Show Us Your... Master Bedrooms

Last week when I shared our living room, I let everyone know our house is still a work in progress. The same definitely goes for the bedroom, since as you'll notice there still isn't a thing on the wall. But even so, it's still probably one of my favorite rooms in the house.
This is the view from when you first walk in. You can see hear how the bedroom is connected to the sinks of the master bedroom. To the sink's right is the actual bathroom, and to the left is the closest. I wasn't a big fan of the fact that the bedroom and bathroom weren't completely separate when we bought the house, but it wasn't enough to be a deal breaker. And here's the view from the the sinks, looking towards the room's entrance.
This is the boy's dresser, which is a little messy. Although he doesn't really use the actual drawers, instead he seems to think opening drawers is a waste of time and would prefer to leave his clothes out in front. I've have masterfully been able to hid this though with my supreme photo taking skills. And speaking of photos, the one on his dresser, which is the only one in the room, is a photo of his niece when she was a few months old.
Here's the reason why he won't let me use his dresser, because I already have two of my own. There is a tv in the room, but we tend not to watch a lot of tv in bed together. Instead it's really there for when he needs to watch some sports game in the living room and I'd prefer to watch something on TLC instead.
This is probably my favorite part of the room. It actually used to be my aunt's and I think fits in great with the other furniture in the room (all of which also used to belong to someone else before they sent it our way). You can see all my various reading materials from the book I'm currently reading, books to read under the table, and the old magazines under the bed. There's even a few magazines hiding in the basket itself.
And that's it, our master bedroom. There might be a detail or two I left out, but if you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the room, please let me know. And if you're here from Kelly's Korner, thanks for stopping by!

~Shoshanah

Sookie Stackhouse #8

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
It's been a while since I've finished one of the Sookie Stackhouse books thinking that this might be the best book of the series. But so much happens in this book it's easy to so why that might be the case. It's hard to come up with the true plot of the book, since again so much happens there's no central theme except Sookie survives.

But what exactly does she survive? Well to start off with there's a werewolf war, and completely separate from that is a vampire war. And on top of that there's a least two other near death situations Sookie finds herself in.

Besides all the wars, Sookie also discovers long lost members of her family, and unlike her cousin who was barley alive for a single book I have a feeling these member are going to stick around for books to come.

And the ending of the book, I wouldn't call it a true cliffhanger, but it's as close to a cliffhanger as I've seen in the book. The way it ends I really can't wait to read the next book. Luckily I won't have long to wait, since it's already in print. It is a little disappointing to know that there's only two books left in the series, and after that I'll be waiting like everyone else for the next book to be published.

~Shoshanah

Not Quite Triple A

Every since I could drive I've been on my parents triple A account. I remember once in college calling, and the women on the other end saying, "I'd like to thank you for your 30 years as a member, but I don't think you've actually been a member that long." But I always kind of assumed I would be a member just as long. So when my parents sent me the bill so I could actually start paying on my own, I was a little surprised that he advised me not to renew. His reasoning was that if anything went wrong with my car he would be able to take car of it all.

Well that got put to the test this past week, when I went to start my car and it wouldn't start. I doubled checked my AAA card just in case, the actual expiration date of the card was a few weeks ago, but I do still have the renewal bill sitting behind my computer. The boy was still in bed sleeping, so I woke him up freaking out a little.

He got dressed and dropped me off at work, and I was there on time and he was able to get to campus in time for his class as well. At the end of the day he stopped by the Toyota dealership, which is around the corner from my work, and picked me up. He had a night class and due to timing I wound up having to head back with him. I had One Day, which I was reading at the time, to keep me occupied. I also was able to check out some of the renovations to LSU student union that have been completed since I graduated. I'm definitely a fan, and wish parts of it were there while I was still working on my Masters. After class we headed back to the house, where he was able to put the new battery and my car was good as new the following day.

So basically I was able to easily get through car trouble without triple A. But on the other hand what if this had happened on a day when the boy had left before me. I would have pretty much have been stranded. So the question is, do have have triple A or not? And if you have it have often do you really use it? Or if you don't have it, what do you do when you have car troubles?

