It has been exactly a month since my last post. So I thought I’d tip toe back into the light slowly and let my eyes adjust a little since I feel like I’ve been living under a rock. Maybe not so much under rock as maybe in a bubble? Either way I’ve burrowed into my own little world of busy and I’m ready to stretch my legs and get moving again.
February was a stressful month. I have been living up to my word of the year and have been making impact in many parts of my life. For one, I have been shifting all over in my professional life and really trying to blossom there. It’s never easy, I don’t think for anyone, but it feels good to make things happen even when the stress is high. I have also been wedding planning. Once I got over the shock of where my dollars were falling, I waved away the fog and got to work. I’ve got a ceremony space and a reception site. I have been on the move.
I think my biggest change is really committing to setting time aside for myself and doing the things that relax me. At the beginning of year I said I wanted to read 24 books this year. That is 2 books a month. And to my surprise, I have been keeping up. So what have I been reading? Just thought I’d take a second to share….
At the kick off of January, I dived right into my white elephant gift and started on the Hunger Games series. In January I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I knocked both books out super quick. If you have seen the movies and think going back and reading the books would be a waste, don’t. Don’t think that. I loved the books and totally made connections between the silver screen and white pages. It is a young adult series, but I still found myself as riveted as I was by the film. Huge fan.
In February, I took a brief break from the Hunger Games and read Lean In by Cheryl Sandburg. Reading this sort of informational memoir on women in the work place and stepping up to leadership roles really impacted my view of my career. I found myself leaning forward in my chair as I read, sometimes even nodding my head as I agreed with her insight. There are a few chapters in the middle I kind of breezed over about maternity leave and having kids and a career. As a kid-free career woman with no desire to have kids, I felt these chapters didn’t pertain to me as much. So I did more a skim n’ scan here. But overall, it was a powerful read and I highly recommend it.
From there I jumped back into the Hunger Games on vacation. I laid by the pool and finished the third book of the series in a few short days. The 3rd book, Mockingjay, was my least favorite. Still pumped for the film, but I struggled through the last quarter of the book.
This was a great segue into March where I picked up Divergent. I said I wanted to read the book before the movie came out and I certainly cut it close to the wire. The movie premiers on March 21st and I had the book wrapped up in a couple of days. Talk about a page turner. I am not sure what the fascination is with dystopian writing, but I was enthralled. I don’t care if it is a young adult genre, I could not put the book down. I got the next two books in the trilogy in the mail yesterday and I hope to have them read by the end of March, putting me ahead of schedule.
I’m on track to reaching my goal of 24 books this year so I will try not to be so absent. If you have an book suggestions, send them my way! I have an entire year of books to fill!