First cross country!
Steven did his first solo cross country flight on Friday! Woo hoo!
He flew from Waukegan, IL to Janesville, WI and back (previously, he hadn’t left the airport pattern on his own). While he was flying, I remembered I could track him on flightaware.com, so I did!
We celebrated with pizza when he got home (gah, what an adrenaline inducing night for him – after his lesson, while getting gas, he saw a high speed police pursuit and the car they were chasing drove through the gas station he was at, hitting another car, then drove into someone’s yard and did donuts there until the police surrounded them) and I asked him a million questions about how it went.
Flying over Lake Geneva
Flying progress has been slow since he had his first solo in December because of the weather. It’s funny (not) – instructors told him that lessons aren’t canceled that much more in the winter months but he’s had so many canceled! Anyway, onward!
He needs to take the written exam and pass it, then he will be endorsed for his next (longer) cross country solo, then he has to get a few more hours during certain things and can take the oral and flying exams. Woo hoo! I cannot wait until I can go up with him as PIC (pilot in command)!
April Fools’
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend about holidays being a big deal at our house growing up, and that I loved how magical my mom made them. My friend asked which one I remember the most.
That was easy to answer. Hands down, April Fools’ when we were in grade school.
We were the age where mom still helped us get dressed/pick out our clothes, and when it was time to do that, instead of going to our closet/dresser/whatever, Mom had us follow her into the basement. I remember thinking, “oh, maybe my clothes are in the dryer?”
So we follow her down there, and she proceeds to open the chest freezer, and pull out clothes of ours that she had soaked in water, then frozen flat. And she told us that is what we were wearing.
I am still laughing about this, what… 35 years later?
I loved how extremely silly it was, and that she thought ahead to do that. Ha!
She obviously passed this fun-loving nature down to my snis – Mom text me some of the jokes my snis played on her kids today. (I’m not doing any jokes, but I did make one for the FakeMeats’s socials.)
I don’t have a pic of the frozen clothes but here is me and my snis with Mom in January!
Random Thoughts Thursday 446
- Here is the mani I got two weeks ago! I had this in a draft to post last week but didn’t feel like posting.
- Oh! And I had my hair dyed a little lighter last Friday. I like the color, but don’t love the application of it – the skinny stripes of it around my face and how it accentuates my roots. I know I’ll like it better when it grows out a bit.
- My last Stitch Fix was a bust. I asked for comfy long sleeved tops for our Europe trip and didn’t see any in my preview. So I asked for them again and didn’t receive any when the box came. I sent it all back without trying anything on (even the two things I was kind of interested in from my preview) and canceled future fixes.
- I want to pack as light as possible for our trip and wonder if I’ll be able to do it. I’m such an overpacker! I keep telling myself “all you ABSOLUTELY need is your meds, Kim!” All that being said, I’m thinking about bringing just a few things and wearing them several times. And doing laundry mid trip.
- I’m so glad March is almost over and we can be done with these motherfreaking 65 burpees a day in strength class.
- Marathon training is going well, but running and doing so much strength training is a lot, as I thought it would be. I’m looking forward to our trip and the training break. I was telling Steven this yesterday during our run and he asked if I was worried about a training setback because of the break. I told him I’m not. I think it will help to reset (even if it’s 4 weeks out from the marathon). I’m just running the marathon for fun anyway.
- I am also very much looking forward to being disconnected during our trip.
- Something that happened at work in June last year has been my main focus since then, and it’s finally getting close to a resolution and I feel cautiously optimistic about it all.
Reading Update (2024 #19-21)
[19] A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, part 4 after A Court of Frost and Starlight, Graphic Audio
Synopsis: (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!): It’s one year after the war and Nesta is in a terrible headspace from it – she drinks to oblivion every day and has a new partner every night. Feyre and Rhysand order her to leave the city and live in the House of Wind and train with Cassian and work in the library there.
