Monday, January 2, 2017

Podcasts, Books, Workouts and Looks of December

Whew, December was excellent.  Getting engaged was certainly the highlight of the month and year for me!  Here's how December shaped up for me.

Podcasts:

I'm Made a Huge Mistake by Terrible, Thanks for Asking - "Terrible, Thanks for Asking" is my new favorite podcast. The host is a woman that went through a string of heartbreaking things (had a miscarriage, lost her dad to cancer, lost her husband to lung cancer) all in the span of about 2 months. Her new podcast deals with the tough stuff of life and how we handle it, and acknowledges that sometimes when someone asks how you are doing, the honest and appropriate answer is, "terrible, thanks for asking."  Of the episodes she's released since the podcast started in November, my favorite is episode 2 which is about a woman that makes a big mistake at work and then punishes herself for that mistake for years.  It's about forgiving yourself and recognizing that we are far more critical of ourselves than others are of us.  It's worth a listen.

Books:



I only read 3 books in December, which was the fewest number of books I read in a month in 2016. That said, one of them was over 1,000 pages and another one was over 500 pages.  So I still read a decent amount!  My favorite book was Edge of Eternity, which made my 'best books of 2016' list! The bolded book is the one I own that counted toward my 'read 12 books I own' goal.

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett - 5 stars
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer - 4 stars
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley - 3 stars


Workouts:

December was a chaotic month between my trip to Spain, 2 work trips to Chicago and being out of town for Christmas and NYE. I tried to fit in as many workouts as I could, but I still worked out less than I would have liked.  At the end of the month, I decided to purchase the "Core de Force" Beach Body program. A high school friend recently became a Beach Body coach and she has had great results from doing this program. I started doing the program in the final month of December and will  likely do a post about it when I finish! I love that the workouts are all body weight so are easy to do at home or in your hotel room!

Looks:



My favorite look was this new dress I bought at Banana Republic at the beginning of the month during their 50% off sale.  I love that it has long sleeves and pockets!  I added the belt - at Phil's suggestion (he often suggests that I should add a belt to dresses - in this case he was right!). I wore this during a work trip to Chicago. We had our holiday party after work and this dress was perfect for both day and night.  I wish I could buy it in several colors but the other colors in my size sold out quickly!

9 comments:

Jeanie said...

Sounds productive to me, especially being December. And your dress rocks! What a great find -- that so rarely happens!

katielookingforward said...

Sounds like a pretty good month! I'm also loving Nora's podcast.

Shoshanah said...

I love the blue in that dress! The boy is always telling me I need to wear belt with dresses too. I never really think of accessories so is never wind up doing it myself.

Abby said...

You look so good in blues and purples!!

Very interesting podcast. I have kind of a weird dark interest in how people handle hard times. Most of my job is spent dealing with people experience the lowest of the low. And it's fascinating how different people take it on.

I am intrigued by your new workout program is going!!! I am all about body weight stuff. I've really cracked down on that since I've been hard on marathon training - and I still feel as strong as always!!

Gracie said...

I love that dress on you! Such a lovely royal blue. It's hard to find clothes that color, but it's one of my favorites. And I do love that you can dress it up or keep it simple.

Linda said...

I loved The Interestings! I can't remember what year I read it though. Loved that dress for you. Classic and won't go out of style.

Stephany said...

I need to add that podcast to my feed! It sounds so interesting.

Also, I looooove that dress on you. So classic!

Amber said...

I love the podcast Terrible, thanks for asking. I'm so glad you told me about it. The host is SO good.

LOVE that dress!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Phil is right, the belt looks great!