~Shoshanah

Breaking the Fast

After being in services and fasting all day yesterday for Yom Kippur, I met up up with the boy to watch the LSU game and for break fast. We went to the Fox and the Hound, which is a faux English pub. (Faux because they give you your food not on newspaper, but on regular wax paper that's printed to look like a newspaper.) So after I had an appetizer (fried mozzarella sticks) and my stomach started to feel normal I decided I needed a drink, since we were watching a football game.
I decided to order their Krytonite-rita. You can't completely tell from the picture but this thing was huge! And even though I wound up eating a pizza (BBQ chicken if you must know), this clearly wasn't the best idea after fasting the whole day. I got about halfway through, when I knew that if I drank anymore my stomach would really not be happy with me. It felt pretty wasteful not drinking most of such an expensive drink, but I guess it would have been more wasteful if I drank it the rest and well, it came right back up again.

So really the moral of the story, is not to order crazy large drinks after you've been fasting for the day. It's really quite simple, and I feel a little ridiculous for making such a crazy misjudgment.

~Shoshanah

Living Room Tour

When Kelly last did her tour of houses, I was living in this apartment. I didn't wind up stumbling on Kelly's Korner until the end of the tour, and so was never able to participate. Since then my boyfriend and I bought house, and we're still trying to figure out exactly how we want to decorate. So hopefully looking through these posts will give me some inspiration, and I'll be able to get some good advice. So starting with the living room.
This is the view when you walk in from the front door. While there's some pieces of furntiture I'm not a huge fan of, almost everything in here was a hand-me-down and so free. While I'd love to be able to replace some of this, I'd rather save up for some amazing pieces instead of replacing items just because.
Speaking of not all the furniture being perfect, the couch doesn't quite fit in the room. So we have this somewhat random section of the couch to create somewhat of a little reading nook. You can also see from here how the living room leads into the dinning room/kitchen.
The fireplace is probably my favorite part of this room. Although we didn't use it at all durring our winter here, I'm hoping we have the chance to this year. On top of the fireplace is a candle and a piece of Venitian glass, which is really only there because I don't know where else to put it, nor am I sure what else I want to put up there. To the right is really on only artwork or pictures in the entire room, and to the left is a pile of blankets (topped with my LSU snuggie), since I always want a blanket when I'm sitting on the couch, even if it's already ridiculously hot.
The TV and TV stand are really the only new things in the room that we've bought. Boys will be boys afterall. To its left is probably the oldest piece of furniture in the house. That chest was actually used by the boy's father as a toychest when he was little.

As you can tell the room still needs a little bit of work. (As you'll see in the weeks to come, so does the rest of the house.) I'm thinking of repainting the room, maybe a light grey to correspond with all the blues throughout the rest of the house. I also want to find something to hang on the walls, but I really want something I love instead of something just to put there. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them, and I'll definitely be heading over to Kelly's Korner to hopefully discover some great ideas.

~Shoshanah

Once a Year

One Day by David Nicholls
There's been a lot of hype about this book lately, especially since they're in the middle of filming the movie. And once I had a basic idea of the book's plot I knew I had to read it.

The one day, in the book is July 15. That is the first day Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew meet, after college graduation in 1988. Each following chapter is told the next year on the same day all through 2007. Basically we've given a snapshot of how Emma's and Dexter's relationship evolves throughout the years.

I was really curious how the unconventional storytelling would work out. I was a little afraid that somehow it would feel like I was missing something, but only seeing this single day. And while it was true that some chapters ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, never did I feel like vital information was left out. I do think that the way the story is told turned this from a good book to a great book.

One thing about the way it was written is that I kept waiting for something awful to happen. Throughout the book it feels like you reading the tale of star-crossed lovers, so really it shouldn't come as a surprise when or if something tragic happens. And yet... Well I'll just leave it as that.

So yes, the book is worth all the hype. I can't wait to see the movie, and yet I'm still skeptical how they're going to be able to pull this off in movie form. But it's something I can't wait to experience.

