my current obsessions

Wow.

I'm a lousy blogger. I guess I've taken that "I'll blog when I feel like it" approach a bit too literally. Oh well.

So, care to hear about my latest obsessions? I should preface this by saying that I am genetically predisposed to obsess. My mom, whom I adore, is the master at taking an innocent interest in something and then allowing it to take over her life. Just ask her about Harry Potter. Or Twilight. Then prepare to be amazed.

Anyway, I've got a bit of the obsessive gene myself, though not nearly as pronounced. So here's all the frivolous stuff that has interested me recently:

Hush, Hush

by Becca Fitzpatrick

I picked up this book at Costco (love Costco!) before a recent trip to San Francisco. I read the entire book on my flight there and loved it! Instead of starting a different book that I'd brought for the flight home, I just re-read this one. Because I liked it that much. I should warn you - it's YA and very Twilight-esque. But if, while you read it, you spend the whole time comparing it to Twilight, you'll be doing yourself a huge disservice. Given the image on the cover of the book, I don't think I'm giving anything away by telling you that it's about a fallen angel and a "mortal" girl. There's a sequel coming out next year and I can't wait to read it.

The Vampire Diaries

Have you been watching this new show? I was hesitant to watch it at first, thinking it would just be a lame Twilight knockoff, but it's not. Sure there are the inevitable similarities that you would expect from a story about teenagers and the vampires living among them, but The Vampire Diaries has definitely set itself apart with different mythology and some awesome characters. Like Damon, the sexy bad-boy vampire who is seriously evil and also extremely attractive. This is sooo my type of show. A real guilty pleasure.

Finding Cool Music

Every afternoon when the toddler goes down for a nap, I turn on some tunes as white noise for him and a little indulgence for me. Listening to the same thing over and over again gets dull, so I've been on a quest recently to find new pleasant music to listen to. I should tell you that my taste in music is very broad. I like stuff from almost every genre (okay, maybe not polka). The artists that get the most play on my ipod include John Mayer, Alison Krauss, Michael Buble, Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson. But I also love OneRepublic, Kings of Leon, Black Eyed Peas, Britney Spears, Coldplay... like I said, my taste in music, while fairly mainstream, is pretty broad. I'm always searching for new music - here's what I've been listening to recently:

I highly recommend Meese, Matt Hires, Owl City, Greg Laswell, and Crosby Loggins. Check them out and tell me what you think.

Brace yourself, because this last obsession is just plain crazy...

Exercise

While I'm not nearly as perky about it as the lady in the above image, I have recently found joy - yes, you read that right - joy in exercise. After a 2 year stand-off, I finally made peace with my treadmill. I've made a rule for myself that I can only watch my DVR'd shows while I'm walking on the treadmill. Since Scott can't stand most of the shows I like to watch, this is a mutually benficial arrangement. The only time I can exercise is at night after the kids are in bed. Since I'm a night owl, this is the time of day when I have the most energy anyway. I find that I'm exercising about 5 times a week. On days that I don't do the treadmill, I either do yoga or Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred dvd, which is 25 minutes of high-intensity aerobic hell - but I'm always glad I did it once I'm done. I'm hoping that this new habit will stick and I can make it through the next couple of months without gaining any of those dreaded holiday pounds.

So, that's it for now. Clearly blogging has not become an obsession of mine.

Now I want to know - What are your current obsessions? I'm always looking for a new time waster.

:)