Date Night Tonight

We had date night tonight, which was a special treat. The kiddos were so excited when Dear Babysitter showed up around dinner and helped with bath. They were in bed before we left, thinking that DB was having a sleepover. Fine, less stress that way.

But tonight we deviated from our usual date night plans, which often include an errand and then dinner. Tonight, we skipped dinner, eating at home with the kiddos (meatballs, cheesey mashed potatoes, mixed greens, and biscuits). This saved a ton of money as well as calories (tomorrow is my WW meeting day and I'm trying really had on Core--for you civilians, that's a lot like Atkins/South Beach without the pork rinds!). We went to the bookstore instead. And it was fabulous.

In Chicago, we lived around the corner from a women's bookstore and loved going there on weekend nights to browse--not necessarily to buy, though we did a lot of that too, but to read titles, explore new topics, learn something unexpected. Tonight, we went to one of the big chains, not an independent store (of which there seem to be very few good ones here in CT), but browsed many of the same sections. Lesbian/Gay studies is always next to Women's Studies is next to African-American Studies, which are usually all right around the corner from New Age/Spirituality. We closely examined a book on American women in WWII, complete with wonderful pictures (Our Mother's War, I think) and laughed over the lesbian pregnancy books (glad that part is over!). I had wanted Kathryn Hughes's book on George Eliot but was curtly informed that literary biographies didn't sell and so they didn't stock it. This from a woman who spelled the author's name with two "L"s. Doesn't give you much hope for big chain bookstores, does it, especially when they sell bags and hang posters with a portrait of the author!

We had a chai in the little Starbucks and perused a book entitled The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life, with instructions on, for example, making your own rock candy or panning for gold. I love books like this (big surprise there, right?), and was also tempted to buy Back in the Day, on clearance, but wasn't as interested in Morse Code and heraldry. We spotted a book on beautiful English villages and grabbed it off the shelf immediately--such lovely pictures of half-timbered houses and thatched cottages. Like Lilliput Lane come to life. I'm convinced at least one of the villages was in Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson. So, we took that home too, to remember great trips and be inspired for another. We then moved on to music, listening to selections from Loreena McKennett's Alahambran concert. I'm not even sure we hit our more recent craft, cookbook, or mystery section favorites. But, despite promises to the contrary, we did wander into the children's section and picked up another Little Bear and Chicken Soup with Rice, one of DP's favorites.

It was this total geek love-in, with little talk of anyting but the titles we picked up. And that was a wonderful change.