To be paired with coffee or used as endurance fuel on the trails.
I rediscovered these amazing zucchini muffins this year while at home visiting my family in Boise. My mom made these muffins, the smell of fresh baking filled up her kitchen that morning. In COVID lockdown, I hadn’t yet hit a craving to bake. When it comes to baked goods, I am strictly a chocolate chip cookie fan. I almost passed on trying these.
The flavor is unique, salty and sweet. The recipe calls for nuts. My mom’s favorite to add is pecans and usually tosses in more than the cup suggested on the recipe. Feel free to make your own adjustments to the recipe below.
There is another reason I love these muffins. I couldn’t recall the memory until my mom shared it with us this summer. “Do you remember you used to eat these all the time in Spokane,” my mom asked. I was born in Spokane and my dad used to work and play racquetball at The Spokane Club. My mom got the recipe for these muffins from the coffee station at the club where they used to sell them. This is also where I used to apparently devour them as a small child. I was so young that I have very few memories of the club of the coffee station, but the flavor of these muffins is something my body remembers.
Since that conversation, I took note of the recipe and I have made these four or five times this summer. I’ve shared this recipe with friends, many of whom have gardens overflowing with zucchini. I hope this recipe becomes a family favorite for you as well. Enjoy!
ZUCCHINI MUFFIN INGREDIENT LIST
3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
3 tsp maple flavor
2 cups of shredded zucchini
1/3 cup of seasame seeds
2 ½ cups of unsifted flour
½ cup of toasted wheat germ (I haven’t been able to find this and have been subbing ground Flaxseed or Flax meal)
2 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of salt
½ tsp of baking powder
1 cup of nuts (pecans or walnuts)
Step 1: In a mixer or in a bowl using a rotary beater (this is what Mom uses) beat eggs. Then add oil, sugar, & maple flavoring until thick and foamy.
Step 2: In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Combine flour, salt, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, & nuts. Then shred zucchini adding it to the bowl of dry ingredients.
Step 3: Pour bowls together and stir.
Step 4: Grease and flour muffin tins so that they won’t stick (Mom’s way) or you can go the easy route and use baking cups like I did. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin so that they are 2/3 full. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Reading always takes me back to summer. Summer makes me think of reading on a blanket on my front lawn or buried in a book on family camping trips. Permanently glued to my camp chair in front of the campfire. Living in the Pacific Northwest under the recent smoke and devastation caused by this year’s wildfires, back in July we might have soaked up the blue sky and breathed more deeply the smoke free air. July seems like an idyllic place to be compared to where we are now. But we must remain in the present, never falling too far back or anxiously awaiting anything in the distance.
July was an amazing month for reading. I picked up books that brought me joy. I also found myself reading in beautiful places. I sat sunning myself from my parents newly cemented patio in Boise. My fiancé and I drove to Stanley, Idaho to camp, hike, and more importantly read from lake views of the Sawtooth mountains.
Prior to reading, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the format, as this book is written in free verse poetry. Being aware of the format I chose to read a physical copy rather than listen to the audiobook. I absolutely loved this book, devouring it in one day. Also note, this book is young adult fiction.
Acevedo writes about real-world plane crash of American Airlines Flight 587 of November 12, 2001. Two months and a day after the 9/11 attacks, Flight 587 was revealed to not be terrorist related and to the media it was not newsworthy. The plane was flying from New York City to the Dominican Republic and all passengers on board were Dominican or of Dominican descent. The crash was devastating to the New York City Dominican and Santo Domingo community.
The story follows two girls, Yahaira living in NYC and the Camino living in Santo Domingo. The girls are half-sisters unaware of each other’s existence. Their father was on the plane that went down. He would spend summers in the Dominican Republic and the rest of the year in New York. Grieving the death of their father, they become aware of one another and eventually meet addressing family secrets, each of their Dominican identities, grief, and class.
I stumbled upon this book from the library’s available audiobooks. The cover looked interesting. Recently, I have found historical fiction novels to be quite entertaining. Their ability to take me to a faraway place and escape my own four walls has been a much-needed break from reality. Ruta Sepetys’ novel follows a group of refugees during World War II who are fleeing East Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania. Their trek to freedom and safety takes them to a ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff.
The narration rotated between each of the main characters: Joana (a Lithuanian nurse), Florian (a Prussian art restoration apprentice), Emilia (a young Polish girl with child), and Alfred (an eager, somewhat delusional German). I love how the author creates a sense of family amongst Joana, Florian, Emilia, as well as some other refugees, each fighting for their own survival weary of who should be trusted.
The Wilhelm Gustloff, a real-world ship, was struck by three torpedos in January 1945. 9,000 lives were lost, 5,000 of them children, making it the greatest maritime disaster in history, and yet most people have never heard of it. A Soviet submarine took down the ship in the Baltic Sea. The Gustloff was overcapacity by almost 8,000 carrying over 10,000 passengers. As each character’s story unfolds, everyone moving closer towards the end and the untimely disaster. There is something about how a book or film builds in suspense when the reader or audience is aware of the outcome, yet none of the characters can anticipate the tragedy that is to come.
I enjoyed how the author wove in historical references. Beyond details about the Wilhelm Gustloff, Sepetys adds in details about the disappearance of the Amber Room, raided by the Nazis and rumored to have been loaded onto the Wilhelm Gustloff. The Amber Room was a chamber in the Catherine Palace in Prussia decorated with amber panels, gold leaf, and mirrors. It is said to be the “Eighth Wonder of the World” but to this day no one knows of the whereabouts of the room’s panels.
Stevenson writes about the industry of incarceration in Florida. The Santa Rosa Correctional Facility set in the town of Milton, was built in the 1990s. It was built to house 1,600 people. Between 1990 and 2005 the U.S. opened a new prison opened every ten days. Prison construction and prison growth in America “made imprisonment so profitable that missions of dollars were spent lobbying state legislators to keep expanding the use of incarceration to respond to just about any problem” writes Stevenson.
“My years of struggling against inequality, abusive power, poverty, oppression, and injustice had finally revealed something to me about myself. Being close to suffering, death, executions, and cruel punishments didn’t just illuminate the brokenness. You can’t effectively fight abusive power, poverty, inequality, illness, oppression, or injustice and not be broken by it.”
“We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.”
A happiness book in my happy place. I began reading The Happiness Project in January reading one chapter a month. Not in a rush. Slowly winding through it. Rubin embarks on her own year of happiness, each month with its own theme and challenges to inspire and evoke happiness. The book follows her on this journey, with twelve chapters recounting her month. In January, her goal was to Boost Energy (Vitality) and her challenges were to go to sleep earlier, exercise better, toss, restore, organize, tackle a nagging task, and act more energetic (she adds that studies show that acting energetic gives you energy).
I enjoy reading multiple books at a time, like having different voices I can converse with. Some books I read, others I listen too. I balance fiction and non-fiction so as not to be lost in too many different alternate realities at one time. I found myself craving to pick this up because Rubin’s monthly challenges are seemingly simple changes that can be made in our everyday lives that will have a tremendous impact on our lives. While participating in her own year of happiness, Rubin blogged about her year, encouraging readers to share their own happiness challenges, sharing them within each chapter.
Rubin identifies her own “Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness,” inspired by the numbered lists that pop up throughout Buddhist teachings. The truths are obvious and straight-forward, but she claims took a tremendous amount of thought. The below two were the ones that resonated most with me. Both focus on the power that lies within ourselves to arrive at happiness, rather than trying to find it through anything external.
The book directs the reader to Rubin’s website and blog for additional resources and guides to completing your own year of happiness challenge. I aim to look into these resources as I pursue construct my own happiness.
The Second Splendid Truth:
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy;
One of the best ways to make other people happy is to make yourself happy.
I absolutely LOVED this book. Kristen Hadeed is an unlikely entrepreneur. She started a cleaning business almost by accident. In college, she wanted an expensive pair of jeans. Knowing her parents would not give her the money for such a frivolous purchase, she answered an ad for a house cleaner. The job would give her exactly the amount for the jeans. She had zero experience cleaning houses, arrived with no cleaning products of her own, and told her new “client” it would only take three hours to deep clean their entire house, a huge underestimation. At the time she thought it would be a one-time event.
