We had fairly good flights in spite of the new airline security arrangements and arrived back in Washington DC late Saturday night. I went to bed pretending that I had just had a big social night hoping that would help me get back into the time zone quicker. I'm not sure it worked as I still needed a big nana-nap yesterday afternoon.
First day back at work today and by 3pm I was wishing for a little lie down. It's a three and a half day week this week as we close early on Thursday - a nice re-introduction to a full week. I was not so thrilled at the bitterly cold winds this morning and I've come home tonight to find that our heater is not working!!!!!!! I'm going to have to go to bed now to stay warm.
Last images of Sydney taken from the plane - a cloudy take-off: (I wanted to also take photos of our arrival in Los Angeles but we were not allowed to have any items in our laps for the last hour)......
While we were in Australia, Washington had a 17" snow fall ...... this was all that was left on our top deck yesterday, one week later:
I'm in the process of switching from my 2009 calendar to my 2010 calendar -- which means going through lots of weird post-its, pieces of paper, and business cards clipped to the pages of the 2009 calendar and figuring out what, exactly, I need to do with them. I have one tiny post-it that reads: "This Is Where I Leave You," Jonathan Tropper. I'm guessing that's a book I intended to read? Who knows . . .
Vote for the next book review here.
They've got this illumination thing going on around Roppongi Hills.
This is right next to that Spider thing in front of Mori Tower. Just ignore some dude in front:-)
I started experimenting with Twitter.
I look back with gratitude and I look ahead with hope. Merry Christmas. And may the year ahead be filled with joy, peace and love.
Years ago, Cannie had a boyfriend who wrote about loving a larger woman and how it had affected his life. She took it to be a public ridicule and broke up with him. Then his dad passed away and Cannie came to offer her condolences. One thing led to the other and before she knew it, Cannie got pregnant with his child while he got himself a new girlfriend. In fury, she wrote a book based on half truths from this mess and got famous (and rich) for her revealing tale.
Fast forward 13 years and Cannie is now a mother to a rebellious daughter, Joy, and wife to Peter, her doting husband and dietician rolled into one. It would have been a picture of bliss if Joy were as lovely as she was at three. Maybe she was at an awkward age of 13, maybe because she felt neglected, or maybe because she knew something was wrong with her family, Joy cannot bring herself to talk in peace with her mother. When she discovers the book her mum wrote years ago, Joy decides to find out whether the story is fact or fiction, the truth about her family and the grandfather she's never met and most importantly, whether she was ever wanted by her biological parents. As she carries out her secret investigation, Joy brings us on her roller coaster of emotions, as well as the dilemmas Cannie faces as a parent.
Rating: 3.5 bookmarks out of 5
Yeah, I know, I'm a little behind time to be reading this now, after all the raving and swooning over this romantic vampire series months ago. Wait a minute, did I just use "romantic" and "vampire" in the same sentence? Oh yes, I did. Because this is what it is - romance revolving around vampires, or should I say, one very good-looking vampire or so the book says (am sure fans of the movie of the same name would agree too although I haven't watched it yet).
Let's talk about the book. In all honesty, before I read this book, I had no clue what it was all about except that I know there are vampires in it. I picked it up simply because 1) it was popular and 2) it was selling at a hefty 40% off. And I must say, I was quite hooked on the story. In a strange way, it reminded me of my (much) younger days when I was reading Judy Blume (a friend thought it was rather odd for me to link Stephanie Meyer and Judy Blume :p). Reading the book, I felt like a teenager all over again. The story is about Bella (human girl) who goes back to her sleepy hometown to get away from her mum and her new found love. She goes to the local school and meets Edward (vampire hunk) who is so gorgeous he cannot be human. For some reason, they keep crossing paths and eventually Edward finds himself unable to stay away from Bella, not just because her blood smells tasty. What is addictive is the silly crush Bella has on Edward, almost right from the first day they met. The emotions are intense yet simple in a way that you and I can relate to. And I'm not the only one thinking so, judging from the many fans that the series has won over. Would I read another book from the series? I'd say, why not?
Rating: 3.5 bookmarks out of 5
