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Currently // Unsettled

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Time // About noon… we had friends over late last so it’s been a slow Sunday.

Place // Sitting in my favorite chair, getting ready to watching the Vikings-Bears game… and the Vikings just returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Wow!

Eating // Nothing yet, but I have some leftover homemade pizza from last night that I’m looking forward to grabbing in a few minutes.

Drinking // Water

Reading // As you can maybe guess from the photos at the top of the post (no books), I haven’t done much reading this week. I can’t seem to settle into anything that I start. I’ve read a few chapters in Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, and about 2/3 of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam. I tried starting an ARC of The Goldfinch, but it was late at night and I got sleepy. This week I need to decide on a book to blurb for October for Bloggers Recommend, but otherwise don’t have many reading plans.

Watching // The Boyfriend and I got caught up with a couple favorite shows, The League and Breaking Bad. The last season of Fringe is (finally) on Netflix, so I’ll be watching that the next couple of weeks.

Listening // I impulsively bought a wireless bluetooth speaker while I was out shopping yesterday, which was amazing to set up in my kitchen while I was cooking. I got basically caught up with my favorite podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Cooking // One of the ladies in our office brought in a huge bag of tomatoes she didn’t want, so I got to bring a ton home on Friday. I spent yesterday afternoon prepping, cutting, and freezing a few pounds. I also made some tomato sauce that we used on a pizza, and plan to use the rest to make some pasta for dinner tonight. It was fun to try something new like that.

Blogging // Inspired by a great Twitter conversation on Friday afternoon, Jennifer (Literate Housewife), Shannon (River City Reading) are working on putting together a survey for book bloggers about longevity, inspiration, and blogger burnout. We’re still working on questions — suggestions more than welcome — but I will be sure to let you know about it when we’re ready.

Promoting // Related to blogging, there have been a bunch of great posts from bloggers I admire about why they blog and the future of blogging: Necromancy Never Pays, Beth Fish Reads, and The 3R’s Blog. There have been others, I think, but I can’t think of them at the moment.

Hating // I don’t like feeling as unsettled as I did this week — I miss reading! — but I think I turned a corner yesterday.

Loving // One of the best pieces of advice I got from What the Most Successful People Do Before BreakfastΒ (which includes advice on improving mornings, weekends and work)Β Β is that the best way to have rejuvenating, fulfilling weekends is to make plans to do things you love or are excited about. I tried doing that this weekend and really did feel better about how my Saturday went. I can’t wait to finish that book and write more about it. Also, I love that having friends over got me to clean my house — it looks so nice in here right now. Oh, and I got a haircut this week. It’s a bit shorter than usual, but I’m really starting to like it.

Wanting // I want to go shopping for some new clothes. I sort of hate everything I own at the moment… I may splurge a bit on a shopping trip next weekend.

Anticipating // We got some very fall-like weather this week, which has been great. I can’t wait to wear scarves and make soup and maybe experiment with baking my own bread.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Sandy September 15, 2013, 3:08 pm

    Oh man, I so want cooler weather. I’ll take anything in the low 80’s even! I want to start making soup and wear jeans again. As far as blogger burnout, I am there. So I will happily provide my opinions when that survey comes around!

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:39 pm

      I can’t wait to make soup! I started pulling out my reciped this weekend.

  • bermudaonion (Kathy) September 15, 2013, 3:30 pm

    I haven’t been reading much either but it’s because of a lack of time. I don’t know how people find the time to be bored! I wish I could go shopping with you – I need new clothes too.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:38 pm

      I have no idea either. I can’t imagine being seriously bored πŸ™‚

  • Florinda September 15, 2013, 3:43 pm

    1) Thanks for linking to that post of mine, which seems to dovetail a bit with
    1a) the survey you’re working on w/Jennifer and Shannon. This seems to be on a lot of our minds lately!

    2) I really like the new haircut!

    I hope you can find your reading groove this week. I won an ARC of THE GOLDFINCH, but that sucker is HUGE and I don’t foresee getting to it soon.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:38 pm

      I lot of people are thinking about bloggig issues. It’s like a collective mid-life crisis πŸ™‚ The Goldfinch is huge! I may pull it out for the Readathon, since I can only participate for part of thr day.

  • Julie Merilatt September 15, 2013, 4:06 pm

    Cute selfie! I like the way your hair frames your face. I’m super intrigued by the survey. And na na, the Bears beat you! Although they pulled the win out of their asses…

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:36 pm

      If the Vikings had won, it would have been pulled from their asses too πŸ™‚

  • Teresa September 15, 2013, 4:16 pm

    One thing I’ve been thinking about, when it comes to burnout, is how other, blogging-adjacent activities contribute to or help alleviate burnout. Even after five years, I’ve not experienced much burnout with my blog itself, but I do get burned out with all the other stuff and have had to drop things to keep my focus on the blog itself, which is what I enjoy the most. I see other people seeming to do the opposite–to spend more time on Tumblr or do more collaborative projects and spend less time blogging. So I’ve just been thinking about how that balance works for different people and what it might mean for blogging as a whole.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:34 pm

      That’s a great point. It’s easy to jump into a lot of things, feel overwhelmed, then blame the blog for it (I’ve totally been there). I hope we can get at some of that in the survey.

