TGIF

Greetings and happy Friday!  Whew, this was another whirlwind week for me since I traveled Monday/Tuesday for work.  And I am taking to the skies again today as Phil and I are heading east for my friend Alli's wedding (which I am SO excited for!!).  We are flying into Philadelphia today and will spend 1.5 days exploring that area before heading to New Jersey for Alli's wedding.  Becky and Mandy will also be at the wedding so it will be a mini blogger reunion.  I can't wait to hug both of them and introduce them to Phil!

The high of my week was the beautiful weather we've had lately!  I know that is a weird high but when you live in Minnesota, nice weather in a month that could contain snow is a huge high for us.  I ran in a tank top and shorts on Sunday and ran in a t-shirt and capris yesterday.  I know that the weather will change eventually so I am trying to soak up this beautiful weather while it lasts!!


The low of my week was feeling overtired again.  All of this travel is catching up with me.  I had a full day of meetings on Tuesday, flew out at 7 and didn't get home until midnight since I had a connection in Atlanta.  I don't stay up until midnight most weekends so being up that late on a week night and then going to work the next day was tough! I'm so ready for things to slow down a bit!!

A book I am reading is Rising Strong by Brene Brown. I have read two other books by this author and loved them.  In her other books she tackled things like being vulnerable and accepting your imperfections. This book is about daring to rise after experiencing a set back in life.  

For my workouts, I did strength training workouts on Monday and Tuesday, ran with Phil on Wednesday, and went to yoga sculpt (best class ever!) on Thursday. Today is a rest day since we are traveling, tomorrow we'll go for a run in Philadelphia and then on Sunday I will try to do some sort of strength training workout at the hotel.

The best money I spent was on our hotel room in Philadelphia.  We kind of waited until the last minute to book it but got a great deal on a room at the Westin thanks to priceline's pick your price.

My plans this weekend include exploring Philadelphia and attending Alli's wedding! I've been to Philadelphia once but it was for work so I haven't seen much of the city.  I'm excited to check it out! But I'm more excited to celebrate the marriage of Alli and Chris!

What do you have planned this weekend? When was the last wedding you attended?  The last wedding we attended was in July when Phil's high school friend got married.

Music, Books, Miles, and Looks of October + Halloween

I knew October would fly by and it certainly did!  Between the marathon, Julia Child Night, our Miami girls trip, the trip to Boston and work travel at the end of the month, the month was certainly a blur (but was also very awesome!).  Here's my monthly recap with some bonus Halloween photos!!

Music:

 
Hello by Adele - I fell in love with this song the first time I listened to it. Adele is so incredibly talented.  I can't wait to hear the rest of her album!!

Books:

Oh boy I read A LOT in October- 9 books!  With all the time spent on airplanes and in airports, I read more than usual, and I read some really great books. It's hard to pick a favorite of the month; my top reads were The Story Hour, The Lowland and The Engagements.


The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar - 4 stars
Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende - 3 stars
Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers - 4 stars
The Engagements by Courtney J. Sullivan - 4 stars
When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenwaldt - 4 stars
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys - 3 stars
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - 4 stars
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - 4 stars
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron - 4 stars

Miles:

October featured fewer miles and fewer workouts, which is to be expected since I spent about a week healing from the marathon.  I managed to run 61 miles (26 of which were during the marathon of course), bike 15, and I did 6 strength training sessions. I didn't work out nearly as much as I would have liked in October due to marathon healing and all the travel, but I am going to push the re-start button in November and commit to fitting 30 workouts into the 30 days of the new month. I just activated a groupon for Core Power Yoga, so the month should feature a lot of yoga, but I'll also start the Holiday Shred so my strength training workouts will increase as well.  I'll still run but my mileage will decline as I enter the running off-season in Minnesota.  I'm looking forward to shifting my focus more towards cross training and strength training, though!


Looks:

I was so happy to shift to a new season for clothing in October as I was SO over my summer clothes.  The photo quality of this month's looks is awful because the bathroom at work is so dark but it was the best I could muster up.

The first look is an oldie but a goodie. I got both the skirt and the shirt at Banana Republic years ago, and the shoes are from Macy's.  I love the color of mustard so much and have gotten so much use out of this skirt!  And I think the red shoes provide another fun, contrasting pop of color.