Review: Gah, I loved this book so much once it got going and Nesta started training and taking care of herself a bit more. The bulk of the story is her forgiving herself (again, SPOILERS) for not saving her father during the war and for treating him and her family and everyone she knows like shit for all of her life. But there’s the love story between her and Cassian (holy cow, this book had so much sex, ha!), the threat from Queen Briallyn, the magical house she lives in (a character all its own!), the background story with Feyre and Rhysand, and my favorite plotline – the friendships she forms with Gwyn (a priestess) and Emerie (Illyrian shop owner). Gah, I guess I’m just a big sucker for a good friendship story. I think I’d actually listen to this again – the graphic audio was so good!
Recommend? Yes
[20] Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Fiction / Mystery & Detective, green light from Jamie on The Popcast, audio
Synopsis: Lucy’s best friend was murdered five years ago, and everyone thinks Lucy did it. But she can’t remember that night at all. She’s moved away from her hometown where it happened and started a new life, but when the podcast Listen for the Lie features her story, she ends up going back, and trying to figure out what really happened.
Review: This was excellent and so engaging on audio – I loved how the podcast segments had intro/outro music and a different voice for the podcast host. Mystery is usually not my jam, but I was totally into this, and trying to figure out what happened. Of course, I couldn’t, since Lucy didn’t remember anything, but it was a fun ride!
Recommend? Yes, on audio if you can!
[21] You, with a View by Jessica Joyce
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, read about on Stephany’s blog, Kindle
Synopsis: Noelle is grieving the loss of her grandmother, and finds a box of hers with a love letter to a man she did NOT marry and never mentioned to Noelle. Noelle makes a TikTok about it and the man is revealed to be the grandparent of her arch nemesis from high school, Theo. Noelle meets with them and the three of them decide to go on the honeymoon trip to national parks and landmarks that her grandmother planned and never went on.
Review: What an enjoyable romance! I love how creative some authors are with putting depth (dealing with grieving, relationships with your grandparents, work stress, believing in yourself, loss of identity, etc.) into their romances. We still get our happy ending with some substance along the way! Here for it. And enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, so big bonus. And gimme all the nature scenes and hiking! Woo hoo!
Recommend? Yes
Reading Update (2024 #16-18)
[16] For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino
Fiction / Women, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle
Synopsis: Lily is a bridesmaids in 5 weddings (two of which are her siblings’) that are all within weeks of each other. And she’s thirty-two and unmarried, so she’s constantly dealing with judgement from everyone (especially her mother) about that. To help relieve stress, she starts an anonymous Bridesmania blog to snark about it all. She also becomes close friends with a groomsman from her friend’s upcoming wedding… even though she’s sworn off groosman after sleeping with a different one at the engagement party.
Review: Gah, the brides, bridesmaids, and their families in this book are just insane. I could not believe the things they were putting Lily through! I totally understood why she was using her blog as an outlet to vent about them! This was a fun read, with a satisfying ending.
Recommend? Yes
[17] Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, Green Light from Knox on The Popcast, Kindle
Synopsis: Aliens invade earth and give everyone 30 days to get to Antarctica, then they have to figure out how to survive there.
Review: This book is not really about the aliens, it’s about what the people do to survive. It was kind of interesting and I was going to give it 4 out of 5 stars until the lame ending. It’s a 3.
Recommend? No
[18] Cover Story by Susan Rigetti
Fiction / City Life, read about on Stephany’s blog, Kindle
Synopsis: Lora Ricci is failing at NYU and hopes her summer internship at ELLE magazine will get her in the door and help her with her dream of becoming a writer. She meets heiress Cat Wolff, an ELLE contributing editor, and is immediately captivated by her, and beyond excited that Cat wants to work on a project together, with Lora as the ghostwriter… even though a few people have warned her not to trust Cat.
Review: I loved how fast-paced this was. The book is all journal entries, emails, purchases, and news articles, so I flew through it, and am glad Stephany recommended it in print rather than audiobook. The book kept me on my toes, and I rode through all the emotions Lora was as she worked with Cat. The ending was predictable, but still a lot of fun.
