Monday, April 18, 2016

Monday Musings from Colorado

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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.

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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?

14 comments:

  1. Glad you guys had a safe trip. Enjoy your month of relaxing reading. I look forward to seeing your Jane Steele comments and thoughts. I remember finding your blog and knowing you were in Ohio, with me in WV, made it nice to know "book people" were so close. Now that your are farther away, still glad you are keeping up with your blog - it's one of my favorites.

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    1. Oh Barb, that's so sweet of you to say! :)

      P.S. I think "Jane Steele" might be up next!

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  2. Love the photo of the library mural!! Wow! And the picture of you two during your hike is adorable! Enjoy your time in Colorado!! Relaxing and reading time sounds wonderful!!

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    1. Thanks Lori! It's been nice so far, though I'm definitely starting to go stir crazy after a week of doing nothing productive!

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  3. Isn't knowing you have are going to have reading time a wonderful feeling?? I hope you enjoy your books!

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    1. Thanks Lindsey! They've all been pretty good so far. I do love that feeling of knowing I have as much time as I want to get immersed in a story!

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  4. You are so sweet to drop by my little blog. Mahalo nui loa. I'm so jealous you get to live in Hawaii again. We haven't been there since the little one was two. My girls will get to travel to Oahu this summer with my parents to stay at the timeshare. I hope my husband takes me to Florida during that time. Yep, big time knitter. We knitters and book bloggers/reviewers are alike as we have our own addiction! I love to read too but am behind on my reading goal this year, sadly. On the other hand I am getting lots of terrific knitting done. That book mural is totally awesome and the Alaska book sounds like a good one. You have lovely skin. Have a great day.

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    1. I feel like it's always a battle between books and knitting when I've got free time! Now isn't really the best time for me to knit (though I did bring a few needles to my parents') so I'm focused on reading, but I'm already itching to get my hands back into some yarn! What kind of stuff do you knit? I'm trying to find some knits that I could actually get some use out of in Hawaii.

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  5. Love that book mural! So creative! Sounds like you will have a relaxing and reading type of vacation stay with your family while husband is at school. Enjoy this time and hope your preparations for the next big move go smoothly.

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    1. Thank you, Rita! It really is sort of a rejuvenating "staycation," now that I think about it. I've definitely been making the most of all the extra reading time! :)

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  6. The Alaskan Laundry sounds really good! I hadn't heard of it before now, but I'm really looking forward to hearing what you thought of it.

    Sleepless in Seattle is one of my favorite movies. (Fun fact: my coworker's dad wrote it.) I can quote many lines from it, and I am not really a big movie person.

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    1. I really loved "The Alaskan Laundry"! My review is posted if you want to take a look. I'm already interested in all things Alaska (and we watch "The Deadliest Catch" crab-fishing show) so it was a must-read for me!

      How exciting that you have a connection to "Sleepless in Seattle" -- AND that it happens to be one of your favorites! Perfect!

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  7. I'm looking forward to reading I'll See You in Paris. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Sounds like you're in for a great week!

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    1. Thanks, Yvonne! I did end up really enjoying "I'll See You in Paris"! It was a fun, lovely story!

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