1. My brother-in-law Nate designed these little book tags for the shop. The previous owner had her own tags and they were fine but definitely needed an update. Customers really like them – putting a tag in a book helps certain titles stand out for the reasons above. And they are so pretty. Thanks again Nate!

2. I wore sandals in February most of last weekend. How I love the Birkenstock! They are having a moment but I will keep wearing them after the moment passes. And then ten years later, they will have another moment and I will appear stylish once again.

3. I have only taken terrible pictures of books this week (blurry, weird) so here’s one of a temporary tattoo…fun for a few days. But I did read the memoir The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch at the Lake House last weekend. It’s maybe not for everyone but her writing is forceful and beautiful and difficult – I started the book and it was like I fell down a hole until I finished. Gripping and heartbreaking yet hopeful. I am also about halfway through Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback (A Powell’s Indiespensable selection) and am enjoying it. Kind of a literary mystery set in the Swedish Lapland. It’s deep winter in the novel and the juxtaposition between winter storms and our lightweight February is jarring. I know some of my East Coast peeps will roll their eyes at this but I was hoping for at least a little bit of snow this year.

4. This is one of my favorite trees on the capitol campus any time of the year but how beautiful is it in this early Spring? I had a lovely walk with George down to the lake one afternoon this week which is always such a treat for both of us. Usually we do most of our walking during the weekend but Mendy offered to pick up both girls which left me free to walk.

5. I know I already posted this picture but it’s seriously such a favorite moment of my week. That whole day – President’s Day – was lovely. Cate riding her new bike, a walk in the afternoon light, watching George tear across the grass, and then this. Jane is just a goofball. Truly, a funny kid when she’s in her element. It’s my new phone background.

And now it’s Friday again. Telfer and I have not eaten dinner together once all week and so tonight we are looking forward to Indian takeout and watching something. The girls have the pj party/parent’s night out at our gym which is one of the best nights ever. They love it, we love it. We are also in major prep mode for Phase II of the bookstore remodel – new counter area, new flooring, new lighting, more paint, and a railing around the balcony upstairs. So, obviously, we are headed to Ikea tomorrow for breakfast and good times in general.

The weather was magnificent this weekend. I told Telfer I feel a little guilty about enjoying the end of the world (global warming edition) but what can you do? The girls played outside much of Saturday at the lake – if you look closely, you can see George jumped in after the canoe and tried to catch up. Poor Georgie! I read outside (in February!) and finished a book in one day which is my love language. Best Valentine’s present ever. I opened the shop on Monday morning while Telfer took the girls to visit Nana and then took Cate to get her first bike (and Jane her first helmet). We took the most lovely afternoon walk…

But lest you think it’s all love and puppies and family walks over here, this was my pile of clean laundry to put away early this morning. ONE week of little girl clothes right there! The girls squabbled and whined quite a bit all weekend mostly due to the fact that they have been up at or before 6 AM every morning for weeks now. Jane can handle getting a little less sleep. Cate? Not so much. School starts again tomorrow….

1. The girls, especially Cate, enjoyed making their Valentine’s this year. We kept it really simple – heart card stock and stickers and glued-on candy. Pretty cute. They were so ready to go to school this morning. Also, in fitting with the season, Jane announced to Telfer and Cate yesterday afternoon in the car that she has a boyfriend. His name is Wyatt. So there’s that!

2. These red book trucks are making me very happy today. We just got them on Wednesday and today is the first day I have them all loaded up with bargains in front of the shop. It’s so fun to watch people browse through books on a sunny day.

3. I loved Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson this week. Just an absolute joy to read – definitely not just a kid’s book. True and personal and beautiful. Also finished this. And this weekend I going to start this and this AND am slowly making my way through this.

4. Last Saturday we went on a few errands before Telfer had to work – the farmer’s market, the bookshop, and Home Depot. The girls asked if they could bring their babies to the farmer’s market. Telfer rolls his eyes a bit but I am always happy to fuss with the front packs and get their babies all ready to go. I think I like their babies just as much as they do! I am also so very aware that they will not always want to take their babies to the farmer’s market and hold my hand while they do so.

5. And now it’s Friday at the shop. George has a new bed and has only jumped on a few customers today. Later today we are headed out to the Lake House for a couple of nights. We are looking forward to snuggling in – a fire, 101 Dalmatians, good books, a steak and red wine tomorrow night. This week has also been full of good food. I feel like I was in a rut there for a bit (cheese, bread and salad. repeat) but this week I made myself roast one of the five (five!) spaghetti squash in my cupboard. I chopped up an onion, sausage, garlic and red pepper flakes, added the roasted squash and a tiny bit of heavy cream. Then topped it all off with good parmesan. Where has this been all my life? THEN I made the dream bowls from this month’s Bon Appetit. Totally worth it – I made farro and the dressing and I roasted sweet potatoes with the harissa. Seriously wonderful. This is making me so hungry…luckily one of our favorite customers just dropped off some beautiful chocolate-covered strawberries…

1. These two cuties wanted a Seahawks shirt and Daddy was happy to find them one. The Super Bowl is such an event. After closing up the shop a bit early, I met Telfer and the girls at the party – the game had been on for about thirty minutes and the streets were completely deserted. Like Christmas morning deserted. The game was disappointing of course but the party we went to was so fun – good friends, good food and all the kids played football outside for much of the game.

2. We are doing mystery date (or blind date) with a book at the shop this month. The two employees at the shop and I each picked five books, I wrapped them, and then we wrote brief descriptions for each book. We have sold quite a few this week and the customers all think it’s pretty fun.

