What I’m Loving Right Now: Faves, Fixations, and Everything In Between
Weekly Round Up Vol. 5
What I’m Loving Right Now: Faves, Fixations, and Everything In Between — a quick round up & snapshot of my life, filled with the things I’m currently loving, and maybe even hyperfixating on this week. I’ll be sharing the little joys & big passions that keep my mind racing and currently have me hooked — a new hobby, a binge-worthy TV show, a book that’s hard to put down, or a new parenting hack that’s working wonders.
Every other week, you’ll receive a microblog filled with humor & heart… where it’s not just about my current obsessions, but how they fit in the context of my everyday life.
Some quick housekeeping before jumping in…
In case you missed it, I recently had my first article published as a freelance writer for Real Simple magazine. I’d love it if you check out the piece and share with anyone you think would enjoy it.
Secondly… I recently took a break from creating just to give my brain room to breathe. May was a heavy month, and I’m making it a point to actually stop when I feel like I’m reaching my limits… to stop before reaching my limits. This means I took a break from writing, and from sharing my recent faves & fixations; however, I’m back and rather than wait for Friday 06-06 to share the next volume, I decided to just kick off the new month sharing what I’m loving right now. Enjoy!
Recent Faves, Fixations, and Everything In Between
📺 What I'm Watching
Star Wars franchise on Disney+: A few weeks ago, Disney Dreamlight Valley introduced Star Wars inspired items to their in game premium shop for purchase and it got me curious about the franchise. I’d never watched any of the movies, and only watched one season of The Mandolorian, so everything I knew of the lore was purely pop culture references. My curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to start chronologically watching the franchise, including some of the tv shows (but not the animations). At the time of writing I’ve I just finished The Mandolorian and will be moving into the “sequel trilogy” — episodes VII, VIII, and IX. So far my thoughts are that the prequel trilogy’s only saving grace is the storytelling and world building because the movies themselves — the acting, the CGI, etc. — are not good lol. I struggled but to watch (so I mostly just listened), however, it did get me excited to get deeper into the lore. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 What I'm Listening To
Harry Potter Audiobooks: I’ve made it to the final book and I have so many thoughts. My biggest takeaway is how much the films deviated from the text, specifically attempts to make insufferable characters likable and overall diminishing to the contributions of other key characters. Because I’ve watched the films significantly more times than I’ve visited the books, I forgot how much of what we get on screen isn’t canon to the text… and as a result, how much of what I think I know about the franchise is actually just head canon.
The next book-series-turned-movie-franchise I plan on listening to is The Hunger Games, especially since the “midquel” (as I’m calling it), Sunrise on the Reaping, was recently released. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve been focusing a lot more on finding devotionals that are more aligned with the season of life I’m in, versus just broadly exploring the books of the Bible. Reintroducing devotionals to my morning routine has been grounding, so aligning & applying the Word to my everyday life has become a priority.
I use the YouVersion Bible app for all of my devotionals, and the themes I’ve been exploring most recently are self-care, rest, clarity of mind, marriage, and motherhood.
✍🏾 In My "Free" Time
ChatGPT: Not too long ago, I read on Substack…
…I’ve noticed that models allow me to get out of a creative slump by letting me bounce some ideas around or refine an idea.
AI is far from perfect, but I have found it lowers the “activation energy” need for an idea to be executed. Especially as someone with ADHD. — source
These thoughts, in many ways, mirror my own when it comes to using AI. Flawed & often questionable as it may be, AI has also helped me in ways. The result of writing & reading more is my brain working overtime — even more than usual! — so I’ve been using ChatGPT to make sense of my thoughts… to sift through which ideas to pursue as blog entries and/or Substack posts, and which ones to let pass. It really has “lower[ed] the ‘activation energy’” that goes into fleshing out my creativity, making it easier for me to actually create… and for that I’m grateful.
Garden Planner: A few weeks ago I shared our desire & plans to restart our garden. Part of that endeavor, for me, has included resetting my plans & planning process. A few years ago, inspired by Joanna (@jojotastic) and Shavonda (@sgardnerstyle), I started a gardening binder. My organized mind needed a binder, however, the mistake I made was creating one way above my station. In choosing to start over, I’ve pared down my gardening binder… just as I pared down my gardening ambitions. I’m now using a digital gardening planner I bought 3 years ago… yes… THREE years ago & I am only now using it. I removed any of the pages that felt too much work for me at the moment, no matter how “important”, and I’m only keeping what I can manage & what’s necessary for me to actually progress.