Fast forward a couple of years and Hadeed started her own company, Student Maid, a cleaning service that specifically hires college students. This book is Hadeed’s honest account of her entrepreneurial experience. In the book she reveals that she at first tried to write a book about millennials. Millennials are often criticized for being hard to manage, and she, as a millennial has successfully managed peer millennials and learned how to lead and motivate the group. That still wasn’t the right topic. She then set out to write a book on success, but that wasn’t it either. In reflecting on what made her a successful leader, Hadeed learned that it was all of the mistakes she made along the way. In a world filled with the pressure to be perfect or to only share your highlight reel, she recognized that the important message to share with others is to not be afraid to screw up. Make mistakes; those experiences are where we learn the most.
I studied entrepreneurship in my undergrad, love to read books on how businesses are built, and have attended my fair share of networking events. Stories like the ones Hadeed shares are not the norm. No one else is writing this book and sharing all of the ways they have screwed up as inspiration to others that success is often on the other side of failure. For me, listening to this book made me realize that I had to get past my own fear of failure. A fear I didn’t even realize existed. It is also about uncoupling failure from the fear that it will define you in the eyes of others. Let’s say you try something, it doesn’t go according to plan, then what? It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and think on your feet.
This was another amazing book for the month. I read Rachel Hollis’ Girl Wash Your Face back in December. I love Rachel’s no bull-$h#! Her writing style is very honest and conversational. She reads her audiobook. I would listen on walks with Moxie and sometimes it felt like walking with a girlfriend dolling out much needed advice. My favorite thing in her book was the 10-10-1 plan for your dreams.
10 Years, 10 Dreams, 1 Goal. Hollis challenges you to think about your life in 10 years. Sit down and really think about it. Write down the details. What does it look like? Feel like? What are you wearing? Where do you live? Nothing is silly, because these are your dreams. Then write down the 10 dreams that would need to come true in order to become that person. She encourages you to write them in present tense. Rather than “I want,” write “I have,” or “I am” statements. This puts you in the mindset that you are already the person that you are working toward becoming. Finally, write down 1 goal that would bring you closest to your 10-years from now self. This helps you to focus in on and understand your why.
Did you have any idea that there is a running race with burros? That is, donkeys?!? I didn’t. Christopher McDougall is most famous for another book Born to Run. In Born to Run, McDougall learns about the barefoot indigenous runners, the Tarahumara. It is an amazing book and one that will leave you thinking that you too can run 100-mile ultramarathons. Born to Run helped to kickstart the barefoot and minimalist running craze.
McDougall lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of Amish country. He rescues a donkey from an animal hoarding neighbor to which he named Sherman. The donkey was in such bad shape mentally and physically, the best thing McDougall could do was give him a job to complete. He took on rehabilitating Sherman through running. He heard of burro racing, a unique race where a runner and donkey race through the mountains together carrying packs that must include a pick, a gold pan, and shovel. McDougall wanted to see if they could train Sherman for the World Championship in Colorado.
Burro racing began in Colorado. In prospecting days, miners took donkeys with then to carry their packs. There are two rumors as to how burro racing started. One rumored that two miners found gold in the same location and raced back to town to stake their claim. The other rumor involves a couple of drunk miners in a bar in Leadville, Colorado.
Throughout McDougall’s story, he encounters assistance from all areas of his community. Farmers, Amish runners, badass lady long haul truck drivers, and others come together to help Sherman on his way to the Championship. It was an unexpectedly heartwarming story about the importance of our relationship with animals. They are lucky to have us, but we are even luckier to have them.
I listened to most of my books in June on walks with our puppy, Moxie, or while working on house projects with my fiancé, John. Moxie is well on her way of being full grown. Any activity we engage her in is only building her endurance. She is a pro when it come to fetch and in June she was awarded Student of the Month at Sit Stay Fitin Multnomah Village where we she has been training. Toward the end of the month we took a day trip to Seaside, Oregon, to introduce Moxie to the ocean. We played fetch and enjoyed the wet, drizzly Oregon Coast rain.
My mom gave me this book to read because it was about sisters. My whole life she has been curating stories like this for me. She raised my younger sister and I to be strong women and strong women understand how difficult sister or mother-daughter relationships can be.
Like so many books I’ve picked up recently, the story alternates between “Then” and “Now,” going back and forth between decisions made by the main characters in their adolescence and adulthood. Growing up, I hated it when books jumped around like this. I just wanted a linear storyline. Now, I rather like the flashbacks. They paint a picture of how the characters were shaped by earlier events in their life. Maybe growing up, I didn’t have enough life experience to appreciate a character’s journey. I loved reading this book. I needed a love story to dive into this month. When everything else in the world became too stressful or intense, I enjoyed reading about people who were just trying to be good to one another.
Becca Miller lives in Ballard, a town in Franklin County, Virginia. She has always wanted to be the one to do the right thing. Raised alongside her sister Emmy and brother Jacob, her family are members of the Old Order German Baptist Brethren, who live a life of simplicity. They are most easily identified by their clothing, a symbol of their faith. The men have long beards and the women adorn a plain dress with a cape and bonnets. They are not always understood, especially by their peers who may not practice the same lifestyle. Becca falls in love with Matt Griffith, a boy not of the Old Order. She struggles to see how they could have a life together. She feels the pressure to choose her current life or one on the other side with Matt. She makes a decision that impacts her whole life. A sacrifice for her sister, one that she does not regret, causes her to forgo a life with someone she loved. When Matt Griffith appears back in her life, feelings she once had don’t seem to be forgotten so easily. It is sometimes hard to trust matters of the heart. How do we know the right path to take?
Krakauer is one of my favorite writers. His research is meticulous. The characters and places he writes about are captivating. I love reading them because I am constantly learning something new. You may have read some of his books: Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, or Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. I have read and recommend all of them. His writing style is journalistic, and I like that his stories easy to follow.
Classic Krakauer is a collection of eight articles and two essays of his written between 1990 and 1997. He began his career in the 1980s writing freelance articles for Outside, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, and other publications. In this collection of stories, the two highlighted below were my favorite because I learned more about the Pacific Northwest in each of them. The data and statistics I included don’t even scratch the surface of what Krakauer shared with his readers.
“Living Under the Volcano” was published in the Smithsonian in 1996. This article highlights the risk those take living in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Twenty-six glaciers cover the massive volcano, making up thirty-six square miles of snow and ice. For scale and reference, statistics on a potential eruption from Rainier are usually compared to the more recent and destructive eruption of Mount St. Helen’s from 1980. In that incident, three-quarters of the glaciers on Mount St. Helen’s melted. The mudslides carried debris all the way to the Columbia River, disrupting national shipping on the river for three months. To compare, the glaciers that melted on Mount St. Helen’s add up to only about four percent of the year-round ice and snow that Rainier usually has.
If that doesn’t give you anxiety for a potential eruption in the Pacific Northwest coming from the state of Washington, the volcano’s below ground activity will. Krakauer explains hydrothermal alteration, which is the melting or “rotting of the mountain from the inside out.” Subterranean heat melts the glaciers and the water seeps into the geothermal aquifers. This hot liquid circulating throughout the mountain produces acids that are eroding Rainier from below, making it unstable. At the time this article was written, geologists knew very little about this process.
“Fred Beckey is Still on the Loose” was written about Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey, a legendary rock climber and mountaineer. He is credited with the most first attempts of any climber from North America. In 1963, he climbed forty-eight major routes, twenty-six of them being first ascents. In 1992 at the time of the article, Beckey was approaching 70 years old and only beginning to show signs of slowing down. He was said to have a “Little Black Book” of his first ascents and other climbs that few people have probably ever read.
Beckey tacked the unclimbed northeast buttress of Sleese in British Columbia. It was revered as “finest climbs” in North America. Sports Illustrated featured Beckey in their “Faces in the Crowd” column near the back of the publication. A month later, Jim Whittaker took the cover of National Geographic. He was celebrated as the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest. “Beckey’s climbing record was more impressive than any of the Americans who had gone to Everest, and he had let it be known that he desperately wanted to be invited to Everest in 1963. But Normal Dyhrenfurth, the highly respected leader of the American expedition, was adamant that Beckey be kept off the team,” Krakauer wrote. Some thought he was dangerous to climb with and went through climbing partners, “like carpenters go through nails.” Beckey was quite the character with a love for nothing more than climbing mountains.
