March: Sustain

Connection:
 I started the month with a great night out at Alpha Epsilon Phi's Silent Auction to benefit Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. I had a great time with old friends, new friends and my husband while supporting a great cause!

I got to volunteer at my son's middle school for career day! It was great connecting with an age group I don't always see a lot of. 

After attending a Shabbat dinner, my friend Beth and I went out to Chartreuse and the Detroit Institute of Arts. I also had a great dinner with my co-worker Christie and got to try a new Mediterranean place!

And of course, another great book club this month!

Family:
We all took a trip to Kalamazoo to see a friend in a concert performance. We all saw A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One together which were books we had listened to.

Faith: I read 1 & 2 Corinthians and purposefully prayed each day.

Health: I exercised 37 1/2 hours in a month with 31 days, yea! I did weights at 3 times a week and moved up to 15lbs.


Intellect: Books I read this month
Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's War Against the Nazis by Karolina Lanckoronska. This was a really heavy book, so it took me a while to read. But it was also a very interesting account of one woman's experience resisting the Nazis and subsequent imprisonment. Countess Lanckoronska was a University professor in Poland who's social standing and education often gave her preferential treatment once she was imprisoned. One of her most vivid descriptions happens close to the end of WWII when the city around Ravensbruck was being bombed and yet the concentration camp saw balloons lighting the sky and later found out they served as guides so they wouldn't be touched by the bombing. So much history happened during the 94 years Countess Lanckoronska lived, but the defining era became WWII during which she was in her 40's, not young and not yet old.

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Lauren Willig, Beatriz Williams. I really enjoyed this book and the story of Olive, her daughter and her granddaughter who's lives are intertwined by a room at the top of a mansion that Olive's father designed and who all seem fated to miss their one great loves.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I really liked this book, it was different from what I usually read and had varying viewpoints. Tucker Crowe has been out of the spotlight for two decades after abruptly leaving behind a successful music career. Duncan has been obsessed with Crowe's music and his girlfriend Annie is not quite sure why. When their relationship ends, Annie begins an email relationship with Tucker Crowe and all of their lives take turns they weren't expecting.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. I really liked this book about a boy searching for home and the routes he takes to get there. The backstory has him confronting racism in the town he races to.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald. What happens when a guest from another country arrives in town and finds her host has died? Sara makes herself part of the community and opens a bookstore in a seemingly dying town. All of the characters in this small town have rich histories that contribute to their growth and changes throughout the book. This is a story about small towns, the love of books and being open to change. 

This is a preview of our upcoming road trip!

Feburary: Sustain

How did I do this month?

Connection:
Book club is one of my favorite connections! It has it all; friends, discussion, food and books! This month we discussed Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Our discussion mostly centered around book-to-movie adaptations.

I attended a training for Prime Time Family Reading Time. I've written a lot about this program in this blog - I absolutely love it! I am excited that I will be involved in a program this spring. Also, I enjoyed meeting up with people I had known in New Orleans at this training!

I also had a night out with my friend Susan!

Family:
Youngest son: This month my youngest and I read Who Is Sonia Sotomayor? by Megan Stine together over 2 days! He also taught me how to play the game Exploding Kittens. And there was a Friday night that we got to go out to dinner and play Rock Band on the Xbox. 

Oldest son: When a friend got sick, I roped my son into going to the theater with me! First we went to a fairly fancy restaurant in Detroit, Grey Ghost and then we went to the Fisher Theatre to see Finding Neverland. He may have enjoyed the candy at the theater most of all!

Husband: We got in a date night now that youth group has re-started at church on Sunday nights.

Extended Family: I got in a visit to my sister in Traverse City and it was a great visit "Up North." I had a really great time visiting and also walking across the frozen Grand Traverse Bay with my oldest nephew.

Faith: I kept up reading 29 chapter this month in Acts and Romans and purposefully prayed each day. I also started a Lent Photo-A-Day challenge on Instagram.

Health: I exercised 30 hours in a month with 28 days, yea! I did weights at least twice a week. I'd like to do weights at least 3 times a week next month and move up from my little 5lbs!

Intellect: 
I got to take a tour of the Reuther Library at Wayne State and saw tons of memorabilia as part of Wayne State's 150th Year celebration.

Books I read this month

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah.  Wow, this book was eye-opening. Trevor Noah tells about his childhood in the 80's & 90's in South Africa as apartheid was ending. His story is also made different from others by his experience of having a black mother and white father. Noah infuses much humor as he tells tales of growing up as well as adding commentary on apartheid, racism and domestic violence. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio book which was narrated by Noah himself and I also learned more about the experiences of others that happened in my lifetime but were half a world away.

Hunger Point by Jillian Medof. Ugh, this book was a disturbing and dysfunctional look at a family's experience with anorexia and suicide.

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan. Listened to with my kids. As the Magnus Chase (and Percy Jackson) saga gets drawn out, there were parts of this book and series that I really enjoyed. I appreciate that this series has the most diverse characters with attention to Muslim and transgender characters.

Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams. I loved this book right up to the last sentence. Williams seamlessly alternates between 1917 WWI France and 1922 bootlegging Florida with a few flashbacks to early 1900's NYC. Virginia became an ambulance driver during the war and fell in love with a man who may not be what he seems. This is further complicated by memories of her early years when she witnessed the murder of her mother. My only complaint is that after things are wrapped up in the end, two characters come to the door needing help and I was confused as to whether I should know how they are. By reading other reviews I can see they are characters from another book which I am now curious to read!