In April…the arrival of spring in full force – one day all you see are barren branches and empty flower beds & the next day blooms seem to explode from nowhere and remind you that you have survived the winter & are in the season of rebirth…while work is keeping me so busy these days that the blog seems to be way down on the list, at least I have this monthly compilation to ensure the dust doesn’t settle too much out here…in the midst of it all, these are some of the things that filled my April days…

Like popcorn exploding in the midst of the barren branches…

Reading…thoroughly enjoyed Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution – this was the first time I used the Whispersync technology to move between kindle read & audio read…almost finished listening to The Monuments Men…almost finished with Station Eleven…rereading Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor: The New Way to Fast-Track Your Career by Sylvia Ann Hewlett ahead of a professional development summit at work in May…

Watching…the latest film adaptation of Cinderella is delightful! Enjoying some British mysteries through Netflix: Death in Paradise and Rosemary & Thyme…

A fun & crafty time with friends…

Crafting…a fun evening of Painting with a Twist with some friends from work…a few rows of knitting (need to do more!)…a photo book via the Shutterfly app on the iPad…

Browsing…the Apollo 13 mission retold in tweets in real time…the story of a 124 year old cooking club in Wichita…

Confetti eggs to end the Easter afternoon…

Celebrating…Easter locally. A beautiful Easter service at church on Sunday morning to start the day. A fun and tasty afternoon at a friend’s house – which ended with 3 dozen confetti eggs being put to good use. An evening bonus was FaceTime with the girlies in TX and with the family in WI.

Simple spring supper!

Cooking…Simple and colorful roasted veggies for the Easter table were paired with a bright berry dressing – I think this dressing is going to become a fridge staple this spring…

Sipping…lots of iced coffee and iced tea via Dunkin’ Donuts and their clever $0.99 refill mug…

On the good ship, Lollipop!

Refreshing…a long overdue haircut unleashes my curls again…a new spring lipstick in the makeup routine…

Wearing…new shoes for the new season…sassy silver kicks for casual Fridays and weekends…neutral ballet flats for the office…I seem to be “finally” making the transition to quality over quantity in my shoes…some pretty pennies are being spent but the daily difference is amazing…

Sun, surf, seafood & pineapple gelato…

Traveling…a quick trip down to the project site in Florida included a Sunday afternoon to enjoy delicious seafood and fantastic pineapple gelato at the beach…

Looking Ahead…a long weekend at home in the ‘Ville for Mother’s Day…time to celebrate a high school graduation (gulp!) in Wisconsin at Memorial Day weekend…

Linking up with Leigh Kramer for the monthly What I’m Into round-up. What are you into these days?

In March…which started out like a lion in full winter weather and as the month closes it seems as though the lions are closer at hand than the lambs…in the midst of winter’s last grasps at the season the return of the “extra hour” of daylight was a welcome thing…from the radio silence here on the blog, I think it’s an understatement to say it was a busy month for me…and looking at my phone photo albums, not much was captured…this might have been more of a survival month…in the midst of it all, these are some of the things that filled my March days…

1st day of spring snow…

Reading…I finished up The Giver Quartet and thoroughly enjoyed the whole series of stories in it – now for a virtual book club with Miss Butterfly to discuss…Vacation was a quick read for business trip airplane flights…I finished listening to The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse – a fun story that is the basis for the Jeeves & Wooster play I saw this time last year whilst in London…in the midst of listening to One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson…I’ve started reading Station Eleven and enjoying it so far…

Watching…the month started with my TV suddenly giving up the ghost so for a couple of weeks I just used my Fios app on the iPad to watch TV – the TV has since been replaced…I’ve been watching some March Madness but of course it’s not nearly as engaging as Mercer in it last year…Laughed through “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” on Netflix…whilst catching up on the new season of Broadchurch on BBC America, the ad for Orphan Black caught my eye…so, catching up on the previous seasons of it before the new season starts…happy for the return of Mr. Selfridge…

Crafting…not too much, these days…a bit of knitting is happening but not too much…seeing all the buzz about “The Secret Garden” coloring book, it is time to pull out my copy that I picked up at the British National Gallery last May and do some coloring…

Remembering…fond memories of my Aunt Clara Pearl…I’m so thankful that I was able to surprise her with a visit as I drove from IL to PA when I moved east in 2012…while life interfered with being able to gather with family in Ohio, I was thrilled that the local florist was able to include sunflowers in the flowers for Aunt Clara Pearl’s “Kansas sunflower nieces”…

Cooking…Corned Beef & all the veggies for St. Patrick’s Day…Split Pea Soup with the broth later in the week…glad for the return of roasted asparagus season…

Sipping…thoroughly enjoying the Blueberry Cobbler coffee with a teaspoon of cinnamon in with it in the French press – it brings out the sweetness of the coffee with no added sweet…without even really trying, this is month that I switched to drinking my iced coffee black – I’ve never been one to sweeten it but it would frequently be on the pale side of the coffee colored spectrum…Mandarin Orange green tea is the current iced tea in my fridge at all times…

Traveling…a few days over to Princeton for some training…a short trip down to my project in south Florida…

Saturday morning cultivation time…

Cultivating…a Friday lunch routine with work friends – a perfect opportunity to catch up on life & other insanity…taking a new position in my company and developing new relationships to support that work…revisiting The Fringe Hours on a Saturday morning to continue focusing on me…

Looking Ahead…Easter dinner with friends…the return of baseball…

Linking up with Leigh Kramer for the monthly “What I’m Into” round-up. What are you into these days?

