A Few of Elisabeth's Thoughts On Travel

As you know, I love to travel! I am always curious about how other people plan, how they started their travel journey, where they have been and what they liked. I think that talking to others is a great way to get ideas for future trips and also a great way to form connections with other people. I also love to ask questions and am a very curious person, although I think that some people are not as impressed by it as others!! Luckily, my guest is not only an avid traveler, but she also doesn't mind me picking her brain and is happy to answer my questions with gusto! 

She probably does not need much of an introduction, so I will get right to it: please welcome my guest for today, Elisabeth. I was drawn to her because she loves to travel, is friendly and easy to talk to, is frank about her feelings, is a staunch thrift store shopper, and is just an all around good person. But enough out of me, let's get to the Q and A already! (Also, you can find my answers to Elisabeth's questions over on her site today!) 

For the readers who don't know you, please tell us where you are from, a little bit about who you are and one thing that even those who know you may not know about you. 

I have lived my whole life on the Eastern side of Canada. I was born in New Brunswick, moved to Nova Scotia as a toddler, moved back to New Brunswick as a teen, and then moved back to Nova Scotia as an adult! Aside from the winters, I am a Maritimer at heart. 

Baby Elisabeth

I’m married to an incredible man named John (here's some backstory on our entrepreneurial history together) - and we have two children; a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son.

I had to think for a while about what surprising fact I might not have shared before (this may hint that I’m an oversharer). Most people know I hate water on my face, have a crazily sensitive back, and am a direct descendant of William Wallace (aka Braveheart). What I don’t think anyone knows is that, in another family setting, I likely wouldn’t be writing these words today. Because of some high risk factors my mother had been warned not to have any more children after her third…seven years later she found out she was pregnant with me. My parents were shocked and the doctors were not amused. They told my mother in no uncertain terms she needed to terminate the pregnancy because they were certain I would have life limiting challenges. That wasn’t a decision my parents could support ethically, so my mom spent the rest of her pregnancy assuming I was going to have severe mental and physical limitations.

(Another lesser-known fact: a month after I was born, I won a local beautiful baby contest. My parents still have the trophy.) (K: I get that; you were a cute baby!) 

If I were to come and visit you for a three day weekend, where would you take me and why? 

This collage belongs on a travel website!

First, I’d say: Oh goodie! You will LOVE Nova Scotia. Then I’d get down to organizing an itinerary.

Day One: We’d start the day at our local farmer’s market to grab a fresh breakfast and coffee while listening to local musicians play outside. Then we’d hike the waterfront/dykeland trail all the way to Grand Pré (a Unesco World Heritage Site). We’d walk back to town (an 8 km round trip) for a well-earned lunch at my favourite local eatery: the Naked Crepe. We’d wander around the various stores in downtown Wolfville for several hours and pop into my favourite cafe for a warm drink and some baked goods before driving out to Scott’s Bay for an evening of beachcombing, complete with a bonfire, seaside picnic, and incredible views of the setting sun.

Day Two: We’d hike Cape Split (one of the most famous trails in all of Nova Scotia; about 13 km return), picnicking at the summit. Then we’d make our way to Blomidon Provincial Park to take in the soaring bright red cliffs, and trek through the mud to the water's edge. On our way home we’d stop at Medford Beach, which is located just fifteen minutes from my town but it looks like another planet. We’d explore all the formations before heading home to clean up and then I’d make a home cooked supper (Chicken Mango Curry, rice, and cornbread). 

Day Three: We’d start at Peggy’s Cove - perhaps my favourite spot in all of Nova Scotia - followed by a trip to the South Shore. We’d spent a few hours walking around Lunenburg and Mahone Bay (quaint little towns full of colourful shops), followed by a stop at a local white-sand beach.

Cape Sable

If we had a bonus day, I’d hire someone to take us out to Cape Sable - an island just off the coast of Nova Scotia with one of the tallest lighthouses in the country (103 ft.) and a whole lot of sheep. It’s breathtaking and you would love it. (K: That all sounds perfect, plus I see you added some hiking; thanks! Also I can't wait to try your curry and cornbread! Also I am so glad that Peggy's Cove made the list.) 

What was the first place you remember traveling to, who were you with and what did you do? 

I’m going to cheat and answer this three ways. 

The first place I traveled regularly was our family cottage. It had no electricity or running water and it was the most magical place on earth. We’d go for 3.5-4 weeks each summer and be completely off grid. I LOVED it. My siblings were a lot older, so in later years it was just me with my parents, but early in life it would have been our whole family of 6. I’ve been there every year since birth, so that doesn’t really feel like the answer you’re looking for?

The next travel adventure was taking a 2.5 hour ferry from Digby, Nova Scotia to Saint John, New Brunswick to visit my maternal grandmother. These trips were SO exciting and I always went with just my mom. 

The last memory I'll share is when I was 11 - the first time I left Canada. We drove to South Carolina for my sister’s wedding and I thought it was the most exciting thing I’d ever done in my life. Everything looked different. Miles instead of kilometers on speed signs, gallons instead of liters of milk at the grocery store. I was enraptured. I turned 12 on the day she got married <3 (K: I bet that was fun; my first experience in real life with km and l was when I was in my 20s!) 

If the above was not by plane, tell us a little about the first place you went to by plane. Do you remember how you felt about flying for the first time? 

I flew to St. John’s Newfoundland when I was 19 for a conference where I presented research from my Honour’s thesis. I don’t really remember how I felt; likely very embarrassed that I was the only one who had never flown and nervous I would mess it up somehow. (K: my first international flight was alone and my parents came with me to the gate! Remember those days?) 

What travel experience has been your favorite so far? And tell us one place we should go to if we go there ourselves. 

I don’t know if I can answer this? I have loved Paris and Rome the most, but I wouldn’t want to go there alone. I always prefer to travel with someone (preferably John), but if I had to explore a place alone, I’d likely pick NYC. (K: I love NYC and could wander the streets for hours and never get bored)

I will give you $10,000 but you have to spend it on travel to somewhere you have never been before. Tell me where you would go and what you would do. 

