What I Want to do For My 30th Birthday

1. I want a Minnie Mouse cake like this:

or this

Have to make the cake myself so my skills will be lacking, but this I can pull off.

2. A bottle of perfume as a present. I don't actually have any money so I need this to be gifted and why not get at least one present.

This Smells really nice.

                                             

I really want a Dali perfume

3. Buy a pair of cowboy boots. I have wanted cowboy boots forever and this is the main thing. Number one and if I can't make this happen then I will just be depressed and miserable for the rest of the year.

Gonna need at least $200 to get a decent pair but the ones I really want cost upward $700.

4. Then there is the easy stuff. 

• Go to a movie (I have free tickets)
• Get my eyebrows waxed for free
• Free ice cream
• Free sushi
• Free Chili dog
• Sephora Beauty Insider gift

Can't I just have at least one day to be selfish and celebrate? I have not had a birthday since I turned one year old.

Slow Surrender Book Review

Slow Surrender by Cecilia Tan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Karina the art student who lives in New York fills in for another waitress and meets mysterious patron who asks her to play a game and the game gets more sexual as she indulges him. She eventually finds herself drawn into his lifestyle and in indulging his desires. Like most of our heroines she falls in love with the guy.
Karina is a boring yet crazy gal. She lives a most mundane existence but completely falls for the first perv to seduce her. I will give credit to our seducer, in the beginning he had some very unique games and there is a great build up. Although he has some technique our male protagonist is not that desirable to me as a reader and I don’t feel that Karina is desirable either. For me it was like hearing about my two average looking neighbor’s sex-capades.
This book wasn’t sex, sex, sex like so many other erotica is. The story was good if just a bit unbelievable, but hey it’s fantasy. We got a lot of foreplay and it ends fun but with the reader craving more.


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All Dogs Are Blue Book Review

All Dogs Are Blue by Rodrigo De Souza Leao
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The journal of a madman. That was how this read. It was just one long coherent rambling. The sort of book that would have appealed to me when I was in my late teens. It is not that different then if you were to rip out random pages of my diary from a teen, just more insane. What I will give the author credit for is his creativity and a look into the psyche of a crazy person. There are moments when you can sense a passage of sanity and it becomes interesting, but next sentence it is loony again. I did not get humor or sorrow from this. It was not poetic in the slightest but that is a matter of opinion. About halfway through reading, I felt like I had to put it down because it was draining me. There are also lines that get repeated and it started to make me feel just as mad as the writer.
This is maybe getting a bit more credit than due and will definitely appeal to people who like to read into things. Maybe I just lack the depth to appreciate the efforts but this was a shit.


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What Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

"painting, sketching, photography (if it’s light out), scrapbooking, crafts, writing poetry, practicing a musical instrument (if you live by yourself), reading through a religious text verse by verse, yoga, Zumba class, walking, training for a half marathon, biking, swimming, working out with a trainer, weight lifting, prayer, reading through a book of devotions, looking through your photo albums or contact list and praying for people by name, meditation, making a gratitude list, writing your own blog, writing “Morning Pages” (per Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way), writing one thousand words in a novel, writing in a journal, writing thank-you letters, reading articles in professional journals, attending a regular networking breakfast, having family breakfast, making pancakes, baking, etc., with your kids, reading together for a family book club, reading kids’ stories, reading through all the plays of Shakespeare, reading through the best novels of the twentieth century, listening to challenging music like Wagner’s Ring Cycle, playing with your kids, doing art projects with your kids, gardening, exercising with your spouse, trying a new recipe every morning, strategic career thinking, planning long-term employee career development, brainstorming new business lines or sales prospects, coming up with new projects or initiatives, studying, taking a self-paced online class"

-What Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

Gone Girl Book Review

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is how I felt at the end.
I just wish that someone would have gotten the villain, but this is a great story without the happy ending and all the craziness intact.

P.S. After having read the Acknowledgement I am really creeped out by the author. She might be an Amy.

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The Resurrectionist Book Review

The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The book goes back and forth between two protagonists Jacob of present day and Nemo of the mid 19th century. Jacob is the medical school PR guy after being put on probation for bad behavior and Nemo is a slave bought by the medical school to perform a dirty deed.
As a reader I never knew about these atrocities that occurred in the past so the book was captivating. The whiskey barrel scene awed me and the final medical experiment traumatized me. The recreation of the era past was the best part of the story and so well told. Slow moments mostly fell on the office moments with Jacob. While I understand how Jacob was integral to telling the whole story as a character he wasn’t that remarkable. Even with his connection to the past and his ties to the school there wasn’t much there. Also there are a couple of romances with one being completely unnecessary and the other giving just a bit of hope. I really enjoyed this and found it an intriguing read.


