February's Group Read is....

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It is a New York Times Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and a #1 National Bestseller.

Fun Fact: This book was originally written in German and then translated, somewhat like our book last month was also translated. Interesting way to start out 2010.. :)

The Back Cover: When young Michael Berg falls ll on his way home from school, he is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover, enthralling hi with her passion, but puzzling him with her odd silences. Then she disappears.
Michael next sees Hanna when she is on trail for a hideous crime, refusing to defend herself. As he watches, he begins to realize that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

Why I am excited to read this: Not only is it in my TBR pile, it also counts towards all of my reading challenges. And I really want to see the movie so I can finally do so after I finish this book. Plus, it has intrigued me for awhile.

Checkout theses reviews by other bloggers... here and here and the movie page here..

Who is planning on joining us??? Anyone who wants to is more than welcome. If you would like to guest blog about something regarding The Reader in the month of February contact me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com ! HAPPY READING!

January Re-Cap

Stolen shamelessly from the lovely Lisa.

Current Book(s):Finished - Cross Country by James Patterson and Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. PATHETIC for a book blogger.

Currently reading - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Current Music: Darius Rucker

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies.. cannot say no

Current Colors: Dark Purple

Current Obsessions: Planning my workouts that I may or may not do. Weighing myself every morning.

Current Drink: Green Tea

Current Song: Don't really have one..

Current Movie: The Hangover ...I believe I have now seen it 8 times and it is still cracking me up.. haven't loved/laughed/watched a movie this much since Anchorman and Elf .. tonight or tomorrow the husband and I plan on watching Pregnancy Pact that Lifetime movie on demand.. :) it was his idea too haha

Current TV Shows: Big Love, The Good Wife and Mad Men (on demand)

Current Wish-List:- Ice Tea Maker (I think that's what it is called, just saw it on a blog today and I want it ha)
- Snow Day

Current Needs:- a maid
- dinner

Current Triumph:- Finishing the Atwood novel, working out and eating somewhat better

Current Bane of my Existence:- Water. I cannot drink enough water. I try and try and try and I would much rather drink something with flavor.

Current Goal:- Do ALL my workouts next week

Current Indulgence:- Chocolate Malts

Current Blessings:- IT'S THE WEEKEND BABY!

Current Slang or Saying:- Is that a good choice??????

Current (Fav) Outfit:- Blue fleece pants with ANY comfy sweatshirt with my slipper socks

Current Excitement:- Not having ANY plans for the weekend.

Current Mood:- Tired

Review: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

“When I was younger I used to think that if I could hug myself tight enough I
could make myself smaller, because there was never enough room for me, at home
or anywhere, but if I was smaller, I might fit in.” (P 33)

Alias Grace is based on the true story of Canadian Grace, who was accused and convicted of killing her employer, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper and mistress, Nancy Montgomery. She along with the stable hand are arrested in an inn after the bodies are discovered.

The book flashes to the present where Grace Marks is being interviewed by Dr. Simon Jordan who was hired by a committee that wants to free Grace from prison. She slowly tells her story to Dr. Jordan from crossing the Atlantic with her family to her various jobs before landing at Kinnear's house at the age of 16.

Atwood became interested in Marks' story after reading the works of Susanna Moodie who had written many items on Grace and had met her at least twice. Atwood originally believed what Moodie wrote and even wrote a collection of poems and a television script based off of Moodie's version of Grace's life. However, after digging a bit deeper Atwood realized huge discrepancies in Moodie's version and set out to write her own. In the back of the novel, Atwood contends that she didn't change any of the absolute truth but added her own to other parts.

I really enjoyed Atwood's writing in this book, much more so than Cat's Eye. It would probably rank second after Handmaid's Tale in my favorite of Atwood's novels I have read. It wasn't laced with too many descriptions of crap I don't care to know about or symbolism that made me want to poke my eyeballs out. I did like how the chapters were different names of quilts, which I didn't know right away I will admit I used my trusty google to help me. :)

I also liked how she linked things together and that you got a great picture of the type of people that the main characters were. Not just a glossing over. I also enjoyed the quotes, letters and snippets from Moodie's writing and other newspaper articles throughout the book.

Gone mad is what they say, and sometimes Run Mad, as if mad is a direction, like
west; as if mad is a different house you could step into, or a separate country
entirely. But when you go mad you don’t go any other place, you stay where you
are. And somebody else comes in. - Alias Grace

I will say in the end, I think Grace was a very troubled girl who probably didn't tell the entire truth and based on Atwood's version probably believed herself innocent even though she played a part. Did she actively participate or play a silent partner? Did she know what was going to happen or only after the fact? Did she have amnesia or was that a cop out? I do think she was incredibly selfish, but who wouldn't be. She was all alone in the world and had to look out for herself.

Definitely worth a read. If you've read this book what did you think? Have you heard the story of Grace Marks before? What are your opinions? And Canadian readers, any other awesome Canadian authors I should check out?

