Music, Books, Miles, and Looks of January

Well, the first month of year sure flew by.  I should be surprised given that it was kind of a crazy month for me.  I would like time to SLOW DOWN between now and April 8th and then GO SUPER FAST for the year after that.  Please and thank you.

Music:



93 Million Miles by Jason Mraz - Full disclosure, I cry almost every time I hear this song.  It's like the song was written for me and what I am going through.  Like the lines, "Oh my beautiful mother, she told me: son in life you're gonna go far, if you do it right you'll love where you are.  Just know, wherever you go, you can always come home" and "Oh my irrefutable father he told me: son sometimes it may seem dark, but the absence of the light is a necessary part.  Just know, you've never alone, you can always come back home."  Side note:  I wish Jason Mraz would shave off his facial hair and cut his hair while he is at it.  He was way better looking when he had more of a clean cut look, in my opinion.

Books:
 
This was a good reading month for me.  I managed to read 5 books on top of studying 66 hours - and I really liked all the books I read!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Oh how I loved this book!  I had marked it as read when I joined goodreads years ago, but I think I did so in error as I do not think I read it in its entirety.  I am so glad I did as it's such a beautiful, well-written, timeless book.

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum- I also loved this book. It was haunting and difficult to read at times, but so good. If you enjoyed Sarah's Key, you should definitely check this book out. It was partially set in Minnesota, so it was cool reading about all the Minneapolis references and knowing exactly what areas she was talking about!

All That I Am by Anna Funder - I also really enjoyed this book.  You can read my review here.

Stay by Allie Larkin  - This was such a fun, light read.  It was similar to the book "Something Borrowed" (which is a book that REALLY bothered me) in that the main character, Van, is in love with her best friend's fiance - except in this book, the main character chose the higher road and did not give into those feelings.  The relationship between Van and her dog is really sweet, funny, and endearing.  I'm not even a dog lover and I really liked that aspect of the book. 

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green - this is the 3rd book I read by Green and probably my least favorite. It was good and I would give it 3.5 stars but it doesn't compare to his later books (which is to be expected). I am still glad I read it, though!  

Miles:

My mileage was decent for the month.  Most of them were ran on the dreadmill as it's been crazy cold here in Minnesota - like days where the high is in the negative range with bitterly cold wind chills (it was -25 with the windchill a couple of days).  I actually hate the treadmill a little bit less than usually do.  I am only doing 4-5 mile runs on there, so nothing substantial as I pretty much lose my mind after 5 miles.  I am training for a 10 mile race in early March so hopefully the temps warm up soon so I can do more runs outdoors.  My total mileage for the month was 71 miles.

Looks:

I am really trying to restrain myself from doing any shopping these first 3 months of the year as I know that there will be costs involved with the move and I want to use as little of the lump sum they give me as possible as I will be saving that to use to move back eventually...  So I have been resisting things like 50% off coupons from Banana Republic (sob).


I did get this sweater dress early in the month as it was on sale for $14 and that is just too cheap to resist.  Plus I have been wanting a sweater dress for years but because I am tall for my size, I have trouble finding ones that are long enough on me, and this one was!  Oh, and as you can see, I cut my hair even shorter at the end of December.  That's as short as I will go!

And my other favorite look is a new Anthropologie apron from Ray!  She sent me a little something to brighten my day after the whole shock of the relocation.  It was so incredibly thoughtful of her!  The bright, cheery colored definitely brightened my day!  I might need to wear this to the 2013 Julia Child Night (I am definitely budgeting a return trip for that event!).