Wednesday, February 29, 2012

February 2012

Hi Beautiful People :)

February has been a bit weird time wise. It's been a busy month that has flown by and January feels like 6 months ago!

So I'm back into the kid's school & dancing routine. Miss 3 is now at the stage where she is ready for Kindergarten but not old enough (she's due to start Feb next year) so I've tried to add extra activities into the weekly mix for her.

She now does one morning a week at a playgroup at Miss 7's school and thinks she's the bees knees because she "goes to school" too. It's great that she loves it, totally awesome... the downside is it's not so fun for me. It's truly just not me, I'm not the type of girl who needs to meet with other mums and effectively compare our children while they play. I already know my kids are awesome! I just cringe when I see these overpowering personalities altogether in the same room, all trying to out do each other. I found myself having some very uncharitable thoughts *ooh er!* But still I will take Miss 3 "to school", she loves it and I think enjoys having me hanging out with her.

LOL Seems I always have something to have a whinge about hey?

So what else?
Well some big news is that Lady Gaga is coming here in July and I managed to get tickets! I am going with a good friend, both our hubbys had the same look of horror and comment when we told them (separately) that we were going. "I don't have to go do I?" Funny boys LOL
Now we have to come up with something to wear... obviously it wouldn't do to turn up dressed "normal", so we're thinking hard... any suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated :)
Valentines Day is not a huge event in our house, Hubby wrote a sweet note on my whiteboard before he went to work in the morning and we had a nice family dinner with all the trimmings that night. Oh and Hubby also cooked me a lovely breakfast on the Sunday before in honour of Valentines Day. Hubby can be very romantic when he wants to be but likes to do so on his own terms rather than on the day where you supposedly have to be and I reckon fair enough.

Every day we have some special little moment and that's far more important I think.

I had a Remedial Massage as well. This time with a new therapist and he was great. I have incredibly flat feet and have had no end of trouble recently and it affects my posture so I went with the hopes he could help out. With the one treatment I could feel an improvement but I felt and he agreed that more was needed so I plan to go more often. Luckily we can claim a portion of the fees on our insurance, it all helps! Must remind myself to sit up straight too, I am such a sloucher!

I have really got stuck into doing more creative writing. I have had many sleepless nights this month, blame that on the heat, the full moon, PMT... you name it! And then one night the premise that's been tumbling about my brain for ages finally took on a more tangible form... would it sound tacky if I said it came to me in a dream? LOL well it kinda did I guess.... no matter... it gave me enough to really plough into the story line. It's just carried on from there and it's making me really happy :)

I am still job hunting, the odd position pops up that sounds interesting and worth applying for. I have tried various styles of cover letters, dependant on who the job is with. I find it so hard writing letters that effectively say "pick me! pick me!"  it just goes against my nature I guess but you must be in it to win it... I will keep at it

Films

The Three Musketeers (2011)
This was very easy to watch, not fabulous but not awful either. The costumes etc are great! and I liked seeing Orlando Bloom play a very entertaining villain

Real Steel
I didn't have high expectations for this film and so wasn't overly disappointed or surprised at how cheesy and predictable it was. Having said that, the special effects were great. I wasn't keen on Hugh Jackman though, he just didn't seem to be able pull off the rough deadbeat dad character or the accent very well.

2 movies the kids love that been on high rotation here are...

Hairspray (2007) the version with John Travolta playing Mrs Turnblad. I find myself stopping to watch a bit as I pass through the room. I love Christopher Walken, he is so funny
and

Puss In Boots or as Miss 3 insists... "Cat in Boots", I have not sat down and watched this film from beginning to end yet but it's been played so often I reckon I have seen most scenes. I'm not sure that kids get a lot of the humour in movies like this but it is pretty funny in places and if Miss 3 is anything to go by there must be something good to keep her going back to watch it again and again.


TV

Grimm
love a good supernatural themed show and this is pretty interesting

Smash
love this show! it's like Glee for grown ups. I'm seeing Jack Davenport in a completely new (and attractive) light... love the salt and pepper hair!

Eternal Law
this UK show is an interesting look at angels on earth, here they are lawyers... there are both good and bad (fallen) ones. I can't say it's captivating me but it's not bad... the angel theme is what's keeping me watching.

Reading

Her Dark Angel by Felicity Heaton
This is a short easy read. I liked the premise and how it was written from both the main characters perspectives and the sex scenes are sizzling!
But I was hoping for more, the story had enormous potential to expand and develop both the characters and their adventures.  I was left wanting to know what happened next...         There are other books in the series but from what I understand they are unrelated stories. Still I think it might be worth reading some more by this author

And that's me again for another month, it looks as though I've been getting a few more direct hits regularly here which is awesome. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to comment and say hi.

Talk to you again soon x o x o

Monday, February 27, 2012

Devotion Competition Winner!