June was also a month where I spent time reading, listening, and educating myself on Junteenth. Juneteenth, which was observed as a national holiday by my company for the first time this year, is the oldest national commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The organization I work for curated speakers and listening sessions in honor of this holiday. My book club chose to read books focused on social justice issues to better educate ourselves on Black history and the history of White Supremacy as it exists in America. We chose White Fragility by antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. We took this first step to better educate ourselves on race and equality in the United States. I finished Just Mercy in July, so you will be able to see my write up in my July Reads post.
White Fragility is “characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behavior such as argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue.” DiAngelo did a a good job of helped me to better understand the role that I play in upholding societal norms and how those systems themselves can be racist. I appreciate her laying out what is individual racism versus systemic. White people, myself included, are so fearful of being called out as racist for something we may have said or done. We know “being racist” is wrong and bad and we don’t want to be bad people, yet we often fail to recognize the racist system at which we are all merely living and operating in.
DiAngelo opened my eyes to examples of systemic racism and behavior, and now cannot unsee. DiAngelo dedicates and entire chapter to the racism of “White Women’s Tears.” The concept addresses the historical context of white women playing the damsel in distress as well as their insidious and emotional, sense of entitlement when addressing discomfort as it relates to conversations about race or confrontation. She by no means has all the answers, but her exploration and examples of white fragility help give me better context to understand the layered standpoints involved in these important conversations. I highly recommend this book because I learned so much. DiAngelo stressed the importance of listening at this time. I will continue to educate myself and support my friends and colleagues of color.
In this book, the TED Talk famous, Simon Sinek, shares the idea that in business, politics, and life, we should be playing the long game. He begins by describing “Finite Games” where there are well defined parameters, players, and rules. There is a definite end, such as the clock winding down at the end of a football game. There are winners and losers. The Infinite Game, by contrast, is one without winners and losers because there is no end. The rules are ever changing and evolving over time. I was inspired by the stories he shared about real world business examples of leaders with both finite and infinite mindsets. In organizations with infinite mindsets, the leaders don’t set out to simply win out over the competition. They aim higher. They set their sights on goals for their companies and people that are more aspirational, such as Apple’s “Think Different” or Nike’s “There Is No Finish Line.” They create cultures of with more inspiration, trust, and innovation. I loved listening to this book. So many of the concepts he speaks about in business apply to everyday life challenges and many of the social justice challenges our country is facing today. I listened to White Fragility and then The Infinite Game. It was interesting to think about the challenges we are currently facing in American and what great minds and smart leaders could do about it if they choose to lead with an infinite mindset.
Simon Sinek is a self-described “unshakable optimist.” I highly recommend any and all of his stuff right now if you need some positivity in your life. If TED Talks are more your style, check out some of Simon Sinek’s videos on YouTube. He is passionate about sharing ideas and speaks about many of the same concepts he writes about in his talks online or in his podcast.
I spent time listening to Jessica Simpson’s book while doing some house projects, mostly painting. I enjoyed learning things about her that I didn’t know before. I don’t keep up with any celebrity news. I may have been living under a rock, but I didn’t remember she dated John Mayer and I had NO IDEA what an a-hole he was. Noted. It was nostalgic to hear about her tryouts for the Mickey Mouse Club, even though she got cut while Britney, Christina, and Justin all moved on. I was impressed by her charity work. I loved hearing about her work on her brand and her dedication for her products to be inclusive for women of all sizes. I work in an apparel organization and we are only now hearing major brands care about inclusivity and body positivity. It is a priority that helped shape her brand, grow the business, and one that she has a personal connection to. I appreciated her willingness to share tough lessons she has learned in hopes that there is someone reading or listening who could be helped by her story.
I have to admit, I thought this book would be funnier. It was funny. I will give it that, but I had my expectations a little higher. My only knowledge of the Duplass brother is watching Mark Duplass, who stars in the TV Show The League. This is a story about brothers. It is possible that this book didn’t resonate with me completely because a) I am not a brother and b) I do not have a brother. Regardless, these guys are talented. I listened to the book. Both brothers read it. They make funny lists about what are the best movies ever made. Their passion for films and making movies is contagious. They have the most feelings of any men I have ever heard from and truly care about one another. I loved hearing how they created a $3 budget film that got them into Sundance. Their comedy is a little off beat and so is their creative process, but that is what makes these guys unique.
This one didn’t do it for me. I considered not finishing it, which is very rare for me. Like a child being forced to eat their veggies, I usually finish a book even if I find it miserable. I am not proud of this by the way. I didn’t hate this book. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Jedidiah Jenkins embarks on a journey from Oregon to Patagonia on his bike. This is a 14,000 mile journey that takes him more than a year. His parents encountered fame in the ’70’s by walking across America during the Vietnam war. His father met his mother in New Orleans on the walk and they walked from there to Oregon together. He began the bike trek on the beach in Oregon where they completed their famous walk. Jedidiah was inspired by his parents and an acquaintance he meets that has done a similar bike journey to Patagonia. A new friend, Weston, hears of the expedition and joins Jedidiah on the adventure.
I live in Oregon and have aspirations to visit Patagonia. Pre-COVID, 2020 was going to be the year I would have competed in my first full Ironman in Penticton, Canada. I have been on a bike more this year than any year before in my life. At a glance this book had everything I thought I would enjoy; bikes, pushing yourself to the limit, adventure, and introspection.
I kept finding myself criticizing the author of this book in my head. I know if it were my trip, I would be going about many things differently. I can’t say that I appreciated the “willy-nilly” planning or preparation demonstrated by these guys, but it was their trip not mine. Jedidiah and Weston completed zero training on bikes and little to no research on the route they will be traveling. They relied heavily on their iPhones, finding a place to camp out of sight of authorities, or cashing in on the generosity of others along their journey. They spoke almost no Spanish and didn’t make the effort to learn any prior to the trip. This detail saddened me. Much of their journey takes place in Central and South America. The boys often met up with other American friends in swanky, vacation rentals or partied in the woods experimenting with drugs. The trip drifts far from the “soul seeking adventure” it seemed to be marketed as Jedidiah and Weston have very different agendas throughout. Jedidiah leaves and comes back missing an entire chunk. Spoiler alert: Weston at one point abandons the trip all together. Jedidiah finishes in Patagonia accompanied by his mother.
As the boys pass through LA, Weston set them up on a brunch meeting with the founders of Instagram. The founders later repost one of Jedidiah and Weston photos. The Instagram “repost” create Insta-fame for the guys and they become one of the first “Insta-Bikers”. This is a play on a term I’ve heard called “Insta-Hiker” where young people engage in an outdoorsy pursuit merely for the Instagrammable quality of the photos they will take along the way. They add 30,000 followers overnight. Rather than a journey to find oneself, it seemed as if they guys were more interested in the travel influencer reputation that would follow them after the trip was complete.
HATE IT. I’ll be the first person to tell you. The thought of the track makes me cringe, however during these COVID WFH (work from home) months I have forced challenged myself to run in continuous circles. To my surprise, the last couple weeks have been quite pleasant. I’ve even found myself looking forward to them. I’m not saying that all of a sudden, these workouts have become easy. They are never easy, but I have started to feel stronger by doing them. Every sprint and every lap still hurt.
Side note: It is entirely possible that I am delusional and feel a false sense of physical strength in the early morning before I have had my coffee in this place where I also happen to feel great mental pain. In that case, I am gaining confidence and not necessarily strength. Regardless of what exactly it is I’m gaining; I am becoming physically and quite possibly mentally tougher as a result of this oval running activity. I thought I would share my quarantine track workout with you and maybe you would like to add it to your quarantine activities.
Track Workout
1.5 miles warmup (6 laps) – easy pace
6 x 400s
2 x 200s
4 x 100s
1.5 miles cool down (6 laps) – easy pace
Starting out the workout I make sure to ease into the set of 400s. I usually warm up into my first 400, making sure that I listen to my body. I don’t want to get hurt. It is important that I don’t push it too fast before I am fully warmed up. After each 400, I usually jog an easy lap of recovery to stay moving but let my heart rate come down. Feel free to recover or jog between any of the sprints as you feel comfortable.
