Oh, Sunday, here you are again. While I’m happy to be here at my computer, drinking tea and eating cherries (well worth the $9 I spent on them at the grocery store yesterday), I’d rather be where I was last Sunday about this time — sitting on a beach chair with a book and a view of the lake.
I spent last weekend at my family’s cabin for the fourth of July, and it was awesome. I finished three books over the four-day trip, went swimming, ate delicious food, and got to spend an entire afternoon cruising around the lake on a boat, alcoholic beverage in hand.
The only downside of last week was that I spent most of the vacation with my arm in a splint… boo. A couple days before we left for the lake, I did a new exercise class at the gym I joined. The next day my entire body was super sore, but I didn’t think much of it. But on the drive up to the cabin on Friday, I noticed that my left arm looked a little swollen. When we got to the cabin, my mom took a look at it and said something might be wrong. We put ice on it and I took some ibuprofen, but the next day the swelling was worse. My mom drove me into a little medical clinic close to the cabin where they looked at it, took some x-rays, and told me that I had a possible stress fracture in my forearm. Yikes!
Because they weren’t sure — there wasn’t a radiologist working over the weekend to read the x-ray — they fitted me up with a couple ace bandages and a pretty giant splint and sent me on my way. Luckily, I could take it off to do some fun things like go swimming, but the diagnosis put a cramp in my plans for tubing and wake-boarding and other water sports.
I had to wear the splint until Wednesday when I finally got a call back from the clinic saying that it wasn’t actually a stress fracture — thank goodness! — but that I did need to be careful because of the tissue damage the doctor saw. That was a huge relief; typing one-handed at work and and home for the early part of the week was truly frustrating. But, all’s well that ends well, I suppose. No stress fracture, and I’m back in action.
But even with the split, I still had a great vacation and got a ton of reading in. I didn’t realize how much I needed to just spend some time in books, ignoring all the things and people around me as a way to just settle for a little bit. I had a couple friends and my boyfriend with, but I’m afraid I was a terrible hostess because I spent so much time reading. While up there I finished:
- Up for Renewal by Cathy Alter, a “year in the life” memoir about a woman who spends 365 days following all the advice she reads in women’s magazines. While I normally love stunt memoirs, this one felt really shallow and I didn’t like the narrator very much at all, which was a bummer.
- The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry, which is a nonfiction account of the women that inspired the play and musical Chicago. This one was straight-up awesome — well-researched, really fabulously drawn characters, and a cool way to revisit what life was like in Chicago during this time.
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which just about everyone has already read. My sister and I are reviewing this together for our sisters book club — I think we’re doing a vlog when she comes to visit next weekend — but in short, it was awesome. This book deserves all the hype it’s gotten.
Since I’ve been home, I only finished one book, Paul Farmer’s Haiti: After the Earthquake, which I also enjoyed a lot. The book is a collection of first-person accounts of what life was like for doctors, administrators, and some Haitian citizens in the year after a 7.0 magnitude quake hit near the country’s capitol. I’m reviewing it for our local newspaper, so I’ll put up a link once the review goes online.
Today I’m planning to keep reading Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, which, so far, is pretty great. The authors have a fabulous sense of humor, so they’re able to make potentially dry topics like evolutionary theory quite memorable. I mean, who doesn’t want to read a book that notes,
A fig leaf can hide many things, but a human erection isn’t one of them.
How funny is that (and bring on the spam comments!)? Anyway, this is getting pretty darn long, and I should, you know, get things done this morning. Happy Sunday!
What are you reading today?
P.S. I almost forgot: Friday was my birthday! I turned 25, which is awesome but also seems weird. I had a great birthday though — afternoon margaritas with some friends and co-workers, then dinner (bacon mac and cheese pizza, yum!) and dessert with some others. It was exactly what I wanted 🙂
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Happy birthday to you! Your trip sounds like lots of fun – splint and all. There’s just something about being near the water that makes for the best reading.
Totally agreed. There’s nothing like sitting by the lake/ocean with a book. There’s nothing I love more than that.
Glad you were able to enjoy your vacation and get some reading done, despite the woes with the arm. Hope it is feeling better soon!
I am too, and I’m even more glad my arm is back to normal!
Happy late Birthday! Your vacation sounds wonderful despite the injury. I would have used it as a great excuse to read the entire time, which it sounds like you got plenty of! Good for you!
It was a nice trip, even with the arm. Everyone was really nice, helping me carry and move things, which helps. And yes, lots of reading time which was awesome.
Happy Birthday! I’m glad you didn’t have a stress fracture and that your splint didn’t completely ruin your vacation. The quote you provided from Sex at Dawn had me laughing out loud. I think I might have to check that one out.
Sex at Dawn was so, so funny. It has a lot of great quotes like that one. I’m still mulling over their conclusions and absolutely enjoyed reading it.
So sorry to hear about your arm, but I’m glad it wasn’t a stress fracture! Just another reason why gyms aren’t for me!
And happy happy birthday! 25 is wonderful… you’re still in your mid-20s, so enjoy!
