“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.
Remember how I took the quiz, Which Winnie the Pooh Character Are You? And I was mildly offended because I got Winnie the Pooh? Well, I’ve decided to embrace my Pooh-ness (overlooking the fact that, ahem, Pooh is described as a “bear of very little brain.”) I like his easygoing attitude towards life.
In that spirit- hooray, it’s Friday! My favorite day! I think it’s time to revisit Elisabeth’s FIG Collective and talk about life lately, including figs of the week.
1. I got new trail shoes!
I haven’t actually run in them yet, but they feel comfortable walking around. My requirements were a wide toe box but not a zero drop- so far, so good. (FIG- REI will let me return the shoes if I don’t like them, even after I run in them outside!)
2. I had a lot of errands on Wednesday, but I did find an hour to sit in Starbucks and read.
My book is so good, but phew, it can be intense at times. Life in the middle ages was hard, and Follett doesn’t shy away from some brutal descriptions. (FIG- I was drinking a delicious London Fog- Earl Grey tea with oat milk and one pump of sugar-free vanilla- a once-in-a-while treat for me.)
3. I’m currently listening to this episode of the Everyday Ultra podcast. Joe recaps his experience running the recent 300 mile Arizona Monster- this is a LONG episode (this guy knows how to talk, and I guess a super long race requires a super long podcast episode.) I’m only listening to it while I work out, which is a great way to get me excited about getting on the Stairmaster. (FIG- podcasts are FREE! So much information and entertainment here without costing a penny.)
4. Speaking of free- I got an email that my hold on Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June is ready for me at the library. I better make my way through the rest of Pillars quickly! (Obvious FIG- public libraries.)
5. Chocolate!
This chocolate is vegan and sugar free, sweetened with monk fruit. It is the best sugar free chocolate I have ever tasted. And I’ve tried a lot of them! (Super, super obvious FIG- CHOCOLATE!!!!!)
What are your figs of the week?
32 Responses
Oh, I listened to 3 Days in June! I liked it. It’s pretty short, the opposite of Pillars of the Earth.
I think I’m going to need an “opposite” book after I finish this one- Pillars is intense.
Well, you know I LOVED this post. In fact, it’s my first FIG of the day.
That chocolate looks…amazing. Yum. I have already made my way to the internet to find where I can source some!
I’m excited for the Easter long weekend (in Canada everyone gets Friday off and most things – including schools – are closed Friday and Monday). As a Christian, Easter is my favourite holiday and while I adore Christmas, I really appreciate what Easter represents and it comes with none of the consumerism pressure for me – we buy exactly zero things for Easter most years. Not even chocolate!
We have a lot of fun plans – company tonight for supper, a big church breakfast tomorrow, church on Sunday AND THEY SERVE THE BEST FREE DOUGHNUTS ON EASTER SUNDAY. They are apple cider doughnuts and they are honestly some of the most delicious things I eat all year. I haven’t been eating much sugar lately, but I plan to eat at least two of those doughnuts. (They’re a once-a-year thing for me even though I know the farmer’s market they buy them from – I resist buying them myself and it makes it extra special).
Yes, I know it’s a big weekend for you, Elisabeth! I think you should make an exception and order some of this chocolate for Easter : ) Of course you’ll be having your favorite doughnuts so maybe you don’t need the chocolate!
What a great week of FIGs! I am glad you found some shoes! I hope they work well for you!
My FIG is that I don’t have to work today but the kids have school! I have a massage booked for this afternoon and plan to run and attend a noon church service for Good Friday. I’m looking forward to a long weekend.
Enjoy your fig-filled day, Lisa!
JENNY! I also just picked up Three Days in June this week. Now, do I have six other library books that need to be read first? Yes I do. But I have four weeks so I can do it! It’s like we’re in a book club for two!
Well, you might read those books in the same amount of time it takes me to finish Pillars, so we might be reading the Anne Tyler at the same time! I’m pretty sure I’ll like it- I always like her books.
what a great day! I love listening to ultrarace podcasts, reading, and chocolate!
Yep- three of the best things in life, all rolled into one post!
These were so fun to read, Jenny! And I love that you are embracing your inner Pooh!
Pillars of the Earth is so good. It’s a book I never would have picked up (due to size and subject matter), but my husband insisted and I found myself completely swept up by the story. I hope you like it more as you go!
I also thought I didn’t want to read Pillars (for the same reasons you mentioned.) But now I’m VERY glad I did. I’m over halfway through and am hoping to finish it in a few more days.
Easter figs! I have my hold in for Three Days in June, but it’s going to take a while to come in. If I ever ran 300 miles it would be the only thing that I would talk about. I love having dedicated “treadmill” shows.
