360 Degrees Longitude by John Higham

Hello! I have another book for you. Yes, I have been spending all of my free time reading while on the elliptical. It burns calories, allows me to work on my balance (I have none, and no hands is an accomplishment!) and time passes much more quickly when reading an engrossing book!
Anyway, I loved this book: 360 Degrees Longitude, One Family's Journey Around the World. It is a true story of a family who saves for 10 years to travel the globe; examine how people around the world are the same and different, learn about history, current culture, and experience something that not many of us get a chance to do.
When I was 13 my mom took my brother and I to Hawaii with some family friends and their daughter. The adults were upset that the rented condo was in rough shape, I managed to get a fairly intense dose of sun burn/heat stroke, and I nearly drowned after turning my back to the ocean (I didn't know, I was a 13 year old girl from ALASKA, we don't go into the ocean where I come from!) lol... Anyway, I'm sure my Mom remembers the trip quite a bit differently than I do (though while writing this I am remembering all kinds of fun details, like the couple 'making out' in the plane seats next to my 10 year old brother?) lol...
The point of this tangent: Can you imagine taking your two kids around the world? Ours was just a trip to Hawaii, theirs a trip through 28 countries.
It was a fantastic book!
Oh, and I also learned that I would like to add Salar de Uyuni to my list of must visit places... South American salt flats that (during the rainy season) are covered with a couple inches of water. Water that reflects the sky so that the horizon disappears and you look like you are walking in the clouds. Imagine that at sunset.

Henry's Sisters

I originally picked this book up because there is a tie in with a bakery. Knowing my love for foodie books, you should not be surprised by that statement, but you should be surprised by the fact that the book actually has little to do with the actual bakery, and more to do with a family struggling with their love for each other.
The book centers around the three Bommario sisters, their Dad leaves the family when they are young, and mom is forced to stoop many levels to feed the family and provide medical care for her youngest child Henry. How do you feed four kids when you have no education, no skills, no insurance, you are battling your own mental illness, and when one of your children is develop mentally disabled? I will let you discover the answer on your own, but will warn that it isn't pretty.
Struggling through a difficult childhood, and now requested to return home to care for the family bakery, a grandmother with Alzheimer's, and their brother Henry, the Bommario sisters bond together and really make strides to work out their life long issues.
What I found so incredibly touching about this book was the love that Henry offers to his somewhat dysfunctional family. It is absolute and unconditional, love that teaches you a lesson while reading a novel.
I don't want to spoil the ending, but I have to tell you that after finishing the book I read a good 5 pages of the ending aloud to my friend Carrie, trying not to cry and failing miserably.
It is just a fiction novel, nothing fancy; but I have to tell you, I was so touched by this book.

Goal update - running

So I have some pretty big news on the running front. Yesterday I was able to run 1 mile in 12:13. This is not fast, and it wasn't easy! lol... but I was VERY proud of the accomplishment! Half way to my goal of being able to run for 20 minutes straight! :)