My next outfit is all about comfort!  I go the pants at a Cabi clothing party that I attended last spring and I recently purchased a couple more things from Cabi, including the sweater in this photo.  The boots are from Macy's.  I love that the sweater is light weight and super soft/comfortable.  And I got to introduce a new color into my wardrobe as I don't own anything that is orange.

Bonus:  Halloween!
We capped off a fun month by hosting our 2nd annual pumpkin carving night. 3 other couples joined us for a night of fun!  Our pumpkins turned out so great!  Of course ours is the cat one.

And then on Saturday night we attended a party at Phil's coworkers house which was really fun!

How was your month of October?  Did you carve pumpkins or dress up?

Boston Trip Recap!

Greetings and Happy Monday!  Life has been chaotic lately with lots of travel so I am finally getting around to posting about our Boston trip!  The craziness doesn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon as I fly to Mississippi today for some client meetings.  But I'll get to cross another state off the list of states I've visited - bringing the total to 3 over the past 2 weeks (Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Mississippi) bringing the total states visited to 36! 

But back to the subject at hand!  Our trip to Boston was so much fun. It was great to check out a new city!  We flew into Boston on Thursday morning and were picked up by our friend, Matt. His wife, Crystal, had classes at Harvard all day but the 3 of us headed into the city right away to do some exploring. We decided to do a duck boat tour to get a feel for the lay of the land.  Duck boat tours are pretty cheesy, but we thought it was really fun and we learned a ton about the history of the city of Boston!  Plus it was an unseasonably warm day as it was close to 70!

My love and I at the waterfront in Boston

Matt, Phil, and I on the duck boat

On Thursday night we stayed in and hung out with our friends in their apartment.  It was nice to have a low key evening in after a day of travel and exploring.

On Friday morning we headed back into Boston to check out the Freedom Trail. It was much cooler and very windy that day but still a beautiful day for exploring. I love how easy the city has made it to follow the freedom trail. There is a trail of bricks that weaves through the city and shows you the most famous sights.

The park in the Boston Commons area was beautiful!

In front of the Massachusetts State House. The dome is covered with real gold!

The Paul Revere Statue with the Old North Church in the background. The Old North Church is where the lanterns were hung to indicate if the British were coming by land or sea.

We worked up quite an appetite with all of that walking and enjoyed a late lunch in the North End, which is the Italian area of the city. This was definitely my favorite area of Boston. The streets were lined with Italian restaurants. We chose a place called La Famiglia Giorgio's that had an extensive gluten free menu as both Matt and I have a gluten intolerance. I had the most amazing gluten free pasta which was made with fresh pasta.  The portion was massive - I got 2.5 meals out of it!

Not pictured is the Italian sausages I had on the side

On Friday afternoon, Crystal had to go to Harvard for a group meeting so we went over there with her so we could see the Harvard campus. I failed to take any pictures, though!  That evening we stayed in and were treated to a delicious meal of grilled swordfish, squash and brussel sprouts. Phil and I get so burned out on eating out so we really appreciated the fact that we only ate one meal out each day during this trip.

On Saturday, Crystal had a conference to attend at Harvard, so the 3 of us hit the road and headed up to Salem.  We met up with Matt's coworker for lunch and her and her husband gave us a walking tour of the city.  I did not take many pictures in Salem but it was a very charming little town. It was swarmed with people, though, as Halloween is huge in this city.  I would like to go back again some day when it's less crowded but I am glad we got to check it out. I thought the memorial to the women who were hanged during 1692 witch trials was really interesting.  I want to read more about that time and luckily a new book on that period was released this week that's getting great reviews so I plan to check that out. 

At the water front in Salem

After saying goodbye to Matt's coworker, we headed further up the coast to the Rockport area to check out Halibut Point State Park. We only saw one other group of people while we were there so almost had the place to ourselves. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

Phil and I in front of the quarry

The fall colors provided a beautiful contrast!

My favorite photo of the day!  There is no filter on this photo!

On Saturday evening we had another low key evening in. We had leftovers and played a couple of games of Wits and Wagers, which is a favored game in our group of friends. Phil came down with a cold on Friday morning so these low key evenings in were good for him as he was really not feeling well.

On Sunday morning, we headed to Kelly's area of the city to meet up for Brunch.  It was so great to see Kelly and Eric and to meet their adorable son Max!  It had been over 3 years since we had seen each other which really boggles my mind!  I really hope we don't go 3 more years before we see each other again.  If only teleportation existed!

