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Adulting in the time of COVID19

some of this was scrapped from last week. Things I’m proud of so far, quite random and in no particular order and definitely about a 0.5 on a 0-10 of Covid19 preparedness:

      • my apartment is finally settling in, only 7.5 years later
      • I’m washing dishes daily and not eating out of tupperware
        • except when it’s the last portion and then why dirty a bowl?
        • coffee mugs solved by using disposable, oops
      • Bought a Brita and keeping up my water intake
        • no soda before 6, no coffee after 2

Some times it’s the little things.

Crockpot buffalo chicken

Also, please meet crockpot buffalo chicken pasta with feta. I did that Things you learned about yourself while social distancing Facebook thing and cooking is definitely at the top of the list. As I said to Deborah in a comment somewhere, maybe by the time this is all over I’ll manage one of her Meatless Monday posts.

March was  A MONTH, as it has for everyone. March 10th we had a Keep Exploring campaign, and by March 12th the museums had begun to close. COVID19 quickly went from an issue impacting inbound tourism from China to something impacting everyone’s daily life. I really need to re-find that meme about March coming in like a TRex. I’d say I’m glad to see March in the rear view, but I’m not sure April is going to be any better.

My only goal for the month? Consistency, which I touched on Wednesday. Navigating this is all about the little things, and that’s one thing still in my control at the moment.

Weekly Run Down with Deborah and Kim:

good morning world
first athleisure work clothes!
  • never miss a Monday: because I try not to run every day, I seem to miss a Monday every other week. LOL. This was a planned Monday Runday before work as I tried to sync up with Elizabeth to run past one another to see her on her 60th birthday. Our timing didn’t work, but it was still a lush Central Park after two days of rain. I did not have time to do my PT between the run, shower and starting my work day, so this kicked off a trend of PT during (no video) conference calls. I even got official Coach Marcia approval in the Zooma facebook group.  After work I went to my first ever Zoom birthday party. I’d lie and say I dressed up, but I really just added Mardi Gras beads.
  • Tuesday: I realized after Monday’s run that I was .09 away from topping last March. That could not stand, so my morning coffee walk turned into a run. I don’t really count <1 mile as breaking a rule against running three days in a row, but probably won’t make a habit out of it. I had calls at 6:30 and 8:30 so I went for a quick walk before the 6:30
Cucumber!
what a beautiful end to the day
  • Wednesday: one of the things I found on Tuesday’s walk? Cucumbers! I’ve really been missing salads as that’s a work lunch staple, so I was glad to find one to accompany my lunch. I also got in a 4+ mile run through Central Park to start the month off right and get in my Uncanceled Project 5K. That’s going to be all about 5 and 10Ks for me, as I cannot wrap my head around double digit runs, and don’t think it’s healthy (personally – zero judgement to anyone else) to push myself for no reason.
two new books from Little Free Library
Get in Shape Girl!
  • Thursday: hello Beachbody. I’ve had a Beachbody on Demand subscription for nearly a year and didn’t really use it aside from yoga. I decided that if I wasn’t getting out for more than a coffee walk, I had to do something. Enter 21 Day Fix.  I don’t have enough hand weights, but was glad to find these in a corner of my bedroom – really thought I’d donated them. Since one of the books I picked up at the Little Free Library was Camino Winds, I realized I needed to read Camino Island. Luckily the library had 100+ ebook copies. The other book is The Lady Gang’s Act Like a Lady. Whoever maintains this Little Free Library is in publishing as there are so many wonderful ARCs.
I found eggs. And a baby fry pan
  • Friday: oh, hi DOMS. Beachbody is definitely a “real” workout. I skipped ahead to Day 3, upper body FIX as I knew I wanted to run Saturday and I was so sore from Thursday. The Easter Bunny sent me a baby frying pan, and I was oh so happy to make scrambled eggs for dinner.  Like I said, it’s the little things.
a pic to sort of twin with Darlene
I’m a fan
  • Saturday: probably the best day of the week. A late start due to finishing Camino Island, a solid 10Kish run with Central Park in peak bloom, the virtual coffee happy hour with so many of you, a FaceTime date with a friend and phone calls with two others.  It was much warmer out than I expected, and I totally could have gone with short sleeves or even a skirt. I really love the Cool It top though and wish I’d have bought another before they were discontinued. I did take advantage of the flash sale and grab a new Lioness Capri (rad plaid, which I love but is too big. Yay!) and Lotta Breeze Skirt for $20 apiece. Had a store credit, so only paying shipping is winning. My first online clothes shopping since this all began – changing my closets last weekend told me I have more than enough spring/summer clothes.  While running I listened to Mario’s latest Ask Me Anything episode on the Morning Shakeout. I needed a break from my running playlist, music wise. One of the random Strava challenges was via Ladder and when I completed it, I had a choice of 30% off or a free sample pack.  I went with the plant Vanilla, and mixed it with almond milk and PB2. I’m a fan, also impressed with how quickly they got it out.
hello this week’s lunch

