It’s another dreary, rainy, not-spring-yet morning here in North Carolina. Three-fifths of us have fallen victim to the stomach bug from Hades over the past week.  There have been attitudinal issues GALORE around these parts recently.  And the dog woke me up at 4am.

BUT.

Let’s inject some good into this cloudy, reeking-of-Lysol Tuesday, shall we?

Hands down, my #1 favorite podcast for the past year has been Jamie Ivey’s The Happy Hour.  We’re clearly BFFs, though she has yet to realize this.  You should probably check it out.  ANYWAY.  She always ends her podcast by asking her guests about the three things they’re loving these days.  And since she’s not yet aware of our friendship status, I’ll go ahead and answer for her.

So, the top three (okay, five) things I’m loving these days:

1. Grey’s Anatomy.  Recently, I finished watching Parenthood… all of it… for the second time.  Because it is the best show that has ever been and will ever be.  I have DAYS worth of words about my deep love for the Braverman family, but I’ll spare you.  Anyway.  After watching that blessed, best-ever series finale all over again, I felt lost.  I desperately needed something to fill that Braverman-shaped hole in my heart.

I didn’t find that exactly.  However, I did find Grey’s!  Yeah, I know.  The show’s been around forever.  I’m eleven years behind.  But all the better to Netflix-binge with, my dear!  I feel like I have this treasure trove of ridiculous kinda-medical-kinda-soapish plotlines at my disposal, and the impact this could have on my productivity is only a small bit concerning to me.

2. Brené Brown.  Lest you think I spend all of my days watching McDreamy and McSteamy, I do use my brain from time to time to, you know, read.

I’ve heard about Brené for a while and just now bought in.  And by “buying in”, I mean I have read three of her books (Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and I Thought It Was Just Me) in the past two weeks.  That’s a whole lotta Brené.  And a whole lotta good.

Now, she’s not writing from a Biblical worldview, so there’s that.  But balancing her books with Scripture truth has been really powerful for me.

3. Ed Sheeran.  Oh HEY.  Another one that’s been around forever, and I’m just now discovering.  Late adopter for life over here.  Matt’s been loving Ed Sheeran for a long time, but I was all “I don’t know.  He’s okay.”  I do this a lot.  A lot.  When Matt wants me to like something, I take my sweet time to buy-in.  Because I’m strong and smart and have my own opinions, thankyouverymuch.  Oh my gosh, it drives Matt bananas.  Like, bad bananas.  As it should.

I’m working on it, you guys.

Interestingly enough, it seems as though I never actually, oh you know, listened to his music before denouncing it.  Because, as it turns out, I kinda like it.  To the point of having him on repeat for the past week straight, and I’m overhearing my daughter sing about how “people fall in love in mysterious ways.”

Okay, so maybe it’s back to Summit Kids music for now.  (p.s. this is still my favorite kids CD of all time.  You probably should just go ahead and get it.)

Also, Matt: you were right, and I was wrong.  Soak it in while you can.

4. Office Supplies.  Quite possibly my favorite birthday gift this year was the pack of colored pens I received from my sister.  They make my list-making habit all the more enjoyable AS IF lists were not already lovely enough.  But then came Valentine’s Day when I instructed Matt to hold off on the flowers- that I had bought myself a brand new variety pack of Post-It notes in place of flowers.  Flowers die, but Post-Its live on forever in the lists I dutifully (and beautifully, with my new pens) create and victoriously cross off.

And you think I’m kidding.

If you were feeling bad for Matt from Good Thing #3, hopefully this assuages your hard feelings just a bit.  I requested gas station subs for our first date, and I ask for Post-It Notes for Valentine’s Day.  See.  It isn’t so bad for the guy.

5. She Reads Truth.  Now, this has been a favorite for a long time now, but I’d be completely remiss not to mention it.  (Especially since I’ve already confessed my love for Grey’s.  I feel like I need to balance things out or something.)  Anyway, there’s an app and there’s a website, and either way you choose to go about it, She Reads Truth provides solid, well-written daily readings to go along with passages from Scripture.  The study right now is on Lent, but really, they’re all just so good.

What are you loving these days?  (Bonus points if you can point me to some new authors/books that I really need to read.  You know, when I’m not glued to season three of Grey’s and everything.)