Back when I lived in Dallas, I listened to podcasts constantly. I was working 60 to 80 hour weeks as a tax accountant, so listening to podcasts was a way for me to feel like I wasn't entirely wasting my life away in a depressing tan cubicle. I listened mostly to Christian podcasts, usually sermons from Matt Chandler or the pastors of the megachurch I attended. I would take notes on Post-Its when I wanted to remember something, and then go back to working on a tax return. When I quit tax accounting and moved back to Oklahoma, I pretty much gave up podcasts. It wasn't an intentional decision, but gradually I stopped listening to all of my old favorites.

I've been back in an office setting for nearly a year, but it wasn't until recently that I started listening to podcasts again. It was actually a post by Modern Mrs Darcy that inspired me to start listening again. She listed some of her favorite podcasts in a recent post, and I finally decided to check a few out. The first one I listened to was a podcast from Tsh from the Art of Simple. She was interviewing a local blogger that I love, Megan Tietz of SortaCrunchy. I've met Megan a couple of times and she is always lovely, so of course I loved the podcast. I started listening to more from Tsh, and now I can't stop! These podcasts used to be around an hour, but Tsh has mentioned keeping them under 45 minutes going forward.

A couple more podcasts Modern Mrs Darcy recommended were After the Jump and Beyond the To-Do List. After the Jump is hosted by design blogger Grace Bonney (of Design*Sponge). She interviews lots of different members of the creative community and also covers some basic information everyone could use (avoiding procrastination, for example!). These usually last about an hour. And Beyond the To-Do List is hosted by Erik Fisher and explores productivity, and overall living a good life. These podcasts usually last between 30 minutes and one hour. I'm definitely loving After the Jump, but I'm not sold on Beyond the To-Do List yet. I'm going to give it another shot, though!

A favorite of mine that I found on my own is the History Chicks. I stumbled onto their podcasts when browsing podcasts in iTunes. And I totally love it. It's these two women who talk for about an hour about famous women of history in a way that is super easy to understand. Plus they always go over media at the end and there is usually a Doctor Who reference or two ;)

I've also been listening to Quick & Dirty tips from the Dog Trainer. These are super short (less than 5 minutes or so) tips on raising and training dogs. I'm not going to listen to all of these, but several of them have been super useful to this new puppy mama!

I have several more downloaded and waiting to be listened to: You Need a Budget, TedTalks, Damn Interesting, This American Life, Eventual Millionaire, and more. I'll get to these eventually, but right now I'm working my way through the archives of my favorites I listed above!

What I love most about podcasts is that I feel like I'm actually multitasking well. I can learn about Cleopatra while cooking dinner; I can hear some great productivity tips while I sit in traffic on I-40. When I'm doing basic data entry at work, I can listen to simple living discussions. It makes me feel like I'm using my time well, and I definitely enjoy learning new things again!

Do you have any podcasts you listen to regularly? Or perhaps a better question, do you even listen to podcasts?