What I read this month: December 2024

December was a busy so I didn't read for most of it, but a quick trip to see family in Florida provided ample time to binge a trilogy I've been meaning to read for awhile!

These three books bring my total count for the year to 29. I didn't have a reading goal in 2024; I simply wanted to feel genuinely excited about reading again, and to naturally pick up books because I felt like reading. I wanted to get to a place where reading had become a true hobby for me again, and I do think I'm there.

What I read this month: November 2024

 

November nearly got away from me because coming back from vacation and diving into a new job took all my attention and energy, but toward the middle of the month I remembered I still had a couple books on loan on my Kindle. Let's dive in!

A fitness update

It's been awhile since I've updated on my running. Since deciding not to run Loch Ness, actually. But all sorts of things have happened, so an update feels necessary.

TW: Medical photos of my endoscopy and discussion of weight and body fat under the jump.

Canyon Trail to Waipo'o Falls Hike

Despite feeling totally wiped out after hiking to Hanakāpī’ai Falls, Matt and I both agreed we couldn't spend nine days in Kaua'i and only do one measly hike. For our next one, I chose Canyon Trail to Waipo'o Falls because it was short and the elevation didn't seem too overwhelming.

Joke's on me. This little trail was steep.

Kauai vacation, part 2

After our incredibly adventurous and busy first days in Kaua'i, I was looking forward to some downtime! Because we spent a couple days doing next to nothing, I've fit the last five days into this second post.

What I read this month: October 2024

Our trip to Kaua'i gave me the perfect opportunity to dedicate some time to reading without feeling like I should be doing something else. I planned to just continue with the mystery series I've been reading so I wouldn't have to engage my brain too much, but one of them didn't download correctly, so I branched out and actually read some fantasy this month, too.

Napali Coast hike: Kalalau Trail to Hanakāpī’ai Falls

On the third day of our trip (October 16), Matt and I hiked to Hanakāpī’ai Falls. This hike is part of the Kalalau Trail, which is an 11-mile out-and-back along the Nāpali Coast. Matt had his heart set on this hike, but I'd heard from friends that it was extremely difficult, so I was nervous. I tend to tap out around 7 miles, and the waterfall hike was 8 (according to Matt...remember that).

I decided it was doable. We could always turn back early if we wanted to! And man, I can't lie: it was rough, but I'm really glad we went.

Kauai vacation, part 1

The last time Matt and I took a vacation that wasn't planned around seeing friends or family, it was 2010 and we have just tied the knot. That's right, we haven't had a just for us vacation since our honeymoon. So, when planning our trip to Kauai, we decided to go all out. We figured we may never go back, so we had to do everything while we had the chance.

That led to a busy, exciting, adventurous vacation that is going to take more than one blog post to recap. So, without further adieu, here's part one of...a few.

Kelly Butte Trail #1031

My favorite kinds of hikes are long, easy walks through the woods. I like to be surrounded by trees, covered in shade, and barely breaking a sweat.

Last Saturday's hike delivered none of those things, but it was still pretty stellar.

Lime Kiln Trail

Over the last week or two, we've seen the return of fall weather. Cool, crisp mornings. Drizzle. Earlier sunsets. I love everything about it.

While Matt took a trip to Canada for a paddle race, I decided to seek some fall foliage with Melissa. We headed out for Lime Kiln Trail, a long but easy hike in Granite Falls.

What's 16 years in the grand scheme of things, anyway?

I am totally that aging millennial who can't do math and thinks 2004 was 10 years ago, but the truth is, my 20th high school reunion was this year. I graduated college 16 years ago, and it's been since then that I've seen my old college roommate, Lauren, in person. 

Lauren and I drifted apart after college but reconnected because social media actually has some uses beyond filling me with existential dread. Last summer, she went on an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle and wanted to make it a point to come back and spend time here, because even the drive from SeaTac to the port is awe-inspiring. After going back and forth on dates, she planned her trip for Labor Day weekend.

Warning: lots of selfies ahead!

What I read this month: August 2024

In August, I only read one book, but it was a hefty one! I've generally been avoiding anything too long or intense, and this one was both of those things. Someone at work recommended it after she realized I'm a Stephen King fan, although the book this one reminds me of most is his son Joe Hill's NOS4A2.

I had to read this one in sips here and there at first because it starts with some pretty dark themes right off the bat, but once I hit the halfway point, I found myself speeding toward the end.

