Friday's Favorites!

Last week's "Friday's Favorites" had one sold! Congrats CutieGoodie!

This week I didn't ask for submissions, instead I picked one item each from the last 8 shops that hearted my shop. There's a nice array of really beautiful things! I'm always fascinated by the jewelry especially, since I've never made anything more complicated than a friendship bracelet.



Go ahead! Click on a couple and treat yourself to a "Happy July 31st" present!

Book Review

Yesterday I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Greggory. It was the book that the movie recently made was based on.

I must say that for the first half of the book, I was kind of bored...I didn't hate it, and it was interesting enough for me to not put it down. But as the book progressed to the second half, it got really good and I found myself liking it more and more. By the end (if you know your history, it isn't a spoiler), I couldn't wait for them to chop off Ann's head.

If you are a fan of historical novels, then this book is for you. They aren't really my favorite type, which is probably why it took me so long to get into it.


Synopsis
Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir.

A Clown Show

Last night I helped out with a show that the boyfriend was doing. (For those that don't know, he's a clown). When I say helped, I mean I helped load props in, load props out and took some pictures during the show...

A lot of people give clowns a bad rap, because they've only seen really bad ones or scarry ones perform, but a great clown is an amazing thing to see. My boyfriend performed with another former Ringling Bros clown and together they did some amazing juggling, hillarious comedy and broke in a couple of new routines that I hadn't seen before.

I also love the fact that his make-up isn't anything like a creepy bozo the clown. Sure he's got a little white on his face, but he looks so sweet and innocent...you just want to give him a sqeeze.

Where do lady clowns shop when they get cold?

Nuclear Size Bug...Yikes!

Even though I live in the desert where there are lots of different types of creepy crawlies, in the big city of Las Vegas, you hardly ever see the snakes and scorpions and other things that make you scream. Usually I see ants, crickets, the occasional roach, and spiders.



Last night we finished watching "Taken" (which was a really fun movie) and I put it back in its netflix envelope and headed out to the mailbox (if I don't do this right away, I'll forget for days and I'm sure netflix loves me for it). I opened the door and looked out to my right and saw the biggest roach I had ever seen.

Now, coming from Hawaii, I've seen some monster size roaches, so I'm not prone to give superlatives where they are concerned. This one, however, made me scream. Our neighbors mush be hard of hearing, because otherwise they would have come out to see if anyone was being murdered.

Huge does not describe this bug. I called my boyfriend out to see it because I needed a witness to the shear vastness of this guy. He, being a guy, took his sweet time, but upon seeing it let out a scream of his own.

I didn't take a picture of it though, I was tempted, but I knew a photo wouldn't show its true size unless I put quarters next to it, which would have required me to get closer than I was feeling comfortable with. Let's just say it was at least 4 quarters long and I didn't know what a roach that size would do to me.

Eeek! Next time I'm making my boyfriend take the netflix out.

A Fun Book...

I just finished reading A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer. I must say that I really enjoyed it. I love it when a book is really put together, and this one is just that. You can tell that the book was planned as a whole with every intricate piece fitting together. I most liked the court room scenes, which if not written well, could easily be dull, but this one is definitely a page turner.

If you like courtroom dramas, and books about plotting revenge, then this one might be a great beach read for you.

Do you find it hard to read because your hair keeps falling in your eyes? AllThingsTangled has scrunchies and headbands to solve that problem.

Sunday Funday Video!!!

My friend posted this on Facebook earlier this week. It's not often that you have a video that makes you laugh because it's silly, AND gives you chills because it's so cool.

If you're feeling down today, this will definitely cheer you up!



Now that you've got your good feelings going, go ahead, click here, and buy yourself a present to celebrate!

A Living Statue Story...

Yesterday I was a living statue again.

There are always so many different types of people that come up to me. Some are scared, some just want to try to get me to move, some are fascinated, and some are mad that I'm making a living standing still...

Usually the younger kids are scared.

There was this one little girl yesterday, she must have been 2 or maybe a really small 3 year old. Her father gave her a dollar to put at my feet. She toddled up to the stairs and ran back to her dad.

I thought, she must be scared.

Her father urged her to try again, and she made it up two of the three stairs, but then backed down again. She didn't run, she didn't scream, she just toddled back to her dad.

The next time he picked her up and carried her up the stairs for a picture. She didn't seem to mind, didn't seem to scared at all actually. The picture was taken, and again, the father tried to get her to put the dollar down at my feet. Again she refused.

Finally the father pried the dollar bill out of the little girl's hand, and that's when she let out a scream that echoed throughout St. Mark's Square...she wasn't scared at all, she just didn't want to give up her dollar...