Happy Errands

I am having trouble wrapping my head around that it is OCTOBER!

Yesterday I had a half day because of a medical appointment- so I got to run some happy errands before hand.

I popped into the library to pick up our next cousin bookclub book and because I had time to browse I left with a stack!

Including this one that Laura and I were admiring at the bookshop last week! World of Bookish Places, it is full of beautiful color photos of so many bookish destinations. I think it is destined to become part of our personal collections and a travel journal of sorts.

And our next Cookbook Club Book! Taste of Home Soups & Breads - tentatively scheduled for Nov 7 in my cozy kitchen.

I also hit up Hobby Lobby for yarn to start the Holiday Chaos Crochet-along. I'm so excited to start this project! I did end up mixing it up a bit and choosing two different yarns- I mainly went the Classic Christmas pallet. But the Red was too RED for my taste and I grabbed cranberry instead. I also didn't care for cinnamon and picked a grey instead. I like the tweedy sage from Country Christmas one and subbed that for the light sage. I loved the Japanese Fields variegated one and I used that one to make all my other decisions. I'm still debating on my stitches, I think I might just follow the beginner ones Michelle has planned.

I also ran into a friend and another friend's son. So that was an added bonus. 

After my appointments I came home and we went out to dinner to celebrate 28 years of marriage! We also took great delight in the fact we could go out on a Tuesday night! Now that Rhett's no longer working two jobs everyday! We went to Texas Roadhouse and had a lovely and delicious dinner.

Hard to believe 28 years have flown by. 

We are so excited for this new chapter where we get to be Gram and Gramps.

Two new Bible Studies I am excited about coming up- one is the Making Your Home a Haven study. I have been doing this one every fall for years now! I recently started doing it in a Facebook group with friends. That has been a delight.  This year it focuses on The Lord's Prayer which we have been studying in Wednesday night prayer meeting. So I am extra excited about this. It begins Oct 26. 

Following that I will be doing the Advent study from Daily Grace Co. Again I will be setting up a Facebook group to do it in community.

Both of these feel so great for helping to stay grounded and focused as we head into the busyness of the holidays.

Be blessed today my friends. 💙 Talk to you soon.

more bookish and granddaughter (and daughter!) delight

Saturday my girls and I planned on going to Books & Brews. Hannah and I headed up to Mikayla's midmorning. Had some quality time with Murphy while Mikayla and Phoebe were finishing getting ready.

It was a short trek from her place but sadly we were a little disappointed. It was more of a bookish themed coffee shop. They did have books for sale but not many. It was a cute little spot and one I would frequent- perhaps, if it was more near by.

We all got lattes- and they were pretty good. We just wanted more books- so we decided to continue on to a "real" bookstore. The River's End Bookstore, in Oswego. 

But we were also hungry and decided lunch first! We went to Riverwalk Bagels- where Laura and I had a fabulous little lunch on my birthday a couple years back.... this time was weird.... and I felt a little bad that I talked it up so much. But to be fair is was mainly the cashier that gave us weird vibes.  The bagels were delicious! Mikayla and I both got turkey sandwiches and Hannah an Italian one.

After that we had the bright idea to go visit Dylan where he was working at Harbor Fest- "near-by". We thought it would be a quick walk and then we could hit the bookstore on our way back. It was both much hotter and much farther than we anticipated (and uphill). But we made it. Dylan treated us to ice cream cones from Ben and Jerry's food truck. 

Unfortunately, Phoebe woke up and was so hungry about the time we headed back to the bookstore.  She cried the entire walk back and we all felt so terrible for her. We were so relieved to reach the bookshop and AC! There was a table and chairs in the front corner where Mikayla was able to feed the hangry baby. We all had a much needed respite.

I treated us all to a new book!

from left to right- Hannah, Amy, Mikayla & Phoebe's picks

Yesterday morning I had a doctor appointment and so did Phoebe about an hour apart at the same doctor office. So naturally we all went to lunch together! 

We also hit up Hobby Lobby. Mikayla for some scrapbooking supplies and me for some more watercolor paper. We also saw a couple friends. 💖

Back home I shaped this lovely loaf I baked this morning.  I had a book break and enjoyed a coldbrew coffee while I read a chapter.

 

After dinner, I did a little watercolor and caught up on the June and July BOM quilt blocks!

All in all it was a lovely extended weekend.

CNY Book Crawl

Saturday Laura and I set out to visit a couple book crawl locations. But the day kind of took on a life of its own. 😂 Spoiler alert, we ended up visiting 8 different locations (not all of them on the Book Crawl).

Our first stop was the Liverpool Lit Lounge, where we both got caramel iced coffees (which sadly were underwhelming). But it was a cute little spot. Not quite what we were expecting I guess. The book rooms were smallish and there were some random people browsing and hanging out so it felt a little bit awkward.

