Jess Runs

Books I Read March 2026

2026-04-10T13:22:00.000-04:00

After a slow reading month in February, I feel like I rebounded nicely in March -- falling back to one of my favorite genres -- thrillers and mystery -- with some really great books.

Five Stars

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fun thriller with a completely deranged main character that I just could not put down. At the height of the covid housing crunch the main character is desperate to get out of her rental and find a real home so she and her husband can start a family. She's obsessed with one specific neighborhood and after losing out on countless houses has become a bit desperate. I love a book set in DC, so this one checked all the boxes for me.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh man this book sucked me in so quickly and kept me engaged the whole time. What a winding twisty saga, while at the same time a little bit thriller-y. I liked the back and forth timelines jumping between the trial scenes and the lead up to the crime, and I was just so invested in what finding out what would happen.

Four Stars

The Wedding People by Alison Espach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book wasn't the light and fluffy read that I expected, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's dark at the start, which I wouldn't have guessed from the cover, but quickly becomes a book about human connection and what makes a strong friendship or relationship. I enjoyed spending time with this cast of strange and quirky characters and by the end of the book I was rooting for all of them.

Heart the Lover by Lily King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this much better than Writers and Lovers and the ending really ripped my heart out. But I just want to know why the main character has such terrible taste in men? Like why did we spend two books with her terrible relationship choices? Needless to say, this felt less pretentious and I tore through it, and truly the ending, ugh it was heartbreaking.

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but I did struggle to remember a lot of the stuff from the first book that would have been helpful to remember here. So just a warning that before you pick up this book, you might want to refresh yourself on what happened in the first book. Despite all that, I still enjoyed this book and the wrinkles Hannah and Owen and Bailey face.

Three Stars

My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was good, but it felt a little similar to one of the other books of Alice Feeney's that I had read. When I started it I was like wait, have I read this already? The opening felt very similar. But the plot of the book was different, and I did enjoy the twisty turns even though parts did feel a little bit far fetched.

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Last Three Weeks of Half Marathon Training

2026-03-16T08:34:00.000-04:00

We left off training updated in week 9, when I was dealing with a daycare cold and skipping a lot of runs. I only ran twice that week. One short run on Thursday when I was starting to feel a little bit better, and my longest run of training on Saturday.

I was nervous going into that long run on Saturday. I had started to feel a little bit better, but I was conflicted about doing the run. I didn't want to cause a setup, but I also didn't want to skip perhaps one of the most important runs of the training cycle.

We were in PA visiting my family, and they still had a ton of snow on the ground, but I managed a slow meandering run on some of the streets I used to train on all the time, and luckily, it didn't cause a major health setback.

Rolling into week 10, my time was a bit condensed because of travel. I dropped an easy run and focused instead on one of the speed runs and then my long run at the end of the week. I also mixed in a good amount of strength training and yoga during week 10 to help alleviate some of the soreness that was building up in my legs from this training cycle.

Then week 11 brought the start of taper, which truly couldn't have come at a better time for me. My body was feeling a bit beat up, and knowing the end of this training cycle had arrived and shorter workouts were the on docket felt like a big relief.

I was able to do a stroller run on Sunday, which I hadn't been able to do in months because of the weather, so that was a really fun way to start the week. And then the rest of the workouts flowed smoothly. Incorporating at least one day of solid yoga and stretching has also been really great.

I ended the week with one more long run of an hour and 15 minutes, and felt pretty good the whole time.

This week the schedule calls for a couple of 30 minute runs, but I will likely just do one of those runs and then do a couple of walks instead to keep things loose. I'm hopeful that all this training will leave me in a good place for race day Saturday.

I'm not looking to set any PRs. I'm just looking to finish feeling strong. After this training cycle, that feels like a fairly achieavable goal.

Books I Read February 2026

2026-03-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

February was a short month and for whatever reason, it's the month I decided to pick very long books to read. As such, I only finished two.

They were very different and interesting in their own ways. I gave them both 3.5s. No more preamble needed. Here are the books.

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in History – and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I grew up hearing my grandparents' generational habit of keeping everything was a product of the Great Depression and I had the faintest sense of what happened, so I was curious about this book and a chance to understand more. It was interesting to hear about some of the people who were making things happen on Wall Street, it was wild what used to be allowed in the banking industry and it was kind of fascinating to learn how Glass-Steagall came together. So I learned a lot. But I thought part of the first portion of the book moved a little slow. I found the second part way more interesting and faster moving.

Workhorse by Caroline Palmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wish I could give a book 3.5 stars because I think that's where this book falls for me. It started like Devil Wears Prada -- a normal person trying to fit in at a high-end fashion magazine. Except the main character isn't normal, she's actually a terrible human being who continually makes awful choices as she tries to fit in. This book was like 500 pages, but I stuck it out because despite hating the main character (and maybe every other character), there was a slight mystery-ish plot line, I was curious about and I wanted to know if by the end of the book the main character would redeem herself.

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Half Marathon Training Weeks Seven and Eight

2026-02-23T09:49:00.003-05:00

Training was going so well, but boy did the wheels start to fall off toward the end of week seven. At first I couldn't figure out why, but by the middle of week eight, I was pretty sure I had a never-ending daycare plague that's already derailing week 9.

I know potential sickness comes with training in the winter, but right now I'm in a rough pattern of feeling kind of better, so going for a run and then relapsing much worse. So I think I'm going to be chilling for a while until this is really gone. It's so frustrating.

Anyway, here's a bit of a look at how things went before things got rough.

Week Seven

Because of some scheduling stuff, week seven started with three days of running in a row + one double day where I squeezed in a lifting session too. It was maybe too much, and in hindsight, I probably should have skipped my easier run from this week to let myself have some more recovery time.

Instead I did a tempo run, a recovery run and a sprint workout all in a row.

I took a full rest day on Thursday and then woke up early to squeeze in my 90-minute long run on Friday. My husband had to work over the weekend again, so I couldn't make it happen over the weekend.

Friday's long run was where things got really tough. I was tired and not really feeling it from the moment I woke up. But I got dressed and forced myself out the door because this was an important workout. 30 minutes in and I was ready to stop. My legs felt like bricks, I couldn't keep my heart rate in the low zone even though I was barely going more than 12:30 minute miles.

I pushed through because I'm incredibly stubborn. I walked a lot, and my heart rate was higher than it should have been, but I clocked 90 minutes on my feet, which felt important.

But I think pushing it was what started me on a not so great sickness path.

In hindsight there were probably multiple factors impacting this run. I didn't eat enough the day before, and maybe same thing the morning of. Cumulative fatigue of training. But also probably because I had some underlying sickness brewing. And that set me up for a rough week 8.

Week Eight

Week eight was scheduled to be a cutback week, and I was really looking forward to a lower work load and shorter runs -- especially after Friday's miserable long run.

Going into the week, I'd already decided I was going to skip one of the runs to build in some extra recovery and to help battle the fatigue.

My FitBit stats were in the toilet at the start of the week. My resting heart rate was spiking, my activity readiness number was maybe the lowest I've ever seen it. I took the entirety of President's Day weekend off from running. Other than chasing my kid around, I tried to get myself as much down time as possible to recover.

I felt a little better Tuesday, still some fatigued, but I felt like I was rebounding so I did a decent weights workout.

Wednesday, I tackled a tempo run, but I had heart rate issues during the warm up. Barely holding a 13 minute mile, my heart rate was somehow in zone 4.

By Wednesday afternoon, I was incredibly congested. I barely slept because I couldn't breathe.

Thursday was much of the same. Friday was a bit better, but still the fatigue.

I rested a bunch over the weekend, and by Sunday evening was feeling OK-ish. But then I woke up this morning with more congestion and a scratchy throat.

I'm really frustrated because I only have a handful of weeks to go before the race, and it's killing me to miss all this training. I'm going to force myself to take a few more days off to see if I can knock out this cold, but I am not happy about it!

Books I Read January 2026

2026-02-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

I started the year off strong with some fast-paced thrillers and some solid book club reads. I even got one blissful day where I finished an entire book in a day. I so rarely have the time for that these days, but my in-laws were in town and hung out with my kiddo while I mainly curled up with a book on the sofa. It was heavenly!

