Hannah's First Birthday

Little Miss Hannah celebrated her first birthday with a Luau Birthday Party on March 16, 2013.

It was a snowy day for a luau.

Jackie's house was very welcoming.

Leis, Hawaiian print table linens and paper goods, beach towels on the floor beach balls, and resort casual wear were everywhere.

Adam made Blue Hawaiians for the adults.  We all snacked on finger sandwiches of peanut butter and jelly/ham and cheese, fruit salad, rainbow-colored goldfish crackers, chips, Sugarush cookies, Hershey Kisses...

The guest of honor.

...and, of course cake! d caption

PRESENTS!!!

Hannah's first birthday cake.

CJ with Aunt Jackie

The favors were coconut drinking cups with straws (for toddlers) filled with Hawaiian-shirted little rubber ducks and packages of colored tablets to dissolve in bath water to create various colored baths.  FUN!

Blowing out the candles

It was a very good afternoon.

Snowy Day

Make a free collage

The Holidays 2013

Catching up.

The holidays were so busy and happy.  Time with family and friends created so many good moments and memories that will last. This was the first Thanksgiving for Hannah and CJ at their Nana's.









 It was also their first Christmas, Kyle's 12th. and Grace's 5th.

 I stayed over with Rob and Kathryn to see CJ on Christmas morning. Then we went to Visit Grace and Kyle on their Christmas morning.  We stayed to have breakfast with them. Grace came with us to visit Jackie, Adam and Hannah.  We had dinner together there with Adam's folks, John and Joyce and his brother Thomas. 

It was a Christmas filled with new traditions, happy kids and the warmth of family.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Raw.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn has a terrific plot. Without giving away the story and spoiling the tension, it is almost impossible to describe.  Think of a marriage that appears perfect, but that has gone horribly wrong in a really disturbing way.

"Disturbing" is the best way to describe this novel; disturbing events, disturbing language, disturbing conclusion.

It left me feeling "disturbed."

Unpleasant.



View all my reviews

Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth by Mika Brzezinski

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wish that this book had been available when I was just beginning my adult life and career.

Good conversation that gets the brain cells working each morning is a hallmark of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.  Mika Brzezinski is the informed, well-spoken co-host with Joe Scarborough.  I was newly impressed with her as an author.

Interviews with powerful women interwoven with personal experiences, good research, and an appealing writing style make this book a winner.

I heard on her show that her next book is almost finished.  And she has a previous book "All Things At Once." I will read both.



View all my reviews

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm not a sociopath.  So why did I keep smiling throughout the carnage in this story?  It must have been Jameson Rook, novelist/sidekick of Detective Niki Heat.  This mystery was the most fun to read of any mystery on my shelf.

Highly recommended.



View all my reviews

The Black Box by Michael Connelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Harry Bosch investigates a cold case in his 18th. adventure written by Michael Connelly. Solving the 20 year old murder of a journalist killed during the Watts riots, his clues are all over the place and his focus is on finding the "black box," that clue that will bring them all together and tell him what really happened.

I could not put this book down. :)



View all my reviews