WW: Another Dress Adventure

I'm not going to post any photos on the off chance Chris reads my blog, but Julianne found her wedding dress!

Huzzah!

We started off Saturday morning at Curvaceous Couture. Julianne, Casey, Cynthia and I had been there previously and there were one or two dresses that she really liked and wanted our mother to see.

What's interesting about Curvaceous Couture is it feels like an upscale bridal salon and they treat you like you're the most important person in the store, but they still have that homey family run business feel. Yukia Walker, the owner (who's pregnant - congrats!), is pretty much the illest bridal attendant ever.

She freaked Julianne out a little bit though. Apparently Julibean had mentioned something about her first experience at Curvaceous Couture on her blog and Yukia had not only read it, but taken action. Originally Julianne really wanted to try on a bunch of mermaid style gowns (girl has a nice butt, we like to flaunt it), but CC didn't really have many on hand. So after reading that, she ordered some mermaid style dresses.

I thought it was great that Yukia was so interested in pleasing her customers and catering to whatever need they had. Julianne thought it was weird. This is what the internet is for people! No doubt she's found this post and is reading this right now. (Hey lady!)

Julianne left CC with a few styles written down. I left with a style written down for an incredible veil. But I think I got the wrong style number or designer since I cannot find it ANYWHERE online. It was beyond perfect, white beaded flower (I was planning on making beaded flower bouquets for my bridesmaids so that's an epic awesomeness in coordination right there), with a feather or two, and it was the perfect angled birdcage. My note says it's a Kristina Eaton design but something makes me think it's actually a Sara Gabriel. It just seems more her style.

So if you are reading this Yukia, and you haven't already heard from me by phone, you know the veil I'm talking about? Can we find out what it's called and exactly which designer it is? kthanks.

After that we drove down to Virginia, met up with Becky and Andy, sent Chris off to hit the driving range with Andy, and nabbed Becky to stop in at Curvy Girls Bridal. They're new. Their website isn't fully up yet. But they're pretty fabulous.

The salon is a little bit more over the top than CC is, but they are also family run. They have a bunch of different designers than CC had so there was a little more variety. But they also freaked Julianne out a little. At the time of our appointment there wasn't anyone else in the store, so when Julianne came out of the dressing room for the first time there were like 20 people standing around because they wanted to be a part of it.

The CGB ladies are extremely nice and professional, the place was not as homey as CC but they did in fact have a "man cave" with the TV set to ESPN so any men who got dragged along could have a moment's silence away from all the estrogen. They do need to invest in slightly more stronger clippies. They were using plain plastic oversized clothespins to hold the dresses tighter to get the feel for how it would be in your size. The plastic guys weren't getting it done. They need the industrial metal clips, so that would be my only complaint.

Long story short Julianne found a fabulous La Sposa gown that was the right amount of mermaid and the right amount of ruffles. The price was perfect (hell it's about the same price as my dress and mine has half the fabric), and VA taxes are a far cry cheaper than NY taxes.

One less thing to worry about now that Julianne has found her dress. We'll start looking for bridesmaids dresses within the next month or so.

Overall the ladies at Curvy Girl Bridal were wonderful, but they definitely were not as hilarious as Yukia and the staff at Curvaceous Couture. If you're a plus size or just slightly curvy lady in the Baltimore/DC/N.VA area, I highly recommend going to either place (or both!) to find your wedding dress. They really understand brides who aren't a perfect size six.

...my fingers are kind of itching to try that veil on again...I might have to go back to CC to buy it!

A Life in the Theater

Last night I got a call from my friend Matt at around 6:15.

Any chance you can be at Broadway and 45th by 8:00 for a premiere?

A friend of his is the assistant to a Broadway Producer and scored him some comped tickets for one or two of the shows opening this week. At first I wasn't really interested in schlepping into the City so I took all the info down and called one or two of my friends who live in Manhattan and asked them if they were interested.

Then I'm sitting there looking at my little post-it note that says A Life in the Theater starring Patrick Stewart and TR Knight and I thought, what the hell am I thinking?! I can't pass up Patrick Stewart LIVE.

