June Book Tally

Style Clinic by Paula Reed
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Stolen by Kelley Armstrong

Five for me this month. Pretty good month. I read 2 books I really wanted to read-Radiant Shadows and The Girl Who Played With Fire. I only read one book off my Fill In The Gaps list which brings my total read 23 for that list. So far I've read 33 books this year.

Recent Reads

I wanted to mention two books I read within the past month or so. I enjoyed them but didn't feel like I had enough to say to each warrant their own post.

Dark Lover-JR Ward

Book one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Wow. In a word, hot. So hot my fingers were burning. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. If you like vampires and sex then these are the books for you.

The Girl Who Played With Fire- Stieg Larsson

I had told a coworker about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. She immediately went out and bought it. She enjoyed it so much she bought The Girl Who Played With Fire. And she was done she loaned it to me. Where I felt that TGWTDT was a complete book, TGWPWF plays into the next book. Which I cannot wait to read. I enjoyed meeting up with Lisbeth and Mikael again and finding them in a dastardly plot. And some of questions I had about Lisbeth in the first book were answered in book 2. But most of book 2 is working to get you to book 3.

U Can't Touch This

Oh yeah. Over the weekend Ashley, Marta and I went to see MC Hammer. Wow, what a great time. And I heard so many great songs, ones I forgot about.


I completely forgot about this song! I definitely was up and dancing through most of the concert.
There were plenty of folks dressed up like this:

Source. It was pretty funny.
What 80's/90's music group would you like to see?

Getting Focused With Style Clinic

A couple of weeks ago I checked out Style Clinic by Paula Reed from the library. I was very impressed by the information and it really helped me focus on what I need in my wardrobe.
Do you have "nothing to wear"? Have you bought clothes only to regret those purchases? Do you have clothes you've never worn because you are looking for the perfect pant/top/skirt to go with it? Then you need Style Clinic.
I will admit Reed does talk about high end clothing like Burberry coats and Hermes scarves but she mentions them to help you see what quality clothing looks like. Reed isn't trying to sell you a closet of designer clothes but a closet of clothes that fits your style and your life.
Reed has focused plans on how to trim your current wardrobe, what items you need to find, and how to find clothes that fit you right and suit your life. I recently culled my wardrobe and took 2 bags of clothes to the Goodwill (yeah!). I'll be using the tips I learned to find better clothes (better fit for me and my wardrobe) and sharing some of my new finds with you.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

 I took last week off from LL to read something I had at home. A friend loaned me The Girl Who Played With Fire. I wanted to get it back to her quickly so I held off on ordering more books from the library. I couldn't resist the library for long and got these two. Actually I've been waiting for Stolen for a while. I read Bitten, the first book in the series a while ago but forgot to continue with the series. I'm looking forward to Stolen. I've seen Boneshaker all over the blogs. But when I read Sam's Book Blog's review, I realized that it's set in Seattle. Sign me up! Tai might even been interested in too.
What did you get this week?

Damn Seattle Weather

I want to be wear this:

From Target.
Not this:

Also from Target.
First day of Summer and it's 60 degrees. I'm wearing a turtleneck and eat soup. I want summer and I want it now!

Portland Bound

Next month, Ashley, Marta and I are going on a girls weekend to Portland, OR. This isn't my first time to Portland, but I'd love some recommendations.
High on our list is Voodoo Donuts and checking out some of the street food trucks. I can't wait to head back to Powell's.
For those of you familiar with or from Portland, where should we eat? Which are your favorite street food trucks? Do you know a good place for brunch?
Ashley wants a massage. Can anyone recommend a good massage place near downtown?
Lastly we want to go out and dance. Can you recommend any places that we can shake our thangs? We like top 40 & hip hop mostly.
We won't have a car, so please keep that in mind while giving me recommendations!

Dress For Success

Over the weekend, Kris, Ashley & I went to a fundraiser for Dress For Success: Seattle. If you aren't familiar with Dress for Success, it's a non-profit organization that helps women get interview outfits and work clothes. Kris found the event and Ashley and I were delighted to go.
In addition to helping a wonderful a cause we also learned about some great Seattle vendors. Like Poirier, Lucy & Ethel, and Freakishly Beautiful (don't you love that name?).

Photos stolen from Poirier's website. These were our favorites from the collection they showed. I particularly love the dress on the left. Very renaissance which I love. All their clothes is custom so it's made to fit you.

Photos stolen from Lucy&Ethel. Lucy&Ethel's a little more my speed. The material of the clothing was so soft. I also like the little flower on their clothing.
Such a fun event. I hope we find more events like this!

Found: Bookshelf For the Entryway

Once we got moved in there were some pieces I needed in order to make everything work in our new place. I still am looking for some things but I can cross "something for the entryway" off the list.
Over the weekend I went to Goodwill to drop off two bags of clothing (yes, more room in the closet!). Since I was there I stopped in to see if they had anything worth picking up. I have a weakness for the Goodwill so I limit my access to it. But since I had dropped off so much I figured I could look. There was an overflow of furniture in the front area where I found a perfect bookshelf for $10. It was just the right size (give or take an inch) for the entryway. See:

I had been open to a table or something with drawers but I'm so glad to have found a bookshelf. Our other bookshelf was over flowing, but now we have a little room to breathe!

In Search Of The Perfect Ice Cube Tray

Years ago I bought these ice cube trays:

But I busted 4 of them before I decided that these weren't the best ice cube tray. While at a friend's house, Tai noticed their ice cube tray. He thought theirs would be a good ice cube tray for us:

But when I bought that one, I saw these:

The perfect ice cube tray. They are silicone so the cubes pop right out. It says the cubes are supposed to come out in perfect cubes but I think that depends on how you fill it and if you have a level place to put it. They really are the perfect ice cube tray.

