Jersey Style Baby

Last month was Michelle's Bachelorette party. I wish I had taken more pictures of our trip since we had so much fun. Since the guys were going away for a 4 day Bachelor Party, yes 4 days, we decided the girls needed to go away as well so we headed to Atlantic City! This was pretty much my first visit to AC, I went once with my mom briefly, but we were really only there for about an hour and didn't see much.

We all packed into Julie's car and we were off, it was 5 of us all together, Michelle, her sister Julie, Amy, who brings the party, and the two Rachels (me and Chris' sister, I'm not used to being more than one Rachel). We were staying at The Water Club at Borgata, which is really nice! I was not prepared for how much there was going on there, all the restaurants, shops, people (people watching there is the best). My only regret for the weekend was that I wish we could've seen more of the hotel, I didn't get to see the pool area which I heard was really nice. However I will say our room was extremely nice!

After we hung out for a while and got drinks down in the Casino, which were delicious, we love our pink lemonade martini's. We had to go get all girl-ied up and get ready to go out for the evening. You know with 5 girls getting ready this is no small feat either. Thankfully Amy helped me get ready and did my hair and makeup for me and it came out awesome.

Once we were finally ready to go we hopped in a cab and headed over to Revel, which according to Amy is the new hot spot in town. We had dinner reservations at their restaurant, One. While the menu isn't huge, it certainly made up for it in taste. All 5 of us ordered the filet mignon, and it was incredible, the steak was like butter and seriously melted in your mouth, it was delicious. After we had a solid coating in our stomach we were ready to get our drink on and party the night away. Our first stop was the HQ Nightclub there, not going to lie, it didn't seem like anything extra special to us. While it was fun, it didn't really stand out in our minds, but we had a good time up there dancing and the rain had finally stopped and we were able to go hang out outside for a little bit as well. Our favorite stop of the night had to be the Royal Jelly Burlesque Night Club, the  music was better in there and the crowd was jumping, it was a lot of fun. We had a great time dancing the night away there.

I wish I had more picture of the night but we'll just have to go back and do it again. I'd really love to go down there for the weekend with a few of our friends and go to dinner and a show. It was so much fun to get dressed up and check everything out. I can see why Bridget loves going there so much, with it being so close to home its a fun weekend away at an Adults Amusement Park! 

Anniversary Trip Ideas

I can't believe our second anniversary is exactly a month from today (or less by the time I actually get around to publishing this post). Now it's no secret that I love to travel. I am trying to convince Mike that we need to go away for our anniversary and make it a tradition that every year on our anniversary we should go away. Sometimes it's a little difficult to convince my Suzy Orman budget guy that it's a worth while expense, so I am constantly sending him ideas and emails with details and prices of potential trips we could do.

This year in contention I had several ideas however most of them were probably too expensive for our budget, but a girl can dream. So far I've emailed him ideas of:

•  A trip to Europe to Budapest, Vienna and Prague through Gate 1 travel, that one def didn't get any traction with him 
• Then there was a cruise on Royal Caribbean on the largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, around the Caribbean, but since we did the cruise last year and there was the Hurricane he wasn't overly keen on that one either
• I also found a cruise around the Greek Islands for 11 nights on Royal Caribbean, which would have been my ultimate dream and highest preference. The cruise itself was ridiculously cheap at only $600 per person for 11 nights, and obviously includes all your food. Unfortunately the airfare was close to double that sadly. The cruise left from Venice, went to Athens, Turkey, Mykonos, Santorini, and Croatia, that's like my dream cruise. I def plan to do that at some point, I will convince him! 
• There was also a long weekend possibly in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. Our friend Matt from work had done this with his wife and loved it, and neither one of us have ever been out west to that area before, but I heard it was beautiful, it was also pretty cost effective 

I almost have Mike convinced on a trip, so our two leading contenders at this point are either 

• A week down in Florida at my Grandparents condo in Fort Lauderdale, this is obviously the cheapest option as we only have to pay for airfare and a rental car for the week. Sadly my Dad's sister decided to put the condo on the market, although the rest of us are all really upset about it, it's such a fantastic condo that we love going to, so Mike and I didn't book our airfare yet because we were worried about it being on the market.
  
