Amanda Rae Was Here...

GPOYW: Queen for a day / loyal customer since 2006.

Inspirational photo tour of this amazingly creative company very soon. Thanks, Matt!

[Zappos Headquarters, Henderson, Nevada, May 22, 2012]

Flashback to Longwood Gardens. Namaste.

[Difficult Creek Trail, Aspen, Colorado, May 12, 2012]

GPOYW: Flashback to Pittsburgh, courtesy Scrapbook I, inspired by this recent photo.

I’ll get some sort of outline down over the next few months; there is a towering pile of material to sift through, and memories to entertain.

[Photo Booth at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 12, 2012]

GPOYW: Sunwashed and starry-eyed on the Avenue of the Giants.

(In anticipation of hitting Utah desert trails in a couple weeks.)

[Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, October 25, 2011]

GPOYW: World Book Night—April 23—with longtime employee Mark Billingsley at Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colorado.

On Monday I spent an hour or so approaching strangers in seemingly literary venues and watching their faces light up when I offered to give them free books.

The day before, I had volunteered to distribute specially bound copies of classic and contemporary novels for World Book Night, a nonprofit literacy movement supported by publishers and distributors in North America, through Explore Booksellers in Aspen, and sort of by accident: When I called to inquire about a calendar listing I’d seen in the paper, I was informed that the 6 p.m. “event” was actually an informal volunteers’ meeting. When the clerk added, with a twinge of regret, that I was the only person who had called, I pitied the bookstore. As a writer I felt a sense of duty to spread word of this great cause, so I agreed to pass out some copies around town the next day.

In the morning I approached ladies at our favorite juice bar—“I’m flying out to New York tomorrow, perfect timing!” one said gratefully—and in the afternoon I hit a bustling coffee shop, where a home-bound Aussie accepted Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I popped into the Wheeler Opera House, where I’d listened to a lovely lecture by Ann Patchett last month, and surprised the box-office attendants with her universally adored Bel Canto. There I ran into a coworker, to whom I gifted The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. We headed around the corner to Aspen Brewing Company for happy hour, where I unloaded my final two tomes: John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

One guy on crutches was especially thankful for the award-winning reading material. “What a cool thing you’re doing!” he enthused. I felt good, standing on the brewery patio in the light of the sunset with my empty shopping bag, because despite its origin from a definite pill- and booze-soaked stupor, his statement was strikingly heartfelt.

Just like a good book.

GPOYW: A long-lost photographic gem that I most definitely did not submit recently to my grade-school alumni publication.

(Miller Lite? Gross!)

Which reminds me of a conversation I had with someone slightly older and far wiser than I am over the holidays. We we talking about this blog.

“I get the sense…that you’re holding back,” he said.

“Well…uh…yeah,” I replied cautiously. “I really haven’t blogged about any of the good stuff. I’m pretty sure my audience skews…older.” I probably smirked when I said it. Yeah, I did.

“That’s fine,” he assured me. “You can put all that in the book….”

[Full Throttle Saloon, Sturgis, South Dakota, August 14, 2011]

GPOYW: Channeling Donnie Darko a la Betsey Johnson.

Rue La La offers a brilliant service—“Still Want It?”—for items that are technically sold out: customers can sign up to pay for the item IF it becomes available later on, at which point it’s shipped along to you. I tried it this with these deeply discounted gems a couple months ago…and totally forgot about ‘em until now. Nothing like a good sartorial mailbox surprise to lift you from an illness funk.

The strange twist: I had a dream all about on earrings—me, trying on various pairs and then losing one in a swimming pool; discovering that These hoops are far too heavy, they’ll rip my lobes clean!; agonizing over which earrings to wear to the stupid parade—the night before the package arrived.

GPOYW: Ill Communication

GPOYW: Best Hair Day, Ever.

[Sturgis, South Dakota, August 11, 2012]

GPOYW: Pre-Snowcat Ride to Dinner at 10,740 Feet This Weekend Edition.

…and my view during the meal:

Raclette, fondue, schnapps, oh my!

[Cloud 9 Bistro, Aspen Highlands, Aspen Colorado, February 24, 2012]