Either the Amalfi Coast - it just looks so beautiful - or Scotland. I know the latter is an odd choice, but I’ve always wanted to go for some reason; maybe because my family roots are strongly tied to that region? I also really want to go back to Iceland, but technically I've already been there...albeit just on an extended layover. (K: I have Iceland on my short list and can verify that you would love Scotland!) 

What is your opinion on traveling abroad with children? Is there an age that is too young? Are there certain places you would go or any you would steer clear of?

Elisabeth and fam in New York

How do I put this delicately? If I had the choice, I would always travel without kids at this point. John and I have done: Sydney, Australia (not to be confused with Sydney, Nova Scotia), the Dominican Republic, Paris, and Rome solo while my parents watched the kids. It didn’t feel like we could ask my aging parents to keep managing that responsibility, hence taking the kids to Barcelona. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I would rather be going just with John.

All that said, we did take our daughter to Denmark when she was a toddler. We have some great memories but it was also pretty miserable since her sleeping and eating was thrown completely out of whack. I’m a bit nervous about Barcelona and definitely would prefer to only travel with my kids (internationally at least) once they’re both teens.

Baby A in Denmark

Other people have very different feelings about traveling with kids. 

On the other hand, we have done a LOT of road trips with our kids and keep them very engaged with local adventuring. I never went outside the country before I was 12, so the things our kids have experienced already in life far outpaces my own. (K: they may not know it now, but these travels will shape them so much, and in so many good ways!) 

Tell us about something weird or scary that happened to you while traveling.

Hmmm. I’m drawing a blank here…I guess I could mention the time we booked the wrong dates for accommodations on the Cabot Trail. Once we realized our mistake, there was literally only one place left we could find an availability. There was a reason it was still available. The door to our motel room was wide open to the outside when we arrived, there were dead bugs all over the floor, and in the morning I realized my feet were getting wet. Turns out a pipe broke flooding our entire room! When John went to tell them at the check-in desk about what had happened, they didn’t seem the least bit surprised. We did not stay for the included breakfast but our daughter loves to retell this story so it has a happyish ending since it provided a lasting family memory. (K: Yikes! I once had a room in India with a poo-scented shower and dead mosquito guts on the walls and it was a horrible night of sleep, but I guess the worst experiences make for the best stories sometimes!) 

One state I have never been to is South Carolina and I know your sister lives there! If I went there for the weekend, what would you suggest I do? 

Charleston is lovely; walking across the Ravenel Bridge, strolling through the battery and looking at all the cool architecture makes for a great active adventure. The beach at Sullivan’s Island is lovely on a sunny day.

In Columbia - where she lives - the Riverbanks Zoo is wonderful if you have kids in tow. I’m not a zoo person, but this is my favourite of any I’ve visited. I also really love their new riverwalk; it snakes along a river and the whole (long!) path is lined with tall black lamp posts. It looks like something out of Narnia. 

Columbia River Walk

I’d also highly recommend befriending my sister and having her family take you out on Lake Murray for some tubing, a delicious picnic, before rounding out the evening by watching the sun set over the water. (K: Sign me up! I love new friends and tubing and picnic sounds great!)

Tell us about your travel planning process. Do you and your husband share tasks or does one of you do more planning? How far in advance do you plan? Do you stay in AirBnBs or hotels or BnBs, etc.!!? 

John books the flights and hotels. He consults me for the broad things - dates, general locations - but does all the rest of this process. We generally stay in hotels. He gets points by staying at many chains, and we make use of the bar fridges to store snack/breakfast items. We generally book plane tickets 4-5 months in advance, book accommodations 2-3 months in advance, and I start planning 2 months before we head out.

I generally handle most of the itinerary. First I pull together a (very) rough draft of places from my initial research. Then I like to use search strings like “Best Free Things to Do in X” and “Hidden Gems in X.” I’ll read a dozen “Hidden Gems” articles, see what overlaps between them, and write down places I think would be especially interesting for us. Then I research each spot and pin them to a Google map if they seem to warrant a visit. 

Once the map is complete, I look for patterns and try to group our activities within a set radius each day (for example, for our Toronto/NYC family road trip in 2022, we spent our first full day in New York in midtown, the second day in Lower Manhattan/Brooklyn, and the final day in uptown). (K: I love using Google map pins! I did this with the Alaska trip and it made things so much easier!) 

What is your perfect day when you are "on the road"? 

Waking up refreshed, but early so we get to our first stop early to avoid lines. (The weather would be perfect of course; not too hot, not too cold.) We’d grab a coffee along the way, and maybe a local pastry or breakfast smoothie. After touring the first place, we’d meander for several hours, looking at local architecture or visiting some of those “hidden gems” I've discovered in my research. John would take lots of incredible photos. We’d enjoy a leisurely lunch and then head to another “main stop” before strolling around until we see a little market or store where we’d pick up supplies for a simple picnic enjoyed in front of a famous monument or square where we’d watch the sun go down and enjoy the magical transformation of a city/town/lake at night. (K: This sounds like a great day to me!) 

Do you have any follow up questions for Elisabeth? Who is the travel planner in your household? What place(s) would you go to if you had $10,000? 

West Coast Adventures

Happy Tuesday and for those of you who had yesterday off, I hope that you had a great long weekend! I had an adventure filled several days actually, and drove more last weekend than I have in a couple of months! First was a stop to Grass Valley, a town where gold was discovered in 1850. Their main mine, the Empire Mine was the richest hard rock mine in California, producing 5.8 million ounces of gold in its operating history of 106 years. Just to put that in perspective, currently one ounce of gold is sold for about $2,000.00! I spent a couple of days spending time with family, playing games and hiking around Empire Mine, which is now a park with dirt paths for hiking. 