  If we do go there, I asked Mike if we could go back to Disney for the day, since it also happens to be the EPCOT food and wine festival going on that point which I would love to go. I may have also preemptively made us dinner reservations at the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort just in case we do go (it's very hard to get reservations). It would be on the night of our actual anniversary overlooking the Magic Kingdom during the fireworks show, I think it sounds perfect to me!
  
• Our other choice, which I think we're currently leaning slightly more towards would be a week in Punta Cana at an all inclusive resort, which is surprising since neither one of us are really huge beach people, but we've heard good things about going there. We would potentially leave on Monday morning coming back on Saturday. There are some really good, cheap, deals out there for the all inclusive resorts there that look really enticing! So we might be spending our anniversary at the beach. Neither one of us have done an all inclusive resort before so it could be fun. Right now we're looking at either the Majestic Colony or Barcelo Bavaro Palace

I think we are going to try and make a decision this week as to what we want to do, so let's see what we hopefully pick, I'd really like to go on vacation for our anniversary if we can swing it! 

Book Review - The Paris Wife

I'm so mad at myself for not writing this post sooner, I read this book about a month ago and I loved it so much, I wanted to write about it right away but I guess I never did, it was such a good book, it definitely deserves to go up on the blog. Hopefully I can still do justice in my review of the book since I'm so bad, I read something and then I feel like I forget a lot of the details right away.

I love that I can get all these great e-books from my library. The Paris Wife was a book that had been on the bottom of my book list for a while. I had heard of it, mainly in title only, but seen it come up on the best sellers list and have lots of good reviews. However I didn't really know much about the actual story. The cost of buying the book had put me off from reading it sooner. I'm so glad it was on the list of e-books that the library had otherwise I might have missed out on this excellent book!

Book Title:  The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain

Book Summary (From Amazon): A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Book Review: I loved this book, absolutely 5 stars in my book. I had no idea about the story of Earnest Hemingway, I only knew that he was a famous author. One of the really interesting things about this book was that it was a fiction book, but was heavily based on true stories and documentation but obviously part of the book was fictitious. It just felt so real thought, throughout the whole book I felt as if it really was his wife that was writing her side of the story, everything was so vivid and the emotion felt completely real. It was amazing the level of details that the author provides about that era, it felt as if I had been transported into the 1920s along with them.

What was also amazing was to read about the struggles of both Hadley to be a supportive wife and then what Ernest Hemingway went through as an author. She stood by him through everything to be this loyal and supportive wife and to see the way that he sometimes treated her, it brought such emotion, you really felt for her, which I think is the sign of a good book when you are able to feel the emotion of the character you are reading about.

This book absolutely deserves a place on the NY Times Best Seller List for good reason. For me I enjoyed reading about the era, and the true stories and lives of Ernest Hemingway and the circle of his friends that was introduced in the book.

Our First "Date"

One thing I realized that I never put on our blog was the story of one of our first "dates." It was 7 years ago this month which is pretty hard to believe, we were together for 5 before we got married, and here we are almost ready to celebrate our 2nd anniversary already.It wasn't officially a date, but I think I had asked Mike if he'd want to go into the city for the day and take advantage of the beautiful weather. We're pretty sure the date was September 17, 2005, which really is crazy it was seven years ago already.

We took the train from White Plains into Grand Central. I had the idea of going to my favorite museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm def a walker, although I think even I had underestimated the walk from Grand Central up to the Met. I think I told Mike it was maybe about 20 blocks, it was closer to like 40 blocks, he still never lets me forget that one, especially any time we are in the city, although I do know my way around the city. I love these pictures of Mike, I'm so glad that I have them. The pictures below was Mike's attempt to look sad/tired after I made him walk all the way up to the museum.

