Five on Friday

Good morning, friends!

It's Friday, and since I'm back to semi-regular posting, I thought I'd once again follow along with The Good Life Blog, Hello! Happiness, Carolina Charm, and A. Liz Adventures for a little "Five on Friday."

  

Enjoy the randomness of my life. :)

~~ONE~~

Yesterday, I ran for the first time in nearly three weeks.

You see, I had some major knee issues that had been accompanying me for a couple of weeks, and then I foolishly ran a half marathon at the end of May. Because my knee was (obviously) bothering me after those 13.1 miles, I wizened up and decided to take a much-needed break from running -- and focus on cycling for exercise and to maintain endurance.

So yesterday was my first measly two miles in quite a while. I was fully prepared for the run to suck since it was in super hot and humid weather and since I had not run for a while, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt.

And then shit hit the fan. Endurance-wise, I was great: I could've gone forever. Pain-wise, not so much. I made it nearly a mile around the lake before deciding that I should take a quick break due to the fire poker jabbing the outside of my left knee.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. The second mile included much, much more walking, simply because I was in too much pain to run.

And even more unfortunately, the pain did not subside when I stopped running and instead continued through the rest of the day.

My long-distance-running career may be quickly coming to an end.

Soooooo pretty. Also, helloooooo boobs.

~~TWO~~

I know you are all well aware of my obsession with love toward La Croix. Well, have you heard the news?

Source

Yep: La Croix is feeding my addiction with three new flavors. Since I was at Target this week (and La Croix was three for $9), I succumbed. I picked up a case of mango and a case of apricot (and my tried and true favorite, lime), and both are absolutely delicious: clean, crisp, refreshing.

~~THREE~~

This past month my book club read The Orphan Master's Son.

Source

This was the first book-club book (out of nine or ten) that I did not read. It was supposed to be absolutely amazing (I mean, it won the Pulitzer Prize), but I just could not get into it; I tried countless times, and each time I tried, it felt like I was just staring at words. I mean, I would make it several pages, but I would have zero idea as to what was happening.

Interestingly, it turns out that most of the other women felt the same way. I think eight of us were at the meeting on Monday, and two of us had finished the book, and one of us was halfway through.

This month we're reading The Interestings, so I'm much more excited about that.

~~FOUR~~

Speaking of books, I decided that since the crazy storms had rendered me without power on Tuesday, I should reorganize all of my books. For most people, this would likely be a small task; I, however, have a lot of books and a little OCD, so this took me all morning.

First, I piled all of the books on my dining room table. Then, I sorted them according to genre: for instance, Latino literature, African-American literature, African literature, Asian literature, general literature, young-adult literature, memoirs, poetry and anthologies, non-fiction, education books, etc. Next, I alphabetized them within their genres. And finally, I put them back on their shelves.

Apparently I ended with more books than with which I started, so...that was another challenge.

While it took me forever, my anal-retentive self is very happy with the end result.

~~FIVE~~

My sister has been begging me for months to head down to her town for trivia at Peace Tree Brewery; unfortunately, I have had bowling league obligations each time she has asked. But, since they're continuing trivia through the summer, I am thankfully able to attend.

On Wednesday, I headed down south, and my sister, brother-in-law, two of their colleagues, and I formed The Kids' Table team.

After the first round (Classic Album Covers), we only had a measly two points. (We knew a lot of the bands and music but did not know the album covers. Ugh.) In the second round (Random Trivia), we killed it with nine out of ten. And then in the third round (June Trivia), we earned another four points, which left us in first place!

I am so ridiculously competitive, so I loved that we won. And, check out the sweet prizes:

We each received a mini growler (I think they're actually called "stumpy growlers") and could have filled it with beer for 10% off that night. Pretty sweet, right?!

It was such a fun evening, and I am so happy that a.) my sister lives close, and b.) that she wants to hang out with me. I already can't wait for July trivia. :)

What's been going on in your life lately?

Have you read any good books? Hook me up with some recommendations, please!