~Shoshanah

Fall TV Line Up

It's that time of year again. It's starting to get cooler (although not really in Louisiana), the leave are changing colors (again not really in Louisiana), and my tv shows are coming back. (This is actually happening in Louisiana.) So for your viewing pleasure he's my tv line-up. All times are central because I live in the central time zone. Can you tell you that when I was trying to decide if I should move to Louisiana one of the cons was getting used to watching things in central times? Also if a show has already started airing, a premier date isn't listed.

Sunday
7pm - 8 Amazing Race (Premiers 9/26)
8pm -9 Desperate Housewives (Premiers 9/26)
9pm -10 Brothers & Sisters (Premiers 9/26)
Although I don't normally look forward to Sunday night, these shows change that a little. Housewives has been a little weak lately, but I'm too far into the show to turn away. And I love Brothers & Sisters, but I'm a little sad Emily VanCamp will be leaving the show.

Monday
This night's actually open for me. If the boy gets home on time I'll probably be watching House with him. And there's a good chance I'll be tuning into Kate Plus Eight and Quints by Surprise on TLC while their on, but overall it's looks pretty empty.

Tuesday
7pm - 8 Glee (Premiers 9/21)
7pm - 9 The Biggest Loser (Premiers 9/21)
8pm - 8:30 18 Kids & Counting
9pm - 10 Teen Mom
9pm - 10 Parenthood
Anyone else see a problem this night? This is the reason I really need a DVR, because I'm going to wind up watching one main show during each time period and flipping to the other during commercials. Not really an ideal solutions.

Wednesday
7pm - 8 Survivor:Nicaragua (Premiers Tonight!)
9pm - 10 Top Chef Just Desserts (Premiers Tonight!)
Sometimes I feel like the only one still watching Survivor. But I seriously love it. It's probably one of my favorite shows! And I just can't wait for this new Top Chef. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Thursday
7pm - 8 My Generation (Premiers 9/23)
8pm - 9 Grey's Anatomy (Premiers 9/23)
After last season's finale of Grey's I can't wait for the new seasons. And My Generation is the only new show I'm planning on watching. I think it looks really promising. Plus it's about former high school classmates 10 years after graduating, and somehow, not really sure how it happened, my own 10 year reunion is going to be coming up in just over a year!

So that's it! Well besides Friday & Saturdays but I tend not to do a lot of tv watching those nights. Anyone watch the same shows as me? Is there anything you think I should be watching? And what's your must watch show?

~Shoshanah

Angel Hair con i Funghi

When I first moved to Louisiana in 2006 it was my first time living on my own without the aid of a college dinning hall. Which meant I was responsible for my own meals. What I did almost every night was boil some pasta and top with store bought sauce. Not that exciting, but I could easily eat pasta every night. But then I started dating the boy, and he wasn't too found of the fact I cooked the exact same thing almost every night.

While I still love pasta I don't make it ALL the time like I did in my first apartment. Not only that, I try to get a little creative instead of just dumping jarred sauce on top of noodles. On a whim a bought a crate of mushrooms the other day and was trying to find something to do with them. I wound up finding inspiration in The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed, which my mom gave me when all I was eating is pasta. Their recipe is Bucatini con i Funghi, which is a fancy way of saying Bucatini with mushrooms. Although I used angel hair pasta, and made a few small tweaks, so I present you with...

Angel Hair con i FunghiIngreadiants
1/2 lb Angel Hair Pasta
Olive Oil
4 cloves garlic
6 oz fresh mushrooms
Salt & pepper
Parsley
Directions:
Heat oil and add finely chopped garlic.
Add sliced mushrooms and salt & pepper to taste.
Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes over low heat, then remove and keep warm.
Meanwhile, cook pasta.
Add chopped parsley to mushrooms and stir into pasta.
Mix and add a little more Oilve Oil.
Enjoy while warm.

Their recipe also adds lemon juice at the end which I omitted since I didn't have any in the house. Also I added a touch more garlic than they called for. But it's really so simple that you don't need a recipe. Except if your someone like me, who really can't decide what to cook unless you have an actual recipe to inspire you. Anyone else like that, or do you have the ability to actually come up with your own recipe based only and the indgrediants you have access too?

~Shoshanah

You Really Like Me

The past week Amber and Suz both sent me the versatile blogger award.
The way to play the game is to link back to the person who awarded it to you, list seven random things about yourself, and tag 15 other bloggers.