URL turned IRL friends!

I headed out that afternoon as I had to fly to New Jersey for work. I was sad to see the weekend come to an end!  We really miss our friends and hope that they will find their way back to Minnesota when Crystal finishes her program at Harvard.  I would love to return to this area of the country again, though, as I'd like to visit Cape Cod and I'd love to do a road trip from Boston to Maine and stop along the way at all the charming seaside towns!

Have you been to Boston?  When you travel, do you like to eat all of your meals out or do you prefer to have the option to eat in 1-2 meals a day?  Due to my sensitive stomach and gluten intolerance, I really prefer to limit meals out to once/day if possible!

TGIF

Greeting and happy Friday!  Whoa, the last week was hectic.  I still need to do a recap of my Boston trip (short version:  it was really awesome!) but that won't happen until next week.  Here's a recap of my week, TGIF style.

The high of my week was going on a really beautiful run when I was in New Jersey for work on Monday.  I intentionally chose a hotel that was close to a running path and that was such a great decision.  Sometimes work travel is exhausting, but experiences like that run on Monday night reminded me that I also have great moments while on the road.

Mother Nature had painted a beautiful canvas in the area of New Jersey I was in.

The low of my week was feelings of exhaustion from traveling.  Traveling to 3 different states over the course of a week is exhausting!  The work travel all went well and helped me establish more credibility with the sales force but dang I am so tired and totally talked out.  

A book I am reading is "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron. I just finished a really heavy, sad book so I needed something light and fun to read.  Plus it's a book I own so it counts towards my challenge of reading 12 books I own (after this book I will be one book away from reaching that goal!).

For my workouts, I ran on Monday, did strength training workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday and ran on Thursday. Today is a rest day and then tomorrow I will activate a 30 day unlimited pass to Core Power Yoga and will go to Yoga Sculpt in the morning (which is my favorite class - it's the best workout!). On Sunday I'm planning to go for a 10 mile run with my run club buddy and hopefully I'll fit a yoga class in, too.

The best podcast I listened to was the the first podcast in a series by Happier that reviews the 4 Tendencies, which distinguishes the four ways in which people respond to expectations. The first podcast reviewed the "Upholder" tendencies and oh my word, it describe me to the t.  I actually made Phil listen to part of it and he agreed that it described me in a nutshell.  Phil said that if I was a super hero, my super hero name should be "upholder."  Ha, ha.  One of the hosts, Gretchen Rubin, is also an upholder so it was nice to hear her reflections on what it's like to fall under this category.  This past week they reviewed the "Questioner" tendency which is what Phil falls under.  Interestingly, Gretchen is also married to a questioner so when she talked about the conflict between upholders and questioners, I was nodding my head along.  If you want to see which tendency you fall under, you can take the quiz here.  

The best money I spent was the $35 I spent to sign up for the Holiday Shred that Bobbi of nHerShoes hosts each year. I'm excited to get a new batch of workouts and I'm glad that Amber is also doing it as we are so good at motivating each other!

My plans this weekend include hosting a pumpkin carving party at Phil's tonight. I'm making this apple crisp recipe, which is thebomb.com and we'll have chips and salsa to snack on as well. On Saturday we will hand out candy at Phil's for awhile and then head to Phil's coworker's annual Halloween party. My costume is sort of an inside joke that most won't get. A couple of months ago, the term "cat burglar" came up in conversation.  I am a VERY literal person so I thought it meant someone who steals cats....  Phil had to explain that it's a petty thief that steals at night and often enters via fire escapes and things like that.  Who knew.  So I am going to dress in black, wear a mask, and carry a stuffed cat around in a cat carrier.  We'll cap off the weekend on Sunday by attending my running club's annual end of the season party.  So it's a fun, full weekend!

Do you have any plans for Halloween weekend?  If you have taken the 4 tendencies quiz, which tendency describes you?

Read Harder Challenge: 3rd Quarter Update

I finished the Read Harder Challenge in the third quarter and I can't say that I am too surprised that I finished early as it's sort of in my nature to attack goals with gusto and finish early.  I'm really glad that I took this challenge on as it was fun to research which books I would read for the various categories and it introduced me to genre and authors that I might not have checked out otherwise.  I would definitely do a challenge like this again in the future!

