Get Your Head in the Game

Winning the City Redux by Theodore Weesner
Earlier this year I read (and enjoyed) Weesner The Car Theif, which is why I agreed to read this one. Except I was a little frustrated at first because it almost seemed like both book had the exact same characters just with different names. Both characters (Dale in this book, Alex in The Car Thief ) are being raised by a single father whose an alcoholic, and works at a car plant. Both love playing fans of basketball, but don't really fit in at school. I believe that the majority of these books are autobiographical which is why the characters are so similar, but still... I just wish the characters hadn't felt like carbon copies of each other.

Even with that complaint, I still enjoyed the book. Halfway through unless I really made myself think about it, I forgot I had that issue initially. You just get so wrapped up in Dale's story, about how he has lost something he believes belongs to him, and so badly want him to succeed.

The book did include a note saying this was previously published as Winning the City in the early 1990s. The difference between the two versions is that the newer one expands on the relationship between Dale and one of his teachers. Except that plot line seems to be so central to the story, I can't imagine what the other book would have been like. Without that plot line I think you could more easily classify this as Young Adult fiction, but given the way its currently written I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this to a high schooler.

I am surprised how much I enjoyed it, especially how frustrated I was with the similar character at the start. If this is your first Weesner book you really wouldn't have that issue, and if you wanted to read something by him, I think this (versus The Car Thief ) is the better choice.

4/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

Show Us Your... Holiday Cards

This week Kelly's Korner is linking with holiday cards. Except, we didn't send out holiday cards. Which begs the questions, why I am here linking up? Well, instead of sending out cards wishing happy holidays, our friends and family had these arrive in their mailbox recently.
Yes, those are our thank you cards from our wedding! And to be honest, only most of our friends and family received this recently. We do still have a handful left to send, which should all be in the mail by the end of the year. But about half of the cards did make it out by Emily Post's supposed 3 month deadline.

I was the one writing out each and every card, but the boy did at least sign his name. He did want to know why I chose I photo where only I looked nice. He thinks he has a silly look on his face, and doesn't like how his pocket square is crooked. Although since he's refused to look at any of our wedding pictures and I have no idea which one he would have preferred, he doesn't really have a lot to contribute here. (And just to defend myself, I like his grin in this photo because it feels true to his character.)

We did also include a small photo on the back, except I don't think the boy even noticed that one was there. (You can also see in this photo I did have them printed by Snapfish, but no, this isn't a sponsored post.)
For the return address I used a box of square Avery labels I had purchased for the wedding but never used. I went to format them, and realized I hadn't reinstalled word on my computer since I reinstalled windows. Luckily avery had an online template I was able to use. Except when I needed to print them, I needed adobe which again wasn't on my computer. That was at least easy to do, so finally I got them printed.

Except... they were supposed to be purple, and they're looking awfully pink. Turns out we were out of blue ink. But with all the trouble I'd already gone through, and knowing I had already printed 2 sheets labels, pink it was! (And for anyone curious, the Louisiana forever stamps were leftover from our invitation suite.)

How long did it take you to mail out thank you cards after the wedding? And if you're stopping by from Kelly's Korner be sure to say hello in comments!

From Miss to Mrs: Ou Est le Groom?

I decided early on I wanted to do our first look on the bridge in the Japanese garden, which by far is one of my favorite locations at Houmas House. Except with us getting ready in the bridal cottage, I was on the complete opposite side of the property from our first look location. Since it was in the middle of the afternoon in the summer in Louisiana, the temperatures were slowly starting to rise, which didn't make for a good equation.

My photographer thinking about the long walk with my dress, asked our coordinator if there was a golf cart we could use. Luckily there was, and our coordinator, photographer, and photographer's assistant were in the golf cart when our photographer asked if the boy knew he was supposed to be in place for our first look.

Now the boy knew we were having a first look, and I asked him several times to look at a schedule. But did I ever come out and say, "Be at the bridge at 4:15 for our first look?" Probably not. Our photographer asked for the boy's phone number to call and make sure he was in place, but I don't actually have it memorized. Luckily my now-SIL was with us at that point and was able to call him and tell him to walk over (since no, he had no idea that's where he was supposed to be).

We drove slowly to the garden, knowing he was on foot and we didn't want to pass him. And when we were just around the corner the cart was stopped and the photographers got out to make sure he was in place. Except he wasn't there. And since his sister called him before we didn't have his phone number.

Our photographer stayed at the location, while the coordinator and I drove to the Turtle Bar hoping someone there would have his phone number. I'm not sure who my coordinator talked to, but they did reach the boy who confirmed he was now in the Japanese gargen, so we were again moving in the golf cart to meet up.

It seems the boy had reached the bridge, got hot waiting, and left to cool down in our reception area. He figured he could cool off and be back before I made it there, but of course that's not quite what happened.