Changed real quick into something slightly less business casual and slightly more Broadway fabulous and ran to catch a train. Hoofed 11 blocks up to 45th and got there just around 7:45.

Some of you might remember that this isn't the first time Matt has called and asked if I wanted to be his +1. I went to a wedding with him last summer which was incredibly enjoyable and when he found out that he had a pair of tickets instead of just one I was the first person he called to see if I could fill the seat.

So I get to the Schoenfeld and Matt's standing there with his friend Diana and since she's the Producer's Assistant and it's Opening Night she's running around trying to find all the VIPs to make sure they get their tickets and head into the private entrance.

We're standing there chatting with her when she waves her hand over my head and shouts:

Mr Grey! I have your ticket!

Who else strolls up but Joel Grey.

Seriously, walked right up to us.

Now I am not familiar with the full body of his work, nor could I remember his name (I am the WORST with names) but I knew that face and I knew he was a tremendous actor. I know he's been in things like Cabaret and the Wizard of Oz but me personally, I'm more familiar with his cameos on shows like Buffy or as Arvin Clone on Alias.

He seemed a very polite old man.

We took our seats and Matt searched the audience for other names, mentioning that Taye Diggs was supposed to be there but Adina was not. To which I replied, "It's okay I know all her solos."

Mr Diggs turned up in the aisle looking dapper as ever in a fedora.

The show was HILARIOUS. The end was a little bittersweet but the two men played off each other beautifully. I can't begin to describe what the show in essence was about, so here is the little description of it from BroadwayWorld:

Describing life in the footlights from an actor's point of view, A Life in the Theatre focuses on the relationship between two thespians: Robert, an older, experienced performer; and John, a relative newcomer. Though Robert's guidance is welcomed by John at first, as the play progresses Robert falters as an actor and mentor, and John emerges as a mature actor. Mamet was inspired to write A Life in the Theatre by what he had observed backstage as well as by his own experiences in his early career as an actor.

Really a wonderful production. I highly recommend it if you've ever been involved in theater or if you're even just interested in theater.

Afterward Matt had passes to the after party. We meandered around outside the theater while I double checked the train schedule and I almost got knocked over by a photographer. When I looked up I didn't see anyone around but then Matt turned to me and said, "I was just three feet away from Angela Lansbury."

I refrained from shouting out, "Loved you in Penzance!" and we walked back up 8th towards Penn. Unfortunately I would have missed the drunk train if I had gone to the after party.

You see, there's this break in train service from about 11:00pm to 2:00am and if you miss that last train out of the City then you're stuck sitting in Penn Station for HOURS. Not something I wanted to do so I skipped the after party. I'm sure Matty had a wonderful time hob nobbing, maybe he even got a photo of Patrick Stewart for me!

(Image borrowed from BroadwayWorld.com)

A-One SoCo, One Mojito, and One Beer

Yesterday was Shawn's birthday.

Shawn is a friend of Jason's from the Shire who I'm pretty sure is one of his oldest friends. They grew up together and I believe lived down the road from each other.

He's a super sweet guy and I'm glad I've gotten to know him over the years because if I know one thing it's good to befriend mother's and best buds if you want to make any relationship long-lasting and easy.

Shawn is what I like to call Jason's homeless friend. Not in the sense that he lacks a place to live, more in the sense that he travels a lot for work and his parents have moved away from NH so he has no "home" to go back to on the holidays.

There are many times when he winds up staying with Jason's family when he's in town visiting friends (even if Jason or Amanda aren't home) because that's just the way things work in the Shire. So when I found out that Shawn was going to be in town (away from home and friends and family) for his birthday I took it upon myself to make sure he didn't spend it alone.

Jason's only request for this mission of mine was to A) remind him which day was Shawn's birthday and B) make sure Casey came along so Shawn could "experience" her.

After a fun-filled day of being blind (Casey drove me to and from my eye doctor who decided to dilate my pupils, I hate that), and sitting at work with my shades closed and my computer screens' brightness turned all the way down...we picked up Shawn and brought him over to G-Town.