🛒 What's In My Cart
Tumblr Straw Covers: I recently replaced my water bottle with a new tumbler (plus I took one of my husband’s thermoflask bottles because a girl needs options). The mini really loved my tumbler so I got her one of her own, which led to me embarking on a search for cute straw covers. Maddeningly, most tumbler accessories are made for the Stanley brand… and I did not buy a Stanley. Turns out their straws are 2mm thicker than more common tumbler straws, including mine. Having a loose straw cover isn’t the end of the world… I just wish the right fit wasn’t such a challenge to find. I ended up going with these for my tumbler and these for the mini.
Electronic Wipes: Now that each of us has an iPad & a laptop, I decided to take an unused dish rack from the room of requirement (aka our garage lol) and create a small charging station on the desk in our office & gaming lounge. I got tired of cords being moved from one room to the next & this gives our larger devices a home base + creates a sense of discipline when it comes to screen time. Once it’s time to charge, it’s also time to call a quits. The wipes lives at this station making it a convenient spot for taking care of our devices.
💭 I Can't Stop Thinking About...
The word PORTMANTEAU: this new to me word describes one word that combines the sounds & meaning of two other words, ie. Barbie + Oppenheimer = Barbenheimer to describe that massive movie weekend. With the new date for Avengers: Doomsday landing in the same release day of the next Dune installment, Dunesday is all the rage on my blerd feed & I love it. I also can’t stop thinking about the term “blerd” which is an, ahem, portmanteau of the words “black” and “nerd”.
Viola Davis’ interview detailing her time at Juilliard, which speaks so deeply to how being “classically trained” is basically code for being taught the white way, and not necessarily the right way.
The Macy’s Style Crew — which, if you’re a creator reading this, I absolutely think you should apply for… unless, of course, you just don’t shop Macy’s and/or don’t use affiliate marketing in your content strategy.
Macy’s & I go way back — tagging along as a kid with my mom & sister to shop wedding registries, having my first apartments all walking distance from a Macy’s making it my one stop shop for homewares, working as a merchandising contractor at Macy’s Herald Square & being on a first name basis with their Starbucks baristas, the mini meeting Santa Clause at Herald Square her first Christmas… and the list goes on. Admittedly, over the years, I forgot how much I enjoyed shopping Macy’s for my home & my closet, however, scaling back on my Target shopping in some categories has rekindled Macy’s & I. I’m not part of the Style Crew, however, if you’re a creator who’s shopping & sharing home and/or fashion, I’d say it’s a low lift way to earn commission + other perks for doing what you’re already doing.
And in case you’re wondering, I sure did google “Macy’s DEI”. While it was reported earlier this year that Macy’s Inc. removed references to DEI from their 10-K annual reports, as of May 2025, their DEI page is still active & they’ve continued their recent DEI commitments.
Amazon issuing refunds for old, “unresolved” purchases. As someone who thought I was pretty good at staying on top of returns & refunds, imagine my surprise when, 2 days after reading this article, I received a notification that I’d be getting a refund from two old orders — one from 2022 and one from 2024.
Finally being able to remove titles from my “continue watching” on Disney+ esp since my profile is the main account profile. Now I can purge all the shows & movies the girls and/or my husband “accidentally” watched on my profile and get some order back to my algorithm.
Pedro Pascal: this is his year and I’m here for it.
I “met” him in Graceland. I enjoyed him in Game of Thrones. I loved him in Narcos. I was surprised to see him in Kingsman 2. I was happy to see him in Equalizer 2 and again in Triple Frontier. Since then, I’ve also watched Mandalorian, Wild Robot, Gladiator 2… and it’s fair to say Pedro & I go together. He’s the only reason I might start watching The Last of Us and the main reason I’m thoroughly looking forward to Fantastic Four.
He also recently called J.K. Rowling an “heinous loser” for her anti trans rhetoric and has used his platform to support immigrant protections… and we stan a king with a heart so again I say… this is his year and I’m just happy to be a witness it.
That’s a wrap for this week! Hope you discovered something new to watch, listen to, or try. Let me know if you check any of these out, or if you’ve got any current favorites or obsessions you think I’d love to hear about!