Snow sparkling in the sun

In February…the calendar says this is always the shortest month…somehow it always seems among the longest months…this year, it was a very busy month with several big work projects…and in the midst of the depths of winter weather, the daylight hours are increasing – a harbinger of spring somewhere on the horizon…these are some of the things that filled my February days…

A Saturday morning read…

Reading…not nearly as much as I had hoped…continuing to work through The Giver Quartet…the first Saturday of the month, I settled in after a week of traveling and lost myself in the story of Lizzy and Jane – a delightful read on so many levels…after thoroughly enjoying my Advent read, I’m starting a new Lent tradition with evening readings from Bread and Wine: Readings for Easter and Lent…

Watching (on the small screen)…thoroughly enjoying Mr. Selfridge on Amazon Prime…viewing most of my shows via DVR playback to “recapture” commercial time…

Watching (on the big screen)…McFarland USA was a great “feel good” flick to enjoy with the family…

Happy Hearts!

Crafting…my box of crayons plus some simple embossed notecards from Etsy made for easy Valentines to wish “happy hearts” to dear ones…

Browsing…50 pieces of creative advice…turning snow & cold weather into a rainbow igloo…rethinking the word “busy” to describe life…a delightful celebration of knitting & grandmas…

A definite citrus theme to a Sunday afternoon in the kitchen…

Cooking…my Baked Savory Oatmeal was perfect for a stretch of cold mornings…I was on a citrus kick with cooking – roasted broccoli & clementines (twice) – citrus roasted chicken with sweet potatoes & pears (twice) – citrus salad…chocolate chili & my carrot-coconut soup were also in rotation – with the travel, I’m glad to have meals waiting for me in the fridge when I get home…

Civic Duty on a Monday

Serving…on an icy Monday, I had to appear at the county courthouse for jury duty…a morning of waiting & then an afternoon on a panel in the courtroom…and at 4:20 that afternoon learning that I was not selected to serve on the jury for the case at hand…I’m glad to have my civic duty fulfilled for at least the next 3 years…

A Sunday stroll along the beach

Traveling…2 weeks of the month were spent with my project in FL…on the first of these trips, when I arrived on a Sunday afternoon, I immediately headed to Deerfield Beach to a favorite “hole in the wall” restaurant for some fresh & tasty seafood & some time along the beach…on the second of these trips, I am enjoying a detour home to the ‘Ville for a weekend with the family before heading back to PA…

A blooming Valentine’s Day

Cultivating…as I focus on my word this year…reading The Fringe Hours and using the prompts within the book as a catalyst for cultivating some of my time…also, cultivating my Christmas amaryllis into full bloom on Valentine’s Day (thankfully the blooms opened while I was home)…

Looking Ahead….more trips to FL for work…the return of “longer days” as we spring forward…

Linking up with Leigh Kramer for the monthly “What I’m Into” round-up. What are you into these days? Was February a “long” month for you, too?

In January…new calendars are opened & begin to fill…winter tries to make a statement (which is muted compared to last January)…slowly, the days are getting longer…these are some of the things that filled my January days…

Keeping warm in a fun British Soldiers scarf from my sister

Reading…making progress on the stack from under the Christmas tree…loading “The Giver Quartet” on my Kindle for travel reading – my 11 year old goddaughter is eager for me to finish reading it so we can discuss it…

Watching…I’ve “finally” jumped into Downton Abbey – I *might* have watched seasons 1 & 2 one weekend and now am caught up to the current season…enjoying the Agent Carter mini-series…got a good laugh out of the NKOTB themed episode of The Goldbergs…

Listening…searching out more podcasts since I finished Serial…thoroughly enjoying Invisibalia…Start Up…Reply All…

To be blogged…a simple scarf knit…finished

Crafting…a simple scarf was my Christmas knitting while home in the ‘Ville & I finished it up during Downton Abbey…taking stock of the stash & determining what to keep & what needs to find a home with others that will put it to better use…yarn & needles in a project bag in my backpack for work travel (shh…gift knitting in progress)…

Browsing…a history of some New Year’s day food traditions…a great fundraiser for a Green Bay Shelter – cheesy scarves…another installment of It’s Aaron – this time connecting with kids who lost parents to combat…on smartphones and the case for boredom…how open office concepts aren’t helping…Packers playing games…

A second batch of soup was perfect for snowy days!

Cooking…yummy Carrot-Coconut Soup, twice!…Mom’s marinated black eyed pea salad to start the new year…a box of holiday pears from Harry & David was put to use in a Cranberry/Pear Baked Oatmeal as well as modifying this recipe to with a pork tenderloin instead of chicken…Chocolate Chili in the crockpot twice during the month…trying out breakfast quinoa in the crockpot (need to tweak it just a bit)…

Oh my darling…finally finding great clementines for cheerful snacking

Sipping…Really enjoying the coconut macaroon coffee from Target  – with a splash coconut milk (or frothed coconut milk)…this White Vanilla Grapefruit tea is a refreshing iced tea and is helping me increase my daily water intake…

Fizzing…making Airborne a part of my daily routine to ward of the winter colds and crud that are going around…maybe its all in my head but it seems to help keep me well…

Scenes from a busy & exciting first week on a new project…in Florida…

Traveling…a project at work meant a week in South Florida – in the midst of some very busy days, the dining al fresco for 3 evenings was so delightful (& I can’t complain about FL travel in the winter)

Cultivating…as I focus on my word this year…focusing on some opportunities at work…keeping consistent in daily quiet time…charging up the FitBit again to keep moving towards better health…

Loving my Mary Englebreit page-a-day calendar on my desk at work!

Looking Ahead….more business trips to South Florida…wondering if the jury duty summons will get called…more cultivating steps to take…

Linking up with Leigh Kramer for the monthly “What I’m Into” round-up. What are you into these days? How are you passing the winter days?