Hiking Summit Lake Trail

For Matt's birthday this year, he asked for a baseball game and a hike. The baseball game was easy; there was even a drone show after, so it felt extra special. Scott, Robby, and our friend Mason joined us.

The hike was harder, of course. Matt chose three hikes he's been wanting to do for awhile and was kind enough to let me choose the winner. I chose the easiest of the three: Summit Lake Trail near Rainier.

Revisions are done (for now)

I began revisions on the first draft of Project Seashore in April or May. Around mid-July, I made the decision to try to finish by the end of the month. Somehow, I managed to accomplish that! I've never revised any of my manuscripts before, so this was new to me. Read on for details on my process, mindset, takeaways, and next steps for this novel.

Hood River hikes

Every year, Matt goes to Hood River for a week for a big paddle event. That week tends to include our anniversary, so this year I decided to join him. The plan was for me to work during the day and join him for hikes in the evenings. Unfortunately, we got hit with a crazy heat wave and I just couldn't bring myself to bring the dog out for long hikes in 100°F. Luckily, toward the end of the week it cooled down enough that we were able to do two little hikes before we went back home.

The Aster girls see Seattle

When my mom began planning her trip out here this summer, I was pleasantly surprised that my sister decided to tag along. Mom's been here before, so when I asked Steph what she really wanted to do most, her answer was: Food! The gluten free options in Seattle are hard to beat, so I totally got where she was coming from. I made sure good eats were at the top of our to-do list.

We had a fantastic time sightseeing and eating, and we even managed to get my mom out for a hike!

What I read this month: June 2024

 

With four active library cards now at my disposal, I'm back to reading! I ended up having a surprising reading month. I figured I'd continue with my Gaslight Mystery series, but then the third book in a different series I've been following dropped, and, on a whim, I decided to revisit an old favorite. So I ended up reading six books in June, three of which I read within 4 days!

A little bit of everything

June has really felt like the longest month ever, and it's not over yet. I think being busy makes certain months seem long, and that's certainly been the case lately.

Bridal Veil Falls

 

It's been awhile since I've gone hiking, but with June turning out to be a surprisingly gorgeous month, I decided to take advantage of my midweek weekend (sick day for doctors appointments and Juneteenth) and get out there.

Matt and I have been interested in hiking Bridal Veil Falls for awhile, and I thought I may take my sister when she visits in July, so this hike was a good opportunity to test the trail and check something off our list.

What I read this month: May 2024

Yikes, another one-book month. This time, it's not totally my fault. The Seattle Public Library got hacked, and ebooks went down. No, really.

I attended a silent book club this month and had to depend on what was on my Kindle. (Thank goodness for that airplane mode hack.) I really wanted to read the next Gaslight Mystery, but alas, I wasn't so lucky. Instead, contemporary romance it was!

I think I might be training for a marathon

I can't seem to say it with conviction, but I'm pretty sure I'm marathon training.

Around mile 9 at Vancouver, I wrote off running completely. The next day, I acknowledged that was rash, but felt certain a marathon wasn't in my future, especially a hilly marathon. A few days after that, as my DOMS faded, I began to think that maybe Loch Ness wasn't out of the realm of possibilities.

BMO Vancouver Half Marathon 2024

Well, my first international race is in the bag! And generally, it was a pretty good one, especially considering the way I struggled with leg pain throughout training. I'm feeling two ways about this race: happy with the outcome, and unhappy with my performance. And, at the end of the day, it left me more uncertain than ever about future race plans.

Final training report: Vancouver Half

 

Race week is upon us!

When we signed up for the Vancouver Half, I had about nine weeks to train, and it felt like a short time even though I'd been sort-of training for a half since autumn of last year. Still, training didn't seem to click and feel real until March...really mid-March, if I'm being honest.

What I read this month: April 2024

 

April was not a big reading month for me. I was busy with a lot of other things and just wasn't in the mood for sitting still and reading. I started and abandoned quite a few books this month, and ended up only finishing one. So, this will be a short post!

April things

April was an unexpectedly busy month. January, February, and March felt very business as usual, but the moment the sun came out and False Spring arrived, things have been happening. 

Step one: reread

I've never revised my creative writing. Not in any meaningful way, anyway. In the past I'd finish a manuscript, print it out, and stick it in a binder, never to be seen again. But with my latest, I'm excited to revise. There are sections I want to tighten up, foreshadowing to enhance, and extraneous scenes to cut. But, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm a little nervous. What if I take the manuscript out and absolute hate it? What if I find the whole thing boring? What if the necessary revisions are too daunting?

