An Open Book...

I was going to wait until I had some pictures to post, but I think I'll just add them in later...

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Quite a bit's happened in the past month! We went semi-super-north, semi-super-south, and I found a rather enjoyable part-time job!


semi-super-north : MAINE

Toward the end of July, Jeromie and I flew up to Portland, Maine, then the drove to Bridgton (Moose Pond!) for a family reunion - my stepmom's family. It was an *great* trip - fun to be around extended family and a good balance of action/relaxion. I know, I just made up a word. Highlights would have to be: good conversations with family, the loft we got to sleep in, the beautiful view, and the 3rd annual family 5k.

We spent our last day in downtown Portland, wandering around various shops, hunting down yarn stores & thrift shops, and pur-chasing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from a cool local bookstore (Longfellow Books?).

Tangent: Up until shortly after this trip, I'd only read HPs 1 & 2 and just didn't feel like following the craze through the rest of them; however, once Jeromie got (and in rather short order, finished) the 7th, I got kind of curious and ran off to the library for #3. Since we got back from Maine (July 24th), I've finished the rest of them... including #7 last night. Earlier in July, I rediscovered my love for reading of nearly any sort, which made it pretty easy to get sucked into the Potter books. I like them. More than I remember liking first two!

Back to Portland, though, and Maine in general: I thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting to finally see some of New England has got Jero & me reconsidering Gordon-Conwell for further school endeavors.


semi-super-south : ALABAMA

Orange Beach, to be exact, with Jeromie's family for his mom's 50th birthday! Hanging out with Jeromie's family has always been awesome thus far, and this time was no exception. I just hope they've forgiven me for being a bit of a bookworm! ;-) It was great fun to get to swim and rest and cook and monkey around with everyone.

I've always been kind of neutral about beaches until now. I'd never been to any outside the Carolinas. The water was clearer and the sand was soft, so this time I *really* enjoyed the beach for being itself.


rather enjoyable part-time job : THE OPEN BOOK

Woo-hoo! After nearly a month of being a bit pesky, I got a job at the Open Book! I started last week before we left for Alabama. It's a great, great local independent bookstore with awesome staff. Over the past couple of years, whether out of stress or no-time, I'd kind of forgotten how much I like to read... and thus I read pretty much out of necessity and not much else. When I finished at my previous job and started hunting around for a part-time job, I decided to think outside the box... in other words, places I hadn't considered before or had thought unattainable AND no big-box retail places. Jeromie and I hadn't really bought any new books since moving to Greenville, so I'd nearly forgotten about the Open Book, having not been there since sometime in high school. Having been back lately, I love it! No more big-box bookstores... none none none.