Gone with the movie!

I had a couple of busy days. Finished “The Saffron Kitchen” by Yasmin Crowther. It’s the story of a mother grown up in Mazareh and Mashhad (Iran) before revolution and gone to England and her daughter growing up not belonging, and how they find peace and clear the shadows between them. Very cultural, a mix of old and new, western costumes and eastern traditions. A sad tale of love, lose, and finally making peace.
Also finished “The Scot, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”. Yup, Happy endings all around!
What I want to write about is the movie “Music and Lyrics”. It was funny, happy, romantic, and full of gorgeous clothes. Drew’s wardrobe consultant and stylist have been geniuses. All those bohemian cloths for Sophie! Ah, my, I loved every single one of them! I’m looking for the dress she wore with that beat up jean jacket and her brown aged leather bag. That gray silk number with orange-red flower pattern? I’m so in love!
Ooh, and didn’t Hugh Grant look homo in his 80s costume and flash backs or what?!

The Scot, The Whitch, and The Confused

I finished another couple of Mediator books. “The Mediator 2: Ninth Key” is about Suze in her third or fourth week in Carmel. She got a case of Poison Ivy, a cute athletic guy with a wannabe vampire father and a killer uncle, and two Neanderthal stepbrothers to deal with. The other book is “The Mediator 4: Darkest Hour” in which Suze has a summer job. She meets an eight year old mediator and his cute brother. An enraged ghost who turns out to be ex fiancé of her Jesse wants to kill Suze. Some one exorcises Jesse and Suze has to go to the other side to get him. And that new guy Paul? He is not what he seems!
Aside from the childish innocent of Meg Cabot work, I’m still reading that “The Scot, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” book and falling slowly (very very slowly) under Rory’s spell. As hard as I try I can’t see what the draw is. I mean I normally don’t like rough blue collar guys. I am not attracted to drawls (or was it drawges?) and I hate bossy guys. So what is it that makes this Rory guy such a hottie? His red (sorry, mahogany!) hair? His beard? (Yukkkkkkk!) His not standing sense of humor? His Hermit status? What?
This is the third or fourth book I’m reading in a month period which has a Scottish man as a hero and honestly I can’t see what all the fuss is about. Someone please tell me what makes these Scot guys hot? Their crabbiness? Their antisocial status? Them being hermits? Their crudeness? Why are girls falling left and right for them? Haa? Why?

Books, books, and more books

Being highly disappointed in “Bustin’”, I left the book half finished and went to the library yesterday. The books I checked out are: “Posh” by Lucy Jackson, about two high school students in love, their mothers and, school principal. The boy is bipolar and commits suicide at the end of story. Very sad indeed!
The second book is “How to be Popular” by Meg Cabot. I like most of her books although they are written for young adults. I enjoy her sense of humor and her comic take on complicated matters and relationships. Anyway the book is about a junior high school girl who wants to clear her tarnished reputation and bag a boyfriend in the process with the help of an old book. Boy, she does it and the boyfriend? Let’s say she always had the right boy with her.
The other book is “The Mediator 3: Reunion”, again from Meg Cabot. It’s from a series named The Mediator, about a teenage girl (Suze) in Carmel California who can speak to (and feel) ghosts. In this book she has her friend from New York over for a visit and her stepbrothers are in love with her best friend. A killer falls in love with Suze and four ghosts are trying to avenge their murders. I really liked Suze’s character. I put hold on the rest of the series!
I also have started “The Scot, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” by Annette Blair. It’s the story of third member of the little Wiccan coven of Salem Witches, Victoria. She is the blond one, has an antique shop and is in debt up to her ears. Oh, and she doesn’t believe she is a witch. I’m in third or fourth chapter and really really like that Rory character (not the accent that much, but overall he is yummy!).
The first book of this semi-series was “The Kitchen Witch” about Melody the brunette one. She fell in love and married a TV producer. She also had her own cooking show (hence the name of the book!). The second book is the story of Keira the sexy redhead in “My Favorite Witch”. She found love in the offices of a charity organization she was PR manager of.
Good old fashion romance novels! So refreshing!!

Little Miss Sunshine!