I finally crumbled and listened to the running podcast in the car a little- but I still have plenty to listen to on the Stairmaster tomorrow!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying _Pillars of the Earth_. “Intense” is certainly the way to describe it. Do you think you will complete the whole trilogy on this too?
And I found myself smiling at the picture of your shoes–is that weird? I think something about the color, the blunt, rounded tips, the neatly tied bows, and the optimism and possibility of it all… I hope they bring you many months/years of running pleasure and success, Jenny. <3
Also, if you need a hype song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSFG-IE8n_c
(It's not very Winnie the Pooh though)
Okay, my new hype song- that is hilarious! I love it. And wait- Pillars is part of a trilogy??? I didn’t know that. I’m not sure my blood pressure can take much more than the first book.
I know a lot of runners who love Topos shoes so hopefully you do too!
My FIG is having an extra long weekend — the school district I work for gives us today off, and I also took off Monday. A freak storm may ruin my original plans for this weekend but we’ll see what happens and I’m currently figuring out a backup plan that will avoid potentially driving through snow!
Oh that’s cool you have an extra long weekend! But what is this about snow? I hope it doesn’t ruin your plans.
FIG of the day: I was able to get Hannah out for a long walk this morning BEFORE the thunderstorms with hail started. Imagine if we’d been half a mile away form our house when that started! We lucked out!
Oh, I’m shuddering to think of Hannah out in the hail! She’s so sensitive. You definitely lucked out.
I do like Anne Tyler books. I’ll add this to my long list.
I also need wide toe box but not 0 drop. So far it’s Topos.
Yes! I ran in the shoes today and they felt good!
Pooh’s a cool creature. He certainly runs on vibes and I relate to that.
Love the new shoes.
I read The Pillars of the Earth a long time ago and loved it – I also read World Without End… I need to check into the others in the series. To be honest, those are the books I love… big, great writing, tons of description and detail, and not always pleasant. it’s getting harder and harder to find those, though.
Jenn, have you read Follett’s Century Trilogy? I loved those!
Coach took the day off today, and we took the girls on a walk in a forest preserve. I took Rae to family therapy and it was a really good, insightful session, and then we took the girls to the mall to buy them new shoes. Remember: club feet, so not an easy task. I dragged Coach, because I wanted back up. It was fairly easy though and we probably didn’t need him. Another FIG: the little girls had off Thursday. Their friends were over (my house full of babies is a magnet for teen girls) and they organized a bag full of eggs that I gave them and then the tots ran around (along with Becky’s little charges) in the yard finding eggs. It was pretty cute.
I love the color of your new shoes. Able to return after running a race with them? That’s awesome.
I ran in the shoes today and they felt good! I would only return them if they really weren’t working for me, but yes- REI has a VERY generous return policy.
Sounds like you’ve had some nice figs lately!
Yay for new shoes – great color!
OK – I now need to know what a FIG is…off to read the linked post. And, by the way…I love Pooh 🙂
Ha, yes if you don’t look at the linked post it makes no sense.
I like the color of the shoes too!
Ooh, that dark chocolate sounds delish! I bought a bag of Hersey’s Kisses at Christmas time (for some of my “sweet” holiday baking stuff). They’re milk chocolate, and I still have a lot of them leftover, LOL. I MUCH prefer dark chocolate, so I have ZERO problems resisting these (and none of my guests are indulging in them either).
Awww, I love that Winnie the Pooh quote . It made me think of a story my dad used to tell, about a guy he worked with back in the day named Bernie, who every time my dad saw him and said, “Hey Bernie, how ya doing?”, Bernie would answer enthusiastically, “Fannnnnn-tastic!” Apparently he answered this way every day for like, years! I think at one point my dad finally said, “Bernie, how can you always be ‘fantastic’?!” Haha. I think of this sometimes. Not like we want to point blank lie about how we’re doing, either, but I feel like in the workplace it can be pretty common for people to answer things like, “Oh, hanging in there” or “busy” or just a totally standard “pretty good, you?” etc. I think if someone answered like Bernie did it would probably brighten my day and kind of rub off on me a little!
So many lovely FIGs! I’m glad you were able to find some trail shoes and I hope they work out well for you. And hooray for reading and public libraries and podcasts! Three of my favorite things.
My FIG for today was getting in a really solid workout this morning. It felt good to get that done!
Three days in June is on my TBR as well. I may read it in June, HA!
I loved Pillars of the Earth but it is intense. But I was so immersed. There was a new book published recently that takes place before and explains how Kingsbridge became Kingsbridge. I loved it. And now the latest of his books is the final in the series. I have not yet read i. Seeing you read PotE makes me wonder if I should read them all in order though. Dive all in and be gone for a few weeks.
Also I splurged and ordered myself some sugar free candy bars. They actually do taste like the real thing. They are ridiculously expensive but I coined it as easter presents. However I am only gifting 5 bars from the total of 18. Mean me.