Recommend? Yes
Random Thoughts Thursday 445
- I have completely embraced having a quieter social media and blogging presence this year, and it feels good… but a bit odd. I’m a recovering oversharer (can I say I’m in recovery yet?) and while I appreciate the time back from not documenting and sharing so much… yeah, it just feels strange. Like I’m forgetting to do something (but happy I am not at the same time).
- Something I didn’t share last week – I did my long run on Saturday and felt so good! I rode with Steven to the office and ran home from there, adding in a loop at the preserve to get to 16 miles.
- Steven started running again a few weeks ago! Exciting! I want to run with him, but still get my marathon training miles in, so we’ve worked out a few scenarios that allow me to do that – it’s basically either me running to the preserve from the house and him joining me later to run, or us driving to the preserve and running together, then me running home while he drives home.
- Our Europe trip is starting to feel SO real and I’m getting SO excited! A lot of unwelcomed (is it ever welcomed?) anxiety was making it hard for me to get excited, but I’ve gotten close enough to the trip now that that’s going away and I am super pumped to see my friends, eat yummy foods, and see several new cities!
- I’m struggling to learn Dutch by memorization. I do well with an alphabet, formally learning how to conjugate verbs, and knowing the WHY behind things. You can’t just tell me some nouns are “de” nouns and some are “het” nouns and I just have to memorize it (de and het mean “the”). Ha. I’m trying though! Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands!
Random Thoughts Thursday 444
- I decided to go all pink (well, black shorts) for my May marathon and got these beauties to wear (Women’s Gel-Nimbus 25s)!
- I’m going to try to keep up my strength class frequency (typically 4-5 classes a week) while upping my mileage for training but we’ll see how realistic that is (likely not very).
- WWM (my gym) does a March Madness challenge that’s 65 burpees (without the pushup, so not really a burpee, but still) a day. EVERY CLASS. It’s horrible. HORRIBLE. They aren’t even 65 in a row, but I still don’t want to do them.
- Dune: Part Two was so good! We’re going to see it again in IMAX. Seeing part two in the theater makes me wish I could have seen part one in the theater. Maybe it’ll come back.
- I finally started learning Dutch on Duolingo for our trip in April. Not sure why I waited until March to start, but it’s been fun to learn a new language. Steven took German in high school so I asked him to refresh on that.
- Mani from last week!
Reading Update (2024 #13-15)
[13] A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, part 3 after A Court of Mist and Fury, Graphic Audio
Synopsis: (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!): Feyre is back in the Spring Court, working as a spy to collect information that will help the fae in their upcoming war with the king. It’s dangerous and risky, but Feyre is determined to do everything she can to protect her court, family, and the human realm.
Review: I switched to Graphic Audio (full cast, audio effects, and music) for this book since it was available immediately, and it was so good. After I got used to the extra noise I was super into it. I totally buy into their cheesy tagline “A Movie in Your Mind.” I do wonder if I would have enjoyed this book the same if I’d been reading it on Kindle – the audio added a lot and it may have felt slower on Kindle. All that to say, it was unputdownable. I just had to know what would happen! It is not earth-shattering writing (the author has some repetitive phrases) or super deep, but it’s a lot of fun.
Recommend? Yes
[14] In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros
Fiction / Romance / Military, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle
Synopsis: When Izzy and Nate first meet on a plane in 2011 they have an instant connection. Then their plane crashes into a river. Nate saves Izzy’s life, only to be whisked off to start his career in the army before Izzy can say goodbye, and Izzy goes back to school and eventually gets into politics. They have chance encounters over the years, but the timing is never right. Now it’s ten years later, and Nate is stationed with Special Forces in Afghanistan, and is charged with protecting Izzy’s life while she’s there on a special mission.
Review: I have not read a book I have been this in to and not wanted to put down in a LONG time. The chapters alternate timelines until the two stories meet, and nearly every chapter ended with something that made you aching to get back to that timeline. I loved Izzy and Nate and their chemistry, and was 100% invested in their story and them getting together. So so good, definitely a new favorite of mine. I finished this in just over a day! (I do have to say, I struggled to keep Nate’s fellow soldiers straight but that made sense why in the end. Also, a warning that reviewers on Goodreads really hate the exploitation of war in this book – I didn’t read it that way.)
