Without the Pants

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashers
I knew going into this book it was going to be sad, but what I didn't expect was the roller coaster of emotions I'd was going to be taking.

I had expected an almost awful tearjerker ending. But instead the game changing chapter is what sets the story up. From there I couldn't stop reading, because I had to know what would happen. I kept telling myself, "The point of this all has to be coming!" because I couldn't imagine all the tears and crying I did were for nothing.

I has been a while since I read the original series. (Although not that long, since I didn't read them to grad school.) But even though I wished they were fresher in my mind, I didn't feel like I was missing out. I think if you hadn't read the books (and maybe just saw the movie), you could understand all the plot lines. Although I'm not sure the feelings you have while reading this book would be worth it without the first four as a fond memory.

Looking back, I can now say I enjoyed this book. Although in the midst of it all, I couldn't imagine any review of mine saying it was anything, but depressing. It was good in a way to reconnect with these characters (although now reading it pictured all the actresses from the movie). I will definitely say, Ann Brashers know just how to drag all the emotion out of you.

4/5

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

Sesame Noodlicious

Normally the boy and I have a night or two a week where we scrounge for dinner. Which for me calls for a can of soup, feta, or a frozen Kashi meal or instead macaroni and cheese or a frozen pizza for the boy. But without any of my normal choices in the house, I branched out a little. I have pinned this noodle recipe from Pioneer Woman a recently, and since I had all the main ingredients in the house, I decided to give it a go. Her version is actually meant to serve a family for dinner, but since I only had about 4 ounces of noodles adapted it for just myself, along with a few other small tweaks.

Single Serving Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
4 oz of Rice Noodles
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 scant tsp Sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp Rice Vinegar
2 heaping tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Siracha
4 tbsp Olive Oil

Directions
1. Cook rice noodles according to package directions.
2. Mix all othe ingredients together in a bowl. (Note to self, photographing a black sauce, like soy, in a black bowl does not make the best picture. But I wanted to use the bowl I was going to be eating out of, so unfortunately there wasn't a lot of other clean options.)
3. Add cook noodles into sauce and mix until coated. Enjoy!
I really enjoyed this and since we had all the ingredients already it wasn't a pain to make. In fact, the longest part was getting the water to boil, and once that was done I was ready to eat. Definitely an easy single serve meal, although really it would be just as easy to increase everything to serve more than one person as well.

How often do you cook to serve just one? And what's your normal "scrounging-type" meal?

From Miss to Mrs: Ceremony Details

With our ceremony at such a gorgeous location, off the porch of a grand plantation home, framed by towering oak tress there wasn't a lot of decoration needed. Except since we was having a primarily Jewish wedding, the one thing we needed was our chuppah.
The structure of this was actually made by the boy using pvc pipe, flower pots, and a bag of cement from an online tutorial. If I remember correctly, my FIL was the one who put it all together, and my SIL took care of the flowers at the bottom.

The chuppah in progress - personal photoAs for the covering itself, for a long time I wasn't sure how that would come together. As it happened, once the boy and I were first engaged, the one request my mom made was that she make our chuppah cover. Since it was something I hadn't really thought about, I told her I agreed, and from there she asked me to come up with ideas on what I wanted it to look like. I think I bookmarked a single image since I really had no idea. (And yes, I mean bookmarked. Pinterest hadn't quite taken off yet.) Except, by now you probably know what happened, and my mom died about 10 months before the wedding which meant not only did I have no idea what I wanted it to look like, I had no idea how it would be made at all.

I didn't really want to ask anyone to help at this point. I figured at some point it would come together, and I'd find a solution. Instead what happened is I said something in passing to my MIL, and without a hesitation she decided she'd sew our chuppah for us. Which is how my Catholic MIL happened to make the centerpiece of our Jewish wedding. I still had no idea how I wanted it to look, and left it up to her. She wound up embroidering it with flowers, our initials, and even a small tribute to my mom.
Speaking of my mom, almost a year ago I wrote this post about leaving flowers on a chair in memory of my mom. Except as it got closer to the wedding, it became something I didn't want to think about. Which is why I was so surprised when someone, I believe my godmother, pulled the extra flowers from our centerpieces to leave them on the chair where my mom would have sat.
On a less sentimental note, I put the boy in charge of buying the wine for the ceremony. I didn't tell him it had to be Kosher, just that it was something I wanted him to take care of. He remember that a few weeks prior we had gone to Doe's, and shared a pretty delicious bottle of wine. He actually tried to track down a bottle of it in an actual store, but wound up going back to the restaurant to see if they'd sell it to him. And while it wasn't their standard practice, he must have been convincing.
The ring bearer pillow was bought on clearance at Michaels. I didn't really care what it looked like, only that it was plain so I could dress it up. The blue and purple ribbons, may not have been gorgeous, but they did tie it into the overall colar scheme. Plus I had the ribbon leftover from when I crafted the escort card holders.
The flower girl basket came from our florist. One aspect I loved was that the petals weren't simple rose petals but actually matched the flowers in the bouquet. Of course, they weren't actually thrown, but if you look my niece didn't actually have a free hand to do so. I was told that about half way through the ceremony she whisperered in realization to my SIL, a bridesmaid, telling her she forgot to throw her petals and was reassured that it wasn't a problem.
Really the only other item on display was our ketubah, which we signed before the ceremony. I had it custom framed at Michaels, and asked them not to put felt over the back so we could take the print out to sign it. The stand itself was provided by our venue.
Are you the type to notice details at a wedding? And if you're already married, how much did you decorate your ceremony site?

