Life update

So here's what my life has been like (somewhat) lately:

A few weeks ago, my cousin and I did a hike in Pacific Palisades. The views were gorgeous, as you can see. It was about 3 miles, and it umm kicked our butts. My legs felt like jello for 2 days afterwards. Sooo, half dome here we come?

On the 4th of July, my parents and I took a day trip to Santa Monica. It was cool and cloudy (weather that seems like a distant memory now). And still no one would go on the ferris wheel with me! Jessie, let's go?!

And no, we haven't moved yet. But hopefully soon...because I'm tired of living out of boxes. 

What I'm reading: June

Better late than never on this one, huh?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I broke my "rule" of never giving up on books for this one. I really tried...but gave up because the plot was boring, I didn't care about any of the characters, and there was way too much Spanish (I was that kid who took French in school...). Yeah, not the best choice. 

I also read The Defining Decade. As I've mentioned before, I find psychology ridiculously interesting, so I loved this book. I found it honest and relatable, to the point where on almost every page I could identify myself in one of the stories. Definitely a recommended read for anyone my age. 

Life update

Remember how I said changes were in store for this summer? Well here's the scoop (if I haven't already told you): me and the folks are moving! We are moving to a town about 20 minutes from where we are now. With the exception of college, I've lived in the same town for as long as I can remember, so this is a little bit of a change for me. The big move will be sometime next month, so...I guess I should start packing, huh? Moving to a new place will give me a chance to clean and organize my stuff (2 of my favorite things!). Hopefully it'll also inspire me to give some "tough love" to my closet. Even though I don't wear most of the things I own, I can't seem to let go of a lot. Maybe when faced with the task of carrying all that stuff, I'll be more likely to say goodbye. (I'm already cleaning out my bookshelves and getting stuff ready to donate, cause books are heavy yo). This is all a long-winded way of saying that posts are gonna become sparser than normal. I'd rather be packing watching netflix.

What I'm reading: May

Lately, I've been reading 2 books at once: a non-fiction one and a fiction one. Here is what I read this month:

Then Again, by Diane Keaton. I must say, I'm a sucker for a celebrity auto/biography. This one was no disappointment. It was less of a "linear" story, and more of a series of vignettes. It was refreshingly honest and interesting. 

Home Safe, by Elizabeth Berg. I love the way that Berg writes. Her writing is so descriptive and enveloping, you feel completely wrapped up in the story. She writes about a mother and adult daughter coping with the death of the father of the family.  The mother must learn to stand on her own 2 feet now that her daughter is out of the house and her husband is no longer around, lessons that I think can apply to any age. A good read. 

Summertime

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Happy 3 day weekend! It is so nice to wake up on a Sunday and realize you have one more day of sleeping in left. Hope your extra time off was as good as mine was. I did nothing but eat, read, and refresh. Since this weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, I've decided to create a summer "to-do" list, a list of fun things that I'd like to see or do in the months to come. 

Ride on the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel (also on my 25x25 list)

Make these nectarine vodka chillers

Go to McConnell's Ice Cream (amazingly, I've never been)

Go to the Cleopatra exhibit at the California Science Center

Hit up the beach more

See the Walt Disney archives exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Library

Attend an eatseehear event

I must say that changes are a coming this summer (nope, not job changes - guess again) so we'll see how many of these I can check off. Here's hoping! 

Subway art

Mildly obsessed with Going Underground. Her subway signs are spot-on perfection, and I can totally see them hanging in my fancy future home. My only problem? Choosing which of my favorite cities will win wall space. LA? London? NYC?

Race recap

Yesterday, my cousin and I ran the Revlon Run/Walk 5k. Last year we walked the race, this year we decided to try to run it. My cousin has been training for weeks (go girl!) and I've been trying to keep up with regular runs. We took the metro down bright and early (it dropped us off right across the street from the event - so convenient!) and walked around the expo. I have to say, the free swag was not quite as good as last year, but oh well, we still got some good stuff. We walked around the expo for a while, then lined up for the race. A lot of celebs were on hand to host the event (Matthew Morrison, AC Slater (Mario Lopez), Stacy Keibler, Halle Berry and Matt Bomer). The runners were supposed to start at 8:45 and the walkers were supposed to start at 9:00. There was no attempt to distance the 2 groups, and they just let everybody start at around 9:00. It took a few minutes to even get to the starting line, and even after that we had to dodge people for a while in order to be able to run. Trying to avoid walkers and stick together proved too difficult for us, so we split up and just went at our own pace. I felt good for most of this race - I kept a nice, easy pace and didn't feel too tired. I hit "the wall" when I saw the 3 mile marker - the last part felt so hard! But I finished and got my medal (from the cute volunteer firemen at the event). I used Map My Run to keep track of my time - it says that the route was actually 3.67 miles, which I ran in 40:23. Then my cousin and I sat and drank some water and had a snack before heading home. I think this is a super event, just not sure if I would run it again (maybe go back to walking it). It felt a little crowded to be dodging people all the time. But good for a fun run, rather than a seriously competitive one. I find that I like running in races - there's something so motivating about being in a huge group, all heading towards one goal. Which one next?