Following generally accepted writing advice, I put the manuscript aside for three months and began rereading it in March. And I can say, with relief and amazement, I've actually had a good time.

What is it about 9 miles?

Training for the Vancouver half has been going much better than the training-that-wasn't for my birthday race. Is it the better weather? The burden of the holiday season being a thing of the past? Matt's official swearing-in lifting the crushing anxiety from my shoulders? 

Oh yeah, that happened!

Who knows. Whatever the cause, training finally feels like it's going according to plan.

(Knock on wood.)

What I read this month: March 2024

 

I didn't read in February, so I felt like I needed to prioritize it in March. I worked all last year to grow my reading muscle again and I don't want to regress! Sometimes it's pretty sad to realize I just can't read the way I did 20 years ago, when any book could hold my attention non-stop and I could read for 12-hours straight, pausing only for snacks.

But I also feel like it's easier now than it was this time last year, so cheers to progress! Let's dive in.

We're running a half!

 

I'm not using the royal "we". For the first time in my running journey, Matt is going to join me for a half marathon! We won't run it together since he's much faster than I am, but that's beside the point, which is that Matt's seen me run over a dozen half marathons and wasn't interested in trying himself until a firefighter buddy of his ran one in Seattle. Suddenly, his interest was piqued.

Gear Review: Shokz OpenFit

It's been awhile since I've written about running gadgets. In the past few years I've gotten new running watches and headphones and tested new shoes, but nothing really seems to merit a full blog post. However, when I was thinking about getting the new Shokz OpenFit headphones, I realized no one I knew had switched from the classic bone conducting Shokz headphones to these new true-wireless options. The responses I got were generally, "I love my Shokz, let me know what you think of the OpenFit if you get them!" So it seemed like a review was in order.

This is 38

Last year, I had a pretty rough birthday. With Matt completely occupied by the early days of drill school, we didn't have the time or capacity to do anything beyond the usual dinner-and-cake after the big day had already passed.

This year, he more than made up for it. Of course we still had cake and dinner, but we also took a weekend trip to Victoria, BC, and he coordinated the whole thing.

My Better Half 10k 2024

Let me start by saying how absolutely relieved I am that I chose to run the 10k instead of the half this year. If had I any doubts that I was making the right decision, they fled the moment I checked the weather report for race day.

44°? No problem. Perfect, even. 90% chance of rain? No thanks.

Decision time

Last time I posted a training update, I was feeling a little better about my upcoming half marathon. Since then, things have unraveled. I've made the hard decision to switch to the 10k.

January reads

Not knowing what to read next is always the biggest obstacle in my way when it comes to reading, and having easy access to a series solves that issue. 

Around mid-January, I took stock and realized I had already finished 5 books! Part of me wanted to pause because I was worried about this blog post, but that seemed like a silly reason to stop reading so...it is what it is! By the end of the month, my grand total was 11, which is one more than my goal for the whole year of 2023.

The thing is, having a series to plow through or a newly discovered favorite author makes picking up the next book effortless; no wonder I was so good at reading as a kid! I had so many unread Stephen King books to discover!

MBHM training update

When I last posted about how training was going for the 2024 My Better Half Marathon, I was feeling pretty down. Still, I've been plugging away, so all things considered, I'm pretty happy with the progress I've made.

2023 in Review

At the start of 2023, I wrote my usual "year in review" post for 2022 and ended it with this: I don’t have resolutions for 2023, but I have a goal to finally put the effort and time into cultivating a friend group here in Seattle. I’ve been in therapy since June 2021 and if nothing else, I now feel completely capable of moving beyond my anxiety and fear to just do things. The more I do things the more they seem to pay off, and it’s liberating to get to finally see what’s on the other side of fear.

My other goals for this year all revolve around the simple idea that I want to build my life into something that makes me feel whole and fulfilled. I want to feel I’m not wasting my days. So I will continue to run and lift weights. I will make friends. I will dive back into this blog and into my creative writing.

I can honestly say I didn't let myself down this year. 2023 was full of challenges unlike any I've faced before, but it was also so incredibly rewarding. Rather than go through monthly highlights, I'm going to reflect on the year's big events, because there were many.