What I'm Reading

Just wanted to write down a few thoughts (ok more than a few thoughts) about what I'm reading lately on the 'ol eReader.

-The Path to Power by Robert Caro (Part 1 of 4 in a series about Lyndon Johnson). The Fourth book in this series was released while I was pregnant. I hadn't read any of them, but I read/heard so many recommendations for this by people whose book judgement I trust, I had to pick it up. I also recalled reading  some intriguing anecdotes about Johnson in Russell Baker's "Growing Up" many years ago, which made Caro's series even more interesting to me. I initially checked out The Path to Power from the library when I was pregnant, but didn't make it all the way through before I had to return it. And here's why: I could only lay on my right side because of pregnancy congestion and the book is so huge, it was just really hard to read laying down for a long time when you can only  lay on the right side. True story. Currently, I have it on the library eBook app and I'm reading through it like a demon trying to finish it before it has to go back. There's about 6 week wait for it, so it could be January or February before I can check it out again. This book is truly a wonder and Robert Caro might be the best writer ever. He takes a subject that could be dreadfully dry and makes into a real page turner. Not to diminish the fact that Lyndon Johnson is a really interesting person and his story is pretty fascinating, but really, in the wrong hands, this could be awful. I would recommend this book to just about anyone. I don't think you need to be interested in history or politics or southern politicians or congress or the presidency. If you are interested in interesting stuff, you'll probably enjoy this.


-The Custom of the Country. Surprisingly, I never read Edith Wharton until last year when I read "Od New York," a collection of her novellas.  Her writing is really sweet spot for me: A little edgier than Jane Austen, but not quite as depressing as Kate Chopin or Flaubert. Some blogger I read (can't remember now if it was RA or Mary Frances) wrote recently about how everyone has to read Ethan Fromme and it's the least representative work and ruins Wharton for everyone for ever! I remembered that when I wanted to try another one of Wharton's books and went for "The Custom of the Country" instead of one of the titles that sounded more familiar to me. It was quite good and I really enjoyed! I enjoy a story where the protagonist is not sympathetic and were she/he ends up making her own bed and laying in it. If I saw a copy of this in a used book store, I'd grab a copy and keep it around to read again sometime (high praise from me).  At the end of the book, what struck me most was that I'm pretty sure Margaret Mitchell probably read this a few times (or 40) at Smith before going on to write "Gone with the Wind." The character of Ralph Marvell reminded me of Ashley Wilkes so much, and Scarlett, in my opinion, shares more than a few traits with Undine Sprague.

-Gone Girl. I had read a negative review of this book by a Good Reads friend I trust and had no plans to read it as a result, but it was available on the eReader from the library, and typically very popular books like this are hard to check out, so obviously it was a sign. I got through about 5 chapters and quit. I do really want to know what happens though, I just can't suffer through the rest of it. If anyone wants to tell me the ending that'd be great.

Shit I am Tired of Seeing on Pinterest

I like Pinterest. I really do. I find it both fun and useful and an excellent waste of time. But there are a few Pintersty trends that just get my goat to no end. Here are my top 3 in no particular order. 

1) Vintage Modern. This phrase is so over-used, what does it even mean anymore? I think "vintage modern" is the "shabby chic" of the two-thousand teens. Remember in like 2003 when EVERYTHING was shabby chic? Even things that weren't were shabby chic.

To prove my point here are three rooms that Pinterest tells me are "vintage modern":

Looks like an Ikea special to me.

This is just a nice kitchen. I'm not sure how it got mixed up with the vintage modern crowd.

This might come closest to even making sense. The furniture is actually mid-century modern, so at this point truly vintage. Mostly this just makes me think of all the insufferable "House Tour: Twee, Hip and Modern Bungalow in La Jolla (Jake, Leslie and their 3 dogs live there)" on Apartment Therapy.

2) Mason. Jars. Stop. I love them too, but just stop.

When you're making a wooden sign that looks like a mason jar, it's time to quit.

3) Keep it simple. Any pin that says "keep it simple" is almost never going to actually keep it simple.  "12 Simple Holiday Traditions for the Best Christmas Day with Toddles Ever!" This already doesn't sound simple. Or else it will be "How to throw a simple weeknight cocktail party for 50" Sounds distinctly un-simple and expensive. This isn't the best example, but it's what made me think of this:

The caption on this was "A simple wreath will do the trick."  Boxwood wreaths like this are about $50. Maybe it's my fault that I equate "simple" with "cheap/free/uncomplicated." For more examples, see just about anything the Martha Stewart Company pins.

Richmond Half Marathon

I ran the Richmond Half Marathon last weekend on the 16th. I signed up for (and booked my hotel room...they sell out the hotels before they sell out the race) back in March as something to work toward running-wise after the baby came. There's a fair amount of anecdata out there that says that the 30s are the peak years for distance runners, and that many women see post-baby speed increases .  I heartily embrace both of these ideas, even if science never proves them. My favorite sports quote (really, life quote) of all time is Yogi Berra's "half this game is 90% mental." If I believe I'm faster because I'm 30 and I've had a baby, there's a pretty good chance I'll actually be faster. Running with the jogging stroller doesn't hurt either.

Saturday morning at the race I almost didn't start. It was raining and cold-ish and I just wasn't sure if I needed to race in that weather. I did a marathon in the pouring rain (at mile 25 it hailed!) in 2011 and after that experience, I said, "Self, you never have to do that again. You have my permission to turn around and go home." But it wasn't that cold, the rain wasn't supposed to keep up and too much time and energy had already been expended bringing the baby down with us and sleeping in a hotel room with him. I needed to justify all that with something.  At the start line, my thoughts were, "I just want to get off this race course. Let's not make this last a second longer than it has too."  This is not a strategy I've tried before, but it seemed to work pretty well. I ended up finishing in 2:01:07 which is a 6 or 7 minute PR for me. 