Here's what made up a mostly very good month of reading.

Five Stars

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was a really beautiful story about three sisters (and really a whole family) who are trying to pick up the pieces of a family tragedy decades later. They're all back home under one roof to celebrate Thanksgiving, and the way they've each tried to compartmentalize and move on creates some complex dynamics that erupt.

Four Stars

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a deep reading rut, I was so excited to pick up a book that I really couldn't put down. I loved meeting the new protagonist and getting to know her and her family, and the case to be solved was gritty and dark and spanned decades. I raced through this book, despite the length, and I had hunches about whodunit that kept changing as a new bit of evidence turned up. Highly recommend!

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finished this in a day! The first time I've read a book in a day in so long (courtesy of a snow day and my in-laws being in town to hang with my kiddo). It was so fun to get lost in a twisty, suspenseful story that kept me turning the pages. There were places were I suspected I knew it was going to happen next and sometimes I was right and sometimes I wasn't. Really enjoyed this book and look forward to picking up more things by this author.

107 Days by Kamala Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a book club selection and honestly I hesitated to pick it up because the thought of reliving last year was too hard. But I plowed through, and my takeaway is if you like her, you'll probably find the book interesting. If you don't like her, you probably won't, which says more about the reader than the book itself.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I knew what this book was about and had generally felt meh about the concept. But one of my book clubs picked it so I sat down and read it, and weirdly I enjoyed it more than expected. There were definitely some parts the annoyed me, and times when I thought Margo was being too oblivious to be realistic, but overall it was a fun book. If you're not familiar, the premise is that after an unplanned pregnancy, Margo turns to OnlyFans to make money and her former professional wrestler father, kind of cheers her on and helps her out.

Three Stars

Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right by Jamie Glowacki
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I mean how to write a review of a potty training book. It had helpful info. I hope it works when the time comes. I do wish it was a bit shorter, it felt like there was a lot in here that wasn't a lot about potty training, so I skimmed over those parts. I just wanted to get to the meat and potatoes of the method.

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Half Marathon Training Weeks Five and Six

2026-02-09T11:19:00.003-05:00

I've officially crossed the halfway point of this training cycle, which is super exciting. I can definitely tell my cardiovascular endurance has increased. Longish runs feel not that hard, and even my harder and faster runs don't leave me as winded as the early weeks of training.

What's less exciting is the absolute miserable conditions I've had to train in over the last two weeks.

At the start of week 5, DC got hit with a massive snow/ice storm. We got like three inches of ice on top of six inches of snow, and the mess was so messy that DC coined the term "snowcrete" to describe what was left behind. A mix of snow and ice that's so heavy and impossible to move it may as well be concrete.

On top of that, we've got unseasonably cold temperatures and windchills that make training outside a real treat. And outside is my only option since I don't have access to a treadmill. So yes, it's been a real adventure these last two weeks trying to find sidewalks that are sort of cleared and piling layers on layers so I don't get frostbite on my exposed skin.

I skipped a handful of workouts because the conditions were just makings things tough, but here's what I managed.

Week 5:

No running until Wednesday, when I found quarter mile-ish section of sidewalk in my neighborhood that was cleared. I ran loops of that for 45 minutes. It was about as exciting as you'd imagine.

By my Friday long run, a little bit more sidewalk had been cleared! I could combine the quarter mile loop with a half mile out and back! Did endless lollipops for 70 minutes.

Only got in two runs, but was honestly glad I managed to get in any at all.

Week 6:

I had to push the start of week six because my husband was out of town, and there's no way I could run with my kiddo in the stroller on Sunday. There's no clear sidewalks and it's just way too cold.

So I did a progression run on Monday. Started in heart rate zone two and worked up to zone 4 by the end. Felt really good during this workout, despite the cold and needing to run my same silly lollipop course over and over on repeat.

Had big plans for the rest of the week since the temperatures were finally going to get above freezing, but I got a cold and some rough fatigue that knocked me out for most of the week.

I rebounded for my long run, and imagine my joy when even more sidewalk was cleared! Now the out and back portion was a little over a mile! Still super monotonous when you've got 80 minutes of running on the agenda, but at least it was some slightly new scenery.

And that's how two cold and rough weeks of training ended. Far from ideal, but I was happy to at least have managed one harder run and one long run each week.

The forecast over the next couple of weeks is going to have us up in the 40s, and I'm really hoping that means we'll get some more significant melting. I'm in desperate need of some variety on my running routes. I need these sidewalks to clear!

Half Marathon Training Weeks Three and Four

2026-01-30T14:58:00.005-05:00

I've officially made it through the first month of half marathon training, and I managed to fit in every workout in my training plan. There were plenty of times I had to get creative with the schedule and shift things around to accommodatemy husband's work schedule and childcare, but I got it done.

Weeks three and four were cold, but manageable, except for the long run from week four. That fell right before the massive snow/ice storm that hit DC and was quite unpleasant.

Week Three Recap

Sunday started with a tempo run with the jogging stroller. Nothing like starting the week off with a hard run while pushing an extra 60 pounds. Didn't have any trouble hitting the prescribed hard heart rate zones in this one, but did have a hard time keeping my heart rate at an easy enough level in the warm up and cool down. Celebrated with treats for both of us afterward.

Monday was a 45-minute easy run, which felt delightful after Sunday's run.

Tuesday was full body strength training followed by another dreadful hill workout on Wednesday. Hill sprints are just torture for me.

Thursday was a rest day and Friday was my long run -- only 50 minutes, so still not super long.

Week Four Recap

Week four was a cut back week and mentally it was just what I needed. The first part of January felt like a real sprint at work with everyone "circling back" after the holidays. So I was so glad to have a week of slightly shorter runs. Something about a 30-minute run just feels mentally so much easier than a 40-minute run.

Also we potty trained over the weekend between weeks 3 and 4, so I was glad to have shorter runs since it meant I wasn't gone for quite as long during the holiday weekend.

Sunday was a tempo run, but sans stroller, I had to push a lot harder to get my heart rate into the appropriate zones for the hard sets.

Monday was a 30-minute easy run.

Tuesday was a rest day and Wednesday was just regular sprints! I hope that means evil hill sprints are behind me.

I was able to squeeze in another long run on a Friday without too much schedule disruption or early morning wake ups because it was only 40 minutes. Have I mentioned I love a cut back week. It was in the teens on this run though and I had on so many layers I'm not sure how I managed to run.

I also threw in a day of strength training somewhere in there, but I couldn't tell you what day it was at this point.

I had debated pulling up a tempo run from week five and tackling it on Saturday since I knew the snowstorm that was coming was going to prevent me from running for a couple of days. But I woke up Saturday morning and my legs were feeling pretty heavy, so I didn't do that. Didn't seem worth it to risk an injury.

Four weeks down, 8 more to go.

Half Marathon Training Weeks One and Two

2026-01-12T16:33:00.002-05:00

After years of injuries, pregnancy complications, almost dying in child birth, the longest postpartum recovery ever and the slow, slow build to get some of my running endurance back, I am finally training for a half marathon.

I haven't run one since 2021 -- nearly 4.5 years.

It's hard to believe it's been that long.

I spent most of 2022 dealing with hip and hamstring stuff. I graduated from PT in the early days of my pregnancy.

And I ran until my 20-week appointment when they found a serious complication, and I was forbidden from anything strenuous.

I thought I'd get back to running fairly quickly after my child was born. I spent enough time researching how to heal from C-sections and did a million core stabilizing exercises in the early days to rebuild strength.

But then more complications, more surgeries, more recovery time and suddenly we're deep in 2024 before I'm physically able to run, and I'm back at work and still nursing and juggling all that. Trying to train for anything was a big no for me.

And that brings us to the end of last year. I ran 3 races in October -- two 5Ks and a 10K -- none of which I managed to blog about. I felt like I was finally coming out of some of the fog and trauma that 2025 unleashed, and had found some of my running endurance again.

It was the longest rebuild ever, but I finally felt ready to dive into half marathon training.

So here we are, two weeks in and still feeling good about my decision to sign up. I'm following the same training plan I followed for the races I ran in 2021. It's a plan based on heart rate, which I found last time really helped me focus on keeping easy runs easy and hard runs hard. It also helped me recover better and keep most injuries at bay.