Sunday: I am so sore. My left hamstring, my abs. Hurts so good but OW. My nose is quite enjoying this week’s lunch as it cooks in my crockpot. Chicken, ranch seasoning, au jus and pepperoncini. What am I eating it with? No idea. I thought I was done with the store yesterday, but  I need a side. Preferably a green one.

GoTheDist :

Steps went down the tube in March, despite running being up. Gee, I wonder why.  I like having the year on year, so including it all here. Not hitting step goal hasn’t bothered me — I have to start remembering to sync my Fitbit more regularly though.

March:

  • 362,730 steps
  • 161.54 miles run/walked
  • 56.02 miles run

Hey – it’s an easy opportunity to beat the total come March 2021.

Q1 2020:

  • 1,220,353 steps
  • 539.85 miles run/walked
  • 166.27 miles run

Way off last year, except for running. March was  a monster month last year, so again, no surprise.

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We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!

Edit: this post was half written, and then we lost a dear colleague to COVID19 and I deleted a lot as it became irrelevant. Pardon the random collection of what’s left.

I’m OK, just sad. He was an amazing man. Here are some photos another colleague shared.  We don’t know when we’ll be back in the office, and I can’t imagine that day without him stopping at my desk to scope out the candy dish and I feel like this is going to be unsettled until then. The issues with CV19 are many, but among the top is we lose our ability to come together amid crises. It’s testament though to how loved he was that the GoFundMe to bury him and support his family was fully funded in about 36 hours.

—

Title inspired by something that showed in my Facebook memories. Any guesses?

This is one of the pieces I’m struggling with on work from home. I miss my colleagues. We have phone calls, Slack calls, Zoom calls, but sometimes it was just easier to pop over to someone’s desk and storm the brains.

I’m grateful for Facetime with the minions in my life for smiles. Running? Running is just for running. I do want to do the Cherry Blossom Virtual 10 miler, maybe, but otherwise there are no distances on my program. I’m running when and for how long I want to.

For those of you who lost a lot of races this spring and are looking for a free virtual ultra challenge, Run the Edge’s Uncanceled Project.

Bookses!

On other notes, I was glad to see the Little Free Library between my apartment and the coffee shop restocked. It had been bare of late and I wondered if its curator was taking the books inside for safekeeping when I left one and saw it immediately gone. He restocked it last  weekend and I was happy to continue my take one, leave one policy even if I’m not reading much of late.

Just got this for Kindle, much much lighter than 400+ page hardcover
of course what do I take? Another hardcover. It might make up some for no travel

Weekly run down with Kim and Deborah:

definitely more “Sound of Silence” than “Feelin’ Groovy” going on of late.
I’ve run this so many times, never noticed grandma’s name on the overpass
  • rewind to pick up last week’s unfinished Sunday business. Got out the door for a quick out and back of two ish miles. I realized that while I don’t have enough Simon & Garfunkel on my playlist, it’s usually on the mental playlist. I was almost in tears seeing grandma’s name. It’s not near her bday or passing anniversary, but emotions are weird.
  • missed this Monday: because I ran three days in a row. Was almost wishing I hadn’t when I walk/swam to Target to get some basic essentials to adulting. It’s funny, the things you can live without (Brita filter, pyrex bowl) until you’re home full time, Got the PT space up and running ish and got in a set for the second day in a row.
an oasis of many kinds
  • Tuesday: crisp, beautiful spring day and after work I went avoiding people and hunting cherry blossoms. Cherry Hill still bare, but the Park was gorgeous for a 4+ mile wiggle.
  • Wednesday: short after work walk to drop off some items to a friend who isn’t able to go out. Also put together my new chair and laptop riser, which have made a huge difference toward physical comfort while WFH
obligatory selfail
  • Thursday: who says “long” runs and selfails are for weekends only? Darlene, Elizabeth and I were texting about a simultaneous virtual run and matching, so I tried to take a pic. Otherwise I just ran and took in the evening light. I’ve run a lot more on the East Side of late – not for fear of CP crowds but just because it’s more convenient. I love living so close to the water.
oasis above the highway
Socially distanced and sitting on a trash bag
  • Friday: water is therapeutic. This walk wasn’t even long enough to count for #19for19challenge, but I headed here after work to think about Rally. This end of the park is always quieter as there are no benches, and the only living thing to get within six feet was a dog who was quite confused by a human at his height. NYC gets a reputation as a concrete jungle – although having lived there too, Osaka is way worse! – and I suppose there is some humor in calling pavement a park. But it’s a great oasis over the highway and a great place to read. Yes, this is the home of most of my runrise runs.
Pilgrim Hill, one of my favorite cherry blossom spots
  • Saturday: there were some vague plans to go out early and beat the crowds, rain and do ten for the virtual cherry blossoms since ours will be mostly gone by next week, but I wasn’t feeling it. I did want to get some outside activity before a weekend full of rain, so I got in a couple of pink miles. I had some necessary shopping to do, so I took care of that later and then settled in on the couch to finally finish John Grisham’s The Guardians.
  • Sunday: get out of my PJs, eventually. Cook lunch for the week (yes, for the third week in a row!). Maybe finally switch my closet, although today feels too raw.
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Celebrating two years of running with a book giveaway

I’m weird.

This is not news to those of you who know me.

I can be one of those people who needs to start a book series at book 1, or I can be a total free spirit-often in the same sentence. My inner wild child came out on Tuesday when I decided to celebrate my two-year running anniversary five days early. That isn’t the non-sequitur it appears,I’m celebrating my running anniversary with a book giveaway. See details below.

Book giveaway: Early birds get the worm, and many run early, ergo runners make excellent bookworms! Click To Tweet

We had a campaign in 2009 called 9 in ’09 tied in with a new book that was out. For some reason I remembered that and was planning a variation on that to mark 2019. January 1 dawned sunny and beautiful with temperatures in the mid 50s so I headed to Central Park. I actually missed the Park as I hadn’t run there since early December’s 15K as I was avoiding hills when I was actually running locally. It was so wonderfully crowded for January given the weather.

About two-three miles into the run, I was thinking about how I wanted to mark Sunday’s anniversary. I knew the weather wasn’t supposed to be as good and the odds of my going long on a treadmill aren’t always good. (Last year’s 7.77 on the treadmill is probably still a length record.) I wanted to go long to mark the growth in the last two years, so I began to think about just moving the anniversary run, while still running Sunday.

At about 45 minutes into the run I wondered if I had the focus to go two hours. It’s long but not that long compared to my 15K/10M times. Turtle Power! It was beautiful, and I thought I did. I also realized that while I’ve done 15Kish a few times solo, I’ve never done a double digit run outside a race. I had my goals.

When I finished one lap of Central Park just north of the Met where I always enter, I turned around and ran the direction I only run during the Women’s Mini. This had the benefit of not doing Cat Hill twice, which I thought was smart with niggling aches. And yes, the run down to the bottom of the park feels much longer than the distance I’d just run north.

checking in with Fred

 

At the bottom of the park, I turned onto the Bridle Path to give my feet a break. I realized the run would come in between ten and eleven miles depending on whether I ran all the way home or ended it in the Park. When I turned south at the top of the reservoir, I realized I knew my ending point: Lebow. And I knew what distance I’d finish on. Thanks to some cold, fat fingers I hit 2:00:20 instead of ’19 but it was a great run. The 12s don’t bother me, I was getting tired and didn’t fuel beyond coffee and cheerios before going out. But this run told me I’ll be able to finish Lebow, despite being undertrained, which I knew.

This was most definitely a celebration of all I’ve achieved since that day two years ago when I hadn’t run a step since high school and it took me 12m to run/walk .61 mile. As a colleague in our office run group frequently says, movement is a privilege.

I just stumbled on a collection of running routes on NYRR’s page and can’t wait to explore more of these.

