A big old pile of ADVENTURES

It was another wonderful weekend in Cedar Rapids. The weather decided to be SUPER nice and I got a little sun in. But don't worry, I put on sunscreen so no burns!

After work on Friday, Millie and I headed over to the Kirkwood Hotel to hear author Gillian Flynn. She was speaking as part of the Out Loud Author Series sponsored by the Metro Library System (Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha communities). You might have heard of Flynn with the recent success of her newest (well, it's a year old) novel, Gone Girl. This is actually her third published novel, her first book was Sharp Objects (2006) and then Dark Places (2009).

Flynn was out of this world. She was articulate, engaging, quirky, and fun. The first half of her talk was all about her journey to becoming a published writer. Flynn started off working at a magazine and eventually decided to write a novel. It was fascinating to hear her talk about her characters; the way she finds herself in their heads and writes scenes that will never show up in her published books. The last ten minutes or so were reserved for questions. I asked one; I wanted to know one of her most memorable memories that she had with the publication of her novel. Her answer: getting a good review clip for the book jacket from one of her favorite authors, Stephen King!

Millie and I couldn't leave without each buying a copy of Gone Girl and also having her sign it! The apartment is doing a group reading of said book. So far, the two chapters are wonderful but we know there is much more to come!

Moving onto Saturday...Millie, Hayleigh, and I walked down to the famers' market. It seemed to have gotten bigger from last year, which was good for us! We meandered around, saw some Coe friends, and enjoyed the nice weather. We even took goofy photos in a photo booth.

Once we had made a thorough lap around, we walked a little farther to the New Bohemia (Newbo) Market. I had never been (which people could not believe) and I definitely wish I had checked this place out earlier. It's basically a local food court and an indoor farmers market. We ate lunch down there and my meal was made entirely from local businesses and from food made in the Cedar Rapids area. It was fantastic and I recommend this place to anyone going through Cedar Rapids. Here are a compilation of photos I took while I was down there.

We also snagged another photo of myself, Millie, and Hayleigh:

L to R: Hayleigh, me (Hailley), and Millie

Adventured out, we walked back to Coe. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out on campus, playing beach volleyball, and enjoying the beautiful weekend.