I usually run the 400s at about an 80% effort. I am not sprinting at 100% effort on each 400, or 200, or 100. I run at a fast pace, but one that I can maintain throughout the entire workout. I have made the mistake of sprinting all out on my second or third 400, only to find that I’ve ruined any chance of being able to sustain a fast pace through the fifth and sixth when I do that. When I get to the 200s, I try to run them at a faster pace than the 400s. Same thing goes with the 100s. They should be faster than my 200s.
PRO TIP: If you are like me and also hate the track, the workout above is 1000% more enjoyable if you have people to do it with you. The warmup, cool down, and recovery laps are nice breaks between the springs where I like to chat with a friend.
No matter where you live, you are probably not too far away from a track. In the time of Covid, it is best to make sure it is open. I found a couple of high school tracks in my neighborhood that are closed due to the quarantine or are under construction at this time. The track is also an easy way to practice proper social distancing.
May 1 – 31: Road Trip to Boise, Idaho where we hiked, biked, and quarantined with my family.
“What a slacker!” I thought as I came to the realization that it is already July and I am just now posting my May Reading selections. Like many of you, time is moving throughout my life very differently these days. I usually describe myself as a planner, yet I am learning to embrace a more organic flow to my day. While spending time with my family in Boise, John and I made the tough decision to postpone our wedding, ensuring that our friends and family feel safe and healthy to travel when the time is right to celebrate together. I did spend plenty of time reading, I just didn’t spend any time writing.
Staying in has given us the opportunity to work on house projects. John has taken to woodworking and I am trying my green thumb in the garden. I feel grateful for the ability to do so. I have taken time to dive into books to better educate myself of the racism that exists within the United States and what can be done to combat it. I am listening to my body and more importantly my mind. Walking with Moxie. Reflecting. Taking breaks. Reminding myself to slow down. Reset. Relax.
I will be sharing more about our house projects, more readings, and want to read lists. Enjoy!
“All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenches. Sparks leap like fleas and spread as rapidly; a breeze could carry embers for miles. Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like an Olympic torch. Or, perhaps, to tend it carefully like an eternal flame: a reminder of light and goodness that would never – could never – set anything ablaze. Carefully controlled. Domesticated. Happy in captivity. The key she though, was to avoid conflagration.”
Elena Richardson follows the rules. She understands and appreciates the rules. Shaker Heights, where she lives, is a thriving community carefully planned out with immaculate lawns and excellent schools. Mrs. Richardson doesn’t believe that there are ways of doing things, but rather there is the right way to do things. She is primarily focused on raising their four children, each bound for an Ivy League education and great things. Enter Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl. Their attraction to Shaker Heights is the quality education for Pearl. They become members of the community in a rental owned by the Richardsons.
Mia is an artist and single mom doing her best to provide for Pearl. Elena mothers in the way she believes is best. The story unfolds while a family friend of the Richardsons attempts to adopt a Chinese-American baby left at a Fire Department. The friends of the Richardsons find themselves in the middle of a custody battle with everyone in town taking sides. What does it mean to be someone’s mother? Author Celeste Ng hits on many themes throughout the novel. What makes up one’s identity? The secrets we keep. How important is it to follow the rules? What rules should we follow? This is a story of the lives within a community that are woven carefully together, yet easily pulled apart.
I loved this book. I had heard from a couple of friends that this book was something they picked up and just couldn’t get into. It does have a slow start to set the scene. Ng cautiously introduces each of the characters in different lights, from different angles, having the reader craving for real action. Once the story picked up speed, I couldn’t put it down. This novel was chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club and as many of you will know has been turned into a TV series on Hulu. I enjoy reading books that have transitioned to the screen. They are usually never like what I imagined them to be in my head, but that is what I think makes them fun to enjoy. I get to paint my own picture and enjoy someone else’s interpretation of the characters.
As the month of May crept along, my book selections got better and better. This book, Beach Read, was chosen by my book club. This is a new book! It came out May 19th, so I went to downtown Boise and purchased at, Rediscovered Books, a local book seller. This book is light hearted and fun, as a beach read should be. If you are looking for a fun, flirty, and romantic novel then consider picking this one up. Swoon!
January Andrews and Augustus Everett are both writers, but of very differing genres. January writes romance novels and Augustus, or Gus as he is known, usually writes dark literary fiction where most of the characters don’t survive. They considered one another rivals in college, each fighting for the best book deal. January, suffering from writer’s block and the death of her father, gets out of town and quarantines herself in her late father’s beach house, only to find Gus doing much of the same next door. They strike up a bet to swap genres and see who can get published first. This involves teaching one another their craft. January teaches Gus the art of romantic date settings and Gus invites January along to interview sketchy survival death cult members. Guidelines of the competition state there will be no falling for one another. Will they be able to resist one another? Will either of them finish a novel? You’ll have to pick this one up to find out!
Another light and girly read, Regretting You also had themes relating to the complicated Mother-Daughter relationship. I picked up this book because I loved Colleen Hoover’s writing style in Verity. She creates an Alice in Wonderland effect for me, where I feel as though I fall into the looking glass or deep within the story she is telling. I have been known to devour her books. If pulled away from reading them, I find myself daydreaming about the characters and wondering what they are up to, as if they were real people I know. While my first introduction to Hoover was through Verity, I learned that she writes across a variety of genres and for both adult and young adult audiences. This is not something I am accustomed to seeing from many fiction writers – but am very impressed with her range.
This story bounces back and forth between Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter Clara. Morgan would like a life for Clara different from her own. Pregnant at sixteen and married too young, Morgan felt as though she missed out on a lot. Clara believes her mother to be completely predictable (read: boring). She too wants a life different than her mother’s. Morgan and Clara disagree quite often. Luckily, they have Chris, Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father. He is the one to unite the family, amid their warring personalities. When Chris is involved in a tragic and suspicious accident, Morgan and Clara both struggle with how to go on living. For Morgan, support comes in an unlikely place, while Clara begins to date a forbidden boy. Secrets are revealed. Things aren’t what they seem. As I mentioned before mother daughter relationships are messy and complicated.
This book was a fun rom-com and a bit steamy. If the premise of this book was read tabloid style, it would read something like, “British Prince Henry in love with Alex, son of the U.S. president?” This book is so much more than that. With the political failings of our current government, Red, White, & Royal Blue serves up more humanity, love, and reality than the one we are currently living in. The story follows Alex, whose mother is the first elected woman President of the United States in 2016. Much of his life he has been involved in politics and the tabloids. A scandal ensues when he and his sister attend a royal British wedding and Alex accidentally pushes his rival, Prince Henry right into the wedding cake. Everything is captured by the paparazzi. As damage control, their mothers, the POTUS and Queen of England, no less, force the men to agree to a truce. They will be best friends, or at least seem like best friends to the media. As they spend time together and actually get to know one another, a deeper connection develops. Their fake friendship quickly shapes into a secret romance, hidden from the world.
This queer love story made its way to the New York Times best-seller list in 2019. McQuiston’s pages are filled with modern pop-culture references, yet the themes are honest and relatable. What is the importance of love as it relates to your family, career, and in some cases, your family’s vision for you? How do you find the courage to be true to yourself and let go of the fear brought on by a world telling you to be anything but yourself?
In the Western world, we, the science minded, believe that thoughts and feelings are the results of the chemical reactions in the brain where happiness can be an outcome. The Dalai Lama flips this notion on its head and asks, “What if the chemical reactions in the brain are the results of our thoughts or feelings?” What if we choose happiness and this choice can influence our brain chemistry? What if we have that power? According to the Dalai Lama, happiness is the purpose of life. There was no more perfect time to read The Art of Happiness than two and a half months into a pandemic.
Locked down in my home, I read this with a Mindfulness Book Club organized through work. Every week I would gather with co-workers on a Zoom call discussing the Dalai Lama’s teachings. Originally published in 1998, the concepts presented are not new, yet they are things we Americans have a hard time believing and an even harder time practicing. A co-worker was reading this for a second time, reflecting on the timelines of our reading and that this is a book that can be revisited during trying times in life. In the book the Dalai Lama separates happiness from pleasure. He discusses the interconnectedness of the world and all of us in it.
The most important message I learned from this book is that happiness is something to be practiced. To be happy is to invest in your own happiness, to spend time and energy and brain space figuring out how to create the neural pathways in your mind to foster happiness. Like yoga practice or even athletics you are trying to learn or master, practice is the key. Happiness is a state of mind rather than something that happens to us. The First Truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering, pain, and misery. The Dalai Lama helps to explain that life is not without suffering. No one can go through life without experiencing it. Therefore, the practice of happiness in one’s life become that much more important.
