Mailbox Monday (14)

It's another Sunday, and I'm happy to say that I'm once again linking up with Mailbox Monday. This is a traveling meme, and for the month of December is being hosted by Suko's Notebook. It's a place to share the books we've picked up recently that we can't wait to start reading.
For Review from Virtual Author Book Tours
Flesh by Khanh Ha
I've actually been seeing this one around quite a bit lately, so I'm excited to finally have a chance to read it. This is a historical fiction that takes place in the early 1900s in Vietnam. I get the feeling that it won't be the easiest book to read, but I'm hoping to learn a lot from it.

From My Parents
The Fire by Katherine Neville
My mom absolutely loved Katherine Neville's book The Eight. And while I read it, and enjoyed it as well, I didn't love it nearly as much as her. A few years back she read this one, which is a sequel to The Eight, although didn't love it nearly as much. Knowing my mom wasn't as huge of a fan, I haven't been jumping at the chance to read it, but still want to read it eventually, which is why I brought it back with me after being out in California for Thanksgiving.

Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
I had planned to bring a few other cookbooks back with me, but as our suitcases slowly started to fill this is the only one that made it. According to my dad, this is one of the last cookbooks my mom picked up. And while this would have to be classified as cookbook, it does seem to be written a lot more like an actual book.

The Girl who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
I actually just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and really enjoyed it. (I hope to have my review up on Friday.) So I'm sure I'll be starting these books sooner rather than later. (I know my dad's read all three. I believe my mom never finished the second, although they did watch all 3 of the Swedish version movies together.) Given how much I enjoyed the first, I'm sure I'll be enjoying these as well.

What's in your mailbox this week? And have you read any of these books?

From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time

While the girls and I were getting ready in the bridal suite, and the ceremony and reception spaces were set-up, the boys were gathering in the turtle bar. (Now hopefully the title of the post makes sense and you don't think there's some RHONYC connection here.)
This building had origonally been built as a pigeon roost, and was used in the mid-1800s as a garconniere. (Which basically means it was where the sons of the family would sleep once they became bachelors. After all, you couldn't have unmarried men and unmarried women sleeping under the same roof, could you?)

My dad with his mint julepAccording to the boy, the bar was one of the top 10 best stocked scotch bars in the country, and supposedly they had a bottle discovered in an underwater shipwreck by Jacque Cousteau.

The only photo I have of the boy in the bar, which does at least prove he was actually there.I don't know what type of craziness occurred in here before the wedding, but given the fact our nephew the ringer bearer was in attendance, makes me a little less worried.
Did the boy's have a place to gather the morning of your wedding? And if you were in the turtle bar, what drink do you think you'd be ordering?

All photos in this post courtesy of friends and family.
Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified
From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation

Meals, Moments, Reviews, & Remembering in Novemeber

Last month I started my new monthly wrap-up post inspired by Lisa's Yarns. Although if you want a longer explanation of the idea behind it check out last month's posts. Since now we all know where the idea came from, let's get to the idea itself!

Meals
I had a ton of awesome food on my trip to California over Thanksgiving (which I've yet to blog about). I could take the easy route and say to wait for that post, but instead I'm blogging about this.

Campbell's Thai Tomato Coconut SoupI picked this up on a whim, because the idea intrigued me. I thought it would taste like tomato soup, with a hint of coconut. But instead it was more like Thai coconut soup with a hint of tomato. It really did surprise me by how much I enjoyed it. I haven't seen it in stores, since I tried it, but I'll definitely be on the look out for it again.

Moments
I had planned on participating in NaBloPoMo this year. Except the first weekend of the month I wound up re-installing Windows on my computer, and missing a few days as I tried to get it to work. Turns out the type of laptop I have has some sort of bug where it won't just install Windows without a few tweaks. I probably need a new laptop (I've had this one for 5 years maybe?), but for now it's working, and I'm hoping for at least another year out of it. And even with that setbacks still managed to blog 24 out of 30 days, and am on track to make 2012 my most blogged year ever.

Reviews
This month I've reviewed 5 books and 5 movies.
Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Adventures of Tila Pinkerton by Angela Shelton
Curiosity Killed the Kat by Elizabeth Nelson
Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad
The Man with the Iron Fists
Skyfall
Rise of the Guardians
Breaking Dawn: Part 2
Life of Pi
My favorite out of all these would have the be The Perks of Being a Wallflower. (The book version at least, I've still yet to see the movie.)

Remembering
November is quite the month for memories. November 20, 2006 is when the boy & I first became official. On our 4th anniversary, on November 20, 2010 is when the boy proposed and we became an engaged couple. And one day before our fifth dating anniversary, on November 19, 2011 is when my mom passed away.

What are the meals, moments, reviews, and remembering have you experienced in the past 30 days?

Show Us Your... Appetizers

The past few weeks I've been linking up with Kelly's Korner, sharing favorite recipes, and today is no exception. This week theme is appetizers, and while I don't have a ton of recipes to share (I guess I'm not big on making appetizers?), the ones I have are delicious!
Bacon-Wrapped, Parmesan-Stuffed Dates
Fried Halloumi Cheese

Do you have a favorite appetizer to make? Which of these would you most want to try? And if you're stopping by from Kelly's Korner, be sure to say hi!