After the museum we stopped at a bar up by the museum for a drink where we sat and talked for a while. Then we had attempted to go to the San Gennaro Festival down in Little Italy, or maybe we did that after dinner, it is a little bit of a blur. I say attempted because we did not stay there very long, it was sooo crowded. I do remember that we did have dinner in the Theater District near times square. We went to this little Italian restaurant, Da Rosina. I'm not sure what I was laughing about at dinner but apparently it warranted a picture that Mike took of me here. I do remember this much that it was the night of our first kiss! And that is the story of our first date to NYC in a nutshell :-)

Summer May Be Over...

But that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy a good BBQ! In my family we grill all year round. My Dad is out there in rain, snow, sleet, or any other kind of rain inclement, the only thing that can stop him is running out of propane gas for the grill. Although now that I am thinking about it, we didn't actually BBQ this meal. We had an indoor BBQ last night, Mike for whatever reason hates to use our BBQ, which is really quite annoying, but anyway. He wanted to make the hamburgers on our grill pan that he recently discovered (when they were transporting Nick & Stephs gifts down this week, he noticed they got a grill pan, and inquired as to if we had one, we've had one for over 2 years...). I will say the burgers came out really good in the grill pan, although it could have been enhanced by the fact that we cooked the bacon in that pan first.

Anyway I digress. I made this salad once before and Mike absolutely loved it. The best part is it is so low fat, you can have an entire cup of the salad for only 4 weight watchers points, making it a huge win in my book and it's delicious! This salad is perfect for any bbq year round, or even for packing up with your lunch for work. I already can't wait to eat the leftovers! As a note, I used a pint of cherry tomatoes quartered in my salad since they were on sale, buy one get one free, and it worked perfect instead of using larger tomatoes and dicing them.

BLT Macaroni Salad 
Source: Skinny Taste (4 ww pt + for 1 cup!)

8 oz uncooked elbows
4 slices 25% reduced fat center cut bacon
2 large ripe tomatoes, beefsteak or vine ripe, diced small
4 tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise (I used Hellman's)
salt and fresh pepper to taste
2 cups baby spinach

In a large skillet cook bacon on medium-low heat until crispy on both sides. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions. Chop tomatoes and combine it along with any accumulated juice with mayonnaise and pepper in a medium bowl. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water to cool. Combine pasta with tomatoes and spinach mixing well. Toss in bacon right before serving.

Bronx Bombers

In my mind there's nothing better than a baseball game to capture my idea of a perfect summer night. So when my Brother invited us to go to a Yankee game with him and his friends, of course we were interested. Ironically I had been trying to persuade Mike to go to that same game, but he didn't accept my invitation, only Matthews.

Mike and I got there really early, in an attempt to beat out the traffic driving in from NJ, so we had plenty of time to walk around and take in the sights, as well as get me a new Yankee Stadium Hard Rock Cafe pin to add to my collection! I made Mike take my picture next to the giant Yankee baseball hat as well. While we walked around I took inventory on what my food options were for the evening, not going to lie, they were pretty limited. I have to say I think Citifield takes the cake in my mind for being the nicer baseball stadium in the area.

Matthew and his friends finally arrived, I think somewhere in the 3rd inning or so and then the fun began. Matthews best friend, also, Matt, was home from London on vacation and brought his adorable British girlfriend Sophie, and was giving her the grand tour of NYC, which included going to a Yankee game. They indulged in purchasing a foam finger as well for the occasion which as you can see provided great entertainment value. 

All in all we had a great time minus the Yankees losing that particular game, that part wasn't cool, but it was still a fun, but expensive time. One thing I will note is that it is not cheap to go to a Yankee game, not that anything is cheap these days. I think in the end for the 2 of us we ended up spending close to $150 for the night and that was with sitting in the bleacher section! I can't believe how expensive it is to go to a baseball game these days and this was being pretty moderate in our spending. Here's our costs broke down for the evening, I thought it would be fun to write it down so in 5 years from now I'll probably be saying this was a great deal! 

George Washington Bridge Toll - $12 

Parking - $35 

Bleacher Tickets (2) - $40 

Round of 2 beers - $12

One hotdog and one sausage sandwich - $14

Round of 3 beers - $33 

I can't even imagine going with a family of four, good thing there's only 2 of us right now, but it was definitely worth it! 

