Wooing Cadie Mc Caffrey

Wooing Cadie McCaffrey by Bethany Turner

I am so glad Revell Publishing sent me this book to review.  I really enjoyed it. 4 star read. 

If you are looking for a realistic fiction romance this one is for you. Will meets Cadie. Cadie and Will fall in love and then real life sets in. Four years into their relationship and some feelings are coming out and love may not win out. It has the cute romantic pieces I enjoy with some reality/conflict thrown in the mix. Bonus it takes place mainly in NYC. Love that city and love reading stories that take place there. I thought this was a fast read and appreciated how the author made the story move forward with time periods as the name of her chapters. This story, if anything, is a great reminder of how important communication is in relationships. I think this would make for a lovely summer read.

Daisy Jones and The Six

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book is so good and has really stayed with me days after I finished it, so I had to post something before the May re-cap. 

I first heard of Taylor Jenkins Reid last year when the Bookies read her Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It was great bookclub read. Lots of interesting characters, story line and great book discussion. So when I heard she had a new book out I was excited. 

The cover alone is fascinating. One of the Bookies let me borrow it and I had some other books that needed to be reviewed prior to this one so it sat on my nightstand too long. Finally opened it up a few weeks ago. I was hooked almost immediately by her writing style. It reads like a long Rolling Stone band interview. The style of writing, I believe, adds to the ease/quick flow of the story. 

The character development is spot on. The way in which she interweaves multiple story lines is so clean. I feel like I was standing in the recording studio with this band, just along for the ride. The story and the band and the songs the band produced were so real to me I googled names of songs, and the band  because I thought the book maybe was historical fiction.  

Although the two main characters, Billy and Daisy, take the lead I highly enjoyed the other band members and staff story lines. I don’t want to say a whole lot more as I think reading this book with a non-biased eye made it the most authentic reading experience.  Following finishing the book I did discuss with the Bookie what I thought. She gave me some back story that really gave me a new perspective of Daisy Jones and The Six. However, I’m so glad I didn’t know this info prior to reading. I wouldn’t have appreciated the story as much. 

So this book is great, 4 stars, and I will continue to seek out Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books in the future. 

The Next Right Thing

The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman

Thank you to Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, for sending me this book to review.

I first heard of Emily Freeman on Jen Hatmaker's podcast For the Love.  When this book was offered as a review book I knew I needed to jump on it.  The premise of the book is dealing with decision fatigue, and just doing "the next right thing".  I found it interesting that some famous people, whom I really respect and love, have used a version of this quote.  Mother Teresa, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, and Anne Lamott.  pg 13 "It's become a common catchphrase for coaches and athletes, in boardrooms and corporate motivational speeches.  So what is the advice? Do the next right thing."

I found this book just OK. I really thought her set up of the chapter was great. She gives content and then has a prayer and practice activity that coincides with the chapter's message.  She writes beautiful prayers and those really spoke to me.  I'm not good with praying so I felt her words could be used as my own prayer practice.  Where I became a little "meh" about the content was there was at times too much "filler" for me and I just wanted to get to the "what to do" about x, y and z in regards to decision making.  I also at times felt uncomfortable with her answer being "God's in control", "God's got a plan", and "God knows what will happen."(my own paraphrasing).  I think this is my own deal though and not on Emily Freeman to "fix" or "sell me on".  Work in progress regarding my faith journey.

I did take several things from this book and surprisingly think I will read it again sometime.  I'm also planning on sharing it with a family member who is struggling with decision fatigue and I think it would give them some ideas on how to approach decision making in a more peaceful, helpful, healthy manner.  Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

pg 18 Prayer:

O God, I am open.

The decisions I'm facing have become too much.

Ease my fatigue with your presence and my hesitation with your peace.

Here is an issue that has me tied in knots, will you begin to untangle me?

What do you want me to know today?

O God, I am open.

pg 34 "to know a person's names is to know something of them."

pg 93 "Make the Most Important List"

"Is the life you're living the same life that wants to live in you? Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you."- Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

This chapter had you write a Life Energy List.  It is to replace the old school Pro/Con list.  You look back on your "season you just experienced" and ask yourself these two questions:

What was life draining?

What was life giving?

pg 99 "We can't always eliminate the life-draining things... We will always have things we have to do in our lives, no matter how we feel about them... But the truth remains: we always have things in our lives we say yes and no to based on knee-jerk reactions, expectations, or fears, and it's helpful to know what they are. 

pg 100 "The Life Energy list is simply one tool to help you pay attention to your actual life so that you can discern what your next right thing might be."

pg 208 "Dallas Willard says ' If a discipline is not producing freedom in me, it's probably the wrong thing for me to be doing."

A timely book as "life seasons" are changing and decision need to be made.  The reminder mantra "the next right thing" is one I think all of us could benefit when making those decisions.  

I DID IT!

