I am linking up with the rest of my class at Blog With Pip (want a blog course to blow your socks off?  This is the one,)  for a communal, over the interweb cup of tea and a chat.  The other links are here if you want to pop over and meet them all.

The course has been a mixing bowl of new students and graduates of previous courses (I did the course in February too) and everyone brings their own talent to share.  Designers, writers, idea drivers, technical wizards, all in the same class and meeting up many many times a day to chat on Facebook in our own private group.  I have learnt so much from the class and my fellow students, much more than I thought I ever would considering the course is all online, based in beautiful Australia (students are world wide though) and I have never met any of them in person.

I have made new friends, learnt new things and am striving for new goals.  Oh, and it is because of Michelle from That Summer Feeling that I am currently letting my hair go au naturel in the grey department – added course bonus!

What about all of those favourite things I hear you cry?  Good question, what are my favourite things at the moment?  Here are five.

1.  Watching the birds balance on the feeder outside the window, there is a bright red cardinal on there right now and he is a little big to fit so he is swaying about precariously!  I love to see a gaggle of finches and sparrows on there playing the ‘how many little birds can we fit on the feeder’ game!

2.  Messing about with apps on the phone and iPad.  I recently got Super 8 for making little films on my iPhone and I love it, I will hopefully get lots of summer filming done and maybe even make an actual short film by the end of it.  Tahnee of Milk Please Mum got my brain thinking about making short films, she makes such beautiful films and photographs.

Talking of apps, have you tried the new Little Moments app from Chantelle at Fat Mum Slim?  I have downloaded it, but haven’t played with it yet.  It looks like a combination of ‘Over’ and ‘A Beautiful Mess’, in a good way, I am excited to try it.  I already do the daily photo challenge ‘Photo A Day’ which I love, so I am sure I will get lots of use out of Little Moments.

3.  Finding cool stuff where you wouldn’t expect too.  Don’t you find yourself discovering all kinds of cool information or things exactly where you would not expect to?  I know I do, all the time.  Like nearly every day we walk through the woods at the end of our road, there is a new mushroom peeking out to see me.  Of course I dive onto my knees and snap a bevvy of photos!   Within the next few days it is gone without a trace and further down the path a new beauty has popped up.

We sometimes find ourselves paddling about in the local creek and we see all sorts of things,  from crayfish scuttling about to old cool bricks (yes really, they are ace!) and one of our recent finds was a delicate, beautiful, tiny figurine of an Indian girl and her cow.  The only parts which have been lost over time and being swished about in the creek are the cow’s horns and whatever the girl was playing (looks like a flute type instrument).  The details of the lotus flower she is standing on and her jewelry are amazing.  I don’t know anything about her, but I am trying my hardest to find out.

Update on the figurine.  She is a he, it is Krishna, commonly depicted playing the flute and accompanied by cows.

4.  I love to read, on paper though please, you won’t find this girl reading on her phone or iPad.  I like to turn the pages and cut out interesting stuff from magazines and stick them in my sketchbook.

Flow and Frankie are my most favourite magazines and our local international newsagent keeps them for me.  Hurrah!

5.  Printables are so great, I have never really used the printable stuff I see on blogs, but I have been loving these comic strip blanks from Doodles and Jots.  My youngest loves to draw comics and he has been filling these up a storm.

Then there are these cool observation book printables from Handmade Charlotte and I am going to print them off for me and anyone else who wants a quick sketch.  There is even one for drawing clouds in, I know a few adults who would love to fill a mini book with clouds.   Me, me, pick me!

What are you loving right now?  The weekend is here and I hope you have a lovely one.

Meet you back here tomorrow for Six Word Saturday.