Mill St. Grass Valley in December

Next, I headed to Monterey and Carmel for the annual MLK girls trip with K, A & L. We had a great time searching through the tidepools for fancy shells, eating candy, playing in the waves and watching the sea otters try to crack things while floating on their backs (they are so cute!) We also drove the 17 mile drive, which winds along the coast and has some great views! I think the girls were happier to just find shells on the beach and were not as impressed by the drive, but we had fun all the same! It rained a bit on Saturday and Sunday, but overall we had pretty good weather and I even got a tad burnt! 

Carmel Beach

Lone Cypress Tree - 17 Mile Drive

L looking for otters at the Monterey pier.

On Monday, I went with a friend to hike San Francisco's crosstown trail, which is a 17 mile trail that goes from Candlestick Point, which is on the southeast side of town to the Cliff House, which is on the northwest side of town. 

Crosstown trail map (found here)

It is actually a really cool taste of the city, and goes through some neighborhoods and parks that I had never been in before. It also tries to go on a lot of dirt, so it would randomly just pop into the trees on a path that you may not have even noticed. It also went on a lot of hidden stairways (which I have talked about before) and I found some of those too that I had not been on before. All in all, it was a great way to see the city in a different way than I had seen. However, it did go through some of the places on my 10 things to do in San Francisco list too, for example, we went on Irving Street and stopped there for pho!  

16th Ave. tiled steps - very cool mosaic! 

16th Ave. stairs with Ocean Beach in background.

Moraga stairs with downtown San Francisco in background.

Ocean Beach

This was the second "town tour" walk I have done in the last month; the first was the same kind of thing in the city of Pacifica on new year's weekend. So now I think I need to make one or find one for Oakland and that can be the next one in the tour of the town series! Maybe I will try to include some of my favorite nooks and crannies on my next tour! 

How was your weekend!? Have you ever been to the California coast? Have you ever done a walking tour or a long walk around the neighborhoods of your town? 

Looking Back: 2023 Money Pie

Who is ready for a slice of money pie? As you may know, I always do a debrief with myself at the end of each year to see where all my money has gone! I also do a quarterly net worth statement just to get a read on where things are, but I will not be posting that here! :) 

In 2023, I am happy to say that I decreased my overall spending from 2022 by about 12% and came in below my yearly (8 year) average by about 9%. The main drivers of this decrease were the travel and home categories, which I will talk more about below. 

Here are the categories in the order of largest percentage to smallest. 

Home: 63.2%. Interestingly, last year my home category was 63.7% of my overall spending and in 2021 it was 64.1%, so I guess no matter how you slice it, the home category continues to be almost two thirds of my spending! This category includes mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, as well as other misc. items, such as home improvement, maintenance and furnishings. 80% of this number is mortgage and property tax.  You may remember that I mentioned last year about how I was paying a little extra into my mortgage? This year, given the good rates on cash, I stopped doing that and put the money into high yield savings instead. Due to this, I decreased the actual dollar spending amount in this category by about 13% from last year. 

Transportation: 12.2%. This normally includes Lyft/Uber, public transportation, car insurance, maintenance, registration, gas, tolls & parking, but this year I added bike maintenance and parking fees to the category as well. Despite commuting by bike from July to December, I still had public transportation costs, but the main culprit in this category was body work after my car got broken into. I also got four new tires for the Red Rocket and did a full body tune up on Bertha. 

Travel: 6.6%. This category includes airfare, car rental, lodging and any groceries, dining out or transportation incurred while traveling. Although I did not travel internationally and much of my travel consisted of tent camping and eating my own meals, some of the other costs incurred during travel were quite expensive this year. I went to Alaska, and the rental car alone was about $1,500!! It was an SUV though and we actually slept in it several times, so saved on hotels, thank goodness. However, even with this, I spent about 50% less on this category than in 2022. 

Misc.: 4.4%. This category includes gifts, haircuts, legal fees, fees for credit cards, tax prep software and education expenses. I had to pay for my yearly CFA dues, legal fees to set up a trust and annual credit card fees, but other than that, the bulk of this category was for gifts! (PS no haircuts in 2023 😊)

Groceries: 3.7%. This category went down by 38% from last year, mostly due to the fact that part of my purging process was to stop buying new stuff until I had used up older stuff! I would say that I did a pretty good job and have had fun being creative with cupboard items, but I still bought the regulars like butter, eggs, fresh veggies and cheese. My other saving grace for this category was less trips to Costco and/or only allowing myself to buy what I went in there for! I do have a tendency to grab yummy looking things oh a whim, but this year I put a stop to that! Funny though, out of my six visits to Costco, I bought tortilla chips on five of them. Some habits you just can't break. 

Dining Out: 3.5%. This category includes eating out, coffee and booze. This one is a little misleading this year, as I decided that in an effort to spend time with people and have experiences rather than buying more things, I would enjoy meals with them! Given this, I bought meals for friends several times. I could technically call this "gifts," but for now I am going to leave it as dining out. However, it does inflate this category a bit, and I had a 200% increase over last year. 

Entertainment: 3.1%. This category includes music, theater, sporting events, cycling and running & camping expenses. In 2023, I went to two shows (Les Mis and Book of Mormon), a couple of sporting events, but my biggest categories for this are still running (32%), hiking (20%) and cycling (19%). My biggest purchases were race fees (three races), a new GPS watch and a new rain jacket. 

Health: 2.6%. This category includes health insurance, out of pocket costs, massages, medicines and vitamins etc. This year most of my visits were covered as preventative, so the bulk of this cost is the insurance itself. 

Shopping: 0.8%. This category includes toiletries, clothing, misc. home items & appliances, electronics and books. Basically this year I bought three things in this category: a new camera, a 3-pack of underwear that I hated and feminine products. Trying to purge more has really made me think about things more before buying. Also some of the camping etc. items I did buy are included under the entertainment category. 

I do also put some money aside for investments and saving each year, but since this money is not yet "spent" I do not count it in this analysis. I also do not include income taxes, but if I did, they would probably be my highest category! However, since I don't have much control over them, I am going to leave them out for now. 

Do you do a yearly review of your finances? Do you have a budget? What is your biggest spending category? 

