Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month but sometimes more feature where I talk about everything I’m into and everything going on in my life.

Instead doing a Currently Obsessed With post just for December, I thought it would be fun to do a year-end one!  It’s been quite a year for me.  Getting a new car is the biggest thing that happened this year (but getting it as a result of a totaled car was not fun) and finding out that my job went from temporary to permanent was also great.  Winning NaNo and realizing that I wanted to re-write was great, but spraining your ankle is not, especially when it means you don’t write anything.  You’d think not moving or being able to walk normally would be good for your word count, except for I kept getting distracted by Netflix and Hulu and the internet.

Nails & Beauty:

I’ve shared quite a few Julep Maven Boxes this year, and I really love getting them!  I’ve opted out for the last couple of months, because I haven’t been super interested in the colors they’ve had.  They’ve been colors I’m not interested in wearing because they’re not my style, and the ones I do like are way too similar to colors I already have, and I don’t need 3 variations of eggplant or navy blue.  I am really glad I upgraded to the customizable box, which is great when I don’t like a color, and want to switch to something I will wear. Obviously, it’s not helpful when I don’t like any of the colors.  But it’s still worth it.

Crochet:

I’ve crocheted quite a bit this year!  Like, I started a blanket that I would go on to abandon once it got crazy hot.  I did pick it back up again on Christmas, but it’s going to be put on hold while I finish up this one project- I believe I mentioned a super-secret crochet project that I will be finished with this month, and then I’ll actually be able to talk about it!

I crocheted a small bird, a Christmas ball coaster turned ornament, and a couple of scarves!  They were all Christmas presents- two for friends (the bird and one scarf, in plum), one for my grandma (the Christmas ball coaster ornament) and for a Secret Santa at work (the other scarf but in blue).

About that coaster ornament I came across this really cool pattern for Christmas coasters, and made one for my grandma.   I did feel like looking for cotton yarn, so I used some acrylic, and found that it would be a great ornament, since you have to make a chain so you can hang it on a hook.  It ended up being too big for an ornament, so if I decide to do it as an ornament again, I’ll definitely make it a round or two smaller.

Click here if you want the crochet bird pattern and here for the scarf pattern I used.

I also got a couple of really awesome crochet gifts, and they really are my favorite gifts that I got this year. Golden Snitch slippers and a Hufflepuff Ninja Scarf!  (My nickname is Snark Ninja, and since one end of the scarf had a lot of yellow, my one friend decided the other end needed a lot of black, which is quite ninja-like, hence a Hufflepuff Ninja scarf).

Books:

I have covered general year-end book stuff over the last few weeks: Top 10 New-To-Me Authors, Top 13 Favorite Books, Top 10 Resolutions, which is both bookish and non-bookish, I looked back at the resolutions I made a year ago, and the 2014 End-Of-Year Book Survey.

But there are still a few things I wanted to talk about!

I really want to read more diversely this year (I’ll totally be talking about that at some point in the next couple of weeks), and I used my audible credit to get 2 books- yay for 2 books for 1 credit sales!  I got Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Reading Lolita In Tehran by Azar Nafisi.  I have a couple of Adichie’s book on my TBR, and when I saw Americanah, during Audible’s 2-for-1 sale, I knew I had to get it.  Same thing for Reading Lolita In Tehran, which I’ve wanted to read for a while.  I’m actually glad I checked out the sale, because I found a couple of interesting books.

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas, and that went towards some Kindle books!  I do have the Kindle app, but I don’t use it often.  Mostly for ARC’s, because for some reason, it’s a pain to get them onto the Nook tablet, and I’m way too lazy to figure it out.

Anyway, here’s what I got:

• What If by Rebecca Donovan
• Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
• As Red As Blood by Salla Simukka
• Out Of Shadows by Jason Wallace
• Whatever Life Throws At You by Julie Cross.

