Looks like I’m going to get to paint some more masterpieces. The other day, Groupon had a deal for a $20 painting class at Painting with a Twist in Sugarland (worth $45). So a group of us purchased our groupons and have set it up to go paint Starry Starry Night on February 8th. The Galleria Girlfriends meetup group I’m a member of is going back to Pinot and Picasso on March 8th. We don’t know what we’re painting yet but our organizer had us list our top 3 and she would request whatever was most popular. I’m really looking forward to both! Can’t wait to hang all this awesome stuff (if they turn out well, that is)!

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If you don’t know about BookTrib, they are a book review site that has a weekly giveaway. They have 5 books they give away weekly, and you enter by selecting a book each week. Well, this week I won my second book from them!

The book I won is called The Paris Vendetta and it is by Steve Berry. From the reviews, it sounds similar in style to the new Dan Brown book, so I’m excited to read this.

Here’s a summary:

When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and Emperor, he had stolen uncountable riches from palaces, national treasuries, even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where the loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing and in his will he made no mention of his treasure.

Or did he?

Former-Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is about to find out after trouble comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally.

Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone’s good friend, Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multi-millionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon’s legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy.

But Thorvaldsen’s real objective is much more personal: a vendetta to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Which places Malone in an impossible quandary-one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets and cathedrals of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value.

But at what cost?

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So like I mentioned earlier, I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 and 2 for Christmas. And there started a new amazing addiction. Since it was hubby’s favorite show, we’ve been watching it together, probably about 3 episodes an evening. I just ordered Buffy Season 4 (we finished season 2 over New Year’s weekend and immediately ordered Season 3, and finished it already) and Angel Season 1 so I can keep up with both series. I’m sad I missed out on this great show so I’m making up for it now. It came out in ‘97, when I was too busy with choir rehearsals and later with AP classes on top of that. Needless to say, I didn’t get a lot of TV watching in when I was in high school. But I’m glad I can catch up now. The characters are great, the show has some interesting and unexpected twists, and is entertaining overall. Looks like we’ll be TV zombies until we finish both series. At the rate we’re going, we’ll be done by June. heh.

This past weekend we went to see the new vampire flick, Daybreakers. Wow was it a dark movie. The premise is the world is run by vampires and any humans who haven’t decided to turn are being hunted and farmed for blood. Well, then the human blood supply starts to run out, since most of the humans have either been turned, or are dead. And when the vampires haven’t had human blood in a while, they start to turn into mindless bat creatures. Creepy. Ethan Hawke’s character  didn’t want to turn, his brother forced him, so he refuses human blood and (since he’s a doctor) works to create a blood substitute, but isn’t very successful. As the blood supply gets lower, more and more monsters roam the streets. The remaining “normal” vampires, specifically the vampire army, catch these monsters and make them meet the sun. Yes, these normal vampires live a really nice life, with communities that give warnings when the sunrise is approaching, and even cars equipped for daytime driving.  Ethan Hawke (who makes a very hot vampire, by the way), teams up with a group of humans to find the cure. One former vampire has returned to his human state, and the doctor tries to repeat the accident that made him that way. He discovers that he can cure vampirism, and just like when a vampire bites a human and the vampirism spreads like a disease, a when a vampire bites a vampire-turned-human, humanity spreads like a disease. This movie has some Resident Evil qualities, and ends in a way with leaving it open for future movies, like Resident Evil always does, with a statement that they found the cure, and will fight for humanity. I definitely recommend this movie, but it is dark, and it is bloody.

Even though it may seem this way, I don’t just watch TV and movies. I also read. I just finished Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, and it was really good. Lots of suspense and crazy unexpected twists that Brown is known for.  With a happy ending, too. Not just a “things are ok now” ending, but a positive and hopeful ending. I think this might be his best work yet.

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Happy new year! Hard to believe it’s 2010 already.

Looks like I’ve gotten behind on posting yet again. There’s just too much going on that I don’t find enough time alone to sit down at the computer and write anything. This blog thing should just read my thoughts and post for me.

Anyways. Hubby and I went on our annual road trip to SoGANoFLa, cause apparently since we live “close enough” we now do this every year. It’s only a 14 hour drive to Middleburg, FL, not so bad. (gag). Anyway at least we had good weather on the drive. The annual Nanny Jo xmas party was a lot of fun with lots of pressies, as usual. Plus it’s always nice to hang out with all the cousin-in-laws that are our age. I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 1 and 2 (and we’ve already watched all those episodes) since I missed out on the show when it was actually on TV. What an amazing show! I already ordered season 3 because I just need to know what happens next. I also got this cool cooking thing that so far we’ve only used to make cool omelets but comes with a recipe book so I can supposedly make a lot more that’s simple but good. Cause I’m lazy and all. I got some other smaller stuff as well. Like an interesting gag gift from my sister-in-law: baby clothes. Ew!