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Release July 8, 2013

Freud's Mistress Book Review

Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads
This is the fictionalized version of the true love affair between Sigmund Freud and sister in law Minna Bernays. Told in the third person account we are traipsing behind single woman Minna as she leaves her previous employer and comes to stay with her sister’s family. Apparently Minna and Freud have always had a correspondence relationship but in spending more time together their feelings start to grow toward each other.
Previous to having read this I was and are still are unfamiliar with Freud’s work and know is has to do with the Psyche. From what this book tells me it appears he was a difficult man with many interchangeable relationships. Or I would just say he is a man-child who indulges himself and mopes when things don’t go his way. Minna is just one figure that is a passing fancy in his life, but it seems that she gets a bit too attached and it is all very tiresome.
I understand that this is in a certain time in history where women are still beholden to men or family, but I just wish she was bit more headstrong in her actions then in how she thought of herself. She felt she was brighter and more independent then her sister yet she still succumbs to him. She feels guilty and that she has committed the ultimate betrayal yet again her actions play out differently. Despite her behavior she keeps coming back.
Then there is Martha, Freud’s wife who has an opiate addiction lets her six children run wild, very little intervenes unless it involves pumping them full of drugs to put them to bed. She nags her husband and puts the burden of child rearing on her sister and nanny. The only pity one could have for Martha is that she is married to a brute who does not appear to care much for his family but later we see some depth of wisdom to the gal which comes a bit too late in the novel for one to care.
Although I found most of the characters dreadful it was all very appealing. They did a good job of portraying the atmosphere of late 19th century Vienna but I think some of the language may have been a bit simplified, nonetheless it was enjoyable.


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Release date: July 9, 2013

On the Move: Mass Migrations Book Review

On the Move: Mass Migrations by Scotti Cohn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book. Excellent way to teach children about migration, climate, seasons and geography. Fantastic full page illustrations with large text and no dead space. The layout design was skillfully done. The writing by Cohn gave just enough insight to fully explain yet still open up to more questions and was fun and playful. The back of the book gave even more details for each set of animals and had a quiz along with a source for multimedia to learn even more. Must have animal book for young children.

View all my reviews Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

The End of Night Book Review

The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light by Paul Bogard
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was like reading one long news article and that was not good. What was good was the different stance taken on why we should preserve darkness and what we lose if we don’t. This felt like an academic book which only appeals to a certain crowd, but not likely to garner the mainstream into being interested. On the subject of darkness you never get a clear sense of Bogard’s actual concern. Mostly he just misses looking up at a starry sky yet he uses other arguments to validate why darkness is important but he doesn’t give the impression that he cares about those other reasons. Most of it falls on astronomy and that isn’t much selling point. If all creative non-fiction reads like this then count me out. It was jarring coming from an eloquent argument made by a lighting designer to another 2 pages about eating pasta in Italy. The transitions sucked and it made me not care. Everyone else’s opinion is so much clearer or inspiring than what the writer himself had to say and all he does is mirror or echo there viewpoint. If you were to eliminate all the quotes and excerpts you might be left with about 20 pages of the authors own writing which isn’t saying much. While the topic is fascinating the book itself is not. Everything good written here comes from someone who is more learned in the topic. Unless someone has a direct interest in this area, you should pass.

View all my reviews Coming out July 9, 2013 Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

My Husband's Girlfriend Book Review

My Husband's Girlfriend by Cydney Rax
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Anya has lost her sexual drive and she and her husband seem to be drifting apart, so in order to save her marriage she grants him a contract to get satisfaction from someone else, but a breach of contract may destroy this family.
This story is told from different character narratives, jumping from wife to husband to mistress. With a title like My Husbands Girlfriend one would expect drama and plenty of scandal, yet this story was so mundane with only a few sizzling moments. A lot of it was dialogue of each coupling arguing or contemplating. It’s not that the story was boring but after each episode I kept asking myself when do we get to a juicy part. There is an incident involving antibiotics that could have been so much better. Everything was very vanilla and ordinary, maybe a bit too realistic. The book was deceiving in keeping me reading because the dialogue was great and it is well written yet nothing really happened. Hooray for a happy ending.


View all my reviews Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

The Fantastic Adventure of Krishna by Demi Book Review

The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna by Demi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Had to take off a star, because I found there to be some layout and design problems which made they book less prized. There was a lot of dead space on the side bar and I am not a fan of illustrations being split on 2 pages. The scale could have adjusted for some or the publisher should have requested more illustrations and story to fill up the space. It has beautiful illustrations, but not as avant-garde as I would have expected given other reviews. The story was simple and straightforward enough for someone very young, but it lacked a bit. There could have been more story or detail, that wouldn't be lost on a little one. in general it was a pleasant educational read with enjoyable illustrations.

