TMI Mall Tour - Philly

OMG!!!

i met cassandra, lily & jamie!!!

they were such nice people...

more pictures on my fb.

it started off with the q & a...they didn't pick 

my question for jamie, oh well.

i wanted to ask jamie about doctor who because he's british.

 

 

after the q & a, my friends and i were the FIRST group for the signing!

how awesome is that?!?

i was so nervous so i was the last in the group for the signing.

cassandra, lily & jamie all signed my book, yes!!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

i finished murder below montparnasse...

wow...

the ending wasn't what i expected but it was very good!

now im really wondering when cara's

next book will come out! hopefully march 2014!

i cannot wait to see how aimee will adjust to something...

mum's the word

anyhoo, since the movie, city of bones will come out

on august 23rd, i decided to reread the book.

it's a good thing i am doing this because sometimes

i get confused between 

mortal instruments and infernal devices!  

i started reading COB two nights ago and what

is interesting is that when i started to read about jace, 

jamie campbell bower suddenly appeared in my mind.

of course after watching the trailer a couple of times,

i can't help but to have him imprinted in my memory.

when i read COB before, i totally had a different picture

of what jace looked like! it happens all the times.

but the exciting thing is...

i'm going to see jamie on FRIDAY!!!

along with lily collins and...

*drum roll*

cassandra clare!!! 

woohoo!!!

i will be heading to franklin mills in philly to join my friends.

they will do the q & a then all three will do the signing.

i totally cannot wait!

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

wow, what a weekend!

my friends came over to my house for the weekend
to spend time with each other.  

it was one of the best weekends i ever had!

thursday, 7/25 i took the commuter bus to d.c.

then took amtrak to philly where lynette picked me up.

she and i went to philly airport to get holly that flew in from 

north dakota then we went to get melody that came from texas.

it was soooo good to see holly again and

it was so nice to finally meet melody!

we all went to old city in philly and had dinner at the city tavern.

after that, we walked around to see independence hall,

liberty bell, etc. then we headed to my house.

friday, 7/26, i took the girls to wrlc to show them where i work.

then we went to baltimore. we walked around inner harbor and

had lunch at pf changs.  we went to the 27th floor of baltimore

world trade center.  then we went into various stores to find

souvenirs for the girls' family. 
we went to barnes and noble since i thought

it'd be cool to check it out because it is in the old power plant building.

we chilled out on the balcony of b&n then went to annapolis.

we made it to starbucks downtown annapolis before they closed. 

 lynette was really curious what it looked like since she loves history. 

it was where george washington played the game of poker and

lost a horse in a bet.  after that, we walked around downtown.  

the weather was gorgeous!

we had dinner at old galway bay...yummy!

a lot of laughing, of course. it felt like i put my abs to work

by laughing so much!

we went back to my house then went to chestertown the next morning.

the girls saw the farmer's market and i think
they enjoyed themselves walking around.

eventually we walked down to chester river to do some photo ops.

we had lunch at brooks tavern and they surprised
me with chocolate lava caketo celebrate my "40th" birthday. 
i kept on telling them that i wasn't

going to turn 40! just 39! poor them...they felt so bad!
LOLOLOL!

anyhoo, we went back to my house and we all packed.  it was sad but

still we would still have more time to spend with each other!

they spent some time at the house then we finally left around
4ish and headedto embassy suites at philly airport.

the hotel was quite interesting...a lot of family reunions but still

we all had fun.  we had dinner there and it was where melo
peed ice cubes!

we all went to bed after midnight and i woke up at

3:30 to wake up holly

4 to say good bye to holly

5:05 to make sure melo woke up

5:25 to make sure melo wasn't in the bed

6 to say good bye to melo

8:40 to wake up!

it was so sad saying good bye to holly & melo. :(

but they both made it home safely.  

i hope it won't be a long time until lynette & i see them again!

as of now, lynette & melo added the pictures to google +

and i will add more pictures later but for now, those are my favorite...

OMG...so hilarious! Raccoon eating cats' food...the ending is a must-see!

GoPro: Cat Bike Guy - Philadelphia, PA

my goodreads profile picture that i uploaded on 3/18/10!

i miss harry potter...at least i have the books

i could always reread!

man, spending some time in azkaban prison 

was really tough...

woohoo!

just did the color run in philly last sunday 

with an awesome group of girlfriends!!

here i look like a peacock!

Cara Black: Murder Below Montparnasse

it's time to visit aimee in paris!

i LOVE cara black and her aimee leduc series.

whenever i read it, it always made me think

about my trip to paris in 2009.

i miss it very much and hope to go

again soon...i need my paris fix.

i started this book last night on my iphone. 

my hubby was hogging my ipad 

but anything for aimee! :)

When Aimée’s long-term partner and best friend Rene leaves their detective agency for a new job in Silicon Valley, Aimée knows she can handle the extra workload. At least, that what she tells herself. Repeatedly.

