Offbeat Bride: Taffeta-free Alternatives for Independent Brides - Ariel Meadow Stallings
From Amazon: "Unenthused by a white wedding gown and bored by the hoopla of the Hollywood-style reception, Ariel Meadow Stallings found herself absolutely exhausted with the nuances of traditional nuptials. So, she chose to take a walk off the beaten aisle and embrace the non-traditional bride within. Through trial and error, Ariel and her fiancée managed to crank out a budget wedding with all-night dancing, guests toasting champagne in mismatched mugs, gorgeous gardens, no monogrammed napkins, no garter, no bridesmaids, and lots of lesbians."
Although my wedding will not be as offbeat as hers.. Ariel did have some interesting suggestions. Her wedding, like ours will be, included camping. I think some of her suggestions could come in handy for planning, hopefully! I'd suggest this to other people who may want alternative ideas to the traditional wedding stuff.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
My teeny garden
My garden has finally started to grow, and while these pictures are terrible... here it is!
 | ||||
| My teeny tiny garden |
From left to right: herb pot from my mom (cilantro, chives, parsley, thyme, rosemary), green onions, radishes, salad mix, onions.. peas, and then a pot of beans, and some spinach. The tiny little pot is cilantro too. Yummy. I can't wait for these to grow big enough to eat...
Close up of some peas, beans, spinach and cilantro.
Unfortunately, my bird feeder is above my pots, so occasionally some seeds start to grow from that (sunflower and a weird grassy thing).. Ahh well. Soon enough I'll be able to start my final planter with some flowers :)
The Girl Who Married a Lion
The Girl Who Married a Lion - Alexander McCall Smith
From Amazon: "Straying from the safety net of a bestselling series (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, etc.), Smith tells 40 traditional African folk tales with his by now signature humor, simplicity and reverence for African culture. With an introductory letter from No. 1 Lady Detective Mma Ramotswe as a preface, he sets the literary stage for a nostalgic stroll down his own personal memory lane. Born and raised in what is now Zimbabwe, Smith began collecting these stories as a child and combines them with several he gleaned from a friend who interviewed natives of Botswana. Many of the stories parallel classic Western tales, from Aesop to Mother Goose."
I picked this book for the title.. how much more fitting is it to find a book entitled "The Girl Who Married a Lion" days after getting engaged to my very own Lion? I've never managed to get into the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, but this book was more a book of short stories. I really enjoyed the different stories from Africa.. a few of the stories talked about animals and how they became what they are, and their relationships.
I enjoyed this, and would recommend it to someone who wants a quick read! :)
From Amazon: "Straying from the safety net of a bestselling series (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, etc.), Smith tells 40 traditional African folk tales with his by now signature humor, simplicity and reverence for African culture. With an introductory letter from No. 1 Lady Detective Mma Ramotswe as a preface, he sets the literary stage for a nostalgic stroll down his own personal memory lane. Born and raised in what is now Zimbabwe, Smith began collecting these stories as a child and combines them with several he gleaned from a friend who interviewed natives of Botswana. Many of the stories parallel classic Western tales, from Aesop to Mother Goose."
I picked this book for the title.. how much more fitting is it to find a book entitled "The Girl Who Married a Lion" days after getting engaged to my very own Lion? I've never managed to get into the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, but this book was more a book of short stories. I really enjoyed the different stories from Africa.. a few of the stories talked about animals and how they became what they are, and their relationships.
I enjoyed this, and would recommend it to someone who wants a quick read! :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Just After Sunset
Just After Sunset - Stephen King
From Amazon: "Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating -- and then terrifying -- journey."
I don't love short stories, and I do think that Stephen King is a much better novelist than short story writer, however, a few of the stories in this book were really good, and funny. There were a few (the port-a-potty) one that was kind of gross.. but at least it's short and you can be done reading it soon. It's been a long time since I've read any Stephen King.. I should go find one from the library for this week.
From Amazon: "Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating -- and then terrifying -- journey."
I don't love short stories, and I do think that Stephen King is a much better novelist than short story writer, however, a few of the stories in this book were really good, and funny. There were a few (the port-a-potty) one that was kind of gross.. but at least it's short and you can be done reading it soon. It's been a long time since I've read any Stephen King.. I should go find one from the library for this week.
