Saturday, August 30, 2008

.fraud! and reviews.

So, I did end up finishing Slummy Mummy, and as Erica (of Nautical Wedding and Nursing School) noted, it's not that good. This isn't to say that I didn't thoroughly enjoy it and bring it around with me, and I did absolutely adore the major plot twist at the end, but in all honesty I found the overall distracted and messy attitude of the main character to be a little bit disconcerting. Kind of like reading Curtis Sittenfield's Prep and feeling uncomfortable because of the painful self esteem issues the main character suffered with. All in all, I'd give it a 3.5/5, because while I certainly don't regret reading it and I had to finish it because I had a vested interest in the well being of the characters, I wouldn't read it again or give it as a gift. We watched 21 this morning - a bit much for a hangover morning, given that it's full of bright lights and glitzy Vegas stuff. This was probably a 3/5 star film for me - the main character was absolutely adorable and Kevin Spacey was as creepy as usual, but Kate Bosworth's "I am painfully beautiful and painfully bony" thing wore a little thin by the end of the film. The ending was also a bit cheezy and I enjoyed that the book had more details about the actual card tricks, while the movie skimmed over a lot of the finer points.
Finally, I am currently reading Brilliant, which I forgot to mention in my bevy of books. I wasn't expecting to like this book anywhere near as much as I do - the heroine is 40-something (she may be 50-something) but I absolutely canNOT put it down. I love a good book about jewelry, I love intelligent scandal - not just sex for the sake of attraction, but the manipulative, what have I done? kind, and for all of her years, the main character seems like the kind of lady who'd have you spilling your secrets on the metro ride home. I'm not done yet, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be a 5 out of 5 stars - did I mention it's set in England? And there aren't even any Mums, as the main character is an American!

It's actually so good that I am hesitating heading over to Tuesday Morning and TJ Maxx for a weekend dose of bargain hunting - I don't ever head to the clothing departments, but I love that you can find home furnishings for an absolute fraction of retail, not to mention SCRAPBOOK STUFF! I haven't mentioned my obssession with scrapbooking on here before, but it's my absolute favorite activity :)
Last but not least, I recently ordered a Juicy Couture sweatsuit on eBay (I finally gave in) and, lucky me, realized it was a fake before taking it out of the packaging (it had the wrong color size tag). I contacted eBay about it, but their response was very noncommital. Now what? Contact the seller and tell them the game is up? Or just give in and wear them, even though it's not going to be the quality that I paid for? I know that buying things on eBay means that you are accepting the risk of fraud, but at the same time I definitely feel gypped and don't want to pass the feeling along to someone else by just reselling them and forgetting about it. Help!

Friday, August 29, 2008

.the library.

I love a good book! I especially love books by British authors - when they call the Moms Mums instead, it always makes me so excited! Kind of like when the little kids in the "Charlie bit me" video say Charlie, it's infinitely cuter because it's in a British accent? Anyways, I walked over to the library two days ago, and here's what's in my current arsenal:











I'm actually in the middle of Slummy Mummy right now (after all the Yummy Mummys whose blogs through which I live vicariously) - very cute so far, very British, and it involves both Yummy Mummys and Alpha Mums! I'll make sure to post a review when I'm done-so far it's a good beach read, but I'm not sure I'll feel any more intelligent having read it.
On the homefront, it is LABOR DAY WEEKEND! And I haven't got work today, so its' started out very nicely - unfortunately, I took someone's work on Sunday (without realizing that it was Labor Day weekend when I agreed to it months ago - she is definitely getting stuck with it if I have to work over Thanksgiving). Kind of sucks because...
C's friend from back in his military days is having a bachelor party in Mexico this weekend, and while C has decided not to go (with no pressure from me, swear - no seriously, I swear), the soon-to-be-groom will be stopping by our apartment on Sunday night on his way back into America. This means that I will not be here on Sunday night, and the potential for an end-of-bachelor-party-weekend fiasco is relatively high. Not sure how much I like this idea. Besides that, a ton of C's friends are having keggers on Sunday, and while I don't really care whether he goes to parties or not without me, I do worry because I like to be there to supervise when he drinks-he has a tendency to let his mouth run, and his friends encourage it when I'm not there. Then again, I'm usually the reason he's pissed at some guy, so maybe my absence would be a good thing?
I'll make sure to be back with book reviews! Have an amazing Labor Day weekend!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

.simple pleasures.

easily the most enjoyable of which is finding unshelled pistachios in a bag of pistachios. the ease! the simplicity! the salt-n-peppery glory of those solitary green gems!

or the discovery of the only coasters that won't stick to your glass because of the condensation and then drop heart-stoppingly loud onto your glass coffee table (on sale. beachy. khaki. even. more. awesome.)

...but I have to admit, the simplest of pleasures is definitely walking into an apartment that you love to see. If you venture to the clearance section of the home center in Kohl's, you'll find some awesome stuff from the Seaside (or shore, or line or whatever location they used to make it sound inviting) Collection marked anywhere from 65-80% off!

Check out the sailboat, lighthouse, sand dollars and assorted candles:
A little close-up to show you how versatile those sand dollars are. After I photographed the mantlescape for you, I realized that they would be much more appealing in a trio. I stole the candle from my pineapple lantern to round it out, and I like the look much better - you can see difference in the unlit candle picture vs. the lit candle picture. Check out the cute seashell candle-rest, too!
I also scored some awesome pillows - the two on the left are from the Vera Wang collection - I believe the center one is meant for the bedroom, but it's sooo pretty and such an unassuming shade of dark champagne.
These aren't new, but I wanted to give credit where credit is due...the original inspiration for my pillow obssession was definitely these down-filled beauties from Michelle Obama's favorite big-box store, Target:
Of course, I can't forget my two lovely pineapple finds - first a lantern, and then another candle-holder. I always thought C was a little on the gay side for his love of candles, but if companies make this many different ways to display candles, he can't be the only one that's obssessed with him, can he? can he?Photographed on my leg for posterity...or because the glare off the glass coffee table was obnoxious. Don't you love the Lilly I'm wearing today, too? OBSSESSED with this pattern - love it when she adds reds and blues to the everyday pink and green uniform!Today was C's second day of school. Once again, he missed his first class. While I'm not looking forward to the idea of my 27 year old boyfriend attending classes with 19 year old girls (although I did just turn 22 myself), I am still very proud of him for going back to school!

Last but not least, I 'd like to give a littel shoutout to seaside designs. How beyond adorable is this desktop calendar? I just had to order it to go with our new beachy apartment:
Hmm...I just smelled smoke. Maybe I shouldn't have lit EVERY SINGLE CANDLE I BOUGHT. so pretty, though!

Monday, August 25, 2008

summer lovin'!

so exciting to be 22! c and i had such a bomb time...first, my birthday present (a week early) - close your eyes, preppy readers...a pink heart tattoo! I'll make sure to get a picture up soon, but it's just an outline, and it's smaller then my fingernail. Teeny, as tattoos go! My parents were sweet enough to treat me to a piano keyboard! I've been lusting after one ever since my little sister got one as a Christmas gift a couple years ago. they also sent me the most exciting gift ever - EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS! enough said, right? We proceeded to Peohe's in Coronado for dinner...so delicious, and check out the view!


evidently, i have another gift waiting at our old apartment, too. how sweet of the new resident - she facebook'ed me to let me know that we had mail waiting there :)