In honor of my two-year running anniversary, I’m giving away a signed copy of one of the books about running I’ve enjoyed the most, Mark Atkinson’s Run Like Duck. To enter, leave a comment and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday. It was perfect timing how many of you had “read more” as a 2019 goal.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekly Wrap with Wendy and Holly: at 19.25 miles, a solid start to the year

  • Monday: oh hi weird Monday in the middle of the holidays, some attendant time off. I’ve really come to appreciate the value of a Monday workout setting the tone so amid some procrastinating, don’t wanna and other issues I finally dragged myself out for a mile and a half to close out 2018. I did not do the NYRR Midnight Run as it was pouring and nope. Never registered so this wasn’t a DNS.
  • Tuesday: the anniversary run detailed above, 10.32 miles
  • Wednesday: stretch and roll. My lower legs were a little sore from Tuesday’s run and the gym foam roller is bigger than mine. I also did a short kettlebell circuit and some planking. Alas, no plankie this time.
  • Thursday: office run group took December off due to schedules, vacation, and a soaking wet day. We returned in earnest the first Thursday in January and this run was harder than I expected. Definitely our slowest. I don’t think my legs were fully rested after Tuesday’s miles and while it was warm for December, it was dry and the lack of humidity made breathing harder. I so rarely run with others, that it’s not always easy to tell what a conversational pace is. I guess I could call this a tempo run? One of the many reasons I love this group is the pacing. I no doubt would have backed off left to my own devices, but after Cat Hill killed me as it always does, we rebounded with a mile that was a minute faster.
  • Friday: off. Stretch and roll at the gym
Nyack’s Resolution Run
  • Saturday: was supposed to be an off day with a day trip up to Albany but earlier this week Mom & Bob mentioned a fundraiser in Nyack. They were more interested in the hot cocoa bar, but oh twist my arm to go for a run before spending two hours in a car and then two and a half on a train coming back. I could get used to suburban runs. Get dropped off, sign waiver & wait inside church hall where it’s warm & dry (although capris and a windbreaker in January is nothing to complain about!). When I looked online Friday night there were 88 registered participants and I’d say about half of that turned up to run. The rain kept some away and others I think just wrote a check to support vs. planning to run. Net result, more cops watching the intersections than runners. We headed out of the church hall to the banner across a street and were off. Untimed and the road open but there really isn’t much traffic in this area especially not on a rainy January morning.
  • There was a lot of puddle hopping and moving between sidewalk and side of road but it was a fun run that was an out and back to the Hook. At the turnaround at about mile 2 (this race was billed at 3M, 4M, and 4K – Garmin eventually said 3.81) there was a water tent-I was so happy for the volunteers to have a tent as it was pouring down at this point. I got to talking to two people who had been just ahead of me who of course knew mom. Small town, for the win. We ran the last half together, which made it go a lot faster. Approaching two people is way easier than a group. I ducked into the church hall to get some paper towel to drip dry a little before heading out to meet mom and head to Albany. Whether I needed a shower before heading out was a valid question. This old Kohl’s windbreaker is what got me through Brooklyn and other than the top where I wasn’t fully zipped, my shirts were dry. My legs and feet on the other hand. Splish Splash! So fun though.
why do we do this? Oh yeah, that medal
  • Sunday: happy runniversary to me! Although the weather dawned much better than I expected, I decided to go with my plan of celebrating running by literally running errands. This was also assisted by a late start-I was tired after a busy couple of weeks. Most of the runs were untimed as there were lights and stops, but two important ones were timed:
January 6, 2019
  • Why that distance? It’s so random!
My first run, January 6, 2017
  • That .61 miles went just a little more quickly this time. I followed that up with a run commute home from the gym for twelve minutes. No Runkeeper photo since the GPS rounding had it off, but here’s one from Strava which is off but less so
Glow bug!
  • Yep, twelve minutes took me almost twice as far even without the enforced consistency of the treadmill. It’s impossible to tell, but the  base layer shirt is from 2017 Frozen Penguin, dig your roots!

Thank you, running, for introducing me to a stronger me. Here’s to the next two or twenty years and beyond.

2019 Spring Half Marathon Training Mileage:80.62

2019 Race Calendar:

as much for my own planning as anything else

GoTheDist 2018 closeout

all the data

I knew December was going to be tight. It was last year too. When I got home mid-day on New Years’ Eve after a weekend away, I entered my steps to realize I was a hair more than 12K away from 400K for December. What’s my daily step goal? 12K. So it’s a two year streak of 400K and a solid year.

Gym Visits: 8 in December, 38 for September-February Cycle

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Review: Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run and #20BooksOfSummer

I’ve succumbed to #20BooksOfSummer, more on that later, and the first is Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run which Liz posted to me after she read it. Is there any better kind of friend than the fellow bookworm?

