Although this year I did a lot more studying than reading for fun, and have not been posting as much as I normally do, I could not resist the yearly recap post phase, which is always so fun. These recaps are often where I get ideas for my next year's travel, books and races!

So here they are, in no particular order, my top seven reads from 2014. You can find past lists here: 2013, 2012, and 2011.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking -- This one took me a bit to get through, but it was because it's chock full of information and it was a lot to take in. However, I really related to a lot of the things that she talks about. For instance, introverts are not necessarily shy; they just need alone time to recharge and prefer less stimulus than extroverts.

Mr. Penumbria's 24 Hour Bookstore -- This was a fun and fast read about a quirky old man who owns a bookstore in San Francisco that turns out to be more than just a bookstore. I liked the story and it had a few twists, plus it was set in the city, so that gave it an added plus.

Eleanor and Park --A story about an unlikely pair of friends in high school, this story was one of those ones you just can't put down because it is so fun!

Unbroken -- You probably know all about this because of the movie, but it's a story about an Olympic runner turned WWII airman who gets stranded in the ocean for many weeks and captured by the Japanese. He goes through hell and lives to tell the tale. It's a very interesting book.

Orphan Train -- I didn't realize this part of our nation's history, but large trains full of orphans were sent to the Midwest from the East Coast and were "adopted" and made to work on the farms there. This was an eye opening and interesting read about one of the orphan girls.

MWF seeking BFF -- A thirty something who has just moved to a new city sets out to make a new best friend. She quickly realizes how hard it is to make friends when you are a married thirty something. She tries really hard though, pulling people from all walks of life, and ends up with a few good friends in the end.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry --  Recommended by Lisa, this story did not disappoint. This is the story of a book seller on a tiny island in MA who ends up adopting a stowaway baby. He is a likeable character and he goes through some of the same worries and thoughts and tribulations as we all have gone through. It was one of those books I could not put down.

So there you have it! This year's list is a lot smaller than the past years, but there are always a few good ones. This year more than others, I put a lot of books down unread. I probably started but did not finish at least a dozen books. I have decided that it's not worth my time to read a book I am not getting into.

How about you: What was your favorite book this year? Did you put any down without finishing them?

At the beginning of this year, I did a huge purge of all things old and moldy and holey. 2015 will be no different. Gone are the days of too big pants, too tight underwear, and year old stewed tomatoes. Actually, I try to be pretty good about either using things or throwing them away, but I do have a bit of hoarder in my genes, and so some things are harder than others to get rid of. However, my neat freak usually wins out and my spreadsheets come out and then there is no stopping me. So here it is, the list.

2015 New Year List:

Throw away: any socks with holes, underwear with holes, mismatched socks (this one is difficult for some reason!) too small pants (this year I have a few thanks to my new office job with no lunch break, which is when I would get a nice walk in), magazines not yet read, newspapers not yet read (don't get scared; there aren't that many of these), expired food items, old paper files, towels with holes, too short sweaters and DVDs I will never watch.

Do this soon: Read any books on shelf that have not been read yet, then give them to Goodwill.  Cook any nearly expired food items.Watch any DVDs, then give them to Goodwill. Write thank you notes. Update Christmas card list.

Organize/back up: photos, contacts, computer files, paper files, drawers, closets, shelves.

Dust/Sweep/Clean: top shelves, fans, under and behind all furniture. Toilet, tub and windowsills. The top of the refrigerator/dryer, the back/front porch and the garage.

Take to Goodwill: All clothing/books/DVDs (see above re too short sweaters and previously read books).

Prepare next year's planner, including running calendar, vacation calendar, goals and expenses/budget. Recap last year's goals, expenses and budget.

Certain things are easy, for example throwing away holey socks. It only takes one (painful) day of walking around with a sock with a hole to realize that it is not worth keeping. Another easy (and fun) thing for me is the rehash of last year's goals, expenses and budget and the preparation of this year's. Lastly, usually there is not very much old food, as we are pretty good at eating things before they go bad. The exception would be things like Halloween candy, which does not get eaten, and therefore sits around for quite some time.

