Collection Tattoo Celebrity Hollywood

“Oyeyemi delivers her third passionate and unusual book, a neo-gothic tale revolving around Miranda and Eliot Silver, fraternal twins raised in a British house haunted by generations of afflicted, displaced family members, including their mother. Miranda suffers from pica, an affliction that causes her to eat nonedible items, which is passed down to her via the specters from her childhood that now punctuate her nightmares. As the novel progresses, the increasingly violent nature of this bizarre, insatiable hunger reveals itself to be the ironclad grip of the dead over the living or of mother over daughter. The book is structured around multiple voices-including that of the house itself-that bleed into one another. Appealing from page one, the story, like the house, becomes extremely foreboding, as the house is 'storing its collapse' and 'can only be as good as' those who inhabit it. The house's protective, selfish voice carries a child's vision of loss: in the absence of a mother, feelings of anger, betrayal and bodily desire replace the sensation of connection. Unconventional, intoxicating and deeply disquieting.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

What a lovely weekend! Hank and I headed down to Phoenix Friday night, stopping at Green for dinner and Yogurtland for dessert. Yogurtland is one of our favorite yogurt places that we first tried in Long Beach- Autumn has one right down the street from her house and when we visit we will usually walk down there once a day (sometimes even twice!). I usually just get the tart flavor and add various fruits, and Hank prefers the sweeter flavors, like cheesecake. We headed to my parents' home afterwards and spent some time with the family before heading to bed.

our fave long beach yogurt shop is in tempe now, yay!

Saturday morning Hank had a haircut at Erika's, and next to her place is a little comic book store...and we forgot it was free comic book day! Hank was stoked.

After hair and comics, we decided to do some shopping and headed to Nordstrom and other various stores. It's so hard for me to control myself in Anthropologie- I want about 6 dresses in there right now, but I keep thinking about our vacation coming up and how I know I'll want to spend my money in other places, including vintage in Vermont (sounds odd I know, but so good) and NYC.

We got home, had a great workout, and started getting ready for our evening at Shirley's event, Viva Las Vegas at City North in Scottsdale. The event was for charity, and the money went to various children's foundations in the Valley. Tickets were $75 per person and there were so, so many people there so I'm sure they made a wonderful amount! Autumn and Jason flew in for the weekend, and almost everyone was in one place. It was so nice. Autumn also told me the good news that she will be flying in for my birthday party (Shirley's bday party is the next night too, we planned it perfectly!). It just warms my heart to be around these girls, they've been my best friends for almost 10 years now and are truly the best friends. Autumn lives in another state, but makes a point to visit Prescott, and Shirley is the same. All of the girls in our group also make it a point to always be happy for one another, we are all so different but always celebrate each other successes. That's not always the case in my experience and when I get down, I know I always have these girls there for me to remind me of what a friend is. Having people in your life that really know you, know where you've been, know all the funny stories in your life from years and years ago- that's amazing. And I cherish that so much. We shared our college experience together, most of us lived together, etc, and they've seen it all. They have been there for me through thick and thin, are so positive, and I appreciate them more than they'll ever know.

And on a side note too, recently I've been getting back in touch with some old friends from high school and it makes me so happy to see them so happy in their new, adult lives! It's funny because we all used to be quite the wild bunch of girls, but now we're all grown up, most of us married, many of them with children...and it's so touching to know we still have a common bond. Some of those girls have been with me through all of my crazy phases in high school, they were right beside me doing way too much partying, having insane adventures, and I love that we have all these silly, crazy memories. I've been having fun catching up with a bunch of them and I love it. I could go on about this, but back to the weekend!

So, the entire night was amazing. Tons of restaurants set up booths and tables, giving out food, drinks...and cupcakes! There were three cupcake tables from different vendors, ice cream tables, gelato. SO GOOD. Sushi was in abundance too, which I loved of course. We spent the night sampling different food and drinks while the guys gambled at the black jack and roulette tables. There was a silent auction, raffle, etc which was great as well. Overall, it was a wonderful evening with hundreds and hundreds of people in attendance, dressed up and supporting a good cause. Yay Shirley for putting on such a successful event!

After a late night, this morning was a bit of a slow start but I ended up having one of the best workouts I've had in awhile. I am getting back into the swing of things with my weights (one of my fave parts about working out - I am a self-professed cardio junkie but weights are necessary to see real change, and plus I love lifting), and I worked my chest, back, and abs this morning. I was doing P90X for awhile, but I need to be in the gym to stay motivated. In effect, my weights have been slacking and I can totally tell the difference in my muscle tone. My legs are the same because they're naturally pretty toned/athletic, but even in photos I can see that my shoulders, chest and arms are not the same as they were. Yuck! So, back to the weight room I go, like normal. I will be on the beach for 3 weeks, in about 3 weeks, which is just enough time to fix what needs fixing! Luckily my bod responds quickly to weight training, and I will never make this mistake again. Tomorrow I start my 2-a-day workouts during the school week (cardio in the AM and light cardio/weights in the PM). I have about 5 more pounds to lose to reach my goal weight, although this may change as I lift more. In my mind I'd actually like to weigh 10 pounds less but I know that's not healthy for me so I need to just stop those thoughts right away. Anyway, this was boring talk I am sure but thanks for reading.

Tomorrow also begins the official countdown towards the last day of school! I am taking a day off next week, so I officially have 12 work days left! I am so happy. Soooo happy! I love teaching, and the summers really, really add to the happiness I feel about my profession. Talk about a PMA going into the last couple of weeks of school!

I'll leave you with some photos of the event Saturday night- you can click on any of them to take you to my Flickr, where I have about 45 more!

Have a beautiful night sweet blogger friends!

ready to go!