It’s time for another BlogHer Book Club book! This time, it’s Gayle Forman’s Where She Went, the sequel to her very popular If I Stay.  A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend sick on the couch, and read both books back to back, so I’m having a really hard time thinking of them as two separate books, but more like two pieces of a complete story.

The first book was really Mia’s story, and Where She Went tells Adam’s story, as we follow him through one night in New York City while learning, through flashbacks, of how his life has changed dramatically since we first met him. Adam and his band are a hit, about to embark on a European tour, and he has everything a musician could want. Or maybe that’s just what it looks like from the outside.

I really appreciated Forman’s use of music and songs throughout both books, and especially Where She Went. Music is vital to both Adam and Mia, and while their styles couldn’t be more different (punk band vs. classical cello) it gives them both a drive and motivation and sense of being that is compelling. I especially enjoyed Adam’s song lyrics and playlists listed in the back of the book.

I could recommend Where She Went on its own merit, but I really think most folks would appreciate reading If I Stay first to set up the story and characters. They’re both quick but heart-wrenching reads with vivid characters. Seriously, I wanted Mia’s mom to be my best friend. She was awesome.

If you want to read more about Where She Went, check out the BlogHer Book Club site for more discussions about this book and others.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

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This photo was not taken today, but it seemed fitting.

Today was definitely harder than Monday, if only because  I knew how much it was going to hurt, and how uncomfortable I wouldbe. But still – I didit. I even passed someone on one of my “jogging” intervals which amazed me.

For those who don’t know, Couch to 5k is a program to get you off the couch and slowly train you to run 5k (a pretty standard race distance). For week one, I’m supposed to jog/run for 60 seconds, then walk briskly for 90 seconds, repeating this for 20 minutes (plus warm up and cool down). I’m using an app on my phone called RunDouble to keep track of the intervals – a weird sounding computer woman tells me to run and walk at the correct times, so I don’t have to keep staring at my watch.

I won’t lie. Sixty seconds of jogging? Feels like an eternity. The only thing that saved me a couple of times today was a good song in my earphones (“Xanadu” – no, I’m not kidding) and kind of looking ahead on the track to give myself a distance goal. Like, “Hey, I bet I’ll finish this interval at that bench. No, wait, that street light.” Then I’d get a little jolt of satisfaction when I reached that spot and the woman tells me I can start walking again.

I know I’m going to have to do week one for a few weeks to build up my endurance. I seriously cannot even comprehend jogging more than a minute at a time, or even going faster than the snail’s pace I’m keeping now. But at least I’m doing it, right? Right! Onward!

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About a month ago, I thought I’d finally made the decision to get in shape. I knew then that I needed to start exercising, start eating better, to start treating myself better. But you know how it goes. One day, you think you’ll start, but then you just don’t. Starting is hard, y’all. Starting is harder than anything. Typically I do not like to do hard things. Easy is just so much easier.

Then today, I went to my GYN for my annual exam. (Don’t balk, I’m not going there.) Due to unemployment and what not, it had been awhile since I’d seen her. In fact, it had been about three years. In that time, I’d gained 15 pounds. My blood pressure was elevated, but not dangerous (the “yet” went unspoken). “Is your regular doctor screening you for diabetes?” she asked. She pointed out some other conditions I have related to my weight gain that I had been able to ignore. Until today.

I used to pride myself on my low blood pressure (“I faint if I stand up too quickly!”). I always felt younger than my years, at least in my head. But something has happened in the past 5 years or so. I’ve never had an easy time keeping my weight down, but I just let myself go. I’ve gained over 50 pounds in that short amount of time. I get winded walking up one flight of stairs. I don’t think twice about adding salt to my plate, or eating an extra scoop of ice cream even if I’m already full. And while there’s nothing wrong with being heavy if you’re healthy, I’ll just say it – I’m not healthy.

Today, it finally twigged. I finally realized that I needed to take control. I called Mr. Martini and asked him to throw away all the sweets that had accumulated in the house recently. He happily complied, and was astonished to learn I’d been hoarding some candy and chocolate in the pantry.

Proud of this first step, I figured that was enough for one day. As I was heading out the door from work, I thought “And then tomorrow night, I’ll go out and take a walk.”

Then I caught myself. Why wait until tomorrow? What was wrong with tonight? What was wrong with right now?

Couch to 5K Day One – Complete. 1.18 miles, 15:43 pace

That hurt. A lot. But not so much that I’m not going to do it again on Wednesday.

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Stay tuned!

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A few weeks ago, though, one of those apps finally became available for Android: Instagram! It’s a camera app that applies fun filters and has a small social media aspect to it as well. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it, and it’s easier to edit and upload a photo with my phone than with my big camera.

In lieu of a real post, I’m going to post a few of my favorite Instagram photos from the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Teeny tiny strawberry!

Zelda! We had to put some medicine in her eye to help with an infection, and it turned the hair around her eye white. How weird is that?

A stormy afternoon in our neighborhood.

Oh, Ruby. Sometimes I don’t understand you. You are one weird cat.

Proof I’ve done some crafts recently! I started over on my Frosted Pumpkin stitch a long. This was a wise decision on my part. More about that in another post.

Happy Monday!

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What finally got me out of that rut was a very pretty tote bag pattern, and some very pretty (and familiar) fabric.

This is the 241 Tote Bag pattern from Noodlehead. I had purchased this pattern a long, long time ago and set it aside until I felt I was ready to make it. This weekend, the timing was right. Saturday I pressed the fabric and cut out all the pattern pieces, and Sunday I sewed it up. I absolutely, positively love it.

