Staying in an Air B&B in my hometown to visit friends and family, and just needed a moment for myself. 😮‍💨😌

Next up is nonfiction. I‘ve been a stay-at-home mom for a long time now and I need all the help I can get to rejoin the workforce 😮‍💨

It took me a while to finish this one only because I had so much going on. But I really liked it and craved it when I had to put it down. I loved the characters and the MC, especially, had a wonderful arc. There‘s plenty of fantasy and a hint of mystery to this one, although I did find the answer to the big question at the end a bit anticlimactic. That might just be me 🤷🏻‍♀️ Overall, though, this was a wonderful story with great characters.

“It‘s suddenly vital to me that he understands, that he knows there are no scales balanced between us, no debts; that I‘m nothing like our great-uncle, offering kinship only on certain conditions. That I love him, and love wipes every ledger clean.”

“I wonder if the feeling will fade. If the memory of a single season will be buried beneath the weight of ordinary years, until it is just a story, just another little lie. If I will learn to be content with enough, and forget that I was ever foolish enough to want more.”

The MC is breaking my heart 😢

Next up, some fiction to finish up spooky season 😊

I‘m really glad I read this book. I‘ve been focusing on my health and fitness goals more this year, and I‘ve been strength training 2 or 3 times a week (among other things) consistently since June. It‘s still a love/hate relationship but I‘m leaning more towards love as time wears on. When I got sick and missed a week, I was full on craving it. Seeing this book come up in my feed on IG really intrigued me and it didn‘t disappoint. Continued ⬇️

“Strength, I was beginning to understand, isn‘t about who you are when things go well, but how you respond when they don‘t.”

“In the grand scheme of things, if you only ever go places that you think you can win, you‘re gonna leave a lot of opportunities untried.”

“…lifting has taught him to face everything with tenacity and has shown him that while strength doesn‘t make you impervious to setbacks, it does help you learn how to manage them.”

“I don‘t have to quiet the voice that keeps telling me I can‘t do it… I just have to get around it for long enough to shift my focus to what I‘m going to do, rather than how I feel.”

“I wondered what it might be like to allow my body to exist for me, not for anyone else‘s idea of what a female body should be.”

“‘If femininity only depends on having muscles or not having muscles,” she says, ‘then what happens to the woman who, let‘s say, has a mastectomy? We‘ve become so inured to the Playboy centerfold image that it‘s really a slap in the face to women, because women come in all shapes and sizes. And yet so few of our images are accepted. It‘s just one narrow image that‘s accepted and it‘s not real.‘” - Carla Dunlap (Ms. Olympia, 1983)

Was feeling restless so I needed a change of pace… it‘s been a while since I‘ve headed out somewhere on my own that wasn‘t an errand or an appointment.

“…if you connect the mind to the body, your body will go further than your mind ever thought. It‘s just literally telling your mind to shut up and do it.”

“…the pressure I felt was completely self-imposed. When I competed that day, I tried to embrace the idea that no one would love me any less if I failed…”

1. Hard to choose just one but I was obsessed with Matilda by Roald Dahl, I read it multiple times.

2. What comes to mind is my mom buying a porcelain tea set I wanted. I said I wanted it around Easter time but she couldn‘t afford it. The fact that she remembered it by Christmas time made it really special. I still have a couple of pieces of it.

3. Just this weekend playing arcade games with my son. We giggled a lot.

@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

“No matter how much you want to increase your weight in a lift in a single session, no matter how aggressively you stomp your feet in frustration, your body will simply allow for only so much progress at once. You can get angry… or you can accept that growth will come when it comes and learn to appreciate the process.”

“Those days when the results of my effort becomes tangible and I know I‘m starting to slowly master something that seemed impossible? That‘s what makes me come back for more.”

“In other words, he just does it scared.”

If you look a bit further down my posts, I quoted the last book I read with a similar line just yesterday. Two completely unrelated books; one fiction, one nonfiction. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something…

“Something about knowing that even if I failed spectacularly, at least I could say I tried was enticing.”

“I couldn‘t explain it, but going to the gym was bringing me back to life. I walked a little taller… I could face the rest of the day with the sense of accomplishment that comes from trying something difficult and overcoming it.”

“When I signed up for a marathon despite barely being able to run a mile without stopping, I knew I would cross the finish line. I understood this meant that I might have to crawl there, but I would see it through.”

Already feeling a sort of kinship with the author. I‘m nowhere near where she is now, but she started somewhere just like I am. Just a few weeks ago it took me half an hour to finish a mile… continued in comments ⬇️

My next read is nonfiction. I saw someone post about this one on IG. I‘ve been on my own fitness journey the last few months, so I was intrigued.

While this book is full of cliches and corny sentiments, I found it comforting and full of warmth. I loved the characters and the whimsical details. I even want to try some of the recipes included in between chapters. I love the magical moments, but also especially loved the emphasis on how the simple, joyful things in life are a special kind of magic of their own.

“Now, the unknown settled into her bones like adventure instead of panic.”

