Let's Celebrate #indiesfirst!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

*                  *                   *

This week I'm celebrating Indie bookstores!

*throws confetti*

I'm sure that many of you know that today is Small Business Saturday. It's also an extra special Small Business Saturday because tons of Indie bookstores all over the country are hosting authors who will be hand-selling books to Indie customers. How fun does that sound? We're headed to an Indie spot today that I'll share another time but I did get to two Indies in Boston last week that I wanted to share and celebrate.

My best friend from high school, Alison, went to college in Boston and still lives there. After the conference, I met up with Alison and convinced her to take me to The Children's Book Shop. Visiting new (to me) Indies is on my Bookish Un-Boring List for 2013 so as soon as Alison heard that, she was ready to help me get there. Alison's Un-Boring List was the inspiration for my both my 2012 and 2013 Un-Boring Lists so she knew the importance of getting to this bookstore before they closed!

 Look how beautiful this store is on the outside? I love the historical look of Boston. It's awesome.

 Seeing some of my favorite character all dressed up for winter in the window got me all excited!

 As much as I loved the window display, it was so cold! I was ready to get inside!

Inside, the bookstore was just as charming as it was from the outside. It was jam-packed with children's books and so much fun to look around. We quickly made friends with a man who worked at the store, talking about books and libraries and Boston. He was a school librarian so it was fun to talk about how awesome libraries are. 

Alison was looking for books for her soon-to-be niece and nephew and I suggested Press Here. 

She was skeptical...

...but I convinced her! I promised that a three-year-old boy would get a kick 

out of reading the book and watching the dots move around on the page. (I just hope I'm right!)

Alison also recommended I visit Trident Bookstore for vegan food and fun books. She was right, Trident was a complete gem. I invited Meenoo Rami to join me for breakfast and shopping at Trident. I actually had a vegan tofu scramble that was excellent. They definitely had an interesting and eclectic selection of books and funky gifts. I found animal hand tattoos and a Star Wars lightsaber thumb-wrestling book to bring home to my kiddos. They also had tons of flavors of my favorite chocolate bars. This place was a total win when it comes to Indie bookstores.

I'm super excited to be celebrating Indie bookstores this week...and every week! It's Small Business Saturday but I think it's great if we can make every day a small business day. What is your favorite Indie bookstore?

What are you celebrating this week?