Saturday Snippet: Volleyball

Hello everyone!

You may or may not know, but I'm a bit of a sports nerd on occasion. Obviously that means that I haphazardly keep an eye on sports that pop up every once in a while, like ski jumping at the moment! I'm not saying I watch sports all the time, but I do like to keep tabs on goings on so that I'm at least capable of holding a decent conversation if somebody asks.

Tonight was a volleyball night, even though I wasn't actually there in physical form - mom went for me though!

And we won 3:2, which is a VERY nice way to wrap a Saturday night up, don't you think?

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Chief

Hello everyone!

With Outlander out and about (and did you SEE the new EW cover for the upcoming second season? I swooned, for real, it's not even funny!), the Scotland mania has certainly made its way around the globe, although I can't really remember how I got my hands on these particular books that I'm going to talk about. Or well, some of them at least, because from what I understand there will be twelve of them altogether, and I'm ... well, am I even halfway through? No not yet, I think I'm on number five at the moment, haven't started yet.

Basically, for whatever reason, I found myself a copy of Monica McCarty's books about warriors from the Highlands, who, as opposed to their 'civilized' Lowlands brethren, usually come in packages of big, built like the Hulk, and devilishly handsome.

I'm actually beginning to wonder just where on Earth these photographers who do the cover shoots find all these muscled men!

Anyway, I only later realized, when talking to my mother about this particular book, that they're being translated into Slovene, and we're obviously building that collection. But I don't exactly know what started me on this series, only that I did, and The Chief is the first of the books.

Talkie Tuesday: Grace of Monaco

"The idea of my life as a fairytale is itself a fairytale."

Hello everyone!

So allow me to admit a guilty pleasure. 

No, it's not Glee anymore, sadly.

My guilty pleasure are biographical movies, whether they're slightly fictionalized or completely realistic as they come, but I love a good movie based off a true story, and I can't really count how many I've seen so far, although I haven't liked all of them. This week and the next will be dedicated to those.

Tonight's movie is one of those that I watched back at the seaside in 2015 when I was really fed up with melting in the heat and withdrew into the air conditioned interior, where I could then lounge and doze to my heart's content.

And I do have to admit that I tried not to doze through some of this, unfortunately, as this particular movie ranks somewhere along the lines of 'could have been better' for me even if some will be vocal with their disagreements.

But Grace of Monaco just wasn't all that jazz.

Saturday Snippet: Hair Ties

Hello everyone!

So this is another one of my random rambling posts late on a Saturday night just before bed. I have roughly shoulder-length hair which I think I have to cut again, but in the meantime I have to tame it somehow. In the past, I've already had problems with broken hair because I used to wear a ponytail ALL THE TIME. All the time.

This time around I'm trying to do the right thing and being healthy, and looking for alternatives to the rigid hair ties is a good way to go, I think.

The alternative I found were these plastic/rubber hair bands, which basically look like those old telephone cords, and work wonders. They do get loose easier than your usual hair band, BUT they don't grab your hair as much and I can actually see the difference when I shake my hair out after a long day of wearing these. I also found some that are made of the regular hair band material and not plastic so that's a bonus, too! I highly recommend them.

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Choice

Hello everyone!

I'm back with some more Nicholas Sparks fodder!

Because, you know, after I've read a million or so happily ever after books, or even those with a semi-happily ever after, I tend to get a bit weird and I pick up the old faithful again.

Which, in this case, means Mr. Sparks.

Let's be honest with ourselves, you don't reach for a Nicholas Sparks book because you want to read about true love or sexy beach encounters or even a romance in the stars.

You turn to this particular author when you're suffering from some form of chronic happiness and yo therefore need his stories to a) remind you that love hurts; b) to make sure your heart is never whole again for a period of time; and c) to ensure that you always come back for more, because, really, he's just that good.

Yeah, I'm waxing poetry, and I actually do like the guy. He writes incredibly realistic stories and is an amazing narrator, which only serves to keep me hooked. 

Regardless of the heartache.

Talkie Tuesday: Ant-Man

"Who are you, who is she, what the hell is going on here, and can I go back to jail now?"

Hello everyone!

So, obviously, I'm a big Marvel fan. I think I've proven that in my previous blog posts, but in case you've all forgotten, please see exhibits A and B, thank you! 

I kind of sort of didn't really get to finish Marvel's Second Phase when I should have, however, because for some reason I just didn't get to Ant-Man until very recently. Why, you ask? I'm really not one hundred percent sure about what happened.