Either way the boy was finally in place waiting on the bridge,
and I stepped out of the golf cart to meet him.
Do you know your signification other's phone number.
(I still don't, but am getting there and now have half of it memorized.)
Or whose phone number do you have memorized? (
I think the only ones I do are my own, my parents' home and cell numbers, and my brother's cell number.)

All photos in this post courtesy of Sabree Hill Photography.
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
From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time
From Miss to Mrs: The Photographer Has Arrived
From Miss to Mrs: Becoming the Bride
From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details

Day of Silence

Monday Movie Review

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
What I love about these movies is that everything looks amazing. The scenes in The Shire just feel so homey and welcoming. The elvish city of Rivendell is just awe inspiring. Plus there's all the gorgeous landscape. With it all together you can't help but feel like you're transported into Middle Earth.

But the movie itself? Well, it was long, and I felt bored through a lot of it. Now, I haven't read the books and didn't know exactly what would be happening through the movie. I think that if I had read the books and was able to see what I read come to life onscreen, I would have been a lot more invested in the movie. That isn't to say there were a lot of scenes I enjoyed. I did really like the scenes with Gollum, and as I started out saying thought everything looked amazing.

Even with my complaints of this movie, I still think it's worth seeing in the theaters, and definitely plan on seeing the next movies there as well. And finally just for fun, here I am about to enter Bilbo Baggins' home.

From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details

In my last recap I got into my dress, but before I move on to our first look, I wanted to share a few more details that brought my attire together.
The dress was from Ella Rosa for Private Label, Style #BE118. I absolutely love the photo of it I posted in my last post, but wanted to share a different shot here. One of my favorite details was all the buttons up the back, and while you can see them in the last post as my bridesmaids are zipping me up, part of me wishes I also had a detail shot of the back.
My shoes (first blogged here) were my something blue. They were probably (and by that I mean definitely) too big, even after Bridesmaid Chicago crammed a bunch of moleskin and other things into them to make them smaller. But I really just wore them for the ceremony, and they worked just fine for what I needed them. Plus they made for a pretty picture. While I don't have a pro picture of them, during the reception (and a lot of the formal photos) I wore the same sandals I purchased for my bridal shower.
This jewelry was my something borrowed. It was from the boy's sister and what she wore on her wedding day. Except as you'll probably notice in the photos, while I did remember a detail shot of it, I didn't remember to wear it. I realized I had forgotten it during our reception. At that point I would have put them own, but unfortunately didn't have them on me. I don't think anyone noticed I wasn't wearing jewelry, especially since I rarely wear it. So while I may not have worn a "something borrowed," it was there in spirit.
The garters were actually my something old and something new. The blue one on my left leg was actually my grandmother's garter from when she married to my grandfather. The purple garter was purchased from Michael's in the days leading up to the wedding when I realized I needed a garter to toss, since there was no way I was getting rid of something I'm hoping to pass onto future generations of our family.
I absolutely love the way my bouquet turned out, and how well it matched matched my inspiration. We didn't get a ton of flowers (5 bouquets, 3 corsages, and flower petals with a basket) so my MIL picked them up instead of having them delivered. Seeing all the flowers, especially my bouquet wrapped in the forget-me-not handkerchief my mom gave me barely a month before she passed away, well, that's when it hit me that while my mom wasn't physically there, her presence was still felt. I definitely teared up when I first saw it, but that really was the only time my mom's absence brought tears to me that day. And I know people complain how flowers will die, and they aren't worth the money... but for me they were worth it. I still just absolutely love looking at photos of my bouquet.
I think this photo speaks for itself, but on top is my wedding ring, followed by my engagement ring, and finally the boy's wedding ring.
And since my dress got its moment in the spotlight, here are my girls' dresses which were Dessy Style 2860, on the hangers I gifted them.
With that, here's one final photo of me on the porch of the bridal cottage about to head over to meet the boy for our first look.

What did you use as your "somethings" for your wedding? And if you're not yet married, do you think this is a tradition that you'll be trying to make happen for your wedding?

All photos in this post courtesy of Sabree Hill Photography
with editing by me to protect privacy.
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
From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time
From Miss to Mrs: The Photographer Has Arrived
From Miss to Mrs: Becoming the Bride

Zombies to Witches

Glass Heart by Amy Garvey
One thing I loved when I read Cold Kiss was that it seemed to start in the middle of the story. By putting Wren in her awful situation from the stop there was no build-up, and we jumped right into the action. Which is why I was so disappointed that this time it took so long for the story to take off. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, but it just took a while to understand what the point of the story was.

In the first book, you expected to be reading a zombie book. Except this time, there is no doubt that you are reading a book about witches. I really loved reading about Wren, and hearing her struggles with her powers and what is right or wrong just felt so realistic. Even though you can't help but get frustrated with Wren when she makes the wrong choice, you can at least understand why she does it.

While I did really like this, I don't think it was as good as her first. But there's just something really enjoyable about reading Amy Garvey's books, and I can't wait to see what she had next.

4.5/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!