Aiming for 40!

Happy hump day!  Can you see the weekend?  It’s just over there!

If you’ve been following along, you know that I set a goal of reading 30 books in 2015.  Back on November 24 I achieved my goal.  Wohoo!!  I’ve kept reading, and today I’m on book 37, Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari.

I really didn’t know anything about this book before I started reading it.  I know Ansari from the TV show Parks and Recreation, and some of his stand-up stuff.  I figured it would be a funny, fairly light read.  I’ve only just started, but have come to realize the book is actually based on some real research he did into modern day romance.   Here’s part of the blurb from Goodreads:

For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before.

In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.

The researcher in me (I’m a market researcher) is interested in that aspect of the book, but I’m also still hoping it’s an entertaining read.  I’ll let you know!

With a little over 2 weeks left in 2015, I’m now hoping I can hit 40 books read this year.  I’m not sure it will happen, since I am totally unprepared for Christmas and any free time I have should be spent shopping for gifts, but I’m going to give it my best shot!  Wish me luck.

What are you reading?

I Fell Off The Daily Blogging Bandwagon

Well, it didn’t take long for me to get back into my bad habit of irregular posting.  NaBloPoMo ended November 30 and so did my daily blogging.  It’s been 9 days since my last post 😦  I really thought I would be able to keep it up, but seems not.  It wasn’t for lack of time. I had lots of opportunity to write, I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it.  Hopefully I didn’t overdo it in November and use up all my posts!  LOL

The last 9 days have been pretty much on par with all the days before.  Here’s a quick update on what’s been going on:

I’ve been CrossFitting 4 times a week…and absolutely loving it.  I’m really liking the programming lately.  Well, “liking” might be the wrong word for it.  The workouts have been hard and challenging, and leaving me feeling exhausted, but accomplished at the end of class.  So awesome!

This month’s member challenge at the gym in to drink at least 2.5L of water a day.  I’m doing well and some days even drinking more than the required amount.  On days when I CrossFit I have no problem hitting the goal and usually go over.  On days that I don’t go to the gym, it’s a bit more challenging and I end up drinking a lot of water later in the day and evening and I’m feeling it at night when it wakes me up to pee!  I had finally started to sleep through the night again, and now all this water is impacting that.

I’ve still been reading.  I’m up to 35 books read this year.  I just finished Judy Blume’s “In The Unlikely Event” and I’m just starting “Me Earl and The Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews.  I don’t know much about it, and I can’t remember where I heard about it.  Apparently they are making a movie out of it.  Hopefully it’s good.

I’ve got a busy week ahead:  Orthodontist and hockey for senior kid tomorrow, Christmas musical performance for junior kid Wednesday, 4 CrossFit classes and parties Friday and Saturday night.  I tried to plan a menu for the week, but it was tough with so many nights out.  In the end we just bought a lot of sandwich meat and a variety of breads and it will be panini central around here this week.  I do have tacos and eggs in purgatory scheduled as real meals on two nights, but the others it’s self-serve paninis.

I’m hoping the week flies by quickly.  I just want it to be Friday so I can see my friends Paula and Ron and their kids Alanna and Gabe, who are here visiting for the holidays after moving to Australia last year.  We’ve texted, emailed, and talked on Skype over the last year, but seeing them live and in person will be amazing.  I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Here’s to a quick week!  Hopefully I manage a few posts this week.  Fingers crossed.

See you Friday, Paula!!!

 

What I’m Reading

I finished book #33 of 2015 yesterday – Amy Poehler’s Yes Please – and have to pick my next book.

I have heard We Need To Talk About Kevin is good, with a surprising twist. But I’ve also heard it’s a bit heavy, and although I have a copy of it on my iPad, I’m not sure that’s the kind of book I need right now. 

Instead I’m going to read something that, I hope, is a little lighter. 

  
My friend Toni recommended this book to me. I’ve enjoyed the books she’s recommended in the past, so hopefully I will like this one too. I’m a few pages in and so far, so good. 🙂  

What are you reading?

Do you have any recommendations for what I should read next? 
  

Good Eats

Welcome to December!  It’s hard to believe the year is almost over.  At some point towards the end of the month I will have to go back and evaluate how I did with my goals for the year – assuming I made some some!  I can’t really remember!

That will come. For now, I’m going to share an awesome new recipe that I tried tonight.

Curry Cauliflower Quinoa Stew, by Joy McCarthy of joyoushealth.com.  I’m not sure about copyright stuff, so I’m not posting the actual recipe here. Click on the link to be taken to the recipe on the Joyous Health site.  I’ve also added this to my Recipes You Have To Try Page.

This was an easy to prepare, absolutely delicious dish. I did add the extra cup of water that she suggests, but next time I will probably only add a half cup. It got a little soupy, but it still tasted great. The coconut milk was the perfect finishing touch.

This was delicious and had the added bonus of making a ton, so there is enough left for a quickie dinner one night later in the week 👍🏻.

Sorry it’s not the greatest picture. My kid tells me I need to work on my iPhone photo skills. Maybe that can be a goal for 2016!

Have you tried any new recipes lately?