Gretch Runs

Good morning! I'm early for once to share my monthly books, and I had some interesting picks. I got out of my usual genre a bit and delved into the world of fantasy which was fun- but also had lots of romance as well. There were some hits and misses, but mostly I'm just excited for December and some more holiday books! Here's what I read this month- Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken...

In October, I finally made it back to Europe! If you've been a blog reader pre-pandemic you might know that I love to travel and try to go on at least one international trip a year. Unfortunately that streak ended last year (we made it to Mexico in February 2020 so the streak was still alive then) but we're officially back!  This time, we wanted to keep the trip as simple as possible after hearing travel horror stories. We always travel with just carry-on items, but we also wanted to take a direct flight. For us in Raleigh, that led us to Paris, and from there we decided to take a train to Brussels and explore Belgium for a few days. Getting local trains after that was easy, and we stayed in Bruges and Antwerp, with day trips to Ghent, Brussels and Dinant. Here are some highlights from each city! Up next- our visit to Luxembourg. Bruges Hotel : Grand Hotel Casslebergh. This hotel was awesome! The location was central, right beside Burg Square. Our room was in the historic part ...

October was such a fun month! The weather was perfect, and it was great to have a house where we could actually celebrate Halloween. This was my first time decorating my own place for a holiday, and I loved it! We had so many trick or treaters and went to a neighbor's house to pass out candy- it's everything I always wanted in a neighborhood.  For my highlight of the month, it was definitely going to Europe. Dan and I spent a little over a week in Belgium and Luxembourg, with some quick stops in Netherlands, Germany, and France. I'm working on posts of everything we saw and did, but it was SUCH a fun trip and made me realize how much I missed traveling internationally.  Let's talk goals now- it's crazy to think there are only 2 more months left of the year! Here's how my annual goals are going- Spend More Time Outside 1000 Hours Outside  - 869 hours so far. Only 131 more to go! January - 54 total hours February - 52 total hours March - 97 total hours April - 103...

What a great month of reading this was for me! I had so many books that I loved, and absolutely flew through books like I've never done before. In fact- I borrowed 4 books from the library in the week leading up to my vacation and managed to finish them all by the time I left. I'm not typically a fast reader so that was insane for me! I guess there's just something about fall reading that makes it easy to cozy up and fly through some books. Here's what I read this month! (full of mostly treats...not tricks!) Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your seventeen-year-old son. He’s late. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed. You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in ...

For the third year in a row, I'm going to be baking along with the Great British Bake Off technical challenges! This is something I started in 2020 as a way to have something to look forward to each week, and it's become my favorite tradition every fall. This year, I'll be doing monthly roundups instead of a dedicated post for each bake. If you want to follow along in real time you can see me baking each week on Instagram! Here are the first 4 weeks of bakes- Cake Week - Red Velvet Cake This was a recipe that I've never made, but have of course heard of. I'm not a huge cake fan so I usually don't make them myself or order them if I'm at a restaurant, but I knew this was a chocolate based cake with red dye and cream cheese frosting. I ran into my first issue when I was making the dough. Every time that I have to make something with food dye, it never seems to get as colorful as it should be! I used up the rest of my food dye and it was still pretty neutral, s...

Happy Fall, Y'all! Ok, even though I've lived in North Carolina over a year I don't think I'll ever naturally say y'all. Even typing it out felt weird! But it is indeed fall time, which is quickly becoming my favorite season. I'm typing this outside on a day with zero clouds, enough wind to make my windchimes move around, and the perfect temperature for a light sweater and hot coffee. BLISS! September was a really great month, mostly because the race that I was preparing for (and became very anxious about) happened and ended up being one of my favorite races ever, as well as one of the most fun weekends I've had this year! I love living so close to the beach, and going with friends both old and new was so great. I'm already planning on racing again next year! Here is a look at my annual goals, and then we'll talk about monthly goals-  Spend More Time Outside 1000 Hours Outside  - 746 hours so far. January - 54 total hours February - 52 total hours Ma...