And one final thing: Pottermore!  I was originally a beta tester when it first opened, but I went away from it for a really long time before coming back to it a few months ago.  I had quite a bit to get through, which was nice.  But I’ve been really disappointed with Order Of The Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince.  Given how big these 2 books are, there hasn’t been a lot of moments or new information, and it’s disappointing.

It does feel rushed to me, even though I know a lot of work has to go into illustrating the moments, and picking them, and adding in sound and the narration and everything.  I’m hoping that at some point, more things will be added to these two books, and that there are more moments in Deathly Hallows.  It seems unlikely but I’m still hopeful.

Book Stats:

I have yet to do a full break-down, but it’s always fun to do this.  I have some general numbers, plus it’s broken down by source, format and rating.

Basics:

Books Read: 140

Average Read Per Month: 11.67

Average Rating For All Books Read: 3.51

Source:

Own: 99

Borrowed: 3

Library: 1

ARC’s (through Netgalley or the publisher): 37 total (28 through netgalley, 9 directly from the publisher)

Format:

E-books: 117

Audio: 16

Print: 7

Rating:

0 Stars/DNF: 10

1 Star: 1

2 Stars: 12

3 Stars: 53

4 Stars: 58

5 Stars: 16

TV:

I’ve watched a lot of t.v. over the last year!  Once Upon A Time is a favorite, as is Gray’s Anatomy and Scandal. New favorites are The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Heart Of Dixie, and The 100.  I’ve been watching Breaking Bad again, and I’m going to start up with Downton Abbey.  And hopefully, I’ll start doing my Gilmore Girls recaps again.  I am sad about the death of Edward Herrmann (and the others we’ve lost this year, like Maya Angelou, Joan Rivers and Robin Williams, amongst others).

Movies:

I’ve seen quite a few movies this year, and here are some of my favorites.

Animated:

• Frozen
• How To Train Your Dragon 2

Comics:

• Captain America 2
• Guardians Of The Galaxy

Movie adaptations:

• Divergent made me love Four and Tris even more
• Mockingjay, Part 1- I really liked that it focused on the characters
• The Giver, which made me think of the book in a different way
• If I Stay, which I liked but not as much as I thought
• The Fault In Our Stars…it took me a good day to recover from all the crying

Also: I love that ABC Family has the occasional Harry Potter Marathon Weekend, which is what I did last weekend.  I watched Deathly Hallows, Part 2 for the first time since I saw it in theaters.  It’s so weird, because I can’t bring myself to watch it on DVD, because I feel like if I do, then the series is really, truly over.  I know it makes no sense whatsoever, since both books and movies have been over for several years now, but…that’s still my general feeling.  T.V. is perfectly fine for some reason, but I just can’t bring myself to watch it on DVD.

Around The Internet:

I’ve shared quite a few great articles throughout the year.  I’ve decided not to share any this month, but I did finally start a Pinterest board for all of them, which you can check out here.  I bookmark so many things, and I knew there had to be an easier way to keep everything in one place.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.

My Favorite Things To Listen To:

Albums:

• Frozen Soundtrack: I’m still listening to it.  A lot.
• Guardians Of The Galaxy, Awesome Mix, Volume 1: It’s so much fun to listen to, and they did a great job with this soundtrack.
• Divergent Soundtrack: Still listening to it months later.  It’s a favorite.
• Shatter Me by Lindsay Stirling.  I am such a huge fan, and I can listen to Shatter Me over and over again.
• Red by The Dallas String Quartet.  I love that it’s covers played on string instruments.  They are so good!

Songs:

• Interception from Beautiful Creatures
• Dark Horse by Katy Perry
• Sleeping With A Friend by The Neon Trees
• Ain’t It Fun by Paramore
• I Will Be There by Odessa

One Podcast Recommendation:

• Serial, which is now over.  I’m actually glad I started listening at what would be the last couple of episodes, since I got to listen to most of it at once.  But at the same time, I kind of wish I had more time with it.  At least I’ll get to listen to season 2 as it comes out.  Is anyone else listening to Serial?  If you haven’t, I seriously recommend it.