This morning I’m spinning with my team at Cycle for Survival in Bryant Park to fight rare cancers. This is my fifth year participating, and it’s a charity that means a great deal to me. Rare cancers are underfunded by major drug companies, even though cancers classified as “rare” make up about 50% of all cancer diagnoses. Cycle for Survival raises money to fund treatments that help people fight these cancers – every dollar gets allocated to treatment research within 6 months of the event. I’m so very proud of my team – we’ve raised over 11.5K so far! And Cycle for Survival overall is at over 24 million raised this year! If you’re so inclined to support my ride and join me in fighting rare cancers, you can make a donation here.
This week I made a homemade chicken pot pie for the first time, using a great recipe from Joy the Baker. Graham and I also went to a taping of The Nightly Show, and continued getting ready for our upcoming travels.
This week on the blog:
- I celebrated the one year anniversary of quitting my job and traveling around the world by myself by sharing my 10 favorite photos I took while abroad.
- I posted a review of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce.
- I wrote about my journey to Earthsea – my experience reading the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K Le. Guin for the first time.
- I shared a quote from one of my favorite writers and philosophers, Henry David Thoreau.
- I posted my February 2015 Polysyllabic Spree – the books I bought and read last month.
READING
I’m plugging away at my preparation reading for my South America travels. I am feeling a bit tied down by my strict reading list. It’s starting to feel like back when I was in college and had so much reading to do for courses that I began to long for the breaks when I could read whatever my little heart desired. I know that I’m bringing this on myself – I don’t have to read all these books, I just want to. And I am actually enjoying them all very much. I’m just also starting to pine for all the other things that I’m NOT reading right now – and looking forward to when I can read at whim again. (Oh the woes of a bookworm!) I’m currently still working my way through Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, and have also started Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin because it turns out that I need a break from Darwin rather frequently.
WATCHING
I started watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. I’m two episodes in, and am not really feeling it so far. I love everyone involved in this show, so this is a bit distressing. Graham heard rumblings that it gets better further in – can anyone confirm this?
LISTENING
I spent most of last week listening and reading along with the Earthsea Trilogy, so I’m not yet done with my other audiobook, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. I’m enjoying it though, and the crazy Amazon exploration stories are so interesting. For example, the one that inspired this Tweet:
I don’t wish it upon myself or anyone else, but “lost a toe to piranhas” has got to be one of the most badass exploration battle stories.
— Emily Wilson (@chowmeyow) March 8, 2015
LINKING
- Grand Rapids, Michigan – a city just north of my hometown, where my Mom and I often go shopping – was just featured in a lovely city guide on Design Sponge.
- Bill Bryson is one of my very favorite authors: one of the authors that I will drop everything else on my TBR list to read their latest book as soon as its released. So I was super excited to see that he has a new book coming out this fall, and that it’s a continuation of his lovely writing about his adopted country, England.
- Like many people, this week I learned what a Quokka is, and I’m obsessed.
- Here’s a lovely post in The Guardian where children’s book authors and illustrators explain why they cannot live without books.
- For those of you who, like me, enjoyed the decluttering and simplifying tips in The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, here’s a great piece from ZenHabits that outlines similar concepts in a 10 minute daily routine.
And that’s the week! Please share the scoop on what you’re reading / watching / enjoying lately in the comments!
I don’t usually read modern sequels to classic books–but gotta say I’m loving “The Forgotten Sister: Mary Bennett’s Pride and Prejudice.” Except for the first part, where you learn a lot of Bennett backstory, Mary’s narration mostly takes place contemporaneously with the events in P & P. You get to see everything from her perspective, plus enjoy her story for its own sake. I like this Mary–it’s fun to spend time with her.
It sounds very lovely! You’re listening on audiobook, is that right?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an animal as joyous as a quokka. Holy crud.
That pot pie looks DIVINE. My boyfriend recently went vegetarian—I wonder if I can make a delicious meat-free version of this one… Maybe mushrooms would help fill it out?
I’m in the middle of Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything right now. He really is a fantastic writer. :)
Sorry for the delay in reply! Missed seeing this while I was gone. I definitely think you could make a vegetarian version of this. You could add mushrooms, or even some diced up potatoes!
A Short History of Nearly Everything is one of the few books of his I haven’t read yet – but I need to! I even have the beautiful illustrated edition. I need to read it soon!