Well my competition deadline has ended and I have had only one comment entry so I guess Tracy (fsu4tg) you are the winner!!!

Could you please send me an email at shishyboo(at)gmail(dot)com and I will put you in touch with Kristie to claim your e-copy of Devotion!

Congratulations and thanks for taking the time to pop in and say hello :)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Book Review: Devotion (Book 3 of Soul Savers Series) by Kristie Cook



Hi! Thanks for stopping by :)

I was super excited to be offered the opportunity to be one of the first people to read Devotion by Kristie Cook and review it as part of her Devotion Blog Tour

The blurb on the back of the book:
With powerful abilities gained from the Ang’dora and Tristan back by her side, Alexis thinks she’s ready for the next challenge— protecting her son from what appears to be the inevitable. But she has so much to learn about her powers, her new world and the people in it. Nothing is what it seems to be on the surface, including the Amadis.

Power-hungry politicians comprise the council and make impossible demands. A traitor lurks among them all, inciting trouble that could destroy the Amadis and, ultimately, humanity. The Daemoni wreak havoc in the human world, with the ultimatum that they’ll continue attacking innocents until Alexis and Tristan are expelled from the Amadis’ protection. The couple’s own society begins to shut them out. But that’s not all.

Someone’s keeping a secret. A big one. Faith and hope in Alexis and Tristan will be restored if she can uncover the truth in time.

But the search for answers leads only to the discovery of more betrayals by those closest to Alexis. Her devotion is put to the test—devotion to her husband, to her family, to her people and to her beliefs—leaving her to question whom she’s fighting for and why she should even bother. But if she won’t fight . . . who will?


Needless to say I'm a huge fan of the Soul Savers series, it's not often you find a series that captures your imagination so completely. I fell head over heels for the main characters, Tristan and Alexis in the first book of the series, Promise and that was it for me... I was hooked. I have laughed and cried along with them ever since.

What I have found incredibly wonderful about Devotion (and the series in general) is that what started off as what I thought would be purely a love story, has evolved into an exhilarating adventure as well. In Devotion... sh!t gets real! Like really  real!  There's intrigue, betrayal, love and loss. This story has it all and I am loving it!

So if you're new to Kristie's work and love a good paranormal story, I can not recommend the Soul Savers series highly enough. Personally I recommend starting with Promise & Purpose, then take a history lesson with the prequel, Genesis and then dive into Devotion. This series gets better with every book!

Need more convincing? Perhaps the trailer to Promise will be the additional tidbit to entice you ;)


If you're up to date with your Soul Savers reading then you will not be disappointed with Devotion! I loved Promise & Purpose but the story development in Devotion is FANTASTIC!!!!! I can not wait to see where this story is going :)


 

Kristie has generously offered an e-book of Devotion as a prize for my followers! So if you would like to be in the draw for this prize, please comment on this post by Feb 25 2012 and I will draw a winner at random :) :) :)
PS: make sure you are contactable by email please

Where can you purchase Devotion?

Connect with Kristie Cook:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

January 2012

Hi!
hope you're all doing great. Wish I could say the same for myself, it's still hot and I'm battling a tummy bug which is always a fun topic of conversation. However this is not what I'm here for and it's not all bad because our air conditioning was replaced yesterday and I can see just how sad our old system had become. The cool in my home now is simply bliss and I have to confess that I have become very spoilt very quickly.

So January is a special month (to me) because it's my birthday month! I've always loved celebrating my birthday, big or small, party or not, it doesn't matter as long as I've got my boy and babies with me, I'm happy.

This year saw me turning 38, which I'm quite happy to admit. Hubby spoilt me with a netbook and all the bits and bobs to go with it. He took the day off work and we went out to lunch and then continued to celebrate over the weekend, spending a night in the city with another couple we're friends with. My friend's birthday is 3 days before mine so what better excuse to hit the town!?!



The plan was to go to Deville's Pad, a quirky over 25's theme club , Hubby had taken me there once before and I loved it. But then we discovered the hotel we were booked into had a little place underneath called The Hula Bula Bar which is a tiki themed bar and seemed to be owned by the same people as Deville's Pad so we checked out both.

Long story short and many, many cocktails later we had an awesome time. It's not often we get to do grown up things like this so we made the most of it :)

What else have I been up to? Well, not that this is a "fun" thing or "me" time but I resolved to start Miss 3 on the road to toilet training... before anyone judges me, yeah I know I started way, way, WAY later than many parents might. But I was determined to wait until I knew she was ready, I tried too early for Miss 7 (just before her 3rd birthday) and it was a long and arduous 12 months of mopping up messes. At one point I thought I'd be sending her to Kindergarten in a pull-up nappy (diaper for o/seas readers).

To my utter surprise and delight Miss 3 has clicked straight away and though we have the odd accident, for the most part she gets herself to the loo. PHEW!!!! is all I can say.

