Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month (but sometimes more) feature where I talk about some of my favorite things from the last month!

2015 was a really interesting year for me!  I did some really fun things, and I wanted to talk about some of my favorite things from the last year, as well as some of the things that happened in December.

As for December happenings, Christmas was awesome, and it was fun to see my family.  Also: I forgot how fun Christmas is when there are little kids.

I’ve been on a cleaning spree since the house was tented right before New Year’s.  I’ve spent a good chunk of the first few days going through clothes, jewelry…and even my bookshelves (but only a little bit for the books).  My room already feels less cluttered and more clean, and I can’t wait until I’m completely done.  I have a couple of areas I need to go through, but I’ve done the major areas of my room, so I’m not in any hurry to go through everything else, but I’ll probably do that soon.  Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up has been really helpful!  I don’t think I’ll use everything she talks about but it really helped with going in a certain order and keeping things that spark joy.

Crochet:

I made a granny square baby blanket and a baby hat last month for someone at work.  The granny square blanket was really good practice for the granny square project I’m doing this year, especially with joining the smaller squares to the main blanket.  I also made a soap saver for a secret santa, and I think I’m going to make one for myself!

I’m also working on a yoda hat (also for someone at work, but a different person), and while I have the hat done, the ears are giving me some trouble- I’ve tried a few different patterns, but a couple did not look Yoda-like at all, another sort of did, but wasn’t pointy enough, and so I’m hoping the pattern I’m using currently will work out.  I don’t know if I necessarily have a favorite thing I made, but I am fond of the unicorn hat I made and the Luna Lovegood scarf I made a few months ago.

Books:

You can check out my favorite books from 2015 here, so I won’t go into my 2015 favorites, but I do hope that 2016 doesn’t have as many reading slumps as 2o15.  There’s also a list of my favorite new-to-me authors.

I did get a few books last month- I got Kindred from Audible, and I got Rebels By Accident by Patricia Dunn, All The Rage by Courtney Summers and All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds for my Nook- having a gift card for Barnes And Noble was awesome because I got to get some new books and not spend any of my money!  I’ve been trying to keep the book-buying to a minimum, but somehow, a gift card made me feel more okay about buying some books.

T.V./Movies:

Doctor Who is probably my favorite new t.v. show I’ve watched last year, and for movies, Cinderella, Mockingjay, Avengers and Insurgent were some of my favorites.  Then again, the four movies I mentioned are also the four I actually remember going to see, even though I know I saw more movies than that.  I definitely want to go to the movies more this year, because last year, I didn’t go a lot.  I still need to see Star Wars- I’ll probably do that this weekend!

Top Three Favorite Things I Did:

1. Welcome To Night Vale!  The live show was awesome, and it made me love Night Vale even more!
2. The Knit And Crochet Show.  I was so glad I got to go last year, since it was in San Diego!  I learned a lot in the couple of classes I took and I got some very pretty, soft yarn!
3. I went to a Harry Potter party!  Seriously, it was so much fun to dress up as Luna!

Around The Internet:

Last month, I loved seeing this story about some students who saved the school librarian’s job.

These coloring books make me want to color more.

I need to keep this article about getting out of a rut in mind.

I barely pinned or bookmarked anything for December, but you can find a lot more on Pinterest.

Favorite New Podcasts:

1. Gilmore Guys.  It makes me want to re-watch Gilmore Girls and possibly resurrect the Gilmore Girls Recap I was doing ages and ages ago.
2. The Black Tapes.  This fictional, Serial-style podcast is so creepy but amazing, and it’s so realistic that I forget it’s not real.
3. I’m Dying Here.  The host has terminal colon cancer, and I really like listening to his experience.
4. Nerdist podcast.  The interviews are always fun to listen to, and it feels more like a conversation than an interview.
5. The Air-Raid podcast.  I’ve discovered some new music because of this podcast, and it’s always interesting to listen to the interviews with the artists.

Favorite Albums:

1. 1989 by Taylor Swift.  This one has been out for a while, but I still listen to it all the time!  It’s definitely my favorite Taylor Swift album to date.
2. 50 Shades Of Grey Soundtrack.  I haven’t read the books or seen the movie, but the soundtrack is completely amazing.  I’m not the biggest fan of the Crazy In Love remix (it’s my least favorite and I always skip over it) but I love every other song on the album!
3. Native Dreamer Kin by Joseph.  I heard about them on a podcast, and fell in love with their music.

Songs:

1. Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon
2. Here by Alessia Cara
3. Bad Habit by The Kooks
4. Seeing Stars by Borns.  Fool and Electric Love are also worth checking out.
5. Align by Aby Wolf
6. Lean On by Major Lazer
7. Hello by Adele
8. Weathered by Jack Garratt

I think that’s all for today, have a great week and a great year!