A few years ago Casey found this great little Greek Restaurant called Greek Town in Rockville Centre. They are delicious. And inexpensive. And can I tell you their tzatziki sauce is drool worthy. This soon became "our place" and whenever Casey and I just needed to get out of the house we'd go over to G-Town and sit and relax and rant and ramble over Greek Salads and Pitas.

So since Shawn hadn't ventured there yet, we took him for dinner last night to our favorite little place. It was hopping last night, usually there's no wait but I guess it was prime G-Town time when we walked in. The food is always totally fresh and prepared to order, the place is always really clean and the wait-staff is extremely friendly and attentive enough. Sometimes over-attentive waitresses irk me, but the ladies at Greek Town are friendly and get the job done without a lot of frou-frou-ness.

After dinner (which was predominately a story about Casey getting tasered), we headed over to RJ's.

RJ Daniel's is what we lovingly call "our bar". And by "our bar" I mean Casey's parents go to happy hour there and hang out with their friends so often that the bar tenders know us by sight and can have Casey's shot of SoCo and Blue Moon up on the bar by the time she's done saying hi to everyone.

By the time we got there last night it was a few hours past happy hour. One or two of Momz's crew were still sitting around so we said hi and had a few drinks.

Cue more stories from Casey, including a baby pool in the living room and a door kicked in in Bronxville.

All in all, a good night. Shawn was happy to get out and it was good food, good company and good drinks.

Hoping we'll catch him again before he's done with work in town and leaves.

Review: Opening Ceremony

I adored the Opening Ceremony.

Here are the things I can remember off the top of my head that were freak'n amazing.

1. The orca whales that "swam" across the floor of the stadium. It was beautiful.
2. The tribal dancers who literally stood in the middle of the stadium and danced for the entire length of the Parade of Nations. That is easily an hour or two of just standing around dancing while Olympians walk by.
3. Slam Poet Shane Koyczan's performance on who Canadians are as a people and as a nation was incredible. I love Slam Poetry and that spoken word sort of prose so this was flipping fantastic.
4. Measha Brueggergosman. What can I even say. I loved her hair. I loved her dress. I loved her voice as she sang the Olympic Anthem. I am not a fan of operatic voices in general but hers was just divine. Did I mention her hair? I wants it. (image borrowed from Opera Chic)
5. The interpretive dance and aerial work done to Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. I thought the aerial acrobatics were beautiful.
6. Just in general the quality of the multimedia. It is incredible what artists can create from conception to reality with the proper technology and ingenuity.
7. The screech style of violin and incredible dance routine celebrating the folk music and current trend of pub music in Vancouver.
8. The interpretation of Stanley park and then how they morphed it into the mountains. The commentators mentioned how many spectators wondered how Vancouver could even come close to what Beijing did for the Opening Ceremony two years ago. Vancouver answered with a personal more intimate ceremony. They didn't even attempt to come close to the drummers or the army of Chinese performers. They did what spoke to Canada and it spoke volumes about the Canadians to the rest of the world. In some ways I liked the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver better than the Opening Ceremony in Beijing because of the intimacy of the performances and the energy of those involved.
   
9. The respect they paid the fallen Georgian and the point they made to fly the flags at half mast.
10. But the most incredible part was definitely K.D. Lang's performance. Holy hell. First of all Hallelujah is quite possibly one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I've heard that Leonard Cohen is kind of sick of people singing it since it wasn't popular when he first wrote it but covers of it have become popular but I personally love it.
    
    The song is used in one of the most depressing montages on television that I have ever watched. The West Wing episode Posse Comitatus makes me cry every single time I watch it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, what are you waiting for? Go out and rent West Wing!
    
    Anyway, back to the Olympics...Lang's performance was breathtaking. Words cannot describe the chills I felt when I heard her rendition of the song. I admire her music a lot but I don't often hear a lot from her. It.was.awe-inspiring.
    

I also wanted to add that last night was the first time I saw the footage from the luge accident. It was horrific. I can't even comprehend how it happened and my warm fuzzies go out to all Georgians and all lugers and all Olympians for their loss. It is tragic, but at least Nodar Kumaritashvili lived his dream and made it to the Olympics.