Not Too Many Veggies

Wow I am really behind on posting these pictures considering I took them on August 20th and it's now September 17th and I'm only getting around to updating my blog now (and I started this post a week ago). Sadly my garden has not quite progressed the way I was hoping. And unfortunately in the past week I have really started neglecting the poor garden and it's gotten a bit dry. I think I started giving up on it since the summer is now over and it didn't exactly produce the results I was expecting. 

Even though I didn't end up getting any vegetables I wouldn't consider it a total loss. One, I managed to keep the plants alive all summer, in what was one of the hottest summers on records, that alone speaks volumes. Two, I think I learned a lot from doing this. I def plan to do it again next summer since now I have all my containers and tools and it will be much less of an investment to do it again. I think my biggest problem was that I planted too many seeds in the tiny pots and it was overcrowded so while the plants grew, they couldn't reach their ultimate potential. I think I thinned them out too late. 

Mike promised me that one day I will have my own real garden and it won't have to be in pots on the deck and I will have a beautiful vegetable garden in our backyard. And Rocky won't be confined to the deck and can have a whole big backyard to run around in. Until then I'll keep getting my practice in my little containers. I look forward to giving it another shot next year and hopefully getting some vegetables next time! 

My only 'real' vegetable to grow - Little mini cucumbers!

The Day The Curb Hit Me

Here's a funny story.... I was driving home from the gym on Tuesday night, just going about my drive, not talking on the phone, or playing with my iPod or the radio or anything and then I felt it, "Ba Boom." The curb just jumped out of no where!!! I swear I didn't see that curb at all. And wouldn't you know it, that rather large boom POPPED the tire. I was lucky that I was no further than a quarter mile from our driveway (see map below) and I luckily puttered back home on my quickly deflating tire. This also means that I have driven past that same curb every single day, multiple times for the past 4 plus years and probably should have had more awareness about a curb on the side of the road.

I do not think that Mike would have been too happy about coming to retrieve me somewhere because I hit a curb and had a flat tire somewhere. I pulled into the driveway and proceeded to show him my latest damage that I had caused, needless to say he was not too pleased with my little mess. I also thought he was going to make me attempt to put the donut on the car myself but thankfully he got up Wednesday morning and put the donut on for me!

So along I went on my donut tire down to the Acura dealer to get a new tire. Thankfully when we purchased my car, Mike decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and purchase the tire insurance/protection plan. He must've have known I might do something like this. Mike told me the night before that the plan doesn't cover stupidity like hitting curbs, but I beg to differ. I simply told the girl it was a road hazard, which it was, curbs are road hazards too. And it paid for a shiny new tire. Good thing too, otherwise it would have been $235 for a replacement. If I hit one more curb (which is entirely possible) I'll have gotten more than our moneys worth out of the insurance plan.

In the end, I look at it this way I was just getting some of our money back that we spent on the insurance so it wasn't a total waste. I got a shiny new tire and a car wash, so my car is now cleaner than it was before Tuesday night, all in all, I look at it as a win! Here's a picture of  my shiny new tire (front passenger). I should've gotten a picture of the before and after but it was dark when I popped the tire.

Book Review - Short Stories

I read a couple of short stories earlier this summer that I thought I would mention. If any of my other kindle reading friends were interested since I spend a whopping total of $0.99 cents on all three stories. Big spender I know. All three were cute and kept my interest. To me during the summer time (or really anytime) when there's no shows on tv and just bad reruns or awful reality tv shows on I would much rather curl up with a book, even if it is just some cheesy short story which is what these three were, but it passed the time.

Lucy Wagner Gets in Shape - Lucy Wagner's ready for the future-her career's on track, and her relationship with Paul, her pediatrician boyfriend, seems headed for the alter. But when Paul reveals his infidelity, Lucy must pick up the pieces of her love life. Will training for an Extreme Adventure Race with her best friends Jen and Will help her rediscover her confidence? Or will she fall short of the finish line? (177 pages) ($0.99)

This book is apparently the first in a series. I'd read the next one for a dollar too, why not. It was cute, extremely predictable, but still cute. Great for when you want a book you don't need to concentrate or think about.

