This is a little guest post series I’ll be hosting with some of my favorite bloggers while I’m adjusting to life with a newborn (again). I asked each of them to share a quick list of four items: something they bought recently (or are currently shopping for), a hobby or trend they are experimenting with, a book (or blog) they are reading, and the TV show they never miss/most recent Netflix binge. Fun right?
Today, I’m excited to welcome Kendra of Catholic All Year
Kendra is actually the cousin of one of my best friends, so I kind-of consider her a “real life” friend too even though we’ve only really met in person a couple of times, and I know her A LOT better as the voice behind her blog. She lives in southern California with her husband and SEVEN kids (plus one on the way), and she’s pretty much a homeschooling, party-throwing, book-writing super woman! And, yes, for the record, she totally makes me want to let my hair go gray and get cool glasses (and maybe six more kids). Here’s her cute family:
Shouldn’t they totally have a reality show or something?
Anyway, here’s what Kendra’s…
Buying – I’ve been finishing up a little shopping for my spring/summer capsule wardrobe. I plan to make the switch from winter sometime this week and be all ready to be springy and new for Easter. This will be my third season doing the “30-40 pieces in the closet and that’s it” capsule thing (the rest gets stored or donated), and I am totally smitten by it. It’s really a great way to declutter my closet (and therefore my life) a bit, and wear only things that I love and that actually fit me at this particular moment. My winter capsule was a bit of a challenge, because I found out I was expecting over Thanksgiving weekend, when I was making the switch from my fall capsule wardrobe. So, I added a pair of maternity jeans in there at the last minute. Mostly the growing belly part hasn’t been a problem. I avoid actual maternity clothing whenever possible anyway. But what HAS been getting me is that spring comes to Los Angeles well before it comes to the calendar. I haven’t wanted to switch over in the middle of Lent, because a new wardrobe of spring colors and short sleeves just seems like something that should go with Easter. Even though I had most of it already, but it’s been away in a drawer and that makes it FEEL new. So, I’ve been down to a rotation of a three short sleeved dresses, one sleeveless top, and some jeans cuffed into capri pants for the past couple of weeks. I will make it! And it’s made me even more excited about the new pieces. I’ve made some great finds at ModCloth and thredUp, and even splurged on a new Easter dress from Boden. Hooray!
Trying – Hmm . . . I’m thinking a thousand year old piece of cloth depicting the events of the Norman conquest of England is going to be a tough sell as a “trend.” But THAT’S what I’ve been working on. On the Normandy leg of our family trip around France last spring, I picked up a kit to recreate one little section of the Bayeux Tapestry, and have just finally started on it. I love working with the linen and wool, it seems so old-timey. And I like that there is an embroidery technique specific to the Bayeux Tapestry (which as you’ve probably figured out, isn’t actually a tapestry, it’s a piece of embroidery), so I feel a connectedness with the embroiderers of eleventh century France whenever I pick it up.
Reading – I’m always reading a stack of books at any given time. Right now I’m doing Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson as a read aloud with the kids. I’m not sure how we like it yet, because we are only one chapter in. We just finished Freddy Goes to the North Pole, and before that Freddy Goes to Florida, and both of those were absolutely darling and I can’t recommend them enough as a read aloud for kids of all ages. My spiritual reading is Chosen and Cherished: Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage by Kimberly Hahn, which I’m doing as a two person book club book with a gal who is getting married soon. It’s good for me to read it again. It really is a lovely book. And my fiction reading is The Book Thief, I know, I know, I’m only ten years late to the party on this one. I saw the movie a few months ago and enjoyed it. And I was looking for fiction book that seemed appropriately somber (for Lent), so . . . I decided to give it a try. I’m just about halfway through, and . . . it’s okay, but I’m thinking I’m going to have to add this one to my The Movie is Better Than the Book list (currently containing The Princess Bride, North and South, and Mary Poppins, among others). I’m distracted by all the weird formatting, and I enjoyed the story better without all the input from the narrator (same with The Princess Bride) and without all the German swear words that I can’t pronounce.
Watching – Unlike books, I like to only ever be watching one show at a time. And I like to be watching it on Netflix, so I don’t have to wait a whole week between episodes like a cave person. The show I’m watching now is Bones. I’ve really been enjoying it, but I’m normally more of a BBC girl and those shows tend to last only a couple of seasons. I think I’m in season six of the nine they have on Netflix, and I’m maybe starting to get burnt out on it. I’ve taken a break over the last few days to try to wade through some of the educational-type series available on Netflix streaming in the hopes of finding a few I’d want to plop my older kids (the seven to twelve year olds who don’t nap) in front of this summer when I have a newborn and it’s 100 degrees outside. So far I’ve watched a couple of episodes each of How the States Got Their Shapes (the language is a tiny bit edgy for kids, “crap” and “damn,” but it’s otherwise entertaining and interesting), and Dear America (much more compelling than I expected, but oh my gracious, all the people die. the neighbor’s baby? dies. your mom? dies. the shirtless native guy whose tribe kidnapped you but now you’re thinking you want to marry? yep. he dies.) If anyone has recommendations for science, history, or art shows on Netflix streaming that would be appropriate for middle schoolers, I would love to hear about them.
Thanks Kendra!
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