Other than that, nothing huge has been going on in January... the birthday fling was quite enough LOL.

I did my best to keep up my goal of indulging in reading and catching up on movies etc, didn't get to watch as much as I would have liked but I'm certain my eyes would be square if I had!

But this is what I did get to see...

Films

Glee 3D Concert Movie: while I got this with Miss 7 in mind (her being the singing & dancing kind of kid she is) I did want to see this myself because if I'm completely honest... I am a Gleek at heart. To begin with I was a tad disappointed with the sound quality of the live concert scenes but as we watched it over and over again, it became less of an issue. Part of the format was to follow 3 fans and hear their stories of how Glee has inspired them and that was interesting. I waited for Miss 7 to question me about what did being gay mean and geared myself with a few answers but it didn't happen and I noticed the more she played the dvd, the more she flicked through the talking bits to get to the songs. Ah well, we'll have that chat later I guess.

Ghost:  did I just admit to that out loud? yeah I did. it was on tv one night and I don't know... I just kinda sat down and then Hubby sat down and we had to see it through to the end. Gawd it's corny and the special effects are crap as is the acting for that matter but we watched it. No harm done ;)

Horrible Bosses: this wasn't a bad movie actually... slow to start, it got better as it went and by the end we were laughing out loud.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (the Swedish 2009 version):
again it happened to be on tv one night and I'd always meant to watch it after reading the books and really wanted to see it before I went to see the English version, so it was good timing. I really thought it was quite good but perhaps a little disjointed. I found it hard work to be constantly reading the subtitles and was glad that I'd read the book. Hubby hadn't, so I was explaining bits here and there for him. And I would have liked them to develop the characters a bit more but all in all it was good.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
if I were to have a movie pick of the month, this would have to be it. I had not heard of the Canadian metal band Anvil until this documentary was on tv one night and I didn't really intend to watch but it was a compelling story. These guys, who have inspired so many other bands who have gone onto become HUGE, never really "made it" in that sense themselves but the founding members kept their hope alive and did everything in their power to keep working towards their dream. By the end I had tears in my eyes and was on the edge of my seat with all my fingers and toes crossed in the hopes that the film came to the conclusion the band were hoping for... it's really worth seeing whether you're a metal fan or not.

TV

Sherlock Series 2: what is it about Benedict Cumberbatch!?! OMG those cheekbones!!! I seriously love this show and am sad that there's only 3 installments in each series but it is so cleverly written and entertaining that I'll forgive them... Can Not Wait for series 3!!!


Doctor Who marathon: the ABC is running all the modern series (2005 to present) back to back 5 nights a week at the moment. It's been fun re-watching and we've made a discovery... Miss 3 is a "Whovian"... it all came about because she's devil for not going to bed the same time as Miss 7. We're wrestling with the "to nap in the day or not" dilemma; if she doesn't nap, she is a mean and spiteful little banshee come 3 pm, if she does then she won't want to go to bed at night until 8:30pm. It became easier to let her nap then stay up but then the dilemma was do we allow her to watch Doctor Who? I realise that it's not the most suitable thing for children to watch but the selfish side of me didn't want to miss out as well so I caved and let her sit up with me, at first she wasn't keen so I'd send her off to bed (or try to) and then one night she heard the theme music of the show and came scooting out all set to watch... a Whovian is born I guess.

I do remember as a child (though not quite as young as Miss 3) that I would sit with my brothers and be scared witless watching Doctor Who but not being able to look away. I guess that's how it is for my wee one too except she watches it with her Mum and holds her hand. Now she is demanding to watch it, I don't hear the end of it in the evenings until it is on... and the questions! OMG! try explaining regeneration to a 3 year old! But still, it's a bit cool that we have this in common :)

Alcatraz: the premise is quite intriguing so I'm keen to see more but I am desperately hoping it doesn't degenerate into a confusing mish mash like LOST did (seeing as the same people made it)

Kids TV: Horrible Histories & Big Babies
OK so being the summer school holidays, there's been a lot of the kids channel on and these 2 shows tickled me. Both are so very clever...

Horrible Histories World War II Girls Song


Uploaded by on Jun 23, 2010

Big Babies...


Uploaded by bhkahului on Aug 30, 2010

Reading

I've kept on with Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb but then I got the amazing opportunity to read an eARC of
Devotion by Kristie Cook so swapped over for a bit.

I will be doing a separate post to review Devotion as part of Kristie's blog tour which is scheduled for Feb 15!

Getting back to Royal Assassin... I'm only a third of the way into it but last night I read the loveliest passage where the main character Fitz makes love for the first time to his long time love, Molly. It was so tender and beautiful without describing barely anything physical that it took my breath away. Oh to be able to write like that! Needless to say I am even more enamoured by the story.

So I guess that's about enough for one night... see you back here on Feb 15 if not before x o x o