A couple of weekends ago, Andre and I took an impromptu trip to Chattanooga. We went up to spend the weekend with Andre's brother at his new apartment. For Saturday, he drove us all up to Chattanooga, and the three of us spent the entire day out and about in the city. The weather was perfect, and everything was great.  We hadn't really planned anything in advance, so we basically just went to places that looked appealing. We parked out by the aquarium, and walked around from there.

A view of both the Chief John Ross bridge and the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge.

We sipped on some local brews at the Hair of the Dog Pub. Seriously though, how cute is this place? The front door lured me in, then we walked right through the back door to sit on the patio.



After lunch and booze, we walked over the Chief John Ross bridge to tons of great little shops, and hit up Clumpie's ice cream. The BIL and I both had espresso chocolate chunk (SO GOOD!), and Andre had coffee cake. Their card machines were down, so we actually had to walk around town to find an ATM to get some cash first.



We walked down to the big park (Coolidge Park), and watched all the families having fun and being active, while we ate some ice cream! I wanted to ride the 100+ year old carousel in the park, but no one wanted to ride it with me. :(


After ice cream, we got some coffee to wash it all down. All the coffee at Revelator was drip-brewed. Honestly, neither of us were huge fans. I got a latte (just skim milk and espresso) and Andre got iced coffee. The latte was better than the coffee. We didn't like that the only sweetener was the liquid kind, or that the straws were paper. Guys, I know paper straws are supposed to be cool, but I just don't like how squishy they get. Maybe it's just me?


Also, the walkways between the shops to get to the park area were super cool and grafitti'd. My favorite was this Where the Wild Things Are one!


On the way back, we walked on the pedestrian bridge. It was pretty neat because it's only for pedestrians, so you don't have to walk on the sidewalks on the edges. I am terrified of heights, so this worked out a lot better for me than my walk across the vehicular bridge.







Some of the things I'd love to take advantage of on our next trip to Chattanooga: visit the aquarium, get some Moon Pies (I'm not a fan, but it's the Moon Pie capitol of the world, so I have to, right?), eat and drink at Terminal Brewery, visit the Hunter Museum (that awesome building built into the side of the cliff above), and possibly take advantage of the free city bus.

What are some of your favorite things to do in downtown Chattanooga?

Before reading Eleanor by Jason Gurley, I knew that the description noted that the novel was science-fiction. As I started reading, I sort of lost the idea that the novel was a sci-fi/fantasy novel, and just got lost in the novel. The novel is the perfect mixture of realistic and fantasy. With believable thoughts and feelings, with some supernatural happenings.
The novel is broken down into several parts, from several viewpoints, during multiple time periods. I know you're thinking that sounds way too confusing and isn't worth the read, but you are wrong! The first few sections of the novel read like a traditional-type tragic family story. Then it jumped somewhere completely different.
The main character, Eleanor (obviously), is being pulled from her own world, "the real world," to other places- some are beautiful, and some are terrible. As she begins to be pulled to these other worlds more and more often, she must figure out what and why it is happening.
One of the things I really appreciate about the novel is that there aren't too many characters. When there are too many characters, especially main characters, involved, it confuses the story line. This isn't the case with Eleanor. It is well-written, and while it has several factors that could make it confusing, it just isn't confusing.
My main complaint with the novel is that sometimes the subject-verb agreement is incorrect. I know that sounds very grammatical, but those little instances bothered me. It only happen 3-5 times throughout the entire book, but it bothered me either way.
I also appreciated the ending. It wrapped everything up nicely, and while I think a sequel could be written, I don't believe it is at all necessary.
I highly recommend this book if you're interested in science-fiction/fantasy novels. For more information on this novel and its author, you can check out the Penguin Random House website here.








I received this novel from Blogging for Books for this review.

