Book Thoughts: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

 

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

I read this book simply because it seemed like an entertaining book about hiking... and as an unlikely serious hiker myself, about to attempt the Inca Trail, I thought it would be a fun (and maybe informative) read.  It was all of those things, but I didn't realize when I checked this book out of the library that it would also strike a cord with me on other levels.  I identified with Cheryl from the first few pages and while I never engaged in the kinds of destructive behavior she does while facing grief and uncertainty I certainly felt her pain as she described nightmares she would wake up from, or the feeling of loss of control after losing her mother and her family essentially falling apart.  I cried with her and laughed with her and was proud of her (and maybe a few times questioned her sanity but I'm sure people question mine sometimes too).

Definitely recommended reading, if you're a hiker or not, the story is about the journey both physical and emotional.  Definitely worth the read.  And if you're the kind who likes to read books before you see movies definitely give it a go because the movie is slated to be released sometime in 2014.

P.S. Here's hoping my Inca Trail comrades and I are more prepared than Cheryl was... plus... you know, we'll have a guide and each other.  After all, this girl is afraid of the dark... and the dark alone in the wide open wilderness... no way :-) 

Beach Running Has Spoiled Me

Well I didn't get two more blog posts written in June... it's certainly not that I don't spend enough time on the computer... I've just been uninspired I suppose.  I did however accomplish the other two short term goals... I am currently reading a new book (I'll review it here when I'm done) and I accomplished my goal of running a mile outside.

I did my first mile outside on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.  An early morning run with the beach and waves to my left and the wall of hotels and t-shirt shops to my right.  I actually ran a mile plus a block... just to be sure I actually completed the task.... didn't want to find out later that I didn't run far enough to check this off my list :-)  After the first mile I walked a few blocks and ran a few quarter mile intervals.  Whenever I try to run again after taking a walking break I never manage to make it very far in those second or third bursts. 

A few days after breaking through the barrier of running a mile outside I decided to try something new and did some running on the sand (the nice wet packed sand at the edge of the water) and said what the heck and gave it a go barefoot.  It was fantastic!  Don't get me wrong... running on the sand and barefoot is harder than running on solid ground with supportive shoes... but it was also so much fun!  I think if I lived where I could run like this everyday I would.  There was just something freeing about running with the sand between my toes, splashing my toes in the water when it came close enough, and dodging shells to the rhythm of my favorite running tunes.   Now whenever I go to lace up my shoes I have a pang of sadness that I'm heading out into the neighborhood or worse, into my basement to the treadmill instead of out along the surf.    I wonder if there are any beach 5ks.......

Glam bands and Librarians and Food... Oh My!

OK... so the three things in my blog title aren't all a part of one great story I'm going to share... but they could be!

Just over a week ago I was at the Maryland Library Association conference in Ocean City and had a great time!  I got to room with an old friend and a new one, caught up with some fantastically fun librarians from around the state, ate some great food and learned a thing or two along the way!  There's something really cool about coming together with peers, sharing ideas and having a common desire to better libraries for our communities... and also, I don't know if you've noticed but librarians aren't stereotypically boring but actually quite a bit of fun to hang out with. 

Along the way we ate at some tasty restaurants and one that I would HIGHLY recommend is Liquid Assets.  It appears to be a liquor store/bar at first glance but they also serve some amazingly delicious food.  I had the deluxe grilled cheese (spectacular) and shared and order of their donuts for dessert... the glaze was out of this world.

After spending time away from home for a few days last week...this weekend was all about some quality time with my husband and a plethora of 80's rock bands.  We went to the M3 Festival on Friday and Saturday and rocked it out with Firehouse, Lita Ford, and Whitesnake.  You can tell by the link that there were lots of other bands there but in my opinion those are the three most worth mentioning.  By the way... I think that if you are going to tour again 20 years later and were once known as a "hair band" that you should still have long crazy hair... or fake it (Firehouse - I'm talking to you!)  It just wasn't the same experience watching a few of the bands with shorter manes... just saying.  Props go to Lita Ford and Whitesnake for keeping the long locks in great shape! In between the bands I had a great time people watching...people wear, say and do pretty silly things at rock concerts and I never got tired of just sitting back and taking it all in.

