Enjoying lately

In weather: spring-like temps and finally gone snow. I feel my shoulders relax (rather than tense against the cold) when I step outside. It’s been cloudy, but at 65 degrees, I can’t be bothered about the sun.

In TV: Friday Night Lights. The whole series is on Netflix, and it’s an amazing combo of real-seeming relationships, poignant musical scoring, and Texas high school football, which takes me right back to my marching band days circa 1999-2003. We are huge fans of Parenthood, which recently aired its evocative final episodes, and a friend shared with me that the two shows share their executive producer/head writer—Jason Katims—and suggested that we might like FNL (thank you!). Hubs and I tried it out on a snow day, made it through 11 episodes in one sitting, and finished season one last night.

In books: I read Wonder this week on the suggestion of another dear friend. This book is quick and emotional juvenile fiction with enough struggle to be believable and enough resolution to be extremely satisfying.

In blogs: Erica at Laddventure has been writing beautifully lately about her and her husband’s journey to adopt from foster care. I’ve been both educated and moved to tears by her posts, and I feel so excited for their family as they move through the process and so thankful that she’s been sharing it with the interwebs.

In podcasts: I regularly listen to podcasts on my bus commute to avoid motion sickness that I sometimes get from reading. My two top podcasts of the moment are:

• Dear Sugar Radio with Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond, two writers who have each served as online advice columnist Sugar at The Rumpus and now teamed up to read Dear Sugar letters and give advice in podcast form. The podcast includes literary references, guest advice-givers, and a lovely conversational tone. Strayed also published a collection of her Dear Sugar columns as the fantastic Tiny Beautiful Things.
• The Girl Next Door Podcast with Erica Ladd (see blogs above) and Kelsey Wharton. These two next door neighbors chat about their lives, and topics range from light (neighborhood news) to weighty (how to know if you want to quit your job). Before I listened to this podcast, I didn’t imagine that I would love it as much as I do. Extremely likeable hosts, well-planned, yet natural conversations, and good sound quality combine to make me download this one immediately every time a new episode comes out.