Festival Fun

This past weekend while my dad was in town, I met up with in Lafayette for the Festival Acadien.
There was a craft fair, cooking demonstrations, and dance performances.
Of course there was a lot of musical performances.
And most important, at least to me was a wide selection of food. (Above is shrimp etouffee in a puff pastry.)
But the best part of the day was that me and my dad got to spend a great day together.

When was the last time you went to a festival? Or are there any festivals you'd love to go to? (Someday I would really love to make it to Strawberry Festival down in Ponchatoula.)

Boom Boom

Here Comes the Boom
Is this a movie that I'm going to be obsessing over and thinking about again and again? Probably not, but it is still a cute movie. And it even had me close to tears at parts.

My biggest complaint with this is the fighting. Not that I haven't seen fighting type movies, but that there are some pretty ugly scenes and it's being marketed as a family movie. There were a lot of kids in the theater (some who seemed quite bored at parts in my opinion), but there were a lot of aspects that weren't quite kid-friendly. And given some of the fighting scenes, I'm not sure I'd want to be watching these movie my (fictional-for-now) children.

But even so, it did have it's moments and it was better than I expected it to be. It's not necessarily one you'll be talking about, but it is still a fun escape.

Birthday Fun

First off, thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes last week! It was a lot of fun getting all the notifications on comments, tweets, text messages, phone calls, and facebook comments throughout the day. To think that only a year a two ago you would actually need to be a computer to receive most of those (minus of course the actual phone calls). As for the rest of my day, my dad was in town for Wednesday he, the boy, and I went to Kona Grill. We've actually had some awesome meals there, and some not-so-awesome and that night was a bit of both for me.
Starting with the awesome, is this soft shell crab poboy. Besides crab the sandwich had andouille sausage and grilled pineapple. This was basically the perfect combination of flavors for me, and I'd easily go back to have it again.

Now the main reason I choice Kona Grill was for dessert. They normally have a seasonal creme brulee, and I've had some amazing versions there. Except I discovered that this season's creme brulee was the kind that doesn't exist.
So instead I went with an apple cinnamon bread pudding. This wasn't bad, but it's wasn't creme brulee. And while the bread pudding was enjoyable, I've had better. The cinnamon sugar pecans were pretty tasty though.

And since I think it's fun to share, here a few of my birthday gifts and cards.
The boy isn't one for surprises, but he is good at buying exactly what I ask for, and Cinderella was what I wanted this year. Silly maybe, but I love that Disney always releases something new just before my birthday.

All in all, it may have been somewhat of a low key birthday, but hopefully it's the start to an awesome year!

Save One Life, Seed a Generation

Against My Will by Benjamin Berkley
Within the pages of this book we meet Danielle, a woman who naively walks into a marriage that very quickly becomes abusive (although it didn't seem that amazing before marriage either). We're also introduced to Danielle's grandmother Rose, and hear her story of how she survived the Holocaust as a young girl in Austria.

I really enjoyed getting to see Danielle grow as a character. In the first few chapters she comes off as so naive (in some ways unrealistically so), but by the end she isn't just sticking up for herself, but others as well. And I really enjoyed Rose's chapters which were interwoven through the modern story. Although since they were only there for the first third, I wish Rose's story could have been extended.

I've always read reviews saying the author writes well, and not really understand what they meant. I think maybe it means I'm used to reading, and expect good writing. Also that I didn't have a comparison. Well, this provided that reference for me. All of the dialogue, just didn't work for me. It just seems too clinical and unrealistic, for example I've never heard someone casually say, "I am sorry," or "I am fine," but those phrases or ones similar to them were used over and over. And unfortunately the more I got frustrated with it, the more likely I was to notice them.

I do think this book had potential, and while I do like the basic outline, overall I wasn't a fan of this. But even though I wasn't necessarily enjoying myself I didn't have a hard time actually reading it. There is a good message behind this book, so I can still appreciate that message and do think I benefited from reading this.

2/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through Virtual Author Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.

Mailbox Monday (10)

I'm back this week linking up with Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia formerly of the Printed Page, and this month is hosted by the official Mailbox Monday blog. I don't have many books to share, but I'm so excited to read this books, and hopefully they're ones that you have or maybe will enjoy as well.
Purchased
Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith
I absolutely LOVED Anne Easter Smith's first book A Rose for the Crown (unfortunately read before the blog, so it's never been reviewed). While I did enjoy here second, The King's Grace I wasn't nearly as obsessed with it as I was her first. So I know I'm going to love this one, the real question I guess is just how much.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
I've been waiting to read this one since even before it came out, and I'm finally getting to it. It's actually my book club's selection this month, and I'm so glad it's finally forcing me to read it. But with everything I've heard about it, I only hope it lives up to all the hype I've given it.