I had a couple of really productive days! Spend four hours Saturday afternoon shopping in one of the largest malls of this area. I’m so in love with spring fashion, all those shrunken jackets, white, pale blue and gray cotton trench coats, ooh; and the dresses, my my… all those purple, yellow, orange and reds… I’ve died and gone to heaven! J Crew is becoming my favorite store, such a class, such merchandize… and best of all, a red-orange miniskirt for $8.50!!! Wow, shopping gods were smiling at me! Pre-ordered some cosmetic in Macy’s, too. But as hard as I try, I don’t like Macy’s, it’s too stuffy and crowded, much prefer shopping in boutiques than in a department store. Took a pick at some truffles in Godiva boutique but wasn’t in mood for sweet truffles. I’m still working on my %71 dark chocolate. And Sunday grocery shopping which I usually don’t like, but treated myself to some sweets and every things got better instantly!
Books, oh yes; books! Finished “Lover Revealed” by JR Ward. Didn’t like it as much as previous books of the series. The plot was cheesy! Butch O’Neil was a vampire all along and they could turn him into a warrior? He finally found his home… oh, home sweet home! And all those playing innocent virgin by Marissa? Oof, give me a break (or at least let me laugh for half an hour)! The way she transformed from a shy unwanted girl in her caset to an executive woman? I wish! And no, oh no, my Vishous is into S&M stuff? And he is an angel inside? No way!!! Therefore hereafter, I officially am in love with Phury; at least he is celibate, no skeleton in his closet (yet)!
Also started “Bustin’” by Minda Webber. Do not, I repeat; do not under any circumstances buy her books. This is the third book of hers I’m reading and it sucks! I stumbled into the first one “The Remarkable Miss Frankenstein” and read the second one “The Reluctant Miss Van Helsing” with scientist neutrality (tried to, anyway!). I didn’t like any of those books and then last Friday out of an honest mistake I bought her newest book “Bustin’”. I blame the cover design, it fooled me, tempted me and made me forget I know the author’s name (and the fact that it was in my red list!). So here I am, 150 pages into the book and totally disgusted and bored. Who buys her books anyway (if not by mistake like me!)? Her characters are (suppose to be) sassy, pretty (simple looking with hearts of gold and hidden depths! HAA!) Girls with large mouths and not enough brains who entangle themselves in impossible situation to prove themselves. Then they get into so much trouble that the guy they were out to impress has to come to their rescue! And the idiot is impressed with their stupidity! Can you believe it?! And please, don’t get me started on word plays and cutesy expressions in every other sentences, it’s a torture disguised in frills and laces and equally disgusting!
Am I not a little Miss Sunshine today?! Not my fault, it’s a dark gloomy day and I’m waiting for some news!

Happy spring break!

Hooray! I’m back. Yes, I finished typing that report last night at 7:00 and dear hubby helped (a lot!) and I came back to the land of living! So today I turned that in and had lunch with a friend and went shopping. Yep! Shopping, after so long. It felt good, felt wonderful in fact; so much that I kept buying and buying and… yeah, you name it, a purse, a vest, skirt, dress, blazer, top, jeans, earrings, bracelet, cardigan… oh, my… all good pretty things, and I swear, I need every single one of them! I mean it was more than a month ago that I bought two new handbags, right? And this one is so totally different! It is designed after famous quilted Chanel bag, is tiny and the quilted patterns are its brand monograms and it’s white… so cute! The blazer is bright red… love the color but still not sure about it. It doesn’t go with too many things in my closet. The skirt’s cut is beautiful. Not so sure about wide leg jeans either (but like them never less!). The dress, OK the dress… It is a T-dress, very light and summery, and I wanted it in hot pink (or was it more bubble gum pink?) but the pink one looked cheap and cheesy, so I got it in black which now makes the number of my casual black dresses to four and I don’t wear black dresses that much… not during the day (too formal), not at night (still too cold!). So what should I do with this new one? Just leave it on the hanger beside the other three, I suppose! Which kinds of makes me to regret spending money on it… huuuuuuuum! May be I should return it? Return or no return? Let’s think about it!!!
What else, ooooh, yes! Four new books! Guess what? One of the books is: “A Girl’s guide to Retail Therapy” by Amy Elliott. Like I need any help… may be I need help, come to think about it in the lights of black dress dilemma. Anyway, the book is totally cute, all blue-violet and purple; with cute graphics… as soon as I got home, I started reading it. It should help me not to make mistakes in my shopping frenzies anymore.
Finished “Real Vampire Have Curves” too. It’s a series and the second book continues the story. This one didn’t end well, no; I don’t mean “happy ending”, I mean a weak leaving-you-hang-by-your-finger-nails ending! Reserve judgment after reading the second one!So far so good, I’m happy, cats are happy, Dear hubby is probably happy! And after taking the quiz in shopping guide book, I found out that I’m not such an expert shopper that I usually thought myself to be. I need (alas!) guidance! Ha and ha and ha!!

