Author: Lauren

I'm Lauren and this is my life.

Cabin Weekend Things

Lauren1 Comment

We turn left and find ourselves in a quiet valley, a herd of cows grazing on one side, a sparking stream on the other, and a blazing blue sky above it all.  We pull out two chairs, cheers our beers, pull out our books and settle into relaxation mode.  We fire up the grill, throw on some burgers, turn the radio to the Rockies game, dump the puzzle pieces out onto the table.  We wake to a chill in the air, boil water for coffee, flip the pancakes then settle into our chairs on the porch, to take in breakfast and the fresh air of a morning in the mountains.

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We read for hours, break for a walk to the stream, talk about how “we should learn to fish!” before trekking back up the hill and remembering how steep it is.  We find a bench three-quarters of the way up, a new addition that our lungs greatly appreciate as we sit, look out onto the valley and catch our breath.  The afternoon is a blur of sunshine, page turning, napping, puzzle pieces and our “Cabin Jams” playlist.  Happy Hour hits and we pull out the makings of a cheeseboard (roughing it, what’s that??), crack open a bomber to share and, prompted by the book I’m reading, ask ourselves “if you had amnesia and couldn’t remember the last 10 years of your life, what would you most surprised about?”  “I’M MARRIED?!”

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We finish the puzzle while dinner cooks — charred shishitos, sriracha mayo, grilled steak — I make Joey read a chapter of his book outloud to me, even though I have no idea who these characters are or what’s happened in the first half of the book.  We pull out the deck of cards for Uno — I get destroyed 300-25 or something ridiculous like that — then move on to an epic game of Jenga that I was pretty sure would last forever.  It’s THIRTY-THREE stories later when I cause the whole thing to fall and I’m the loser AGAIN.  We end the night with blueberry galette and a toasty fire.  I realize I’m 400 pages into the book I was worried about finishing in three weeks.

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It’s another chilly morning, but the coffee is strong, the pancakes are even better the second time around and I’m feeling rested, re-energized and so so happy.  We pack up and hit the road to head home but I’m determined to take this relaxed version of myself back into “real life.”  This has been another weekend at the cabin, a time I look forward to all year, moments I treasure forever and such an amazing way to celebrate the end of another summer.

Tell me, what did you do this weekend?!

Recent Reads

Lauren3 Comments

At the beginning of the summer, I set a goal to read six books.  We’re just 10 days into August and CHECK!  I marked that sixth tally on my Summer Bucket List on Saturday and it felt so good.  I mean it took me like four days to finish the last eight pages of that sixth book, but whatever.  Now, I’m in between books and it feels so wrong.  I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver this one to me tomorrow, so I guess I’ll just have to immerse myself in Olympic swimming until then.  Not that that’s hard.  PHELPS PHOREVER ♥

Here’s what I read this summer!

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The Life We Bury

So this book wasn’t perfect.  The main character was unexplainably DUMB towards the end, it all wrapped up just a little too neatly and I didn’t give a $#!% about the main character’s relationship with his neighbor, but I really really liked the main character.  I liked that he was tough but had the biggest heart and that it showed in the way he cared for his younger brother.  I do really wish we’d had more interaction with Carl, as he was pretty much the catalyst for the entire story, but overall I enjoyed this one.

Me Before You

Surprised the heck out of myself by liking this one quite a bit!  I saw the movie at an advanced screening a couple of months ago and even though everyone else cried through the entire ending, I was like “god this is cheesy!”  But then I read the book and it gave me so much more than the movie.  All the gaps were filled in, all the characters were so well fleshed out and okay, I still didn’t cry, but I got pretty close.  Fellow readers, are Jojo Moyes’ other books worth reading?

The Devil in the White City

Can you even believe the World’s Fair in Chicago existed??  It sounded incredible and the history nerd in me loved all the facts and behind-the-scenes information this book provided but it all seemed a little drawn out for me.  I got too much of a research paper feeling and not enough of a connection to any of the characters.

The Good Girl

This is the story of a privileged young woman being abducted by a complicated young man.  It’s also the story of a desperate mother, a failing marriage and a good-hearted detective.  The evolution of both of these central relationships was really interesting and Detective Hoffman was such an easy-to-root-for character but I didn’t particularly like the way this one ended.  Too much stock is placed on plot twists these days.  Also, Mia, the “main character” is almost exclusively shown through the eyes of other characters and I thought that was a really weird decision for the author to make.

The Nightingale

I liked this book a lot, though after this and All the Light We Cannot See, I think I need a break from World War II stories.  It’s all so heavy!  I loved the French aspect, the sister aspect, the strong female character aspect and the semi-twist at the end.  Prose-wise, All the Light We Cannot See is far superior, but this story was equally interesting.  Also, my mom and I were supposed to be reading this together and I’m fairly certain I’ll have forgotten the plot by the time she finishes it 🙂  (Just calling you out on the internet, Mom.)   

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc

So this was interesting… the author of this book actually lives in Denver and attended our book club meeting!  It takes place in 1907 L.A. and Anna Blanc is a spoiled desperate-not-to-end-up-a-spinster socialite, who secretly takes a job as a police maiden and gets wrapped in a serial killer mystery.  I wanted to like it, but Anna was just annoyingly stupid and never got any less stupid.  The author explained that she wrote her main character that way purposely and cited Scarlett O’Hara as inspiration and okay, that made me hate Anna a little bit less but this still wasn’t my favorite read of the summer.

I’ve got Reconstructing Amelia, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris on the brain for my next few reads, but what else do you recommend??