Currently Obsessed with is a once-a-month (sometimes more) feature where I talk about my favorite things and what’s been going on over the last month.

October is over!  Which means NaNoWriMo has started (and I’ve already talked about it a bit here).  I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just weeks away, and that Christmas will be soon after that!

Nails:

I’m really starting to love the customizable Julep Maven box!  I really do.  For October’s box, I didn’t like 2 of the 3 selected colors, so I switched them out for Logan, and the Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat, plus I added Margarita,  I like the three colors, and I have a couple of holographic glittery top coats that I think might look really good on Ledi, the one color I kept.  I really liked Ledi, and Logan and Margarita were really pretty too.  I love the base coat I got, and I think it’s my favorite of the different ones I’ve used.  I can’t explain why but I feel like it makes my nails slightly more healthy.

I actually don’t have a picture because I could not get a good one if my life depended on, but I may add to next month’s nail polish update.

Crochet/Halloween:

I’m actually talking about my costume here, because I’ve done quite a bit of crocheting for my Halloween costume!  I decided to dress up as Anna from Frozen, for reasons I can’t remember (but probably because it was something I could throw together in a short amount of time).  There is something fun about a DIY-costume, and I was inspired by Disney Bound to do an inspired look, instead of a full-on costume.

I made a Princess Anna inspired hat that was part of my Halloween costume!  I found the pattern over on Etsy, and while I’m sure I could have found a free version somewhere, I really liked the look of this one.  Not going to lie, it did come out a bit crooked and the streak of white hair was on the wrong side, which, of course, I didn’t notice until I tried it on after finishing it and looked at it in a mirror, but I can actually see Anna wearing a crooked hat!  As for the stripe, I didn’t really care.  Plus…I finished it late Thursday, and there was no way I was going back to fix it.

I also made a capelet to go with my costume, but me being me, I didn’t give myself enough time to work on it. I used this pattern, which I wasn’t sure about at first, but I ended up really liking it once it I started crocheting it.  I got 11 rows done (of 16), and I’ll definitely be going back to finish the last few rows.  The nice thing about this pattern is that 8 rows in, and you have a nice little collarette.  It totally looked okay, though, and I borrowed a brooch from my grandma to pin it together.

I had a plain black top that I wore, and I found this really cute royal maxi skirt at Ross.  I have no idea why I don’t shop at Ross or TJ Maxx more.  I was torn between the maxi skirt and a dark blue knee-length skirt, but ended up getting both for less than each of the couple skirts at Kohl’s I was thinking about getting.  (Although I may end up getting at least one of them anyway because they’re super-cute).

I’m actually glad I went the Anna-inspired outfit, which I like for Halloween, because I’m only going to wear the costume one time.  And with an inspired costume, I end up with something I can wear throughout the year.

Books:

I didn’t get any print books, but I did get a few audio books.  My audible credit went to Crow by Barbara Wright and early in October I got Dark Days by Kate Ormand and We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson.  I’m really excited to listen to Crow, because it sounds really good!  And I feel the same way about Dark Days and We Have Always Lived In The Castle.

TV:

I’m slowly making my way through Blue Bloods, and am currently on season 4.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be done with it over the next week or two, and then…I’ll figure out what I want to watch next!  I really like American Horror Story and Walking Dead so far, and I actually really like everything that I’ve been watching.  I’ve given up on Resurrection- while I liked the first season, I also wasn’t sure about continuing, and with everything else I’m watching, I’ve decided that I will not be continuing with it right now.  Maybe I’ll watch it over the summer or something.

Around The Internet:

• I love these Tolkien-esque maps of American cities.
• This is by far the best post I’ve seen about reading whatever you want.
• I love this infographic about Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
• I like that this post is about going beyond race and gender in terms of reading diversely.  I tend to forget that there ARE SO MANY WAYS to read diversely, and this post reminded me of that.
• Also: This is such a good post about independent bookstores and romance novels.
• I love this post about language and mental illness.
• I’m not sure if I want to give more attention to the Kathleen Hale stuff but these two posts about it really struck a chord with me- one at The Perpetual Page Turner, and one at Dear Author.  (I also like Jamie’s post about a reading something).
• And I love this post about censorship.
• I also want to make these root beer baked beans and this broccoli cheddar soup.  Oh, and Lemon Oven Roasted Cauliflower.

Music:

There are a few songs I’ve been listening to over and over this month!

• All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor- I wasn’t sure about this song at first, but it’s really grown on me!

• Rather Be Clean Bandit- I don’t know why but this song makes me want to dance.

• When A Heart Breaks by Ben Rector- There’s something heartbreakingly beautiful about this song.

• Shake It Off by Taylor Swift- I can’t stop singing along to this song!

• Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo.  There’s something very chill about this song.

• Summer by Calvin Harris- I don’t know why my favorite songs by him are the ones he sings on. And Summer is quite catchy.