Unless otherwise noted 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
From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details
From Miss to Mrs: Ou Est le Groom?
From Miss to Mrs: A Bridge-y First Look
From Miss to Mrs: Couple Time
From Miss to Mrs: Just the Two of Us
From Miss to Mrs: Grouping the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: Ain't No Party Like a Bridal Party
From Miss to Mrs: Fun with Family
From Miss to Mrs: Making it Official
From Miss to Mrs: The Bedeken
From Miss to Mrs: The Final Minutes
From Miss to Mrs: Programming Break
From Miss to Mrs: The Processional
From Miss to Mrs: Walking the Walk
From Miss to Mrs: Circle to Ceremony
From Miss to Mrs: Remembrance to Kiddush
From Miss to Mrs: The Exchanges
From Miss to Mrs: Lucky Number Seven
From Miss to Mrs: Mazel Tov

Star Trek Into Gatsby

The Great Gatsby
I feel a little silly admitting this, but even though I read this in high school, I really didn't remember the book. In fact, the only thing I remembered is the ending. So when I say it felt true to the book, what I mean is the one scene I remembered was there. But even though I didn't quite know what to expect with the story, I really enjoyed this.

What's even more surprising is that I think I liked it more than Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet or Moulin Rouge. There was just something about it, that I can't quite describe, but really spoke to me.

I never would have expected the Jay-z soundtrack to work, but yet it did. It was definitely a fun ride, and one I can't wait to take again.

Star Trek Into Darkness
It's funny because even though these two movies look to be so different, there's something about them both that makes them feel similar to me. Again I really liked this one, I just can't quite articulate why.

I haven't seen the original tv series or a lot of the Star Trek movies, but even so I got a lot of the insides jokes. And I have to imagine if I was more well versed in the Star Trek universe I'd be catching the insides jokes in every scene or two.

I really think either one of these movies is worth seeing, just depends on what you're in the mood for. Although the one I'd most want to see again would have to be Gatsby.

Mailbox Monday (32)

Mailbox Monday is a weekly gathering place for bloggers to share the books they've picked up recently. It was originality started by Marcia, who now blogs at To Be Continued. It currently travels to a new host each month and for the month of May we're linking up at 4 The Love of Books
Purchased
Beach Blondes by Katherine Applegate
I actually picked up the sequel to this, Tan Lines, almost two years ago. Since then I've been wanting to pick up the first in the series so I didn't read them out of order. I actually almost bought this once before, but put it back because I didn't really need it. This time though I gave into temptation. Although did tell myself going into Books-A-Million the only thing I'd let myself buy was this if I found it on clearance, which I obviously did. I didn't buy anything else though, so I was at least able to resist going too crazy. Plus it seems like the perfect time to read this with summer about to be starting. And it's 3 books in one, so $1 per book, it really is a pretty good deal.

What did you find in your mailbox this week? And what is your opinion on reading books in a series out of order?

Sunday Social (14)

With temperatures getting up into the high 90s the past few days it's really starting to feel like summer. Which is why I wanted to be sure to join in with this week's Sunday Social since the questions are all about summer, at least for the most part.
1. What is your favorite kind of surprise?
I'm pretty sure I'd be happy with any type of surprise. But I'd think it'd be fun to be thrown a surprise party someday.
2. Flowers or Chocolate?
While I do enjoy flowers (the photos above are from the last time the boy decided to randomly buy me flowers), I'd still probably prefer chocolate. It's just a little more delicious than flowers, at least in my opinion!
3. What is your favorite summertime activity?
I love laying out in the sun with a good book. Even better if there's a pool or the ocean nearby.
4. Do you have any vacations planned this Summer?
We're actually planning on taking a trip to Destin, Florida later this summer. (The photo above was actually taken on our last trip there.)

5. Favorite Summer Holiday?
Unless I'm missing something, you're looking at Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. I think normally I'd say the 4th, except this year our first anniversary is on Labor Day. So I'm pretty sure I'm obligated to say Labor Day here.

6. Dream Vacation?
My top 3 dream vacation locations would have to be Greece, Egypt, or Australia.

If you're stopping by from A Complete Waste of Makeup, please be sure to say hi in the comments! And if you haven't linked up with Sunday Social, what would some of your answers to these questions be?

Project 365: Days 127 Through 136

I almost didn't have a chance to post this today. Except I am at least managing get this up before we head out to LSU's last home baseball game of the season. So I'll try to keep the past week and a half short and sweet.
May 7, 2013 - 127/365: Chocolate Raspberry Fiber Luna Bar. These are actually pretty interesting in that they're more like a Nutrigrain bar than a Luna Bar. I do like them, but maybe not quite as the normal Lunas.
May 8, 2013 - 128/365: Baby Figs.
May 9, 2013 - 129/365: Rustic Chicken Sandwich at Maxwell's Market.
May 10, 2013 - 130/265: Starbucks' new Caramel Ribbon Frappucino. Definitely a fan, and think it's a step up from the normal Caramel Frap.
May 11, 2013 - 131/365: Baby Satsumas.
May 12, 2013 - 132/365: My mom's perfume on Mother's Day.
May 13, 2013 - 133/365: Reading before bed.
May 14, 2013 - 134/365: The boy made chicken parmesan for dinner.
May 15, 2013 - 135/365: Wisteria
May 16, 2013 - 136/365: Shrimp and Crawfish Ettoufee from the Three Bones food truck.

I'm linking this post up with Random-osity & Kleinworth & Co. for Project 52!