Not as easy to do is the deep clean (it's not that fun), the reading or tossing of old books and magazines (I feel that I "might" read them "soon"), and the getting rid of too tight pants. I mean, what if I lose weight in a couple of months? I wouldn't want to have to go out and buy new pants! That would be a waste. How many pairs of pants does one person really need though? I'm thinking 17. Just kidding. Sort of. Well, at least one in every color and every size, just in case, right? You get my point. They are hard to throw away.

The bottom line is that cleaning out my closet or dusting the top of the fridge makes me feel like I am starting out the year fresh and new. It also makes my brain feel less cluttered, which is the most valuable part of it all.  So let's bring in the new year with a de-cluttered house and mind, shall we?

Do you do a yearly deep clean or purge? What is your least favorite chore? Be honest: how many pairs of pants do you own (and of the total, how many actually fit)?

There is a guy in my office who sometimes makes this noise when he is overwhelmed, and it sounds like, "woof!" I think he is really saying, "oof" or basically, "phew". However, the first time I heard it, I thought he said WOOF, and so it has kind of stuck. Any time things are getting out of control or we are feeling a little crazy, we call out, "Woof!"

So....Woof!

The last couple of weeks have been crazy. In addition to getting all my Christmas cards sent out, I met up with my brother to be a sweeper (tail end safety runner) for the Northface 50 mile race, and went to two holiday parties and met up for a holiday weekend with my family. This is on top of the normal every day stuff, such as grocery shopping and working out. We also got a new client at work and the past couple of weeks have been a flurry of activity getting him set up.

Don't get me wrong, it has been fun, but I can see why some people get stressed out during the holidays, especially if you are the kind of person of which social interaction is overwhelming. Personally, I bring it all on myself, so I am not complaining! However, it will be nice to roll into January and hopefully read a few more books and spend a bit more time relaxing.

A couple of things on the agenda this week are:

- A visit with a friend from high school. She is coming to stay and we will do a lot of walking and eating and gabbing.

- The annual cookie making party with my friend and her daughters. Her daughter is 4 and last year she helped decorate all of the sugar cookies with heaps and heaps of sprinkles! It's become a fun tradition and everyone at work benefits from it as well!

- A Sunday morning run in the hills. As always, no week is complete without some time outside. I am lucky to live in a place where we can run outside year round and I am taking advantage of it! I love where I live...

How is your holiday going? What do you have planned for this week?

Get the advent calendars out! It's almost Christmas! This year, I have to work the day after Christmas and so we are going to have our family time a couple of weeks beforehand, so it's coming up quick! So let's recap November before December gets underway. November was a good month, albeit a busy one!

Running: November was a whacky running month. The first weekend, I paced a friend for a 100 mile race in Arizona, which was about 40 miles for me (overnight, in the dark, in the desert). The weekend after that, I paced a different friend for a 100 mile race, which was another 22 miles. Besides that, the rest of the runs were pretty minor. However, due to these two, monthly mileage came in at 186 miles.

Reading: Due to the fact that I spent a lot of time with other people and not a lot of time at home, I had one of my worst reading months this month! I read ONE book, Quiet, which I really enjoyed. However, it is not one of those "quick page turner" kind of books. It has a lot of interesting information and I took a few notes, but it was more like reading for knowledge than for pleasure. If you like the book, or if you want to hear a little about it, OR if you need a new podcast to listen to, check out this episode of the TED Radio hour.

Traveling: For pacing, I went to Phoenix and then to Auburn/Folsom. Both were dry and dusty and I did not see much due to the fact that I was mostly there in the dark. In addition, I went up to my parents for the weekend and then to my brother's for Thanksgiving. It was great to see my parents and to be "home" for a while, since I will not be heading up there for Christmas. November starts the busy weekend (and driving) time for me, so I often rent a car for the months of November/December. It ends up costing less money (and considerably less time) in the long run. I still think that my decision not to have a car otherwise is a good one.

Rainy run at Mom and Dads

Misc: Other than that, I went to all-you-can-eat Korean with the lads at work, had a great time at a Trail Running Film Festival, met up with a friend twice for Indian food and much needed girl talk, and drank a lot of yummy beer including this Sculpin IPA.

How was your November? Are you ready for the craziness of December? What is your favorite beer?

I am having a hard time forming more than a list these days... but there are a few things we would talk about if we were having coffee today. First I would ask you:  

How is your week going? What's the weather like where you are? What big things are going on in your life lately?