Unfortunately I don't have much to report on my 101 things to do list... I accomplished some things (I ordered fish a few more times in restaurants and knocked that off the list and went to a few more classes at the gym) but nothing earth shattering or terribly exciting. I'll get back to it this week... I hope to get to the gym a few times, get some outdoor running in, and hopefully squeeze in a trip to a state park with my happy hound.

The Cruising Life... Ahhhhhhh

A few thoughts from vacation:
1. I could probably live on a cruise ship... you know if it weren't so expensive and I didn't have to work for a living.
2. Being "off the grid" for a week was actually a pretty liberating experience.  Don't get me wrong... I'm not giving up my gadgets and social networking addiction but I thought I would feel disconnected and antsy to get online but that wasn't the case at all.
3. I wish my bed in my house would rock me to sleep at night the way the ship did.

But alas - now I'm back at home, and back to work, and my bed doesn't rock me to sleep... but that does mean I am back online (yay!) and can publicly take stock of where I'm at with goals and with my 101 things list.

First off -- I had 3 goals in my last general (non book review) blog entry: clean out my car, attend a centergy class at the gym, and read a book.  I'm excited to say I accomplished all three!  In fact I read 3 books so check out my blog entries about them.

As far as the 101 things list goes (you can see the list - link on the right side of the screen) here is what I accomplished:
29.  Order fish in a restaurant 5 times - I checked off one more time after having a dish with both Halibut and Salmon while out with the inlaws last night.  It was a surprise dinner out - they were at my house when I got home from work... apparently my husband scheduled the dinner with them about a week ago and forgot to tell me... not surprisingly my house was not clean... oh well.
38. Take Centery class at the gym at least 3 times- 1 down - 2 to go.  I will probably continue on even after 3... I really enjoyed the class but the yoga/pilates fusion is much more difficult than I expected...I learn exactly how flexible I am not! 
86. Go on a Cruise - Bermuda was beautiful by the way and the people were SOO friendly. 
96. Do not check work email from home.  What a lovely thing!  I like to be informed even when not at work... but when I'm on vacation or off for a few days I ALWAYS regret checking work email...not having internet for a week was fabulous in this way.
104. Travel outside the country ... and I'm already contemplating the next use of my passport ... The Lake District of England is calling my name!

All in all I've been pretty productive in my relaxation activities and since I've been home (a week now) I've even managed to move forward with some general goals... I was at the gym twice last week and ran 3 times... which unfortunately was entirely necessary after eating cruise food for a week... maybe living on a cruise ship is not such a great idea... at least not unless I get very well acquainted with the gym and the jogging track on the top deck.

Goals for this week: finish the biography I'm reading, run at least twice and get to the gym once.  I'm going easy on myself because my week is full of out of town meetings.

Brown Chicken Brown Cow

The title of my blog post really doesn't mean anything in particular to me but it's the hook from a silly country song on the radio I heard while driving to my dad's yesterday and I simply can't get it out of my head... so I urge you... go find the song on the internet, listen to it, and then get stuck with the earworm like I am :-)

I didn't cross anything of of my 101 list of things to do list in the past week.  I did attempt to take a carriage ride while in Williamsburg this weekend but when we got to the stand they were already booked up for the day... so if the thought counts ... :-)

Even though it's not on my list I did read a book I have been meaning to: Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss
As a former band geek the corny title caught my attention.  I can't even remember how I heard about it (AACPL doesn't own it) but I have had it on my to-read list for a while and finally got around to ordering from another county and it was a super quick read over the weekend.  I didn't love the book ... but if you were ever in the marching band the book would be amusing to you... there's lots of marching band terminology and it brought back good memories.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else though because I'm not sure that everyone would get the basic band lingo and aside from the reminiscing I did I don't think the writing or story was very strong.

