Podcast, Books, Miles and Looks of February

February was a FAR better month than January was!  I traveled to Mexico, celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day, and spent a weekend at my parents' lake home!  Hurrah!

Podcast:

I Had a Miscarriage by Stuff Mom Never Told You:  To be clear, I have never had a miscarriage. But given the high incidence rate of miscarriages, chances are everyone either knows someone who has had a miscarriage (or multiple people, as is the case of me) or sadly it's something many women will experience themselves. In this podcast, the hosts talk to Dr. Jessica Zucker, a clinical psychologist that specializes in women's reproductive and maternal mental health. She talks about how our society is pretty terrible at dealing with "out of order losses" such as pregnancy losses, and she offers advice on how to support friends that are dealing with the loss of a pregnancy. She has also created a line of pregnancy loss greeting cards.

Books:

February was another strong reading month for me since I read so much on my vacation. I had a couple of favorites. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant, a graphic memoir chronicling the experience of dealing with aging parents and their eventual death, was a raw and honest read that was so well done. Ella Minnow Pea was, in a word, delightful. I recommend it for other word lovers! As usual, the starred books counted toward the read harder challenge.


Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn - 4 stars
Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim* - 3 stars
2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino - 3 stars
Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian* - 3 stars
The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro - 4 stars
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - 3 stars
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast - 5 stars
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez - 3 stars


Miles:

Oh boy, February was not a great month in terms of workouts. My hip had started to bother me in January and after trying to (foolishly) run through the pain for several weeks, I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to stop running and do something about it. So my total mileage for the month was a measly 23 miles.  I did manage to go to yoga 11 times which is pretty impressive considering it's a short month and I was out of town 2 weekends. I also did 3 strength training workouts. I don't really expect to be able to run again for at least another 2-3 weeks but at least I can stay active in other ways.

Looks: 

Please excuse the horrible photo quality of my "looks" photos. The bathroom lighting at work is so terrible but I have the hardest time remembering to take photos of outfits when I am at home!  I had a harder time coming up with looks this month as we are coming to the end of the winter season (hopefully) so I'm pretty sick of my winter clothes.


In outfit #1, I am wearing the other bright-colored wool skirt that I bought from J Crew Factory during a 50% off holiday sale, paired with a Banana Republic button-down.

Outfit #2 is a oldie but a goodie. I got the skirt from Stitch Fix and the camisole and cardigan are from Target. The skirt is so comfortable and I love its tribal pattern. 

My ankles look freakishly small in this photo!