I couldn't believe that NBC aired the footage, but I admired the fact that they only did it once. All subsequent broadcasts didn't show the crash and as Bob Costas explained they would not air the footage again during the games because they did not want to focus on the tragedy.

Review: B is for Badly Placed Windows

Lulu is still in the shop. Oh joy!

She will be in the shop probably until the end of the week. Since Julibean started school today I couldn't continue to use her car to drive myself to work. Instead I got a rental.

It's a Prius.

It is the strangest car I have ever driven.

First of all you have to push a button (A BUTTON?!) to park the car. The shifter is not a shifter at all, it's actually a little knob on the dashboard that hops back to the rest position even if you're in Drive or Reverse.

Speaking of Reverse. It took me 5 minutes this morning just to get the car into gear. I had to turn it off (which is also done by a button) and turn it back on again to get it to shift into Reverse and get me out of the driveway.

Secondly, there are windows where there shouldn't be windows. I mean the Tank used to have little opera windows next to the side view mirrors that I loved to jinx open and get a good breeze directly against my face in the summer without all the noise of opening the window. But these opera windows don't open. They're past the mirrors, almost over the wheel well and it's just odd to have a window there. It's wildly distracting in fact. Please see the beautiful interior photo I snagged off the internets below with said offending window.

The hatch just pisses me off. I love hatchbacks, they're all I drive. I like to know EXACTLY where my trunk ends and having the rear windshield wiper is a godsend in the rain/snow/muck. However, the hatch on the Prius has a ridiculously steep incline to it, a very thick casing around it, oh and it's also segmented into two different windows. So basically despite the fact that it's a hatch, there is barely any actual window to see out. It's almost like I'm driving a sedan which I don't exactly enjoy.

Why should I be able to see clear out my back window Toyota? Why? When you can put a bar across the back window to make it look a little different, why would I need to actually see out the back?

The car also seems like a huge Cadi on the inside when in reality it's kind of small. It's odd. It really messes with my spacial reasoning while I'm inside. I feel like I'm sitting extremely high up, as if I'd hit my head on the ceiling but there's no way to lower the seat vertically, or at least no way that I can find.


There doesn't appear to be a trip odometer. I may have missed it, but I couldn't see it glancing down while driving and that's bothersome. I also despise digital readouts that are right in your face. If I want to know exactly how fast I'm going I'll glance down quickly at my speedometer, I don't need numbers flashing in my line of sight. So the bubble on the dash right near the windshield is annoying.

The windshield itself is huge. Or rather, driving this car is much like driving Casey's old Honda Civic. Basically I can't see the nose of the car, so it is literally like driving around a windshield and guessing how far out the front of the car goes...that's not my favorite.

One thing I do like: the readout on the mileage. I love knowing what kind of mileage I'm getting. It helps me get every last ounce of gas out of my tank before refilling and it also helps me determine how my car is feeling that day or if it needs maintenance. We are anal about recording how many gallons, what the price was, keeping track of mileage, major (and minor) maintenance and all that jazz. So this little computer on my dash is kind of interesting.

The one thing that threw me most: There is a B on the shifter. I mean obviously there isn't a P since you push a button to park so what's left? A D, yes I know what Drive is. N, ahhh neutral. R, reverse reverse! But B? What on earth could it stand for? Not anything like Backup, or Bullshit?

Apparently Ashley has a Prius, who knew? She has informed me that the B stands for downshift. Wow Toyota, where'd you come up with that letter? I mean I know that D is taken but you couldn't just write 1-2-3?

Oddest car ever.

Not a fan. Sorry Toyota. Just because it's a Hybrid doesn't mean everything has to be different about it. I'd rather have a Hybrid version of a standard car mmmkay? Thanks.

Ashley likes that it's different. She's dubbed it a Space Pod. I'm glad there are people who enjoy this Space Pod because the more hybrid cars out there the better, I'm all for a greener car. Just maybe one that's slightly more familiar.

uuuuuuuuuFursplosion!