We got to go to St. Augustine one evening and walk around the pretty decorated city. That’s really all we did that was fun and touristy, since the rest of the trip was spent staying with family doing.. family stuff? Hubby went hunting for 3 days but since it was the end of the season, he didn’t see anything larger than a squirrel, like last year, so no deer for us again. Although, his cousin did hit a deer with his car the night of the large family xmas party and hubby went to put her out of her misery (her front legs were broken and she couldn’t move, and was just a little fawn and couldn’t take care of herself) and some of his “redneck” cousins decided to take her and cut some meat out of her so we’d have something. It was past midnight and they were drunk, so we just got the backstraps out since they’re the best meat and easy to get out. So the other night for dinner we ate road kill. Heh! It was really good deer meat though, so at least we didn’t go back empty-handed. Next year hubby plans to go during the regular hunting season, and he should be able to since he won’t be in law school anymore; if he can get the time off work, if he even gets work.

We spent most of our trip staying with hubby’s parents. Our two doggies got along great, as usual, and I got a cute pic of them snuggling together.

While we were out there, they had “Mexican night” where all of my mother-in-law’s siblings and relatives brought a dish and we feasted. Then of course we had the actual xmas dinner and gift exchange that was separate from the Nanny Jo xmas. It was a pretty nice visit.

The week between the holidays was a blur. Work was slow since most people weren’t around so I took New Year’s Eve off as well.  That gave me a 4 day weekend! I had my friend Julie throw us a new year’s party where I invited a bunch of people that she finally got to meet. I don’t see the point in running in different circles, it’s just so much easier when everyone knows each other. Anyway, we played “apples to apples” most of the night and then watched the countdown and had some drinks. After some of the early birders left the party, those of us who remained had us some yummy double chocolate vodka that Julie got us. Yum.

The rest of the weekend hubby and I didn’t leave the house except to watch Sherlock Holmes on Saturday. it was an ok movie, but not what I was expecting. The remaining weekend time was spent glued to the couch watching 22 episodes of Buffy. Lovely relaxing lazy weekend. We need more of these!

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If you don’t know about BookTrib, they are a book review site that has a weekly giveaway. They have 5 books they give away weekly, and you enter by selecting a book each week. Well, this week I won my first book from them! So exciting!

The book I won is called Vanished and it is by Joseph Finder.

Here’s a summary:

Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it’s essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator–exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He’s a guy you don’t want to mess with. He’s also the man you call when you need a problem fixed.

Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick’s nephew, Gabe makes that call one night. After being attacked in Georgetown, his mother, Lauren, lies in a coma, and his step-dad, Roger, Nick’s brother, has vanished without a trace.

Nick and Roger have been on the outs since the arrest, trial, and conviction of their father, the notorious “fugitive financier,” Victor Heller. Where Nick strayed from the path, Roger followed their father’s footsteps into the corporate world. Now, as Nick searches for his brother, he’s on a collision course with one of the most powerful corporations in the world–and they will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.

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It is snowing here in Houston, Texas. I mean really snowing. I have some awesome photos of my grass covered in white powder, the cars, and even the dog! Check it out!

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Last week I went to a meetup at Pinot and Picasso. This is a painting studio in Houston where you can bring your own food and drinks, including wine, hence the name. I’m not artistic in the least, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to work, but the idea was fun so I went for it. The instructor has you paint step by step so it actually is pretty simple and a lot of fun. Our painting was a martini glass. Here is my awesome creation. I’m still deciding where to hang it. The background color I chose blends into my dining room too well so I was thinking maybe in the kitchen, but the only wall space I have is above the fridge. If it fits there we’ll hang it there. If not, we’ll hang it in my office.

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Wow, I am ridiculously behind on blogging.  I’ve been quite busy, with the visit of my family, then with getting sick, then with traveling for a wedding. And now that it’s November, it’s going to be non-stop through the end of the year.

My parents and grandma visited the week of October 19. They actually arrived on the 20th in the afternoon so I left work early to pick them up, and then took the rest of the week off. They left on Saturday. On Tuesday hubby decided to skip his evening classes and meet me at the airport to pick up my parents and grandma. So when we got them we just went home for dinner. We had put some beef stew in the slow cooker so it would be ready when they got home, and they were quite happy with that. I also prepared some cheese and salmon appetizers on a platter and they liked that too. I like being able to impress them. Much better than them criticizing me heh.

Wednesday was Daddy’s birthday. We spent the day hanging out downtown while hubby was in class. We hung out in the tunnels and ended up in Macy’s. And spent way too much money. But a really nice lady in the shoes department told us if you’re from out of town, you can go to the customer service department and get a “welcome visitor” coupon for an extra 10% off, so Daddy got one hehe.  Dad paid for all the stuff I got so that was cool. It was kinda odd he was buying me stuff on his birthday, but whatever. No complaints out of me. That evening we went to McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant in downtown and it was really good. I didn’t realize it looked so formal inside. Great food.

Thursday hubby had class all day so my parents and I drove to Kemah. Turns out most of their stuff doesn’t get started until 6pm so we just wandered around cause it was pretty and then went to the Aquarium restaurant for lunch. They had an exhibit where you could feed and pet the stingray so that was fun. When we got done there the stuff was opening up and we rode some of the rides, like the train around the place and the Ferris wheel.  Then we went through the haunted house which was more funny than scary cause Dad and I would go through and point out the people who were pretending to be fake and then would jump out at us. Then for dinner we went to Babin’s seafood restaurant. I know, eating nothing but fish all week. Seriously.