  • Shannon @ River City Reading September 15, 2013, 5:25 pm

    Breaking Bad is so insane right now, I’m already nervous for tonight’s episode!

    I hope you can creep back into The Goldfinch eventually – even though it looks like a pretty daunting book, it’s so readable and wonderful.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:32 pm

      We can’t watch BB until Wednesday, argh! I’m definitely readint The Goldfinch, I just need to start it before it’s time for bed πŸ™‚

  • Athira September 15, 2013, 6:22 pm

    I’ve looking forward to the survey you guys are going to come up with! It’s a topic that has been on my mind quite a bit this year so it will be interesting to see how the survey shapes up.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:31 pm

      It seems like a topic a lot of people are grappling with at the moment, like we’re all aging at a similar pace. I’m excited to seet he results.

  • Diane@BibliophilebytheSea September 15, 2013, 8:02 pm

    The cooler weather made me indulge with some retail therapy as well — dive in you deserve it.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:30 pm

      I hope I will get to this weekend!

  • Jeanne September 15, 2013, 8:54 pm

    The survey sounds like a great idea. And I like Teresa’s term, blogging-adjacent activities. Some of mine lead back to blogging.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:29 pm

      Yes, that’s a great term (and a very good hunch about a thing that contributes to burnout).

  • Jennifer September 16, 2013, 5:21 am

    That Bears/Vikings game was insane. I didn’t watch much of it because I was watching the more important Packer game instead πŸ˜‰ But I could hear hollering from the other room πŸ˜‰

    Your haircut is adorbs, love that length on you!

    I can’t wait to hear more about the survey πŸ˜€

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:29 pm

      It was insane. I sort of can’t believe either team won πŸ™‚

  • Andi @ Estella's Revenge September 16, 2013, 10:14 am

    I was just telling Shannon that I’m totally fascinated by the idea of this survey. I think it will be wonderful to learn more about the blogger burnout. As someone who’s been going strong for nearly 9 years, I am interested to know why some leave their blogs.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:28 pm

      Nine years! You are going to be a good data point πŸ™‚

  • Bryan G. Robinson September 16, 2013, 12:38 pm

    Like the others mentioned here, I was inspired to write about why I blog too, and mainly because your tweet earlier in the week of the post at Necromancy Never Pays. Here’s my link: http://www.stillunfinished.com/2013/09/15/nyuh-why-i-blog/ — complete with credit to you (now) for sharing Jeanne’s post. Thanks again for getting me to (re)think about why I blog.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:22 pm

      Jeanne’s post was so good. Lots of thoughts — thanks for sharing yours!

  • Care September 16, 2013, 4:37 pm

    I really liked Jeanne’s post, too (assuming it was the one you reference since I have yet to click over…) GREAT IDEA on the blog burnout issue/survey! You had me nervous with that ‘unsettled’ term. I’m here, I’ve slowed a bit but posts are percolating just not yet written. πŸ˜‰

    and LOVE the haircut.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:22 pm

      I can’t take total credit on the survey — there were several bloggers who were chatting about it. I just joined Jennifer and Shannon to do it. I’m excited for it.

  • Vikings/Bears was a good game. Adrian Peterson, of course, is looking amazing, and I love him to pieces.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:20 pm

      AP is wonderful. If only the rest of the offense (coughPondercough) could support him!

  • Vasilly September 16, 2013, 8:13 pm

    Wait a minute. Fringe has come to an end?! I watched the first two seasons but after that, life took over and I haven’t seen it since. πŸ™ You know for Bloggers Recommend, you can always skip a month if you need to.

    • Kim September 16, 2013, 8:19 pm

      Yeah, last year, I think? I only got into it when it showed up on Netflix earlier this year. I actually got my BR blurb in tonight — I forgot I finished Hyperbole and a Half awhile ago. I may try for another, depending how my week goes. What are you blurbing?

  • Kelly from Readlately.com September 16, 2013, 9:17 pm

    So many people are in a reading slump right now! I think there was even a book riot post about it today…

    • Kim September 18, 2013, 7:38 pm

      I think there was! I have a theory that there’s a maximum number of books I can read in a given period of time, and once I’ve exceeded that my brain just shuts down and demands marathon session of New Girl or something.

  • Donna McBroom-Theriot September 23, 2013, 3:40 pm

    I’m kind of agreeing with y’all on the brain shut-down. I can only read so much and then my eyes won’t even acknowledge the Kindle. lol It’s like it doesn’t exist. Donna
    http://mylife-in-stories.blogspot.com

    • Kim October 6, 2013, 9:16 pm

      It’s a really strange thing for me… but happens about once a year without fail. I just have to hope my brain clears soon!