Monday Musings from Colorado

Highlight(s) of the week: The drive from Ohio to Colorado ranged from uneventful to boring to rage-inducing (looking at you, cat, who meowed all the way from Dayton to St. Louis), but I was absolutely over the moon to take a little detour in Kansas City to visit the Community Bookshelf mural painted on the parking garage of the downtown library. It features 22 larger-than-life titles suggested by the public and voted on by the board of trustees. After seeing photos floating around online, it was so very exciting to see the mural in person! I'll post more photos this week.

We arrived in Colorado late Tuesday night, and on Thursday the weather was warm and beautiful, so we decided to take advantage and head to Garden of the Gods for a little hiking and fresh air ahead of the snowstorm that hit Friday night.

Reading: I finished "Fever at Dawn," a novel partly told in letters about the unconventional romance of two Holocaust survivors (review), and I read and loved "The Alaskan Laundry" by Brendan Jones (review to come). It's about a young woman who heads to Alaska to escape the pain of her past by working her ass off at a fish hatchery -- and eventually moves up to a crab boat on the Bering Sea. I loved it -- the vivid descriptions of Alaska, the unique and interesting characters, and our main character's story of growth, forgiveness and moving on. Last night I read the first couple chapters of "I'll See You in Paris" and so far I'm impressed. It features parallel stories, one of which is based on a real person, the Duchess of Marlborough.

Watching: "Sleepless in Seattle." I hadn't seen it for years, and I was surprised how many similarities it had to one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail." Same actors, and the same premise of a single dad and a woman who's not sure about her engagement connecting through letters. While we were watching "Sleepless" and I was blabbering on about all this, my mom informed me that "You've Got Mail" is actually based on an old Jimmy Stewart movie, "The Shop Around the Corner," in which two gift shop employees who hate each other fall in love through a penpal exchange. I'm a sucker for anything that involves letter-writing, so I've got it on request at the library.

Listening to: Close by Nick Jonas and Tove Lo



Eating: Dan Dan Noodle Bowl at Pei Wei! I've missed eating at Pei Wei the last three years in Dayton! We also ate at Rudy's BBQ, a delicious barbecue place we discovered when we were stationed in Del Rio, Texas, several years ago. Luckily they've expanded and there's now a location in Colorado Springs, which we make sure to eat at every time we're here visiting my family. Julio's tortilla chips and Rudy's were about the only good things we got out of our time in Del Rio!

Looking forward to: Getting lots of books read this week! Today Jarrod heads to the four-week class he has to take before we move to Hawaii, so it's the start of my month of relaxation while I stay with my parents here in Colorado. I have several exciting books out from the library ("Jane Steele," "A Study in Charlotte," "All the Winters After") and several ARCs I need to read and I foresee a lovely literary week ahead of me!

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I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?