Currently...(8)

"Currently..." updates will be every other Tuesday, concurrent with Katy Upperman.

I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!

Loving
The main thing I love right now - and that I kind of hinted at in my last post - is my new blog, GIRL ON THE ROAM! It's travel-themed (with a geeky lens) and will have more mixed content - ranging from photo essays to musings to my travel reads to poetry.

Here's the ABOUT page for more info. Essentially, it's a blog for sharing my wanderlust and for helping me refill the creative well. Do poke around, but please excuse some of the empty sections as I start to get content up.

I hope you'll check it out and give it a follow if you're interested!

And don't worry! I'll still be blogging here at A Nudge as usual. The other blog will just have more lifestyle/ navel-gazing type stuff. :)


Watching

HANNIBAL! Sadly, it was announced that NBC has cancelled the show, so this current season is the last one. Here's hoping someone else picks them up because c'mon, WHY WOULDN'T YOU?! It's so good! They'll still be going to SDCC though, so I'm looking forward to that.

Tons of Lifetime movies. The Sister has been sucked into the weekend marathons, and I have somehow gotten sucked into them too. They are so dramatic and often kinda bad, lol.

In a similar vein, I'm actually really enjoying the Lifetime TV show, UNREAL. It's a scripted drama about the making of a reality TV show very much like The Bachelor. The behind-the-scenes drama and manipulation is fascinating, and I think it's cool that it focuses mainly on two very complex women.


Reading
Just finished a beta read. Finishing up Vol 6. of The Sandman.


Listening to
Ryn Weaver's debut album The Fool. As usual, the Sister is the one who introduced me to her with this song:




Anticipating
STAR WARS movie marathon! We're going to have at least a mini-one over 4th of July weekend because one of our friends has never seen any of the movies. She wants to be prepared for SDCC.

And then, of course, Comic Con is the week after! Aaaahhhh!

Wishing
For more vacation days. Any of you who read my RSW updates know I've been struggling to get more sleep. Very much going to enjoy this upcoming long weekend.

Making me happy

Finally having the cafe date with two of our friends that's been months in the making. Getting my first Owlcrate box! It was diversity themed and perfectly coincided with the Supreme Court decision upholding marriage equality!


ALSO: seeing newest Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at his home track (and my local track) Santa Anita Park. This was such a moment for me and my friend G because we both went through an intense horse and horse-racing phase growing up, and when you've read so many books that feature the Triple Crown, it becomes a huge thing seeing it happen in real life. In fact, possibly the first big trip I took without my family was with G right after freshman year of college to go to New York in June to see the Belmont Stakes. There wasn't a Triple Crown hopeful that year, but it was still incredible to be at such a historic track for that race.

Basically, we've been hoping for a Real Life Triple Crown winner in our time since childhood.

Isn't he beautiful? And so cute!

It was a wish come true when American Pharoah won the Belmont earlier this month, becoming the 12th winner of the Triple Crown and ending a 37-year drought. The last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978!

So, of course, we had to see him when they said he'd be paraded at Santa Anita this last weekend.

Photo source: Gennia (@gennia on Instagram)

Plus, we used to spend so much time at the track in high school, that it was kind of nice to be back there again. I always love seeing the horses in the paddock, the lead ponies waiting around, and Seabiscuit's statue overlooking it all. (First set of photos from the Sister.)

Seabiscuit- not a Triple Crown winner, but completely owned one in a match race.

How's life going with you?

RSW 2015: Week 4

Ready.Set.Write! is a summer writing intensive hosted by Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. Click the banner or the link previous for more information on the intensive.

We're checking in every Monday, and the link-up will be on the host blogs. This is the first week of updates!

1. How I did on last week’s goals

• Write for 15 min every day. Still struggling to write every single day, but have managed to get words down at least on the weekends. I think I also figured out a major strand of character motivation, so that's going to be helpful!
• Finish a beta read and send notes. Done!
• Start next beta read. Not yet.
• Go to the gym/exercise at least 2 times a week. Yes! Did longer sessions too. Yay!
• Get more sleep. Need to do better on this. I actually had a lapse from exhaustion this weekend, which was not fun. Fingers crossed I get better at this before Comic Con because that's going to be even more not-sleeping. :P

2. My goal(s) for this week

• Write for 15 min every day
• Start next beta read
• Finish up SDCC-related crafting
• Go to the gym/exercise at least 2 times a week
• Get more sleep

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Slowly but surely - it was a somewhat less frustrating week. The writing hasn't been coming any easier, but as I mentioned above, I think I figured out something about one of the main character relationships. Hoping this leads to an easier time drafting.


