Chocolate: Randomness

I wouldn't mind trying one of these. Sounds very good. More about "The Wedding" later.

I'm ashamed to admit slipping into the horror that is cheap and readily available chocolate. I received a caramel filled Russell Stover chocolate bunny. While the caramel was tasty there was too much of it and I basically skinned the rabbit for consumption. B also purchased a large bag of peanut M&Ms, a stated weakness of mine. It's almost gone now.

Luckily there is no other chocolate available in the house, but that also means I'm lacking chocolate posts. Now is about the time I had some connections in the chocolate world. Mmmm, free samples ;)

Books: Accidentally Yours

Accidentally Yours by Susan Mallery was my 51st read from last summer. I'm excited that another summer is coming so I can find more books, but I don't think I'll try for the same goal. Anyway, the book was published in 2008 and right after it's release it got a review from a romance blogger. She despised it. She found the entire thing implausible and the characters unlikeable. It makes me sad.

The one thing that struck me the entire book was that even though the heroine was vulnerable, she was tough. Rarely do I read a romance where the female is strong. I'm always reading how she isn't good enough for the man or she had such a tragic past and he can't love her or how shy she is. She is never aggressive. The main character in this story is based on the fact that she doesn't need this man so she doesn't have to play helpless and needy for him. She does, however, play helpless when it comes to her son and his fatal disease. That I find understandable.

Okay, so it all boils down to that I enjoyed reading it, but be forwarned that it has an implausible set of situations, a horrible main character that resorts to blackmail to get money for her son and doesn't consider the morality of it, and a researcher that bypasses normal trials and FDA approval to give the heroine's son a cure. You'll be just as disappointed as that blogger.

TV: Reality TV Scarified

I'm gratefully home on a Monday (yes, I realize I'm posting a day late :( ) and thinking it might be nice to tune in to one of those daytime shows I miss while at work.

First, I hit nothing. I knew the names of almost none of them and flipped through the guide twice thinking I missed something.

Second, what I did find was none too appealing: Maury? "I'm Only 16...I'll Prove Your Boyfriend Is My Baby's Dad!", The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns, or Fast Times at Ridgemont High...uh, no. Although I think I would have watched I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant if I'd seen it ;)

Third, I happened upon CMT. The show was 20 Greatest Redneck Moments. Don't laugh! They were talking about mullets, and I had to stop and listen. Of course I watched the whole thing - laughing my head off. What was scary, though, was the show after: My Big Redneck Intervention. Some kind of off-shoot from My Big Redneck Wedding...camouflage tuxes riding in on a tractor or horse manure skee-ball.

Reality TV is something else. Yet another reason to work my 40 hour week.

Miscellaneous: Chain Mail & Hoaxes

One can gather from my posts that I'm a Facebook user, and it is more than obvious that I must have an email account with the amount of blogging I do. So it would come as no surprise to any that I've gotten my share of chain mail and mailed hoaxes.

Some comes from a couple of superstitious or happy-go-lucky friends who either think they really work or have fun participating.Some comes from people (especially on Facebook) that don't have a clue that what they are posting is chain mail or a hoax. Those annoying "If you are... repost this." messages are the worst. Whatever it is, it's extremely annoying. Mostly because I can't risk blocking or filtering everything that comes from that person just to weed the annoying mess out.

Advice? (Not that you asked or anything)
Don't forward it if it's been going around. These >>>>>shouldn't be there. And you're required to foward it to several other people for it to work.
Don't bother if it says that someone on their deathbed will survive and/or receive money if you forward.
If you like the message, click "like" not copy/paste.
Check Snopes or some other hoax checker if you aren't sure.
Be a thoughtful poster and emailer! :)

Okay, end rant now.

Men: Thierry Pepin

Oh. My!

So then I looked here... heavens!

I couldn't find much of a bio, but who cares?

Chocolate: Snickers, It was a Need

Books: Kyndred

Looking for someone new to read, I've found another writer, romance writer, doing paranormal. The series is called Kyndred and it focuses on people who were genetically altered by using the genes of the Darkyn. I can see you frowning. Darkyn are what we uninformed would call vampires and are the basis for the writer's other series aptly named Darkyn. The writer is Sheila Kelly, better known as Lynn Viehl. She also writes another series as S.L. Viehl.

Because the Kyndred come from the Darkyn, there are cross over characters in her first book for the series, Shadowlight. In this book the two are unfamiliar with each other and it will be fun to see how the two discover each other. However, I found the connection between the hero and heroine in this novel, Shadowlight, very thin and I hope that doesn't turn me away from the next book, Dreamveil (which was actually released in May of last year, but not available at the library last summer.)

Realize now that it is April and I read this first book, plus the teaser for it's sequel, in August.

TV: Tidbits 2

March Madness is over! :)

Fringe comes back with an interesting episode this Friday.

Covert Affairs returns this summer!

Is this true? Because...um...ugh.

Yikes! Should I be worried? Nah, I don't watch that much reality TV.

Lastly, I went through this entire list and what got me was the note at the very end. I've watched the Closer over B's shoulder. It grows on ya. I'll probably be watching next summer.

Miscellaneous: Movies

I confess to being the biggest, oldest nerd wanting to see the final installment of the Harry Potter movie this summer. I, if you haven't read this in another post, am such a Potter book fan that I have a record of getting up a 6 am for Amazon book deliveries on release days. Not a big enough fan to wear costumes or ditch work, though. Overall, I think the films have done their best to convey information. There are always those little nagging things - ones where I think I could have portrayed something slightly differently so as to give more background or info. But I have no clue what they left on the cutting room floor.

So it's fairly easy to say automatically that I'll be watching certain films. It's quite another trying to figure out if something new is worth seeing. I usually make a decision based on reviews; newspaper, TV, and random bloggers. One film right now has me interested: Hanna. I'm a mini fan of Saoirse Ronan - she is the quintessential eager child. This movie will portray her much differently than I'm used to. It is a suspenseful thriller. The question will be theater or DVD?

This is also the summer of superheroes.Another X-Men, Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern.
What about Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean?
I could go on...start here and branch out. What are you looking forward to?

Men: Motorola Xoom

I saw this hunk in a Verizon Motorola Xoom Commercial. I can't find anything else about him. But I'm not the only one who's noticed him :)
Watch here.

Surviving

Work has not been so great lately, folks. It's really depressing when you feel like going to work is like the worst part of your week. Most people (at least it seems like it) don't feel super excited everytime they get up and go to work, but it isn't necessarily the downer part of their day. I'm hoping that the feeling doesn't last because hating to go to work makes the rest of the day gloomy too. But I'm surviving.

I'm trying to find things that make my day better and wishing on the first star every night that things will improve.