I do four runs and a couple of strength sessions each week.

Week 1 Recap

Week 1 was a little bit of a mess because it was the week between Christmas and New Years, and I had travel at both ends of the week.

I had to get real creative with the workouts and shifted things around a lot.

The first two runs were at my parents' house on their treadmill because there was ice on the ground. The first workout was a hard hill run, which honestly the treadmill is great for. The second was an easy steady state run.

When I got back home, I took a rest day and then had another hard workout and my "long run" for the week on back to back days. This worked only because my long run was only 40 minutes. So I squished a week's worth of running into five days instead of seven with my travel.

Not ideal, but I was proud that I fit all the workouts in. It felt important to set that kind of tone the first week.

Week 2 Recap

The second week was a little bit better. I largely followed the training program as it was laid out.

Sunday was a hard tempo run, which I did with the running stroller for an extra challenge (and because taking my kid was the only way the run was going to happen).

Monday was a steady state run and some strength training.

Tuesday was a rest day, which was so needed because I could definitely tell I was getting sore.

Wednesday was a killer hill workout. I hate hill workouts so much. But I'm trying to keep it together and not start skipping them yet, like I know I likely will as motivation wanes during later training weeks. Conveniently there is a pretty steep and long hill close to my house, so I did an easy warm up and then did 90 second sprints up the hill with a two-minute recovery in between. I was sucking wind by the end.

Thursday was more rest and Friday was a my long run because my husband had to work the weekend, and I didn't want to have to do a stroller run for a long, slow, easy run. Nothing about running with the stroller is easy.

Overall the first two weeks of training were really solid. As I look ahead, I can already tell I'm going to have to keep getting creative with my schedule to accommodate some more weekends that my husband has to work and some random appointments and other commitments we already have on the calendar. I'm super glad for the running stroller. I suspect there will be plenty of times I'll need to use it to ensure my runs get done.

Flexibility is also key to any training plan, but I think this time more than ever, I'm going to have to be adaptable, shift workouts, and find a true love for the pitch black, very cold early mornings to make sure I can fit everything in.

My Four Favorite Books of 2025

2026-01-05T13:56:00.000-05:00

2025 was a rough year, and my reading took a major hit as a result.

With all the anxiety, stress and uncertainty this year brought, it was hard to sit down and focus on a book -- let alone have one hold my attention.

I didn't finish many books that I started, and it was hard to truly tell if I didn't like a book or I just wasn't in a mental space for it at the time.

I also got really far behind on tracking what I read, so I'm not sure my Goodreads even fully captures everything I read this year.

All that to say, this favorite books list is a strange assortment of things that managed to hold my attention during this dumpster fire of a year.

I'm hoping 2026 will be better, maybe a tiny bit more stable. One of my goals for the new year is to get back on track with my reading. We'll see how it goes.

But for now, here are the books I'll remember and recommend from 2025.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. Cried big tears at the end. The space story, the relationships, it was all so good. My favorite relationship was between the main character and her niece, but man I love a story about space, and this one about women going to space, it was just so good.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A whodunit where the house is a main character and each chapter makes you think the victim or the killer could be them. The Briar House is a woman's boarding house in DC and the grouchy landlady has strict rules all her guests must follow. But a new and mysterious arrival rocks the boat a little bit, introducing weekly dinners in her tiny room and building relationships with each person.

I loved this book. Each chapter introduces you to one of the women, and the other people in there lives. And each time you meet and understand someone new, you learn a bit more about who could be the victim and the killer. So good, a true Kate Quinn classic.

Yours for the Season by Uzma Jalaluddin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was delightful. I love a fake romance to real romance trope, and this delivered. It was cute and fun, and the perfect book to read in the lead up to the holidays -- meaning it didn't make me think too much. I was really sad to put this down when I finished because I so enjoyed the characters!

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

Last Day in Madrid

2025-12-23T15:41:01.247-05:00

We debated what to do on our last day in Madrid. We originally had thought about doing a short day trip outside the city, but after a couple long day trips and knowing the next day we'd have a very long travel day, we opted to stay in the city.

It was the coldest and windiest day of our trip, but we still hoped to get outside, hit up some of our favorite playgrounds and try to make it an active day.

We talked over to a playground in front of the Royal Palace and were surprised to see it roped off. Puzzled, we walked about 10 minutes to one of the other playgrounds. It was also roped off.

We couldn't figure out quite what was going on, but we backtracked one more time to a playground we'd passed on the walk. It was smaller and didn't have much equipment, but it wasn't closed. It also wasn't very exciting for our kiddo, so after ten minutes, we hopped a city bus to take us back to Retiro Park.

Even though all the playgrounds were closed there too, we at least had lots of wide open space to run explore and run around.

I was curious about the playground closure thing and tried to find an answer. Reddit told me that sometimes the city closes the playgrounds in certain weather conditions so tree branches don't fall on kids. I don't know how true that is, but it's the only thing close to an answer I found.

The highlight was for sure getting to pet the police horses patrolling near the lake.

Or maybe it was chasing more pigeons. We did a lot of that too.

We also got to see a pretty rose garden that we hadn't made it to the day before, and I was surprised for late November, how many flowers were still in bloom.

After burning off some energy, we left the park to do one last daytime stroll through the city, admiring the Christmas decorations and stopping for some more churros.

We ended the day with dinner at our friends' house, a perfectly fitting way to wrap up a great trip. I'm so glad we got the chance to visit them and spend time exploring Madrid and some of the surrounding areas.

Day Trip to Segovia from Madrid

2025-12-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

After our successful day trip to Toledo, we were really excited to take the train for a day trip to Segovia. Our toddler is in a big transportation phase and absolutely loved that our trip to Segovia had us riding the Metro to the train station and then taking a bus into town once we got off the train in Segovia. He might have found the travel aspect the most fun part of the day.

When you get off the bus in Segovia, you're dropped right in front of the ancient Roman aqueduct. It's an incredibly impressive feat of construction and also a striking first impression as you walk into town.

We didn't linger too long at the aqueduct because we had a tickets to tour the Alcazar that morning.

We strolled along Segovia's main street to the other end of town where the Alcazar sits overlooking the valley around Segovia. The castle was imposing and when you walk across the drawbridge, you peer down into a massively deep moat.

Supposedly this castle that the Spanish royal family lived in was the castle the inspired Walt Disney for Cinderella's castle.

We started our tour down in the dungeon before making our way to the upper levels.

The castle wasn't as stunning as the palace, but it was still really cool to see this big stone fortress.

The best part of the castle though was after we finished the tour, we were hanging out in courtyard for a bit to let our kiddo run around, and he made friends with a little girl around his age. They were having the best time running back and forth between two points. She was there with her parents and grandparents from Mexico, and we were able to chat a little bit. I got to use some of my rough Spanish, but was grateful their English was far better than my Spanish.

From the castle, we strolled back toward town, stopping to tour a large gothic-style church.

We enjoyed the ornate architecture and all the little chapels around the perimeter. Our son kept wanting to go back and see one of the Mary statues and asking us where Jesus was.

When we got to Segovia's Plaza Mayor, I was ready for lunch, and I was so looking forward to trying suckling pig -- a dish Segovia is famous for.

We wandered down some side streets and peered at menus in some windows before settling on a place that looked good and didn't have a wait.

The food definitely lived up to expectations, and I'm so glad we took the time for a longer lunch in Segovia.

We spent the rest of our time exploring. We walked down side streets, visited the Jewish Quarter and then wrapped up at the Roman Aqueduct. We took a long stroll to the very end of the aqueduct hoping our son would fall asleep in the stroller during that time. But no luck. Not sure if it was the bumpy cobblestone or just the excitement of everything there was to see, but sleeping was not on his agenda.

We strolled all the way back to the main square where we caught the bus, and had the only bit of travel drama on our trip.

When we got off the bus in the morning, we neglected to look at the bus time tables for when the buses would return. We made an assumption that the ran every 10-15 minutes and we go to the bus stop 45 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave. But bad news for us, the buses only ran every 20 or 25 minutes, and the next bus was scheduled to arrive at the train station like two minutes before our train was supposed to leave.

