Powells and Portland Haul!

What a beautiful, crisp Thursday afternoon we have upon us here in Seattle! 

We've been experiencing our regulated Seattle Spring weather aberration - the annual, unseasonably sunny and cool week in February that tricks us into thinking good weather is is on its way, before mercilessly flinging us back into the rainy gray that lasts until April - and its the kind of weather that makes me want to go adventuring. 

Or, maybe its just the holdover from this past three-day weekend, where we celebrated my second younger sister's birthday with a trip down to Portland! 

Seen in the OMSI giftshop: I wasn't
able to buy it then, but you can bet I'll
be picking up a copy soon! 

The excursion was filled with plenty of tourist traps and forms of entertainment... Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Blue Star Donuts (because Voodoo is passe nowadays, apparently), and, of course, the bookish behemoth and labyrinth for the linguistically-inclined, Powell's Books! 

For those not of the PNW persuasion, Powell's City of Books is a massive secondhand bookstore found in the Downtown Portland area, and it is a beauty. With most of its books sold at significantly cheaper prices, and almost always guaranteed to be in almost-new condition, Powell's is hands-down one of my favorite places to purchase, 

Thank God my 2015 Resolution is finally over, because holy cow, would I have lost my mind if I had stepped foot inside this monolith of wordiness without being able to take anything home with me. And by "anything," I mean "everything"... 

POWELL'S HAUL

for me 

tbh, I think one of my favorite #bookstagram poses will always be the "cradled in the lap, on the way home from the bookstore" look

In case you're wondering how I prepared for this particular excursion, I've been keeping a list in the "Notes" section of my iPhone for the past two months with all of the books I was on the lookout for. Then, I printed out a copy of the store's expansive layout at home, and filled in titles into the margins of their appropriately-shelved areas! 

I made sure to plot out a route to follow, as well, entering through Couch Street, an easy walk after brunch at the Zeus Cafe, at McMenamin's Crystal Hotel (for the love of bread, please try the french toast). 

If you think all of that prep work is adorable, then you're just like the delighted cashier who found the wrinkled and abused paper map after it had gotten crushed into the bottom of my shopping bag. (If you think it borders on the obsessive, you're more like my mom). 

Anyways, it served its purpose well, because even though they didn't carry all of the titles I'd been looking for, I found quite a spectacular assortment of books, nonetheless. 

Sabriel, Garth Nix

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

One of Our Thursdays is Missing and The Woman Who Died Alot, Jasper Fforde

Why We Write About Ourselves, Meredith Maran

The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens, Stephen Apkon

Hark! A Vagrant, Kate Beaton

A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

Dragondrums, Anne McCaffrey

Not pictured: a pretty dope pencil pouch that says "Be Bold, or Italic. Never Regular." Because even as a 22-year-old, I'm still all about those school supplies. 

for fam

Adorable hedgehog pic, just because.

We snagged a super-cute hedgehog tote bag for my younger brother - whose hedgehog, Beignet, is one of my favorite things on this planet - and picked up a copy of Stan Lee's comic memoirs, Amazing Fantastic Incredible, for my Dad, for Valentine's Day presents. 

Only later did we realize that the KtBB
cover perfectly matched one of her other
presents from me, Tarte's tarteist lip cream
in "Adorbs"!

My younger sister and all of her friends got matching Powell's tee shirts, while I took a few moments out of my own frantic book browsing to grab a few titles for belated bday presents, as well. 

Kill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky, was an impulse purchase that speaks a lot to the power of book cover marketing, and whose plot sounds a lot like some teenage girls had Niall Horan stuffed in a hotel closet, while Audrey, Wait!, by Robin Benway, has been on my buy-list for Madeline since Christmas, because it seems like the best book I could ever recommend for someone who's five months into a relationship with a lead vocalist. I was ecstatic to find both in hardcover, and reasonably good condition! 

Overall, I'm immensely happy with my Powell's purchases, and look forward to returning once again... sometime this summer sounds nice! 

Have you ever been to Powell's? What's your favorite secondhand bookstore? Let me know, in the comments below!