Okay, okay. I'm ready to be mercilessly mocked. It's more than fine with me, do your worst.

But last night I FINALLY saw New Moon. Yes dear readers, the moment Ashley and I had been planning for since July...the movie date to end all movie dates...the movie date that got pushed back countless times because of work, because of holidays, because of work again...it FINALLY HAPPENED!

I took a train into the city and met Ashley at the Starbucks right next door to the Regal on 42nd Street. We grabbed some sammiches and something to drink and caught up since although we talk to each other almost every day online trading war stories I don't believe I've seen her since graduation in May of 2007...weird.

Then we bought our tickets and giggled incessantly "We're actually doing it!" "YAY!" "I'm SO excited!"

A million previews later (reminder to self, read Dear John and the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series because they look like movies I'd enjoy and I prefer to read the books first) it finally started.

Allow me to just point out that there were about a dozen people tops in the theater and most of them were 20 and 30-somethings...ALL OF US COULDN'T STOP GIGGLING. Either it was because we were ashamed we were there, or we were just so excited we couldn't contain ourselves...

I just can't even convey to you how incredible this movie was. Dare I say it was the most fantastic movie I have EVER seen!?! Because truly, I am prepared to go as far as saying that!

I must have cried through half of the movie, I just couldn't stop laughing. And there were so many knee jerk reactions I almost fell out of my chair dying.

Quite possibly the best part of the movie was the audience. Honestly. There was one woman who every so often had a perfectly timed wonderfully ghettofied, "Oh shit." (Which when I imagine her saying it now, she's making three snaps in a Z.)

Choice moments:

1. During the scene where they come up on each other and they're running through the woods like this:
   I couldn't help but think of the opening scene of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason when the music rises into a rendition of The Hills are Alive! With the Sound of Music....
   
2. Bella (to Alice): You're not leaving are you? Alice: I'll be back, once you put the dog out. Audience Member: Oh shit!
3. Everyone clapped when Jacob Fursploded!
4. The sketchy guy on the motorcycle reminded me of a pierced version of my brother Dan.
5. And the piece de la resistance...Bella (to Jacob): Hello biceps!
   

We couldn't stop giggling as we left the theater. It was pathetic.

This movie was WELL worth the wait! Well worth the $12.50 we paid to see it even! I might go see it again with Casey since she couldn't make it into the city last night to join us. IT WAS AMAZING!


So if you will indulge me:
Manjoyment Factor: *****
Holy Balls they all spent the entire movie topless! I don't care if Taylor Lautner is 17, I'm still in my early 20s, I can enjoy the eye candy without it being too wrong.
Cinematic Style: *****
It was definitely filmed better than Twilight. Our favorite part was when the camera when spinning at crazy angles to portray Bella spiraling out of control when Edward left.
Ridiculousness: *****
Ummm, hello? It's part of the Twilight Saga, of course it's ridiculous!
Consistency with Book: *****
I could appreciate the way they spun a few things to make the movie flow better. The only thing that threw me was when Bella hops on the random guy's motorcycle. However I TRULY appreciate the scene at the movies where both Mike Newton and Jacob have their hands palm up on the armrests, waiting for Bella to hold one of their hands. I loved that part in the book.

Thanks to LOLvamp(ire)s for the images.

Atlantic City or Bust

Months and months ago (sometime in May methinks) while we were at Chris' beach house we somehow came up with a large colossal idea. Our friend Jim is probably one of our best and closest friends from college (and when I say our I mean collectively my sister and I). He's an audiophile, brilliant, has a good job with a renown company, has a fantastic voice, an insane memory for roads and transportation systems, a sharp sense of humor and can imitate an irritated old lady perfectly. (If any of these qualities appeal to you, please inquire about dating Jim, he'd make an excellent boyfriend if you like nerdy guys.)

Playing mini golf on the strip...
this was when we decided AC would be a nice change from the OC

Problem is, now that we've all graduated we live so far apart and only get to see everyone together once in a blue moon. So we thought it would be a good idea to plan ahead and decide what we'd do for Jim's birthday in November. Somehow in our celebratory drunken wisdom we decided renting a suite in Atlantic City and dressing up and acting like high rollers would be the perfect way to go.