We were super nervous, and debated trying to get a cab, but there were none to be found. We waited and when the bus finally arrived, we zipped back to the train station without too many stops along the way. I was so relived. We made it to the station in plenty of time.

Our kiddo also fell asleep in the stroller on the bus two minutes before we got to the train station. We hoped to be able to get him on the train while still sleeping, but we hit a big bump getting off the bus and he woke up. So hooray, our two year old only took a two minute nap.

Luckily he was fairly chill and didn't have any meltdowns on the train ride back to Madrid or the metro ride to the hotel. We decided to keep our evening fairly relaxed after our busy day and got him into bed a little bit earlier.

Ben and I have been debating which day trip was our favorite. I think his vote is Toledo, but I'm truly conflicted. I really loved Segovia. It was so different than Madrid, and it was fun to get a taste of somewhere so different!

Madrid Day Four: More Art, the Royal Palace and Christmas Magic

2025-12-18T19:16:00.001-05:00

We structured our trip trying to alternate more low key days in Madrid with more on-the-go day trips, and our fourth day let us settle back into the groove of Madrid.

Before we left, we had booked tickets to tour the Royal Palace, but the earliest time we could get was 12:30. So I took advantage of our open morning to take us to go see some more art -- specifically Picasso and Dali at the Reina Sofia.

I remember studying Guernica in art classes and boy seeing it in person was just really something. It's huge and the gallery was crowded because it's the one art work that everyone was intent on seeing, but I looped us through the room twice because the piece was so impressive.

I also really enjoyed seeing some of the Dali works, and got a chance to appreciate some of Juan Gris' paintings too.

Again with a toddler this was a fairly quick trip, really focusing on just the highlights, but it was definitely worth it.

We treated our kiddo to some playground time, and then we all made a pit stop for some churros con chocolate before touring the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace was massive -- apparently bigger than Versailles -- and so cool to walk through. I have to say, I also like the flow of this Royal Palace tour better than Versailles too. We did the self guided tour, and while some rooms were definitely crowded, it didn't feel like the crush of humanity we experienced in Versailles.

The pictures of the palace don't do it justice.

The gardens however were a little lackluster in comparison to the ones at Versailles. We enjoyed strolling through them, but they definitely didn't wow me as much.

We spent our Saturday evening with our friends at Madrid's Christmas lighting. Apparently every year in Madrid there's a big event in the city with musical performances before the more than 13 million Christmas lights across the city are all turned on at once. We were lucky enough that we happened to be in town when the event was taking place, and this year it happened to be the earliest that Madrid has turned their lights on.

They lit up city hall, projecting a movie on the walls before we listened to songs and then celebrated with an awesome fireworks display.

It was such a cool event and I'm so glad our friends invited us along. So much of our trip was about seeing the sites and being tourists in a new place, and it was really nice that on Saturday night we got a break from that and got to enjoy this experience with the residents of Madrid.

Day Trip to Toledo from Madrid

2025-12-17T17:44:18.865-05:00

After two days in Madrid, we decided to venture out of the city for a day trip Toledo. We were really excited to see the history of Toledo and spent the day popping in and out of churches, mosques and synagogues.

We hopped on a high-speed train and reached Toledo in just under 30 minutes. The city sits high on a hill, and while you can walk from the train station, we were very glad we took a city bus because the journey up the city walls would have been more than a little challenging with the stroller.

The bus let us off right in Toledo's main square, Plaza de Zocodover, and from there we could walk everywhere else.

Visiting Spain this time of year was so fun because of the Christmas decorations and Christmas markets. Toledo's main holiday market greeted us as soon as we stepped off the bus.

After snapping a quick pic with Cervantes, we wound our way through the narrow Toledo side streets.

We were headed for the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, a mosque that was eventually converted into a church.

The building itself was small, but the grounds offered sweeping views outside the walls of the city.

Our next stop was the Toledo Cathedral. The church itself was massive and ornate.

There was also an entirely separate art museum inside the church, housing more paintings by famous Spanish painters.

And the crypt houses the bones of St. Ursula, which I didn't realize when we walked down there.

I'd say we spent about an hour exploring the church because it was so big.

Our next stop might have been one of my favorite things we saw in the city.

It was another mosque that had been converted to a church. But this one was an archeological site, and you were able to walk underneath the church to see the original mosque architecture. This was also one of the few places we were able to climb the tower with our kiddo because the tower was wide and not a tight spiral staircase.

We made a brief stop at Santo Tome to see El Greco's The Burial of the Count of Orgaz before heading to the Jewish Quarter.

The Jewish Quarter was lovely with cozy cobblestone streets and distinct markers to remind you where you were.

We visited two synagogues here. One of them had been converted into a museum of Jewish history and the other, not surprisingly at this point, had been converted into a church.

We found an adorable playground near the first synangogue and decided to stop for a play break with some stunning views.

Our last religious site visit was to the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes. This was church was built to be the final resting place of Isabel and Ferdinand, but they ended up being buried elsewhere. So this church sort of just hung out.

After our last site, we strolled back to town to get some lunch. We sat outside, which was lovely in November and ejoyed carcamusa, stew known for its local meats. It was delicious and hearty and warm.

We spent the last of our time in Toledo exploring the Christmas market and just wandering around while our kiddo napped in the stroller. We decided to walk back to the train station since it was downhill, but we didn't factor in the part where we'd have to still walk down a million steps while carrying a sleeping toddler in a stroller. We got to see some cool architecture in the walls as we left the city, but I'm not sure I would recommend this for anyone who has to haul a stroller.

Despite that one hiccup, we absolutely loved our day in Toledo. It was one of our favorite things from the whole trip.

Madrid Day Two: Retiro Park and the Prado

2025-12-16T16:36:08.317-05:00

We planned our second day in Madrid to be incredibly low key. We started our morning exploring in Retiro Park. This was the perfect way to start the day after a long travel day. No agenda, just wandering around, letting our two year old explore.

This park had multiple playgrounds, which was perfect. We could spend some time at one, go explore more in the park, and then bounce over to another one.

Our favorite by far was one on the eastern side of the park, with multiple slides and climbing apparatuses. It was also packed with pigeons, and my kid's favorite thing was running around chasing them yelling, "I'm coming for you birdies."

He terrorized the pigeons of Madrid, and Ben and I could not stop laughing at how much joy he got from running after them and then watching them fly away.

The other incredibly cool part about this playground was that there were randomly peacocks walking through it. I have never seen a peacock in the wild, and these ones let us get decently close to them without spooking. None of them opened their feathers, but it was still really cool to be so close to them and see how vibrantly colored they were.

We spent time checking out the lake, fountains and other gardens scattered throughout the park until our stomachs started to growl and we left to find some lunch.

Our post-lunch plan was to visit the Prado.

I'm not normally a huge art museum kind of person, but my middle school art teacher spent years teaching us about the Spanish masters, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see some of their works in person.

The museum was definitely crowded, and we kept our visit short and fairly focused on a few pieces I really wanted to see because art museums aren't the most interesting thing to a toddler.

No pictures from inside, but when I got off the elevator and the doors opened right onto Las Meninas, I was a little bit awestruck.

We wandered around the second floor and hit some more Velazquez and El Greco pieces before heading downstairs to see Goya and his dark paintings.

AFter nap time, we met up with our friend at another playground in the city before heading to a tapas bar for dinner.

It was a perfect day of easing into the city.

One Week in Madrid with a Toddler

2025-12-15T18:41:00.002-05:00

Last month, we took our first European vacation as a family of three. Before we had kids, we knew we wanted to figure out how to keep going on adventures together, but I'll be honest, long flights and jetlag with a toddler made me more than a little nervous.

But when a travel deal hit my inbox for direct flights to Madrid for $350, I knew we had to snatch them up. We have a friend living there, and it seemed crazy not to leap at the chance to go visit.

So we bought tickets and travel insurance (because LOL toddler illness), and found an amazing 1-bedroom apartment in the heart of Madrid that provided a crib and had a kitchen and a washer and dryer (because toddler messes), and off we went.

We had an overnight flight on the way there, and while I can never sleep on planes, I was really hoping the overnight flight, white noise from the plane and the fact that our kid could lay across the seats, would combine to create a decent environment for sleep. But alas, the excitement of being on a flight and all the new things were too much! We only got two hours of child sleep on the way there and one hour on the way back. The flights were 7.5ish hours on the way over and 9ish on the way back. So that was a lot of switching activities for entertainment.

