Podcast, Books, Miles and Looks of February

February was a great month!  I didn't have any work trips, went on a fun trip to San Diego, celebrated turning 36, and crossed lots of tasks off my wedding to-do list!  Hurrah!

Podcasts:

On Being - Interview of Alain de Botton - I don't religiously listen to this podcast about faith (pun intended!) but when I saw that the host had interviewed Alain de Botton, I put this on the list of podcasts to listen to with Phil during our CA trip.  I love Alain de Botton's realistic, straight-forward view of love and relationships. Here's a snippet from the beginning of the podcast that will give you an idea of his outlook on love and relationships:

"We must fiercely resist the idea that true love must mean conflict-free love, that the course of true love is smooth. It’s not. The course of true love is rocky and bumpy at the best of times. That’s the best we can manage as the creatures we are. It’s no fault of mine or no fault of yours; it’s to do with being human. And the more generous we can be towards that flawed humanity, the better chance we’ll have of doing the true hard work of love."

Books:

February was another strong reading month as I read 7 books!  My favorite books were The Faith Club, which is my "advocacy through reading" selection (more on this book later this month!), and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I loved Born a Crime as he addresses so many topics from Apartheid to racial unrest to growing up in poverty. My least favorite was Louisa, which was a book club book.  I'm not a big non-fiction person and this book was a little bit too dry for me, and the subjects of the book (Louisa Adams and John Q. Adams) were pretty darn unlikeable.

Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adam by Louisa Thomas - 2 stars (too dry for me)
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - 4 stars
Everything, Everything by Nicole Yoon - 4 stars
Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale - 3 stars
You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein - 3 stars
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - 4 stars
The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Priscilla Warner and Suzanne Oliver - 4 stars

Workouts:

February was another strong month of workouts for me!  I started to work with a personal trainer, which has been great, and I decided to sign up for a 3-month unlimited membership at a local barre studio as they had a bride-to-be special.  I love barre workouts as they really work your muscles to the point of fatigue!  It's a unique workout so I recommend trying it - plus many barre studios offer a first class for free. I'm going to try to get Phil to come to a class with me in March. Besides that I also did some 4-mile runs, mostly on the dreadmill, and some 21 day fix workouts (beach body program).  So basically I have workout ADD right now, but I think the variety is good for me!

Looks:

My favorite outfit was the outfit I wore to a casual French-themed engagement dinner that Phil's college friend hosted for us!  Since it was French-themed, I had to wear stripes and the colors of the French flag.  :) The top is from Target, the red corduroy pants are from a Cabi party that I attended last winter.  The picture quality is terrible as our bedroom is pretty dark, but you get the idea!