Bibliosphere

 Ok, so March was a blockbuster month for books for me. I finished 7 books for a total of over 2000 pages (which does include some conversion of audiobooks). Here's what I read: The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner (audiobook) - stoking the fuel of my interest in the Blue Zones. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach - this took longer than I expected to get through for whatever reason. Awestruck: How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Connected by Jonah Paquette (audiobook) Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me, and Has Failed: Notes from Periracial America by Kim McLarin The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (audiobook) - I'm hoping to use some of this in my tidying next week. What's Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety by Cole Kazdin - this was a favorite, one of the top books of the year. So well written and engaging. Rest Is Resistance:

 I wrote this for my other blog, but I wanted to add it here, because I think that this is so relevant to what this blog means and to my life as a whole. So here you go, my thoughts on advocacy. The older I get, the more I realize that it is perfectly acceptable and normal to have one or just a few causes that are "your cause." You know, the one you could stand up and do a TED Talk on right this minute. The one you feel so strongly in your bones that things must change for it. So anyway, I have a few. Empowering younger girls and women is one of them, probably The One if I had to pick (yes, this is why I work at Girl Scouts). Childhood cancer research advocacy is another one I'd stake a lot on, but it's come and gone over the years. Mental health is breaking through as one that's really important for me that I'm actually willing to do work on, but I've been involved tangentially in for a long time. For a while I felt guilty. I felt guilty that I was un- or

 A few years ago, I was given some post it notes and a prompt at a support group: to write myself something kind, something motivating. I made 2 and hung them on my bathroom mirror. They stayed there during COVID. I eventually put some up in my office too. When I moved, I wrote new ones. I had them up until very recently, when I replaced them with these: Do they do a lot? Maybe. But they're there, a reminder to myself of my value, my capabilities, and my strength. I do smile a little when I read my post-its.

My adventures in cooking originally started as a way to address health problems. Nothing romantic, just trying to feel better. At different points, the style I've used was different, from just getting calories at all to cooking in a specific diet. My cooking the past year or so has been the Mediterranean diet, but with some fusion elements. While I use ingredients in line with the Mediterranean style, I don't limit myself to Italian and Greek cuisines. Traditional foods from the region are my staple, but I branch out, incorporating ingredients and techniques from the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. This winter, I've made many new recipes and used new techniques. I learned that I am not big on spaghetti squash, indoor dutch ovens are a fun twist on hearty dishes, and mint does go with parsley (and I enjoy it). I have enjoyed all of my adventures and am grateful to everyone who has sampled my creations or listened to me talk about them.

 Every year, teens and young adults are recognized as cancer warriors and survivors for National Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Week. This year, it falls from April 1 to April 5. From the Children's Cancer Cause' s website, the purpose is: "This annual awareness week is an opportunity to shine a light on the unique challenges that teen and young adult cancer patients and survivors face." AYA week encompasses young people ages 15 to 39. While this is an uncommon age range for cancer, it's not as uncommon as you might think. Some 89,000 young people are diagnosed with cancer in the US annually, and some cancers are even most common in young adults and adolescents ( x ). These include thyroid cancer, lymphomas, and primary bone cancer. AYA cancer survivors face unique challenges, from navigating more health problems than others their age due to long term side effects to peers not being able to understand their experience. Through CCC, one survivor said: “I

 I've been a bit less active on this blog. It's been a rough few weeks with managing everything and some things had to be set down (to be picked up again later). If it makes blog readers feel better, I also did this to the HOA, so you're not the only ones. Some changes at work coupled with the season changes and a few other things. Plus someone accidentally lit their condo on fire. So there's that. Overall, I'm doing alright. This past week was better than the week before, and that was better than the week before that. Some stories are more exciting than others. Some are just the ones that I look back at and think, that might have been an overreaction. But I'm still cooking (my respite), getting back into walking, enjoying the sun, and reading my way through my TBR (although not as fast as I'd like on that one). I've finished many books in March, as well as walked nearly every day, ran one program and participated in another, and spent many hours hauling