Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Music, Books, Miles, and Looks of September

Music:

:
It's Time by Imagine Dragon - Seriously - listen to this song.  It is amazing!!  It has THE catchiest beat ever, and as you can see, this band is totally talented as they are singing this live/unplugged.  It will make you tap your feet, maybe car dance, and it is the song you put on when you are so pumped up about life and want to sing at the top of your lungs! LOVE THIS SONG.  I want to see this band live.  They look like they'd put on an amazing show!  I bought the CD and it's AWESOME.



Lifening by Snow Patrol - Oh how I adore this song.  This is a live, unedited version of the song, which shows how talented this band is. I love this song because I know we all have moments when our hearts are so full and we think - "This is all I ever wanted from life."



Books:

It was another strong reading month for me, partially because of the death virus which laid me up on the couch for several days!  I read 6 books!!


The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I loved this book.  The writing was so engaging and enchanting.  It held my attention from the very beginning and I did not want the book to end.  It's about a boy and a girl who are engaged in a magical competition that is being played out within the tents of a circus that is held at night.  Some have complained that it moved too slowly for their liking, but I loved this book!

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton - I LOVED this book. It was so well written and engaging. I had a hard time putting it down. The women and the relationships in this book felt real. It was neat to read about this group of women who were newly married, young mothers during the same era that my mom was embarking on marriage/motherhood (60-70s). It makes me want to ask her more about what she thought about events like Apollo 13, the Nixon era and Vietnam.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller -  I really loved this book.  It's sort of a memoir that the author writes while helping write a screen play for a different book he wrote (Blue Like Jazz).  It makes you think about the kind of story you are living and what you want your legacy to be.  One of my favorite quotes about something I think many of us struggle with is as follows:

"There is an intrinsic feeling in nearly every person that your life could be perfect if you only had such-and-such a car or such-and-such a spouse or such-and-such a job.  We believe we will be made whole by our accomplishments, our possessions, or our social status.  It’s written in the fabric of our DNA that life used to be beautiful and now it isn’t, and if only this and if only that, it would be beautiful again."
 
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee - Ok, my judgment of this book may be clouded by the fact that I was on codeine cough syrup while reading it in the evenings, but holy moley it confused me. I don't know if it was the switching back and forth between the 40s and 50s or keeping track of everyone's ethnicities (Japanese, Chinese, English, or a mix), but I was and still am CONFUSED by this book.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - This is probably the most engaging and most difficult book to put down that I have read this year. It's a mystery novel about the disappearance of a woman on her 5th anniversary. The narration of the book switches back and forth between the husband and wife (partially through her journal in the early parts). It's so incredibly messed up, it will keep you guessing up until the very end!!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaught -I loved this book. It's about a young woman, Victoria, who was an orphan. The author weaves together a tale of her childhood with the story of the present so seemlessly. You know Victoria has a secret from her past, but it is slowly revealed over the course of the book. It was cool learning about the meaning of different flowers, too!

Miles:


Ha.  Miles.  Not as many as I would like this month, thanks to the freaking death virus. I got 109 in, and over 80% of those came in the 2nd half of the month after I recovered from the death virus/bronchitis.  Not great, but it will have to suffice!

Looks:

First look:  I am bringing the fitted, colored pants trend into fall.  It's tough to tell in this blurry photo (sorry, cold meds make me shaky), but the pants are a lovely eggplant color!  I am all about fitted pants and they work great for my boyish (read:  no curves) body shape!


Second look: Yep, another elevator photo!  This is a new outfit that I got for a very affordable price as the skirt was on clearance at Ann Taylor, and the cami/cardigan came from target. I love that mustard color and think the red shoes are another fun pop of color.  I got a lot of compliments on this color so will look to add more of it to my wardrobe for the fall!


18 comments:

Erin said...

LOVE your book suggestions for the month. I'm CURRENTLY reading "The Wednesday Sisters" and LOVING it. I also read "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" shortly before I had Welles and I felt like it was such a blessing that I did! I am going to keep the other books you mentioned in the front of my mind so I can check one of those out next!!!! OMG I love Ann Taylor skirt with the yellow cardi! Soooo fashionable :)

Becky said...