Tasks Completed in the Third Quarter:
 
A romance novel:  9 Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean - Before this challenge, I hadn't read a romance novel for well over 10 years. I avoided the genre because I always felt like the books were so over the top and, well, smutty, and the female characters tended to have that "damsel in destress/I'm waiting for a man to save me" feel to them. So I turned to Becky, who is a romance expert, and asked her to recommend a book and she did a great job as the MacLean novel I read was a fun, entertaining read with a strong female character.  If you are like me and have avoided the romance character, I'd recommend checking MacLean's books out!

A book that is a retelling of a classic story:  The Three Weissmans of Westport by Cathleen Schine - This book is a re-telling of Sense and Sensibility, which I hadn't read before reading this novel.  I might have enjoyed it more had I read S&S first.  There were enjoyable aspects of the novel but the women seemed self-centered and a bit whiny and manipulative at times.  I later read S&S and understood that that is just how the characters are...

A book published before 1850:  Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen - Oy vey, this was a struggle for me to get through.  I want to like classics, I really do, but this book reminded me that they just don't appeal to me. I couldn't handle how the authors drew out situations that could be resolved by asking a direct question. I understand that these novels were written in a different period of time when it was not acceptable for women to voice their opinions and concerns, but the drawn out story line (is she engaged? Isn't she? For the love of God, JUST ASK HER!!) drive me crazy. If I not been reading this book for the challenge I definitely would have given up on it.  

A self-improvement book:  10% Happier by Dan Harris - This book ended up being less of a self-help book and more of a memoir but I'm still counting it for this category.  It's about an author who used meditation to combat his trouble with panic attacks.  I liked some aspects of the book but felt like the author did a lot of name dropping. 

Tasks Completed in Prior Quarter:
 A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25: Purple Hibiscus by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65:  Runaway by Alice Munro
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own:  The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
A book by an author from Africa: Americanah by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie
A YA novel:  We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
A sci-fi novel:  The Martian by Andy Weir
An audiobook:  Yes Please by Amy Poehler 
A collection of poetry:  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
A microhistory:  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot A book published this year:  Girl on the Train by Paul Hawkins
A book published by an indie press:  The Empathy Exam by Leslie Jamison
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure:  Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture:  The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
A collection of short stories:  Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade:  Redeployment by Phil Klay
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ:  Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan 
A book that was originally published in another language:  Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind:  French Milk by Lucy Knisley  
A book that someone else has recommended to you:  Nobody's Cuter Than You by Melanie Shankel
A book that takes place in Asia:  In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner 

Now that I am done with the challenge, it is nice to have 100% control over what I am reading and to not have to think about what categories I need to fill as besides book club and postal book club books, I can read whatever I please.  I've got a whole lot of suspended book requests at the library that I am looking forward to checking out in the final months of the year!
 
What book or books are you most looking forward to reading?  I'm excited to read "Fates and Furies," "A Window Opens" and "Kitchens of the Great Midwest."

Currently: The October Edition

As I expected, October has been a blur.  It's been filled with mostly fun things but I added some work travel onto the tail end of the month which is making for an even more hectic month!  I just wish that time would slow the heck down!  Here's what's currently happening in my world. 

Reading:  Between Shades of Gray.  Don't let that title deter you - it's nothing like the 50 Shades of Gray books (which I refuse to read). This book is set during WWII but it tells a different side of the story as it focuses on the Russians treatment of the Lithuanians during the war.  It's very sad, which is to be expected given the subject matter, but I am enjoying it (as much as you can say you 'enjoy' a sad/heavy book).

Loving: the beautiful fall weather we continue to have!  It was in the 65-75 degree range on Monday and Tuesday which is so abnormal for this time of year but so wonderful!

Thinking:  about registering for the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota in June of 2016.  When I finished Twin Cities, I really thought it might be my last marathon...  but I'm not feeling happy with my time and really want to try one more time for a sub-4 hour marathon.  I am holding off on registering for now, though, as I don't want to make a rash decision.

Frustrated: by the blisters I've been getting lately.  I got 3 really bad ones during the marathon and on Monday I wore heels for the first time in months and got another blister close to the area where one of my worst ones from the marathon was.  Le sigh.   