If you Follow Me
If you Follow Me - Malena Watrous
From Amazon: "Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.
From Amazon: "Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.
If You Follow Me is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters—from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion—it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit."
This book was random and kind of funny.. I enjoyed the Japanese bits, and learning about the culture. As for the rest of the book.. it was good, but I wasn't blown away by it. I'd recommend it to someone who needs something quick to read..
This book was random and kind of funny.. I enjoyed the Japanese bits, and learning about the culture. As for the rest of the book.. it was good, but I wasn't blown away by it. I'd recommend it to someone who needs something quick to read..
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Heart of the Matter
Heart of the Matter - Emily Giffin
From Amazon: "Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life. Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie--a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance--and even to some degree, friendships--believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined. In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most."
Just another not-so-fantastic girly book. Husband cheats, wife finds out.. predictable ending. Only bonus of this book was that I finished it in one day.
From Amazon: "Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life. Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie--a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance--and even to some degree, friendships--believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined. In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most."
Just another not-so-fantastic girly book. Husband cheats, wife finds out.. predictable ending. Only bonus of this book was that I finished it in one day.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species - Nino Ricci
From Amazon: "Montreal during the turbulent mid-1980’s: Chernobyl has set geiger counters thrumming across the globe, HIV/AIDS is cutting a deadly swath through the gay population worldwide, and locally, tempers are flaring over the language laws of Bill 101. Hiding out in a seedy apartment near the Concordia campus is Alex Fratarcangeli (“Don’t worry… I can’t even pronounce it myself”), a somewhat oafish 30-something grad student. Though tender and generous at heart, Alex leads a life devoid of healthy relationships, ashamed in particular of the damage he has done to the women with whom he has been romantically entangled. Plagued by the sensation that his entire life is a fraud, Alex attends daily sessions with a lackluster psychoanalyst in an attempt to shake off the demon of depression (and the cigarette-tinged voice of Peter Gzowski in his ear). Scarred by a distant father and a dangerous relationship with his ex Liz, and consumed by a floundering dissertation linking Darwin’s theory of evolution with the history of human narrative, Alex has come to view love and other human emotions as “evolutionary surplus, haphazard neural responses that nature had latched onto for its own insidious purposes.”"
I really enjoyed this book, even though at times I was a bit confused. The story is interesting, and the descriptions are amazing. His dialogue with Peter Gzowski (which is quite frequent throughout the book) is quite humorous, too.
It feels so good to be able to read and not feel guilty for not doing something else instead. Definitely excited for this summer, with plenty of time to just sit and read.
From Amazon: "Montreal during the turbulent mid-1980’s: Chernobyl has set geiger counters thrumming across the globe, HIV/AIDS is cutting a deadly swath through the gay population worldwide, and locally, tempers are flaring over the language laws of Bill 101. Hiding out in a seedy apartment near the Concordia campus is Alex Fratarcangeli (“Don’t worry… I can’t even pronounce it myself”), a somewhat oafish 30-something grad student. Though tender and generous at heart, Alex leads a life devoid of healthy relationships, ashamed in particular of the damage he has done to the women with whom he has been romantically entangled. Plagued by the sensation that his entire life is a fraud, Alex attends daily sessions with a lackluster psychoanalyst in an attempt to shake off the demon of depression (and the cigarette-tinged voice of Peter Gzowski in his ear). Scarred by a distant father and a dangerous relationship with his ex Liz, and consumed by a floundering dissertation linking Darwin’s theory of evolution with the history of human narrative, Alex has come to view love and other human emotions as “evolutionary surplus, haphazard neural responses that nature had latched onto for its own insidious purposes.”"
I really enjoyed this book, even though at times I was a bit confused. The story is interesting, and the descriptions are amazing. His dialogue with Peter Gzowski (which is quite frequent throughout the book) is quite humorous, too.
It feels so good to be able to read and not feel guilty for not doing something else instead. Definitely excited for this summer, with plenty of time to just sit and read.
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