The Little Paris Book Shop

I received a copy of The Little Paris Bookshop and quite honestly, I could not get into it. I've noticed lately that I have a hard time connecting with fiction in Paris because I find it so unrealistic. I couldn't connect to the characters and that tells me that I need to put down the book. It drives me crazy when authors have these true-bleu Parisian characters going to ultra-touristy places that I know true-bleu Parisians avoid like the plague. I have seen this book on a lot of lists and recommended at a lot of bookstores, so there are people out there who enjoy it. I am just not one of them.

The Man in the High Castle Group Meeting 1 (Chapters 1-7)

Hello Book Club members!  We hope you've been enjoying The Man in the High Castle so far.  I'm definitely hooked and can't wait to read more.

We're excited to hear your thoughts on the book through Chapter 7.  Comment below with your thoughts on the following questions and quotations - and feel free to add some questions or quotations you found while reading.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Up through chapter 7, what do you consider to be the most shocking thing in the world the author Philip K. Dick has created?

2. What are your thoughts about The Grasshopper Lies Heavy book that has been mentioned by a few characters? What does the book describe?

3. What are the differences between life in Colorado and life in San Francisco?

4. Do you have any favorite characters at this point? Are any of the characters heroes?

5. What were your thoughts on the interaction between Mr. Baynes and Alex Lotze? Can you think of a time when you thought you had a camaraderie with someone and it turned out quite the opposite?

6. If you were Frank Frink, how much credence would you give the I Ching?

QUOTATIONS

1.  "And he thought, I know why. They want to be agents, not the victims of history.  They identify with God's power and believe they are godlike."

2. "Hating the Japs as he did, he had vowed revenge; he buried his service weapons [..] well-wrapped and oiled, for the day he and his buddies arose. However, time was the great healer, a fact he had not taken into account"

3. "Hell, he thought, it has to be one of the other; it can't be both. you can't have good fortune and doom simultaneously. Or...can you?"

4. "No science in it. Nor set in future. Science fiction deals with the future, in particular future where science ha advanced over now. Book fits neither premise...But...it deals with alternate present."

National Museum of the Marine Corps

Last weekend when we went to Monticello, we also stopped by the National Museum of the Marine Corps. When the hubs had his internship over the summer, his group took at trip down to the Marine Corps Museum, but didn't have enough time to see everything. The hubs is one of those I-like-to-read-the-signs at the museum, so when his group only spent an hour at the museum that was just not enough for him and he told me that we would be back. He found the perfect opportunity when we drove back from Charlottesville.

Outside and around the museum is the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park with tons of really cool statues to various marine regiments/battalions/platoons/squads and it was a nice walk.

I had no idea that dogs could be marines!

Inside the museum was super cool. I really liked how there were all of these mannequins and large displays. I didn't read many of the signs, just walked through and enjoyed the large scale models.

This is the flag that flew at Iwo Jima in 1945.

This room was from the Vietnam War and had the heater up to simulate Vietnam. There was another room for the Korean War that was absolutely positively freezing. It was really neat how they tried to make it so realistic.

 On my list of jobs-I-would-like-but-how-does-any-one-get-them is making giant statues out of legos. How cool would it be to just play with legos all day making replicas of the Marine Corps Monument. If anyone has leads about that, definitely please let me know.

Sometimes he looks happy to be in pictures with me. Especially after 3 hours in the museum.

A Walk Through Georgetown Neighborhoods

The row houses in Georgetown are so beautiful.  I love to just wander and explore the neighborhoods in this area of DC.

Foode: A Wonderful Experience

Over the weekend we went to visit Fredericksburg because my father-in-law spent time there as a mormon missionary. For dinner we decided to go to Foode because it had the highest Yelp! reviews and the chef had been on Top Chef.

The restaurant had a really neat alley way leading to it, which may cause some to miss it. When we pulled up to the address, all we could see was a yoga store.

 These umbrellas were so cute. I really hope that someday I have a long entrance leading to my front door and I can hang umbrellas too :) If it wasn't raining, I would have loved this outside seating.

At Foode, you order and then you are seated. They have drink stations through the restaurant so that you can refill whenever you need. I ordered a strawberry lemonade and LOVED the sugar rim. Why don't all drinks come with a sugar rim?

I had the italian sausage and polenta and it was incredible. I had never had polenta before and it made me want to eat it every single day. The tomato sauce was the best tomato sauce I have ever had. If they sold it in bottles, I would have bought 20.

I took pictures of everyone's food since it was all delicious. Unfortunately I didn't get to taste everyone's food, but I did try some fries and they were great. They impressed this Idaho crowd who know their potatoes.

All-natural, hormone-free local timber creek farms beef, tomato jam, provolone, arugula pesto, and benton's bacon.

All-natural, free-range chicken, with pimento bbq and finished with smoked honey.

Char-grilled pork chop served over black and wild fried rice, egg, and chopped summer veggies.

I don't know why people normally visit Fredericksburg, but Foode is there and that is a good enough reason for a visit according to me.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

I was very impressed with The National Museum of Women in the Arts.  First of all, the building is beautiful!  Chandeliers, marble floors, columns...beautiful!  While I enjoyed each of the exhibits, I think my favorite one was the Esther Bubley photography exhibit.  Her pictures are conversation pieces - my husband and I talked about her pieces the rest of the day.  I loved her work so much, I purchased one of her books.  I love black and white photography, especially when each photo tells it's own story.

A few new exhibits will be opening soon that look like they will be good.  I definitely recommend visiting if you have an afternoon to kill in the downtown DC area.

*this is not a sponsored post, these are my own opinions.

Monti-sello or Monti-chello?

This past weekend my in-laws came out from Idaho to enjoy some time in central-ish Virginia. We started our weekend in Charlottesville where Boise State killed University of Virginia and spent the next day celebrating at Monticello with all the other Boise State fans.

Monticello is Thomas Jefferson's estate that he built on top of a mountain and it was pretty amazing.

Thomas Jefferson was 6'2. I'm 5'3. I have a feeling this statue isn't to scale. I learned that Thomas Jefferson was not a fan of capital letters and preferred to only write in lowercase. Great minds think alike.

Before we started our tour, I mentioned to my brother that I was at Monticello that day. He told me that when I got to the yellow room to take pictures for him. All through the house the rooms were a tan-ish-yellow color and I wasn't sure if I had missed what he was talking about. Then we walked into this room and I knew I hadn't. According to our tour guide, this yellow paint cost 30 times more than any other color on the market at the time. Even though interior photos were forbidden, I took some of the yellow room anyway. Who could say no to their brother?

The tour was cool, but a bummer we didn't get to see the upstairs or go into the dome.

I look like a huge nerd in this picture, but I love it at the same time. This is the front of his house and when you walk in there are animal skins and antlers all over the place from Lewis & Clark. I think this would probably be my husband's dream house due to that and the fact that is was on top of a mountain. At one point this property sold for $2700. Yep, that is right, I didn't leave out any zeros. TWENTY SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. If only...

A fish pond for fish he was going to eat later? Such a boss.

There was this little stand-alone room deal and I would love to have one and just sit in it and watch the sunrise/sunset.

He had a giant garden and vineyard, but we liked this trellis the best. It had these flower bean plants growing on it that were pretty cool.

George Washington's grave is cooler. If you don't believe me, Coryn is going to Mount Vernon in October and she can post some photographic proof.

I just kind of love hanging off fences and taking pictures flashing peace signs. I can't resist.