We put out some feelers to see who of our friends could join...this was back in June...and sometime in October we realized we're poor and can't afford a suite. So our plans switched gears and we wound up crashing at Jim's place in Philly and driving the hour to AC for the day.

Friday night found us in a pub a few blocks from Jim's apartment and we had a delectable dinner with a sprinkling of local beer. Might I interject here with a raving review for PBC's Joe, it is fantastic and if you are a fan of dark beers and/or coffee...TRY IT. We headed back after dinner, more friends arrived and then we took a nice stroll to a bar approximately 2 miles away from Jim's apartment. Hey, it was his birthday, I was going wherever he damn well wanted to go and SEPTA was on strike...again...so like responsible motorists we walked instead of flipping a coin to see who would DD.

Enjoyed another nice stroll approximately 2 miles back to Jim's apartment at around 3am. To which in the morning we all admitted "We're getting to old for this shit."

Saturday was the day! We decided to start off the day like true champs and have some Jim's. If you've never been to Philly, or have never had the pleasure of consuming a true Philly Cheesesteak in all it's glory, Jim's is truly the place to go. Don't be afraid if the line is down the block...it's worth the wait!

No it isn't cannibalism for Jim to eat a Jim's Steak.
But he likes his with extra wizz and onions if you're wondering ladies.

Morgan and Andrew chow'n down.

Then it was off to Atlantic City! I've actually never been there before, in fact it's on my 101 in 1001 list so I was super excited. We started over at the Trump Plaza and I was determined to lose no more than $40 for my first casino experience. Which limited me to the slot machines, err electronic gaming machines, the penny slots specifically.

I sat down at a fun looking machine and put in my first $20 and wailed away on the button! Too quickly for my friend Andrew to stop me since I had played the max bet on like 20 lines. *sadness* I had lost $5 on my first spin! Frustrated I printed out my ticket and moved on. How dare they not explain the rules of the game clearly before I play?!

Wandered on and watched Andrew play craps for a good half hour. The nice high school math teacher next to him at the table explained the rules to me and what the bets meant. As Andrew put it later he got me a $140 education. He wasn't so lucky.

Afterward I cashed out my $11.95 and we met up with everyone else who had gone over to Caesar's. Julibean and Chris (and one of Jim's friend whose name I cannot recall) were over by the penny slots and having a grand old time playing the fishy themed one.

I decided to try my luck at put $5 into the random machine next to my sister's. Now I was down to $2.45 on this ticket. We were about to give up, I was rather content with my ~$9 loss for my first experience...hey, it could be worse, I could have lost $140 at the craps table...and we soldiered on to find everyone else.

Except once we got to the aisle Julibean sat down at another machine, determined to either win big or just lose all her $40 she came to play with. Bored, I sat down at a cute little Hindu Goddess themed machine and decided to just throw my $2.45 ticket in and piss away the last of that $5.

This machine actually made sense and the pictures were really pretty and after two spins I found myself in a bonus round giving me 10 free spins. Woohoo! Exciting! I sat there watching the game literally play itself...woohoo! Another 5 free spins! The game continued and continued and I just sat and watched...$30.95....$49.45...$60.75!!!

At this point I had gotten my sister and Chris' attention and they came to see what all the fuss was about and were in awe as the game continued to play all by itself and rack up more and more money for me. By the end I was looking at $79.75 and immediately hit the cash out button and skipped over to the ATM/cash out contraption to grab my prize!

Seriously...it was awesome. I was the only one who walked away from AC with extra money, Jim broke even, and everyone else lost anywhere from $10-140. We drove back to Philly and had some dinner at Nodding Head which again had some excellent house beer (and one of the largest collections of bobble heads I've ever seen). I especially liked the Grog, delightfully dark, and the dessert we got Jim by surprise was one of the most delicious things he had never eaten.