Your looks are fabulous as always! I recently got Gone Girl on my kindle (because there were 12,000 something requests in front of me at the library) and I was going to read it this weekend on our trip but maybe not if it's OUR fifth anniversary and it's about a woman disappearing on HER fifth anniversary!

I tried reading The Wednesday Sisters once but didn't really get into it...or at least kept putting it down. Maybe I'll give it another shot this fall.

I'm currently reading Little Bee - I think you've read it, but if not you HAVE to! I'm only halfway through and it's blowing me away!

missris said...

Love your book recommendations! I'm adding them to my library queue. If you like Donald Miller, he wrote a book about Chicago called City of the Century that I am loving right now!

Marlys said...

I should make a list of the books you enjoyed, as I never remember them! But you read about 12 books to my one so I may never get them read! They sound so interesting, though! I love the outfits!

Nora said...

I haven't heard of the Imagine folks before so thank you for sharing it! Definitely catchy!

You look great in the mustard color; I used my birthday gift card for ATL to buy two mustard yellow things and I LOVE THEM!

Can't wait to see you!!! (And of course check out the books you recommended to me!)

Stephany said...

Ohhhh that second outfit is just adorable on you. I love mustard yellow!

I am SO excited Gone Girl is #twookclub's October book because I've been wanting to read it for a while now and I think it'll make for a really great discussion.

Leigh said...

LOVE your last outfit! You look hot! :) Well, now I know what books I need to look into and start reading. Thank you :)

Abby said...

Gone Girl and The Language of Flowers are going to go on my "to read" list!! I love these monthly recaps.

Love your outfits too!! I would like to rock some fun colored skinny pants.... However, I try fighting it and wearing pants -- and it's 100 fricking degrees out.

Please don't feel sheepish about your miles this month!! You had bronchitis! And you were still have to run your 22 miler this weekend at an amazing pace! You should be happy. I truly believe (From experience) that some times a little break from training makes us stronger in the end!

Cherry Blossoms said...

Adorable outfits! You are so tall and thin you have the perfect body for the fitted pants. I on the other hand not so much.
We will have to go shopping when you come visit and help me find some new items. Trust me, I desperately need a few new things to spruce up the closet.

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

Every month when you do your looks photos I just want to go shopping after haha. I have no interesting new clothes- I am not nearly as fashionable as you :)

I have to add lots of those books to my reading list definitely and listen to some songs! Love when you do this post!

Raquelita said...

Yes! Lovers of the Night Circus unite! I can't wait to get Gone Girl. I hope it comes soon!

I love that yellow on you!

Amber said...

Oooh love that first song, very catchy is right!

That yellow cardigan is just so pretty and BRIGHT! I love it!

I think 109 miles is pretty darn good despite your death virus!!!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

I love these posts!

Cute outfits, and thanks for sharing the tunes :-)

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

I LOVE your second look. Looks so put together, fresh and fun. I need more print and color in my woredrobe. And I need cardigans that aren't black or grey. :)

Melissa said...

The more I read your blog the more I am convinced we'd have been the best of friends in a life where we lived closer to each other! We seriously have the exact same mentality in life, and (on a less serious note) our taste in books and music is identical too. I LOVE the two songs you posted SOMUCH. Snow Patrol. I adore them. And Imagine Dragons is like my new obsession! Love the version you posted.

I need to read Gone Girl. I'm so intrigued. And I'm a huge fan of those eggplant colored pants on you. CUTE!

Elizabeth said...

LOVE the first song. The new Donald Miller book sounds great. And I bought the same mustard cardigan--LOVE :) Gal after my own heart :)

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I love that yellow sweater! That is a great color on you! And the eggplant pants are a lot of fun too. I have the Wed Sisters and Gone Girl on hold at the library and am waiting on them. They don't have that Donald Miller book though :(

I have that Imagine Dragon song on my iPod but have never heard that acoustic version. I like it! Good stuff.

Alli said...

I'm obsessed with that Imagine Dragons song and I love love love this acoustic version! Thanks for posting.

I love the colored pants trend even though I rarely wear pants.

As for books, I have so many in my queue that I can't even look at your recommendations right now for feel I'll be overwhelmed!