In reflecting on 2016, I have thought about a lot of things but one thing that I thought would be fun to share with you was my binge watching shows on Netflix. First, you need to know that I don’t watch television during primetime (with the exception of football). I have a few shows that I watch on-demand typically on my lunch break. Part of the reason is I don’t watch much TV is I don’t have time. I also don’t watch television before bed anymore and opt for reading my fantastic collection of books. Frankly, I don’t care for much of the shows I see on television.
We’ve had Netflix for what seems like forever. When we first got our membership we really took advantage of getting the DVDs sent home and the kids even picked selections for our movie nights. Somewhere along the way, we stopped selecting DVD options and I began to really love watching the streaming shows. I haven’t rented a DVD in I don’t know how long. I often watch on my Kindle during my lunch break. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorites from 2016 that can’t be coming back or kept me pushing ‘next episode’.
The first would be Mozart in the Jungle: I heard about that show on one of my NPR podcasts that I subscribe to and went and checked it out and never looked back. The show focuses on a New York symphony orchestra and the soundtrack is beyond amazing. I could Watch the show simply just to listen to the soundtrack but the story itself is really interesting. It follows this a handful of orchestra members and their maestro. But it gives you a cool inside look at the life of a person that’s a member of the symphony, the inside politics and gives you a deeper appreciation for not only their talent and perseverance and their ability to show up even when times are sometimes unpleasant and unsure. You get to watch the characters lives unfold while experiencing the most amazing music.
The next one is called Grace and Frankie. I can’t remember where I heard about this one I think it might’ve just been a notice from Netflix of new shows. This show features the talented Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Need I say more? The show is about how they deal with the sudden announcement that their husbands fall in love with each other and want to divorce them. But it’s a lot more than that and the casting is brilliant. They do a great job of balancing serious scenes and injecting loads of humor. It will have you laughing at times but it will also make you think. I never watch just one episode at a time that’s how good it was. There are two seasons of it and I’m hoping that they’ll renew for a third season.
The next one is called Stranger Things. I think I heard about this one on a podcast and it sounded like a throw-back show similar to the movie Goonies or E.T. the type of show with a bunch of young boys that ride bikes, play games similar to Dungeons and Dragons (this will definitely date me if mentioning Goonies wasn’t enough). The filming it’s so cool because it actually looks like it shot in the 80s. The clothes the kids wear and even how they talk is so eighties. The story is about how one of the boys goes missing and we find out that it’s some type of being or some type of experiments that some secret agency may have created that have caused the disappearance. The focus is to find out what happened to him. I can’t say more for fear of spoiling it. It’s a bizarre show in many ways but it works. Winona Ryder plays the mother of the missing boy and she’s brilliant. I couldn’t stop watching and I’m really excited to know that they have renewed it for another season.
The next show that I watch was Luke Cage (by Marvel). I heard about this show from my oldest son who doesn’t watch it because it is a bit more mature for him but he’s read the comic books with this character. There are not many black superhero characters in Marvel so I thought I would give it a shot. First, I really enjoyed the soundtrack for this show – it’s funky old school R&B with jazz undertones. All I know it always has me bopping my head every time it came on. However I think because I’m a big Game of Thrones fan and I watch a lot of Roman Empire inspired movies, I am a bit more desensitized to some of the violence. But if you can get past that, it’s a really good superhero show. Season one has been completed and I believe there is a season two to be aired soon.
My final show I would like to share with you is Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. This was one of my absolute favorite shows that I enjoyed binge watching. It’s an Australian production. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries revolves around the personal and professional life of Phryne Fisher, a glamorous private detective in the 1920s. It is based on the novels by Kerry Greenwood. I have not read them but will be picking up some this year to see how close they stayed to the character. Phyrne is a real bad-ass heroine. But she does it with so much style and grace. There is so much to love about this show. Just watch and you will see. You won’t be able to watch just one episode per viewing and the cast is brilliant.
So those are a few of my binge-worthy shows I watched last year that I feel are worth a peek. Did you binge watch any shows on Netflix or Amazon? If so I love recommendations.
Did you binge watch any shows on Netflix or Amazon? If so I love recommendations. Have a wonderful weekend!
Belinda
I decided it would be great to cut out some Valentine’s accents since January seems to be rushing by so fast. I picked some cute files that I owned and right before cutting it I removed the pink box so as not to create an additional cut.
Do you see how it began cutting below the logo? The paper was thick enough and with the coating, I could have used the hearts and key as a stencil to create additional art.
I used the second one to create more hearts. Let’s face it, you can never have too many hearts.
I laid them on a colored cardstock so you could see them cut out. I am thrilled with how they came out and can’t wait to use them on some cards and scrapbook pages.
I’m continuing to use the same album that I used last year because I feel like there’s no need to buy a whole new album when there is plenty of room and I really liked working in this size album.
The word that I selected for this year is ‘authentic’. I chose the word authentic because I feel it is something I dance around from time to time in my life. It seems like an easy thing to be, yourself, but so many things influence the way we present ourselves. From the desire to be perceived in a wonderful way to habits we create for ourselves based on our experiences. I want to explore how I can become more authentic in all areas of my life and witness my life bloom from this shift.
I used my Silhouette again to design my own cards to complete this months’ prompts. I have been doing pretty good this month putting my word in the forefront of my mind.I’ll be back next month to reflect on my progress and share my February prompts.
Hello! As promised I have been thinking of new crafty content for this website and this is a first of a new series called “This to That” that I will be featuring here. One thing I love to do is think up ways to repurpose items in my craft room. So I thought I would feature some of these fun projects on the blog. My hope is to inspire you into rethink the way you look at things in your home. 
Today’s ‘This to That’ occurred to me a few weeks ago when I was taking down my wall calendar in my craft room. I really love the gold inlay on these botanical designs. It’s pretty hot right now in the paper crafting arena right so I was hesitant to throw it away.
So I decided to cut up the calendar and repurpose the pages. I first cut off the tops and bottoms to be used for some paper crafting project. Then I cut the Monthly titles to be used for a scrapbook page or one of my art journals. The font is really pretty and the size of them are great. I have not used the calendars but they could be repurposed too since they are no longer associated with a certain month.
The high-quality paper used on this calendar begs to be used on a card base to make lovely cards and the thickness is perfect to create some pretty bookmarks.
So that is just what I did, I cut a strip of the calendar and I used some washi on each end to reinforce it but also to enhance the design for the bookmark. Then I pulled out a digital image I hadn’t colored and grabbed some Copics. I also found a sentiment stamp and decided to make a card to send to a friend.
No one would guess that this paper was hanging on my wall for a year!So don’t throw away your 2016 wall calendar just yet, you might have some pretty cards or bookmarks just waiting to be created!!