Sparks Fly - Angelina Morgan is a beautiful consultant who practices an ancient art form called Feng Shui. Will Scott is an all-business CEO who doesn't believe anything he can't see and touch. With the help of a meddling ex-wife, a well-meaning best friend, and a matchmaking mother, Angelina and Will are about to find out what happens when opposites attract...and sparks fly. (117 pages) ($0.00) ($1.99)

It wasn't anything overly special or memorable but again same as the other book, cute, predictable, and when you don't want a heavy read, just something to pass the time. Since when I downloaded it, it was free, I won't complain, I don't know I'd go rushing out to spend the $2 on it but if it comes up for free again it's worth a read.

The Diary of Darcy J Rhone - In anticipation of her new novel, Where We Belong, bestselling author Emily Giffin is releasing, as an all-new bonus, The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone. Filled with high school adventures of the beloved Darcy and Rachel from Something Borrowed and Something Blue, it gives readers a window into their lives before college, law school, and Dex. (75 pages) ($0.00 - Free)

If you love the book/movie Something Borrowed then this free download is for you. Unfortunately for me, Darcy is not my favorite character in the world and this short story didn't do much for me. I still read it none the less....

Book Review - Gone Girl

Thank you Pompton Lakes library for getting me my copy of this book in time for Labor Day weekend. This book was/made my weekend. I read the whole thing in under 2 days and spent most of Monday on the couch reading it. It was such an easy book to read and it def sucked you in. I love books with short chapters so you keep wanting to read one more chapter. I was hooked.

Book Title: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Book Summary (From Amazon): Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Book Review: Wow. Just wow. There were so many times throughout the book where I would say "OMG" or "No" things along those lines, like that didn't really happen. You know how when you're reading a really good book and you feel the need to say it out loud, or maybe that is just me, could very well be just me. Mike got to the point where he said enough of the commentary. He let me tell him the whole plot of the book afterwards since he was intrigued by all my comments and let's face it he was never going to read it. I don't want to give too much away in my review here. I will just say this, the book had plenty of twists and turns things that I was not expecting and were so messed up, you just can't even believe it. It was very clever because it was not what I was expecting at all and I really didn't even see it coming. Just read it, you won't believe what happens either. I'm sure of it. That's all I'm going to say. 

Susie's Favorite Enchilada's

I have been making these enchiladas for at least a decade now, if not even longer. I'm surprised I haven't blogged about them before. My mom got this recipe card when she first joined weight watchers and I found it and decided I wanted to make it. We have been hooked ever since. And while I don't make them too often, they are a fail safe recipe for me. And one that I know even Mike will eat and I don't have to ask him to. So they must be good. They are also ridiculously easy to make, the 'worst' part is squeezing the water out of the spinach, I hate that. Beyond that all you have to do is add all the ingredients together, roll them up, and top them with salsa and cheese, it's so easy! I meant to take a picture of them this time but I was hungry and wanted to eat. My Mom was excited when I brought the last 2 home to her this weekend!

Spinach & Cheese Enchiladas 
Slightly adapted from: Weight Watchers (photo from ww also)
My version makes 8 small enchiladas at 5 ww points + each

20 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to remove water  (2 boxes)
15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup(s) (shredded) part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 small tortillas (I buy 1 pt tortillas, add more pts for other types)
1 jar salsa
1/2 cup(s) shredded reduced-fat Mexican-style cheese

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 7 X 11-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Combine spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, oregano, onion, salt and pepper in a large bowl; mix well. Spoon 1/4 of spinach mixture onto center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, fold in ends and place side-by-side in prepared baking dish. Spoon salsa over tortillas and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of Mexican cheese. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 10 minutes more.

Book Review - Shadow of Night

It was a no brainer that our book club was going to read the sequel to A Discovery of witches. The timing of when we read the first one worked out perfectly, at the time we didn't even know that the sequel was only a month or two away from being released so that was great, sadly now we have to wait probably a year for the next one to be released, but at this point I feel pretty confident that I know we will continue to get together and meet for our book club! We did somewhat pick a place that went with the theme of our book again this month, we went to an Irish pub, since there's no English pubs, it was the closest we could get.

