Bah ha ha ha!  Thank you Heather for sharing your creativity!

top : Tainted Kiss $21.00

shorts: cuffed cutoffs from my closet $FREE!

hat : goodwill $3.98

boots : My Label 69.99 pounds (.co.uk)

gloves : sold out but these are close, Foxgloves $20.00

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On Monday Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins arrived in the mail.  We finished it, as a family read aloud, last night.  After three days of reading we still can’t get enough! Luckily we have the third book in the series, Mockingjay, waiting on the shelf.

Catching Fire had a lot to live up to following the events of The Hunger Games and we were not disappointed.  Our protagonists Katniss and Peeta struggle through more Capital punishment in the form of the Quarter Quell.  The amazing twists and turns of the story are breathtaking and heart wrenching. I will not synops the story or give away any spoilers as it is too good a tale to divulge any secrets!

The events of the second book have escalated and increased our vested interest in all the characters of the first book.  The family and friends from the Seam, the Tributes of games past and new characters who loath the Capital and ache for rebellion make sacrifices and take actions that were unimaginable in The Hunger Games.  We love this book and will treasure it’s lessons of bravery and determination in the face of hardship.  <3 <3 <3

In a nutshell :: A woman named Diana, who is a witch, has been avoiding all things magical since she was a little girl when her parents were murdered.  Then, as a professor at Cambridge her well constructed non-magical world is turned topsy-turvy.   The book chronicles one month of Diana’s life and all the changes she must undergo in order to survive. Full of benevolent and malevolent witches, wizards, vampires and secret societies this book is a whirling adventure.    It’s kind of slow to start and sometimes goofy.  At some points, I sat with the book in my hands and said to myself, “Really?”

Diana is courageous to the point of stupidity all the while insisting she needs no protection then falling into her beloved’s arms … for protection.  Diana is presented as strong, capable and independent then morphed into a stubborn, sometimes reckless, damsel in distress.

Matthew, the beloved vampire, does not glitter but has pearl luminescent skin after he feeds and ashen skin when he’s hungry.  He feeds mostly on deer until he is seriously wounded and needs human prey to regain his strength.  Diana at one point sacrifices herself to him but is able to restrain his feeding frenzy by talking to him through her blood- reminding him of who she is an that she loves him.

The supporting characters are much more believable with very realistic flaws, allegiances, doubts, hopes and fears.

What kept me reading (in the face of main characters silliness) was the beautiful descriptions.  Harkness has a gift for setting.  Each location was described in brilliant and mesmerizing detail.  She engaged multiple sensory experiences in each location:  The scent of the aged books and woodsmoke, the cold rough castle floor, the inviting warmth of the steamy bath, the smooth and creaking floorboards in the moaning house, the dank must in the cold oubliette, the familiar weight of the quilt and the soft light of her attic bedroom.

I loved each and every setting.  I think it will be a great movie.  Movie?!  Yes, it’s already been picked up by Warner Brothers.  You can read more about Warner Brothers acquisition and the adaptation by David Auburn at filmofilia and slashfilm respectively.    This book to movie could fly or flop.  The book contained excellent settings, goofy main characters, and what could be a strong or weak plot depending on what changes David Auburn makes.  Twilight fans are going to eat it up… but HP die-hards will probably be left wanting more.

I LOVE Pinterest and fondly refer to it as my growing addiction.  There are many “How Pinterest Can Help Your Blog” posts out there and this is not one of them. Instead… this post is all about how Pinterest can hurt your blog and your brain.

Are you still here?  I imagine that was the last line many read. If you’re still with me I’d like to discuss the importance of originality and individual experience in the blogosphere.

Mass media presents a group view of news and entertainment. It is mainstream and made for the masses. The blogosphere was born out of the idea that the mainstream was not the only, and maybe not the best, stream for all the fish in the sea.  Early bloggers were independent and unique, they were out-of-the-box thinkers, movers and shakers.  Bloggers today are still one-of-a-kind people with interesting ideas and unique knowledge gained from individual experiences.

While Pinterest is a wonderful place to gather ideas and share thoughts, design ideas, DIY projects and fashion pieces it is also a vacuum where many creative and talented individuals spend time looking at what someone else did instead of making their own genius ideas into realities.

