Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Podcast, Books, Miles and Looks of February

February was a FAR better month than January was!  I traveled to Mexico, celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day, and spent a weekend at my parents' lake home!  Hurrah!

Podcast:

I Had a Miscarriage by Stuff Mom Never Told You:  To be clear, I have never had a miscarriage. But given the high incidence rate of miscarriages, chances are everyone either knows someone who has had a miscarriage (or multiple people, as is the case of me) or sadly it's something many women will experience themselves. In this podcast, the hosts talk to Dr. Jessica Zucker, a clinical psychologist that specializes in women's reproductive and maternal mental health. She talks about how our society is pretty terrible at dealing with "out of order losses" such as pregnancy losses, and she offers advice on how to support friends that are dealing with the loss of a pregnancy. She has also created a line of pregnancy loss greeting cards.

Books:

February was another strong reading month for me since I read so much on my vacation. I had a couple of favorites. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant, a graphic memoir chronicling the experience of dealing with aging parents and their eventual death, was a raw and honest read that was so well done. Ella Minnow Pea was, in a word, delightful. I recommend it for other word lovers! As usual, the starred books counted toward the read harder challenge.


Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn - 4 stars
Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim* - 3 stars
2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino - 3 stars
Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian* - 3 stars
The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro - 4 stars
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - 3 stars
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast - 5 stars
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez - 3 stars


Miles:

Oh boy, February was not a great month in terms of workouts. My hip had started to bother me in January and after trying to (foolishly) run through the pain for several weeks, I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to stop running and do something about it. So my total mileage for the month was a measly 23 miles.  I did manage to go to yoga 11 times which is pretty impressive considering it's a short month and I was out of town 2 weekends. I also did 3 strength training workouts. I don't really expect to be able to run again for at least another 2-3 weeks but at least I can stay active in other ways.

Looks: 

Please excuse the horrible photo quality of my "looks" photos. The bathroom lighting at work is so terrible but I have the hardest time remembering to take photos of outfits when I am at home!  I had a harder time coming up with looks this month as we are coming to the end of the winter season (hopefully) so I'm pretty sick of my winter clothes.


In outfit #1, I am wearing the other bright-colored wool skirt that I bought from J Crew Factory during a 50% off holiday sale, paired with a Banana Republic button-down.


Outfit #2 is a oldie but a goodie. I got the skirt from Stitch Fix and the camisole and cardigan are from Target. The skirt is so comfortable and I love its tribal pattern. 

My ankles look freakishly small in this photo!

16 comments:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I love your looks and your work bathroom looks so nice- lol!

You amaze me with the number of books you manage to read. Lately I've been struggling through books and I finally decided it's because I'm just in a mood right now where I want light things. Not like so light it's terrible, but just not heavy at all. I need to put some time into actually finding books like that.

Glad February was a better month for you than January! It always is for me, ha ha.

Marlys said...

I had to laugh about your comment about the small ankles as you inherited them from me! Skinny ankles & wrists run in the family, I guess. Now if my calves matched my ankles it would be great! Or if I had a skinny waist, that would be a positive, too! Oh, well, I am what I am!
Your book review always intrigues me and the amount your read even more so!
Now to get that hip healed up so you can get back to running now that the weather is improving greatly!

Nora said...

You have a very nice work bathroom, at least compared to mine. We have horrendous lighting in ours!

Nice job on all the reading. I think I'm a bit behind on my reading, but hopefully audiobooks and etc. will help to make up for that! I'm having a hard time finding things that i want to sit down and read, which is weird for me. I think it's the weather, maybe?

Thanks again for the Modern Love podcast recommendation; it's the only other one I listen to besides my brother's + Serial!

Jeanie said...

Roz Chast is amazing and Art Forger is on my list! Good for you on all the reading!

You've read more in that short month than I have all year, I think! I'm only on number 7!

Raquelita said...

It seems like February was actually a pretty good month for you in terms of workouts especially with all your yoga. I know that being sidelined from running is frustrating for you, but it seems like you have established some good alternatives for maintaining your overall fitness even when you can't log the miles while giving your body some time to heal.

I love both of the outfits. That yellow cardigan is great!

I always enjoy seeing what you are reading. I haven't been able to read much for leisure this month due to training and some service commitments, but I read Mr. Fox, Two Old Women, which is based on an Alaska First Nations oral tradition, for my book club, and am halfway through Donna Tart's The Little Friend.

Charbelle said...

Funny story we had to read in the time of the butterflies for our freshman orientation book at App. Love your looks!!!

Stephany said...

SMNTY is one of my favorite podcasts! Caroline and Cristen are delightful. :)

I read 7 books in February, so a solid reading month for me as well! I think my favorite was The Distance from A to Z because it was just so darn cute!

Carolina John said...

I hope you feel better this month! Get those miles in.

Leigh said...

I hope that physio helps and you are back running soon! :) love your blue skirt!

Gracie said...

I love the bright blue skirt. It's great color on you.

Linda said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blue of your blue skirt.

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

I really liked that podcast. And the one on infertility. How was orlan's inheritance? I added it to my list after hearing about it on a podcast.

Jenny said...

Your short description of Ella Minnow Pea piqued my interest and I had to look it up on Good Reads and it does indeed sound delightful! I went to add it to my library list doing the little freeze/suspend trick but seem to have checked out the ebook version instead ? oops!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I added that book to my to-reads! In February, I only read 3 books, mainly due to two things (1) one of the books was over 500 pages and (2) one of the books (Fates and Furies) I just could NOT get into! I read yours and other people's reviews and they all said that the second half was better than the first, but I just was not loving the first half, so I finally quit about 55% into it. I also started 100 Years of Solitude but then about 4 books came up from the hold shelf on the library so I put it aside since I own it. That has been one I have always wanted to read. However, I felt like the beginning was not drawing me in, as I had hoped it would.

As a side note, I just went back through my books and got rid of 15 more, which is a total of about 25 so far. There are also about 40 (est) that I have not read yet so once I read them, they are going as well... It's no 200+ but it feels good all the same!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

I'd love to start wearing more skirts or dresses to work ... I always wear pants. I'm so bored of my work wardrobe.

Amber said...

Wow that is awesome you went to yoga so much in February! I managed to go to Barre 3x per week right up until this last week where I totally fell off the wagon and didn't go at all. Whoops!

Love the blue skirt! I have one that is the exact same colour.