Meandered after dinner to another pub with some live music (couldn't tell if the two front men were twins or just looked really really similar), and then eventually scampered back to Jim's apt.

These are the weekends dreams are made of...literally, it was that amazing a time.

Review: The Last Rake in London

This wonderful Harlequin Historical was tucked in my sister's Easter basket and she passed it on to me when she was done enjoying it.

Nicola Cornick's The Last Rake in London was definitely a good mix of interesting characters and a fun plot-line. Jack Kestrel, the rake to out rake any rake, mistakenly thinks night club owner Sally Bowes is the vicious trollop blackmailing his uncle. That vicious trollop is actually her ridiculously childish and annoying sister Connie who attempts to weasle her way into Jack's wealthy family when she isn't working nights as a hostess at Sally's club.

Jack immediately wants to take Sally and winds up later falling in love with her despite his vow to never love again. Sally, who will do anything for vexatious Connie or her other sister suffreget Nell, winds up "selling" her virginity to Jack in order to send much needed money to Nell so she can take care of her children. This act both confuses and infuriates Jack and he decides to secretly buy out Sally's club and bankrupt it to get back at her and Connie for the "scam" they were running on his cousin/uncle.

Long story short Connie gets the shaft and Sally and Jack live happily ever after. But not before jealous fights, near-drownings, and wild goose-chases.

I found this story avidly entertaining and it was the perfect book to read while swinging in a hammock all day. The characters were extremely easy to relate to, even though it was set in the Edwardian era and I enjoyed it from cover to cover.

The ratings:
Raunch Factor: *****
Multiple corsets and dresses were cut and torn off...
Writing Style: *****
Well written. Very similar writing style to No Place for a Lady.
Ridiculousness: *****
It wasn't too ridiculous.
Actual Plot: *****
The plot was pretty interesting.

Review: Rhiannon

Last night was night four in clean/scour the basement for garage sale items extravaganza. Somehow my father, sister and I got onto the topic of trashy romance novels and my father revealed to me that my great-grandmother loved trashy romance novels. And here I always thought that she was reading large print biographies when I went up to her room to visit her...

Anyway, it reminded me that I still have yet to post my review of Rhiannon by Evangelynn Stratton.

After I finished reading No Place for a Lady, my friend Ashley and I decided we'd swap novels. Ash holds this book near and dear to her heart and I was definitely interested in what made her so excited about it.

She warned me it was trash, it was fantastic, and I would love it, so I was anticipating its arrival at my house. On first impression: the cover art made me giggle (image via Amazon.com), as did a fantastic drawing of Jarreth atop his trusty steed on the inside of the book. I believe the drawings were done by one of the author's daughters so I appreciated the work once I realized it wasn't done by a professional. In fact I thought it was kind of sweet Stratton had done that.

This book was so different from the Harlequin Historical I had the pleasure of reading previously. It was well researched and the language helped to portray the story. In a nutshell Rhiannon finds out her father has arranged yet another marriage for her and runs away only to meet the man she's contracted to marry on her escape route, but they both conceal their identity in a very Twelfth Night sort of way.

She is silly and always find the worst ways of getting into trouble, sometimes setting places on fire, sometimes getting attacked by pirates, other times getting attacked by gypsies, sometimes almost drowning...and Jarreth seems to always manage to save her in one way or another. The whole time though, she has no idea that he is her betrothed. Yeah, he plays a dirty trick on her and hilarity ensues.

The ratings:
Raunch Factor: *****
It honestly wasn't that raunchy at all.
Writing Style: *****
As I mentioned, it was decently written.
Ridiculousness: *****
Between the gypsies, the pirates, the nuns and the war-horses, it was mildly ridiculous.
Actual Plot: *****
Although agnoizing at times, the plot was decent. It probably would have been more fun to hide some things from the reader though.

All in all it was pretty fantastic. Ashley did not disappoint in this one. I personally enjoy a little more raunch in my trashy novels, but that's just a personal preference.

Review: Key West Bed & Breakfast

I love the Keys. One day I plan on retiring to a small cabana somewhere in Key West and live out the remainder of my life as a Conch. So when we started planning this whole Birthday-excursion, I decided it would be the perfect time to pop Jason's Key West cherry.