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q4

Well folks, the year has ended and it's once again time to be accountable for what my plans were at the beginning of the year. As you know, I try to purge a little each month every year so that I don't get a glut of things that I have to eventually go through all at once. My three areas I wanted to work on for the last three months of they year were reading nook, health and plants. 

Reading Nook: This is a room with several bookshelves and a nice chair to sit and read in, plus it has windows on two sides, so it has a lot of light. For this reason it is also my plant room. I wanted to read some books on my shelves and get rid of them, as well as get rid of the books I have kept with the intention of reading again but not reread. 

Reading Nook -- Before

Reading Nook -- After (don't mind the disassembled shelving)

I found I was keeping books just to have them, but decided that if I moved again, I do not want to move boxes and boxes of books just to display them. I have only bought a handful of books over the last 10 years and am really utilizing the library exclusively these days and I don't really reread very many books (with the exception of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, of course). I also do not really love holding up a heavy paper book as much any more! 

How am I doing? I am going to say that I kicked ass in this category. I basically got rid of all books except for a few travel or education books, and a few books from my childhood, and a half a dozen that I have not read yet but still may read. I literally went from three bookshelves to one, and plan to get rid of that one in the next month also. 

What is next? As stated, I will read the handful I have left, get rid of the last shelf and I will have a whole room to play with! Expected completion date: end of January. 

Health: I try to get all of my health related things done by November, but if I haven't, this is when I check in with myself and get them scheduled by the end of the year. This works schedule-wise, but it also important for insurance, which often pays a certain amount of dollars or for one preventative visit per calendar year. 

How am I doing? Check, check, check! I did save the best for last and had my mammogram literally the last week before Christmas, but otherwise I was pretty much good to go. Side note: I had a riveting conversation about the dangers of bicycling in San Francisco with the mammo tech while standing in the room half naked. Good times. 

What is next? I need a crown and was putting it off for two reasons. (1) I hate the dentist and I don't want to do it! (2) the insurance I had did not cover it at my dental office, so I switched from a PPO to an HMO and now that it is a new year with new coverage, I can schedule it. I also get dollars from my company towards my HSA if I do certain activities (sleep, water, wellness check etc.) so I will get that done ASAP because compounding rules! Expected completion date: end of February.

Plants: I love plants and I often make clippings and replant them and so I have a plethora of plants. I didn't really have a plan for these, but knew that I need to start doing something about them. 

Too many plants! And this is just a fraction of them. 

How am I doing? This year I gave away a few clippings to different people, but I still have too many.

What is next? Next up is to either sell some on FB marketplace or give them away for free. Expected completion date: end of January.

In addition to the above items, this year, I have also kept a bag in my closet for donation items and if I put on a shirt and it is too short, it goes right in the bag. I have taken at least one run to Salvation Army per month this year. I also keep a "to shred" bag, where I can easily throw paper items that need to be shredded and then I can take them to work and shred them little by little. I am also still working on selling some of the more valuable (or sought after) items online. 

One (of many) load(s) of donations!

I would say that all in all, I think my year of purging went well and hopefully that means that 2024 will be a breeze, as each year there should be less and less things to go through. I really do want to pare it down even more though, as it really is amazing how much stuff we accumulate over the years. My other goal is not try not to "stock up" on things, which is very hard for me, as I like to plan ahead, and to buy things when they are a good deal! There is always room to improve, I guess. 

Did you get all of your health check ups done by the end of the year? Do you keep/reread physical books? Did you have any purging goals for 2023 and if so, how did they go? 

Best of 2023: Books

Happy New Year! According to Goodreads, I read 205 books in 2023, or roughly 70,000 pages. Here are a few stats.  

Breakdown by star rating: 

5 stars (loved/it was great): 14 (7%)

4 stars (liked a lot/it was good): 80 (39%)

3 stars (liked a little/it was okay): 75 (37%)

2 stars (barely liked/it was not that good): 23 (11%)

1 star (it sucked but I finished it): 0 (0%)

0 stars (DNF): 13 (6%)

Average rating including DNFs: 3.2

Average excluding DNFs: 3.4

Breakdown by type: 

Audiobook: 165 (81%) 

eBook: 27 (13%)

Paper Book: 13 (6%) (of these, 8 were from my own shelf)

Published in: 

2023: 63 (31%)

Other years: 142 (69%)

I guess the moral of the above stats is that if a book sucks, I just DNF it, rather than finishing it, hence the case of no one star ratings. Also this year my proportion of audiobooks read increased by about 6% over last year. My number of books read in total increased by about 29%. I would guess that much of this increase is due to the fact that I have been listening to less and less music and/or podcasts and leaning more towards listening to books. I still find the need to pump up a run from time to time with some Lil John, don't get me wrong, but I often stray more towards books. 

You can find a list of all of my favorites from prior years on my bookshelf page or on Goodreads. 

I am usually a little bit stingy with my five star ratings on Goodreads. However, this year I had fourteen books that I thought deserved that high rating! Here they are, in no particular order! 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. What can I say, this is a cute book. I did not hear all of the hype; I just picked it because it had a bright cover and came up on my list on Libby when I was searching for books. It is about the relationship between an old lady and an octopus and a younger, kind of troubled boy. I enjoyed the characters, the story was engaging but not too fluffy, and I was entertained throughout. 

Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg. I do like RBG and enjoy learning more about her as well as hearing each different point of view from the different authors I have read. Nina was a reporter who became friends with Ruth despite their age difference. This book details their friendship as well as some of their accomplishments, especially geared toward equality for women. 

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. In this novel, Obama talks about her relationships in life, but especially the ones with her mother and her kids. She has some words of wisdom like "start kind" which could be kind of corny coming from the wrong person but from her it makes sense. 

All The Broken Places by John Boyne. This book is about an elderly woman living in London. When a new family moves in downstairs from her, it brings up some memories of the past, which are mostly surrounding her escape from Nazi Germany at age 12 and the fact that her father was the commandant of one of the concentration camps during the war. It goes back and forth between the two time periods, weaving a story of guilt, complicity, grief and remorse and in the end, she has to decide whether or not to reveal some of her long kept secrets. 

Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen. Although I work in the finance industry, I enjoyed this book because it is written in a simple manner that anyone can understand. Shen talks about growing up in China where her family lived on pennies per day, to moving to the US where she learned how to invest so that she could quit work early and travel the world. Her plan is pretty simple and you may have heard it before but it is still a nice reminder that we can live more simply than we do and perhaps spend more time enjoying our lives now rather than always working so hard to make more money for the future. 

In Love by Amy Bloom. Get your tissues out for this one. This is not a spoiler, but this book is about a woman whose husband gets diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and he decides to die with dignity rather than living out his life with the disease. Obviously this is not an easy decision and Bloom goes through some of the struggles that they face as they work through the plan. 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Although this is a YA book, it touches on something that we sometimes forget about here in the US, and that is the fact that as late as 1989, people in Romania were still under communist rule. The main character is a teenager who has normal teenage dreams but is held back by the government oppression and has to decide whether to do nothing or to fight back and risk the lives of his family. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This is not the first time I read this book and it will not be the last. It is about a girl in Brooklyn and her family struggling to survive as they go through life. Life is not easy, food is scarce, and some of the lessons are hard, but Francie and her family persevere. The reread was heighted even more by the discussion had as part of Engie's cool blogger book club. 

Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher (4.5 stars) and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women. 

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I found fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. 

A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney. Get your tissues out again; this is a father's heart wrenching story about his young son getting diagnosed with terminal cancer. I didn't really know who the author was, but he is a comedian and actor, and he does a good job of putting his emotions into this book but still making it light, if that even seems possible. 

Drowning by T.J. Newman. I know that I joined the momentum train on this book, but I found it was a fast, easy, entertaining read. Was it profound? No. Did it make my runs go by faster? Yes. A plane goes down over the ocean and it hits the water, bursts into flames and sinks. What happens to the passengers? Do they survive? And if so, how? Read on to find out. (P.S. I also read Falling but was not as enamored by that one). 

Go As A River by Shelley Read. This is a story of a girl growing up in Colorado in a farming town in the 40s. It goes through her life of love, her relationship with her family, the hardships of life at that time and her struggles to get by. There were some details in the story that sounded so real that I had to fact check and they were real! 

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Birchie recommended this with the caveat that it was strange and she was not sure what to think of it at first. It was a thriller about a woman in her 40s who lacks the mental maturity of someone her age. When her father dies, she puts him out with the trash, just as he has told her to do. This gets the attention of the police and the surrounding community, as well as the media. Due to this she later gets some unwanted attention and finds out things about her past that she did not know about before. It's twisted and dark, but I enjoyed every minute of it. 

A couple of additional nearly five star reads were You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith, Kindred by Octavia Butler, I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, and The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. 

What was your favorite book of 2023? Do you mostly read audio, eBook or paper books? 

What I Learned: 23 New Things

Happy Boxing Day! I hope that everyone had a great weekend and a great holiday with their loved ones. This week is a short one workwise, plus we have another three day weekend to look forward to next weekend! I thought that I would start wrapping up the year early by getting started on some of the year end lists. Last year, I went over 22 new things I had learned, seen, done and new places I had gone over the year. I really like injecting new things into my life, as it keeps things fresh, even if it is sometimes a little uncomfortable! I liked the list so much that I decided to do it again, so here we have, in no particular order, 23 new things from 2023. 

1. Alaska. This was one of the 50 U.S. states that I had not yet been to. I had a great time hiking, running, looking at mountains and glaciers and experiencing light basically all night. I did not see the Northern Lights though, so this is still on my wish list for now. 

Hiking the Bomber Traverse

2. Overnight bikepacking for the first time. At the beginning of the year I finally took Bob out for his first off road experience. I biked from my house to the Samuel L. Taylor state park, which is a cool camping and hiking area in the redwoods. I spent the night there and then biked back home the next day. It was very fun, a little harder than I thought it would be, and it made me want to do it again (see #22)! 

3. Selling stuff on the internet. Before this year, I had never really sold anything on the internet. As I have mentioned before, I broke the seal with shoes as they are rectangular and easy to ship, and then moved onto other things. Are there scammers and bots and people from Nigeria messaging you? Yes. Can you ignore/mute them? Yes. Was it as bad as I feared it would be? Nope, in fact it was not bad at all. As an added bonus (?) I also am now quite proficient at Venmo, which I was not really a user of before. However, if you want to sell on FB marketplace, you gotta get used to using Venmo. 

4. Hiking the Arizona Trail (AZT). For Easter weekend, I took an extra day off and spent five days hiking on the Arizona Trail. It was much different than what I am used to in my neck of the woods, which was fun. Also, I got lucky that it was a high snow year and so I had enough water and it was not scorching hot. For those who don't know, this trail is normally hiked in the spring or fall, as the summers can get into the 110+ range at times. 

Picketpost Mountain - AZT

5. Life on Mars. I have a friend who is doing a Mars simulation, meaning that she is stuck in a habitat for a year as if she were actually living on Mars. This deserves a post of its own, but for now you can read about it here if you are interested. Being on Mars means that there are no phone calls, no video calls, basically no real time communication. Even emails are delayed due to the "distance" from Mars to Earth. Luckily we can send emails up to a certain size, so I have been sending her voice recordings so that she can hear my voice from time to time. I never really liked the sound of my voice, but I have gotten used to it, as I often listen to my last recording before sending a new one so that I can remember what I already talked about. 

6. Not quite a century aka 97 miles in one go. Bertha and I completed a century minus three this fall. I know, I know, I should have just ridden another THREE miles to get to 100 but I didn't feel like it. I know that if I can do 97, I can do 100, and I will do it eventually. This was from Davis to Oakland and it was quite a journey. What I learned from this is that I prefer non-city riding over city riding. 

