What I’m Loving Lately – January 2019
The Monday of months is finally over! January brought us brutal cold, so I’m not sad to see it go. It did give me an excuse to spend lots of time in front of our fire though! Head over to See You In A Porridge on Thursday for more monthly recaps from other bloggers.
TV Shows
Pride and Prejudice – The BBC mini series starring Colin Firth is just wonderful. A faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel that I’m happy to rewatch over and over.
The Grand Tour – We first started watching Top Gear a few years ago just before the stars were dropped from BBC. When Amazon Prime picked up Jeremy, Richard, and James May we couldn’t wait to tune in. Then we promptly got distracted by loads of other shows haha. We finally went back to the first season of The Grand Tour and honestly laugh so hard that my stomach hurts.
The Wire – It’s been at least a two year process making our way through The Wire. Each of the five seasons are INTENSE and it requires paying close attention to understand everything happening. I can honestly say it’s one of my all-time favorite shows though. The actors and writing are simply phenomenal.
Movies
Captain America – We snagged the trilogy for a great price on Black Friday. This was my first time watching the original and I found it entertaining.
Books
Check out my latest reading roundup here! I’m currently reading:
Events/Activities
Gestational Diabetes Test – I passed! I was a nervous wreck and my heart was racing the entire hour that I waited, but it came back within normal range. I don’t think I could have survived the three hour test. To celebrate I came home and ate a big ol snack of chocolate chips and peanut butter!
Board Game Weekend – Our friends dropped by for another quick overnight visit so we could continue our board game tradition. We played a round of Charterstone followed by an intense scenario in Gloomhaven (which is surprisingly in stock and on sale right now!!). We also introduced them to Overcooked on our PS4, which was a ton of fun to play with four people! Kitchen chaos!
Dad’s Retirement Lunch – We did the work version back in December, so in January my parents held a friends and family get together to celebrate my dad’s retirement! We all enjoyed the buffet lunch at Shady Maple and spent close to three hours chatting with relatives and friends of the family. My stretchy maternity pants got quite a workout!
Irish Pub Dinner – We stopped by a local Irish pub for dinner with friends one Sunday night. I ordered a lamb stew with a side of soda bread that was incredible. Already planning to go back when I can enjoy a drink as well 🙂
What I’m Loving
Tailwind – I splurged and purchased a year subscription to this Pinterest scheduling service in January. It’s already made a huge difference in my followers and number of clicks through to my blog. 100% worth the price thankfully.
Solo Pine – January was the month of blog investment since I also actually purchased a blog theme (Checking an item off my 2019 goals!). Solo Pine offers beautiful themes at reasonable prices and they are extremely responsive to my questions. There’s also a huge list of FAQs for each theme to help install and customize your site.
Stove cleaner – This isn’t a flashy product, but it’s one I use every few months when our electric stove gets a little cruddy. I want it to look bright white, so I use this mysterious cleaner to scrub away any burnt food bits and dark coloration. If anyone knows of a more natural stove cleaner that actually works I’m willing to give it a shot, but for now I’m using this one!
Newspaper Subscription – We signed up for a trial run of one of our local newspapers and I absolutely love it so far. For $.99 for 13 weeks we get digital access and the Sunday paper. It’s informative reading about both national and local issues.
Google Arts & Culture Extension – This is one of those features I didn’t realize I was missing, but makes me ridiculously happy. The Chrome extension features a different piece of artwork on your screen each time you open a new tab. It’s much more pleasant than the generic Google search screen and has introduced me to some unique art!
What were you loving in January?
Here’s what I was loving in December!
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Thanks for the tip on the google art extension. I’m always looking for ways to make Chrome more fun. Have a wonderful day!
Congrats on passing the GD test. I was a nervous wreck both times (and had to fight to keep the liquid down, that stuff is nasty, and when you’re already nauseated…). And congrats to your dad! My mom will retire in October and she’s sooooooooo ready. I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time with her. 🙂
My dad is planning to help watch our baby once a week so I can’t wait to spend more time with him as well. Enjoy your time with your mom!
Now I want Irish Pub dinner – I may suggest pub quiz this Sunday 😉
I can’t watch anything with Jeremy Clarkson – he annoys me so much!
i’ve been looking for a good stove cleaner for ages, i’ll have to give that one a go. i’d love to use natural products, but i have tried and they just haven’t worked… i am a messy cook lol. i will keep trying of course, but i don’t want to use something that doesn’t work.
congrats on passing the GD test!
love P&P forever and ever. i am listening to the soundtrack at work right now hahaha. it’s been too long since i’ve watched it, guess i know what i am doing this weekend 😉
interested in your thoughts when you finish caraval! i did not love it. i didn’t hate it, but i don’t remember much about it haha.
I’m a bit torn about Caraval because I certainly sped through it and found the concept interesting, but overall it’s not a favorite book.
Hooray for passing your gestational diabetes test! I remember being a nervous wreck when I had to take it and then when we were waiting on the results. And I love that you have a board game tradition with your friends, plus it makes for a great excuse to get together!
I love Pride and Prejudice 🙂
Congratulations on passing the GD test. I know I’d be a nervous wreck as well and yes, I’d probably have the same snack afterwards lol I need to read Caraval. I’ve had it for awhile now. Maybe that will be my next read.
Hope you get to Caraval soon! Once I started it was hard to stop.
I’ve heard so many times about how miserable the Gestational Diabetes test is…my doctor never had me do it and I wasn’t about to suggest it, so I skipped out on that one, haha!
I love the Captain America movies!