Maybe it as because he really looks a whole lot like the Atom from DC and I kind of like watching Ray Palmer do his thing on Legends of Tomorrow. Maybe because I'm not the biggest Paul Rudd fan.

Maybe I just didn't want to watch one more movie that'll bring me close to Captain America: Civil War.

I kind of like listing that last fact as the go-to, however, my OCD finally prevailed, so here I am tonight to talk about Ant-Man.

(Saturday) Sunday Snippet: High School Reunion

Hey everyone!

Super late on this one, but I mean, I got in a bit later than I'm used to yesterday after my high school reunion. It was an absolute blast and super fun, it was so good to see everyone again! Well, almost everyone, but it was certainly a better turnout than whe expected it to be.

We had dinner, told stories, looked at old photos, and in general enjoyed one another's company.

And that's what it's all about, right?

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Poison Study

Hello everyone!

I've had some extra free time this week so I've been doing a lot of reading on the sidelines even though I still do try and do everything else that needs doing, and as a matter of fact I'm MUCH better this week at being caught up with everything!

Reading gives me power!

But there's also been A LOT of it going on. For real.

For some inexplicable reason I've been on a romance binge, even though about half of the books I read pissed me off to no end. Whether that was because the storyline was just convulted, or because the characters were absolutely extra stupid, who knows? But the books I did end up reading and liking were definitely enough to get me going on an additional romance binge, so I think I'll have to cut it short at some point with something else.

Maybe Agatha Christie.

Until then though, let's talk about Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study.

Talkie Tuesday: Fantastic Four

"It's pretty fantastic."

Hello everyone!

It's movie time once again, and tonight I'm going to talk about a movie that I didn't love nor did I hate, but I was entertained enough by it that I watched it through to the end and didn't want to fall asleep. 

The movie I'm talking about is Fantastic Four, although not the older versions with Ioan Gruffud and Jessica Alba (which, I will admit, I watched and actually really enjoyed back in the day), but the new, remade thing with Miles Teller and Kate Mara in the titular characters of Reed and Sue, although we do see a number of other actors make their way across the screen.

I will admit that I wanted to see what they'd done with the remake, because if I remember right the first two movies were okay-ish, but didn't bring much to the table for a third, so this is supposed to be a revival of sorts, right?

I do think there's talk of a sequel, and it did a good enough job to merit it, I suppose.

Saturday Snippet: Mardi Gras

Hello everyone!

So for anyone that doesn't know this yet: I don't like Mardi Gras.

Or Halloween.

I know, I know, many of you are probably gasping and thinking this is the worst blasphemy since forever, but I blame it on my teachers making it obligatory to dress up for Mardi Gras back in grade school, which of course ended in me disliking it immensely.

And my family isn't big on this, either way.

But yesterday, a couple of girlfriends and myself went out to check the scenery, and I sort of compromised with a Venetian-style mask, which didn't really need anything but some regular makeup from me then.

It was a nice outing! But Mardi Gras or Halloween are still a no-go for me.

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Where Courage Calls

Hello everyone!

I absolutely need something to distract myself with tonight as I have just finished watching the latest episode of Arrow and let me tell you - that show knows exactly how to break my heart every single time it appears. There has to be a reason why it's the most prominent hero show on TV at the moment, right? Right.

Anyway.

I was reminded of this book because I caught something on the internet from the TV show itself, and then went back through my notes to see whether or not I'd actually ever read this or if I have yet to read it.

Luckily, I have!

It's the first book from Janette Oke's continuation to the Canadian West series, titled Return to the Canadian West, of course, and it's called Where Courage Calls!

Talkie Tuesday: Grease Live

"Grease is the word!"

Hello everyone!

You're the one that I want! Those Magic Changes! Hopelessly Devoted to You! Summer Nights! And a bunch of other songs that if I name them I'll be singing along to in my sleep, and I'm pretty sure my family kind of wants to have a quiet night tonight haha! 

You guessed it, it's Grease time!

Ever since FOX announced it was going to be making a live rendition of the musical, I've been super excited. Grease is probably one of my favourite, all-time movies, even though I don't watch it as often as I probably could. And once news started trickling out as to who was cast in the respective roles, my anticipation shot off through the roof!

Because, I mean, this is one of the most iconic things on TV you're ever going to see, and you know they have to get it at least semi-right, considering people will be super judgy about it.

To my delight, despite the sound problems, it seems to be a success!