Let me also add that this book was worthy of buying the hardcopy version to add to my collection versus an e-book for my kindle. I've already loaned it to Kristin for her to read next!

Book Title: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Book Sumary (From Amazon): Deborah Harkness exploded onto the literary scene with her debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, Book One of the magical All Souls Trilogy and an international publishing phenomenon. The novel introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782.

Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the season.

Book Review: Let me start by saying that overall I enjoyed the book. I loved the continuation of the story and the characters however there were def a lot of things that I didn't like about the book also. I think it is suffering from what I'll "middle book syndrome." The middle book is never the best, its a lot of filler information before you wrap up the story in the third and final installment. The Lord of the Rings trilogy come to mind and in my opinion was the same way. Of course it has to be this way so they can pull everything together in the last book.

My major problem with the book was there was a lot of additional information, plots and characters that really didn't add much to the storyline. I can see what the author was trying to do but it just wasn't needed. As a History professor I think she was trying to cram too many different historical references into the book and as a result it wound up being 600 pages long. Not that I had a problem with the length because it did keep my attention, but I think it would have been more concise, sometimes less is more. There were far too many characters being introduced in the book, especially right off the bat it was difficult to remember who everyone was and how they fit in.

Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely recommend this book and series, I just didn't think it was as good as the first book, there was too much thrown in. There were a couple things that happened that did keep me going and I did manage to get through the book pretty quickly. I have high hopes for the third book though, I think it is going to be really good. I can't believe I have to wait a year now to see how it ends!

Summer Reflections

Well here it is September already, I can't believe it, in some ways I feel like the summer flew by, but in other areas I feel like it dragged on. Overall it was a wonderful summer. I got to spend most of it with my family and friends just doing low key things and hanging out.

One of the key themes of this summer was my trips back home. I managed to make it home to Long Island almost every 2 weeks it felt like. I got to see my beautiful nieces and their mommies. They are just getting too big too fast. Gabriella will be one in less than a month now, I can't believe last year at this time we were anxiously awaiting her arrival. And my little Olivia is getting so big too, she was walking all over the place when I got to see her yesterday. The other great part of going home this summer was the time I spent exploring Long Island itself with my mom. We finally made it out east and got to go to the Long Island wineries, Port Jefferson and even the Hamptons, and all of it was so much fun!

Even though it's only 50 miles from our house to get back home to my parents, it can sometimes be such a brutal ride, it can feel like so much further. You have to take 287 --> 208 --> Route 4 --> George Washington Bridge --> Cross Bronx --> Throgs Neck Bridge --> Cross Island Parkway --> Side Roads. It is not an easy drive thats for sure. Versus when we go to visit Mike's parents who live 50 minutes south of it, it is one straight shot down one highway. I wish we could live closer to both of our parents, 50 miles is just too far away! I hope that in the future we can move closer.

I haven't been writing much on my blog again, I have not felt the creativity or the urge to write. I'm backlogged on posts again from this summer, whether it was Michelle's Bachelorette Party, to the Yankee Game, and now our trip to the Hamptons, and several book reviews and recipes as well. I was thinking about it some more and I think what I'd like to do is continue writing this blog until our anniversary next month and then perhaps start a new blog. I'll be starting my thirties in a couple months and we'll be starting our third year of marriage, I think it'll be a good place to start something new and maybe it will give me a fresh start to getting back into my writing again so that I can continue to share it with my closest family members and friends.

I am also looking forward to the fall. The fall is our favorite time of year. Our annual apple picking trip is only a few weeks away. Next weekend is 7 years ago that Mike and I had our first "date" and we are possibly going to go into the city and recreate it (or part of it anyway). Plus I am going to look into taking some cooking classes with Michele, I've always wanted to do that. And Mike and I are trying to plan a small trip away for our anniversary next month, hopefully to Florida if they don't sell my grandparents condo first. And finally my 30th birthday is coming up. I'm so excited for the Wine & Cheese party we're going to have for my birthday. I know good things are right around the corner so I'm looking forward to the fall and hopefully all the good things it brings my way!