Busy Bee, Keep Busy!

Busy, busy, busy! That’s me, Miss Bee!! I’ve been working on my project from Sunday full time. Then I took 2-3 hours Monday afternoon to bake some pastries for New Year celebration which was Tuesday! Yeah, I didn’t work on Tuesday due to said New Year thing! “Ya feel me?” So now here I am, in the first day of spring, first day of a new year and I don’t feel anything! No happiness, no joy, nothing! I don’t even feel like working and finishing up on that darn report/article thingy! I feel lonely. My cat is napping on my lap and I just finished talking to my parents. I should feel peaceful, reassured, happy –maybe- that every thing is all right, but no! Instead I feel empty. Am I blocking my emotions? Probably! But right now I don’t want to psychoanalyze myself… I am tiered, I want to do nothing, sleep forever…. Yeah, even I can see I’m going into depression!
Let’s forget my emotional state for a minute. I feel lost without my books! I have not read any thing (old or new!) for four days now and I’m getting to the end of my wits! I feel like a junkie! I need my fix; I need a book, now! And chocolate, sweet sweet chocolate! Not that VALRHONA 71% Dark Chocolate is sweet by any definition but still! It’s the best really! Last time I went chocolate shopping, I bought four bars of it (Each bar has 8 squares, Eat one square per day!) and in less that 2 weeks I finished the second bar, attribute of dear hubby who’s just discovering the joys of very dark chocolate! Oh, my bad influence! Yeah, and on New Year I opened a new box of See’s Candies (a Valentine gift), not that I particularly like them, but See’s good for offering to other people!
Anyway, still don’t feel like working but probably should if I want to turn my project in on time in Friday. What a life!

Reward and Punishment!

Nah, it didn’t work! I’m talking about that reward thing for motivating myself. I haven’t typed one word these past few days!! Instead I have finished three books. The first one was “Shopaholic and Baby” by Sophie Kinsella. Becky Bloomwood Brandon is shopping madly again, invests for her baby’s future and confronts her husband’s famous and crazy ex girlfriend. Also she has enough time to draw a PR stunt and attracts customer to the store she is working in! Isn’t she a multi-tasker?!! There is so much going on in the book that you can pick up which adventure you want to follow! Fun to read, but not as good as first couple of books of the series. It started to go downhill from “Shopaholic ties the Knot”. “Shopaholic and Sister” was a waste of time. This last one is better but not by much!
The second book was “Jinx High” by Mercedes Lackey and about how a Guardian/ Witch/ Romance Writer confronts a 300-something years old entity. The witch-sorcerer thing has inhabited a high school girl’s body and plans to steal a teenage boy! Not a bad story, but honestly; Ms. Lackey is not a good storyteller. This is not the first book I’ve read from her and I always have found the finales rushed and weak.
And last (but not least!) book was “Perfecting Kate” by Tamara Leigh. Kate is a practicing Christian and an interior designer who overhears a comment about herself and starts to “improve” her looks. She has help from her makeup artist boyfriend who really is in love with her roommate and the said roommate! Finally it is an ex plastic surgeon and his love and acceptance which saves her! Mostly the book advises you to be a good Christian (!!!) and be happy with what you got! All the man-stealing bitches will be punished and good people live happily ever after! Kind of boring but I finished it! I had no other alternative to read, I was stuck with the damn thing!
Very low level of chocolate in blood due to not being at home most of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! And no, no, no! I didn’t go shopping. I was at school trying to convince the admission committee that I deserve to start grad program!
I have so many things to do for next week and have done nothing! Wish it was still Monday!

Better than nothing!

I'm reading "Real Vampires Have Curves" by Gerry Bartlett on the side. It's full of gorgeous vampires but one stands out. Jerry Blade, the handsome Scott. Yeah, he is handsome; he is old (!!And old-fashion too!), he is good with blades and he is unreal! I mean aside from the fact that Glory has been in love with him for last seven hundred years or so, what's the big attraction? His bossiness? Great sex? Looks like Glory can have a good time with anyone, even that sleek Italian Sabatini! So what? I'm going to finish the book but I don't like it that much!
Oh, I'm going to motivate myself to work on that project. If I work well for next couple of days I go shopping Thursday or Friday. My I-Want-That list is getting longer by hour!
An after thought: Doesn’t Blind King (Wrath) in Black Dagger Brotherhood series remind you of Blade (in Blade trilogy)? Same wrap-around sunglasses, leather head to toe, daggers, tall and dark, strange color eyes, every thing except the fact that he is white and Blade was black?