Never say never and all that, but there are two things in life I probably will never do: go vegan or run 100 miles in one day.  (For scale, I just crossed the 300 mile mark for miles, in 2018!) I absolutely never would run an ultra on a sprained or broken ankle, which he did at least twice. That said, Jurek made both seem very interesting. Much like Dean Karnazes’ escapades, I devoured this book and likely would have finished it even sooner given more reading time. In another similarity to Karno’s books, both men have great sidekicks in their crews: I see a lot of Dean’s Topher in Jurek’s Dusty, his former competition turned pacer. If you’re going to do insane things, you might as well have excellent company in doing so.

Eat & Run is part memoir, part recipe book and part look at the insane world of ultrarunning. Jurek transformed from a poor “Minnesota redneck” into a vegan ultrarunner under an oft-repeated quote from his father: sometimes you just do things. I wondered before reading this if Jurek was a child of hippies, hence the veganism, but no he grew up catching & eating his own fish in Proctor, a small town near Duluth. A hand-me-down set of skis lead to his discovering his talents as a Nordic skier and his running career came from a place of cross training for skiing. Even once he left his childhood home, rocky relationship with his father and small Minnesota town, it wasn’t a smooth path as he & his then-wife Leah faced significant debt due to his travel costs. At one point he even made his own gels due to losing a sponsor (wonder if that was before or after he criticized Dean K in part due to his sponsorships?) and camped at the finish line of Western States as he couldn’t afford a hotel.

Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run makes an appearance in this book as Jurek joined him to race the Tarahumara on their own turf after handily beating them in the Angeles Crest race. I really need to read that book. I think what made this such a compelling read is that Jurek didn’t use it to proselytize veganism. He explains why it works for him and the benefits he attributes to it without going over the top. This was somewhat how he weaved in the story of the Tarahumara and their efficiencies in running and living. As someone who has seen improved blood work in the time I’ve been running, I found myself wondering at several points whether the improvements he saw were related to veganism or simply the insane amount of mileage he ran regularly.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading his newest, North, when I have a chance.

Other reviews:

  • Neel at Blog on Passionate Running
  • Wendy at Taking the Long Way Home, a wonderful running book club

***

I’ve read about this challenge on Liz’s blog over the last few years and her introductory post this year finally made me realize how wonderful & freeing this challenge is. 746 Books is the host, and there’s a linkup there. I’m really bad about reading books I’m “supposed to”, so we’ll see how this goes. I’ll link here when I review them, and I’m using the hashtag as a Goodreads shelf. In no particular order other than the first

  1. Scott Jurek – Eat & Run
  2. Joe Biden – Promise Me Dad
  3. Chris Jones –Rise Up!: Broadway and American Society
  4. Bart Yasso – My Life on the Run, June 16-17
  5. Amby Burfoot – Run Forever
  6. Kevin Boyle – Braving the Waves, June 8-9
  7. Rick Steves – Travel as a Political Act
  8. Nobu Matsuhisa – Nobu: A Memoir
  9. Craig Childs – House of Rain
  10. Mike Pesca – Upon Further Review
  11. Terry Waite – Solitude
  12. Chas Newkey-Burden – Running: Cheaper Than Therapy
  13. Mirna Valerio – A Beautiful Work in Progress
  14. William Atkins – The Immeasureable World
  15. Michael Lombardi – Gridiron Genius
  16. Alyssa Mastromonaco – Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
  17. Daniel Silva – The Other Woman
  18. AJ Mass – Yes It’s Hot in Here
  19. Melissa Milgrom – Still Life
  20. Adharanand Finn – The Way of the Runner

Alternates

  • Will Gompertz – What Are You Looking At?
  • Don Thompson -The Supermodel and the Brillo Box
  • Sarai Walker – Dietland
  • Scott Sherman – Patience & Fortitude
  • Camryn Manheim – Wake Up, I’m Fat
  • Kati Stevens – Fake
  • Andrew Bomback –Doctor

This encompasses some, but not all of the NetGalley titles I have, and is a mix of print & ebooks as I’ve most definitely failed BookCrossing lately. Time for some of these books to move while I’m occasionally carrying a beach tote. Alas, I just got a $47 Amazon gift card from a class action so it’s likely Mt. TBR is going up and not down. I’m making progress with #BeatTheBacklist, I swear! I’ve actually read 49 books so far on the year and am ahead of pace for my 2018 goal.