4. The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write)

Focus. Lots of things vying for my attention this past week. Every time I think things are going to slow down, it picks right back up. See the not getting enough sleep part.


5. Something I love about my WiP

Complicated relationships - or at least I hope they'll be once I get through with them.


How did you do with your goals this week?


P.S. Sorry I didn't really make my RSW rounds last week. Will try to do better this week, and please know that I am cheering all of you on and really appreciate your support. *huggles*

RSW 2015: Week 3

Ready.Set.Write! is a summer writing intensive hosted by Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. Click the banner or the link previous for more information on the intensive.

We're checking in every Monday, and the link-up will be on the host blogs. This is the first week of updates!

1. How I did on last week’s goals

• Write for 15 min every day. I didn't manage the 15 minutes every day, but I got 3 out of 7! Didn't do better this week in terms of getting daily writing into a habit, but I did write more on one of those days to try to make up for it.
• Finish a beta read and send notes. Nearly finished the read. Still need to send notes.
• Start next beta read. Not yet.
• Get more sleep. Unfortunately, no. Busy, busy week. I did, however, go get a foot massage, so yay for that!

2. My goal(s) for this week

As with last week, I'm adding in a few non-writing goals.

• Write for 15 min every day
• Start next beta read
• Go to the gym/exercise at least 2 times a week.
• Get more sleep

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Frustrating - the writing has been tough going this week, and I kind of hate the words I managed, but I think I've just got to go through it.


4. The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write)

I think finding energy and time to write will be a theme of this section - at least for the next few weeks. Comic Con is on the horizon, which is always busy-making, and there's a lot of moving and shaking happening at work, which adds to this stress.


5. Something I love about my WiP

Since my WIP is a semi-retelling of Cinderella, it's always fun for me to play with the elements of the fairytale - what to twist, what to keep, what to dump.


How did you do with your goals this week?

5 Fandom Friday (20)

(New Graphic by Darling Stewie)

5 Fandom Friday is a geek-blogger community building project started and hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick. Every Friday, post a top 5 list based on a predetermined topic that can be found on this master post - you can also find more info on the project there. Participate as frequently or infrequently as you like, and if a topic doesn't especially appeal to you, feel free to put your own twist on it.

Also, tweet at @superspacechick or @thenerdygirlie on Friday with your post (and they'll RT) and use the #Fandom5 hashtag so we can all connect!


This week's theme: Characters With My Favorite Fictional Fashion (via @1CuriousWrite)

It's been a while since I've done a Fandom 5 post, but I was excited about this topic because I love clothes! My mind went to book characters first, but once I remembered TV counted too, picking my 5 was easy.


1) Felicity Smoak (TV: Arrow) - Felicity immediately popped into my mind because I love her clothes. They're colorful, fun, and cover the range of casual to cute to chic to sexy.

2) Celaena Sardothien (Book: Throne of Glass series) - Not only is this girl an assassin, she's also a bona fide fashionista. Whenever she has to get dressed up for a ball, her gowns sound like they're straight off the couture runway - and I love how the series' book covers reflect Celaena's dual sense of style. Badass assassin to style icon.

3) Joan Watson (TV: Elementary) - From the very beginning, Lucy Liu's modern, genderbent Watson has been effortlessly chic. Season 1's Watson mostly wore clean neutrals, but as the seasons have progressed, she's started wearing bolder patterns and more color. Whatever she wears though, she always makes me want to raid her closet.

4) Violet White (Book: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea) - Violet's wardrobe is perfect for what she is - a modern Gothic heroine. She lives in a crumbling mansion by the sea, has absent artist parents, and gets caught up with someone tall, dark, and handsome. Her clothes are a mix of paint-splattered coveralls and camisoles and her dead grandmother's vintage blouses and skirts.


5) Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (TV: Pushing Daisies) - Pushing Daisies is one of my favorite shows (gone too soon, alas!), and part of its charm was its unapologetic use of design and color. Particularly to-die-for (haha) were Chuck's outfits. Everything she wore was some combination of saturated color, playful patterns, and retro silhouettes, and it was all bright, bold, and bee-autiful!

This is basically my dream closet.

Which fictional character's wardrobe do you drool over?

Currently...(7)

"Currently..." updates will be every other Tuesday, concurrent with Katy Upperman.

I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!

Loving

I'm loving the fact that Sarah Enni lives near enough to me now that we can have monthly food dates. We just had our June catch-up where she told me about her European travels in May, and we planned a little for upcoming SDCC! We had brunch at this hidden gem called The Cliff's Edge that Sarah had found.


We also talked about what the Twilight movies did well versus the hot(?) mess trainwreck that was the 50 Shades of Gray movie, which I had recently seen w/ friends on DVD. (It's...bad.)

I'm also loving...funnel cake ice cream sandwiches (mine was strawberries & cream) and pretty book mail!



Watching

HANNIBAL is back, and it is somehow even more bloody and beautiful than ever. Maybe it's because the show (so far) is set in Italy this year, or maybe it's just because no other show on TV looks as visually stunning as this one does.

Jurassic World! While the main human characters (except for the 2 kids) were kind of bland, the dinosaurs did not disappoint. All in all, quite entertaining! The raptors were our favorite. Never mess with velociraptors (which in actuality don't look anything like they do in the movies; they're supposed to have feathers!).

Reading

• Ms. Marvel Vol. 2
• Finishing a beta read, and will begin another beta for someone else after
• Haven't decided what the next book I'm going to read is... Maybe Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy

Listening to

• Florence + the Machine's new album. I love Ship to Wreck, but I'm currently in love with Long & Lost.
• The song King by Brit electronica band Years & Years.

Thinking about

The craft projects I've decided to take on. One of them is another flower crown I hope to have in time for Comic Con. The other involves drawing and painting. It's been a long time since I've done either, but I do always enjoy it!


Anticipating

Comic Con is in less than a month! I can't believe it. San Diego, look out!


Making me happy

Trip planning with my best girls! I requested a trip for my birthday celebration and they enthusiastically hopped on board. You'll hear more about this in the future here, I'm sure.

I'm working on another project that I can't wait to share with you, but it's not quite ready yet. You'll be the first to know, and I hope you like it!


How's life going with you?

RSW 2015: Week 2

Ready.Set.Write! is a summer writing intensive hosted by Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. Click the banner or the link previous for more information on the intensive.

We're checking in every Monday, and the link-up will be on the host blogs. This is the first week of updates!

1. How I did on last week’s goals

I'd say 50/50. I didn't manage the 15 minutes every day, but I got 4 out of 7! Will attempt to do better this coming week.

2. My goal(s) for this week

I forgot that we can set other goals for RSW too, so I'll add those in here.

• Write for 15 min every day
• Finish a beta read and send notes
• Start next beta read
• Get more sleep

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Rusty - as in, writing is like a muscle and I haven't exercised mine (at least on the story-writing front) in a long while and I felt it! Eep.


4. The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write)

As I suspected last week, finding the energy to write. Last week was especially busy thanks to deadlines at work and future fun planning with my friends after work.


5. Something I love about my WiP

I love some of the little world details I'd forgotten I'd written previously, so it was nice to rediscover them.

How did you do with your goals this week?

RSW 2015: Week 1 (Goals)

It's time for Ready.Set.Write!, the summer writing intensive hosted by Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. Click the banner or the link previous for more information on the intensive.

I've participated the past 2 years and found it very motivating and fun! So if you need a little boost for your writing projects this summer, I recommend you join in. We're checking in every Monday, and the link-up will be on the host blogs.

This week's 1st post is for goal setting, but future posts will be updates using the following headings:

1. How I did on last week’s goals
2. My goal(s) for this week
3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised
4. The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write)
5. Something I love about my WiP

WEEK 1 - Goals

1. This summer I'd like to get the rough draft of my Cinders story done. I know, big goal but I've been picked at this story for years and I think I need to focus and write it down (and stop changing my mind on plot points).