Luckily, between the books and toys we packed and watching the plane's path on the seat back screen we had all the entertainment he needed. I had been so worried about the long time needing to be still, but it really wasn't an issue.

When we landed in Madrid, it took us a long time to get from the plane, through customs, to our luggage to finally, finally the Metro to take us to our hotel. It was definitely trying all of our patience, and I'm sure the exhaustion didn't help.

But we made it eventually, dropped off our luggage, and set out to walk around the city and find some food before we could officially check-in.

For me, this is the hardest part of any European trip -- needing to power through with no sleep until you can collapse into bed later.

We had planned a very mellow day, not knowing how any of us would respond to the travel.

Luckily the weather in Madrid was beautiful. Sunny and in the low 50s. We took a long meandering walk around the city, stopping to view the Christmas trees in Puerto del Sur and Plaza Mayor.

We grabbed a snack in a food hall that was just opening its doors for the day.

And we popped into some churches and bought cookies from cloistered nuns.

We made our way over toward the Royal Palace and the massive cathedral right next door.

During all this walking and pushing the stroller around, we thought for sure our kiddo would fall asleep. But no luck, so we made a stop at a playground to let him run around a bit.

While we were on the west side of the city, I had hoped to check out the artwork in the church where Goya is buried, but it was under construction. So we strolled over to the Temple de Debod, and somewhere around there we had a sleeping toddler in the stroller.

It was 1 p.m. Spain time. Ben and I stopped to get paella for lunch before checking into the hotel.

After getting settled, we made a quick grocery run for some basics, took much needed showers and we all passed out -- until about midnight, when the jetlag hit us all. We were up for about three hours with a toddler running around the apartment. After letting him burn some energy, we redid bedtime and got him back to sleep, and Ben and I quickly passed out again ourselves.

That was the only night our kid had jetlag issues. I had been really nervous that we'd struggle with this throughout the whole trip, but we never did. We let ourselves sleep in a bit the following morning, and after that, we adapted to a pretty solid schedule that worked for us and for Spain's traditionally late dinner times.

Most days, we slept in until 8 or 8:30, nap time was in the stroller or back at the apartment depending on our day between 2 and 3 p.m. Woke up from nap time around 4:30 or 5 and that set us up for an afternoon that better aligned with Spanish dinner time. Kiddo bedtime was sometime between 8:30 and 9. It all worked surprisingly well.

We had a great week doing a mix of tourism, visiting our friend and a mix of many playgrounds. More to come on our daily adventures, but overall this trip went better than I could have ever hoped, and it boosted my confidence we can go on more adventures like this in the future.

Pregnancy changed more than just my shoe size

2025-09-16T09:29:00.003-04:00

For nearly two decades, I ran in a moderate stability shoe. Through multiple fittings and foot analyses over the years, I was always directed to the same type of shoe, and in fact, I became a brand loyalist swearing by my Mizuno Wave Inspires (this post is from 2012 lol).

I ran four marathons and countless half marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks and all the training miles that go into those races wearing the same shoe style.

And then I got pregnant, and my feet changed.

First I thought it was just a sizing thing. So I bumped up a half size, and then another half size. And that seemed to help in my running shoes.

But I also wore a pair of custom running inserts in my non-running shoes because it makes them so much more comfortable to walk around in. Because my arch had flattened some and my feet had lengthened, my custom inserts no longer fit.

It had been on my to-do list forever to get a new pair if insoles made, and finally during my time off in between jobs, I had the chance to do it.

I went over to Road Runner Sports for a new foot analysis to get properly sized insoles. My plan was to just get the insoles. I didn't need new running shoes. My current pair were in fine shape.

But then the analysis came back showing something unexpected. Not only had my foot gotten longer, my pronation wasn't really a thing anymore. I was shocked. Nearly 20 years needing the same style shoe, I just assumed it's what I would always need.

I think my mouth was literally hanging open in the running store because I was so surprised. The tech I was working with told me this actually wasn't uncommon. While we waited for the insoles to finish setting, I tried on several pairs of neutral running shoes. He pulled a ton of different models and styles.

I tried on my very first pair of Hokas. I know so many people who love them, but they weren't for me. I really liked a pair of Brooks and a pair of Ascics that I tried. Running around the store in them felt so good.

I ended up walking out of the store with my new insoles and a pair of Asics Novablasts.

I've been running in the new shoes for about two months now, and I cannot believe how quickly I've adapted to neutral running shoes. My feet feel weirdly free to move in a more comfortable way. The only thing I noticed the day after my first run is that my ankle tendons and muscles were a little tired -- probably from working a bit harder to stabilize me without the aid of the stability shoes.

But that was a one time thing, and now if I slide into a pair of my old shoes just to go for a quick walk I really notice the difference. It's almost uncomfortable and feels like something is pushing my heel in a funny direction.

I will be curious how things go longer term with neutral shoes, especially given my injury history because of my loose joints (and spending months and months in PT leading up to and during the early parts of my pregnancy to help build stability in my legs).

17 books I read in the first half of 2025

2025-07-22T08:13:00.000-04:00

This has been a year so far, and honestly with everything going on reading, running and blogging clearly all took a back seat.

I've really struggled to focus on reading this year. There were some months in the late winter and early spring, where I think I may have only read a book or two the entire month. I'd pick things up and just not be able to get into them, even if it was a genre I normally liked. I had so many DNFs, so many holds lapse at the library. My concentration and focus just wasn't there.

There was one series that really grabbed my attention though and held it, and that was the Inheritance Games. I tore through those books (and highly recommend if you read them you have them all at once because each book stops in the middle of the story, and I know from experience waiting on the hold list at the library for the next one is super annoying).

Of the books I did finish, I had a lot of three stars. And some if it I can't tell if it was me and the mood I was in or if it was actually the book itself. So take the three star ratings here with a grain of salt.

Ok, enough preamble, here are the actual books I've read through June.

Five stars

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

Four stars

Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Karen McManus and her YA thrillers! This one was about a mother-daughter jewelry heist. It had a lot of twists and turns, and though I guessed the ultimate ending I still found I couldn’t put this down, despite a few plot points I didn’t love.

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not quite sure how I liked this book so much even though I despised most (all?) of the characters. I loved the way this book took a singular event and looked how it seriously and truly messed up every member of a single family.

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a lovely mix of nostalgia and getting to know the early parts of Kelly Bishop’s career. I loved the parts about Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, and I found the parts about her early dancing career fascinating. What a great book to spend a cold winter weekend curled up with.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because it felt like everyone was talking about it. I've never really watched any of the Barefoot Contessa shows, but I found it really interesting to learn about Ina Garten's life and how she found her way into the food world.

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the bridge book in the Inheritance Games series. It's told from two of the brothers' perspectives and introduces a cast of new characters that will appear in the Grandest Game series. I enjoyed this book, but it definitely wasn't quite as compelling as the books in the original series. It took me a little bit longer to get going with it, but eventually it picked up, and I enjoyed it.

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked the premise of this book, and I liked new characters being a focus of the Hawthorne world, but I'd read it back to back to back with the original Inheritance Games books, and this one just didn't live up to those. Don't get me wrong, it's still good, and because it ended in a cliff-hanger I'm still planning to read the next book when it comes out this summer. But I had a bit of harder time with the many POVs in this book, and the number of POVs didn't match the number of players in the game so I felt like I kept getting people confused -- especially Lyra. I couldn't remember who she was or why exactly she was important. I think I needed a little more development of some of these characters in this book, but because I'm a sucker for mysteries, I'm going to stick with it until the next book.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was dark, but also at times really funny. The main character is an atheist and a lesbian and when she heads to a Catholic church that advertises therapy, she somehow ends up employed there as a receptionist. She learns a bit more about her predecessor and discovers she might have been murdered. She's curious and suspicious of several people at the church. A very different book, but I actually really liked it.

Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun and cute look behind some of the moments that are mentioned in many of the Inheritance Games books. These have been some of the only books landing for me lately, so it was nice to get a deeper look at some of the characters in these short stories.

Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'd fallen off the wagon with the Kate Burkholder books, and reading this one reminding me why I love them so much. The plot here is fast-moving and I never wanted to set this book down. I started it on a Sunday and finished it the next day. In this case, Kate is asked to go undercover to in a different Amish community to help investigate a series of strange events. While I picked up on a few of the plot points, I appreciated the change of location and cast of characters in this book. It was nice to mix it up. My only real complaint now that I've read 8 of these is that I think there's a bit of a tell toward the end of the books. Kate always puts herself in some dangerous situation because she's convinced herself there's no other way and then without fail comes incredibly close to death, but manages to just barely avoid it. Other than that trope becoming a bit repetitive, I still love these books.

Three stars

Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was cute, though slightly predictable, and I struggled with some of the plot points or gaps. When the main character's aunt dies, she inherits her sprawling mansion in France as well as the secretive writers retreat she runs there -- if she agrees to stay for a certain amount of time. The main character's self-loathing at times was a lot. I really wanted to like her, but sometimes she drove me nuts, and I just wanted to shake her and be like girl, get it together.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I kept waiting for the payout in this book. Why did the main character's attic suddenly become magical and start sending her husbands? If she was annoyed with one, she could send him up to the attic and a new one would come down. I kept reading and reading hoping to find out why, but the author never tells you. It's just this weird thing that happened and that the main character has to navigate now. I found it a bit repetitive at parts, and really felt like we were lacking plot.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three friends in college and thrown together by a tragedy, and they make a pact to never let each other down. So years later when one of them needs the others, they fly to her side. They plan a three city travel spree to help her recover. One of the characters was incredibly grating the entire book, but it was a nice escapist book for characters trying to find themselves.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another mystery that was slow to unfold. Set after World War I, Maisie is a private investigator. Her first case is to investigate a presumed affair, which leads her to a group of soldiers that came back from the war with serious injuries. Many who have gone to a retreat have died, and Maisie expects not from natural causes.

View all my reviews

Quebec City for Scott's Wedding

2025-03-16T13:18:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we visited Quebec City for my friend Scott's wedding. It was our first international trip for our little guy, and I'm happy to report all the travel went fairly smoothly, and we had a great time.

Ben and I had been to Quebec City back in 2022, and had hit a lot of the big touristy things on that trip. So when planning this trip, I tried to focus on things that would be kid-friendly and ideally wouldn't be too repetitive from what we did on our first trip.

The weather was way colder on this trip, so I considered a lot of indoor activities, and because my in-laws drove to meet us there, we had access to a car more easily than we did last time, which expanded our horizons.

Our first day was a fairly long travel day. Even though both of our flights were short, they were both delayed and we had a pretty long layover in the Toronto airport. I was happy when we were finally able to check in to our condo for the weekend.

We stayed at the Royal Dalhousie, and wow, I cannot recommend this place enough.

I had booked a three-bedroom condo on the first level of the building. But when my in-laws checked in, the owners were worried it would be too loud for us with a little guy, so they moved us up to the second floor, into the biggest and most beautiful place I have ever stayed while traveling.

Floor to ceiling windows lined the wall in the massive living area. The main bedroom suite I think may have been bigger than the entire top floor of our house in DC. Every detail was just stunningly gorgeous, and there was so much space. Little man had so much room to run around. He was in heaven.

We grabbed dinner out on the Petit Champlain, tucked the little guy into bed, and then Ben and I met Scott and his parents and another one of our friends for a quick drink at one of the pubs.

On Friday morning, we drove about 35 minutes outside the city to visit the Hotel de Glace. This place was wild. An entire hotel, with a bar, stage, dance floor, restaurant, and chapel all made out of snow and ice. People can actually book these rooms to stay over night, but sleeping on a bed made of ice in subzero temperatures does not sound like my idea of a good time.

We enjoyed our visit though. The highlight of course being the giant ice slide in one of the rooms. This was on repeat for little man many many times.

After we thawed out during nap time, we bundled up again for a short walk around the city before an early dinner.

Saturday morning we woke up to howling wind gusts of 40 mph and temperatures barely creeping out of the teens. It sounded like a perfect museum morning.

We went over to the Museum of Civilization, which we had heard great things about, but didn't get to our on first trip. This museum definitely lives up to the hype, and it was perfect for the kid and the adults in our group.

We started on the lower level, which was basically a giant play area for kids. Little man crawled through tunnels and opened doors to find surprises in the walls. And down the hall they had a wrestling area to pair with their special exhibit on the history of wrestling. This area was fun for our guy, but the kids who were probably a year or two older were loving it even more. Laughter and shrieking as they tackled inflatable dummies and tried to catch each other in a ring.

The wrestling exhibit for adults was also so much fun and a real throwback. I definitely watched WWF (now WWE) when I was a kid, so seeing all the old memorabilia, and the lifesize cutouts of the various wrestlers was really cool.

Our last stop in the museum was the exhibit on the history of Quebec. The animals and the various cars, boats and other modes of transportation were the favorites of this exhibit.

We had the welcome reception for the wedding on Saturday night. I apparently took no pictures there, but my friend snapped this one of a bunch of our group at the afterparty. If the pub looks familiar, it's because it's the same place we went to Thursday night.

Sunday was our last full day in Quebec. It was also wedding day and the nicest day of the whole trip, meaning it got into the 30s and the wind was more mild! Hooray.

We bundled up and headed for the boardwalk toboggan first thing. Ben and I saw the set up the last time we were there, but it was too early in the season and wasn't open yet. So we were super excited to be able to ride it this time.

Our sled really picked up some speed and we went flying all the way to the end of the track.

We spent much of the rest of the morning strolling around town, popping in and out of little shops. It was nice to finally have pleasant enough weather that it was tolerable to be outside.

We stopped in the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre Dame de Quebec, the only church outside Europe to have a Holy Door.

Our last stop of the morning was a small museum about how maple syrup is made. It was a tiny bit corny and a little bit cute and honestly only worth if it you have a kid who will get a kick out of the animated beaver family that explains the whole process.

The museum is tiny and the whole thing probably took less than 15 minutes, but it was amusing.

That night we had the wedding.

I didn't take a single picture again, but Scott shared this one from their photographer. Scott and Katie didn't have a wedding party, so they hid their wedding rings under one of the chairs at the ceremony, and this is us looking to see if we were the lucky people to get to carry the rings up to them. I thought this was a fun and really cute idea.

Then it was off to cocktail hour, dinner and dancing before collapsing into bed in our beautiful condo one last time.

Monday morning we were up and headed back home. It was a great little trip. We were so glad we got to celebrate Scott and Katie and make a little vacation out of it with my in-laws. Quebec City is such a great place to visit. I'd go back again, and would 100% stay at the Royal Dalhousie again!

My Favorite Books of 2024

2025-01-10T10:22:00.002-05:00

2024 was actually one of the lowest volume reading years I've had in a while. Turns out having a small human to keep alive will really cut into those lazy Sundays doing nothing but reading a good book. But despite the lower number of books this past year, I still read some really fantastic books.

Here's a round up of all my five-star reads.

Nonfiction

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book made me a little bit sad about how we destroyed an entire generation of children with screens and social media. But there was so much good food for thought about what we can do to change the tide and create healthier relationships for our kids with the Internet. I appreciated the practical tips especially at the end of the book. I'd say this is a must read for any parent trying to figure out how to manage devices for their kids.

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like many others, I've been following Sharon's corner of the Internet since 2020. I've learned a lot from her, and she's introduced to many new authors and other great books. She's also an excellent storyteller on her podcast, so I was looking forward to her book release. Her strong storytelling continues here. In many sections, I could hear her voice in my head as if she was narrating this on her podcast. I enjoyed the stories she shared in this book, each one infused with hope.

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though this memoir is more than 10 years old, it still feels like an important story given all the conversations today around immigration. This is the story of Reyna Grande, who as a child is separated from first her father and then her mother as they came to the United States looking for a better life than what they had in Mexico. Her mother eventually returns to Mexico, and Reyna makes the trip across the border with her father when she's 9 years old. Separated from one of her parents, she grows up in the U.S. with the other. The book is equally really heartbreaking and hopeful. It's not an easy read, but it's a good one.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is so wild it’s hard to believe it’s nonfiction. It tells the story of the KKK’s resurgence in the 1920s, and the woman who brought them down. The way the author wrote some of the court scenes made it feel like a thriller and I just kept reading to find out what happened next. It’s hard to make a story that compelling when people already know the outcome. But this was so good. Highly recommend.