As far as my "new years" goals go - I have been heading to the gym at least a few times a week and I got a lot of walking in while away in Williamsburg this weekend AND I managed to write this blog post before too much time went by :-)

Speaking of our time in Williamsburg just a quick shout out to the Sherwood Forest Plantation - home of President John Tyler.  This house is not generally open for tours but you can make them by appointment and as the wife of someone who likes to see anything related to history and the homes of all the presidents it has been on our list to see for a while.   They had another couple interested on Sunday so we were able to pair up with them for a tour.  It was a FANTASTIC tour.  The first sort of unbelievable thing is that John Tyler's grandson still lives in the house (yes -- the men had children late in life making this possible) AND the great great granddaughter and her high school friends were hanging out in the yard throwing around a lacrosse ball.  The Tyler family dogs (there are quite a few of them) greeted us at the front steps and followed us around for much of the tour and inside this fantastic house full of amazing antiques and historical artifacts was a yappy little chihuahua.   The tour guide was a family friend and the stories that were told (which is possible because the grandson has passed many family stories and versions of historic events on) were fascinating and the two hours we were there went by so fast.   If you ever have the opportunity I would highly suggest it (it's not cheap but so worth it if you are interested in history).

So that's my story for the past week or so.... some goals for next week:
1. get to an actual class at the gym
2. read the Bible at least 3 days
3. Blog
4. Go through my 101 things to do list and update (yes it might be cheating - but I am of the mindset that I can take things off the list if I'm not actually interested anymore and add new goals to it if I want to.  It's MY list and I will play by MY rules :-))

Happy Thursday!

Vacation....

This is actually my second week back at work now but I was away from work for so long it still feels like a novelty.  I was out two weeks in July (one when my mother passed away and a second for a training) and then away the first two weeks of August for vacation.  It's good to be back and back to some sort of normal schedule- though I could probably get used to being on perpetual vacation too.

Vacation was fantastic.  I definitely had a lot of moments where I really missed my mom because I always called her a lot during previous road trips, checking in from all of our various locations.  Traveling was also a good distraction for me though and I got to spend some actual quality time with the hubby which hadn't happened for quite a while.  It was good to have the first week just the two of us exploring the country together.  The second week was a ton of fun in a different way when some good friends met us for a week in Vegas.  I didn't win big but I also didn't come home broke so I will call it a success!


So now the whole point of this blog:  What did I accomplish from my list in the last few weeks/ while I was away... quite a few things actually!


Items completed:
69. Make a photo album/book for Hawaii trip
70. Make a photo album/book for Keys trip
*shutterfly - the service I usually use to print photos was having a 20% off sale on photobooks which is how I ordered the first one and then I got an email for a free photobook which I earned with my first order (I also ordered a few other prints) so I was able to get the second one taken care of as well.  YAY!  I actually really like the photo books instead of albums (I'm a librarian - I like books - what can I say?) because I can easily add captions etc and they look so nice on the bookshelf.


79. Spend the night in a National Park
80. See the Grand Canyon
*Seems I had some luck because the items on my list are getting checked off in pairs!  I have always wanted to stay in one of the large national parks over night to really see and experience the park without having to rush.  We were able to stay at a lodge in the Grand Canyon National Park which was fantastic because it let us see the sunset and sunrise over the canyon.  It was a beautiful park... though VERY crowded in the summer which for me unfortunately took away from the experience a little bit.  Hopefully next time we are there we will have the time and be prepared to hike (or take a mule) to the bottom and back up.  We did hike a short distance down into the canyon but they really recommend that it takes two complete days to go all the way down (camp overnight) and then back up.  They take their warning signs seriously!


83. Visit Bill and Beth (and new babies Violet and Henry!) -- we had a great time stopping to see old friends in Colorado.  Henry and Violet are adorable and Bill and Beth were fun to watch as new parents.  I am excited to say that the four of us took the wee ones on their first restaurant outing (which was delicious - I highly recommend Coopersmith's in Ft. Collins http://www.coopersmithspub.com/


95. Play a table game at a casino - It would have just been wrong if I hadn't been able to check this off my list while in Vegas.  I played $1 blackjack at the Sahara.  I lost about 10 bucks.  The novelty of it was fun but I don't feel the need to do anymore table gambling ... I enjoyed the Deal or No Deal and Sex and the City slots just as much (maybe more) and I could play those a penny at a time.


This week I hope to:
a. get back to the gym at least twice
b. get back on the treadmill at least three times
c. read a biography
d. maybe make another attempt at a peaches and cream pie - I made one over the weekend but messed it up so I'm not gonna cross it off my list til I get it right :-)