2. Goals for this week: write for at least 15 minutes every day.

3. Word that sums up how I feel right now: determined.

4. My biggest challenge will be finding the energy to write. I've been so mentally exhausted lately.

So, are you ready to get writing? What are your goals?

Currently...(6)

"Currently..." updates will be every other Tuesday, concurrent with Katy Upperman.

I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!

Loving

• Meeting my aunt and uncle's new puppy Nina. She's a mastiff, so she's going to be huge! Loki wanted to play with her, but she was scared by his energy and speed, lol.

• Friends wanted to try one of those escape-the-room experiences, so we went to one over Memorial Day weekend. We had an hour to get out of an "asylum" by exploring the rooms and finding clues to help us unlock doors. It was pretty fun and only a little creepy. Luckily, the Sis and I were more prepared for the creep factor thanks to going to Sleep No More in NYC.

• A highlight of this past week has been the return of my good friend, Nancy! She's in Michigan for most of the year doing her doctor's residency, so it's always a treat when she comes home to visit. Mostly, this means late night chats, board game playing, and lots of snacking. She also read and loved one of my favorite books ever while she was here (The Song of Achilles, if you're curious. Highly, highly recommend).

• After going to Disneyland with friends, and then again with just the Sis for the new 60th Anniversary stuff, I've been obsessed with the whole candy minimal photo effect again. Candy minimal is a pop-art photo style created by Matt Crump, and it's so pretty and fun. So, here are my recent Disney minimals.

• Convincing my sister she needed to buy P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU, despite her protests that she could wait. (She's currently devouring the copy we went out and bought.)

• Sunnier and warmer weather. Fun lipstick colors (like the custom coral I had made at the Bite Beauty Lip Lab!).

Watching
Mad Max: Fury Road - saw this with friends and loved it! It was visually interesting, unabashedly over-the-top, and had pretty great female characters. Furiosa = everyone's favorite.

Sorta watching, Sons of Liberty - that History Channel mini-series from a few months ago. The DVD just came out, and of course, I bought it. I watched 2 of the behind-the-scenes docs already and fully plan on doing a re-watch. (I also just learned from Tracey that I've been pronouncing Concord - as in Concord, Massachusetts - wrong. It's not Con-CORD!)

TURN: I'm so sad the season is ending next week! I have loved this season because we're in the thick of the spy games, and I am loving all the maneuvering and manipulating - not to mention all the little historical details (like the submarine!).


Reading
Ms. Marvel Volume 2 - I am loving the voice and Kamala herself. She's such a teen and geek girl, but she's also doing pretty great as a superhero.

A Court of Thorns and Roses- so addictive! So far, my favorite is Lucien.

Starting a beta read for a tweep. Looking forward to it.


Thinking about
Which of my neglected writing projects I'm going to work on for Ready.Set.Write! Need to start really thinking about Comic Con prep.


Anticipating
Hannibal, Hannibal, Hannibal! My favorite on-going show returns this Thursday, and after the bloodbath and dire straits they left practically the entire cast in at the end of Season 2, I am dying to know when/where/how they pick up in Season 3. This dinner date is on. I'm ready for this twisted, beautiful feast.

Ready.Set.Write! Again, click for more info! Thanks again to the wonderful hostesses!

A haircut because that is overdue, though the color is fading out nicely. I want to keep my length but kinda want a different look?


Wishing
My cold would go away already! That I had more energy. That 3-day weekends were the norm. Also, go away June gloom! You've been hanging around since May!


Making me happy
Pie and random adventures.

• The pie was actually payment for helping a friend with a video shoot. Unfortunately, he needed us to ride bikes and the bikes were too tall for short me and the Sis. So we ended up just hanging around and taking photos while the bike-riding was happening. And we still got pie out of it!

• We also checked out a bar arcade, where we didn't drink and mostly played pinball. My friend and I used to be pretty good at the one machine at our local theater in high school. Alas, looks like our skills only applied to that one machine.

• Loki 3-year anniversary! I can't believe he used to be this little and that it's been 3 years since the Sis adopted him!

• He used to be so little! He was also a big old snuggle bug this weekend, so he was particularly cute and cooperative when we took these selfies with him.

Update me on your currently in the comments or in a blog post!