Loving Lately

It's a long time since I've done one of these posts, so I thought I'd indulge in one for a change.

I haven't been buying heaps of stuff lately, mainly just clothes for work or our holiday, but I did buy something that I'm really enjoying using, namely this iPod speaker/player that was on sale in our shop at work.  I like the fact that it's not huge and is pretty portable, so I can easily move it around every room in the house.  It even comes complete with a European plug and a pouch for travel. The sound quality is pretty good for my needs too, so I'm really happy with it for just £16.

On the subject of music, I've not been able to play music at home for a while, save for the radio or vinyl on the record deck, as we just haven't had anything to play it on.  As a consequence, I dug out both my and OH's old iPods this month, which haven't been used for years and got them working again. LB made me a music playlist for the shop, as I was getting bored with listening to the same music all the time and I can now play my iPod there and at home too.  She's really good at selecting good music, as she's really into it, so I've been able to listen to some great new to me artists which I'm really enjoying, plus some old favourites of mine. 

I now need her to make lots more playlists to fill both iPods up. I might even set myself up with an iTunes account and do some playlists myself.  That really would be stepping out of my comfort zone, as I'm such a tech dinosaur. I've made myself an Afro/Latin/Zumba playlist on YouTube when I realised that you could do this and I've been playing this at home too, so music has found it's way back into my life lately, which is a good thing. In the process, I've been amazed at how many views some of the artists have had to their videos.  Some even go into billions. It's a whole other level and just proves how well music communicates across continents, nationalities and age groups.

Other things I've been enjoying lately have been the things I've bought to wear for work.  In the last couple of months, I have bought myself a couple of pairs of harem type trousers from Poundland of all places. They cost just £8 each, but have colourful prints on them, which has added a bit of colour into my usually all black wardrobe. The fabric is a lightweight polyester, which is a little cheap, but they are so comfortable and easy to wear for work, that I went to buy a second pair after wearing the first pair for a few weeks.

When I team these with long black t-shirts and some costume jewellery to create my basic work wardrobe, I feel both sufficiently smart and comfortable, but also feel like I'm dressed in something practical that allows free movement when lifting, carrying, sorting, etc. It's made getting ready for work in the summer so much easier, as I have one less decision to make about what to wear and it has stopped me getting too hot throughout the work day. I'm almost going to miss wearing them when the weather gets colder and I'm going to need to wrap up a bit more.

Finally, I've really been enjoying my latest read, which was this book by Naomi Klein called No Logo.  It's about globalisation and how people have become mobilised to protest about the human rights atrocities perpetrated in the name of capitalism, by some of the world's largest multi million dollar corporations.  It is one of the most interesting books I've read to date and is very well written. It was written in the late 90's, so some things have changed since it was written and some things have not. I've already started watching subsequent books she's written on eBay and I can't wait to read more of her work.

In addition, I listened to an episode of Desert Island Discs Podcast that Naomi recorded with the BBC and it was really interesting to hear her talk about her family background and her life.

What have you been loving lately?