Divine Secrets of the Y-Ya Sisterhood & Water for Elephants

I recently went to the library and got a pretty good sized stack of books. Among them were Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Water for Elephants.

I saw the movie version of Divine Secrets a long time ago-when I was just a kid. I didn't even know it was a book! I did, however, love it. I loved the glamor of the Southern Ladies and the fun everyone seemed to have on those warm Southern Nights. On the one hand I saw the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship of Vivi and Sidda and paralleled it with what I saw of my own mother and her mother, my grandmother. On the other hand I think I also recognized the unhappiness and drama of the great Vivi Walker. I've always had a fear of growing up and not being able to be truly happy and to love people fully. And I'm not over it. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a great book and in my opinion, an equally good movie.

Water for Elephants is a really good book. I loved it. It's about a young man in the 30's who works as a veterinarian on a traveling circus and falls in love with a married woman. There is romance, history, sadness, drama, debauchery, performance and even murder. It's beautifully written and very well researched. I highly recommend this book. However, I can't quite say the same for the movie. It's not a bad movie really. It lacks flow and some events were shifted around-to speed things up I guess-but it just made things choppier. Most of the acting was pretty good, Robert Pattinson in particular. (It turns out he's a good actor! For more proof, check out How to Be. . . So what does that really say about Twilight?) Maybe I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn't read the book and loved it so much. In conclusion, I suggest you go out and read both Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Water for Elephants. They are both fantastic books, and the movies aren't bad if you'd like to prolong your enjoyment of the stories. Next on my list is The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

       

      

                     

                                                             Be seeing you.

I'm With You

So, I just got the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album! I realize that it's not exactly new anymore so maybe I should call it "the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album" now... Or I could call it by name: I'm With You. The problem is, whenever I say to my friends "Have you heard I'm With You? It's amazing!" They say "I'm With You? What's that?" Then I say "THE NEW RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS ALBUM!" So, really, saying it's new is just easier. Besides, it's a syllable shorter than 'latest'. Usually the answer to my question is "Oh, I haven't heard it," anyway. To me, this is shocking, horrible, depressing news. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but still, it's sad.

Personally, I just bought I'm With You on iTunes. I had gotten a couple of song off the album a while back, but I yesterday I finally got the rest of it (I had to wait for the funds to come in and all that). And man, that album is damn good. Seriously. Listen to it; it's amazing. It's classic RHCP at times, awesomely feel-good, and intense. My favorite track is number 11-Police Station. I really don't know how to describe it other than feel-good and sad at the same time. Mellow. Listen to it. All of it. Now.

You're still here? Go on! Listen to I'm With You.

Weekend Update

My cousin visited me not long ago from down south and left these leggings with me. Where I live the Summers are pretty cold (not where she lives though) so I can use them more than she can right now! They're from Forever 21 and so cute and comfy! 

When my cousin was here I kept stealing one of her shirts to wear. It was just like this one, in the picture, but kind of a faded red color. I liked it so much I went and bought one for myself! It's O'Neil and really soft. 

I have been watching One Tree Hill like, nonstop on Netflix. This is a picture of Nathan and Haley if you didn't already get that. They have this whole long love story on the show. Tons of problems off and on, but so in love. They made me realize what a hopeless romantic I am. They get married at age 16 and somehow made it work. Like I said, they had all kinds of problems. But they survived. Their love survived. I really want to believe in that. Not necessarily the whole 'married at 16' thing but the fact that they could always work through their problems and keep being in love.  

Target cotton balls are Puffy fluffs now! What? Random, right? I think it's pretty funny.  

I tried out the bordeaux! I love it! It's not as dark as I thought it would be, but it's still really nice. As you can see in this picture, i still kind of suck at painting my nails, but I'm getting better with practice! The geranium color was amazing too, but it was kind of growing out. The Essie nail polish works really well, it wears off at some point of course, but not in big chips or flakes like most other polishes. It stays looking good for a long time but, of course, nails grow and there ends up being a gap if you don't fix them up. Anyway, I'm a big an of Essie nail polish now, especially the geranium and bordeaux colors. 

