JUNE 2019 :: On My Shelf

Welcome to summer in New England! I've been much slower to come out of hibernation this year but I'm here, I'm alive, I'm showing up, I'm still reading-listening-podcasting!
 
READING
My mom and I recently took a once in a lifetime trip to Paris and Provence. It was beautiful and fun and the food and wine were LIFE-ALTERING. Someone recommended The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah to me if I want to stay immersed in all things french. Plus, I always love a good historical fiction. I'm immediately hooked.
 
While I was away I tried reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I really enjoy his writing style and how he's weaving narratives and historical events together but let's just say, it wasn't a good travel read for me. I'm already at an elevate anxiety level and reading about the charming psycopath serial killer dude wasn't terribly calming, haha. 

LISTENING 
Sometimes I feel like so out of touch with the music scene; I don't keep up with technologies around it so it's been hard for me to discover things I like. Not to mention that I could get stuck in a pattern of listening to my high school and college favorites on loop indefinitely. But sometimes I find one song that catches my ear and I end up on a new-artist deep dive. 

This month, that's twenty one pilots.
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I knew their radio edits were catchy but I recently saw them live and good LORD are they performers! Super engaging and more fun than I've had at a live music show in months.

PODCASTING 
One of the ways I Get Things Done for Saltwater Palette is a whole suite of (mostly free) online tools that help me with the digital graphic side of the business. This ranges from designing social media posts to cropping and photo editing my scanned artwork to designing banners and business cards. And my sidekick all along has been Canva. It's this wonderfully empowering website that lets you design All The Things, with little to no cost for the smallest of small businesses (party of one raising my hand over here). 
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I didn't know Canva's origin story until recently, listening to the NPR podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz. He interviews Canva founder Melanie Perkins on the beginnings of the site and why she went to a kite-surfing-required conference for her little baby online tool. Listen here: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/688299882/canva-melanie-perkins 

Other favorites in the How I Built This repertoire include Eileen Fisher (and I don't even wear the brand), TOMS, Whole Foods, and method.