When I travel down to the Keys with my parents, we typically stay in the Southernmost Collection (which is always gorgeous). This time, since it was just Jason and I, and since we wanted something more homey than a resort, I searched around for an alternative.

Jason and I on the Conch Tour Train, a must do if you're a tourist in Key West

I'm not sure how I came across the website for the Key West Bed & Breakfast (aka the Popular House), but I certainly am glad I did. We booked it months before we figured out the rest of our plans for the week and I was definitely excited about spending our two nights in a B&B.

We were greeted by a very friendly man (I believe his name was Richard but I could be completely wrong, it might have been Dave) and he showed us around and helped us to our room.

Since Jason was still recovering from his regrettable salmon interlude, he went to lay down and I explored the house. The room we were staying in, Mo's Room, was cozy. There was enough space to move around, but it wasn't a huge room and we shared two bathrooms with the rest of the guests on the floor. Both bathrooms were immaculate. The first one was gorgeous and I have to admit if it had a claw-footed bathtub in the corner, it would have been my perfect bathroom. The second bathroom was very nice, but the shower could use some updating. It reminded me of a dorm shower. It was clean, just extremely ordinary.

The 2nd floor porch. I loved the hammock!
(The black shudders in the left of this picture were actually our room's windows.)

As Jason napped away I settled myself into the hammock on the porch with a book I borrowed from the little collection in the living room. Can we say relaxing?

The next morning we enjoyed the best part of staying at a B&B...the breakfast. There were fresh baked breads, ripe fruit, bagels & schmear, and an old fashion juicer with a huge basket of oranges. Jason had a lot of fun squeezing his supremely fresh OJ.

It was quite a beautiful spread!

I definitely enjoyed gorging myself on the melons and pineapple aplenty. One morning we sat in the kitchen and ate, the other morning we sat out in the garden and had a little friend visit us.

Goo!

This little guy's name is Goo! He was pretty much the cutest little dog I've ever seen, and very friendly. He belongs to the woman who owns the house. I want to say her name is Joan (I apologize I am the worst with names). We chatted with Joan(?) for a bit one morning and I could tell right away she was from New England, so that got us talking even more about the northeast and how she wound up down in the Keys.

1st floor porch

All in all I thought the Popular House was a wonderful place to stay. I was definitely curious as to what the other rooms in the house looked like, but since we didn't know any of the other guests we didn't find out.

The staff is extremely friendly and very helpful. They gave us maps and directions and suggested places to go, things to see, and where to eat. Since I'd already been to Key West many times, I found many of their suggestions on par with my experiences. They know the island, they know the community, and they are wonderful people!

Thanks for a relaxing time!

Review: No Place for a Lady

It all started with an Easter basket to rival all Easter baskets. It was innocent enough. I like having a book with me whenever I visit Jason's house because I typically wake up before everyone and enjoy sitting in the living room in front of the windows looking at the marvelous view of the forest and the mountains.

However, the night before I had finished Seventh Son and there it was. No Place for a Lady, just sitting there in my Easter basket...taunting me.

As I mentioned, I've never read a trashy romance novel before, so I was hesitant. Within the first five pages I was hooked. Women driving stagecoaches, men running willy nilly around after them, estranged wives coming back from the dead, attempted maulings in a public park...how did I not know these novels were so fantastically awful?!

Within two days I had read the entire novel. For me, that is a very short period of time as I read slowly, but I just couldn't look away!

So if you will allow me to rate this book...
Raunch Factor: *****
after all...she was a lady!
Writing Style: *****
best written romance novel I've ever read...although it is also the first
Ridiculousness: *****
two words...nipple ring...you're hooked too now, right?!
Actual Plot: *****
although predictable, there was a decent story

I am seriously considering purchasing a few more Harlequin Historicals. That and I'm apparently in some sort of trashy romance novel trade-off program with my friend Ashley, we're mailing each other books back and forth. I've already read another one...look for a review of Rhiannon soon!