Rather than think of myself as the victim of the pandemic, locked inside my house, I shifted my mindset. I am safe within my home. I am learning how to successfully work from home. I am leveling up on my technology skills. I am growing and learning. I am being challenged. How do I embrace these changes and create habits of happiness?
The right to: Spend your own money. Go to school. Earn an income. Access contraceptives. Work outside the home. Walk outside the home. Choose whom to marry. Get a loan. Start a business. Own property. Divorce a husband. See a doctor. Drive a car.
All of these rights are denied to women in some parts of the world.
I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author, Melinda Gates. As co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she has dedicated her work for the last twenty years to help people with the most urgent needs, all over the world. I loved listening to Melinda weave stories of the inspiring women she has met throughout the book. She addresses topics of child marriage, contraceptives, and gender equality in the workplace. She has found that in order to lift up societies, we need to invest in women.
One of her stories highlights the complexities of the issues faced when working to make significant change. In 2004, the foundation wanted to help lower HIV amongst sex traffic workers. They had a project with the goal to increase the education and use of condoms. The women claimed not to need more condoms or education on the use. They already had them and knew how to use them. They needed help with violence and domestic abuse. Not seeing the connection, the foundation at first declined. They did not want scope creep, which means to lose focus on the original intention of the project. As they continued their work to combat HIV, they set up safe meeting spaces for the women to drink tea together. In these spaces they began to listen to the issues the women are faced with. The women said they would use condoms if they did not get beaten when asking clients to use them or attacked by police if found carrying them. The women indicated that the only effective way they had found to stop a man bullying women, was with a large group of other women. If a woman they knew was being attacked, a whole gang of women could rush in and scare him off. So, the foundation created a hotline. A woman being attacked could text a 3-digit code and within minutes 12-15 women, a pro bono lawyer, and the media would come running to her aid.
“As women gain rights, families flourish, and so do societies… and when you’re working globally to include women and girls, who are half of every population, you’re working to benefit all members of every community. Gender equity lifts everyone,” writes Melinda. Her stories range from her time at Microsoft and challenges she has faced with inequality as a woman to helping women in some of the most impoverished parts of the world. Her humanitarian work is truly remarkable.
April was our first full month in COVID-19 lockdown. Reading and running became my preferred activities for an escape from home. Portland, with its alternating April downpours and beautiful summer-like weather, had me rotating my reading spots between the patio lounger and a cushioned oversized reading chair under my grandmother’s quilt. Heading into April, with the knowledge that a full 30 days would be spent at home, I created new routines in my work from home reality, I carved out time for reading. My 7th grade self would be proud.
Mornings consisted of a 6am wake-up and feeding with our five month old black lab, Moxie. With the rest of the household and neighborhood still sound asleep, Moxie and I would take off for the vacant park to practice fetch. It was her time to collect and categorize all the smells of the neighborhood. It was my time to catch up on my latest audiobook. Our strolls last 45 minutes to an hour, which helps me work through those audiobooks a couple of times a day. I enjoy reading all genres, and try to keep the topics diverse each month. I also enjoy and have the ability to read multiple books at a time. I am able to do this by reading fiction in physical book form while I listen to a non-fiction or autobiography on audio.
By far, the best book I read all month! Recommended to me by a friend, I enjoyed escaping to New York City during more normal times. It was a light and fun, girly novel. Best friends Dannie and Bella could not be more different. Bella is wild and whimsical. Dannie has her whole life planned out. She knows what she wants, the job, boyfriend turned fiancé, and eventual perfect apartment. Dannie, in a dream or dream-like state, experiences a moment of her life 5 years in the future with a ring on her finger, but with a very different guy in a different apartment. She wakes up to find her back in her own reality, but the dream felt real and she can’t shake it. I loved this book. It was a beautiful story of love and friendship.
This novel was amazing and beautifully written. Tommy Orange’s debut novel was chosen as the Multnomah County ‘Everybody Reads’ book for 2020. The story follows 12 members from Native communities as they are headed to the Big Oakland Powwow. Each with their own reason for attending, some joyful and celebratory, others fearful and violent. As each character’s story unfolds they all become woven together. Orange brings to light many struggles of the urban Native American. Central to the story are the importance of Native history, identity, family, spirituality, and community. I enjoyed the rich storytelling. This is a novel that I listened to on audio. The voices were performed by different people, which made the story more enjoyable. There There was nominated for a 2019 Pulitzer Prize.
I stumbled across this one at the Library before COVID. I love a good murder mystery. Set in Bristol, England (who doesn’t love a novel set in England?) Melville Heights is a posh neighborhood of wealthy professionals. In a community where little goes unnoticed, everyone seems to be hiding something. Joey Mullen and her husband move into the upstairs of her brother’s house. A new headmaster, Tom Fitzwilliam, moves in next door and catches Joey’s eye. This book was creepy and thrilling. It got a little slow in the middle, but I had to find out what happened! It kept its mystery and gave nothing away until the very end.
Ani FaNelli seemed to have the perfect life. The prestigious job, killer wardrobe, handsome well-to-do husband; yet a traumatic experience from her childhood still haunts her, and if brought to light, could destroy everything she has worked so hard to perfect. I wanted to read this book for years. It was written in 2015, endorsed by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, and was an instant bestseller. Many publications compared it to Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, which I loved. I love a good deep, dark mystery with interesting characters, but I could not get into this one. I found it hard to like Ani, the main character, and some of the experiences of her past were hard to read. Not my cup of tea.
Networking in not everyone’s idea of a good time, and I’m willing to bet that most everyone can recall an experience networking that was unenjoyable, annoying, or possibly painful. Regardless of how you feel about networking, relationships are the key to accomplish anything. I put this book on hold at the library months ago, and it became available after we had been in COVID-lockdown for a couple of weeks. I checked it out but wasn’t sure that I was going to listen to it. I wasn’t sure if I was in the right mindset to listen to some guy talk about the importance of relationships. Didn’t I have enough to worry about? I didn’t need to be reminded of how important the people in my life were in a time when I couldn’t go out and hug, be with, or eat lunch out with any of them! I gave it a try anyway.
I found that the topics in this books are even MORE relevant at a time when connecting with one another is most challenging. I have also listened to some of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Ferrazzi references many of the sage lessons from Carnegie in 1936, which get at the fundamental ways to connect with one another. Ferrazzi writes, “It’s better to give before you receive. And never keep score. If your interactions are ruled by generosity, your rewards will follow suit.” So many of his lessons were reminders that in business and in life, we are all human. I couldn’t be reading this book at a more perfect time. It inspired me to reach out and connect with friends, peers, and co-workers that I wasn’t seeing due to our “stay at home” situation. “Success in any field, but especially in business is about working with people, not against them,” Ferrazzi reminds us. This book has been recommended to me by many people, and I am glad I finally gave it a chance. I don’t usually re-read books, but this is one worth picking up again and again.
Fredrik Backman is the author of many works of fiction including my favorites A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. Backman is a Swedish author and columnist. His books are funny and heartwarming. I love the characters he creates, so when I saw this book about parenting advice based on his own experience, I knew I had to read it. I do not have a child of my own, nor do I have one on the way, yet I found the story moving. I love kids and have worked with them most of my life through coaching. This book is short and sweet, filled with trial by fire lessons every parent should read and laugh out loud about. This book would also make a good gift for any expecting parents out there. Highly recommend.
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was a favorite character of mine growing up. I read plenty of Beverly Cleary books as a child. I moved to Portland for college and have lived here almost 15 years, without a clue it was the home of Beverly Cleary. I was given this book as a gift. COVID-lockdown felt like the right time to become reacquainted with my rainy, quirky city. The book is meant to be read while on a walking tour of NE Portland, through some of Cleary’s old stomping grounds. I did not attempt the tour but was familiar with many of the landmarks (having lived near the Hollywood neighborhood). The tour takes you by one of Beverly’s childhood homes. The walk takes you through Grant Park Statue Garden and the statues of Ramona, Henry, and their pup Rigsby. Beverly Cleary School, called Glenwood in the books, was where Cleary attended school and where her character Henry Huggins dug for nightcrawlers. The book shares more about the Cleary family history and the evolution of different areas of Portland over time. Cleary began writing children’s books in the 1950’s and has received numerous awards for her work and is considered an Oregon literary icon. A must read for any Portlander!