“Doing something in spite of heartbreak and fear, that‘s where courage came in. Do it afraid…”

“Magic wasn‘t always spells and curses and charms. Sometimes it was the comfortable silence of a good meal, and smiling eyes that met across the room and spoke more than words.”

“…life had gotten its roots into her and she was growing, one way or another.”

I‘m feeling the side effects of heartbreak and disappointment after realizing this particular book has MANY printing errors. It cuts off chapters, starts randomly in the middle of later chapters, and chapter 7 is repeated multiple times later in the book. I already started the return process. A replacement was supposed to arrive today but it‘s been delayed until tomorrow 😩 I‘ve never had an issue like this before, but 1st world problems 🤷🏻‍♀️

“…just like woodsmoke, his essence had clung to her long after the fire had been put out.”

I slept in this morning (as long as my family let me), made sure everyone ate, and got the laundry going. Now it‘s me-time out on the patio 😊 it‘s been too hot to come out here lately but it feels fine today. This is my favorite spot in the house to be alone with a good book and some coffee.

I needed a palate cleanser from the seriousness of nonfiction. I‘m really looking forward to this cozy fantasy 😊

I think this is a great starting point for everything a woman needs to start fasting whether it‘s for weight-loss, balancing hormones, or overall health. A lot of it made sense, like the concept of varying your fasts based on where you‘re at in your cycle (and she considers factors like irregular cycles or menopause). Eating certain foods that help your hormones and gut biome makes a lot of sense too… Continued ⬇️

“Stories ask questions and delay the answers.”

I‘ve been so hyper-focused on my health & fitness goals that my creative/professional goals have kinda fallen by the wayside. So, to get motivated, I decided my next nonfiction read should be design related. Inspiration awaits (I hope)…

At first, I thought this was just a book of common sense. We‘ve all heard the phrases “one step at a time” or “start small.” But this book explains the science behind how our brains handle giant leaps toward our goals versus small, incremental steps. The kaizen principles can be applied toward our professional goals as well as our personal ones, and they are a breath of fresh air when you feel suffocated by overwhelm.

“A philosopher, scientist, or artist sits alone in his garret, agonizing, until—Eureka!—divine inspiration strikes. But many great moments of progress come out of a workaday attention to the little things.”

“The small steps of kaizen and the giant leaps of innovation are not mutually exclusive; used together, they become a formidable weapon against even the most profound, complex, and apparently unsolvable problems.”

It was hard to get a decent pic of my Midnight here, but I had to share what a big deal this is. I adopted Midnight and her brother Sunny (not really siblings, but a bonded pair) from a rescue over a year ago. Midnight was one of 42 cats rescued from a hoarding situation. She HATED being carried but loved being pet. Now, she jumps onto my lap and literally climbs into my arms. The fact that she trusts me like this means so much 😭 #CatsOfLitsy

“Cycling between times of famine and feasting was the way of life for our prehistoric ancestors… Called the ‘thrifty gene‘ hypothesis, it speculates that this genetic coding still exists in us today. It posits that when we don‘t mirror our ancestors‘ feast-famine cycling behaviors, our health suffers.”

It‘s been a while since I‘ve thoroughly annotated a book, but I‘m taking this one pretty seriously. I want to do more research on the topic and doing this will help.

“All too often we determine our self-worth by comparing ourselves to another woman‘s highlight reel. This is as damaging to our bodies as any of the five failed diet strategies…”

“To commit your life to honoring and maintaining your physical health; to the passion, the risk, and the excellence of a demanding career; to the pursuit of a rewarding relationship with another human being; or the continual upward revision of your personal standards, is to strive for powerful goals, often elusive and at times frightening. But for now, all you need to do is take one small step.”

It took me a while to finish this one as I went through each chapter very intentionally and working at most of the exercises. This book isn‘t only for people with physical portfolios relevant to their work, but for anyone who is multifaceted and multidimensional. Wallace tackles everything you might think of and more in order to help you juggle your many professional goals, and she takes your personal life into account as well. Continued ⬇️

“But how can you know for certain what your work is worth? It‘s simple: You‘ve got to start talking about money. With your friends. With your colleagues. Even with your competition.”

A neighbor suggested this one. I wasn‘t expecting such an adorably sized book when it arrived today, but it suits the topic of kaizen lol. I plan to read a couple of nonfiction books before heading back to fiction.

1* I was 15 and it was for a work experience program. They assigned me to a daycare at first but I only worked there for 3 days as I witnessed and reported abuse. My supervisors from the program felt bad about having placed me there so they allowed me to work directly in their office as an office clerk.
2* I‘ve been considering a freelance business and an Etsy shop.
3* Yes, it‘s possible but it takes some determination.
#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

It‘s been a while since a book has turned me into a crying, sobbing mess, and this one did that and more. It took me on a wild ride of emotions. This author created such beautiful characters in a breathtaking world, and I fell in love with them. Their hurt became my hurt, their joy became my joy. Such an enchanting tale from beginning to end, and now I‘m sad it‘s over! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️