When was the last time you read a book that didn't quite live up to the hype? And what do you have in your mailbox this week?

Sunday Social (6) - Book Style

I'm loving linking up with A Complete Waste of Makeups's Sunday Social, but when I saw that this week theme was books I need I had to link up no matter what. So let's get going!
1. Favorite childhood book
I've posted about this topic here, here, and here, so I could easily repeat those posts. But since I have so many book loves I wanted to share something new.

Time Windows by Kathryn ReissI loved this book and read it over and over. It's about a girl who moves to a new house and discovers a dollhouse replica of the house in the attic. But when she looks into the dollhouse she's able to see scenes that happened in the house in years past, specifically in Victorian time or during World War II. There's certain small aspects of this I can't forget, like when she laughs at a bumper sticker saying, "Honk if you love Cheeses" or that the little Victorian girl hated tomatoes. There is a somewhat of a sequel to this called Pale Phoenix, which I also read a number of times, but still isn't as loved by me as Time Windows.

2 . Favorite Book lately
I absolutely LOVED The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. It's a historical fiction that takes place in Ancient Israel on Masada. I read this one really quickly, and can't wait to read it again.

3. Book you wish you could live in
The first book that came to mind here for me, and I know a lot of people, is Harry Potter. And while I would love to live in that world I wanted to come up with something else as well. While it's what I think to be a somewhat odd choice, I'm going with The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashers. This has nothing to do with the story itself, but the idea of going to a summer house every summer growing up. I think it would be so much fun to grow up having that summer tradition, and love the idea that they go back and see their summer friends ever year. In a way it's kind of like the Jersey Shore, but a little more upscale or family friendly.

4. If you could be any character from a book who would it be and why?
Without a doubt, Betsy from the Betsy-Tacy series. Betsy just seem to have the best high school experience with such a great group of friends. Yes, she endured a little heartbreak, as do we all, but in the end it all worked out for her.

5. Favorite Book turned Movie?
I feel like there's two ways you could interpret this question, and depending on how you would do it my answer would be different. For a favorite book that has been turned into a movie, It would have to be Gone with the Wind. But for favorite movie based on a book, it would be A Little Princess.

6. Favorite Magazines
My magazine reading has gone downhill lately. I think I have an entire year of Glamours I haven't read plus an issue or two of Martha Stewart Weddings I didn't get to before the wedding. But the one magazine I still actually make time for is Entertainment Weekly.

If you haven't liked up to Sunday Social yet (what are you waiting for?), let me know you answers to a question or two in the comments. And if you have linked up, please let me know so I can stop by!

Real Advice, Real Family, Real Love

Secrets of a Jewish Mother by Gloria Kaen, Lisa Wexler, and Jill Zarin
I liked Jill Zarin when she was on Real Housewives of New York. At least I liked her, as much as you can when you're Team Bethany. So when I saw this book I was excited to pick it up. (I may have also been excited about the fact it was 90% off at a Borders closing sale, but that isn't really the point here.)

I did want to like this book, but overall I wasn't a huge fan. I thought that the title was clever. But reading over and over "This is what a Jewish mother does... This is how a Jewish mother does it... Every Jewish mother does this..." just got really repetitive, and in some ways made me resent the phrase Jewish mother. I'm Jewish and I felt this way, so I can only imagine what's it's like for someone whose not Jewish who reads this book.

I did enjoy the personal stories within and the different viewpoints, since it was written by Jill, her mother and sister. In a lot of ways think this would have been better as a memoir with more family recipes included. (Although the recipes included don't seem very appetizing.) Unfortunately it was much more of a self-help book, and within each chapter there are lists of questions to get you thinking about the topic their discussing. I do get what they're trying to achieve with these lists, but in some ways it just felt too preachy.

This is the first book I've read by any real housewife cast member, and in some ways it makes me want to stay away from the others. Although maybe next time I'd be better off choosing more of a memoir. (I'd probably want to start with Kyle of Beverly Hills, but the better choice would probably be Carol of New York who would an author first, housewife second.) I think that unless you're absolutely in love with Jill and you're Jewish, this might be one you'd want to stay away from.

3/5

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