My smart and talented husband, Adam, agreed to join me in this post to add a more cool/geeky side to my reflective/analytical recommendations of what we have been reading and listening to this year. We weren't sure if all of these were discoveries for us in 2015, but they were definitely a part of our lives this year. Please introduce yourself in the comments below and leave us some new recommendations for 2016, we'd love it!
BLOGS
I just joined the blogging world in August of 2015, which is certainly not the solitary endeavor that I once thought. Before I started a blog, I could have probably named two blogs off the top of my head, but I have had the privilege of reading hundreds over the past few months. Here are a few that I'm loving (that are not new to blog lovers, I'm sure):
Spiritual/lifestyle blogs:
Sarah Bessey. Sarah is my new best friend (she just doesn't know it yet). She has this way of writing that speaks to your soul.
Shelly Miller: Redemption's Beauty. Shelley now lives in London with her family. Her photos are incredible. She started the Sabbath Society, which is a group of hundreds of women who are committed to observing the Sabbath each week.
My Daily Bread and Butter. I found Devi through writing #Write31Days this year as we were both writing a series on transition (but she was transitioning from Sweden to Australia). Her poignant words are heartfelt and poetic and I think I now count her as my first virtual friend.
Modern Mrs. Darcy. For a book-lover, this site is a must-read. This is a very new one to me, but I was excited to find a site that is dedicated to books.
The Messy Middle. Okay, I'm pretty sure I didn't discover Amy Young's blog this year, but as I have started writing more, I have appreciated it more than ever before. I love her perspective on life and how intentional and honest she is in her posts.
Life of a Pilgrim. This is one of the most amazing stories I have been a part of praying for all year. If you want to cry every post, then follow along as Katherine blogs about her journey after her child was given a terminal diagnosis early on in her pregnancy (this links to one of the early posts, but I couldn't find the first one).
Food Blogs: Cookie and Kate (whole foods and vegetarian recipes) and Pinch of Yum. Both of these sites have healthy, delicious food and I have made several recipes from each.
ONLINE JOURNALS:
For Christian women:
SheLoves and (In)Courage
For Expats/Cross-cultural Perspectives:
Velvet Ashes
A Life Overseas
Rocky Reentry
Taking Route
The Blogs Adam Reads:
Kottke.org
Boing Boing
Damn Interesting
Astronomy Pic of the Day
Space.com
Wired
Slate.com
BOOKS
Check out my post on my favorite books from 2015 here and my husband's at his blog here. Mine have a definite memoir/historical fiction/spiritual narrative slant and his have a science/science fiction slant, so combined, you could become a very well-balanced reader!
PODCASTS
This is probably my weakest category as I haven't joined the Podcast craze yet, but I did listen to Serial this year on our overnight drives between Colorado and Chicago. And I just recently started listening to the podcast, Sorta Awesome, because it was mentioned by several bloggers I'm following. Other than that, I wanted to put a plug in for the podcast, Sexy Marriage Radio, which all married couples should listen to for some really great discussions on married sex.
Adam, on the other hand, is definitely that person you know who starts sentences with, "I heard on this Podcast..." Annoyingly smart and one of those people who remembers everything he reads and hears, podcasts are just fuel for his knack for trivia.
Here are some of his recommendations for podcasts:
RadioLab, This American Life, Reply All, Mystery Show, Reveal, Lore, Surprisingly Awesome, Snap Judgement, Arrvls, StartUp, Note to Self, Love and Radio, 99% Invisible, Hidden Brain
PHONE APPS
I have been in the Smartphone world less than two years, so I'm probably the last person to recommend apps to anyone, but for what it's worth, here are the apps on my Android phone right now:
YouVersion, Gas Guru, Maps, Pandora, Pocket Casts, Feedly (for viewing multiple blogs), Pocket (for saving articles), our public library app, Audible, Kindle, White Noise Free, Goodreads,
Skype, BBC News, CNN news, Line Dictionary (Chinese/English Dictionary), Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram
Adam's Apps:
He has many of the same ones I do, but also uses: Flipboard (for viewing news), Play Newstand, Quora, Dropbox, and Adblock Browser
T.V.
This was not a year for movies for us since we go to the theater about four times a year and are usually too tired to watch more than a 45 minute T.V. show in the evenings. We really enjoyed watching Orphan Black (on Amazon) and Blacklist (Netflix). We also watched Madame Secretary, but weren't really in love with it (I call it "Madame Sex" because Tea Leoni is so stinkin sexy).
But if we happen to have an evening alone, we watch our own shows.
For Adam, that included: Walking Dead, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Better Call Saul
For me: Downtown Abby, Parenthood, Call the Midwife, and re-watching Gilmore Girls (obviously)
And though we didn't discover it this year, we really love Raising Hope, which is probably the goofiest show you can watch (perfect for for us since we are award-winning goofballs).
For my three-year-old son, the shows I've settled on for him (all on Netflix and less than 30 minutes long) are: Daniel Tiger, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, Dinosaur Train and Super Why. (Though I'm certainly not a stranger to letting him watch a 45 minute Bob the Builder or 1-hour Winne the Pooh movie, just for the sake of full-disclosure).
~~~~
I mean it when I say I'd love to meet you in the comments and read some recommendations for any of the above categories! I'm sure with our diverse interests they are bound to appeal to one of us!
Soon, I'll be posting some of the more personal and spiritual discoveries I made in 2015, so check back in!
What were you into media-wise in 2015?
Previous Post: My One Word for 2016
Next Post: What No One Told Me About Breastfeeding
Linking up with Emily P. Freeman: What I Learned in 2015
Labels: 2015 discoveries, blogs, books, podcasts, T.V.