7. Ninth (and penultimate?) Quad Dipsea. After you run the Quad Dipsea ten times you get a fancy finishers jacket. I keep telling myself that I just have to run it one more time and then I am done!! We shall see though, as I know many a friend who has said that and is now on their 13th or 14th time. 

Headed downhill to Stinson Beach during the Quad Dipsea

8. Watch a Japanese movie. I do not know what the style is called, but I watched The Boy and the Heron. My brother loves this style, and so do K's kids, but I was just ho hum on it. I am not opposed to cartoons; I love Finding Nemo! However, I am not sure the two dimensional drawing style or the pace of the movie was my favorite. When I said this to my brother he said that this style is "very beloved" and he was sad to hear that... 😞 I guess one thing I did like was the background scenery drawings, as they resembled watercolors. 

9. Hike to Lake Aloha in the snow. Last winter was a very high snow year and this meant that even in July, hiking was very snowy! However, although it was difficult to get to, we had Lake Aloha basically to ourselves and it was beautiful. To top it off we had to jump in for a swim, even while avoiding the icebergs! 

Camping above Lake Aloha

10. Switch from Comcast (Xfinity) to Sonic. My Comcast was getting very expensive, at about $75 for just internet. So I decided to finally take the plunge and try a new carrier, Sonic, which has fiber and was only $39 per month. My first three months were free, the speed was great, and then it got bumped up to $39 BUT...as it always is, the price was more than I thought. They charge $10 for a voice line, which I do not use but cannot cancel, and with the taxes and the router rental (which I could not use my old one for), it ended up being $70!! Haha. I guess I am saving $5 and it IS fast, so there's that. 

11. Mendocino. I had driven past Mendocino before but never stayed there, and it was a treat. It is a small coastal town and you can walk along the bluffs. It was a rainy weekend when we were there, but we had fun walking on the beach, eating and riding on the skunk train! 

Pacific coast near Mendocino

12. Ride to Santa Rosa for the weekend. On New Years Day I rode to my brother's house in Santa Rosa from Richmond, which was my longest ride ever at the time, and was about 55 miles each way. Later in the year, I beat my own PR by riding from my house to his, which was about 75 miles each way. 

13. Ride the Amtrak with a bike. The weekend that I rode 97 miles was part of a journey I took where I took the Amtrak from Oakland to Auburn and then over the next two days rode from Grass Valley back to Oakland. The experience was good and I would like to do some more train rides, and knowing I can put my bike on them fairly easily was a relief. Maybe one day I will just ride off into the sunset and if I get tired, I will take the train back home. 

The bike car on Amtrak

14. Throw away all old Christmas cards. I was saving these because now a lot of them have photos and those are memories! However, now there is Facebook and other places on the internet where I can find photos of people so I decided that I did not need to keep them in a box that I never look through. I have to say, it feels like a weight has been lifted. I am sure I will have moments where I wish I had that cute photo of three year old soandso, but right now, it feels good. 

15. Three Michelin star dinner. For a client dinner, we went to SingleThread, a three-star Michelin restaurant in Healdsburg, which is part of the Sonoma county wine region. I am not going to lie, I don't think the bang was worth the buck. I am glad I got to try it, but I will probably not go there again. 

16. Complete a snowshoe race. In February, I went to see Lisa for her birthday and we did a snowshoe race. It was fun but we used old school snowshoes and there are actually running style ones that would be easier to run in. However, we had a great time chatting and staying warm by moving as fast as possible and drinking the (warm) water at the aid stations! 

Lisa getting it done! 

17. Gluten free biscuits and gravy. B&G is my favorite breakfast item. However, in 2022 I realized that wheat gives me some tummy issues so I have been avoiding it ever since. I was very sad to give up both biscuits, which are obviously made of flour, and good sausage gravy, which is thickened with flour. But Lisa and I found a good GF bakery near the snowshoe race and they had B&G and they were really good! I meant to try duplicating it on my own, but I have not gotten around to it (however, I have done a bit of GF baking and I find that the results are actually pretty good!) 

18. Bike accidents. I am very careful on the bike, but I would be amiss if all I did was talk about the good. In Spokane, I hit a goat head thorn, blew a tire, and tumbled (and skidded face first) right on the pavement. Luckily I was wearing gloves and the car next to me was stopped. In Oakland, I got hit by a car turning right. Luckily, he was not moving fast and I just bounced of his passenger door and onto the ground. I took a trail ride and went over a bump and accidentally squeezed the front brake too hard and went ass over teakettle over the handlebars. Luckily all of these have been minor, but accidents do happen! 

19. Driverless cars. I knew they were around, but it still made me do a double take when I saw my first driverless car in San Francisco. I signed up to try it, as they offer ride shares, but still have not had a chance yet. There have been some controversies over these, but aside from a couple of kinks, I think a robot is probably better suited to driving than many of the humans I see operating motor vehicles. 

A Cruise car with nobody at the wheel. 

20. Hike in Castle Crags State Park. I have driven by and even hiked near Castle Crags, but had never been inside the park before. In June, for my Dad's birthday, my family went and hiked up to the Crag Dome, where we had a great view of Mt. Shasta and the surrounding area. For those who don't know, Mt. Shasta is about 14,180 feet high, which I think makes it the 5th highest mountain in California. It is volcanic and is part of the Cascade Range, which extends all the way to BC and includes well known mountains like Hood and Rainier. 

21. Drive through the eastern part of Oregon. Once you leave Bend and head east, it just gets more and more sparse and the trees go away and it gets hot and there are no amenities. Really, there are none! We almost ran out of gas. We also camped off the side of the highway and there were these huge crickets, which could be Jerusalem or Mormon crickets, but whatever they were, they were gross and they hitchhiked in my car and I kept finding them in random places for days afterward. 

High desert of Oregon

22. Bike across Washington state. K's daughter A told everyone that I rode across the US, but I had to tell her that I may someday, but this trip was only across WA! It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed the Olympic Peninsula and the varying scenery of the state as a whole. This trip had a lot of firsts: longest multi-day ride, first time taking the bike on the ferry, lots of new rail trails, riding through Seattle and riding through a two mile long tunnel! 

