nomadreader

I've been feeling guilty about my reading this year. I'm not reading as much as I was. I have bright spots, particularly when I travel for work and remember how much time in the day there is after a long day of work when I'm not playing with and taking care of a two-year old. This summer, I felt the shift as my reading became predominantly audiobooks, boosted by a nanny share that required a lot of driving (by Des Moines standards) two days a week. I realized I rarely picked up an actual book or my Kindle to read. I'd get back in the groove with one book, but then I'd lose my momentum again when I finished it. When classes started, I found myself so stressed and intellectually exhausted that I often chose music in the car instead of my audiobook. I have been listening to the same audiobook since August 13th. I like it, but it is heavy, and I'm not always in the mood to listen to it. This weekend I finished a mystery by one of my favorite mystery writers. I star...

The Wellness Office is sponsoring a two-month reading challenge, cleverly called The Well Read Challenge. There are some prizes, and each week has the opportunity for bonus points. The main piece of it, though, is to beat the weekly reading goal for number of minutes read per week. The first week, I got the calendar in campus mail, and I saw the goal was to read 125 minutes that week (each week the goal increases by 10 minutes.) That day, I read for 180 minutes (to be fair, I was on vacation that day and spent three hours driving from the Kansas City airport back home to Des Moines.) Going into this challenge, I didn't have a good sense of how much I read each week. After the first week, I had an answer: 900 minutes. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not that much. The second week: 900 minutes again, despite very different numbers day-to-day. I started thinking: when I was pregnant, one of my biggest fears was not having time to read after Hawthorne was born. (It's ...

Nine years ago today , I went out for drinks with some co-workers after work. I planned to call one of my best friends to wish her a happy birthday when I got out of work. Instead, after offering to drive the man who would become Mr. Nomadreader home from the bar (he lived a block and a half from the bar, and while it was February, we lived in Atlanta), we stayed up all night talking in my car. I knew we were talking a long time, but I couldn't believe we talked all night, but sure enough, the sun was starting to come up, and people were out jogging. And we haven't stopped talking, but we do manage to sleep a lot more than we did in those early months together. Five years ago today , we got married (in a library, naturally): This year, I find myself marveling more at the fact that we've been together for nine years than that we've been married for five years. Nine years . That's a quarter of my life (roughly.)  So happy anniversary to you, Mr. Nomadreade...

Last year at Thanksgiving, I had a lot to be thankful for . But I was also somewhat frustrated and bitter. Mr. Nomadreader and I had been trying to get pregnant since April. I couldn't believe it still hadn't happened, and the holidays were imposing that sadness. We spent the year before we started trying to get pregnant enjoying "one last" everything. It was a wonderful year, and I loved every minute of it. I did not imagine I would face another Thanksgiving without a baby on the way, but there I was. "Fuck it," I said. "I wish I were pregnant, but I'm not, so let's get drunk." And I did. It was not the Thanksgiving I wanted, but it sure was fun. And little did I know then that less than two weeks later, I would take a pregnancy test, certain I wasn't pregnant, and discover I was. And this year I got to celebrate the first Thanksgiving with the nomadbaby. What a difference a year makes. Happy Thanksgiving!

2014 is half over? This year has passed more slowly for me than most, thanks to the nomadbaby, who is due five weeks and five days from today (yes, I'm totally counting.) Pregnancy hasn't been my favorite life experience, but as I get closer to its end point, I am finding myself having an easier time enjoying the moments I know will be hard to come by in the coming years. I thought I'd take this opportunity to check in on my 2014 goals and see how I'm doing. I knew when I made these goals that I wanted to keep it simple. 2014 is a year unlike any other for me. I knew August would bring dramatic changes, and I didn't want goals that would be overly ambitious. 1. Read 104 books in 2014. I set out to read an average of two books a week this year. I imagine August and September will be pretty thin reading months for me, and I knew if I accomplished this goal, I would likely read more than half in the first half of the year. As of today, I've read 70 books in...

When I shared my goals for 2014 with you, I could have shared one more: read as many books as possible for the nomadbaby arrives (on or around) August 9th. Followed quickly by: read as many books as possible while on maternity leave. Mr. Nomadreader and I are excited and terrified (but mostly excited.) I've said many times lately "pregnancy isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be." Which is true, but I think I was unreasonably terrified of it. Mostly, I'm tired (really tired.) And I have little to no appetite. What I want to eat is very specific--it's that or nothing. And it is impossible to drink enough water. But I am well, and the nomadbaby is well, so we are making do. In terms of reading, I've slowed down somewhat because I go to bed so early (and sleep so much over all.) My attention span is perfect for a 90-120 minute film, so I've been watching more of those. And my attention span also loves The New Yorker , so I'm following through...

Hi, y'all! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. I've missed you and your comments. I've missed blogging. I've missed our Twitter conversations. I've missed reading other blogs. I've missed reading (or finishing) actual books. Here's what I've been up to in these far-too-quiet last few months: Remember when I said Mr. Nomadreader and I bought a house ? Well everything came through, we closed, and moved. FOR THE LAST TIME. EVER. (That tiny red triangle in the top right corner says SOLD!) I've moved six times in the six years I've been blogging. I've moved nine times since I graduated from college (just over ten years ago.) Sheesh. And as much as I love our house, and still find myself wandering from room to room marveling that it's ours, part of me is ready to resume 'normal' reading, blogging, Tweeting and blog reading. Hello, lazy days of summer, I'm so glad you're here! Once the last of the major things to do a...