Friday hubby’s class got canceled so we hung out in the new outlet malls in Cypress. Bought too much stuff again, but hey, clothes are good stuff. Then we went for lunch at our favorite BBQ place, Carl’s BBQ in Cypress. YUM!

On Saturday we went to Forbidden Gardens, the miniature museum based on the Forbidden City in China. Then we went to eat at the Orleans seafood place (Daddy was on a seafood kick and wanted Cajun style food). After that we took my parents and grandma to the airport for their return flight.

It was a good visit and I enjoyed seeing my family. My parents and I got along great this time, mainly I think because we had a common enemy: my grandma. She’s so much trouble that we kept fighting with her, but didn’t fight with each other.

Saturday evening hubby and I went to a Halloween party. I was a pirate and he was a cowboy. I posted photos on facebook. Sunday I had two shows to attend with my other friend with the same name. First, it was our theater season pass tickets to Mary Poppins.  Then, Julie and I went to see the Star Wars in concert - the symphony where they played each score while the man who was C-3P0 narrated the movies. It was quite awesome.

All that excitement wore me out, and I caught a cold, so I spent the rest of the week trying to relax and get better. That weekend hubby and I flew to Jacksonville and drove up to GA for his sister’s wedding. She got married on Nov 1, but we flew up the day before so we missed Halloween. I was happy that I got to go to the party the previous weekend so I didn’t miss out entirely. Then I realized I was sick last year on Halloween too. I guess it’s just the changing of the seasons that gets me. Stupid colds.

Well I think that catches up to now. This past week at work was quite busy. We just hired a senior air person for our New Orleans office (she’s super nice) and just this week hired a senior air person for our Houston office (he seems nice too but I’ve only known him one day) so hopefully things will start turning around at work and getting better.

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 So why do I say that I’m a book addict? Well, I also like to read, yes. But I hardly read fast enough to keep up with all the books I accumulate. I have probably 30 or more books that I haven’t read yet already sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me, and yet I’ve added more.

I went to the Katy Budget Books semi-annual sale after work yesterday, and needed to be rescued. I got stranded in the mystery/thriller department, as you can imagine heh. They had boxes and boxes of books on the floor that were on sale, all for $1 or less (the $1 was for the hardback, and I only get paperback). Hubby called me on his way home from his late class and I was still there. Then he called me when he got home, and I was finally trying to get to the line so I would stop looking around. I tried hard to only stick to authors I’ve read before or at least have heard a lot about. Even so, I ended up with 24 books. And the grand total was $15. OMG!

Then, I signed up for a bajillion book giveaway contest thingers. I found this great list of giveaways for the month of October on the Layers of Thought book blog. Right now they’re doing a giveaway for my friend Nicole’s book Release. Right now it’s only available as an e-book, but soon it will be in print too. It’s about vampires So if interested in the giveaway, go check it out.

I’ve been doing some book clubs lately and that’s been helping me ramp up in my reading. Right now I’m attempting to be a semi-active member in two different book clubs, but seems like I’ve been doing alternating months since I can’t find the time to read more than one book per month. But maybe soon.

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So I’m behind in posting again. I’m bad at this. Sorry.

Let’s see, well, I’ve been keeping my social calendar ridiculously busy.  Mostly with girls nite out type events, so hubby has to sit home alone. Well, that’s what he gets for being gone so much for the military, I make my own plans and then don’t want to stop them when his schedule gets less busy when summer ends. But anyway, he’d been complaining that he has not been able to spend much time with me and said he’s been wanting to kidnap me on a secret date for a while. So we made plans for Saturday the weekend before this one (the 19th). I didn’t get to know anything about where we were going. He gave little hints during the week prior but not much to go on. I finally got told what I’m supposed to wear, and it was basically something I wouldn’t mind getting muddy. Um, huh? So turns out we ended up driving to San Antonio (and back in the same day!) to go spelunking! He took me to Cascading Caverns and Natural Bridge Caverns. Cascading was neat because that’s where Patrick Swayze’s movie Father Hood was filmed. They also had some dinosaur bones found there so that was on display. The cave formations there were not as impressive as some others I’ve seen though. The cathedral room was pretty neat though with the waterfall inside the cave, but you could barely see it since it hugged the cave walls. Then we went to Natural Bridge Caverns, and the formations there were absolutely amazing. We’ve been to quite a few caves, in California and Tennessee, but this one is definitely the best. It’s the largest too. I took a ton of pictures but I haven’t uploaded them from my camera yet.

After we got home from the caverns trip we had to change real quick and turn around to go out to a friend’s birthday party at Pete’s Dueling Piano bar, which just happens to be my favorite bar! I hate bars in general, but piano bars I like, and this one is the most fun. So we had an absolute blast, even though we were quite exhausted. Even hubby enjoyed himself, which just shows that it’s a great place, cause he didn’t like Howl at the Moon at all. Yes, that was quite the busy day.

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