10.01.2015

Looking Back: September

September! Back to school days and leaf raking days; new pencils and old friend days; putting on pants and jelly making days. Early sunset nights and late sunrise days. Soup days and boot days. Crisp air and fog days.... What does September mean to you?

Running: I clocked just over 100 miles this month, which is better than last month! However, I did not get the same amount of hiking in, so the total "time on feet" was less. Instead, I have been focusing more on my strength training, and am doing a twice a week strength training regime rather than so much running. This month's totals were 45 miles of hiking, 53 miles of biking and 9 strength training sessions.

Reading: This was a good reading month quantity-wise, but only so/so quality-wise. I ended up reading 9 books and two half books (couldn't finish/had to put down)! My favorites were these four:

Farewell to the East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives
Americanah
Station Eleven
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

Travel: My vacation spanned two separate months, so September marked the end of my trip to Europe. The first week of the month included a relaxing soak in a thermal bath, some hiking in the Alps of Switzerland, more cheese and bread and wine, and a trip to see a very old friend of mine, who had been an exchange student in my tiny high school when I was growing up. She lives near Geneva and so I not only got to see her house and to meet her husband and children, but I also traveled with her to her parents house in the mountains, where I got to meet the whole family, hike in the snow and drink Schnapps. It was a fun time all around!

Swiss cows are friendly!

After I returned, I spent a bit of Hobbit time doing things around the house, visiting local friends, going out for drinks with the work mates, cooking, shopping and eating and generally just catching up on life. I still have a mountain of items on my To Do list, but I am checking them off little by little! Unfortunately, new ones keep popping up!

And....Beer: New category! You know how you try things, such as beer, or wine or a new recipe, and then when you go to get another or make another, you can't remember the name or the website? Well, to prevent that, I am trying to remember to log things better and to write them down. So, the new beer I tried in September that I liked was: Fieldwork's Torrential Double IPA (website here).

What do you have on your To Do List? What new beer have you tried lately? What happened in your September worth mentioning? 

6 comments:

  1. That is so awesome that you got to re-connect with an exchange student and meet here extended family! How fun! I want to hear more about your trip, though, so add that to your to do list. ;) Hee hee.

    I pretty much only make weekly to do list these days and there aren't any big projects on it as it's most small stuff like grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, doing something related to my presidency on the run club board, etc. I have not tried any new beers lately since I don't like them/can't drink them, but I had a nice cider at dinner on Sunday night! And things worth mentioning in September were my trip to visit Amber, my 22 mile training run, making dinner for Phil's mom, and experimenting with new recipes for Julia Child night!

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  2. It sounds like you had a pretty balanced month with lots of fun activities. I loved the Swiss cows and how they all have cowbells on and yes, seem totally happy.

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  3. There's always room for beer. Great month!

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  4. Switzerland sounds so amazing. I really want to go there.

    I'm glad you had such a lovely month!

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  5. Sounds like a glorious Sept and a busy to-do list with other "stuff". You sound happy and hope you're enjoying your house:) Will have to check out some of your book suggestions.

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  6. What an exciting and busy month you had! You do get to the most amazing places.

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