Wishing & Hoping Again

Two years ago I wrote this post with my holiday wish list, and I thought it would be fun to bring the idea back this year. I'm not really expecting anyone to buy things from this, but just thought it would be fun. Plus I think it's interesting looking at what I wanted two years ago, and see all how many similarities there are, and just what is different.
Pasta Maker from Sur La Table, which was actually from our wedding registry and never gifted.
Madame Serpent by Jean Plaidy
While this exact book wasn't on my last wish list, there still was another Jean Plaidy title I was lusting over (and have since read).
Soup bowl in our Vera Wang china pattern from Macy's, also left over from our registry.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Duvet cover from Pottery Barn
And yes, this was also left over from our registry.
The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
And again, while this exact book wasn't one my list two years ago, there was a Greggory book on it.
Towels from Pottery Barn
The boy actually received the purple towels he wanted, but these are the blue towels I wanted. Do we really need separate towels? Probably not, but this is a wish list, not a need list after all.
The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
Taylor Switf's Red
Finally, while Red wasn't on my list from two years ago, I bet by now you can guess what was on my last one.

What's on your wish list this year? Are you lusting over any of the same things as me?

From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation

While the girls and I were getting ready, preparations for the day ahead were taking place all over the venue. In the photo below you can see the courtyard being set up for our cocktail hour.
I had originally planned on us setting up the reception room while we were getting ready. But since were unexpectedly getting ready in the bridal cottage, which was on the complete other side of the plantation, that made set-up difficult. Luckily my godmother, aunt, and grandmother came to the rescue and made sure the centerpieces, candy buffet, and everything else happened.

I had planned on printing out photos of the centerpiece set-up so everyone knew how it was supposed to look. Except that didn't happen. Instead I was able to do was pull up this blog post on my phone which showed my mock-up. Definitely a perk of blogging about the whole wedding planning process.

Speaking of things I didn't do, I also didn't draw a map as to what table went where. I went to do it mid-morning, but realized I didn't have the cards, and I couldn't remember which people were assigned to which table. Luckily my family came to the rescue here, and mapped out the tables based on the names they recognized. As it worked out, the tables were assigned almost exactly how I had mentally arranged them.
Now, if you remember in my last post, I was told by our coordinator that the grass was too wet in front of the house to have our ceremony in front of the house as hoped. This was always a possibility, which is why our rehearsal had taken place in one of the gardens instead. But Bridesmaid Chicago and my SIL weren't letting them happen. Instead they tracked down our coordinator and the groundskeeper and talked them into a ceremony on the front lawn.
Concessions were made to make this happen. Instead of having our chuppah in between the first set of oak trees we were going to have it closer to the house. By doing so, we also needed to have fewer, yet longer rows of seats. This way less grass would be walked on. And in some ways I liked this a lot better than our initial plan. I think by having so few rows, and having everyone sit so close to us, made the whole ceremony feel much more intimate.
Who did most of the set-up your wedding morning? And would you have been the type to stand up for the right to have the ceremony where you had wanted, or would you have let your bridesmaids make that argument for you?

All photos in this post courtesy of friends and family.
Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified

Rise of the Breaking Pi

Rise of the Guardians
When I first starting seeing previews of this movie I thought it looked cheesy, and like one I wouldn't want to see. But I wound up being pleasantly surprised by this; it may have even drawn a tear or two.

One thing I found really interesting is that this wasn't based on an already published book series. Instead the author had, and was able to get a movie studio to make it into a movie while she was writing the books. Each is slightly different, since neither was based on the other. Instead they each tell stories of The Guardians, and by doing it this way you didn't have to worry about the movie living up to the books. An interesting idea, but one that you probably won't see that often since you'd have to have a lot of faith in the author to do it.

Breaking Dawn: Part 2
These movies seems to have gotten a lot of backlash lately, which is funny because when it first started getting big it didn't seem so cheesy. I feel like a lot of fans have moved onto other franchises (Hunger Games mainly), but I still love Edward and the Twilight story.

I really loved this one. And thought the movie flew by. I could hardly believe when it was time for it to end, and while it was a little disappointed it was over, I absolutely loved the way it ended. I remember reading an interview with Kristen Stewart where she said something like the end of the movie is definitely for long term fans, and while I had no idea what she was talking about then, it's a perfect description.

Life of Pi
I hadn't read the book coming into this. From the previews I thought I knew what to expect, but while there were bits I expected, most of it took me by surprise. I may have needed the boy to explain the ending to me, but I think even without his help I would have enjoyed this.

Then of course there's the fact that this is so visually stunning. We saw it in 3-D, at the Arclight in Hollywood, in the Cinerema Dome. And if there's ever a movie that desires that ultimate treatment this is it. I don't know that I'm dying to watch it again, but I loved the experience of seeing it. And also don't see how watching this on the couch at home could compare to our initial viewing.

I think if you're looking for a movie to see, you can't go wrong with any of these choices. It really is just a matter of what type of movie you're in the mood for. But if I could see one again, without a doubt it would be Breaking Dawn: Part 2.