This book is about the tragic and fascinating story of Aaron Hernandez written by his brother Jonathan. When the story of NFL star Aaron Hernandez broke in the news, I was busy working and going to school part-time. I was tired of hearing about NFL players’ crimes, suspensions, and wife-beatings. I could care less. Earlier this year I watched the Netflix docuseries “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez” and I was blown away by the story. How had I not paid any attention to this wild drama unfolding in the world of sports? The Netflix show posed many questions about Aaron’s motives for his crimes. If you watched the documentary, you will be familiar with the events that unfolded. This book shares some behind the scenes details about Aaron’s upbringing. Jonathan Hernandez dives into his brother’s history, and discusses his own experience with Aaron’s irrational behavior, hidden sexuality, and impact of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
Nick Offerman, best known for playing the lovable Ron Swanson in Parks & Rec., is married in real life to Megan Mullally, famously known for her role as Karen in Will & Grace. They met while doing a play in Los Angeles called The Berlin Circle. I listened to this on audiobook. It was read by and the authors. The couple has been married for 17 years and is clearly still smitten with one another. They share a love of theater. They enjoy listening to audiobooks while completing jjigsaw puzzles at home. The only downside of listening to their audiobook is not being able to see the accompanying photos, (although, the images are available online). The book was not entirely what I expected. The authors share how they got into showbiz, fun stories of their wedding and award shows, and finally what makes their relationship work (spoiler: it’s not taking a job that would keep them apart for more than two weeks). A unique and beautiful love story indeed.
@MissMoxieDog and I practicing social distancing at home.
Over half of the month of March, my fiancé, our puppy Moxie and I have spent in quarantine due to the coronavirus. It has been hard not to feel isolated and trapped inside our own home at times. The transition to working from home no other company except for one Over half of the month of March, my fiancé, our puppy Moxie and I have spent in quarantine due to the coronavirus. It has been hard not to feel isolated and trapped inside our own home at times. The transition to working from home with no company except for one another has been challenging. Luckily for us, I am an early bird and John is a night owl. Our differing preferences are something we used to fight about during our “pre-quarantine” lives; but now we appreciate the space we allow each other. I wake early to let Moxie out and spend a couple of hours to myself, reading with a cup of coffee. I’ve listened to audiobooks while on walks around the neighborhood with Moxie, which has been a wonderful way to break up the day between conference calls.
To keep my mind off the real world, I picked up two more suspense novels, both of which I highly recommend. First, I read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. My bookclub read this one last year, but I never had a chance to pick it up. It was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Winner for Mystery and Thriller.
The synopsis: Set in London, Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, is married to Gabriel, a fashion photographer. One evening Gabriel comes home late from a fashion shoot. Alicia shoots him five times in the face and never speaks again. No one knows why she did it. The case makes her famous in the news. Her previous artwork becomes highly sought after. Meanwhile ‘the silent patient’ is put in psychiatric care. The story follows Theo Faber, her psychotherapist, as he seeks to understand the motivation for killing her husband. The story starts off slow, but gets dark and twisty very quickly.
March Must Reads: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu.
My second best escape into fiction for March was The Last Mrs. Parrish by LIV Constantine. This book was given to me by a friend who recommended it as a fun and easy read. Exactly what I needed. The author LIV Constantine is actually the pen name of writers and sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine. The Last Mrs. Parrish was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club book, and is being developed by Amazon Movie studios into a film drama series.
The synopsis: Young Amber Patterson thinks she deserves more in life. She desires money and power. If only her life could be more like the fabulous Daphne Parrish. Married to real estate mogul, Jackson Parrish, Daphne is the queen of the Connecticut socialites; living lavishly in a fairytale marriage, or so it appears. Amber works to ingrain herself with the Parrish family. Amber appeals to Daphne’s desire to help others and becomes her closest friend. The plan that Amber puts into action is revealed slowly, revealed page by page.
I fell in love with Tiffany Dufu’s book Drop the Ball. I chose to read this one because of my tendency to follow rules to a fault. I thought this book might help me to focus in on the things that were most important. Her book’s focus on achieving more by doing less. Dufu explains the importance of partnership in the household and the mistake many women make drafting up completely unrealistic to-do lists. No doubt there are many of us who leave the office and going home can feel like our second shift. Dufu, using her own experience, explains why being a perfectionist in your own home is more hurtful to both your partnership at home and your sanity. It is impossible to “do it all”. Once you accept that, and learn to delegate in the home (like you probably already know how to do at work), it is amazing the things you can make time to focus on. I highly recommend this book. While listening to this one, I couldn’t help but talk about it to everyone I encountered.
Brene Brown is one of my favorite authors. I listened to Dare to Lead on audio during the first couple of weeks in coronavirus quarantine at home. At first I felt weird listening to a “business” book when I felt like I wasn’t being allowed to leave my home to go manage business like I was accustomed to. Anyone who has read anything by Brene Brown knows that the topics of her book are not “business,” but are that of people and vulnerability. So, at first, I was the vulnerable one mourning the loss of my day-to-day routine and corporate way of life. It took some time listening to Brene, but I finally got over myself and began practicing more gratitude for the things I do have; I was home safe and healthy and could afford to listen to her books on morning walks with my pup. I found her messages of leadership very applicable to the things we are going through right now. It reminded me how important it was to check in on my teammates. I needed to make sure they were doing well and transitioning into our new reality before we start thinking about “business as usual.” It also helped me to appreciate the leaders I have within the organization in which I work. All of whom have made significant efforts to prioritize the health and well-being in this new time of uncertainty.
Finally, I also read Jeanine Cummins novel American Dirt. My book club chose this book as our February Book, but I only got about halfway through. At the time we selected it in January, the novel was receiving quite a bit of publicity. This book is fiction and follows the story of Lydia and her son Luca as they flee Mexico due to violence brought against their family by Mexican cartels.
American Dirt was selected for Oprah’s Book Club, which usually solidifies any book’s success and adoption by book clubs everywhere. After Oprah’s announcement Latinx community members spoke out against Cummins’ portrayal of migrants and Mexico and called out the whiteness of the publishing industry. “Book Influencers” on social media who had once been promoting the book were taking back their endorsements.
Cummins was criticized for the seven-figure advance she received to write this novel. There were a few other missteps by the publishing company that showed their priority was on the business of selling books to book clubs versus telling an immigration story. In the discussions surrounding the book, many brought up the importance of Cummins’ identity and suggested readers choose #OWNvoices books instead.
As someone who loves to read both fiction and non-fiction. I was curious to read this book because I wanted to formulate my own opinion. I didn’t feel that I could do that without having read it. Many people “boycotted” reading American Dirt and took to using the hashtag #OWNvoices. The concept of #OWNvoices was started in 2015 by Corinne Duyvis as a rallying cry for diversity in literature. The goal was to “highlight books that are written by an author that shares a marginalized identity with the protagonist.” I can see both sides. I think representation is extremely important. I believe in the concept “see it to be it.” Most young people especially need to see themselves represented in leaders both in the media and in their community to better know what is possible. However, I also worry about creating a culture, especially in fiction, where writers feel limited to only write about their own personal experiences. Some of my favorite writers do write what they know and their stories are richer because of it. On the other hand my favorite author Chuck Palahniuk doesn’t consider himself a writer, but rather a collector of stories. He likes to sit and observe people or connect with others who share both heartbreaking and heartwarming stories about their lives. These are real people, and he collects their stores and weaves them into the characters in this novels. He is a wonderful storyteller. He has the ability to make the reader feel both happy and sad in the same moment of a story for a fictitious character who is loosely based on something real.
Having said that, I would not necessarily say that American Dirt had that same kind of human connection or story telling. I enjoyed reading it. The pace of the story ebbed and flowed, moving faster at parts and slower at others. In our Book Club conversation, many felt that the storylines felt forced, or simply there for shock value. There was much discussion online about Cummins use of stereotypes for the Mexican immigrant. Other articles I read compare the “cancel culture” surrounding American Dirt the book burning of the digital age. All things to contemplate. Cummins has claimed to have done 5 years of research in Mexico. She says she interviewed individuals to help her tell a more authentic story. The afterward in her book talks about wanting to bring more voices to conversations about immigration. If nothing else, this book can inspire you to have your own thoughts or discussions around #OWNvoices literature, discrepancies in representation in the publishing industry, race, immigration, representation, and free speech.