Sorry about not posting the weekly recap last week. There was a pretty huge family emergency last week. You'll see I spent most of my week in the hospital. I won't get too personal here, but just keep my family in your prayers. (PS. My daddy is doing great!) I also realize that it may seem foolish I snapped at least one picture every day, and also went out for food and ice cream while my daddy was struggling. I had to keep some normalcy in my life and also, of course I had to eat. The situation wasn't a happy one, but we were able to spend a lot of time together as a family, and that is something I cherish.

March 3- I made some super healthy and delicious blueberry banana bread. I  used this recipe here, and it turned out perfectly. (And believe me, I am not a baker!)

March 4- I had a super fun annual doctor's visit. (NOT) The good news? I got in some quality reading time.

March 5- Andre and I went up to see his brother's (my BIL's) new apartment, and we took a trip up to Chattanooga. I'd never been, and we had a blast (I'll get a post up on that soon!).

March 6- We spent the entire day at home (once we got back from the BIL's apartment), and I read a little bit, and watched a little tv.

March 7- After leaving work earlier in the day to drop my parents off at the ER, I stayed late to get some extra work done. I was the last one out the door, and let me tell you, it gets so creepy in the building all alone.

March 8- After hours in the hospital, we left to let my parents get some rest. We stopped by Ponce City Market (PCM) for the first time, and I got some gelato.

March 8- An overall view of PCM, an awesome complex of shops, trendy restaurants, and lofts.

March 9- Waiting for my dad's surgery to be over. It seems we spent all day waiting. And everything was successful!

March 10- We finally got my mom out of the room for enough time for her to actually eat dinner.

March 10- Outside of the Varsity, probably the most touristy restaurant in Atlanta. Whaddya have?

March 11- I had another doctor's appointment this day, and didn't get to spend the day with my dad. So here's a picture of Courage.

March 12- Saturday, we spent the day back up at the hospital again. We also got to visit Andre's mom. We had a very late night dinner- a yummy BLT with cheese on a wheat bun.

March 13- Still a lot more progress with my daddy. The time had changed, and my sister and brother-in-law and I got to watch a beautiful sunset from the parking deck of the hospital.

March 14- We had some fun team building in the office and got to spend some of our morning in the upper-level suites at our university's stadium. We watched a video called FISH about the Pike Place Fish Market. (I was surprised about the amount of people that had never heard of it!)

March 15- We had some absolutely beautiful weather (up in the 80s), and I was so happy to snap this picture on a walk through campus.

March 16- Some of us from the office took a trip down to Macon for a workshop, and I got to drive this big ol' beauty. I didn't hit anything and we made it safely to and from, so driving the giant van was a success!

When I started reading Interpreter of Maladies, I somehow didn't realize it was a collection of short stories. I can't remember the last time I read through any short stories, but as I was reading, I realized that I'm not really a fan. I have recently re-ignited my love of reading, but just like with television shows, I want to connect with the characters. With short stories, I can't connect. I can't delve in deep. With that being said, Interpreter of Maladies is extremely well-written.
It took me slightly longer to read these nine short stories than it usually does to read a full novel. While the stories were interesting, and some heartbreaking, they didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. I didn't need to know what was going to happen next. In a way, it felt like a book you might be assigned to read in school.
The book is a collection of several stories about Indian and Bengali characters and their experiences around the world. I was interested in the stories, but hated how they would speed up and rush through time. I am unfamiliar with the cultures I was reading about, and while some stories explained terms, others did not. I really felt like Lahiri did a great job of balancing the thoroughly Indian/Bengali stories and the Americanized stories, and the stories that were brief snippets of time compared to those stories that sped through time. Additionally, each story was nicely wrapped up, so I didn't feel like any questions were left unanswered (except, you know, where did they go from there?).
I kept expecting all the stories to latch together somehow, and was trying to piece those connections together. Surprisingly, none of the stories were actually connected, but I think I would have really enjoyed if they had have been. I guess that would have made it less like short stories, and more like a novel.
Again, the writing was really strong, and the stories were interesting to read. If you're into short stories, I would highly recommend this book- as would basically anyone else. It's an international bestseller, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.