23. Soccer mom duties. Once a week I go and spend time with my friend K and her daughters A and L and often on weekends I will chauffer and spectate whatever sport is happening for the season. This has now been a regular thing for a couple of years, and it has been fun to be chauffer, confidant, game buddy, soccer/lacrosse "mom," bike instructor, cook and friend to all three ladies. Even though sometimes it is hectic and we don't have time to chat, more often than not, it is a chance to catch up a little with what is happening in each of their lives, which is priceless.

So there you have it, 23 new things in 2023. There were many more than this of course, but these were some of my favorites. 

What new things did you do/learn/try or places did you go in 2023? How do you feel about driverless cars? How do you feel about the Japanese drawing style? 

Where Did You Find That Book?

My work husband G once asked me how I find so many different and good book recommendations. He is an avid reader, but prefers non-fiction and does not belong to any book clubs or the like. He joined Goodreads because I told him about it and now I am his only friend, which means that he sees ALL of my ratings and comments about them at work. He is not really a social media person, but loves being able to keep track of his books, which I find very dear. I have recommended a few fiction books to him which he has really loved (The Nightingale, The House in The Cerulean Sea, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn) even though his genre is usually non-fiction. 

To answer his question, I told him that I have a multitiered process. 

First of all, my number one method for getting good book recommendations is from other bloggers, and I keep them in a list and make a few notes. I also do rate them in Goodreads once I am done; the notes I keep in this list are very basic. Here are a few examples.

Birchie: The Social Climber by Amanda Pellegrino (put on hold 11/13)

NGS/Lisa: Kill Show (put on hold 12/01, hard copy only, no audio) 

Stephany: Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb  (put on hold 10/24)

----------------    READ ------------------------

Emily: An Evil Heart (on hold 10/06) READ, thought it was good. 

Elisabeth/Nicole: I Feel Bad About My Neck (borrowed 6/28) READ, really liked it. Great read about getting older as a woman. Humorous.

Jenny: Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory (Deena Kastor) (put on hold 9/28) READ, thought it was good. Definitely different from the other two running lady books I read this year. [Side note, in case you are wondering, they were Good For A Girl and The Longest Race]

The other thing I do is I poach my friends' feeds on Goodreads for five star reviews. This is actually not one I do very often, as I am not really a social media scroller; I generally get on, add my updates and get off without really looking through the feed. However, sometimes I will see a five star and I will go to Libby and put that on hold. For these ones, I don't really make a list or notes. 

I also peruse the Goodreads annual choice awards. Each year a winning book is chosen from each genre. However, there are also about 10 nominees for each category and I often will add books from the top ten to my holds list. For example, here were some of the top nominees (and the winner, Weyward) for this year's historical fiction category (one of my favorite genres). 

However, I will also peruse the prior years nominee lists if I am looking to fill my holds bin. Sometimes there are books on the old lists that I have still never read. The good thing about this method for me is that I can tell by a glance on Goodreads if I have read it or not, because more likely than not, I will not always remember! 

I also use Libby in two ways: (a) if I need a book now, like I am desperate, I will check the "available now" filter and just see what is out there and in this case I am not too picky. If I see a thriller from an author I know (or think) is not total crap, I will borrow it. I also have some in the pocket, like I still have not read all of the Louise Penny books, so I am saving some of those for a rainy day! (b) I may also filter by "popular now" although more and more I have read a lot of the first ones that come up, but I will still scroll down and then either put them on hold or borrow them if they look interesting. In this case, I will admit, I sometimes DO judge a book by its cover. Sorry! 

Lastly, and not least, I get recommendations from IRL friends! These are more few and far between but they are still there. My friend K's Mom was reading Lessons In Chemistry the last time we were together and I was so excited to hear what she thought about it after she was done (and she loved it! and apparently there is now a TV show too, which is supposed to be pretty good). 

Also, you may wonder how I keep track of what I want to read. I used to mark them as "want to read" on Goodreads but I found that once I had the "wish list" function on OverDrive, which then transferred over to Libby, it is just easier to either put them on hold right away, borrow them right away, or put them on my wish list on OverDrive/Libby right away rather than trying to manage two lists. 

So there we have it. If you are looking for a book recommendation, you can find a list of some of my favorite books here. And if you want to poach my five star shelf, you can find me on Goodreads here. 

How do you find new books? Where do you get book recommendations? How do you keep track of  your TBR (to be read) list? 

P.S. Only one more week until Christmas!! 🎄

Gift Ideas For Active People

I hope that everyone had a great weekend and is getting in the holiday spirit! I made a wreath for my door; it looks like a five year old made it, but it smells so good! The weekend was a little chilly here; it was in the 30s in the Bay Area and it snowed about a foot or so in the Sierra last week. I guess winter is here. Personally, I like a white Christmas, but since this year Christmas is on a Monday and I have to drive home to work on Tuesday, I don't want it to snow too much because that means I may have to drive it it. Ideally it would snow on Sunday, be white until Monday morning and then melt off just in time for me to leave. 

Even though most of you have probably already done your shopping (right?), I thought I would give you some ideas in case you have an active friend in your life for whom you have no idea what to get. Never fear, here are ten ideas for you, in no particular order, based on some of my favorite things I use very often, and have tried and tested*! 

Solomon Hydration Pack ($140) - It took me a long time to get one of these, as it is a little expensive, but it really is the best one that I have had. I like it so much that I have actually rebought it three times now. The only thing I would say I don't like is that I had to rebuy it three times, mostly due to stretching of the netting/pockets. However, I would say each one lasts me about 2-3 years and I get a lot of mileage out of them! 

Altra Lone Peak Trail Runner ($90) - This shoe is good for hiking or trail running and has a nice wide toe for people with Flintstone feet like mine. It has a zero drop, which may take a little getting used to, but is very comfortable once you do. It is also very lightweight, which is good for use and also for traveling! 