But all bets are off when Yuri Volodya, a mysterious old Russian man, hires Aimée to protect a painting. By the time she gets to his Montparnasse atelier, the precious painting has already been stolen, leaving Aimée smelling a rat. The next day, Yuri is found tortured to death in his kitchen. To top it all off, it looks like Aimée isn’t the only one looking for the painting. Some very dangerous people are threatening her and her coworkers, and witnesses are dropping like flies. Now Aimée has to find the painting, stop her attackers, and figure out what her long-missing mother, who is on Interpol’s most wanted list, has to do with all this—fingers crossed she wasn’t Yuri’s murderer, despite clues pointing in that direction.

Obviously, Rene doesn’t need to worry. 
Aimee has things under control.

Diana Gabaldon: Dragonfly in Amber

just finished DIA yesterday...

needless to say i am experiencing the withdrawal already!

i miss jamie & claire!

the ending...wow!

jamie...don't want to ruin it for anyone who haven't read it.

voyager is next! but need to read

murder below montparnasse next since

i'm paris-sick. :( i miss aimee!

then city of bones is next

so i would be ready to watch the movie 

when it's released next month. cannot wait!

*gulp*

i just read an article in usatoday.com about the treasure hunt at the new york public library and saw something very interesting but at the same time, eww! i'm sure dickens had a reason for doing this but still! i love my cats so much and when they pass, i wouldn't do anything like this, that's for sure.

here's the link to the article:

N.Y. Public Library to host overnight treasure hunt

scroll down about halfway to find out what i'm talking about!

currently reading:

"the wives of henry oades"

i picked this book to read because a portion of this book took place in new zealand. i visited new zealand in 2006 and loved it. it's a gorgeous place! anyway, when i saw this book in a literary newsletter, i was intrigued by it. i did see maori people while i was in nz but they were nice. i guess a lot had changed since the story was based in late 1800's. this book is based on a real-life legal case of a husband having two wives. i have about 100 pages left and it's a good book to read. i cannot imagine losing peter and to have him come back eventually!

plot

When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected—and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret and her children.

For months, Henry scours the surrounding wilderness, until all hope is lost and his wife and children are presumed dead. Grief-stricken, he books passage to California. There he marries Nancy Foreland, a young widow with a new baby, and it seems they’ve both found happiness in the midst of their mourning—until Henry’s first wife and children show up, alive and having finally escaped captivity.

postcrossing

www.postcrossing.com

i joined postcrossing in january after a friend of mine mentioned it on facebook. i knew right away that i should do it because i love to collect stamps and also thought it would be a great way to learn about other countries. after signing up, i received 5 addresses and went out to get some postcards. i wrote various info on them then went to the post office and mailed them. i started getting the postcards after people who received mine registered them at postcrossing.com. as of now, i have received 12 postcards and i LOVE it! i look forward to mailing more later this week...i need to go to the post office to get more stamps. i can't wait to get more beautiful postcards!!

here's the first postcard i received:

this cat, minnie belongs to the sender of the postcard.
the sender took this picture and had it printed into postcards.
what a great idea!

sent by allison from burlington in ontario, canada
registered on 2.16.11

more testing...

floridastamptestcropped

floridastampcropped

testing

stamps from sweden...

how does this look??

blackwater national wildlife refuge

life is sure super busy for me these days! i haven't been able to use my mac in the rabbits' room for several weeks now since i was always do-do-do-do-ing things. fridays are usually my free day so i tend to spend several hours on my mac but the past three fridays, i had plans so i wasn't able to blog. weekends are always bad since i always spend them with my sweet petey doing fun and not-so-fun things (house chores, etc.). today is the exception...peter's working on upgrading his '73 BMW R75/5 getting it ready for a trip this summer.

anyway, three fridays ago, i went to blackwater national wildlife refuge with ken, a deaf friend of mine who lives about 30 minutes north of where i live. we really enjoyed ourselves! we went for a drive on the wildlife drive and we pulled over quite many times to check out the animals. we saw ospreys, bald eagles, delmarva squirrel, pelicans, geese and carps. i'd love to visit this place again soon!

photo credit: ken samson
(he used my camera several times...hope he had fun using it!)

delmarva squirrel

osprey!!!
photo credit: ken samson

bald eagle
too bad i don't have a 800mm lens for my camera!
it's about $12K for one...i don't think so...at least not right now, ha ha!

osprey cam
you can find it at:
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm.html

would you believe that we saw this bald eagle this close?!?
nah, we stopped by the visitor's center and saw this stuffed eagle.
it was really huge!!

inside the visitor's center, they have two tv monitors...
for osprey cam and eagle cam, a live feed for each!!
i wish it was like that on the internet, oh well.

osprey cam

a new quote

it's time for a new quote for my blog!