Recommend? Definitely!
[15] A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, part 3.5 after A Court of Wings and Ruin, Graphic Audio
Synopsis: (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!): It’s post war and Feyre and family are getting used to their new lives and preparing for Winter Solstice.
Review: Yikes. This short (well, compared to the others in the series) book felt like a cheesy Christmas special. There’s more character building, and a little to expand the plotline, but there’s just not much there. It’s more of an opportunity to show Feyre and her family living their normal lives and celebrating Winter Solstice. It was boring.
Recommend? No
Random Thoughts Thursday 443
- Dad and I decided not to do RAGBRAI this year. The course is too far south and too much of a pain to get to. I am 100% okay with that! Hopefully the course makes sense next year. If not? *shrugs*
- I signed up for the Denver Marathon. Val, Tiff, Steve, and two others will be doing the marathon relay!
- Is anyone else going to see Dune: Part Two this weekend? We have tickets for Sunday!
- My poor travel planning (did not get a flight early enough) meant I had to cancel a trip for us to see friends in NC next month. Who knew Asheville was such a pita to get to? (probably everybody) Sigh.
- Snow Jr has duplicated!
- I taught a rock painting class at a “Love Yourself” party one of my trainers was throwing for friends and family last Saturday night. Such a lovely group.
Reading Update (2024 #10-12)
[10] Go as a River by Shelley Read
Fiction / Small Town & Rural, recommendation from Val, Kindle
Synopsis: Seventeen- year-old Victoria’s life is forever changed after she helps a stranger in her small Colorado town in the summer of 1948. She’s forced to grow up fast and make decisions she doesn’t completely understand.
Review: This is a character-driven coming-of-age story that is absolutely beautifully written, but also completely devastating and sad. I kept teasing Val (who recommended this to me) about how she was in her sad book phase and needs to read a romance.
Recommend? If you are in the mood for something heart-wrenching for some reason, yes
[11] A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, part 2 after A Court of Thorns and Roses, Audio
Synopsis: (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!): Feyre has survived the trials from Amarantha and has returned to the Spring Court but is completely traumatized by what she had to do to free Tamlin’s people. She lethargically prepares for her wedding to Tamlin and on the day of the actual event, sends a silent plea for anyone to save her from it. Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, uses that moment to enact their bargain and bring her to the Night Court, which she realizes is nothing like the terror she imagined, and neither is Rhysand. Oh, and there’s a lot of other bigger political humans vs faeries and different courts vs each other stuff going on that Feyre can use her powers to help with now (oh! Did I not mention? She was turned into a faerie at the end of the first book after she was killed and all the High Lords gave a little bit of her power to keep her alive and now she has SUPER POWER DUN DUN DUN WATCH OUT FOR FEYRE – she’s coming for you!).
Review: My snis told me this was her favorite book and I could see why – there were so many moments that got me right in my feels! GAH, especially one line in particular from the first book that was brought up again in the second book. And the ending had me so enraged when I was listening to it during my Denver long run. All in all to say, I really enjoyed it. There are parts that I didn’t 100% love – I am usually not a fan of “quest” books or movies, such as “we have to go here to get this thing” and there is quite a bit of that. But I got through it.
Recommend? Yes
[12] The Long Game by Elena Armas
Fiction / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle
Synopsis: Adalyn loses her s-word on the professional mascot of the soccer team she works for (that her dad owns) in Miami and is sent away to rural North Carolina to get out of the public eye. She’s shocked to run into Cameron Caldani, a former soccer professional there, coaching the girls’ soccer team she’s been sent to manage. Adalyn and Cameron have a horrible first encounter and can’t stand one another, but have to work together.
Review: Shame on me for being frustrated with the pacing of a book titled The Long Game. I mean, come on, Kim. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, and Adalyn and Cameron have chemistry but the pacing KILLED me. And the backstory of the girls’ soccer team was really weak. As was most of the backstory. I finished this book and am still not sure why she took her anger out on that mascot.
Recommend? No
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
