Tag Archive | 2019
01.31.2020  

My 5-Star Reads from 2019

No time like the present, eh? I read 94* books last year — thanks to a long commute + it’s now part of my job — and have a goal to finish 100 in 2020.

If you’ve started (or abandoned!) a reading goal or are stuck on what to read next, here are the books I gave 5 stars to after reading them in 2019. It’s a pretty even split between new and old, fiction and nonfiction, plus various genres.

And while I’ll happily discuss books with anyone, anytime, I do not need to hear your thoughts on why a book “sucks.” We all have our preferences; if some (or all) of these aren’t your style, simply share your faves so I can try those out, too 🤓

background book stack books close up

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

Fiction

Nonfiction

*I read 94 books from cover to cover. For the first time in a while, I allowed myself to abandon books I wasn’t enjoying. I listened to some in audiobook format, but did not make it through any from start to finish. </end disclaimer>

04.02.2019  

Witty Rewind: March 2019

I thought it’d be fun to capture each month’s activities and milestones in a series called Witty Rewind. It may not be for posterity’s sake, but I hope you’ll enjoy looking back at the previous month with me.

I told myself I’d try a “clean eating on weekdays” approach in March but I most certainly did not. Instead, I started on the 1st with a Mexican fiesta lunch, spent mid-March in San Diego (Mexican food capital of California) and ended the 31st with a wine-and-tacos apartment purge party. Noticing a theme? Ay dios mio. [🌮 eaten: ~20]

Despite having plenty of time to devote to reading on the shuttle and quick flights, I found myself not able to power through any reads the way I normally would. (For context, I can usually get through a book in 2-4 sittings, and a few days’ time.) That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my March picks, but I do think I was considerably less motivated with my brain on overdrive in work summits and commitments. [📚 read: 3.5]

Some highlights from the madness that was this past month:

    1. Bowling with dear friends who moved to New York last year
    2. Celebrating a housemate’s birthday with incredible Cajun cuisine
    3. Meeting lots of inspiring and empowering women through Junior League of SF
    4. Attending a newcomer summit for work + getting uplifting insight
    5. Looking for a new apartment with a current housemate
    6. Catching up with a longtime friend during her stay in SF before she moves back to NYC
    7. Checking out a crystal fair (really!) and somehow buying only jewelry
    8. Hosting my fave former writer for lunch at my new(ish) job
    9. Happy hour-ing with other former writers and getting the tea
    10. Helping another former writer with her portfolio
    11. Spending a week in San Diego with my family
    12. Experiencing DisneyLand for the first time and seeing my nieces go wild
    13. Attending a global summit for work + meeting tons of colleagues face-to-face
    14. Exploring the Exploratorium 😉 and its After Dark series for the first time
    15. Celebrating a handful of close friends’ birthdays with drinks, dinners, brunches galore

Witty-Rewind-MarchSix people looking at the camera = a Christmas miracle