Hooray, mid-20s. It’s a fleeting time 🙂
I think I just took on more than my poor, un-athletic body could handle. I’ve learned my lesson now.
Happy birthday, Kim! 😀
Today I think I may (re)read the Dresden Files books I have. I read the TV Tropes pages for the series and it made me want to read it again– so why not? On the other hand, I may just try to finish Phoenix Rising. Or both!
That sounds like fun. I hope you had a good reading day 🙂
Happy B-day !!! Sorry to hear about the arm !
Sex and Dawn sounds very good !
It was great. It goes on my “recommendable nonfiction” list, for sure.
Happy (belated) Birthday! Enjoy your 20s!
Thank you! I most definitely will.
Happy birthday! I’m sorry to hear that your holiday weekend wasn’t as exciting because of your arm, but I’m glad it isn’t a stress fracture! I thought I had one of those in my leg a couple years back and it was so stressful worrying about it. Also, your recommendation for THE HELP Is one of the few that has really encouraged me to read it!
Yes, the stress of worrying about it and what would happen if it was actually fractured might have been the worst part.
The Help was really excellent. I flew through it in about a day and a half. The characters were great, the plot was unpredictable… just, awesome.
Happy Birthday! You’re so young lol.
Sorry to hear about the arm but glad to hear it wasn’t worse.
Can’t wait to hear more about the books you read. Yay that you liked The Help!
Agreed! I always get so worried reading books that everyone loves, but this one was totally worth it.
Happy birthday, happy birthday! I’m glad it was a good day. I love having margaritas, I wish I could have margaritas every Friday. 🙂
Sorry to hear about your wrist! But you know, that is what happens when you exercise. Down with exercise! I only ever swim for exercise (and, well, walk, since I live in New York), and swimming does not give you joint injuries! Swimming!
We have half days at work on Fridays this summer, and I’ve been itching to have margaritas in the afternoon since we found out. It was perfect.
I should start swimming or something, just so I can avoid further injuries. I am accident prone.
Happy Birthday! I am glad you enjoyed your vacation despite your injury!
I really must read The Help. The movie looks really good, but I want to read the book first…
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week!
I am even more excited about the movie after reading the book. I think the book lends itself to a good movie adaptation — it has such great characters, and a relatively straightforward story that should move to a script well.
Happy belated birthday! Glad to hear that you didn’t have to celebrate it with a cast.
Your vacation sounds absolutely perfect.
It totally was. If only every weekend could be that lovely 🙂
Happy Birthday!! I’m sorry about the fracture, but I’m glad that you are still having fun!
I’m so glad it wasn’t a fracture. That would have been a huge bummer and made working/blogging soooo hard!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY CONVALESCENCE RE: YOUR ARM! HAPPY READING THREE BOOKS OVER YOUR LONG WEEKEND!
Stop yelling at me in all caps! Hee hee 🙂
Happy Birthday to a fellow cancer. Workout injuries are the worst. Glad it didn’t ruin your vacation. Looking forward to your reviews.
I’m glad it didn’t mess anything up too. At least with the split I could take it off when I wanted to go swimming, which is the best part about being at the lake.
Happy birthday, you young thing you 🙂 ! Seems like you had a great vacation in spite of your injury. Glad you got some good reading in, too! I really miss reading at a beach — at a pool where there’s lots of kids doesn’t do it.
Yeah, pool reading isn’t quite the same. We don’t have a lot of kids that come up for this weekend, so it’s pretty chill the whole time.
Happy belated birthday! Too bad about your arm but as least it isn’t as bad as the staff first thought it was.
Yes, thank goodness! I’m glad they were cautious though; I would have hated for it to be worse than it was.
Happy birthday! Sorry to hear about your arm. 🙁 Sounds like it didn’t really cramp your style too much. I’m glad to hear you liked The Help. I kind of ignored it with all the hype but then I saw a preview for the movie and thought it looked great. So now I want to read the book.
No, not too much, which was good. I’m really looking forward to the movie after reading the book. I’m optimistic it’s going to be good — the trailer is super great.
SOunds like you had a great holiday weekend….sore arm and all. hope it is better now.
Yep, most definitely! I think everything is back to normal — whew.
Happy birthday! And it’s good to hear the stress fracture… wasn’t. Sounds like an excellent vacation.
Yes, really good to hear it wasn’t. I got all the sympathy of an injury with none of the long-term problems 🙂
Eecks sorry to hear about your arm! Glad you still had a good time though. Happy birthday also!!! Great books. I’m between books and trying to decide what to read next 🙂
I love the between books feeling. It’s like endless possibilities have opened up.
A happy belated birthday and I’m glad the damage to your arm wasn’t worse! I’m impressed by all of the reading you got done. I’ll be embarking upon The Help soon. It’s been sitting on my e-reader for far too long.
I was actually sort of surprised by how much I got read too. I figured a couple books, but The Help was a lot of pages. I’m glad they went quickly though — that’s the sign of a good book.
Bummer about the arm! I hope it’s all healed up.
Yup, it’s feeling much better (thank goodness!)