i saw this quote in "my life in france" by julia child and i LOVE it!! it was thérèse asche, a close friend of julia who said it:

"Une maison sans chat, c'est la vie sans soleil!"

in english:

"a house without a cat is like life without sunshine!"

this is true for me!!

saw the first osprey of the 2010 season!

this morning i went to the gym and had quite a workout and after that, i decided to go for a drive around the area where i live. i was hoping to see an osprey. i went to the nest that i always saw a few of ospreys on it last summer. i stopped to take a look at the nest and unfortunately it was empty. but i told myself that it might be a little too early and they will come very soon. then i drove like 20 feet or so and on the other side of the road, there it was...sitting on the utility pole! i was so thrilled so i pulled over again and stared at it for a long time, ha ha! i took a picture of it with my blackberry. of course the picture quality stinks but hey, it's better than nothing.

osprey!!

oh my gosh! i just found out that blackwater national wildlife refuge in cambrdige, maryland had their first osprey sighting of the 2010 season today at 5:05 pm! yay! so that means ospreys are starting to come here. i looked for them this morning on the way to work and this evening on the way to home but nothing. last summer there were 3 ospreys nests on route 50. i saw the ospreys almost everyday last summer and i really enjoyed looking at them. the nests are still there so hopefully all of them will be in use again!

gotta love the dark mask across the eyes!

check out the osprey cam if you're interested!

"my life in france"

hi all!

i finished reading "time was soft there" last sunday night and that was an awesome book! i really enjoyed reading about the author's experience working at shakespeare & comapny. when i went to this bookstore last fall, i had no idea that it was like until the author talked about it. i must have overlooked several things and one of them was the folding beds. there were authors, poets, etc. that stayed there for a limited time because they could not afford a place in paris. they needed a place to write and it was the perfect place!

anyway, for my next reading, i had several titles that i wanted to read but wasn't sure which one to choose from. hmm? until holly mentioned that she just bought "my life in france" by julia child and i thought it was the perfect choice for me so she and i could talk about it!! thanks holly! :) i just downloaded the book to my kindle last night. i started reading it last night at starbucks while enjoying my chai tea latte and it made me miss paris so much! i was able to recognize some places because i had visited them. the way julia described the french food at the restaurants she and her husband, paul went, it made me so hungry while reading! i just finished chapter one last night and am very excited to read chapter two, hopefully tonight if i'm awake enough, lol! one of the neat features with kindle is you can highlight a word or a sentence or even a paragraph. with chapter one, i already highlighted 14 different items because it was for the two reasons: my favorite parts of the book and i wanted to check them out online. one of my favorite parts is:

As we sat down, i heard two businessmen in gray suits at the next table asking questions of their waiter, an older, dignified man who gesticulated with a menu and answered them at length.

"what are they talking about?" I whispered to Paul.

"The waiter is telling them about chicken they ordered," he whispered back. "How it was raised, how it will be cooked, what side dishes they can have with it, and which wines would go with it best."

"Wine?" I said. "At lunch?"

oh my!! i laughed at this part! but this was when they were in paris in 1948 so i guess not a lot of people knew this about french people? anyway, that's it for now-bon appetit!*

*at the end of the introduction part of her book, julia child said this so i'm doing the same thing, heh!

my first dutch oven! & julia child cookbook

i had been wanting a le creuset dutch oven for a while now. when i saw "julie & julia" i was tempted to get one so i checked around for the best price. i'm sure you know that they're expensive! anyway, i found out that williams-sonoma was selling a 3.5-quart oval dutch oven for $129.95! a saving of $125! i thought about getting one right away but for some reason this idea was put on the back burner.

when i went to whole foods last thursday to do some grocery shopping, my meat guy (heh! he knows me and my husband) suggested that i sample the corned beef that they had cooked for the customers. i tasted it and, wow, it was very delicious! i asked him several questions about it and ended up buying a package of corned beef. the recipe stated to cook it in a large heavy pot or a dutch oven. i knew it was the right time to get a dutch oven. i was really hoping that williams-sonoma still had the special on a le creuset dutch oven. good enough they were! peter and i went to the store yesterday and bought a red one! i have always wanted a red one. a very traditional color, you know? i'm very excited to use the new dutch oven tomorrow when i cook the corned beef for dinner!



after i saw the movie, "julie & julia", i went out and bought julia child's cookbook, "mastering the art of french cooking". it's an incredible cookbook and there are plenty of recipes that require a lot of butter, yum!!!

the recipes in this cookbook were used in the movie, "julie & julia". there was this recipe that julie made and i'd love to do it soon now that i have the dutch oven, yay!! the recipe i'm talking about is boeuf bourguignon! a beef stew in red wine with bacon, onions and mushrooms. it's going to be a great learning experience so we'll see what happens!

notice the name, simone beck? i wonder if i'm related to her in any way? that would have been so cool, ha ha!