Stance Socks ($15) - I also use these for both running and hiking; for running I like the ankle sock, but for hiking the crew is better. They have a compression function so are a little hard to get off and on sometimes, but they are really comfortable and I get no blisters! They are pretty expensive for a sock, but for that reason are a good gift! 

Socks!

Patagonia Houdini Windbreaker ($100) - This is a very lightweight windbreaker and it zips into its own pocket so that when folded up it is perhaps about as big of a deck of cards. I usually just keep it in my hiking pack just in case and it has come in handy on unexpectedly cold days. 

Yaktrax ($25) - These are little snow chains you put over your sneakers in the winter for added traction. Full disclosure --> they do not work as well on ice; they are better for softer snow, but there are some that have more spiky bottoms which are a bit more grippy. If you are going to really be in ice and/or climbing, microspikes or crampons may be a better bet. 

Snacks! ($5- $10) - When running, I usually eat squeezy applesauce, protein bars and dried fruit. When hiking, I will eat the two latter items, and some other great hiking snack ideas for your favorite person include beef sticks and jerky (these no sugar ones by Tillamook are my favorite), TJs dried mangos and coconut, TJs salted almonds and Think bars. Many hikers also swear by Snickers and peanut M&Ms! 

Fanny pack ($35) - I used to make fun of my Dad for wearing a fanny pack in the 80s and now he makes fun of me! Actually he doesn't but isn't it funny how things come back around? I got a fanny pack as swag for a race and I put it in a drawer with a sneer, until a few years later I needed it for something and I put it on and I was hooked. I gushed so much that broski and Dr. G had to get one for themselves too. When hiking or biking, it is so handy to have all of your things within reach: phone, sunscreen, bug goop, TP...it makes things so much better. Sorry Dad; you were right! 

Goodr sunglasses ($20) - My friend K's sister loved these and recommended them to me, as they are grippy plastic/rubber and they don't bounce when you are running. K decided to buy us both a pair and although I laughed when I saw the ones that she got me (they are pretty obnoxious colors), I really do love them. They come in various (obnoxious) themes and colors so you can really show your style, like maybe Nessie's Midnight Orgy or Donkey Goggles. 

Bright, eh? These are called "Everglades."

Hand Warmers ($1) - these are a great stocking stuffer and we actually used to use them for skiing, on both our hands and our feet. They are inexpensive and are a nice treat to have in your pocket when hiking on a chilly day. I gave one to my coworker and he used it at work one day when they had the AC up too high! I guess they are good for a lot of places! 

*I am not sponsored by any of these companies, but if any of them want to sponsor me, I would be happy to oblige! 

Have you tried any of these items and if so what do you think? What is on your Christmas wish list? What must have item would you recommend to me? 

Travel Wish List + Paint By Numbers

I work with several financial advisors and they each have a different take on estate planning. One of them once said that he told his kids he would rather them take the money out of his warm living hands than his cold dead ones, meaning that he would rather do things with them now than give them money later for them to do things without him. It may seem crass to talk about, but that is literally what I do every day, talk about things that to many people are taboo. He does have a point too; I really do think that sharing experiences now is priceless and would rather spend my parent's money on vacations with them now than get it from them after they are gone. 😁 

That was a joke (hi Dad!)!! But seriously, regarding my parents, I would rather they spend their money on something they have always wanted to do; they worked hard to get to where they are now. I hope they use up every penny of their money by the time they go. For my own money, I would rather go for a dinner or weekend away with friends or travel or have an experience rather than a thing. Obviously there are bills and stuff, but I have really been trying to avoid spending on things that will just break, go bad, or be used just once before sitting gathering dust. I am not saying that everyone needs to do it my way; you do you! I bought a stationary bike during the pandemic that I barely use; I am not immune to idiocy. I am saying that lately I have been trying to ask myself if I really NEED something and if not, that money I have "saved" is going into the travel and experiences fund. 

So, let's get to the fun part! This summer, I had planned to go to one of the following: Bulgaria, Romania, Norway, Iceland or Taiwan. I know, this seems like an odd list, but these are just a few of the many places I would like to go. At the beginning of the year, I set flight alerts for all of them and waited for the prices to come down. You may already know where this is going, but the prices did not come down, they went up and it was ridiculous how much a two week vacation was going to cost. So I decided to double down next year and try to do a longer trip so I can justify the crazy cost of the flight. So that is the plan; next year I will make plans to go to one of those places. 

But wait, there's more! Last week, Ally Bean posted this chart and of course I had to fill out one for myself. (you can fill one out here). I won't lie, I was a little confused between stayed here and visited here, but decided that "visited" means stopped and ate but did not stay the night. You decide how you want to play it. 

So of course I have all of the white states above on my wish list too. I actually have tentative plans to go to Montana next summer. I have heard AR has some really pretty scenery and mountain biking, so I can't wait to check it out. MI, WI and OH are in a strange (geographically, not mentally) but beautiful part of the country, so Kae, Birchie and Engie, don't be surprised if I show up on your doorstep someday. SC is probably best to visit in winter and I won't lie, ND and SD just seem cold and flat. Can anyone tell me what I need to do and where I should go in any of the white/blue states above? Help! 

Of course, I also had to do the same thing for Europe. 

Doing this made me realize that I have a lot of gaps to fill. So many gaps and so little time! So I really hope to get a chance to see many of the white ones in the map above over the next few years. Have you been to any of the above white countries? Which one(s) and what did you think and what should I do and see if I go there? **FYI I am NOT a "check it off the list" traveler. I would rather stay one month in one place than try to go to 10 different countries in a month. Also, I have returned to many of the orange countries above rather than go to a white one, as a two week vacation really is not enough time to see an entire country! (off soapbox now)**

So there you have it, a very small slice of my travel wish list. Your turn! If you feel like painting by numbers, fill in the map and let me know (1) what your score was (2) what white gaps in your map would you like to visit first. If you do not feel like painting, tell me what is on your travel wish list. 

What kind of experiences or things do you find priceless? What is the best state or country you have ever visited? What places are on your travel wish list?