair Lottie's All-The-Year-Round Vanilla Crescents and that should comfort me.

Next up: working my way through the 28 books I put on hold at the library, about half of which have arrived.

Watching

Hammer Guy and I went to Purple Rain with friends. It had been a long time since I'd seen it - so long, in fact, that when I was looking for the DVD, he reminded me that we only owned the VHS. (Must correct that soon.) I was newly impressed by the storyline and the Kid's character arc. Yes, there is quite a bit of cheesy 80s background music, but it's worth a watch if you haven't seen it or it's been a while. Did I cry? Of course I did.

Listening To

The new Jayhawks album, Paging Mr. Proust. Ah, it's so good. Takes me back to the Sound of Lies days, early in my Best Buy career, when I spent three or four nights a week seeing live bands. We also just purchased tickets to see the Jayhawks in July. It's been a few years, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I've also started to recreate all the playlists I lost on Spotify - finally. I started with the playlist for THE LAST THING YOU SAID and am working my way through other WIPs and such.

 

 

Thinking About

Summer. Please let it be here soon. We need a change of season - and the kids need to catch up on their sleep.

Anticipating

Our annual end-of-school trip to Duluth and the North Shore. I haven't worked out the details just yet, but I'm looking forward to the weekend away in mid-June.

Making Me Happy

It's finally spring here in Minnesota - and that's making me very happy. I live outside of the metro area, so I'm surrounded by lakes and trails and farm fields. I spent some time on Mother's Day at a couple of my favorite parks and I feel so lucky for it.

Minnesota makes me happy and it always will.

Lake Rebecca Park Reserve

 What's currently going on with you?