Thoughts on Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr

Ok, so I started reading this one as soon as I picked it up from the library. I adore the Wicked Lovely world and this one did not disappointment me. Yeah more dark fairies. I prefer the Dark Court to the Summer Court. Radiant Shadows revolves around Ani, part Hound, part human. Ani's a special gal and maybe the key to the salvation of the Dark Court. She's so special that everyone wants her dead. Devlin, the High Court's assassin, becomes Ani's protector and they fight to live.
If you like Aislinn and Keenan, they aren't in this one. Seth is for a little bit. I really like how Marr does that. It's the same world, but the story doesn't revolve around the Summer Court. The story about Faerie itself and all its courts. I see many more books in this series, there is plenty of material there. Looking forward to the next one-2011!
Others who read Radiant Shadows: My Friend Amy, Fyrefly's Book Blog, and In Between The Pages.

Philly Cheesesteak Lunch

The other day I headed out to get something for lunch. I planned to get an Italian sub at Buffalo Deli but I noticed this sign:

Philly Cheesesteaks! Sounds good.

Pretty straight forward menu. I plan to try the pizza next time but I wanted the cheesesteak this time. A guy came out and asked if I was hungry. Of course I was. A few minutes later he came out with this:

It was pretty big and filling. This cheesesteak reminded me of the ones that I had back in Philly-plenty of cheese and fried onions. I love cheesesteaks with peppers and onions more like this one:

It's less traditional but my favorite. I'll definitely be going back to Calozzi's for a lunch break!

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

 Just one for me this week. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr, the next in the Wicked Lovely series. I love love love the Wicked Lovely world and I am so happy to have more about that world to read. True, Ani isn't my favorite character but I just want to read more about that world. Know what I mean?
I finished The Book Thief and posted my review on The Fill In The Gap blog.
What did you get this week?

Replacing Fashion Magazines!

A few years ago, I stopped buying fashion magazines. If you knew me before I stopped buying them, I had tons of magazines (Glamour, Lucky, Marie Clare). I missed them at the beginning but I found a new better outlet: fashion bloggers :) Here are my favorites:

I Am Stylish
...Love Maegan - awesome DIY
Absolutely Apple
Already Pretty
Bombshell Beauty
Defying My Closet
Pretty In Plus
Work With What You Got
Young, Fat & Fabulous
Youlookfab

I especially love that they all have different budgets (from Louboutins to thrift shops) and they have varying body types. Now I get loads of great fashion information without tons of ads.

Crazy About Cirque

When Tai and I first started dating he invited me to see Cirque Du Soleil with him. Delirium was coming to Seattle and Tai had always wanted to see Cirque. I had seen some Cirque on tv but wasn't super impressed. It was reluctant to go but did because he wanted to see it so much. I quickly became a huge Cirque fan and was looking forward to our next Cirque show. It took 4 years for us to get to another Cirque show, Kooza. Again I was amazing and impressed.

I couldn't get over how these ladies moved. They don't need yoga, they are yoga!

This was Tai's favorite part. He loved these guys can couldn't stop talking about them. Also our seats were in the 3rd row so watching these guys was super scary!
When we came home from Kooza, I checked online to see if there any other shows coming to our area soon or any close enough to road trip to. I discovered that Alegria was coming to Tacoma, just a short drive away. I quickly bought tickets and cannot wait for our next Cirque show!
Have you seen any Cirque shows?

Progress on my Fill In The Gaps List

It's been about a year since I started participating in Fill In The Gaps. I'm making good progress. I've read 22 so far. I'm having the most trouble with the Books I Should Have Read In High School section. I haven't enjoyed the classics I've read so far (Lolita & The Sun Also Rises). I haven't even touched the Books I Own and Haven't Read Section! It's so hard for me to read my own books. I get most of my books from the library. I read those first since they have a deadline on them.
Here are all 22 reviews:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
A Reliable Wife
Little Bee
The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants
Fluke
Lolita
A Year In The Merde
From Hell
The Rest Falls Away
Cold Mountain
The Triumph of Deborah
Thank You For Smoking
When You Are Engulfed In Flames
The Help
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
North Of Beautiful
Justine
The Beach House
The Luxe
The Sun Also Rises
I Was Told There's Be Cake

I'm excited by my progress and hope to have 1/2 the list completed by next year.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Another 2 books for me this week. First StyleCinic. I spotted it on the shelves and thought it might have some interesting tips. I was pretty excited to see The Newlywed Kitchen on the shelf too. I started following Lorna on Twitter and then started reading her blog. Although I have to warn you, Lorna will make you hungry so only read her blog or follow her on twitter if you want to be hungry all the time. This is the probably the first time I've gotten a cookbook from the library on Library Loot. Despite the fact I like to cook, I have few cookbooks. I can find almost every recipe I want it online. So I save shelf space for other books.
What did you get this week?

Our Dinner At Habesha

Last week Tai's coworker, Neb, took us to eat Ethiopian food. Neb is from Eritrea (which used to be part of Ethiopia but now its it's own country) so we let him order.

Click on the picture to see what every thing was. I loved the lamb dish. The spices were delicious. The food was like nothing I had before. I loved the injera (the tortilla-ish bread you use to eat the food). There are no forks. You use injera to pick up the food and eat it. Here's an action shot of me eating:

Neb ordered beer, an Ethiopian beer.

 It was pretty good. It went well with the spicy food.
I really liked the food at Habesha. I would really recommend it and cannot wait to go back.