Feeling:  a little overwhelmed by my schedule right now.  I am super excited for our trip to Boston but I had to tag some work travel onto that trip.  So the next week looks like this:  Minneapolis>Boston>Newark>Chicago>Minneapolis.  I'm home for the Halloween weekend, then I go to Mississippi for 1.5 days for more work meetings, come home for 2 days and go to Philadelphia/New Jersey for Alli's wedding (which I am super excited about, of course!). I guess I just have to embrace the craziness of my travel schedule and hope that things quiet down in mid- to late-November!

Anticipating:  our trip to Boston this weekend!  I can't wait to explore a new city and re-connect with friends!  And I'm really excited to see Kelly and her family and introduce Phil to them!

Watching: the news in the morning and that is about it.  I feel like I am rarely home these days since my schedule has me all over the place!

Sad:  that I haven't really had a chance to enjoy fall in Minnesota as I've been so dang busy this month!  The leaves all changed while we were in Miami and now they are starting to drop. I wish the leaf changing season was longer!!

Working: on getting back on track with my exercise routine. Between recovering from the marathon and having a busy travel schedule, I have not been working out as much as I would like to!  And that needs to change stat!!

Grateful: that a surgery that my dad had on Monday went really well.  We thought he might have to have his ankle replacement hardware removed due to an infection but it turned out that he had a hematoma/several blood clots instead so the outlook for recovery is much better! I'm also grateful that my nephew did not need surgery on his arm and instead could be put into a permanent cast.  The poor kid broke BOTH of his arms at a football game the weekend of Julia Child.  I feel so bad for him but we are all relieved that he won't need surgery!  It has been a volatile month for my family in terms of health problems!

Listening: to all the podcasts.  As usual.

Wishing: that the beautiful fall weather would stick around for many months!

What are you reading, wishing for, and grateful for these days?

Miami Beach Family Girls Trip Recap

Happy Monday, everyone!  I'm back from a 5-day fun weekend away and am feeling refreshed and ready to attack the week ahead - which happens to be another short one as I head to Boston with Phil on Thursday!  I feel guilty about taking two trips two weeks in a row but my boss has assured me that it is fine. Plus, I am very fortunate as I get 6 weeks of paid time off/year (which includes sick time, vacation time and personal days) at my new job so I definitely have plenty of vacation time to use! Plus, I am not taking any time off around the holidays so that my co-workers with children can take time off.

Anyways, back to the trip at hand!  A couple of years ago the girls in my family got to talking about the fact that the guys go on hunting and fishing trips every year, but the girls never get away.  We decided to change that and went on our first girls trip in 2013 to Myrtle Beach. We loved going to a beach destination so this year we decided to go to Miami Beach as the timeshare my parents belong to has a property there.  I had been to Miami before but it was for work so I did not see much besides the downtown area so it was great to go back and see the sights!

I kind failed on the picture-taking front - I guess I was having too much fun to think about taking photos, but I did snap some shots throughout the weekend which I will share below.  When we go on these girls trips, we try not to over-plan our time as the whole point of getting away is to relax - especially for my sisters and sisters-in-law as they have kids at home and also work outside of the home so relaxation is key!  We shopped, ate delicious food, took a tour of Miami/Miami Beach, went on a boat tour and some some of the extravagant homes of famous people such as P. Diddy, and soaked up some vitamin D on the beach!  Most importantly, we bonded and enjoyed spending 4 days together in a fun location.  I'll let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the post!

My sister Abby and I before our run along the beach on Thursday!

There's nothing like running with the sand and surf by your side!

It lightly rained during the run so I got to see a rainbow!

Lunch at an awesome Cuban place on Thursday.  I love these women so much!

My sister-in-law Julie and I. I am blessed with two awesome sisters-in-law!!

It was fun to explore the area, but laying on the beach and reading was my favorite part!

I am so glad that we have established a tradition of getting away together every 2 years.  A couple of people said that they thought it was interesting that my sisters-in-law come along as they couldn't imagine traveling with their in-laws family. But I am as close to my sisters-in-law as I am to my sisters and we all just get along so well.  I can't wait to see where our future trips take us!  We all value our time together so I just know this is a tradition that we will keep alive for many years!

Do you still travel with your extended family?  Did you travel a lot as a family when you were younger?  My family did not travel much when I was younger since there were so many of us and instead we would spend time at the lake, which we all loved.