1. When I was in high school my school's football team was ranked number 2 in the country. And yet I never went to a single high school football game. I'm still a little embarrassed by this, and don't like to admit it so you should feel honored I'm letting you in.

2. In Kindergarten I wanted my name to be Amy. Not necessarily because I didn't like my name, but because I could spell Amy and couldn't spell Shoshanah.

3. I hate getting rid of things. But for the first time ever I went to Goodwill a few weeks ago to donate some t-shirts. Almost all of the shirts I donated were ones I used to wear in high schools.

4. Speaking of old clothes, the dress I wore to my 8th grade graduation is still in my closest. Maybe I should have donated that as well?

5. I loved Jamba Juice in high school, and feel like I'm being disloyal with my current addicted to Smoothie King. But there's not Jamba Juices in Louisiana, so I guess it's really their fault.

6. My favorite Disney princess is The Little Mermaid, mainly because Ariel is my middle name.

7. I'm really looking forward to Halloween this year, only because it will be my first time handing out candy at my own house.

I'm not actually going to tag anyone else, but mainly because I tend to forget to post my awards then feel guilty. But if you feel like listing 7 random things about yourself, this award is yours!

And speaking of forgetting to post my awards, Amanda sent me the Happy 101 award back in March. Yeah... at least I'm remember to post it over half a year later right?
For this one you're supposed to list 10 things that make you happy (try to do at least one of those things today), and send it one to 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

1. Spending the day outside tanning and reading magazine
2. The smell of any baked good baking in the oven
3. Surprises
4. The start of the new fall tv season
5. Eat fruit picked from my own backyard
6. Spending time with old friends
7. Roasting marshmallows and making s'mores
8. Having the time to sit around doing nothing without feeling guilty
9. Reading (and loving) a new book
10. Couches that you can fall into and relaxing

Again thanks for thinking of me and I promise will do my best to share the next award a receive within less than 6 months.

~Shoshanah

The Florida Recap

As promised I'm back recapping our trip to the white sands in Destin, Florida. While we did wind up having a good time, it probably won't go down as one of the all-time best vacations, mainly because we were sick while we were there. The boy caught a cold the night before we were there and finally started to feel better the morning we left. And on top of that both him and I wound up with food poisoning. I guess it's better being sick on vacation than while your stuck at home, and it gave me an excuse to watch episodes of Toddlers & Tiaras and Bridezillas for a whole day. The boy's been calling it the worst vacation ever, and while it sounds extreme, I can't think of any other vacation where we've both been sick. But now to the good stuff.
This is the condo we stayed in. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but the hotel was built on a curve so that every room had an ocean view. And speaking of the ocean view...
You can also see some of the condo's pool from this picture. There were 2 full-sized pools, 1 kiddie pool, and of course a hot tub. As I mentioned last week, we spend most days outside reading by the ocean or the pool, where the pool tried his best to avoid having his picture taken.
Although his sister managed to capture the only slightly normal picture of the two of us. And yes, I am wearing the new bathing suit I posted about here, when I was trying to decide which one to buy.
And then there were cute pictures taken of the boy's niece and nephew. (This is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip, I just wish it was centered a little better.)But all too soon it was time to head back home.I know after writing this I wish I was back at the beach, so I'm pretty sure you all feel the same way. Hopefully the pictures were able to give you a little escape before the week kicks back into full gear and summer is completely gone.

~Shoshanah

The Perfect Beach Read?

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
I started reading this book at the beach read thinking it was the perfect choice. After all it's by Jennifer Weiner who write pretty amazing chick-lit, and there's even a beach on the cover. But I was a bit surprised, but not necessarily disappointed, to find that it wasn't quite beach read material. Although I knew what the basic story was going into it so it shouldn't have been to big of a shock.

The book tells the story of Sylvie Serfer and what happens to her and her two daughters when he politician husband has an affair that the media discovered. It's not really light material, which made it a bit deeper than your average ocean side escape. It wasn't the syrup-y sweet read I wanted, but even so I was still a fan.

