Nothing Happens Until it Happens to You

Nothing Happens Until It Happens to You: A Novel Without Pay, Perks, or Privileges - T.M. Shine

From Amazon: "Jeffrey Reiner is a middle manager’s dream.

Predictable, almost invisible, and lacking ambition, he’s held the same tedious job for eighteen years, typing up the calendar listings for a South Florida weekly. As the economy and the newspaper industry crashed around him, Jeffrey kept his head comfortably in the sand until he was terminated in the middle of his lunch hour. Suddenly Jeffrey is staring at a deadline of twenty-one weeks before his severance pay and unemployment benefits dry up and he has to figure out what to do next."

This book was a quick read, thankfully, because I didn't really enjoy it that much. I found the main character, Jeffrey to be somewhat useless... and his strange relationship with his young neighbour just a bit weird.

What Caesar Did For My Salad

What Caesar Did For My Salad - Albert Jack

Amazon doesn't say anything about this book.. but the rest of the title gives away a bit more. The full title is "What Caesar did for my salad: Not to mention the Earl's Sandwich, Pavlova's meringue and other curious stories behind our favourite food"

This was an interesting read, but not one that I'd highly recommend unless you normally eat food from the UK. There was a lot of food that I hadn't heard of, and therefore wasn't curious to know what it was about. Jack has written a few books about where common phrases come from, so maybe I'll read one of those...

Easter

This Easter, Mom, Grandma and I went to Chase Mountain - a place we used to go when I was young to see the wildflowers. This year, with Easter so late, and the weather even later.. there was lots of things out, but not really what we expected.

Johnny Jump-up (Fritillaria pudica)

Glacier/Avalanche Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)

Arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata)

Shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)

The Raw Shark Texts

 The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall

From Amazon: "Not since Fight Club have a I read a book that sizzled with such fierce originality and searing vision as Steven Hall's electrifying debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts. It's a twisting, trippy thriller that tears through the landscape of language, revealing the lurking terrors uncovered in every letter of the written word. Steven Hall swims in the same surreal waters as pop-culture pioneers David Lynch and Michel Gondry, and The Raw Shark Texts deserves to be shelved somewhere between Trainspotting and Life of Pi. It pulls you under like a riptide, leaving you exhausted, exhilarated, and gasping for air."

D read this book, who passed it to R, and eventually to me. I really enjoyed this book - I wouldn't call it a thriller as the Amazon reviewer did, but more of an adventure tale with some seriously bizarre things. This book was slightly confusing in some parts, but it's not the first, and I'm sure it won't be the last time that happens to me while reading..


I'd recommend this to anyone who can handle a sci-fi adventure with a bit of romance thrown in.

Cupcakes for Sparks

It's been a long time since I've posted anything..

I've finally finished all of my undergrad requirements, exams, presentations and projects. It feels good to be done, although I'm sure it hasn't entirely hit me yet. Commencement hasn't happened yet either, so maybe then? (Or when I get my grad pictures back?)

Last week we had a birthday party at Sparks, and E and I made cupcakes for them.

For this, I used Joy the Baker's Vanilla Cupcakes.. and a regular buttercream vanilla icing. Next time, I'll go with something more bold on top.

We decorated 19 of these before we ran out of icing.

 

Crazy, but cool looking. The girls loved them! 

A dozen for the girls..

Now that I'm done school, maybe I'll be able to bake more, and figure out these decorating techniques on my own, without a cake decorating course, which I seem completely unable to take.

Meet Charlie

This is Charlie.

He likes to hang out in the alders, amongst the other gardens and on the lawn. I'm not entirely sure what he's doing, seeing as herons typically live closer to water.. but oh well!

 These are caterpillars, walking in a line. So cute and tiny!

 

 Even baby tent caterpillars like to make tents..

This is the sky on the day that I got sunburnt. 

.. Just another day as a work-study student!