Fiction

James by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This will likely be one of my favorite books of the year This retelling of Huck Finn is so good. I loved to see Jim as a full person, with this whole big life that’s just not there in the original and building such kindness into him, even though he had no real reason to be kind to any of the white people in the book. I couldn’t put this book down and I was sad to leave Jim when it ended.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though I definitely thought the first half of this book was stronger than the second half, this is a five star book. It was beautifully written. I keep telling everyone to read it and I keep wanting to talk about it. After her brother is killed in the Vietnam War, Frankie McGrath signs up to be an Army nurse. The first half of the book covers her time during the war, and the second half covers life when she gets home. Parts of this book made me so mad I wanted to chuck it across the room, but I loved it. I also felt a really personal connection to this story since my aunt served as an Army nurse in Vietnam -- in one of the hospitals mentioned in this book -- and it was something that I didn't know much about. This book touches a lot on how the women who served in Vietnam were often unseen and their service was unvalued when they came home. It's a must read.

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Five stars largely in part because I thought this was a lovely send off for the characters from Nantucket that I've grown to love over the last many summers. All of my favorites were back to celebrate the police chief's retirement, but of course, one last case lands in his lap before his retirement date at the end of the summer. I will miss Elin's books every summer.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was just a lovely book to read. My favorite character was an aging octopus that had found ways to escape his enclosure. He was fun and charming, and I wish he had more chapters in the book. The humans in the book were just the right amount of flawed and broken for them to be endearing and lovable without tipping into completely annoying, though at least one of the characters had his moments.

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot stop thinking about this book, and I really want to talk about it with people (good thing it was my book club read for the month). It reminded me a bit of The Displacements in that Florida gets hit with devastating hurricanes. I liked how this book imagined what could happen if the storms became too much that it was impossible to repair critical infrastructure. I loved many of the characters in this book and despised others. All around a great thought provoking book.

Gone Missing by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I tore through this book in like a day and a half. It’s another great mystery thriller featuring Detective Kate Burkholder trying to find three Amish girls that have gone missing. This book is five stars despite the fact that I hated the ending and that I felt one of the characters ended up with an unresolved storyline.

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Books I Read November and December 2024

2025-01-06T07:44:00.002-05:00

November was a very murder-y month of reading and in December, I really doubled down on some cozy holiday books. Just lots of light and easy reads to wrap up the year.

Four Stars

A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was excited to read this book after lots of reviews, and I did largely enjoy it. But I kind of hated the twist. Not that it wasn't well written or wasn't entertaining, I just really wanted a different person to be the killer because to me that would have seemed way more intriguing. Either way this is still a good book and a vey fast thriller-y read.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sarah Pekkanen's books. They are twisty and fun and bonus set in the DC area. This one did not disappoint and delivered on super strange family dynamics that the main character had to peel back to determine how the family's nanny mysteriously died.

After the Storm by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the two competing storylines in this book that both sprung from a violent tornado ripping through the town of Painters Mill. A body is discovered when a barn is destroyed leading Kate and her officers to investigate this cold case. At the same time people seriously wounded in the storm are angry at Kate for her rescue efforts. I like the way the stories interweave, though I will say I didn't love Kate's personal story line in this book as much and thought the ending there was just a little too convenient.

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sparks seem to fly between the best man and the maid of honor at their friends' wedding, until the maid of honor finds out the best man left her book a one-star review online. Unfortunately because their best friends are married to each other, the arch nemeses find themselves forced to spend a good amount of time together, and maybe there's still a spark there. Fun fast read!

The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute and fun book to read during the holiday season. It's about a group of four friends who are "Christmas orphans" meaning they have don't leave New York to celebrate the holidays with their families. Over the years they've celebrated in all sorts of ways, but one friend gets a new job across the country and their annual tradition is threatened. Light and fun and great for the holidays.

Candy Canes of Christmas Past by Leslie Meier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was trying to end the year with a few lighter and fun books, and this cozy mystery did the trick. I've read a few Lucy Stone books this year, and I enjoyed that this one flashed back to when Lucy first moved to Tinker's Cove. It was a nice chance to see how all the characters that have been featured in other books started to appear in Lucy's life. Plus this was a short and fun holiday mystery too.

Three Stars

Turkey Trot Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really went all in on the holiday themed murder mysteries this end this year. This book was a little slow at parts, and I didn't love the way I felt a bit beaten over the head with the immigration theme, and I thought the twist was a bit predictable, but it wasn't a bad read and I enjoyed a book set around a running-ish theme.

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I typically really enjoy the Will Trent books, but this book was really, really long and I thought very slow at parts. The book opens pretty early with the murder, but then I feel like there's a lot of long slow build up before we get into any sort of crime-solving. I would have preferred if some of the slow burn had been cut to get right into the action.

Books I Read September and October 2024

2024-11-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

I'm still adjusting to the whole being a parent means you don't have long lazy Sunday afternoons to sit and read thing. Every month when I look at how many books I've read, I'm like wow, that's so much less than I used to read. And then I remember it's probably not fair to compare my pre-kid reading volumes to now. Still working on that.

I read a couple of excellent books over the last two months that I've been recommending to everyone.

So without further ado, onto the books.

Five Stars

Four Stars

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this was more like 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I enjoyed the story overall. I did almost throw in the towel because the book opening with creeper lurking in the woods outside of a house was a bit too much for me when I was literally reading this book in the middle of the might. But during the daylight hours the creepy factor was turned down. Ethan Marsh has returned to his childhood home where 30 years ago, his best friend disappeared from the tent where he and Ethan were camping in Ethan's backyard. No body was ever found and no one knew what happened to Billy. But creepy things start happening in the neighborhood, forcing Ethan to reckon with the past.

A Hidden Secret by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun Kate Burkholder mystery short story. I listened to the audiobook of this while I was doing chores around the house and it made the time pass very quickly because I just wanted to know where the story was going to go. I really love these short stories that bridge the gap between some of the longer books.

Three Stars

Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to love this book as much as I loved the Lucy Stone mystery that I read last Halloween, but this book started a little slow for me. It was still a fun and cozy Halloween mystery. It just started a little slowly.

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a fast read, but I really struggled with it. It seemed like Daphne was just so flat in this book and had no real agency. I got frustrated with just about every decision she made and felt like there were a million other choices she could have made instead of the ones she did.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the payoff at the end of this book, but it was a bit of a journey to get there, and I felt like there needed to be more description or backstory on the mysterious "birds" that supposedly haunt the woods. But besides a few of those challenges I had with the plot, I did enjoy the back and forth timeline building to the climax where almost every character had a motive and almost anyone could have been the dead body found on the beach.

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My First Stroller 5K

2024-11-01T07:19:00.000-04:00

This post has been a long time coming! I'm so happy to say I finally, finally, finally was able to run a race with my little guy in the running stroller.

It took me way longer to get to this milestone than I ever expected it would.

When I was pregnant, I had big dreams of getting back to running quickly, and either running with the little man or having him be at the finish line of my races. After so many unfortunate setbacks, I finally got to have that moment over the weekend.

We were in Rehoboth for the Seawitch Festival, and the Seashore Striders put on a race every year to coincide with the festival.

I had planned to walk this with the running stroller last year, but the baby ended up melting down, and so I just walked it myself.

But this year, we were both ready to run.

It was a chilly morning, so he got plenty bundled in the stroller, and I wished I hadn't forgotten to pack my ear warmer since there was a pretty steady breeze.

We did packet pick up in the morning, let the little guy run around the playground until about 10 minutes before the race start and then we lined up and took off.

Having never run a race with the stroller before, I started a bit toward the back of the pack. I was trying to be respectful of the other runners and didn't want them to get stuck behind me. Running with the stroller slows my pace down big time.

I didn't have any time goals for this race. I just wanted to enjoy the experience of finally getting to do a race together.

I stuck to the sides of the road where I could and made sure to not get too close to anyone since I didn't want to accidentally nip them in the heel with a stroller tire.

