Currently, Vol. 7

Joining Jenna from a Mama Collective and Kenzie from The Ashcraft Bunch for Currently.

Thinking about . . . Fall. Yeah, I've been thinking about fall a lot lately. Charles told me the other day that he was ready for fall, too. I don't know if the humidity is addling our brains, or if it has been the busyness of the spring and summer that have us ready for change. Specifically, lately, I'm thinking about wardrobes. I have a decent set of basics for fall and winter, so I'll only need to add odds and ends to my wardrobe. Charles has some good basics (and will spend too much of the winter in scrubs anyway), so, again, should be able to get by with some odds and ends. But both kids will need clothes -- and with growing and stuff, they would need clothes anyway. But I've (surprise!) never dressed a kid for real winter for the long-term. So I'm thinking about what we need, in what sizes, and what quantities. I'm trying to start slowly picking up basics that I know we'll need so that we're not BAM! facing two whole new kids' wardrobes when the weather changes. Or maybe I'm using all of that to justify dreaming about fall clothes and fall weather. You be the judge.

Reading . . . A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but I'm also not very far into it. I have read Ella Enchanted like a million times, and some of her other books are good, but some of them just don't do it for me. Like they're trying too hard to recapture the magic. Anyway, I stumbled across this one at the library, and I'm giving it a shot. It's easy reading and Clare like to discuss the castles on the cover art, as well as the girl on the cover. I identified her as a princess, which leaves Clare asking on repeat where the girl's "headband" (tiara/crown) went.

Watching . . . Project Runway and Top Chef: Duels. I have to admit to being a longtime fan of both series, even though both have had their ups and downs. I'm really enjoying this season of PR (though nothing will ever touch the magic of Season 1 or the talent of Season 4). I'm not sure how I feel about TC:D, but I can definitely tell you that I'm not enjoying the editing. The freeze-then-fast-forward thing they have going is super annoying.

Dreaming . . . of Charles' upcoming Golden Weekend. Good grief. Prior to the start of residency, I'd heard of these "Golden Weekends" or weekends where a resident is off Saturday and Sunday. At the time, I was oblivious to how golden that time off really can be. We are both counting down the days. This has been one looooooong rotation. It's been good, because Charles has learned a ton and grown a lot as a doctor. But oh my gosh! are we both ready for some down time and some family time and some veg on the couch and just be together time.

Loving . . . dry shampoo. Okay, I know I'm more than a little late to the party, but I finally picked some up over the weekend after thinking about it for forever. I was so excited by the difference in made in my day-old dirty hair! I generally only wash every other day, but by the end of day 2, I always feel so greasy. With the dry shampoo, though, I felt so much better. As a bonus, I didn't feel like the only option for my hair was a ponytail, which often ends up giving me a headache, so double-win.

Needing . . . a hair cut. All this hair talk reminds me. It's getting long and limp and more difficult to manage. Blegh.

Thankful for . . . the fact that, in spite of Charles' crazy schedule, he was able to join us for Mass Saturday evening and dinner afterwards.  We always prefer to worship as a family, and it was close this week, but he made it!

Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary . . . I will never tire of having time in the morning to drink coffee, spend some time on the computer, and have it be quiet, peaceful, solitary. I talk about it a lot, because sometimes, oh, is it hard to get up. But once I do it, I'm so glad I did.

Praying . . . I'm actively seeking to add some prayer and scripture into that morning quiet time, beginning, simply, with the readings of the day, which always provide the perfect amount of text for reflection. So often, when I read scripture, I try to devour it like a novel. In that way, I get burned out and don't experience spiritual growth. Instead, I need to take it in small increments so that I can ponder and pray.