The ripple effect takes the splash of that new idea, crayons melted on canvas or mason jar lights, and spreads it in every direction across the net.  While the melted wax rides the tsunami wave of pinterest it simultaneously crashes down on and drowns ideas that haven’t been pinned.

“Well artisan’s should just pin their ideas then!”  Yes, they should and they do.  But here’s the rub…  The internet with all the fast-moving information and million links is working to turn our brains to swiss cheese.  The constant influx of information has changed the blueprints of our brains.  People are increasingly interested in gathering quick tidbits of information and less interested in sharing information.

“Why?”  It’s easy and rewarding to click on pretty pictures. It’s time-consuming and just more difficult to present ideas.  Add the copy-cat effect and the blogosphere becomes clogged with a million melted wax canvases.  Now suppose Savvy, an artisan, creates a fantastic pin and a fantastic post to go with it.  Savvy then pins to Pinterest, networks with Twitter, Facebook and Google+.  They link to other sites through comments and leave links on forums.  Their idea is out there in, let’s say, fifty places after one full day of internet working.  In the same time that it took Savvy to promote their idea 50 times – 500 pinners repinned the same image of copycat #2465′s melted wax canvas.

Savvy’s single pin and measly 50 mentions are lost in a sea of copycat art.

Pinterest for all it’s amazingness and addictiveness is squashing Savvy out of the blogosphere.  Is Pinterest becoming the mass media that the initial bloggers shunned?  Is it decreasing creativity?  What are your thoughts?

The box claimed that the color would stay through only 28 shampoos but I have extended that to more than 70 washes!!  Here’s the secret:

I used organic olive oil leave in conditioner and the color is just as vibrant as it was on Halloween.  But I’m getting bored with the darkness of it so it’s time to wash it out.  But how?  Well here’s the secret:

Any kind of conditioner will do, I’m using Suave Strawberry at this point but really, any conditioner will do the job!  My hair is luxuriously soft and there is less static, too.  So slowly, over the next 20 or so conditionings the color will rinse clean away.

Is it not the cutest sweater cardigan?  I bet it’s quite warm too. “See” is Chloe’s casual, ready to wear line and it is full of beautiful, comfortable, casual pieces. The cardigan comes from their spring 2012 collection and costs to much for me!  But… I did find two similar cropped cardigans, although neither is quite as lovely as Chloe’s.

They are both available at Macy’s on sale for $21.99. The first is by the  “American Rag” clothing line but is only available in this Egret color.  The second is from the “It’s Our Time” clothing line and comes in Forest Leaf (dark olive green) and Black.  My first choice is of course the coral Chloe sweater but in place of it the second Macy’s sweater… in black, would do nicely!

3/4 cup honey

1 cup water

1 cup lemon juice

Melt honey into water over medium heat, incorporate juice, cool and bottle.  Add 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cordial to one cup water.  Enjoy!  You could mix it stronger if you like.  I use it in place of crystal light or kool-aid.  It helps me drink more water and the kids like it too! To make the alcoholic drink simply substitute vodka in place of water in the initial mixing.  It stores forever and makes a great gift, too!

It has taken me so long, almost four months, to finish this book so my memory of the first half is a bit dodgy. I recall a shared vision of the peaceful future and the details of Mathilda at court and with the Liu children was interesting. The monthly Mackenzie meeting to name a new tannist was interesting, too. But the majority of the first half of the book was really spent filling in the details of what happened in Montival while the questers were, well, questing.  I didn’t care so much about the details, truth be told.  I was waiting for forward movement, which was not forthcoming.

As the book progressed I was drawn in to the history of the Liu family and their treason.  Most interesting was the more developed history of Lady Tiphane D’Ath before the change, and her struggles, then her begrudging development into a devotee of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare.  Very fitting for Lady Death.

Tears of the Sun is a middle book.  There is not resolution but a little hope, a little loss, a great deal of preparing for the next book and filling in any gap in the previous two.  The main characters were not the stars of the show.  Instead, supporting character Changlings were given depth and substance with more details as they will have pivotal roles in the upcoming books.  I do love Stirling’s ability to illicit hunger with his descriptive meals.  Picnic food and Ingolf Voegler’s love of potato salad got me this time.

I am glad Stirling gave us a solid battle plan and left off with victories at the end this book.  Without those I would not be eagerly awaiting the next book, Lord of the Mountains, which comes out this fall.