Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts

Sunday, August 7, 2011

This and That

Hello, everyone! Do you miss me? I sure miss you guys, considering that my blog has been so quiet lately and I apologise for that. In case you are wondering, I am still up and reading. For my friends who follow me on Facebook, you must have known that I have been spending too much of my reading time on playing Gardens of Time and Puzzled Hearts and let me tell you that these games are addictive, especially the former! But... do I ever regret of playing it in the first place? Absolutely not. Aside from taking up part of my time, I have to say not only I have fun playing them but I have also made a few friends along the way. To make things better, I just discovered that one of them (Hello, Melinda!) is a reader too and the other day she asked about a book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett and we ended up having a little chat via the comments.

Despite the fact that I have been spending some time on Facebook games, that does not mean that I will be giving up on reading entirely. Absolutely not! For starters, I love reading too much to give it up completely. My reading progress may be slow lately, but let me assure you that I am reading and my reviews will be up once I have finished reading the books, as always!

Anyways, I am currently reading Forever by Maggie Stiefvater and for those of you who follow this series, you would know that this is the final instalment of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and I can't wait to find out what happened with Sam and Grace, as well as Cole and Isabel, both whom I think have enough chemistry to sizzle the pages also! After this, I have no idea what to read next as I have too many choices in mind - should I read the review copies sent by the wonderful publicists, or should I indulge in those books which have been on my reading list like, forever? Also, I have heard so many good things about The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy, and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series starting with The Redbreast. What do you think? Any ideas? And to all Jo Nesbo's fans out there, do you know that there will be a film titled Headhunters based on his novel? (Watch the trailer.)

Onto a non-reading issue, I tried preparing a vegan chicken teriyaki steak yesterday afternoon and I am sad to say my attempt was a half success. The preparation took up some time though, since I need to boil the soybeans thoroughly to make them soft so that I could mash them. Frying them wasn't a problem, but I have to say it is surely a challenge to me to get the sauce right. In the end, I find the sauce to be a bit sweet to our taste, but overall it was a great experience and I have my husband to thank for for helping me with the soybeans mashing and listening to all my rants. We both agreed that if we want to make this dish the next time again, we'd better get a mincer quickly, LOL. (If you are interested in preparing this dish, you may wish to check it out on this link.)

Before I end this post, I am glad to note that BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) is here again! You can be sure that I will be participating and that I have a few bookbloggers I have in mind for the nominations!

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Monday Ramblings

Strawberry Shortcake has been one of my favourite cartoon characters when I was a little girl, despite that Strawberry Shortcake and her friends had revamps over the years as each got a makeover with a complete new looks, clothes and style.

Anyway, when I knew that Strawberry Shortcake and her friend will be performing in one of our neighbourhood shopping malls as part of their holiday season celebrations, I was exhilarated and felt like an eight-year-old girl all over again. And what makes me happy is that my seven-year-old daughter likes this character too so the more I should go watch their performance, isn’t it?

I was lucky that I was able to get into the line so that we would have the chance to take a picture with these characters after their performance. The event was so much fun as it was filled with great music and loads of interactions between the performers and the children. Though it was only a 20-minute show, still I was glad to be there and that I had a wonderful time with my daughter as well as with the other children (their shouts of joy was simply contagious!).

Reading-wise, I had just finished reading Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn on my way to work this morning. What can I say? It was a delightful read and the premise is so, so clever! I hope to have the review up this week.

I can’t believe that it is already December and that Christmas is approaching. Have you done your Christmas shopping already? I have not; I am such a slacker but then again, there have been a lot of things on my plate lately (I suppose this is a valid excuse, no?).

Well, I hope you all have a great week!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where readers get to share the books that came into their house last week.

I bought and received the following book from The Book Depository after reading so much rave reviews about it:

1) How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway (I love reading about other cultures and don't you think the cover is lovely?)

What books came into your house last week?



I mentioned this on Facebook last Friday but I want to share this good news here again: My daughter has gotten a place at the primary school after the balloting!

I know this may sound silly but believe me I have never felt so nervous (and excited) just waiting and praying our number to be called! (I don't recall being that tense waiting at a dentist office but that's another matter...) And the best thing is, a few of my daughter's friends (they are all in the same kindergarten class) got into the same school too so at least she has got company! Well, I want to thank all my friends who have sent your well wishes to me! I really appreciate them all!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Friday Musings

So I mentioned on Facebook yesterday that my mailbox was jammed, and this was due to a few book packages had arrived at the same time but mainly it was a cardboard box that caused the jam. Anyway, I was glad the problem was fixed after a telephone call to the post office.

Here are the books that arrived into my house:

A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
Freak Magnet by Andrew Auseon

And here are the books I bought for my daughter:

Strawberry Shortcake: A Picnic Adventure by Lisa Gallo, Laura Thomas (Illustrator)
Ballet School by Sierra Harimann, Lisa Workman (Illustrator)

Reading wise, I'm currently reading Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and I'm enjoying every moment of it. I knew many of you have read this second instalment of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and loving it, so I can't wait to find out what would happen between Sam and Grace. Besides this, I'm also reading Toy Story 1 - 3 Disney graphic novels and since each novel has about 50 pages I think I'll be able to finish reading them very soon. What I love about these graphic novels is not only the illustrations are in colour but they have also made me want to watch those animations all over again.