I think it's the perfect time for the book considering how often this same story has broke lately. I enjoyed all the pop-culture reference that you could discover even though names weren't actually used. I mean when she mentions the golfer who cheats on his wife with an uncountable number of girls, or the biker guy who cheats on his award winning actress wife, who do you think of? I also loved how this awful event was able to bring the women in the family closer together, than they otherwise would have been.

I really did enjoy the book, despite the fact I wouldn't consider it to be the ultimate beach read. But since summer's on it's way out maybe it's the perfect time to pick it up!

~Shoshanah

Gay Lord Robert

A Favorite of the Queen by Jean Plaidy
I blogged about how much I love Jean Plaidy's book here and here, and so it seems a little silly to be doing so again, but even so I really do love her book. A Favorite of the Queen (originally published as Gay Lord Robert in the 1950s) is the last book in her Tudor series. As you can see from just the cover the book tells the story of Queen Elizabeth I's and Robert Dudley's romance.

From the cover image I was expected to have the book centered more of Elizabeth herself, but Dudley is clearly the star. The cover is definitely more of a marketing piece designed to fit with the others in the repackaged Tutor series. And while I understand why the changed the title (since gay has come to be used as something different now than in the 50s), I do think Gay Lord Robert suits the book as the far better title.

Honestly, the main thing I have against this book is that I read it at the beach. I had started it before and hoped to be finished before we left, but that didn't quite happen. And well, this isn't a good beach read. Like other of her other books I always wind up learning something new reading it. But laying out in the sun I had difficulty keeping all the names and historical figures straight. I would definitely recommend it as a great historical fiction read, but I would strongly advise you not to try to reading it while also trying to get a tan.

~Shoshanah

The Return

I'm back from Florida! Although to be honest I was back before the Jewish New Year, and since I'm finished for services I figured a quick hello was in order. And for all of you wondering just how long we were actually there, I can at least confirm that this post on Sunday was actually a scheduled post that went up while we were actually in Florida.

I won't be posting a full crazy week long recap, because really how many times can I really say, "Today we went out to the beach and I read." But I will be sharing some pictures early next week! I'll try to get up a book review (or two!) this week, but until then here's a small teaser.
Until then, hope everyone has a sweet new year! L'shana tovah!

~Shoshanah

Getting Ready

I've officially decided on my reading material for our upcoming trip to Florida.
Yes, I've probably gone a bit overboard here. But if I'm going overboard on clothes I might as well go overboard on books and magazines as well. Plus we're driving which means I don't have to worry about fitting it all into a carry on. And it also means I have several hours of driving as a passenger, good thing I don't get carsick. We're taking the boy's car which is a manual, and since I can't drive a manual he can't expect me to drive.

But maybe you think I should be talking to him while we drive? Well it seems her sister with her two kids doesn't think she'll be able to fit everything into his parents' car. So the driving arrangements are the boy's mom, his sister, his brother-in-law, niece, nephew in one car. The second car is the two of us, and the boy's dad. I've decided I'll be in the back to go them some good father-son bonding time. Or really to make myself feel less guilty about listening to my ipod, sleeping and reading the whole time.

So now that I have all types of books to choose from while I'm in Florida, which ones do you thing I should start with? Have you read any of these? And are you a chronic over packer as well?

~Shoshanah

Running Away to the Circus

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I had heard great things about this book, but it wasn't until I heard about the movie that I decided to read. And I'm definitely glad I did. Once I started the book I couldn't put it down. Seriously, I bought the book and was finished within 36 hours.

The book takes places in the 1930s and tells the story of Jacob Jankowski, a college student who almost accidentally runs away and joins the circus. There is a romance story, and in a while it reminded me a lot of The Notebook. Besides the actual romance, there's all types of historical tidbits of what circus life was like during the Great Depression, and a fun bit of randomness are all the 1930's circus pictures throughout the book.

Having read the book I can't wait to see how they've done the movie. I don't think the movie lends itself very easily to the screen, but its such a great story I know why they're trying. I even think Robert Pattison should fit perfect as Jacob, and Reese Witherspoon will be great as Marlena, a performer whose act is with the liberty horses. It's easily one of the best books I've read in a while.

Anyone else love this book too? Or are you planning on waiting for the movie for this one?

~Shoshanah