View all my reviews Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Cookbook Series I - Italian Sausage Hero Sandwich

Pizza in a sandwich. I added a green pepper and next time I will add some pepperoni to the sandwich. Messy but delicious. 5 out of 5.

The Submissive Book Review

The Submissive by Tara Sue Me
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Why oh why, do I keep putting myself through this? Are there any good erotica books being written these days or just a bunch of BDSM drivel? From what I gathered from another review is that this story was the pre-cursor to FSoG. FSoG is a book I loathe and has almost completely put me off the genre. While the characters in that book are painfully annoying, this book gives you nothing. The characters are boring and not well developed; the sex is boring and hardly arousing. Plus maybe I am the only one, but I felt that there were some anatomy issues. Not worth a look, if you want similar scenarios check out Bared to You or if you want good BDSM something by Rachel Kramer Bussel.
Bared to You
Rachel Kramer Bussel

View all my reviews Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Cookbook Series I - BBQ Style Pork Sandwiches

The sauce was not yummy enough and it came out  bit bland so I added some extra garlice salt, Worcestershire, steak sauce, and chili sauce. 4 out of 5.

Cookbook Series I - Sweet and Sour Chicken

 3 out of 5. It was ho-hum, a bit bland and this tapioca is not doing anything for these recipes.

Anonymous Sources Book Review

Anonymous Sources by Mary Louise Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Reporter Alex James is tasked with finding out what she can in the death of Grad student Thom Carlyle only to get caught in a terrorists bombing scheme. James comes off as ordinary and not much of a likable character in my opinion, but then there is this whole bit thrown in about her dilemma as a teen that is suppose to make me feel bad for her, but I don’t. She is not wholly unlikable, but let’s not pretend that she is a great person and I want to be her best friend. Best characters were the tough stand their ground guys, like her boss Hyde, Officer Galloni, and General Carspecken. I guess the thrill comes from what happens next yet this story is not full of action it’s mostly journalism, drinking, reminiscing on teen problem, and being evasive. I’m not usually interested in thrillers, but this one was enjoyable but I found the story unremarkable and it felt like an episode NCIS or similar. It was good, I liked it. Nice in-flight read.

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Release Date: June 18, 2013 Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Cookbook Series I - Porkchops with Mushroom Sauce

 Delicioso. 5 out of 5. I don't like mushrooms so I ate the 'shrooms first and savored the rest of the dish. Served with a side of mustard greens and polished off the bottle of white wine.

Book Review - Death in the Vines by M.L. Longworth

Death in the Vines: A Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal Mystery by M.L. Longworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wine thief and murderer are on the loose in Aix-en-Provence and Judge Verlaque takes a personal interest in both cases.
Although this is a mystery, as I was reading I wasn’t thinking whodunit, but oh this is so vibrant. One is easily swept away in the vivid imagery. From the clothing to décor, architecture, and conversation, everything is so accurately described, yet not over detailed, that I feel as though I know it. Never having been to France I am walking the streets of Aix and seeing the pompous Pauline d’Arras. The smaller characters and their relevance to the crimes were just the right combination of humorous and clever. It is only after the crimes are did I have an aha moment and began really thinking about the past events
There were some slow moments and the relationship between Verlaque and Marine Bonnet was dreary and I didn’t care for the medical issue which seemed thrown in. Bonnet really doesn’t become very relevant till later in the book if at all. This book was a great trip and I was entertained most of the way through. If you love humorous mysteries or French countryside, this is the book for you.


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Release Date: May 28, 2013 Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Cookbook Series I - Seeded Pork Roast

This was nasty. 0 of 5 stars. Edible sure, but I did not like it. The fennel seed was overwhelming and it was a bit dry. Ate with leftover Ratatouille.

Cookbook Series I - Ratatouille

Made true to recipe. This was delicious. 5 out of 5. Gonna make this again. I have to say I don't like eggplant, but am always open to trying a dish with a food I don't like to sway me. I couldn't taste the eggplant and it turned to mush once fully cooked. 

No slow cooker recipes on BHG, but here is a similar recipe for the slow cooker on Epicurious. RATATOUILLE

Untitled #530

Untitled #530 by tickertime featuring a short cardigan

Ted Baker short cardigan
$120 - psyche.co.uk

Jean Paul Gaultier long pleated skirt
farfetch.com

The Cambridge Satchel Company satchel handbag
modcloth.com

Ariella Collection kate spade jewelry
nordstrom.com

Cookbook Series I - Irish Stew

BHG website recipe. IRISH STEW

Couldn't find a solid piece of lamb at a pound, so I opted for ground veal instead. I just made veal meatballs, that I dropped in the stew. Did not add tapioca, so it was not thick, but the hearty vegetables made up for it.

4 out of 5. My father really enjoyed this one and had a second serving. Definitely making this again.