3. George came with me to the shop two days in a row this week. By the end of the second day, Mom needed a little break. He managed to chew through his harness, jump on a little boy and make about 200 new friends. He sat by the door and brought people in the shop more than free candy (or books for that matter) could ever do. I need to get him a dog bed and maybe a tranquilizer for next week.

4. We have been doing inventory at the shop for about a month now – a completely mind-numbing exercise in futility that will not be repeated in its current form but! I have become much more familiar with the stock which is not mind-numbing in the least and look what I found! Anna is one of my absolute dearest friends and her granddad owned Dawson’s Books (link to its current iteration) in Los Angeles for many years. In our California years, Anna introduced me to her granddad who is now 101 and lives in Pasadena. I have several of his miniature books that he gave me – the girls now play with them (very carefully). In our collectible case at the shop this week, I found one of the early (1933) Dawson’s book catalogs sent out to collectors. How cool is that? It is now headed to its rightful home in Idaho.

5. And speaking of connections, I had the coolest reading connection this week. I read Empathy Exams (essays) by Leslie Jamison first – sometime in January – and just loved – it’s challenging and beautiful and the author’s intellect and humanity just come through in startling and amazing ways.

Here’s a quote: “Empathy isn’t just remembering to say that must be really hard – it’s figuring out how to bring difficulty into the light so it can seen at all. Empathy isn’t just listening, it’s asking the questions whose answers need to be listened to. Empathy requires inquiring as much as imagination. Empathy requires you know nothing. Empathy means acknowledging a horizon of context that extends perpetually beyond what you can see.”

And then this week, I was reading An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison (a gift from Eleanor and a book on my shelf project). Jamison tells the story of her life – as a clinical psychologist and a diagnosed manic-depressive. Obviously, there is tension between the two. At the end of the book, the author talks about not having children but having a meaningful relationship with her nephews and niece – the niece being eleven and a hopeful young writer. I always read the acknowledgments at the very end or beginnings of books and Jamison thanks her brother and then her nephews and her niece – Leslie Jamison. The same Leslie Jamison who at eleven, wanted to be a writer and has now written The Empathy Exams.  Full circle, right? I had no idea the authors were related but now that I know, their two books play off each other in interesting ways. I love these connections between people and books…

I took this picture last weekend of me and George first thing on Saturday morning. Telfer let me sleep in and I stumbled downstairs to talk to the girls and snuggle with my little Georgie. I am hoping for a similar scene tomorrow morning. Telfer is working tonight and part of tomorrow. I am hoping he gets done tonight in time for a late Thai takeout dinner after the girls go to bed. Beyond that, my hopes are pretty simple –  maybe a yoga class, a walk for Georgie and the girls and I will start work on their Valentine’s. I might even “finish” the laundry… We got a seed catalog in the mail this week which motivated both of us to maybe do some yard work – mostly leaf maintenance. Spring is ever closer…

1. I found this photo on Telfer’s phone – he took it on New Year’s Day – and it is just awesome. How could this not be one of my favorite things this week? The girls were apparently playing jewelry factory in their room and needed safety glasses. Daddy was happy to get some from the garage.

2. So I bought a juicer at the beginning of January – it was the usual I-need-to-eat-(drink!)-more vegetables-at-the-beginning-of-the-year-goal. It took me a couple of weeks to psych myself up enough to actually get it out of the box and figure it out. And now I have and am having the best time juicing all sorts of things. My favorite so far is a combination of kale, apple, cucumber and lemon juice. I added some carrots into the mix yesterday and thought it was great. I have learned one thing already: do not buy kale cut up in bags, but actual whole leaves. The motor on the juicer is really powerful and basically blows little bits of kale all over the place. The first time I used the juicer I basically had to vacuum while drinking my juice because I got it everywhere. Telfer likes it now too – he was a little concerned at the outset – it’s so green and the juice separates pretty quickly if you don’t drink it immediately.

3. This is a little weird, but I read about these Japanese foot masks on a blog and decided to try it out. You wear these little booties on your feet (I about killed myself on the stairs so be careful if you decide to try) for an hour and then 5-7 days later all the skin peels off, leaving your feet baby soft. I wore the booties on Sunday night and by last night all the skin on the bottom of my feet started coming off in large, satisfying-to-peel chunks. As Telfer said at midnight last night, “This is better than a sunburn!”. Kind of gross and kind of awesome.

4. On Thursday morning, I dropped Jane off at school suspecting she might be sick but she didn’t have a fever and lately she has beens saying her tummy hurts all the time, so I wasn’t really sure if I believed her. Ten minutes after I dropped her off, she threw up all over the breakfast table at school. I felt so bad! One of my employees was able to work all day so I could stay home with Jane. We watched Frozen and colored and played Candyland and in very Jane-fashion, the first thing she said when we got home was “Can I have a snack?” Of course she wanted black licorice but we started off with saltines and juice. My kind of stomach flu!
5. I stole this picture of glassybabies from Telfer – we were at the shop during December to buy a gift – and it is just so pretty. We have all sorts of great things planned this weekend. I went to Seattle with Sherry last night – such a good time. I am hoping to walk George later this afternoon but first, Jane has a sweet little friend coming over for a playdate – this little girl has a brother at home so we are going to have a really girly morning with our itty bitty babies and dress up clothes. Later tonight we have a babysitter and are going to dinner with two of our favorite people. And tomorrow of course we are watching the Super Bowl with good friends. Cate really wanted a Seahawks shirt so Telfer found one for each girl. I am going to work at the bookshop until the game starts then we might close a little early. Downtown will be dead. So go Seahawks? Tepid at best. I am in it for the food mostly!