Still not happy!

Finished "Ghost, Interrupted" by Sonia Singh. You can easily fall in love with a blond telekinetic cowboy, a cute Indian medium and a tall-dark-handsome paranormal investigator. Well, of course you can easily hate a red-head green-eyed power-hungry professor too! So, welcome to THE COLD SPOT, where a nice Victorian house full of antiques houses our ghost hunters!
Do I have nothing else to work on? Don’t remind me, please!!! And for what?! I already know there is no point in finishing this course! So hate my life right now!
I can’t believe I started this weblog to talk about happy yummy things and I got stuck with this impossible situation!
Good thing though, talked (IM-ed) to my little sister for 2 hours! Missing her so much!

Too depressed to live!

Friday, I was thinking about some serious retail therapy but was too numb to even enter a store or decide what I want to look for. How sad is that? So, I came back home with "Lover Eternal" and "Lover awakened" by J. R. Ward and read and read and read... Also, still working on that Lindt %70 dark chocolate, one square at a time!
J. Ward has a mesmerizing way of introducing characters and knotting in new plots despite her funny way of describing clothes and music and scenes. Oh, and don't get me started on names and dialogs!!! But I really like to know what happens to Black Dagger Brotherhood, specialy Vishous (I'm falling in love with him!); so I'm going to read the whole series! Am I the only one noticing this: warriors have names like Thorment and Therror and Zsadist and Phury, however Females (pay attention, Females; not Women!!!) have names like Marissa and Nalla and Bella and ... Isn’t it totally sexist? Ahh, and what is it with killing a pregnant female? It is so very unfair... like she and her baby were totally disposable... No, this writer lady has some issues!
I can channel my anger safely toward the author and plots... What a joy!

A bad sad day

My day went downhill right from the beginning, OK, right after I checked my emails first thing in the morning. My application for grad school was rejected.... shoot, darn, crap.... what do they want? I have great references; I passed two crappy test with great results... I'm even taking a stupid useless class and stressing over it.... What do they want? My first born?! An agreement signed in blood?!
My beautiful sunny springy day went straight down the drains! Doesn't matter how cute my skirt and jean jacket looked together and how many blossoming trees I've seen today, or even how fun hanging out with my friends have been, it's a crappy sad stupid frustrating day!!!
I tried drowning my sorrows in a bar of Lindt %70 Dark chocolate, didn't work! I just got high, hyper and more emotional!

What should I do? Now that I think about it, I probably am willing to promise them my first born, if it turns out to be a boy!! God, I'm so screwed!

Confession: I did nothing except reading "Icing on the Cake" by Laura Castoro. Yeah, my conscious is killing me for not working on that darn article I have to finish in two weeks.
Anyway, the story is about breads, advertising, mothers and daughters, fake-tan husband stealing bitches and one fab sensual guy. After reading it, I respect my bread more (!) and can't stop my cravings! I've eaten 4 slices and still counting!

Finished a box of fine Van Lys Belgian Chocolate in two days (with a little help from love of my life!). It's a record, even for me! These chocolate candies are in different shapes like walnut (white), hazelnut, almond and a couple of traditional truffle shapes, an assortment of white, milk and dark chocolate. Fillings are light and smooth and not too sweet. All in all, very yummy!
Now, if I only could convince my husband not to eat them with a glass of milk!!
Also finished "The Red Heart of Jade" by Marjorie M. Liu, which I didn't like that much. Characters are way-out-there and oh-so-romantic, not real at all. Plus, the plot is too far fetched and outlandish...
Can you see I'm doing every thing except work on my class project?

I love Jasper Fforde books. "Thursday Next" series was funny, intelligent, amusing and had a new take on old classic characters. His new series "Nursery Crime" novels have the same witty light approach to children’s story characters. I finished "The Fourth Bear" and can't wait to put my hands on "Big over Easy" (the first one in the series) and "The Last Great Tortoise Race".
"Dark Lover" by J.R. Ward introduced a new version of vampires and their relative problems. I got over excited and put hold on other books of this series.

Hi everyone,
I'm going to write about what I like here, mainly books, chocolate, clothes and cats (my cats, of course!).
hope you enjoy it,
cheers,
Aradia