If you want to read about the controversy surrounding this novel for yourself, check out some of the below.
You may be wondering why my February post is appearing in late March… Life has taken a strange turn since my last post. My apologies on the delay, but now seems like a good time to share with you my recommendations if you, like myself, are trapped inside due to the COVID-19 STAY HOME advisories. In this time of caution, I’ve come to learn that when I focus on gratitude for the things I am still able to do, I am able to keep my mood positive as well. Luckily for us here in Oregon, the weather has been gorgeous and reading has been taking place outside in the backyard with stints inside by the fire when the rain comes.
I would also like to note that below I have linked each of the books recommended to Portland’s Powell’s City of Books website. On March 17th, Owner and CEO Emily Powell wrote a heartbreaking letter to employees about having to make the hard decision to close their door and layoff most of their staff. Powell’s is not the type of business that can afford to pay wages and benefits while the doors are closed, as much as they wish they could. I cannot imagine Portland without Powell’s. For anyone who lives here or has visited, I think you know how special this place is to the city. If you are considering purchasing a book or two during your lock in, consider supporting this local establishment. As of the writing of this post they are offering free shipping on orders of $25 or more. Today I ordered a couple of books on my ‘To Read’ list, an enamel pin, and a 1000-piece puzzle of Multnomah Falls.
Alright, let’s get to it!
The best book I can recommend from last month was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book was selected as the March book for my bookclub. I finished this book in a day and a half. My fiancé John and I were headed to Mazatlán, Mexico for a wedding. I started this book on the plane ride down there and got to finish it poolside enjoying Mojitos.
The synopsis: A young magazine reporter Monique Grant is hand selected by Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo for a tell-all. Evelyn made her way to Los Angeles and to her career in show business in the glory of 1950’s Hollywood. Of the scandalous details everyone wants to know about are Evelyn Hugo’s reasons for leaving the business and the intimate details surrounding her seven husbands. Evelyn delves into actor rivalries, friendships, and love. Monique will learn the Hollywood drama, secrets, and her own personal connection to the legendary actress.
I couldn’t help but imagining some of the scenes described of old Hollywood to be like the one portrayed in Quentin Tarantino’s recent film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I loved this book and I was surprised by the twist.
Next up, Verity by Colleen Hoover comes in a close second place for my favorite read of the month. Growing up, I was raised on Nancy Drew, so I have an affinity for Mysteries of any kind and this one was a page turner. Verity got my attention from the very first chapter. This was a hard one to put down and another book that I finished in about a day and half. It helped that I spent most of the day poolside with two for one mojitos, but regardless I recommend this to anyone who likes suspense novels. This book was selected as one of our book club books from last year that I never got around to reading. I am totally kicking myself for not picking it up earlier! I learned that author Colleen Hoover started writing without any intention of publishing her work. She has since published 19 novels across a variety of Young Adult and Adult genres. Many of her books have made the NY Times Bestseller List.
The synopsis: Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
I can’t give anything away. Just Read It!
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin was given to me by my mom. She has a Little Free Library near her house that has a rotating selection of bestselling books. She will often read or pass along the ones she has heard are good. This book was a hard one for me to get into. The plot is heavier than your typical murder-mystery. However, as I read, the characters grew on me and I found myself curious to know how it all unfolds.
The synopsis: In New York City, 1969, four young siblings visit a psychic they hear about who can predict the day they will die. They keep the dates secret from one another, but each one is affected in different ways.
Fiction is my favorite genre to read. It helps me relax and sets my imagination free. Those three were my fun, fiction books for the month. I rotate back and forth between fiction and non-fiction books to add some variety to my reading. I enjoy reading non-fiction to learn about something or someone new.
If you need a good laugh, I recommend listening to books by comedians because usually the audio is read by the author. It’s equivalent to listening to them do 8-hours of stand-up comedy with more intimate hopes, dreams, and aspirations thrown in. I listened to The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer on audio. I admit that I was a lukewarm Amy Schumer fan after seeing some of her movies, but I had never seen any of her stand-up in full. I recently became a BIG fan of hers after watching her 2019 Netflix special Growing. I highly recommend.
A book that I added to my ‘To Read’ listed based on the recommendation of a friend is The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: An Oral History by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally. If you don’t recognize them based on their names, think Ron Swanson from Parks & Rec. and Karen from Will & Grace. They are married in real life and they read this audiobook together. I’ve listened to quite a few books by comedians now, so I should do a whole post on this topic. More to come.
I found Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody completely relatable. She describes navigating her career through the performing arts. Originally from Portland, Maine she set out for Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She shares what it was like to go from an unknown actress on the set of Twilight, to Oscar Nominated for her role in Up In The Air, alongside George Clooney. In a funny aside, she talks about struggling to afford to pay rent while also having a stylist hired as a favor to her dress her for the Oscars. The stylist recommends she purchase a pair of heels for “seven-fifty” and she replies with, “SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!”. Anna describes what it was like to go from struggling actress to star overnight. She recounts how the Oscar experience isn’t all glitter and glam. She is witty and outspoken. I found it easy to relate to her ambitious and sometimes neurotic mindset.
Lastly, I checked out Meb Keflezighi’s 26 Marathons: What I Learned About Faith, Identity, Running and Lifeon audio as a book to motivate me to start training. At the time I was training for the Nike LA Women’s 13.1 Half Marathon. I signed up with a couple of my girlfriends. We booked a hotel near the beach. We were excited to race and spend time together in the sun. We trained together some days, but on others when I needed to set out for 3-5 miles on my own, I had a hard time finding motivation. Portland’s rain and gray skies were not helping. Listening to Meb’s book on my solo runs helped get me out the door. Each chapter is a different marathon he raced in where he couples his experience in each race with the life lesson he learned along the way. Anyone who has attempted to run a marathon knows that the training takes more mental strength than it does physical. Meb shares how even he struggled with the thoughts of, “Why am I doing this?” while out on the course. He shares stories about injuries, self-doubt, and the importance of recovery. His book was inspiring for me. It served as a reminder to me (even before I was encouraged to stay put for a while) that having the ability to run is something to be thankful for.
I hope you enjoy some of the list below. Feel free to take what speaks to you and ignore the rest. I will be posting my March Reads list soon.
All Multnomah Library locations are closed Monday, February 17th 2020 for President’s Day.
Are you looking for more ways to live more sustainably, or simply to own less ‘stuff’?This Valentine’s Day weekend get to know your local library, send them some love and give yourself an extra high five for consuming less. You may even have a library near you in walking distance. You can visit the library and check out a physical book, download an E-Book or Audiobook straight from your phone, or go above and beyond and pay those late fees you forgot you had. <3.
Digital Library: E-Books & Audiobooks
Funding for Public Libraries come out of tax dollars. This is a service that you are likely already paying for. With the selection of digital copies of books, whether your preference be reading or listening, there is plenty to choose from. I check out books from the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon. For Multnomah County and most other libraries, all you need is a valid photo ID to apply for a card. Here is a link to the many library locations around Portland. Once there you can apply for a card. After you have received your card and set up your PIN, you will have everything you need to access your account online at the library’s website. You can then access the Library catalog to check out or place a hold on E-Books and Audiobooks.
Three apps that my local library suggests borrowers use are: OverDrive, Libby, and Kindle. They can all be downloaded to your phone or tablet. I mostly listen to Audiobooks. I have used all three. I feel that Libby is the most user friendly.
What if everyone in Oregon read the same book? That is the idea that inspired the Everybody Reads community program, organized by Multnomah County Library and the Library Foundation. Each year one book is chosen. The library buys additional copies of the book to lend to readers. They also publish discussion guides, host events, and organize a reading by the author.
For 2020, the Library chose Tommy Orange’s debut novel There There as the 2020 Everybody Reads Book. Orange’s book follows 12 Native people in America on their way to a powwow. The book explores identity and belonging. There There was a 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction and made the top 10 Best Books of 2018 by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.
Tommy Orange will be speaking at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 7:30. Tickets can be found here.