I am not really one for small talk, but I may start the conversation off by saying that it's finally raining here! We have been needing it so badly. Of course, this is literally just a drop in the bucket, but I will take it. The other good thing is that this hopefully means that it is snowing in the Sierras and I can soon do some skiing and other winter sports.

Next I would delve more into my week by saying how I sometimes really love working with all men (not as many emotions running wild, no line in the ladies room EVER) but sometimes men can be as bad or worse than women when it comes to being catty and/or talking about each other behind the other person's back! They sometimes whine so much I want to just smack them. That and one of them keeps stealing my supplies.... As much as they are a pain, I do like the group I work with. In fact, last night we all went to all-you-can -eat Korean BBQ and I  gorged myself on spicy pork and little side dishes!

I need a quick and effective fitness routine that I can do at home. Do you have any suggestions? My criteria is that I want it to be less than half an hour and I do not want to have to pay for it. This month, and even more so in December, is filling up with week day activities and I need something quick I can do in the gaps of the day.

I have not done any Christmas shopping, and I am behind on starting my Christmas cards. This year I am having trouble getting motivated to do projects. This also bleeds into my running life. I just can't muster up the energy to go running on the week days lately! With the holidays around the corner, this is not going to get any easier. I need to make a list/schedule and start checking it off.

I would love to do this multi day snowshoeing trip in Yosemite. Seeing the valley in the snow would be absolutely priceless! I have added it to my list of things I want to do, which is getting longer and longer each day!

source

Okay, your turn: Where do you want to travel to this winter?  Have you started your shopping yet? tell me what fitness routine you are doing for the winter!

Happy Friday!

When I saw Amber's post about some of the things she was doing lately instead of blogging, I thought I would play along and do the same, especially since I have been a especially bad blogger this year! Sometimes life just gets in the way, I guess. Here are a few things that have been keeping me away from being a dedicated blogger.

Working - This is probably one of the biggest time takers in my life. We are always pretty busy, and to top it off, we stay late and then I often end up doing research for a little while at home as well. Top this off with commuting and you have a good portion of the week that is taken up by work related activities. In addition, my boss recently asked me to take on more responsibility in my position and I accepted, so the workload will only get heavier, not lighter.

Baseball - This is over now, but if I look back on the last month, baseball took up a good chunk of time. I watched a few games at a bar near my work, went to my brother's house for another and watched a few at home. Now that it's over, I am not really a big football, basketball or hockey fan, so unless it's for a social outing, I will not be watching a lot of sports for several more months.

Walking - I have been trying to finally get together with friends for those walks we always talked about doing. It's a great way to get some exercise AND catch up with a friend at the same time. Sometimes we even go for a snack afterwards, so it's a mini girl's (or boys and girls) night out, fitness style.

Reading - I feel like I have not finished that many books lately, but I have started a lot. I decided that if I got half way through a book and I was not really feeling it, I would put it down. This has been happening to me a lot lately! I think in October I put down 2 books and in September, maybe 2 or 3. It feels a bit like a cop out or a waste of time, but again, is better than reading the whole book and not liking it! However, it makes it so my reading tally per month is not as high as it could be.

Cooking/Eating - I have been making a lot of easy "to go" dishes, like egg fritata or baked oatmeal or soup, that I can make a big dish/batch of and can take with me to work and eat on the go. Since I am saving time eating these dishes, I am making it up by eating a lot of after dinner snacks. I need to get a handle on this, as the holidays are fast approaching, but I do love a nice handful of mixed nuts (or two) after dinner. I blame my parents for this, as they would sometimes have trail mix for dinner if nobody else was around.

Running - I have not been doing a lot of week day running, maybe 15 miles or so, but during the weekends, I have been crewing and pacing for friends who are running ultra races. This entails going to the place, in my case Phoenix one weekend and Sacramento the next, and running overnight for about 8 - 12 hours with my running friend. This brings me to my next thing on the list...

Travel - For the past several weekends, I have not been home much. This has either been due to the above pacing duties, which took me away for two weekends, or for other fun outings, like when I drove to Auburn to meet my parents for a hike, or before that, I went to Santa Rosa to hang with the broski. This coming weekend, I have plans to do a run with some friends north of San Francisco, brunch with Grandma and a then hike with the broski in the wine country the next day. Once again, running, eating, travel....

