I just bought the first new book I’ve owned in probably a year: Changeless by Gail Carriger. I’ve seen it around on the internets, and so I decided to pick it up. Victorian propriety meets werewolves? From the back cover:

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

I laughed out loud in the book store (Hastings–it’s decently big! With a good selection! And a little coffee shop! All is not lost in Northern Idaho.). I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all. Especially you, mom.

My heart has been lifted today in this Northern Idaho Wilderness. Not only did I find Hastings, I also got a chance to wander through Pilgrims Natural Foods, which is like a reasonably-priced PCC (Whole Foods for those of you who don’t live in Seattle. Mom, I know you got the reference.). My cloth grocery bags are now stuffed with organic limes, tofu, bulghar wheat, and a dozen other food items that have never before been inside the Upstairs Apartment’s kitchen.

I’m currently sipping a delicious coffee at Calypso Coffee and Roasting Company, which is a quirky big coffee shop with all the things we quirky coffee people love: mixed media art on the walls, muted earthen color schemes, furniture than looks like it was stolen from victorian mansions and mod lofts, and draped cloth with vaguely Indian prints. I am in love.

Plus, I’m high from two back-to-back fantastic job interviews. With any sort of good fortune I should be spilling cocktails and/or home-style gravy on diners by next week.

Just to put a damper on all the good news, it’s snowing. In April. Really, Northern Idaho? Work with me now.

Even less is happening in Hayden Lake on a sleepy Sunday morning–gray skies have dampened spirits after the last few days of sunshine. But I’m glad of that. I’m not in the mood to become motivated.

I’m taking the morning off to read blogs and go in for the kill on my first pot of coffee, with the expectation that I’ll write that piece for Unpaved when I’m done relaxing. I’ve decided that today will be a day to add to the to-do list, not subtract from it. A brainstorming for the week to come, if you will….