CHRISTINE ESOLDO · /NOW

LAST UPDATED: July 2026

What I’m doing now

The current state of my attention, work, and life. Updated monthly.

It’s been a month….work travel, vacation…lots of changes and shifts. My sole focus has been work and work-related projects with barely any time for additional things. Just one of those months.
We did get a new foster dog. Beagle boy, Forrest, came to stay with us for a while so he can learn how to be a beagle. He’s an ex-lab beagle, and in the week he’s been with us, he’s come a long way. He snuggles, he’s claimed the couch as his, he is no longer afraid of the television, and he’s attached himself to our sweet beagle boy, Ziggy.

I’ve read a slew of Emily Henry books in a short go here - Beach Read, Funny Story (single session on a flight), and Great Big Beautiful Life. Light, happy reads. Good escape from my stressful reality.
Because I finished Funny Story in a single session on a flight, I was left without reading material for my flight home. So I picked up One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle. I loved the setting, and the plot was reality adjacent, and a little whimsical. But also an expression of the sometimes complex mother/daughter relationship. It was good enough that I’d read another of her books.
Currently reading Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. I’m about halfway through, and it’s been a good read so far.
I started a new class in grad school, and this one is focused on visual design, so it’s my jam. The readings are easier this time around because it’s a lot of things I just already know from being a designer for more decades than I’d like to admit.

The walks with the local women have been giving me life lately. We spent 1 to 1.5 hours out walking by the water several times a week, and it’s so refreshing.
Last month, I signed up for fortnightly group art therapy, and I haven’t made it to a single session. And the reasons I haven’t gone are the exact reasons I need to go. So that’s a fun cycle I’m in right now.
The medispa peel treatments I’ve been getting on my face are really making a difference. I’ve done two so far and my skin is way more smooth, and I noticed improvements in some red spots as well. 10/10 would recommend.
I’m a member of Connected AU, an online community focused on sharing our offline hobbies (art, cooking, gardening, reading, wellbeing, etc). While it’s online, it’s a little bit of a throwback to the glory days of message boards and blogging in the times before the insufferable influencer movement took over. They’ve also recently released the Offline Box, which is a monthly subscription to support offline living. I ordered mine and can’t wait to receive it. I love it because it’s right in line with my Presence, Rendered year-long endeavour.
I bought Cards Against Humanity - Family Edition and I’m wondering if the editors failed to check all the possible pairings because we definitely ended up with some not-so-family-friendly options. Fortunately, they went over my son’s head, but my husband and I were dying.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

It’s winter, but it’s been pretty mild. After a few trips last month, I’m in Melbourne until late August when I’ll be headed to the States again.

So many places. Everywhere? There are months where there isn’t room for very much between working and working out, and reading. I’ve found myself in one such month this month. Such is life.

This page is inspired by Derek Siver’s /now.