lately

Happy Monday dear readers. I hope you had lovely weekends. I am very excited to do a lately update for you all today. Let's get started:

reading: And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder.  I finished this all in a single day, very interesting true story of Lauren Elder who survived a small plane crash in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and hiked her way to safety despite some crazy challenges including climbing down a 100 foot dry waterfall.  Definitely worth read (and I'd happily send you my copy if you would like, first one to say yes in the comments it's yours, we'll connect and you'll get the via post).

taking advantage of: winter weather walks. I love crunching through the snow. This weekend Boston got a few inches of snow, making the world look magical. The rumor is a bigger storm is starting tonight, that will bring nearly two feet of snow. 

feeling: lots of blog love this week. I saw through Kristen's blog - Why Girls are Weird, about Authentic Bloggers on Facebook. I love getting to link up with some great real ladies out there. I am enjoying reading lots of new blogs, and hoping that people are enjoying my little space a well.

eating: pralines, my mother loves to send me a big box each year, and then I eat the entire box. They are so good. Glad that the pralines are harder to come by in New England.

planning: starting to think about some time off, I'd really like to head to Amelia Island for a few days this spring, or maybe the west coast. The winter blues might be setting in despite liking the snow.

looking forward to: a visit to a favorite city to see a favorite singer in a favorite venue in a few months.

from my bookshelf

Cancer... its a really scary word. I think everyone gets a little cringy when you hear the word cancer. Someone close to me recently has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, given months to live, even with aggressive treatments. To say life is different now as I switch from work mode, to caretaker mode, doctor appointment attender, etc. is an understatement. However, I do believe that knowledge is power, and the best thing one can do is to become a bit more informed, and feel a little less helpless. A friend, who knows I am a reader, suggested that I pick up Bryan Bishop's Shrinkage about his own brain cancer, was pretty smart. I devoured this book, knowing that not everyone's experiences are the same, but feeling like I had a viewpoint on what the next few months of life will be like while this is tackled for my close someone.  I am sure I'll dive in more once the sting of the news wears off more, and  decide I want to share.

Bryan tackles the tough stuff, while including some humorous thoughts. I definitely found myself going between laughing and crying, but feeling like I know what radiation will be like. I was able to ask about the radiation mask (don't google that, it's really weird and sort of scary), and be informed all because I read.  I am sure the doctors love me and my questions, but this poised me to ask some of the questions that I wouldn't have known to ask.

best sweatshirt ever

I recently purchased this sweatshirt with my Banana Republic birthday reward, and really I should have bought 12 of them. It's so comfortable and soft. Definitely will be worn all the time, all year long. Best part, today you can save 40% with the code BRWEEKEND.

Happy shopping.

lately

My little space of the internet, I'll say it now - even with the best of intentions I think I am going to suffer through 2015 and admit now that I'll never hit a good blogging schedule. It's not that I don't want to blog, there are just a few other things out in the world that require more of my time and energy.

Anyway a little lately post to keep the creative juices flowing:

Listening: Louisa Wendorff and Devin Dawson's mash up of Taylor Swift's Style and Blank Space - it's so good. I could listen to this all day long. Rumor is Taylor is a fan of this too. It's amazing, do yourself a favor and favorite this now.

Baking: Birthday cupcakes for Mom's birthday. Probably the best looking cupcakes I've ever made, and surprising as I totally had to scrape all the mix out of the cupcake liners back into the bowl because I forgot the water the first round. Truth to paying attention when you are baking, or well...

Reading: Shrinkage by Bryan Bishop. Informative and funny - sometimes you need a little non-fiction in your reading list.

Getting warm fuzzies: from the extra special birthday lunch I had in Connecticut last weekend. I got a nice surprise from some very special friends. Sometimes you feel the love.

Looking forward to: to a weekend in my old stomping grounds, including a concert by my music crush Matt Wertz. As soon as I saw that he was going on tour at one of my favorite small venues, some emails were sent and tickets purchased.

Not minding: 6 AM spin class once in a while during the week. It's refreshing to bang out exercise first thing in the morning and then be free in clear of that the rest of the day.

Keep me up to date on what's going on with you. Also would love some book recommendations for when I finish my current book.

January 2015 Goals

Happy 2015 dear readers. I decided that this year, I would set some monthly goals at the start of each month. Hopefully, some of these become increasingly challenging, but I figure full year resolutions get so hard because they are often so lofty.  My January goals are small but getting me back into the right track health wise - the last few months of 2014 were difficult to get a good routine going.

1) Attend 8 Spin Classes. I really enjoy working out, so far I've already made it to 3 classes this month. I'll probably smash through this but February we can go for more.

2) 310,000 Fitbit steps. I figured a monthly goal was better than a daily goal, it gives me some flexibility to have some higher step days or having days where steps are not as easy to obtain.

3) Getting back to reading. I have a few new books lined up on my kindle - I'd love to be able to give you all some good book recommendations during the year.

What's on your list for January?