Onto a non-bookish note, next Monday we are going to register our eldest daughter for the admission to Primary One school for Year 2011. How time flies, eh? Six years ago today, she was only a 4-month-old baby. Where has the time go? Now can you understand why I started to post my Nostalgic Moments on this blog, so that when I get old and weak I've something to look back and remember. Ah.

So my daughter was telling me that she'd like to have her best friend attend the same school as her. Since I knew her friend's mother, we have planned to go to the school together for the registration. I just hope luck would be on us so we'd have no problem with the registration, after all if the number exceeded the limit there'd be a ballot. Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. I shall be catching up on blogs reading/commenting once I'm back next Tuesday.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Monday Ramblings & Library Loot

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a wonderful Father's Day yesterday! We enjoyed ours and look what I found at the bookstore after we had our scrumptious lunch - Faithful Place by Tana French! This is one of my most eagerly anticipated books of the year and I was thrilled that they are already released here! (Well, if you have read In the Woods and The Likeness, you'd be able to understand my excitement.)




Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Here's what I borrowed last Friday:

1) Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

2) The Stand by Stephen King (Initially I couldn't make up my mind whether or not to pick this up considering this is a chunkster and I'll probably couldn't finish reading it on time since I have another two more library books to read, but still I got it anyway as I've seen many SK fans highly recommend this. Plus, I've heard there are inevitable comparisons with Justin Cronin's The Passage so definitely my curiosity is piqued!)

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Monday Ramblings

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had had a long weekend since last Friday was a public holiday for us here - Vesak Day. Initially my husband and I had talked about going for a short vacation during this period, but we changed our mind at the last minute. And since the opening of Universal Studios Singapore in March this year, we had talked about visiting the theme park and what made this visit so exciting is that it is the second Universal Studios Theme Park to open in Asia (the first in Japan) so all of us were looking forward to it.

So last Wednesday, we went to the theme park but unfortunately its main attraction - Battlestar Galactica (the world's tallest dueling roller coaster) was not available so we could only marvel at the structure from afar and took some pictures. Anyway, my post for this trip would be forthcoming so stay tuned for that!

Reading wise, I finished reading Hate List by Jennifer Brown last Friday. I totally enjoyed the reading experience, though I have to say it wasn't a happy story but still a powerful and thought-provoking read. My review will be up soon.

There's no Mailbox Monday post today since I did not receive any books last week, but I did buy two books over the weekend: Half World by Hiromi Goto (illustrated by Jillian Tamaki) and Keep Sweet by Michele Dominguez Greene. Actually I have plans to read another book after finishing Hate List but I just could not help picking up Half World for my next read because the premise sounds so intriguing! It is a coming-of-age story with a fantasy theme and I knew I just have to read it, now! Anyway, I am already mesmerised by the plot and I cannot wait to share my thoughts with you once I am done with it.

So that's my account of what's been happening in my life for the past few days. What about you? Did you go anywhere? What books are you reading now?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Miscellaneous Ramblings and Mailbox Monday

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a wonderful one - my husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Saturday and guess what he did? He bought us a lovely cake and some roses for me. I didn't know who blushed more; me when receiving those roses or our eldest daughter (she's six) looking on with a huge grin plastered on her face.

Later in the evening, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. It was my treat this time around, and I have to confess I am now addicted to soba (it is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour and is served with chilled dipping sauce) and yasai tempura (deep fried vegetables, e.g. eggplant, okra, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, etc served with tempura sauce), and not to mention some delicious mixed vegetables sushi! Yum!

We spent our Sunday yesterday catching up on watching the last two DVDs of Autumn's Concerto (下一站,幸福); it was a moving story about love, friendship and family and I was sorry to see it end. I felt like writing a post on this Taiwanese drama but I am afraid it would be nothing but a gushing post (and my admiration for the lead actor, Van Ness Wu is another matter). ;-P

Anyway, onto a book-related topic. Here's what I received last week:

1) Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti *

2) The Karma Club by Jessica Brody *

3) Spells by Aprilynne Pike *

4) Mariana by Monica Dickens (bought from Persephone Books)

5) Never Let You Go by Erin Healy (review copy)

* Books bought from The Book Depository.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where readers will share about the books that they received last week.

What books came into your house last week?

Friday, October 2, 2009

Books Talk and Some Awards

I am back from my short blogging break. I know, it is nothing much of a big deal but I sure missed you all! So what did I do during the break? I spent loads of time with my daughters, especially my 1-year-old since my eldest one goes to the childcare during the daytime. And I had also spent some time reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins when my little one was napping and I want to tell you I couldn't stop reading that book because it is so intense!

I am also happy to receive some books I ordered from The Book Depository a while back. Here are what I got: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (thanks to Nymeth's review), The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan (thanks to Eva's review). I visited the bookstore during lunchtime earlier and I was so thrilled to find Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger on shelves so of course I had to grab it! So, did you buy any books lately?

Finally, I received some bloggy love and I want to share them with you. Thanks to Keri for passing on the following awards to me:

My Top Blog Commenters Award

Super Comments Award

For these awards, I am passing them on to:

Also, thanks to Ceri for passing on the following award to me:

Proximidade AwardBeing a recipient of this award affirms that this blog invests and believes in the Proximity – nearness in space, time and relationships. This blog receives this great award as a further way to reiterate that it is exceedingly charming, and aims to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!

I am passing this award to:

I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead! Happy reading!