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2016 Q1 in Books


 

I’ve nailed 2016 steps wise, how about books? Specifically my #2016TBR challenge.

Through the end of March I’ve read 30/75 books which Goodreads designates as 11 books ahead of schedule. Of those, 25 count toward the TBR challenge. I’m pretty happy with both of those numbers and I’ve since finished another that counts toward the challenge.

Of note:

  • I’m firmly converted to Goodreads and find LibraryThing a chore. Like many social channels, I can’t believe it took me so long.
  • Goodreads reviews are much more fine-tuned than Amazon’s, and I love this.
  • My reading habits? Still all over the map. Everything from bingeing on my police procedurals to a fair amount of health & weight loss reading.
  • The most moving is one I’m still working on reviewing, Robert C. Poole’s On Hallowed Ground, which I read while exploring Arlington. Powerful.

Reading will fall off as weather becomes more conducive to walking, but let’s see how I can do pace wise in Q2

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2016 reading challenge


At least the one I’m planning on at this moment.  Level: 50+ Married with Children

I think the reason I’m struggling with finishing the A-Z challenge is an issue I’ve had since high school. I hate being told what to read. If I have to read something, I won’t. That’s why I end up avoiding things like PopSugar or Book Riot‘s challenges even though I love the idea of them. Part of the reason I love this challenge is only “rules” are books that were published before 2015. Since I’m still trying to purge the shelves, I think it’s a perfect one for me.

Since I’ve made at least four “what should I read?” posts in the last year, including one last night for the final push to 100 books, I’ve finally bit the bullet and decided to try Goodreads. I love Library Thing for the cataloging, but I’ve never made good use of the community aspects or the recommendations. So giving GR a go even though I hated it for so long. I do review all books for Amazon so it actually makes sense.

While I’ll finish 2015 in at least the 90s, I do think it will be a bit of a challenge to hit that level again without series to binge on, so I think I’m setting my official goal at 75. We’ll see.

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2015 Home Stretch: Reading

so I realized today that at the end of 2014 I said I wouldn’t read 54 books again. About that. I’ve read 88 so far. That is, in a word, insane. 11.5 books this month is going to be hard with work eating the first half, but I’m going to push hard. I really want that meaningless accomplishment.

I only abandoned one more book in the last two months though. Or at least marked it as abandoned in Library Thing.

I also looked back on my last update to the A-Z challenge. Still missing Q,X and Y but that doesn’t really bother me as there was nothing on my initial challenge wishlist that I want to read so…

In reading back on my 2014 year in review I can say:

  • still bad at reviews
  • still read too much crap (although I may be out of series on which to binge)
  • still a happy bookworm

 

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Q3 update: Alphabet Soup reading challenge:

77 books read so far in 2015. Could 100 really happen? 21 in Q3 and I’m currently in the middle of 3 so very possible. 35 unfinished puts me over so technically I’ve started more than 100 books already. On the A-Z front, I have no idea so let’s see. I was missing the following at the end of Q2:

O
Q
U
X
Y

During Q3 I added:

O – Orange is the New Black
Q
U – Hella Winston’s Unchosen
X
Y

Somehow I have a feeling QXY going to be challenges. Luckily for Q and X I can count them if they appear anywhere in the titles per the challenge rules. Going to try not to do that though. Having another look through Jandy’s Reading Room for some ideas.

I think I’m pushing hard for 100 though because that would be awesome.

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Q2 update: 2015 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

I fell off on my challenge updating, but as I briefly noted earlier, I’ve read 56 books this year. Together with the 23 I didn’t finish (or saved for later as a friend said), that’s amazing. I’m slightly ahead of my Q1 pace and have the following letters still to go:

O
Q
U
X
Y

Not bad at all. I’ve been reading a lot of fiction (I declared amnesty, they’re books) so haven’t done many reviews. Sally, I’m in your same rut. I’m not sure about my March comment about going twice through the list as I’ve been bad about updating it, but we’ll see.

In the mean time, I’m just enjoying my reading.

 

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book’em messy shelves

 

Before
Before
After
After

AKA two friends’ organized shelves make me feel guilty. I really don’t read dead tree books all that often and I had some that I’ve long since replaced with e-books.  Speaking of books, I’ve upped the ante on the A-Z challenge. I’m going to try for two loops through the alphabet. With 11 books read (and 9 unfinished) so far, I think that’s doable.