Also there were no passports to be found. Although upon returning home and counting up our stops, I realized they were not part of the book crawl after all. :P 

So we decided to pop down the road and around the corner to Golden Bee, this has always been a fav stop in the past. But she also only had black and while copies of the passport and the store was super crowded when we were there and just felt overwhelming and not our vibe that day so sadly we didn't linger there long either. We headed back to the car feeling somewhat disappointed.

Our next stop was to be Remi Reads, a little shop that looked delightful on social media. Professed to be women owned and was named after a dog. I was very excited to check this one out.

But Laura was googling how much it would add to visit That's What She Read- a store we visited on a sister coffee date a summer or two ago- we knew it would be a sure win and a pick me up so we decided it was worth the brief detour. On our way we drove right by Divine Realm Books so we stopped there too. It's a fantasy bookshop, which Laura is not really into but I read occasionally. She also knew the proprietor- so that was a fun little stop. We each pick up a book there.

Another short detour and bathroom stop at the Marcellus Library on our way to That's What She Read, we didn't get anything there but enjoyed browsing in their little library store.

That's What She Read was just as delightful as we remembered.

We just love that they wrap the book you purchase for you, with lavender and a ribbon! I still haven't unwrapped mine yet! 

From there we headed to Remi Reads. But were getting a little hungry. We happened right by this place that has been on our Sister Coffee Date list for a couple year- Baliwick Market. So we stopped and had ice cream for lunch! 

Finally we made it to Remi Reads. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. It was a smallish alcove in the back of another boutique, which in and of itself was not bad. It was pretty cute. And we found a super cute dino book there for Evan. Maybe my expectations were too high from their fb posts. Maybe I was expecting to see the dog and a couple of down to earth friendly bookish ladies. Instead there was a slightly grumpy, kinda creepy old guy manning the store so... also the p*nis bookmarks really ruined the vibe for us. I did consider getting the "Just Here to Pet the Dogs" hat. 

Anyway- we left there feeling a little let down too.

We headed for home, very glad we had added the stop at That's What She Read- otherwise the day was kinda a bust.  We talked about next year taking some days off so we could hit all the bookshops on the crawl, we talked about the vibe of what our bookstore would be like someday and a part of the book crawl.

As we zipped down the highway once again entering Syracuse, Laura was like- you know... Parthenon Books is practically on the way home. So we stopped at one more store! I forgot to take any pictures here. We felt happier just walking in. The back of the store was pretty sparse, but we both found a book to purchase and then were gifted an ARC (Advance Reader Copies of the past they were most likely just disposing of) with purchase. So free book. The lady at the register was very friendly and kind.

All in all we enjoyed our day! Starting plotting our next book trip- maybe for next year and a much bigger- let's visit a bookshop in all 50 states travel project! As well as dreams of our own bookshop someday.

Here's our bookstacks!

Can't wait for our next bookish adventure. I'm already plotting one with my girlies and hopefully hitting up one of the shops kind of near Mikayla's house that we didn't make it to yet. Hannah will be home this weekend and I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday than with my girls for coffee and books! 

We have a family dinner planned on Friday as my uncle will be visiting too. I can't wait to have all my kids (and grandbaby!) together in one place- my heart is exploding with joy just thinking about it. 💖

May Sister Coffee Date

Saturday Laura and I were able to get together for a sister coffee date.  We visited a new coffee shop that had opened recently- Caffe Cosi.  We found it delightful!

We both got hot lattes and sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. They were a little messy but so yummy!

We sat and chatted for a while, delighting in just being in one another's company. Chatting about our children and life, etc.

Then we headed down the road to Books End Bookshop, a used bookstore we have visited before. 

We again found ourselves sitting on the floor of the children's section.

I talked Laura into getting From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler- somehow she was not familiar with this childhood favorite of mine! I think my 5th grade teacher read it to us aloud in class. 

We found these books titled Amy and Laura so naturally we had to get them- they even had two copies! 

I came away with a few other treasures from the Children's Section.

At the checkout I began questioning if I had already purchased Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. Vaguely remembering finding it on our Massachusetts trip. Laura eagerly said she'd take it off my hands if I did indeed have it at home. Turns out I did- but it was a hardcover, so I kept the newly purchased paperback because a- that's my preference and b- it matched the other two books in the series.

My mom questioned why I had purchased Little House on the Prairie- I received and still have the whole box set from my 9th birthday.  They were well read and loved by both myself and then Hannah and the cover of one of the books was torn off and missing. I thought it was Little House on the Prairie but turns out I was wrong... although has you can see Little House on the Prairie is in rough shape too.

I've seen a lot of videos on Instagram of people rebinding books so I'm toying with the idea of picking up a new hobby and rebinding my whole set but we'll see. Maybe I just keep an eye out for Little House in the Big Woods at used book sales- it would have to be the same yellow covered editions. But then what do I do with my worn out copies- do I recycle them? I have still hung onto my childhood edition of Anne of Green Gables Bruno chewed up as puppy because I couldn't bear to toss it out.

I also got a sticker to had to the cover of my commonplace book.

Our adventure filled my soul and was a needed break. Looking forward to our next bookish coffee adventure.