The first mile of the race was a little bit congested, but I still had plenty of room to maneuver even with the big stroller.

I felt mostly good through out the race. It's definitely harder to run with the stroller, but I was just so happy to be out racing again.

It was fun to run along the ocean. We got some really nice views before turning back into some of the neighborhoods to wind our way to the finish.

Little man seemed pretty chill the whole time. In fact, for a while I think he might have fallen asleep.

With just about a half mile to go in the race, I was definitely feel the effort of running with the stroller.

I tried to pick up the pace a tiny bit as the finish line came into view, but a final kick with a big stroller is definitely different than a final kick without.

We crossed the finish line in 32:21, which was good enough for 9th place in my age group.

I was getting a little emotional toward the end of the race. It felt like such a big milestone and accomplishment to finally make it to this day. I'm healthy, he's healthy, and I'm finally back to doing something that I love.

I'm glad I got to share running and racing with my little buddy. I hope to be able to do a lot more of that together in the future.

Books I Read Summer 2024

2024-09-18T16:34:00.001-04:00

It's been a minute since I've done a books update. It's also incredibly hard for me to cope with the fact that summer is pretty much over. I'm not ready to say goodbye to warm pool days. While this summer I didn't get to spend many luxurious days lounging by the pool or at the beach with a book, I did still read a few good things over the last few months -- including a handful of five star books.

So without further ado, here's what I read over the summer.

Five Stars

Four Stars

Swimming with Ghosts by Michelle Brafman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was another one I was introduced to at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. A book set in the DMV at a summer swim club sounded right up my alley. It's a good family drama with trouble brewing at the pool when the club needs to find a new coach when the old one quits a week before the first meeting of the season. This book features and lovable and detestable cast of characters, the derecho that rocked this region in 2012 and the mess that overly involved swim parents bring.

Funny Story by Emily Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emily Henry tells great stories and this book wasn't any different. This is the funny story of how two people meet after both of their other relationships go belly up. Charming and fun and a great summer read.

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Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sally Hepworth's books. They're twisty mysteries. This one was kind of dark, focusing on three girls who grew up in an abusive foster home. When years later, the home is demolished, a dead body turns up underneath it. The police start to investigate and the girls worry they are suspects.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love a good enemies to relationship story line, and this book delivered on that front. Helen and Grant went to high school together, ended up on different sides of a tragedy and haven't seen or spoken since. And then they are thrown together on the set of a TV show where Grant is the screenwriter adapting Helen's book. Tore threw this quickly because it was a good read.

Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this as an audiobook and there is something so nostalgic for me about Lauren Graham's voice. I wish there had been more stories from Gilmore Girls in this book, but I appreciated the few references and the handful of references to Parenthood too. Lauren Graham makes me laugh and listening to this book was really enjoyable.

Long Lost by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not usually much of a short story person, but this was a nice break from longer books during a bit of a reading slump. Plus it was fun to see one of my favorite detectives solve a mystery in just an afternoon.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read this book in almost one sitting at the pool on my birthday. Just a fun story about a travel nurse who’s never able to settle down, who meets a guy who maybe makes her want to do just that. Highly recommend for an enjoyable read

Three Stars

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book expecting a different kind of story. This book starts with a group of dedicated lap swimmers and what happens to them when the pool has to close because a crack appears. I expected the book to follow more of the characters, but it really zooms in on one. The book ended up being heavier than I expected from the blurb. Not bad, just very, very different than I anticipated.

The Unwedding by Ally Condie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book started a little slow for me, but it did pick up fairly quickly. Our recently divorced leading lady ends up trapped at a luxury resort by herself when a landslide blocks off access to the road. Members of the wedding party there are slowly dying one by one, and people are frightened that they will be next. The remaining guests scramble to find the killer and to safely leave the resort.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like everyone raved about this as the summer's hottest mystery. And the storyline was good, but it was long and there were a lot of players and sometimes I had a very hard time keeping track of who was who. But I am a sucker for a book set at a bougie summer sleep away camp because so many things and go wrong and in this book that's absolutely what happens. The story takes place across multiple timelines (probably also why I was getting confused), and looks into the disappearance of two children from the same family nearly 10 years apart. It was good and I enjoyed the story, but I also got lost a lot because there was so much going on in some many different years.

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Had a hard time giving this book a rating. I related so much to the main character wanting to find her happy place and finding peace and tranquility near the water. I was also down for a good love story, but there were other story lines here that drove me nuts, like the whole best friend running away before her wedding. It was a fast summer read.

My Toe Healed and the Heat Broke

2024-09-04T16:33:00.002-04:00

This summer has been a rough one for running. Even though I got the good news from my podiatrist that my toe wasn't broken, I did still have a pretty nasty bone bruise that took almost a full month to heal.

On top of that, we had record-breaking heat for almost the entire month of July. That left me doing lots of cross training and zero running.

The heat has finally broken a bit now, and with my toe all healed, it's been nice to get back to some running over the last couple of weeks.

Right before I hurt my toe back in June, I had run 3.5 miles. It was my longest run since before I was pregnant, and I had been so disappointed when I was laid up with another injury because I felt like my progress was halted again.

But just this week, I managed to work myself back to 3.5 miles again. It was slow. All my times are slow these days, but it was something.

There's a 5K I'm hoping to do with my son in the running stroller in October. Knowing that I can manage three miles already is a good sign. I will definitely need to work on my endurance to be able to run with my heavy toddler in a stroller over that distance, but I still have some time for that.

I'm also hoping to be able to run a few 5Ks and maybe even a five miler on my own later this fall. At this point, the five miler seems maybe a bit ambitious, but we'll see how things go this fall.

Over the next couple of weeks, my focus is going to be on getting some of my running endurance back. If after a couple of weeks getting comfortable at the 5K distance, I'll see about starting to gradual add on the miles.

I really miss racing and running in general, so I'm trying to focus on building back slowly to avoid any more injuries, so that I can actually run some of the races I have my eye on this fall.

Some Beach Running and a Toe Injury

2024-07-11T08:12:00.002-04:00

We got back from a trip to the beach a couple weeks ago, and while we were there, I got in a couple of great stroller runs and one really lovely solo run. And then I hurt my toe, and I haven't been able to run since.

I've been slowly increasing the distance I can go with the running stroller over the last few months. Running with a stroller is no joke. Throw a 23 pound baby and some hills into the mix, and I was huffing and puffing after barely a mile.

I was really looking forward to some flat boardwalk stroller running. With the super hot summer we've been having, even the early morning runs were still pretty challenging. But it was nice to get out, and see some different scenery on our runs. And my child only protested slightly when I needed to take walk breaks.

I also got in one glorious and lovely run by myself at the beach. With the blistering hot weather, it's been pretty much impossible for me to run over my lunch breaks these days, so it was nice to have a morning where someone else could stay with the kiddo and I could get some much needed solo run time.

My endurance had been slowly coming back. The week before our beach trip, I did a 3.5 miler. It's a distance I never thought much of before, but these days every slight uptick in mileage is a big win in my book.

But then the morning I got back from my wonderful solo run, I bashed my pinky toe into a baseboard at our beach house, and I haven't been able to run since.

I've only been able to wear open-toed shoes (thank goodness it's summer). I got it X-rayed at urgent care when we got back and the doctor told me it was broken, which unfortunately was what I expected given the amount of swelling and discoloration.

They taped it and gave me a walking shoe and told me to follow up with an orthopedic.

I left a message for mine, but then the following day, urgent care called me back and told me the radiologist reviewed my X-rays and actually didn't see a break. So maybe it's not broken.

It's been a few weeks now and my toe definitely feels better. I think I'm going to still follow up with the orthopedist even though urgent care told me I didn't need to.

I still haven't tried to put on a closed toed shoe and I definitely haven't attempt to run.

I've taken two full weeks off any sort of exercise, and my toe does mainly seem to be doing better. It's less swollen, but if I push on it where the "break" looks like it was in the X-ray it definitely still hurts.

So just when I was making some major progress on the running front, I have a stupid injury and I'm back to not running. We'll see how long this injury sidelines me. I'm hoping not for too long. I really, really would like to race in the fall, and good fall race times come from tough summer training runs.