The 2014 Booklist

I have a problem. I’m a little in denial about it, but it recently came to light when I was perusing The Book Corner, my favorite bookstore in Philly. Normally I am a loner when it comes to book shopping but this time I convinced Andrew to come with me. We walked, and I didn't bring a bag, which is a grocery store trick for not buying a lot of food. I was hoping it would work for books. Ninety minutes and nine books later, we headed out to dinner.  NINE BOOKS LATER. And this is after Christmas and my birthday, where I got seven books. I have more books than most people I know. I haven't even read all the books on my shelf, but I can't stop. I love reading and there's just something so great about the possibility of a new book. But I do need to work on reading the books I own. 

In true Type A fashion, I've now created a list of books I already own. Here's my reading list for 2014 divided by section and why I want to read them in ten words or less. 

Fiction

Citizen Girl by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus - I liked The Nanny Diaries. 

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld - Already read it, it's awesome, needs to be reread. 

The Manticore by Robertson Davies - Famous Canadian author, getting in touch with my roots. 

Gone by Michael Grant - Dystopian YA fiction, my fav. 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - Came highly recommended.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - My brother gave it to me for Christmas. 

The 100 Year Old Year Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - It was free. 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson - It looks hilarious. 

Non Fiction

Wonder Women: Sex, Power and the Quest for Perfection by Debora L. Spar - Better than Lean In. 

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - I heard it will make me smarter. 

Crave: Why You Binge Eat and How to Stop by Cynthia M. Bulik - Psychology of food is interesting. 

Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp - Psychology, food and feminism. 

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert - Psychology of happiness. 

Losing It: America’s Obsession with Weight and The Industry that Feeds On It by Laura Fraser - Diets are a load of crock. 

Reference

The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel - Might as well see what all the fuss is about. 

Bookkeeping for Dummies by Lita Epstein - I need to learn this stuff. 

Making A Life, Making a Living by Mark Albion - It's got lots of good quotes. 

The Essential HR Handbook by Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell - Industry reading is always helpful. 

What's on your list for 2014? Comment, find me on twitter with #2014booklist or email me!

What I Eat Wednesday: Meat on Meat on Meat

One of the number one questions I get when people find out that I work out two or three times a day, six times a week is "what do you eat?" The answer is complicated. As a lightweight rower, I have to fuel my body for practice but not overindulge. It's a balance I am still tweaking and fine tuning as I continue with training.

On a couple Wednesdays a month, I'd like to share some pictures from my kitchen. This past week was a little different because I had off work, so I had the time (and the Christmas gift certificates) to shop at Wegman's and Trader Joe's.

I bought 11 pounds of meat at Wegman's this weekend. Since Wegman's is a hike from where I live in Philly, getting to go is always a treat. They have really good prices on high quality food. I bought so much meat that I had to leave half of it in my boyfriend's full size freezer because it wouldn't fit in mine! My New Year's resolution is to eat more meat, so I'm going to say I'm off to a decent start. 

Dinner: Honey mustard salmon from Trader Joe's cooked in the oven, garlic butter broccoli and plain linguine with a little bit of parmesan cheese. 

 Dinner: Oven baked chicken with Italian seasoning, plain linguine with a little bit of parmesan cheese and roasted Brussels sprouts. And a mouthful of ramen, that I ended up giving back to my boyfriend because I was too full! 

Lunch: Whole wheat couscous and spicy jalepeno chicken sausage with red pepper flakes, both from Trader Joes. If I had known couscous was so easy to cook, I would have replaced any and all pasta in my diet a long time ago. I made a big batch of this for work lunches. 

Dinner: Steamed broccoli, crockpot pulled pork and my roommate, Claire's, version of fried rice. Both the pulled pork and fried rice were part of weekend food prep so I can come home from practice and have dinner ready in under ten minutes. Blue plates supposedly help to curb appetite - not really sure if that works for hungry rowers post erg workout. 

Comments? Questions? Email me or leave a note below! Want to share what you eat with the world? Tweet with #WhatIEatWed

Transitioning into 2014

"Life changes in an instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." - Joan Didion

What I’ve figured out over the past year is that it’s hard to write about things that are hard. Or rather, it’s hard to write and then share with others things that are not going well. This blog was becoming a burden to write because I felt pressured to show a positivity that I didn’t always have in late 2012 and much of 2013. I was trying to be that girl, the one that had everything together and was able to share it with the world. But in 2013, I did not "have it all". I went through some things that I did not feel comfortable and still do not feel comfortable writing about. According to the Holmes and Rahe stress test, the amount of life stressors I had during the twelve months I stopped writing means that I am about 100% due for a serious illness or injury. (Scores higher than 300 indicate an 80% chance….I scored a 649). I’m willing to be that I am not the only recent college graduate who would score that high either. Even for my peers who moved back home to their childhood bedrooms and hometowns, life is very different without school. Change is constant and there are many times when life is overwhelming, terrifying and stressful.

That’s not to say that 2013 was a bust. A lot of really amazing things have happened since I last posted. I lived by myself for two months. I got an awesome new job. I took a graduate school class (and got an A). I met some amazing people and cemented existing friendships. I completed my first year of year-round training. I began a great relationship. I cried a lot, but I laughed a lot harder and that is what has brought me back to writing. Maybe the Internet doesn’t need one more twenty-something posting crafts, recipes and feelings. But I grew to fill this space and I missed it.

To 2014.