Siesta Key

 For my fortieth birthday, Lance sent Julie, my friend of twenty-seven years, and I to Siesta Key, Florida.  We had a week of sunshine, white sand beaches, yummy seafood, and rest. It was the best gift I have ever been given. . . my husband is the bomb!

My beach reading list:

A Long Walk: The true story of a trek to freedom by Slavomir Rawicz.  One of my high school students highly recommended this book.  Since I love to know what boys read, I grabbed it.  I started this book at the airport and soon discovered it was not a "beach read".  I set the book aside and finished it when I got home.  Set in 1941, it is the story of a Polish man who with six fellow prisoners escapes from a Soviet labor camp - in Siberia.  They walk thousands of miles by foot to British India - a fascinating tale.  I was captivated by the men in the story and their endurance, compassion and remarkable strength. A must read. . . .

61 Hours by Lee Child.  Reading a Lee Child book is one of my guilty pleasures.  The newest book in his Jack Reacher series did not disappoint.  Set in a blizzard in South Dakota, it was the perfect beach read.  My only question. . . . (and it is haunting me) did Lee kill Jack????

Shadow Baby by Allison McGhee.   FABULOUS book.  This is the story of eleven year old, Clara winter (spelled with a lower case - she has her reasons. . . .).  I laughed and even cried.  I don't want to give the story away:   Loved Clara, loved the old man,  loved this book. . .

Spirit of the Marathon

I secretly love indie, documentaries and foreign films. My netflix queue is full of such titles I never watch. . . why? Because it is also full of kids movies, family films and tv series the family wants to watch. Last week, we got this disc from netflix (I know, I know, I am WAY behind the times. . .) that allows us to stream movies instantly through our Wii. The first movie I picked was one of my documentaries - "The Spirit of the Marathon". It follows 6 people from all walks of life training for the Chicago marathon. Watching, I was moved to tears several times. . . I walked my first (and I swore only) marathon in Portland in 2008. It was an amazing experience and watching this film made me want to run, well, anything. . .

In an attempt to see better fitness results, I started running this past spring. I. Hate. Running. I want to like it, but so far, I don't. This movie has given me hope. I am going to continue to run, continue to persevere, continue to dream of running an endurance race. . . Put this movie in your queue and let me know what it inspires you to achieve.