I first saw him at the library…

pplibcs — East Library. Here’s where it all began.

The first place I remember randomly running into him outside of our workplace was at the library. He was walking out with a stack of books and I recognized him as the new guy I’d met at work a few days prior. He was brand new to town and I was impressed that he was already at the public library.

We said hello and made some small talk, and I remember walking away from that conversation thinking two things …

Okay. He’s attractive.
He is a reader. So even more attractive.

And I made a mental note to pay a bit closer attention to him.

Nearly eight years later, we’re married.

We had a long adjustment period to married life. We’ve struggled to meld our very different lives and interests while maintaining our individual identities. It’s a delicate balance.

We have vastly different backgrounds, experiences, personalities and dreams. On paper, our marriage shouldn’t work. I mean, here’s a him|me list…

The long list of differences are recipe for disaster.

But God seems to like to defy the odds. So here we are, seven years in.

This past December we embarked on a new adventure of sorts. A shared literary journey. Or maybe its more like a lifelong cocktail tour. Or a boozy book club. Or DIY marriage therapy. It’s kinda hard to describe, actually.

It all began with an unassuming little book we stumbled upon called Tequila Mockingbird.

As we thumbed through it, Chris said “What if we bought this and read through all the books? And made all the drinks?”

And so we did.

Over the next few days, we formed our plan…

We’d use this book as a guide. We’d read each book it lists. Then we’d each write something about the book. Then we’d make the corresponding drink. And we’d each write something about the drink. And we’d record it all in a shared blog.

So without further ado, I give you:

Through a Book and Glass

You guys, we have a blog. The Giovagnonis are blogging! If you’re interested – in literature, or liquor, or writing, or us – you’re invited to follow our blog. We’re using the blog as kind of a travel journal – a place to record where we’ve been and our experiences, but as it’s out there in the blogosphere, I thought I’d share it with you.

This will likely take us years. There are hundreds of books. And some are … not the quickest reads. [cough] War and Peace [cough] But since we have the rest of our lives, it’s not a problem.

Oh and there are a few rules:

We have to finish each book. It might take a long time. But we finish it.
We have to write something about the book. What this looks like is completely up to the writer. It can be a book review, a piece of creative writing, one sentence or phrase. It just has to be something.
We cannot have the drink until we’ve finished the book.
We cannot start the next book until we’ve completed the process for the last book.

That’s it. We’re three books in. And loving it. Tonight we make our third drink so new posts coming soon.

Alla prossima volta … ciao!