Monday, April 2, 2012

Music, Books, Miles, and Looks of March

Music:



Pachelbel meets U2 by Jon Schmidt and Steve Sharp Nelson - Pandora introduced me to this gem of an instrumental song.  As the song title implies, it's Canon in D meets With or Without You.  I think it's beautiful and genius and when I listen to this song, it calms me down, which is pretty important these days as I am quite stressy.

Books:
I had another strong reading month, on top of completing 72 hours of studying.


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - I really struggled through this book and would not have kept with it if I wasn't reading it for a book club.  It's about a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death on 9/11.  The last 100 pages were good, but it was just a little bit too 'weird' for me I guess you could say.  I am glad I stuck with it, but it's not something I'd recommend. I do want to check out the movie, though.


The Violets of March by Sarah Jio - This is another book that I read for a different book club.  I really enjoyed it!  It's about a woman who is struggling through the aftermath of a divorce.  She travels to Bainbridge Island to visit her aunt.  She stumbles upon a diary and finds out all kinds of family secrets.  This is a fast, engaging page turner.  I can't wait to read her next book, The Bungalow.

Bond Girl by Erin Duffy - This was a total chick lit book. I usually avoid these kind of books because the mindless characters make me want to throw the book across the room.  But this book is about a girl working in the same industry as me.  It was fun to read, but the character definitely made some horrifically bad decisions - mostly in regards to dating.  Not something I'd recommend unless you really like chick lit.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Many people on twitter had raved about this book, so I had to check it out.  It did not disappoint!  It is young adult, but I think any adult would enjoy reading it.  As I said on goodreads, the conversations between the main characters sort of reminded me of the dialogue on Gilmore Girls. Odd connection, I know. But it's that fast paced,  intellectual without being pretentious kind of dialogue that I love!

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson - I think I saw this book on a Barnes and Noble best of 2011 book list.  It's not my typical genre as it's sort of a mystery/thriller type of book, but I decided to check it out anyways.  It's about a woman suffering from amnesia - every day she wakes up not knowing who she is.  Memories begin to re-surface, so she begins to keep a journal of these memories.  I ended up staying up until 11 pm on a week night to finish this book as I could not put it down.  It's disturbing, but a great book.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - This is technically children's literature - but it's a huge 500 page book so I felt like it qualified to make the list of books I read.  There are many pages of beautiful illustrations, so it's a very fast read, but, in a word, it's delightful.  It's about a little boy who lives in a train station in Paris.  The movie Hugo was based upon this book, so I wanted to read the book before watching the movie.  I've heard great things about the movie and can't wait to check it out!

6 books.  That's a lot.  But as I've said before, my free time is split between running and reading.  There's not much tv or movie watching happening in my house these days!

Miles:
This was a good mileage month with me.  Running club has resumed, so I usually do one week night work out and the long run on Saturday mornings.  It's so good to be back running with this group!  I logged about 75 miles this month which is way more than I have ran any of the prior months.  I expect my mileage to stay around this point until after the CFA.

I also biked 26 miles, 11.25 of which were on a bike I am borrowing from a co-worker's husband who restores bikes.  I'm thinking about buying a road bike so I can bike to and from bike club on week nights.  Haven't made a decision yet, but I think it would be nice to own my own bike (I'll still use the nice ride biking sharing program, though).

Looks:
For a change, I actually liked some of the outfits I wore this month!

Nothing too exciting about this, I just like the clean look. The shirt is from J. Crew, pants are from banana, and cardigan is from Target.  I've had the J Crew shirt since 2007!  Goes to show that it's worth it spend money on classic, higher quality clothing as they last for a long time.

Of course I had to include some stripes.  I wore this outfit to a friend's baby shower. 

This is my favorite outfit of the month - and yes, that is a dressing room photo.  I am not used to wearing fitted pants so had to send this photo to Nora and Amber to get their opinion.  They both liked it, so I went with it.  And I am glad I did!  It's definitely my new favorite outfit!

72 hours of studying... 75 miles of running...  It's no wonder this month was a blur that has left me exhausted.  2 more months and then CFA studying is behind me, though - can't wait!  :)

21 comments:

  1. The fitted pants are gorgeous on you! I think they should be your new signature look :)

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  2. So glad you liked Violets! And I've heard of The Fault in the Stars but was wary about it because I tend to not like young adult fiction. However, you compared it to Gilmore Girls and I love that show so maybe I'll check it out!

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  3. I love the last look! Very chic!

    I'm so impressed with all the reading and running that you did this month. It looks like you have made your running comeback!

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  4. Look at you, skinny minny! Thanks for the books recs - I know I can trust your opinion! Lately my book club has been choosing some real snoozers...blech.

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  5. Listened to that song and loved it!

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  6. I love the pants! They look great on you! Also loving the U2 song!

    I didn't realize you had run so much this month. I knew you were running, but man, you are really rocking it. With the running and reading and the studying!!!

    If you switch to a "real" bike, is it pretty easy to park it? I would think that one of the advantages of the shared bikes is that they have docks so you don't have to worry about that. Are there plenty of places to put your bike if you buy one? (PS. You probably already knew this, but DC has those shared bikes and they are everywhere! How convenient!)

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  7. I really love all your outfits this month! Especially the fitted pants one!

    You did have a busy month. June will be here so soon though!

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  8. Super cute outfits! I love the last one - those pants looks super cute on you! It makes me want to try some on.
    I am loving the Violets of March. Hoping to have it finished this week.

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  9. I adore that last outfit. Love that pop of color in your hair!!

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  10. You look so FAB in those outfits! Love them all!

    The Fault in Our Stars is a book I am definitely checking out soon. I've heard so many people rave about it!

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  11. You read sooooooo many books!! Good for you! And those fitted pants are SO nice on you. I totally want a pair now. Ha :)

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  12. Love all the outfits, especially the third one!

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  13. Love the outfits, Lisa! Did you buy the books or get them from the library? I remember that you were not going to buy new books this year, or was that last year? Maybe you just had to break down and buy!

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  14. I love the outfit you wore to the baby shower, so cute! I really like the song you posted after- I thought the Canon part was going to immediately stress me out since it reminds me of wedding planning haha, but it is calming I agree :) I also loved Gilmore Girls so I need to read Fault in the Stars. I'm hoping to have a strong reading month in April. May was crazy and I may have done a bit too much zoning out on blog reading or tv watching rather than reading... gotta work on that!

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  15. I love, love, love this song! So beautiful. I just want to listen to it on repeat. You look fantastic in your outfits!

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  16. LOVE the last look with some peep toe low wedges! One of my favorite casual Friday looks - also good with a bright scarf!

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  17. Love your outfits! Way to rock reading six books last month; that's awesome. I think lately without my books I'd be a tad lost!

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  18. Um, you need to wear fitted pants like that all the time, you look amazing!

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  19. Love those fitted pants!! I need to get another pair. I have the city capris from JCrew in white that I love for the summer, but could definitely use a black pair.

    Oh and I really enjoyed the Violets of March. Granted, I better like the 1 full book I actually finished in 2011. :)

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  20. Wow, you are a super star! Can't believe you were able to read that much, with all the miles and studying - wonder woman indeed :-)

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