This past Sunday I ran my first 1/2 marathon in over 4 1/2 years.  Due to my ACL injury in 2014 I've been slow coming back to the longer races.  I've done a couple of 5Ks here and there, but no major training.  Last November I decided I wanted to make a "run" at trying a 1/2 marathon Spring 2019. A last hurrah if I could pull it off.  I thought I was going to run a 1/2 marathon in my sister's home town (I wanted to run there because that was where I ran my best 1/2 a 1:58 1/2 marathon), but due to kid activities I needed to find another weekend race to do.  I'm lucky to live in a running community where there are plenty of races to pick from.  I decided on the Rondald Mc Donald Red Shoe 1/2 Marathon.  I had ran this race five years ago and clocked in at 2:06 for those 13.1 miles.  Five years ago the route was a little different, but I knew that the route now was going to be more challenging than the previous one.  Iowa City/Coralville has some hills and I think the race route people decided to "go big or go home"- as my son would say- when it came to the up/down path of this route. 

Early on into my training I knew this race was not going to be a race for a PR.  Almost 5 years since my ACL repair and I find myself deconditioned despite my history of marathons, 1/2 marathons, triathlons. I really thought coming back would be easier as I got some runs in.  I felt challenged with minimal mileage at times during this training schedule.  I followed Hal Higdon's beginner 1/2 marathon plan and instead of running 4 days a week only ran three.  This hopefully would help with less wear and tear on my "aged" body.  I struggled early on in training with going very fast.  Many of my early training runs were on the treadmill and I knew once I got outside my pace would slow further due to incline/terrain.  I let the time thing go and moved onto wanting to just be able to run the whole race. 

Few weeks ago I ran 10 miles and felt great- ran the whole way.  Then when it was time to do my 12 mile run my hamstrings seized up on a hill at the 10 mile mark and I had to walk.  Runners know that once you walk after running any long distance it is hard to start back running again. I ended up walking a mile, running a 1/2 mile and walking the last 1/2 of that 12 mile run.  It was defeating to my ego.  I felt good that I could run 10 miles, but was concerned that race day was going to be even more challenging due to the hills I'd have to run during the race. 

Race day came and the temp/weather was really perfect.  A little on the cool side with light sprinkles at the beginning of the race. I went to the back with the slow peeps.    Prior to the race my husband had reviewed the route with me, same route he ran the year before.  He started out up front with the fast peeps and I could see his maize shirt for about the first 1/2 mile and then he was gone. I started out feeling great and didn't have any issues with the first steep downward hill. When I reached the first upward hill I became confused.  The racers weren't going up it they were going to the right- a flat path.  Well you know we like to follow the pack so I went with the rest of the racers. I was concerned that we were going the wrong route. When I came upon mile marker 3 my Garmin said 2.5 miles and the girl who had been running next with me looked at her watch too and said- "we were supposed to go up that hill.  I ran this race last year and we ran up that hill through upper city park".  The mile marker confirmed we were missing a 1/2 mile.  I started thinking about how I had trained for a 1/2 marathon not 12.6 mile race.  So as I came upon mile marker 4 again my Garmin said 3.6 miles (off by 0.5 miles) I decided then and there that I wanted the full distance so I ran 0.25 miles out past the mile marker 4 and turned around and ran back 0.25 miles and this made up my missing 1/2 mile.  I'm sure the other runners thought I'd lost my mind- turning around and running against the flow of the race.  When I turned back around I quickly found that I was running more alone- the pack of runners I had been running with were ahead of me and the rest of the race I felt eerily isolated.  Like I was running my own race.  The last half of the race was the hardest- up and down hill work in a forested area followed by a pain in the butt slow incline along a winding road.  I finished the last mile starting at a nice flat path which then became an uphill battle of emotional and physical ability.   I saw my husband waiting to cheer me on, but I knew if I looked at him I'd stop running and start walking- the hill was really a test of will.  So I pushed on, sounding like I was having an asthma attack or panic attack- hyperventilatory breathing.  The hill finally evened out and I regained control of my breathing to have a successful kick at the end to finish the race up.

I came in at 2 hours 22 seconds- running a full 13.1 miles. A length of time I haven't seen since my beginning running years, but I didn't care.  I was so happy that I had run the whole way.  I was so content with finishing.  I thought I would break down at the finish and start crying due to emotions of the return to racing, but I think that last hill took so much out of me I could only concentrate on continuing to run so when I finished I didn't cry I didn't really feeling anything but relief- I had done it. 

Two days later and my quads going down stairs are still "yelling" at me and my hamstrings remain tight, but my knees don't hurt and I even got to the gym today for a work out.  I feel like it  has been a tad anti-climatic.  I had been worried/concerned about return to running due to potential worsening of my arthritis, already present with ACL injury 4 1/2 years ago.  Training flew by and the race day has come and gone.  Not sure what I have planned next.  Savoring this accomplishment and so grateful I did not incur any injury during training or race day.  I am a runner, no matter what time or distance.  Feels good to move forward and return to a part of who I am that makes me feel physically and emotionally whole.