currently - January edition

hi and welcome to my first "currently" post here at Save Me From My Selfie :D (side note: i've been trying to think of an acronym for my blog title - if anyone has any ideas, drop me a line, would ya? so far i have SMFMS, which i pronounce "simmmfimmms". super catchy. i'm definitely going places.)

i've always loved "currently" posts on blogs that i've read over the years - they're a fun way to find out what other people around the world are doing with their time and are generally not a very strenuous, heavy, social-commentary-esque thing to read, which is occasionally necessary. they're essentially fluffy, and that's not always a bad thing. i decided i'd start doing "currently" posts on this here blog for a few reasons, the main ones being they're a "staple" blog post and should thus force me to blog at least once a month (cue laughter to the point of tears). they're also a great way to look back on the months that have passed - a quick snippet of what you were doing a few months before - like a journal, only faster. (she explains at length in a long-winded paragraph)

so, without further ado, here's my "currently" for the start of this month, with some brief (hahaha) explanations of each thing beneath the photo:

READING: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

i love Kazuo Ishiguro's novels; Never Let Me Go is one of my favourite books of all time, and i subsequently read When We Were Orphans, which was another really incredible read. i bought a copy of The Remains of the Day last year but haven't had a chance to get to it until now, so my aim is to use the last few weeks of my freedom to give it my attention. it's slow to get into but i think i'm starting to reach the meat of the story and i'm enjoying it quite a bit :) (i have a STACK of novels i meant to get through, so you might hear about a few more of them this month. here's hoping!)

LISTENING TO: Ben Howard's "I Forget Where We Were" and Taylor Swift's "1989"

it's not really accurate to say that i'm listening to "I Forget Where We Were" in its entirety, since i haven't bought it yet, but what i HAVE heard from it is brilliant - i could listen to "The End of the Affair" over and over and over again. as for "1989", not a day goes by without me listening to at least one song off of the thing. it was one of my Christmas presents (inadvertently, after my mom got me an iTunes voucher) and, um, i'm obsessed. for some reference, it's playing now. (sorry, family!) soon, all of my conversation, consolation and advice will come from this album. you know, "shake it off!" and "baby, i could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me", and "when i was drowning - that's when i could finally breathe" and similarly nonsensical statements.

Swifty forever. also, after listening to this album multiple times (over 100, i'd guess), i reckon Harry Styles is a terrible driver and i would recommend you never get in a car with him. personal opinion. moving on.

WATCHING: Chuck (season 4), House of Cards (Season 1) and Black Books (Season 2)
i've missed Chuck so much! after watching the first three seasons as a family, we bought the fourth one and watched most of it a couple years ago - but we didn't manage to finish the season before i had to go back to varsity, and I NEVER CAUGHT UP. i finally pulled out the DVD box and am forcing everyone else in my family to watch episodes over so that i'm all caught up (sorry, family!) before we watch the fifth (!) and final (!) season.
i also have the first season of House of Cards (yes, i'm aware that i'm WAAAAY behind) and it's intriguing and very addictive.
to counterbalance all that hectic thinking and conniving, i'm watching Black Books which is, you know, Dylan Moran at his finest. he even provided me with the finest piece of summer poetry i may have ever heard:
"Think of a bee.
You are its knees.
You waft through me like a summer breeze.
Can I come round on Tuesday please?"
done.

ANTICIPATING: my trip to Johannesburg in a week (!) and graduation
yeah, in a week i'll be with Chris, in Johannesburg, and it will be GREAT. i am kind of excited :D
in other news, all my graduation info came in the post yesterday and it's all VERY exciting. i booked double the number of seats than i'm technically allowed, but i don't care. yaaaay!

ENJOYING: the sun, fruit, goals and Bananagrams

summer is the BEST. we are quite literally lying around in pools of our own sweat but i love it! it also means that there is a delightful range of delicious fruit on offer, and we've been eating ALL of it. grapes! plums! nectarines! mangos! spanspek! honeydew! watermelon! 

i'm also quite enjoying having goals and getting stuff done. doodling every day is so much fun! other things like exercise are less exciting, but quite gratifying ;)
finally: Bananagrams. best. game. ever. Mom, Sindi and i have been binge-playing. so fun.

MISSING: Chris, Andrea and Kymmie

these are pretty self-explanatory, but i miss Chris because i've gotten used to seeing his face all the time and we've been apart for over a month now, which has been below average. way below average. this week needs to pass by quickly, please!

i'm missing ALL of my American family desperately, but i am particularly missing my cousin Andrea and my aunt Kymmie. ANDREA: because, um, she is beautiful (i'm not superficial, i promise!) and this time last year we were having sleep overs at her house and dressing up in 80s get-up and driving around Sacramento singing along to Justin Timberlake and talking about the book collections we'd have on a desert island and eating ice cream and watching movies and running errands and babysitting and it was just fantastic. thus we can deduce that now, because we are NOT doing said things, it is just NOT fantastic. i'm really so smart. KYMMIE: since i've been doing artistic stuff, i've been especially missing this gorgeous and creative individual. oh, to be crafting and cooking and singing and dancing at her home! oh, to be hugging her! sigh.

CRAVING: a giant, blank notebook and my Adobe designing programmes

all of this doodling has me scrambling for places to PUT it. i have these tiny Moleskines with me in which i've been compiling most of my scribbles, but i stupidly went and left my LARGE Moleskines in Grahamstown... hence the illustrations for this post being done on the back of my (green) Graduation Information booklet. 

i'm also desperate to get back into Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop and get digitally designing again, but a month is not long to wait! who knows - maybe the February "currently" will be digital ;)

CONSUMING: copious amounts of black coffee and double cream yoghurt

...because these are the best things to consume. end of story.

WEARING: summer dresses

another reason to love the heat: i can wear all of my summer dresses! :D wanna see the dress i'm wearing today? (YES. YES, YOU DO.) selfie time! i will give you two versions; ready?

THE DREAM VERSION

oh, lovely! so summery and flowery and flattering.

THE REALITY VERSION

i bought this at a thrift store in California this time last year. it is (clearly) three times too big for me. on the plus side, it breathes really well...

;)

what are y'all currently up to? :D