Wedding Wednesday - Bridal Shower #1

I am not sure if I mentioned in my earlier posts or just alluded to the fact that we had well over 300 people at our wedding. Yikes. Mainly because my husband has a HUGE family. So it only was natural we have two showers. Or I would have been there for days or we would have been crowded or some important people to me would have been left out.

So yeah, two showers. My MIL, my SIL's and my husband's aunts put on a wonderful shower for me at my in-laws church. Like anytime that family is together, we had a ton of great food. It was a lovely Mexican themed lunch with lots of good desserts. Absolutely fabulous. We played games. Of course.. Why can't women get together without stupid games?? I know for sure we played Bingo while I opened my presents and people had filled out squares as to what they thought I would get. I also know we played a true or false game about my husband and I. Though as I am thinking back right now I am not sure if that was played at this shower or my other one.

I do know that I received some pretty awesome gifts. I got a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, lots of kitchen utensils, some of my dishes, a blanket with our names and wedding date, photo albums, lots of stuff for my kitchen and some Pyrex.

Not only was the shower full of my husbands relatives, but all my bridesmaids, except SIL in Montana, my mom, my grandma and a close college friend came. It was a beautiful sunny day in May, and after my shower my SIL and I went to the store bought paint and painted a bedroom to surprise my husband who was gone all weekend. Then I also threw away things I knew he would want to keep but we didn't need now that we had our new gifts. :)

Next week... Bridal Shower Numero Dos.. :)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo --- Discuss

Psst.. February's Reading Poll is posted on the side...

I am the worst Book Club Host ever this month. Too make up for it :::martini's, cheeseball and crackers :::: for all!! I am soo sad that I am a failure this month but I must complete the novel I started and I will be done by Wednesday (yeah I know I said Sunday, but then the weekend happened and friends came into town and plans changed..) And work happened and yeah, I am busier than ever in the new year and I am working out and am waaay to easily distracted by shiny new blogs and google searches.. I digress...

Here are some questions to get you who were good and read the book on time and all that jazz talking .. :) Feel free to add your own in the comments and talk back at each other.. Discuss Discuss Discuss..:)

Shamlessly stolen from LitLovers.Com
1. Lisbeth Salander's character is enigmatic and antisocial throughout much of the book. What do you see as the catalyst for the slow emergence of her personality?

2. While poverty, social injustice, parental abuse, and difficult childhoods are often cited as explanations for criminal behavior, Lisbeth believes in free will and choice. Do you agree?

3. Were you surprised by the book's portrayal of right-wing fanaticism and violence against women in a country known for its liberal views?

4. Discuss Mikael Blomkvist's role in the investigation. Do you feel that he made as important a contribution as Lisbeth? Why or why not?

5. The narrative contained a number of plot twists. Who did you imagine sent the framed flowers to Vanger each year?

I am excited to get cracking on this and if I have to self-impose strict reading rules upon myself again I shall.. And since I slacked this month if you are interested in guest posting about any aspect of this novel contact me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com. :)

McFatty Monday.. slow slow slow

I wish I could have a WAM BAM Thank You Ma'am week of kick ass weight loss and feel like all the hard work and effort I am putting forth is doing something. But, no. So I have to find the small and promote them with the spunk of a 15 year old teenage girl who just made the cheerleading squad. Are you ready to get started? Yes, we are

Weight = down 1 pound. *yeah I have an official weight loss* Oh and my husband can suck it when he said, it's normal water weight fluctuation. Because my stomach feels smaller dangit and my legs feel stronger. Ughh.. GO TEAM GO!

Workouts = Tuesday & Thursday treadmill/bike/elliptical combo keep increasing the minutes and sweating my butt off. Even did a ridiculous incline change up on the treadmill on Thursday. Wednesday I THOUGHT what the heck I can handle Level 2 of the 30 day Shred. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am so uncoordinated that all I could do was pray that it was almost over. Yeah, I don't even know if I burned enough calories that day because I could barely get into the correct position. Accelerate, go non-stop, give it all you've got.

Eating = I did a dang good job of eating last week. I also did not go out for my weekly meal out. (I should clarify lunch out). YAY TEAM! Every day but Friday I had Kashi Go Lean Original Cereal with a banana cut up in it. It was fabulous and kept me full until lunch, every day but one. I made a conscious effort to eat lots of fiber and protein. Not a lot of cheese. And smaller portions. I felt really good about my eating and even my weekend eating when I don't pay attention to things like dieting and exercising. A-W-E, S-O-M-E! Awesome, Awesome! To-tal-ly!

Water = Better but not great. I try all sorts of tricks, but I just can't seem to drink a lot of water. But I also don't drink a lot of much else either, so at least I am consistent. Big G, little O, Go! Go!

This week I am throwing in like 5 minutes of exercise in the mornings I shower. Today I did 50 jumping jacks, 50 high knees and 30 crunches. (Note to self, wear a bra next time.) The bra less holding my boobs did not do much for the workout and it had to end early haha. Tuesday 30 minutes on the treadmill, Wednesday 30 Day Shred or day off to hang out with friend, Thursday 19 minutes on Treadmill, 14 on bike, 12 on elliptical, Friday 30 Day Shred.

