A Reader's Ramblings
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Runnerbox

2/27/2015

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Over the last year I've seen people recieving all sorts of monthly subscription boxes... there are one's for your pets, ones for makeup, some are geared towards men, other's towards women and of course, ones for athletes. Runnerbox caught my eye because it seemed to have a nice mix of products. There seemed to be a heavy focus on fuel, but there were other interesting things in there as well, so I figured I'd give it a try. Yesterday I got my first box, and it was chock full of cool stuff that I can't wait to try out. 
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I'm probably most excited about the Bottle Bright- which I will use on my Camelbak water bladders asap. I tend to leave them longer then I should, so I'm sure they need a good cleaning! 

In this picture: Athlights, On The Go Towels and Bottle Bright.
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I'm not a huge fan of most fuels, which means I never really buy anything new to try. However, I'm just starting to train for my first trail race, and I'm going to need to see what works. 

In this picture: Amazing Grass Green Superfood, The Good Bean, Honey Stingers, BioCoffee

The thing that made me do a double take was the Broo "Get your beer hair" card and the accompanying shampoo and conditioner. The tag line was pretty awesome too, "We've taken the beer from the saloon to the salon"  

According to the card this is "artisinal, ultra-performance natural haircare, infused with real craft beer". It blends microbrewed beer into premium cleansers and conditioners to create a natural product that has professional results. I shave my head in exactly 2 days and I don't want to waste this product just to shave away the results, so I'll be holding onto this until my hair grows back in a bit! 
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My Ramblings on Boys Like You

2/21/2015

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About the Author Juliana Stone
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IF
If I hadn't fallen asleep.
If I hadn't gotten behind the wheel. 
If I hadn't made a mistake.

For Monroe Blackwell, one small mistake has torn her family apart--leaving her empty and broken. There's a hole in her heart that nothing can fill. That no one can fill. And a summer in Louisiana with her grandma isn't going to change that...

Nathan Everets knows heartache firsthand when a car accident leaves his best friend in a coma. And it's all his fault. He should be the one lying in the hospital. The one who will never play guitar again. He doesn't deserve forgiveness, and a court-appointed job at the Blackwell B&B isn't going to change that...

There's No Going Back

Captivating and hopeful, this achingly poignant novel brings together two lost souls struggling with grief and guilt--looking for acceptance, so they can find forgiveness.


(from Goodreads.com)
I recieved this book from NetGalley and I will admit that it sat in my TBR pile for way too long. When I finally did pick it up, I flew threw it. From start to finish it took me roughly 3 hours to eat this one up. It was good. It sucked me in quick and kept me hooked. It made me want to know more about the main characters, Monroe and Nathan. It made me want to keep in touch with them and make sure they were doing okay. This book wasn't perfect, but overall it was really well done. 

The summary gives you a pretty good indication of what this book is about. Both Nate and Monroe have suffered some pretty big tragedies. Both feel responsible for making some pretty bad mistakes that caused those tragedies. Both are just trying to make it day by day, both are trying to not drown in their own guilt and grief, both are trying to find a way back to being human again. Which is where we find them when the story starts. Monroe has moved in with the Grandma for the summer (in hopes that a change of scenery will help her) and Nate is working on her Grandma's plantation as part of his community service. Once Nate and Monroe meet they pretty quickly latch onto each other as fellow sufferers. Together they work through their pain and guilt and forge a relationship that helps them find a path out the other sidde.  I particularly like how Monroe's Grandma words it- that when you fall so far and are trapped in your own pain, you need someone to catch you. Monroe and Nate need eachother to break their respective falls. 

Sonce this book is fairly new, I'll avoid spoilers and just say that neither Nate or Monroe is perfect. They pack a ton of baggage and their relationship vacilates wildly from love to hate and back again. I wish the author had delved deeper into these moments as both characters seemed to heal to quickly. They both are suffering some serious demons, but move on with relative ease once they find each other and it seemed to me to be too easy, too quick. I wasn't looking for a sad, tortured story, but to make it that much more believable I would have liked to see that struggle a little more. Especially with Monroe. We hear about how she was in a dark place, didn't speak at all, barely showered or burshed her hair and that a suicide attempt had occcured not too long ago... but all it took was a cute boy with a tortured soul and suddenly she came bacck to life. Which isn't to say that it can't happen that way, that a sympathetic ear and a kind word from someone who doesn't know your past can't spark a change, but, for me, it just happened too fast and too easily. I felt like there should have been some conflict there. The same with Nate. 

However- even given that, I really enjoyed this book. The story clicked along and I liked how the author shifter perspectives, so we got a complete sense of each character even as they were just opening up to each other. I would definitely recommend this book if you like mysteries and also romance. It was a quick read that definitely kept me hooked and I'm glad I have it in my collection. I think it's one I'll revisit down the road as I think it's one of those books that will reveal a little more on subsequent reading. 
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The North Face ECS- aka- my first official trail race

2/16/2015

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Today I signed up for my first official trail race. I say official beacuse I've been running around the mountains whenever I can for years, but it's always been on my own time and just for the adventure of it. When an ad for the North Face Endurance Challenge Series showed up in my Runner World magazine I gave it a glance, but thought that it was just Ultra's, which I know enough to know that those are not for me. After about the 3rd ad I saw, I decided to just give it a look, and lo and behold, it's NOT just Ultra's and suddenly I was all in. I signed up for the 10k at Bear Mountain in May. I know I can run farther then 10k, but I figured for my first official race, I should go conservative and pick one that I felt pretty confident about completing in the time alloted (2 hours for the 10k). I'm hoping it all goes well and that I can turn this into a yearly race, moving up to the 1/2 maybe next year after I get a sense of the course and the mountain. 

So now I have to decide how to train for this bad boy. There's no mountains near by, and let's be honest- the weather here is currently keeping me from runnning outside all that often anyways. For noe I'll just keep plugging away and keep my eye on the trail!
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source: http://nysparks.com/parks/13/details.aspx
Bear Mountain Virtual Tour
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                                            About
    Home of the ramblings of an avid reader. In my spare time I also run, ride, teach, go on adventures and get into shenanigans. 

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    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Kit has read 38 books toward their goal of 70 books.
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    38 of 70 (54%)
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    Kit's bookshelf: 2022

    Never Ever Getting Back Together
    it was amazing
    Never Ever Getting Back Together
    by Sophie Gonzales
    Ain't Burned All the Bright
    it was amazing
    Ain't Burned All the Bright
    by Jason Reynolds
    You Better Be Lightning
    really liked it
    You Better Be Lightning
    by Andrea Gibson
    Lucky Leap Day
    really liked it
    Lucky Leap Day
    by Ann Marie Walker
    Café Con Lychee
    it was amazing
    Café Con Lychee
    by Emery Lee

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