My mom is faster than your mom!

I've never run a sub-2 hour half-marathon, but I know it's in there somewhere. I was hoping to do that in this race, and I got pretty close for having only done long runs the last few weeks and maxing out at about 10 miles a week as a result.  I also didn't look at my watch until mile 10, which is definitely something new and different for me. Typically, most races are spent performing mental math to calculate and recalculate splits.  Ignoring the clock seems to have some advantages as a strategy though, so I'll be trying that again in the future.

This is the face of someone trying really really hard. This was like mile 12 or something. Please note that despite the pained look, my feet are encouragingly both off the pavement at the same time, so you know I'm still moving fast.

Despite my "let's just get the F off the race course" thoughts, it was still a really fun race for me. I've run Richmond several times, so I know it well and like the course, and I love how enthusiastically the locals spectate. Even in the rain, Richmond is a really good time.

The only thing I did not care for was the new finish. The last mile was always dow nhill on Cary Street (I think) toward the river. This year, the race organizers added one more turn and the last half mile of the race was down hill to Brown's Island.  Down hill in the last mile of a half or full marathon is usually a gift, but the new section was a like a lovely fall foliage trimmed death trap. It was very steep and covered in slicks of wet leaves. I thought for sure I was going to eat in the final tenth of a mile. I was feverently hoping that when I fell, some of my fellow racers would take pity on me and carry me over the finish line (while "Chariots of Fire" played in the background of course). I think the change was made to accommodate a bigger finish festival and to allow beer trucks, but since I can't drink the beer anyway, I'm giving it a thumbs down.  I let the race organizers know my opinion in the post-race survey, so I'm sure they'll change it back for next year.

Finally, the most important part of the race! The post-race food! We had a post-race feast of Chik-fil-A, complete with a chocolate cookie Sunday and then I had a pint of Half-Baked later on that evening.

Today is Actually Friday

I had grand plans this week of doing a post about the race I ran last Saturday, complete with cute "baby with a race medal" pictures. I got as far as uploading the pictures and then I got sidetracked by lackluster baby sleep.  We had a pretty treacherous week of navigating the sleep waters. I have no idea what the trouble is (teething, growth spurt, voodoo hex, normal baby mysteries). We're "solving" the problem by co-sleeping and repeating our mantra, "nothing you do the first year can spoil your baby."

We're sleepy, but to be fair, the individual most put out by the not-sleeping-shenanigans is our simple dog, Barksdale. Barksdale waits until we're asleep and then creeps into our bed and curls up into a tiny bean and pretends he's not there. I don't usually notice the 65 pound dog in the bed unless I have to get up with the baby. With 2-3 night wakings, Barksdale can be assured of several long, leisurely stretches in the bed. With wakings every hour, the dog's really getting his exercise jumping in and out of the bed.

Apparently scientists have done a study in which dogs, their owners, and a desirable treat (that the dogs were not to have) were all placed in a room. The dogs would wait til the lights were out to go after the treat because they knew the owner wasn't able to see them (or probably more like the dog thought, "I can't see you, you can't see meeee!").  This study takes place in our bedroom every night, so I feel bad for whoever had to pony up the money for that research.

[Husband]'s birthday is next week and it's actually on Thanksgiving this year. This is good for him because he greatly prefers pie to cake. How many years do you think I can get away with no gift and just saying, 'I birthed your son" instead? 2-3? 5 tops? I was glad to do it, of course. But you have to admit, I would have a hard time topping it, so why try?

Yesterday was my Friday

As such, I had some time in the midst of my day to put together a few fun internet gems and pictures.

Camp Patton: This is my friend Deanna's friend from high school. Her husband is a surgical resident of some sort. She has three children under three. She is also pregnant. She's a really good writer. Yeah, is your mind blown yet?

This is just really funny. Bonus, it's long and will probably carry you through your Friday afternoon slump.

I love this gif. Love it. I want to learn to do that. 

A couple of my college friends and I took our babies to the MD Agricultural History Farm (much lively that it sounds) on Sunday.  One of the husbands got some great pictures, a few of which are below.

 

The last time I posted...

...I was still pregnant. I now have an almost SEVEN MONTH OLD BABY. Blogging shame.

I've been back at the old grindstone aka back into reading blogs since getting back to work in September and have been a little comment happy lately, so I feel like I need to start blogging again. I don't want people reading my comments, linking back to my blogger profile and seeing my dead blog. I can hear them (other bloggers) now:

[Blogger reading my comment]: "Who does this b think she is?"
[Clicking through to my neglected corner of the internets]: "A DEADBEAT BLOGGER THAT'S WHO!"

I have imaginary conversations and exchanges (similar to the above) in my head all the time. They're usually pretty confrontational. My dad said something to me recently that indicated that he also tends to make up imaginary confrontational situations in his head too, so at least I come by it honestly.

Much like this baby comes by his head full of reddish hair (mostly) honestly.

Oh hey, guys.

I Will Never Again Feel Bad About Not Liking GAP Jeans

I was both horrified and relieved to read this blog post this morning. Finally, I can let go of the fact that GAP jeans have never worked for me. I haven't been in an Express since about 2009, but I must say, I am curious about these Re Rock Jeans.