I worried that this pattern would be beyond my capabilities, because it required a few skills I hadn’t used before or wasn’t confident about, including:

• Sewing darts
• Sewing curves
• Clipping into curves; and
• Using pattern pieces

Now that I’ve done them, they weren’t hard at all. I just had to remind myself to go slow and take my time, and it all worked out in the end. It also helped that the pattern was very well written with plenty of photographs, so I could follow along step by step.

If the fabrics look familiar, they’re the same ones I used on my Poochie Bag a few weeks ago (Daydream by Cyndi Walker and Full Moon Polka Dots by Amy Butler). I only  had the three fat quarters, but knew I wanted to make a larger bag with the same materials. I scoured Etsy until I found sellers who had a half yard of each. I was planning to make a larger sized Poochie Bag, but I’m glad I waited to make this tote. I love my new spring bag!

How about you? Do you ever get in crafting ruts? How do you get out of them?

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I had never read Roth’s other books, so I admit I was expecting this to a very different read for me. I don’t read many self-help books – not that there’s anything wrong with them, they’re just not my go-to book choice. Possibly because of this, it took me some time to adapt to Roth’s writing style.

Her main goal in the book is point out that most people do not talk about money, prefer not to discuss it or in many cases even think about it, and that distance is damaging. I admit I was disappointed to read so much about becoming aware of our issues, without much actual discussion about how to overcome them. I can read this and say, “Yes, I understand that my personal issues with money can be traced to XYZ,” but without concrete steps to move past these issues, I’m not sure what to do next with this information except to say, “Now what?”

All that said, I ultimately enjoyed Roth’s writing style, which is conversational and self-deprecating. She is absolutely willing to be honest about her feelings and failings, and this honesty is refreshing. If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to get over your money problems, this probably isn’t the book for you. But if you want to consider the emotions and experiences that led to your problems, this book might be what you’re looking for.

If you want to read more about Lost and Found, check out the BlogHer Book Club site for more discussions about this book and others.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

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The day started off with a green smoothie, which I haven’t had for a while. Mangoes, pineapple, banana and spinach. Yum!

Yes, this is an old photo from an earlier post. But the ingredients were the same. 

Then for lunch, I made this smashed avocado and chickpea salad.

The recipe for the salad is so simple: a can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained). I also pulled off the outer husks, which probably wasn’t necessary. Then in a bowl, smash the chickpeas with one ripe avocado. Add some chopped spring onions (to taste, I didn’t use that much), some lime juice, then salt and pepper. Mix it up, and spread it on bread. For my sandwich, I used homemade bread topped with spinach (leftover from the smoothie!) and a slice of mild Munster cheese. Easy peasy.

Can I say once again how much I love our bread machine? For real, homemade bread is just the best, especially when it is so easy to bake. Love, love, love.

Then for dinner, we had homemade pizza. All it took was a bag of premade dough from Trader Joe’s, plus some yummy toppings like goat cheese and prosciutto, baked to perfection on our new pizza stone. It was so easy that we won’t order pizza again any time soon.

I have no photographic evidence of this pizza, because we ate it too quickly. Heh.

All in all, it was a good food day. It was also a good reading day (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), a good walk in the park day, and a good snuggle on the couch with the cats and watch a movie day (The Descendants). I’m hoping that I have another one of these days next weekend.

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I kid.

Project Not Exactly Right the First: Upsized Poochie Bag

I loved the Poochie Bag I made a couple of weeks ago so much, I decided to try to upscale it to a tote size. I turned out OK, but not exactly right:

The problems:

• Strange sizing – too tall, and too narrow. It’s hard to open it up fully to root around in the bottom effectively.
• The straps are too narrow, and I didn’t place the center line correctly.
• The pocket stitching is wonky – it’s two inches from the bottom (it’s hard to tell in this picture. Trust me, it’s wonky)
• I added a magnetic snap, but didn’t add interfacing behind it, so it’s going to pull through the fabric in no time.

Luckily, these are all easy fixes. I can get it right on the next one. And there will be a next one, because I still need a tote bag.

Project Not Exactly Right the Second: Gathered Clutch Bag

I like carrying around a small wristlet or clutch when I’m running errands, because it’s lighter and easier to carry than a big purse. I figured I’d make a pretty one for summer, since my current one is black and winter-ish.

This is actually attempt #2 at Noodlehead’s awesome Gathered Clutch tutorial. Attempt #1 had me so frustrated – I am still Bad At Zippers, and I somehow managed to make the interior lining larger than the outside of the clutch. Please note that this is purely my fault, and not that of the extremely well-written pattern.

There are still problems with Attempt #2, however, including:

• Not enough fabric left over to actually make the gather
• I didn’t add pockets inside, which I desperately need
• I must get Better At Zippers

Again, these are problems that are easily fixed. I figure the third time is the charm, right?

How about you? Worked on any projects lately that just didn’t turn out exactly right? Did you try again, or just move on?

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Totally cute, right? But I just couldn’t let it go. It really bugged me that Amy Farrah-Fowler (played by the amazing Mayim Bialik) was not included. Granted, her character didn’t arrive until the fourth season, but she’s my absolute favorite person on the show. She’s funny, smart, socially awkward and just the sweetest, best foil for Sheldon. And Penny, too, really. I really wanted to include her in this project.

I pulled out my colored pencils (thanks again, Brooke!) and went to work. After a few rough sketches, I moved on to some computer sketches until I had the design I liked.

A couple of days later, and the project was finally (officially) completed. And I couldn’t be happier.

I based the sketch very, very loosely on the photo from this page. I tried to keep in mind how she always wears long skirts and dark tights as well. But I think my favorite detail that I added was the wee barrette in her hair:

Needless to say, I have to give credit to the amazing folks at Wee Little Stitches for designing a fabulous pattern. I admit that I basically copied their Penny design and changed a few details. But I had to do it!

I can officially call this project complete now. Officially. That’s it. No more. Sorry, Bernadette.

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