Friday, November 23, 2018

Nov. Visit to ATX!

While Alban and I were running on the lake trail, we ran into Janie and her friend Hope, who were running the opposite direction! Alban ran 16 miles total, I ran 9, and Janie/Hope ran 8. When you add us to Dad and June, our cumulative mileage was 40 miles! 

Dad on vacation

my post-run recovery brunch 
Our post-runs recovery brunch—We shared the pancakes :)


We went to June's for June's bday!
Me and my blonde gals
Alban and me (totally sober even though we don't look it) in the backseat of a Lyft

at a taco place for breakfast Sunday morning

seesters

Alban subs for MM
On the flight home, I made this kid move into the middle seat to give me his window seat :D  

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Dinners, Hamilton, Peppers

This is my only photo from an excellent dinner club attended by all 9 almost everyone on my list! Except Jack :/

Patrick and I saw Hamilton at DPAC!
We both loved it, of course, but neither of us realized beforehand that there was no spoken dialogue! So we didn't really learn anything new about the characters, just got to enjoy a great performance of the soundtrack we know so well!

Then, we went to a Mipso + friends show at Haw River Ballroom!

Americana 4 lyfe

The next day, we drove to Tarboro for the first annual BrewGrass Festival! Two bands, five food trucks, and nine local breweries! 
While home, we admired Dad's abundant final pepper harvest.

...and sugarcane harvest (our promised Christmas gift)

I LOVE lentils and kale and sweet potatoes and curry!!! I forgot how delicious this recipe was; need to make it more often! 

This is a photo from a dinner with my friends Nico and Laini, at their house in Durham. Nico is Italian and made us this ~authentic~ bruchetta.

A nice sky I appreciated on the walk from my office to my car.

stovetop polenta with roasted shiitakes, parmigiano-reggiano, and green onion

I have been going on some pre-dawn and post-sunset runs lately thanks to Daylight Savings Time! Safety first!

A Visit from the Goon Squad

I finished reading Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad this week, and I can't stop thinking about it. This is my favorite kind of book. It's written like a collection of short stories with overlapping characters. Each chapter has a different narrator/point of view and is written in a unique style. The best part is that you get to find out what happens to almost every character, even ones who play minor roles in certain stories.

I'm amazed by how complex the book is, how comprehensive—and never cliche. You learn just enough about every character to feel satisfied. And their lives are so brilliantly connected to one another—in a way that each character would have no way to trace those connections, but the reader gets to know all of it. It's so fulfilling to experience as a reader.

I think one reason why I love books like this is because I have a dream of creating an app that tells you when you've crossed paths with a certain person. You bump your phone with someone you just met, and it tells you at what places and times you physically crossed paths with that person. It has no societal value except to satisfy curiosity in the way that A Visit from the Goon Squad does.

AVFTGS also carries really intriguing themes of time and music—how music relates to time, and how all of us relate to time as individuals, and how memory interacts with all of it. But mostly I loved the diverse characters and the complex structure of the novel (which jumps around a lot in time). How did Egan decide the order in which to share each story? How did she decide which characters to include in which story? What was her writing process like in general? I'm so impressed by all of it.\

A Visit from the Goon Squad: would recommend.

Image result for a visit from the goon squad

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

In which I Run a Race and Photograph the Leaves

This past weekend I ran the City of Oaks half marathon in Raleigh. I was slower than I'd hoped, but it was a beautiful day and an enjoyable race.



We didn't want to wait in line to get a photo in front of this backdrop...

I'm all about those recovery brunches. 
It's fall in Chapel Hill!







Friday, November 2, 2018

Other highlights of October

I voted on the first day of early voting! 72nd person in my district :D 

My Mimi turned 90!!!!








I went to this inspiring panel on women in politics!

One of my favorite holidays happened!

I was Nymphadora Tonks
The purple didn't show up very well :(

I also co-facilitated an annual planning retreat for the Robertson Alumni Council, the organizing body for all Robertson alumni programming!





Thursday, November 1, 2018

Oct. 2018 Hiking and Running


In October, I did a medium amount of running and an above-average amount of hiking. Actually, the hiking reduced my running due to a minor foot injury but #worthit.

My "fall" hiker look
Pre-hike carb load in Boone :D 
Roan Highlands


Roan Highlands

fall colors!

Overmountain Shelter

I camped next to it. A thick fog rolled in as I was preparing dinner.

sunrise
Roan Highlands

Blue Ridge Mountains
Recovery meal in Blowing Rock!



Another hike, another great breakfast:

This is called the Extreme Appalachian Breakfast
 I haven't yet gone through my photos from my more recent hike, but I'll post them here (eventually...maybe....)
In the meanwhile, check out the food I ate in Asheville:
Maitake mushrooms, raw radish, chocolate hazelnut glaze—AMAZING (from Plant in Asheville)

a vegan chile relleno—very good and very filling (from Plant in Asheville)

Vegetarian thali at Chai Pani in Asheville
 And in regards to running:
Can you tell where my foot started hurting during this run...?