April, dear ones. April is the month each year when I finally start to feel settled in the new year. Yes, it takes me four months to get into the swing of things. Yikes. This probably doesn’t bode well for the overall course of life. That’s a lot of time to feel out of sync with a year. I should re-examine everything immediately.

In other news, here we are with another 10-on-10. It took me a little time to decide what I wanted to share with you here. Seeing as I’ve just now gotten involved with the year 2015 (again, wow), it seemed it would be fitting to show you a place that has always lent me a great deal of inspiration: a bookstore.

But first, my comrades.

I have always led something of a second life in books. I adore reading. I’m a book nerd through and through. A literature junkie. Words engage my whole being. So what better place to spend an afternoon than in a bookstore. I think if I wasn’t a photographer, I would want to work in such a place. Of course, almost every cent I made there would be spent on more books and I would be quite poor. But I would be rich in many other ways.

One of the best bookstores you’ll ever visit is a true Denver treasure, the one and only Tattered Cover. This place has all the best qualities of a bookstore. All the books, of course. Coffee. Ample, mismatched chairs for lounging in to sit and read. I have spent hours at a time sitting in such a bookstore, just reading away. And you’re never bothered or asked to move along. Heavenly.

This particular branch of TC (there are now four in Colorado and a few scattered about our airport terminals), is built into an old theatre. So you get all these beautiful architectural details.

As a family, we have been visiting Tattered Cover for as long as my memory has been remembering things. And something I have always loved about these particular stores are these iconic author portraits. All the authors who have visited the store for readings and book signings get these beautiful photos taken and they are just everywhere, all over the walls. I’ve studied them since I was a small gal, and I swear on some level these photos are what made me want to be a photographer. To capture fellow artists and brilliant minds, preserve them in these wonderful moments that just seemed to be such a privilege. Even as a youngin’ I was enthralled by the whole process and its potential.

Annie Leibovitz, I mean really now.

Local first. Amen.

I’m not really sure, I just liked the red chairs.

Denver, take us out!