Summer Reading Programs
Summer is one of the best times to escape into a good book. Most libraries have Summer Reading Programs for kids, teens, and adults. These programs have prizes and giveaways to help motivate readers throughout the community. Here is a link to the Summer Reading Program prizes and winners from 2019.
Staff Picks
Not sure what to read? Your local library are filled with passionate staff readers excited to recommend their favorite books. Check out the Staff Picks from Multnomah County right now.
Used Book Sale
For Portland residents, the Multnomah County Library has a Used Book Sale two times per year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.
Saturday, April 25, 9am-9pm – Trivia Contest + Cash Bar 6pm-9pm
Sunday, April 26, 11am-5pm – Educators get 50% off with Teacher ID
Monday, April 27, 9am-3pm – 50% off EVERYTHING or $25/box
Goodreads App
Enough about the library. Now, I have to tell you about my favorite app Goodreads! I use this app while perusing the bookstacks at the library. Goodreads is free and is filled with recommendations from other readers. I use Goodreads to create lists in the form of digital bookshelves. In the app, I have three different ‘shelves’: my Want to Read, my Currently Reading, and my Read books. My favorite shelf is ‘Want to Read’ which I often use to pick out my next read. The shelf can be sorted in a number of ways. The ‘Read’ list comes in handy for keeping track of which of the books I’ve read by my favorite authors. For some of my favorite prolific authors, like Chuck Palahniuk or Nicholas Sparks, it helps me to ensure that I’m not picking up a book I read years ago.
I used to write lists of books I wanted to read in notebooks or on scraps of paper. These scraps of paper were hard to keep track of. Some I shelved in the books I finished. Others may have been returned in library books.
The stats tracked by the app are amazing. At the end of every year Goodreads provides a visual report of all of the books you’ve read. For example it will show you the book voted most popular by other readers, the most reviewed book, your longest book, etc. You can also track your stats throughout the year. If you have a Goodreads profile, you can access stats through your profile. Once there click on ‘My Books’ and then select ‘Stats’. Here you can see your reading over time cut by books, pages, and publication year. One of my favorite features is the ability to set a goal for number of books read by the end of the year.
There is also a social aspect to the app. You can connect with your friends on Goodreads, see what they are reading, and keep track of their want to read shelf. My bookclub has used this to connect with one another.
Note: if you do download Goodreads, my first advice to you is to manage your notifications appropriately. I didn’t when I first downloaded it and was receiving hundreds of email notifications weekly from all of my friends adding books to their shelves. In short, turn them off.
If you are curious to what I’m reading now or want to read in the future, follow me on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/elysse.
Who doesn’t love traveling? Airplanes are one my favorite places to read. Traveling can also be one of the best opportunities to unplug from your digital lifestyle and dive into a good book… if you can just resist the urge to binge watch Game of Thrones or start a new TV series. This January, work travel provided me with plenty of reading time. Planes, train, and automobiles. I took advantage our long flights, including two different 9+ hour flights over the Atlantic, daily shuttle bus rides, and spending our layovers in the lounge. I listened to half my January books using the Overdrive App for audiobooks that I checked out from Multnomah Country Library.
Note: If you have a library card at your local library, be sure to look into Ebooks and Audiobooks before your next trip. This is a FREE way to bring books with you on your travels. You can read them on your iPad or tablet. Audiobooks can be listened to straight from your phone. It also helps to lighten your luggage.
I kicked off my new year with Greta Thunberg’s book No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference. Thunberg’s book is a collection of her speeches from the last couple of years. They include her 2019 address to the United Nations. Greta is a 17-year-old climate activist from Sweden. She was named Time Magazine’s 2019 “Person of the Year.” She wrote all of her own speeches. I was impressed with how passionate and well spoken she was for a 15 or 16 year old (at the time).
The First 20 Minutes was a book that my fiancé had been recommending to me to read for some time now. Running actually makes your knees healthier? This is the best news I’ve heard all year! I listened to this one on audiobook during my commute. Gretchen Reynolds references numerous sports science studies helping to dispel myths we have about sports and activity. John, my fiancé, loves this book for the study about HIIT (high intensity interval training) and the benefits of such workouts for endurance training. After reading it he developed his own “No Running-Running Training” to prepare for relay races like Hood to Coast. According to Reynolds and the studies in the book, athletes can achieve endurance benefits equal to that of running for 90 minutes by instead doing six INTENSE 60 second interval sprints on the CrossFittype assault air bikes. This study and a variety of others share the importance of moving our bodies for better overall health in the long run. My favorite study discovered runners in their old age actually have healthier knees than those of non-runners. Looks like I should keep running, running, and running, running!
Room and Conviction were my fiction books for January. Room had been on my bookshelf for some time and I was hesitant to start it, based on the heavy nature of the plot line. The book is about a young woman kidnapped and held captive in a backyard shed, or “Room” for seven years. She gives birth to a child while in captivity. Room is told from the perspective of her 5-year-old son. I love the narration and seeing the world through the eyes of someone discovering the outside and often scary world for the first time. Room was adopted for screen in 2015 starring Brie Larson. Her performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. I have yet to see the movie but may watch it later this year.
Conviction was chosen as our January Book Club Book. I was super excited about this one. I found it on on Reese’s Book Club list. Reese Witherspoon picks a book each month with a woman at the center of the story. Reese’s Book Club is a division of her media company Hello Sunshine. You can follow her on social media @reesesbookclub or follow #readwithreese. Denise Mina’s story is another creative use of storytelling. The book flips back and forth between the realtime plot line and a true crime podcast that Anna, the main character, is listening to. I’m a big fan a podcasts and true crime mysteries, so it had all of the ingredients I needed to be a good book.
Chuck Palahniuk’s Consider This was my favorite read of the month. Palahniuk is my favorite author, and in his new book he is dishing out advice for aspiring writers. Finally. I began this blog to share my adventures, be it running, reading, or travel. I also started this blog to dust off my writing skills. Reading anything by Palahniuk leaves me wanting more. The same goes for Consider This. He goes back and forth between doling out advice and sharing stories from his book tours, many of which I have attended in Portland, OR. If you have never been to any of his book tours, they are unlike anything you have ever experienced. If you are curious about them, many people have uploaded them to YouTube. There you can find a taste of his wild creativity. Be forewarned his content can be graphic in nature and people have been known to faint at his readings. Guts a short story from his novel Hauntedhas caused more than 100 people to faint in live readings. I could go on and on about my love for Chuck Palahniuk, but I had better save that for another post. In Consider This, Chuck shares insider tips for writers and his distain for author photos. He encourages writers to go out and find a workshop, to read their work aloud, and try “dangerous writing”, which is writing about a deep, dark secret or unresolved anxiety. Even if taking up writing is not for you, this book has some amazing stories and lists of fiction and non-fiction worth adding to your reading list.
Last year, I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers and really enjoyed it. I think I actually flew through it within a couple of days. Other physical books by Gladwell have been hard for me to get into, so for Blink and Outliers thought I would try audiobooks.Both were available to borrow from the library right before I took off on my international work trip. In a world where we have so much data at our fingertips, Blink asks us to reconsider the importance of our first impressions and snap judgements. He also provides instances where snap judgements or “thin slices” were more informative than many months of deliberation and analysis. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman can observe a couple’s interactions for only a couple of minutes and predict if they will last. Outliers is also very interesting, but it I found it less inspiring to hear how the best hockey players happened to all be born in January or that there are underlying success factors that are responsible for the success versus hard work. I agree with Gladwell that it is a factor that we should consider when celebrating someone’s success, but I also think it is much harder to find such correlations. I commend him for the analysis he has done to find these so called “outliers”.
I listened to Between The World and Me and Ta-Hehisi Coates read it. It was a profound letter from father to son of the history of racism in America. Coates shares his own coming of age experiences and difficult lessons his son will have to learn in order to understand ‘what it is like to inhabit a black body’ in America. Coates does an excellent job of sharing his heartbreaking perspective, one that is easy to turn a blind eye to occupying my own ‘white body’ and ubiquitous systemic American whiteness. It gave me an opportunity to step outside my own body to feel his fear and experience his anger. Beautiful and painful. It is eloquently written, and I wish that I had the physical copy of the book to see how the sentences and paragraphs strung together. The author reads the book like poetry. Toni Morrison described this book as “required reading” and I very much agree with her. It is a short, but moving book, which attempts to enable the reader to walk a mile in another’s shoes.
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