Gretch Runs

What a great month of reading this was for me! I had so many books that I loved, and absolutely flew through books like I've never done before. In fact- I borrowed 4 books from the library in the week leading up to my vacation and managed to finish them all by the time I left. I'm not typically a fast reader so that was insane for me! I guess there's just something about fall reading that makes it easy to cozy up and fly through some books. Here's what I read this month! (full of mostly treats...not tricks!) Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your seventeen-year-old son. He’s late. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed. You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in ...

For the third year in a row, I'm going to be baking along with the Great British Bake Off technical challenges! This is something I started in 2020 as a way to have something to look forward to each week, and it's become my favorite tradition every fall. This year, I'll be doing monthly roundups instead of a dedicated post for each bake. If you want to follow along in real time you can see me baking each week on Instagram! Here are the first 4 weeks of bakes- Cake Week - Red Velvet Cake This was a recipe that I've never made, but have of course heard of. I'm not a huge cake fan so I usually don't make them myself or order them if I'm at a restaurant, but I knew this was a chocolate based cake with red dye and cream cheese frosting. I ran into my first issue when I was making the dough. Every time that I have to make something with food dye, it never seems to get as colorful as it should be! I used up the rest of my food dye and it was still pretty neutral, s...

Happy Fall, Y'all! Ok, even though I've lived in North Carolina over a year I don't think I'll ever naturally say y'all. Even typing it out felt weird! But it is indeed fall time, which is quickly becoming my favorite season. I'm typing this outside on a day with zero clouds, enough wind to make my windchimes move around, and the perfect temperature for a light sweater and hot coffee. BLISS! September was a really great month, mostly because the race that I was preparing for (and became very anxious about) happened and ended up being one of my favorite races ever, as well as one of the most fun weekends I've had this year! I love living so close to the beach, and going with friends both old and new was so great. I'm already planning on racing again next year! Here is a look at my annual goals, and then we'll talk about monthly goals-  Spend More Time Outside 1000 Hours Outside  - 746 hours so far. January - 54 total hours February - 52 total hours Ma...

It's getting to be the cozy season where all I want to do is sit in a comfy chair with a steaming mug of tea, heated blanket on my lap, and dive into a cozy book. Can't beat that! In September I was still able to read outside a lot, but I'm very quickly moving indoors as the temperatures drop! Here are the books I read last month- get ready for more seasonal books coming next month! The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley The Chiffon Trenches offers a candid look at the who's who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how André not only survived the brutal style landscape but thrived--despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry--to become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion. Woven throughout the book are also André's own personal struggles that have impacted him over the decades, along with intimate stories...