Socializing - I don't consider myself very social, but lately I have even been doing things on weekdays after work, which is crazy, as I am generally a week day hermit. I met a long time friend for a much needed catch up session (with a run! It was a perfect combo). I have an after work all you can eat Korean BBQ planned with the lads at work and a Hunger Games premier event with some colleagues next week.  This too, will only get heavier as the holidays near. I already have three Christmas parties to go to, not including our family one, or the weekend before Christmas when one of my oldest friends will be visiting. Things are ramping up and the calendar is getting full.

Holiday stuff / Crafting - Nope, I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, but I have started working on my Christmas cards! The other thing that will be done soon is the grand Christmas cookie baking and decorating extravaganza!

Organizing - This has been on my To Do list for ages, but I have been whittling away at it slowly. I am trying to organize my computer, make sure all my photos are backed up, clear some space off my computer, back up my phone etc. Also, I have been trying each month to get rid of a bag of clothes and to NOT buy any more. In addition, it's almost time to do a deep clean and dust and purge, but I will probably wait until after Christmas for that. One of the funny things with having a roommate, is that every time I throw something away, she buys something new! It's a constant game of organizing and reassessing!

Gardening - Winter is almost here and the garden is an overgrown mess. I have been getting rid of the old weeds and veggie masses and prepping the beds for next year's crop. We will not plant for about 5 more months, but it still feels good to clear out the garden and get it looking tidy for next year. 

Oh! A couple of "things I WISH were on this list" are: getting a haircut, getting a massage, writing in my journal, hiking in Tahoe (or skiing, I am not picky), going up to my parent's house, doing more strength training and/or yoga, reading more, knitting more, taking more photos... and many more.

What are YOU doing instead of blogging?

November is well under way, and like many have said before, October was a full and busy month, which of course made it go by quickly!

Reading: October was not a great reading month; I finished two books, which I liked, and started two books, which I could not get into and did not end up finishing. The two books I read were Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, which was a fun book about the juxtaposition between computers and books, and And The Mountains Echoed, which was good but not as good as A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Running: I am having issues with my Garmin; first the strap fell off and now I am having trouble uploading it to Garmin Connect, but I think my mileage was around 170 miles for the month of October. I had one 50 mile race, but other than that, I think I did not have a run longer than about 15 miles. It feels nice to take it easy a bit, but I do feel my waistband getting a bit tighter! This is what happens when you are still eating as if you are running long runs every weekend (aka candy and snacks right before bedtime!) but you are not running as much.

Near Sonora Pass

Travel: I met up with my Mom twice (along with Dad, brother and his lady once) in Auburn, where we took a nice hike and swim on the Western States Trail and then had brunch in the town. For those who don't know, the Western States is a 100  mile race from Squaw Valley (Tahoe) to Auburn, and it was fun to take my family on the trail and show them a few miles of it. We also swam in the American river twice, the last time being on the 19th of October. It was not very warm, but it sure was fun to be able to swim in October! Auburn is a cute little mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and we found a great breakfast (brunch) place where we ate 4 egg (I know!) omelets with pancakes and biscuits and gravy.

Schat's Bakery

I also went to Santa Rosa and hung out with Broski and the lady a couple of times. First was the day after my 50 mile race, and Broski punished me by making me hike straight up a hill in 90 degree weather. The other time was during the World Series when I went to their house to have dinner and watch the game. They came down to the city for game 6 (the one that we lost) as well. Broski has been doing harvest (he is a wine maker) and so has been working 24/7, so it was nice to see him and his lady a few times!

Lastly, my Dad, brother and I made a trip to Mt. Whitney, where we had a great time hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which we consider our "backyard". We had a great time in Lone Pine afterward, wandering around and watching the World Series in a town where most of the locals are Braves fans. We also stopped in Bishop at the Schats Bakery for some sheepherder bread and pastries on our way out, as well as stopping near the Sonora Pass for a quick run/hike to stretch our legs after being in the car for a while.

In addition to all of that, there were many week night activities in October, which made it feel as if I didn't get much of a break. I am currently reading the book Quiet, and in it, it talks about how introverts need to be alone to recharge. I definitely do! Hopefully November will have a few more days for "recharging"!

How was your October? What is your favorite thing about Autumn? Have you read any good books lately?