It's been a while...

I haven't blogged in a while. A looong while. Stuff happens, life takes over and BAM! time has literally flown by. I was just reading this post from September of 2010. It's from when my daughter and I decided to go pescatarian. Here I am almost 11 yers later and I've stuck to my guns. My daughter, however, had to give it up when she decided to major in Culinary in High School school. She obviously had to be able to taste her food so it didn't make sense for her to limit her diet. She did it for about 4 years though and that's a big ask for a 12 year old. She's still an amazing kid. Since then, she's graduated from Johnson And Wales University with an AA in Baking and Pastry and a BS in Food Service Management. She's starting her own bankery business called Whisk It All Bakeshop. How cute is that? She has so much talent and is so creative she blows me away sometimes.

In the meantime, I'm back on my on-again, off-again (over so many years) weightloss journey. I'm back at the on-again phase and doing pretty well. I'm just tired of being the biggest person in the room and being so self-conscious about how I look all the time. The problem this time around is, of course, I'm so much older that I was when it was quick and easy to decide to lose weight. I'm peri-menupausal and in my 50's. But there's also no better time to decide to treat yourself right than right now. Am I right? So here we are again. Water has become my new best friend (it's amazing how a lime wedge and a slice of ginger can transform your attitude about something that is otherwise so bland) and sugar is my mortal enemy.🚫 With a family histroy of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, I need to take this seriously. So, intertwined with my book journey, my (post-covid) travel adventures, and my daughter's baking busiess, I'm going to try documenting as much about my weightloss progress as possible. I'm hoping that writing about it, even if no one reads it, will help me stay on track and keep me honest. Here we go...

Parker & Knight by Remington Kane
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Awful. Sexist, horribly written, awful grammatical mistakes (so many sentences ended with a comma!). Who does that? Who edited that? I am just grateful I got through it and it is finally over. Moving on....

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The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story was pretty engaging. There were a lot of twists that kept me interested. I didn't love the main character so much. I felt like his off the cuff Shakespeare quotes and encyclopedia facts randomly tossed in to general conversation were unnecessarily condescending and felt forced and unnatural. The story about the priest, which had nothing to do with the main story, made an otherwise good guy come off as kind of a psycho, even though they tried to explain his past exeriences with bullies. And so many meals! I get that the guy's gotta eat but EVERY meal is described from appetizer to dessert. It's too much! If you can get past those little annoyances, the story itself was pretty good.

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Review: The Lying Game

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On every soap opera, two or three characters share a secret. They have constant conversations about said secret, repeating it over and over until just the wrong person is lurking around the corner to overhear it and use it for leverage or blackmail within the next two or three episodes. This book is NOTHING like that. These four ladies REALLY know how to keep a secret. Even when they are discussing the past, we never really know what happened until it slowly unfolds throughout the story. The characters are distinctive and likable and we are able to see how their relationships developed and grew, and what time and this secret have done to make them who they are as adults. Its a great story that dispels bits of information at a great pace. I really enjoyed this one.

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Review: Origin

Origin by Dan Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the book. The action leading up to the suspense was obvious but the "big revelation" was not... until it happened. Good story that kept my attention but I'm not sure it's for everyone. Especially if those that are super-religious or kind of closed-minded. (Typical Dan Brown stuff.) If nothing else, you will undoubtedly learn something about art, an author, a famous piece of writing, or some form of architecture that you didn't know about before.


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Review: American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked it, it was very visual and definitely kept my interest. But I've read reviews of people reading this over and over again and I can't see myself doing that. At least I know enough to start watching the series.

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Review: Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Same type of suspense as the first story (which I enjoyed). No one develps characters as well as Stephen King (except maybe Harlan Coben). Definitely moving on to Book #3.

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