Any favorite living room workout routines? What is your favorite workout on the treadmill?

Good luck to all.. :) It's time to work. Get in the groove. What comes next? Hey Bust-a-move!

January's FREE giveaway

As I was clearing out my shelves I came across these to give away to the first 3 lucky readers who comment and say hey give me ______. Leave your email, and I shall respond and send you _______ .

Thanks for reading and commenting!!!

Oh and have a fabulous weekend.. (I am counting down the hours until happy hour time!!)

1. Right Next Door - Debbie Macomber Pixie13

2. What Men Want - Gerstman, Pizzo and Seldes

3. The Doctor's Wife - Elizabeth Brundage acdc080109

February's Group Read..

It's about that time again to pick another group read.. :) I am so bad at this month's read because I should not have started my book before we picked ours and started working out and losing out on somet ime to read each night. Or time where my eyeballs don't fall asleep when I read at night.

Back to topic.. What shall we read in February? Some love story? A classic? A heartbreaking tale? Something dark? What shall we read in the shortest month?? Wooho, that means it's only a quick jump and a skip a way to my *gulp* 26th birthday *gulp.*

What do you want to read dear readers?? Leave your thoughts/suggestions in the comments and I will put a poll up on Tuesday.

And if anyone would like to guest blog for this month's book, let me know!

Wedding Wednesday -- Planning Part 2

Last week I covered the wedding/reception site, bridesmaids dresses, DJ and photographer). Here is that part.

This week I am covering Wedding Dress shopping, flowers, cake, and Officiant.

These are all topics that I was so wishy washy on. I knew what kind of dress I wanted, but the daunting task of trying on a gazillion dresses never really appealed to me. I had gone to a bridal store near here one afternoon with my mom and pretty much narrowed down the style / designer I liked but didn't find THE ONE. So came the all day extravaganza shopping trip downstate with my mom, MIL, bff, aunt and two cousins. We went to a ton of different stores. And I pretty much tried on the same type of dress at every store, except for the times I let them all talk me into something I didn't really like to see how it looked.

I believe by the time I found my dress I was STARVING. I had wanted to go to one last shop before I hate food and bloated out like crazy. So of course I found the dress I wanted and that took forever and a day and my BFF and my cousins and I were wilting away. We need our food. My mom is a darling and bought me my ridiculously expensive Maggie Sottero dress. Then she got swept up in the moment and bought me a ridiculous tiara and veil that we should have gotten cheaper elsewhere but there was no talking my mom out of it. She threw waaaay too much money on it. But I love her, she loves me and I loved my dress and everything.

Flowers: I knew I wanted Gerbera Daisies and bright colors. I probably was in the flower shop all of 15 minutes. I got simple and I got pretty. Plus, we were going to be outside with tons of flowers all around us. Who needed the extra expense?? I mean seriously our flowers were nothing compared to everything else. Plus, the people who own the flower shop are relatives of one of my former bosses so they delivered them for free. Yay.

Cake - It was a given from the beginning that my husband's cousin would make it. I had two meetings with her and at our first I was kind of pushed into a direction I had no intention or desire to be going in from my mom and her. It just wasn't anything I ever wanted but then again I am not a huge cake person and already knew I was going to have cookies for dessert as well. Then we had the shower my mom's family threw for me and my aunt had gotten the cake and it was FABULOUS. I took pictures, emailed them to the cousin and said, can we do something like this??? And viola, the most yummy beautiful cake ever. There were multiple flavors and I think they were french vanilla, rainbow chip and umm something I don't remember... Whoops.

Officiant - These would be the funniest part. Neither of us really go to church. The pastor at his parents church? I'd rather gouge my eyes out. Our one friend was ordained online and we had asked him kinda informally and he was wishy washy about it because he was a bit overwhelmed with the size of the wedding and what not. We really didn't have anyone to marry us until a few months before the wedding. We were discussing the situation with my aunt and she was like why not your uncle??? So my uncle got ordained online to marry us. He would also be THAT uncle. The uncle every family has. The loud funny out there uncle. The inappropriate uncle. Yeah, he married us. He may have had a story about exotic shaving that he shared in the middle of my ceremony. It was great.

Coming Next Week: Bridal Shower 1

Teaser Tuesday - Alias Grace

"Also, she has culprits cutting Nancy Montgomery's body up into quarters before
hiding it under the washtub, which surely was not done. The newspapers
would hardly have failed to mention a detail so sensational. I am afraid
the good woman did not realize how difficult it is to cut up a body, never having
done so herself." - pg. 190 Alias Grace....

I am halfway through this beautifully written novel by Margaret Atwood. It has taken me a ridiculously long time to put a dent into since after break, most times I start to read my close. Whoops. I was trying to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and this at the same time but that was getting ridiculous.. So the game plan is to finish this off by Sunday and get moving on the book club book. Ooops.

What is everyone else reading? Any good teasers?