Anyway, that was my update. I haven't been up to much lately, but I do have a trip to Texas coming up soon-a California girl in the south-that should be interesting! More on that later I guess. 

Moneyball

Last night I rented and watched Moneyball. I am a huge fan of sports movies, and this is a great one (about baseball). Brad Pitt is a great actor and Jonah Hill really steps up in his role as a Yale graduate. The movie is based on a true story about Billy Beane, the general manager for the Oakland Athletics and how he changed the game, basically. He lost some players to other teams that had more money (like, waaaay more money) but he managed to make a great team by replacing those players with a bunch of undervalued players that other teams just didn't want. Along the way Billy Beane learns more about his role as a GM. It's a great underdog story. I definitely recommend it. 

Book of the Every-Now-and-Then

A while ago I watched a BBC mini-series version of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South on Netflix. It was amazing! Seriously. A great story, great acting, just great. I watched it more than once before I decided to read the book. I bought it used for a quarter (plus shipping and handling-like, 4 dollars total) at Barnes and Noble online. I'm not very far yet but it so far I love it. The great thing about BBC is that their mini-series adaptations of books are always really faithful. That holds true for North and South.

North and South was first published in 1854, written by Elizabeth Gaskell. It is about a young woman named Margaret Hale who lives in London with her aunt and cousin until her cousin's wedding. She then moves back to her parent's home in the country. She loves Helstone and loves being back there. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long. Her father leaves the church for reasons of doubt (rather vague, I know) and moves the family to the North, to a manufacturing town called Milton. Her father intends to do private tutoring there and already knows of one young man who is interested- John Thornton (the love interest of the novel). Margaret and Mr. Thornton have a Darcy and Elizabeth type clash of ethics but there is romance between them. Margaret learns to love the North and for once in her life sees the faults of the South. 

Sweet Potato Fries

So, I love french fries. Love them. But, as one of many women trying to lose weight, I don't want to eat them anymore. Sad, right? So, I bought a bag of sweet potato fires one time and they were pretty good, but as so many organic foods are, they were really expensive.  So, the other day I bought a few large sweet potatoes at the grocery store and made my own fries-sweet potato fries! The don't quite taste like regular fries but let me tell you, they are damn good. Plus, sweet potatoes have a ton of vitamin A and lots of protein making them a complex carbohydrate (better for you than a simple one of course). 

So, to make sweet potato fries you basically just cut the sweet potatoes into fry-shaped pieces (kind of hard to do since sweet potatoes are really hard) and then put them into a bowl or a plastic bag of some kind. Add in a few tablespoons of oil (I used about a 1/4 of melted coconut oil), spices like garlic powder, paprika or chili pepper of some kind and salt and pepper, all to taste really. Mix it all up and then spread the coated fries on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 

Put them in the oven at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes and then turn them over for another 15 minutes. Serve hot with or without ketchup. 

The classic meal-burgers and fries! At left-organic burger in a gluten-free bun and the low-carb version above (no bun). A very yummy meal!

Some of my favorite things

I recently started using Jergens Natural Glow Healthy Complexion lotion after I was my face. I thought it might make my face actually tan but no! I love it! It really just helps to even my skin tone and well, glow! It feels great and is nice and moisturizing. 

I've had a lot of problems with dry lips. Recently I got a couple of new chap sticks.  Dr. Bronner's Magic All-One Organic Lip Balm and Maybelline Baby Lips with SPF 20. I use the Baby Lips for during the daytime because it smells nice (not too scented though) and it's a little more light weight and plus, the sunscreen. The Dr. Bronner's I use at night, or when I'm just at home doing nothing. both are really healing and feel really good. My lips haven't been dry in a long time.