Tuesday, January 27, 2009

It's still snowing

Well, the weather forecast was right, and I woke up to snow on the ground and a snow day called. woohoo! After a little sleeping in, I woke up and made myself a healthy breakfast and curled up with a cup of coffee and my last library book, To Wed a Wicked Prince by Jane Feather. I'm not in the mood to do a proper review, but in a nutshell, I would say it's an average read. What I like about Feather is that she does give her stories a lot of detail and depth; it doesn't feel wallpaper. But the pace is also quite languid and slow and the book runs a bit long (almost 500 pages).

Prince Alex comes from Russia to England to do some undercover work for the czar, a childhood friend. Or is he on the other side? To be honest, I never did quite figure that bit out. hrm. Anyways, his mother was English but he was raised in Russia and never met her. One of his goals in coming to England is to claim some property owned by his father which includes the house his mother lived in for the rest of her life. She willed it to a strong young lady named Livia for reasons not quite explained in the story. One gets the impression that this book is part of a series and that some of the backstory is contained elsewhere. Alex sees Livia and decides that rather than kick her out of his house, he'll just woo and marry her because he needs a wife as part of his fly-on-the-wall spy scheme. He's very charming and kind of autocratic. Livia is no spring chicken but like any normal woman, she is flattered by his attentions. After their marriage, she begins to wonder about the strange Russian friends that drop by the house at odd hours and Alex's tendency to be peculiar now and again. But at least the sex is still hot. N'stuff. Like I said, the book runs long. It could have used some editing, imo, just to tighten things up. But I have to say that I did like Alex and Livia and enjoyed getting to know them. So overall, not a bad read.

As much as I would have liked to have stayed indoors curled up all day, I did have to venture out to pick up a prescription. This led to a little grocery exursion in which I also brought home some new ingredients to play with in my baking hobby. Flax seed and buckwheat groats. I worked them into a yummy WW recipe for rosemary oatmeal rolls. Very tasty and the house still smells great. I put my radiator units to good use with the bread rising phases. Did I mention that I really like my new place? yeah.

I'm back on WW after picking up a gradual 7 or so pounds over the holiday season. While I'm not anywhere near the danger zone, I don't intend to let things get out of hand. After all, I have a wedding to plan and a dress I want to look and feel good in. So back in the habit and it's a good thing. Paying more attention to what I put in my mouth and eatings lots of fruits and veggies. It works too because I'm already down almost 4 pounds, so yay! Now if I could just get myself to the gym....

Netflix had sent me a movie that I'd forgotten was on my queue. I think the only reason I put it there is because it stars one Gerard Butler. Title of the movie is "Beowulf and Grendel" and it has a lot of hairy men, rocky craigs, and hand to hand fighting. But did I mention Gerry Butler? Oh yeah. Worth seeing just for him and his ever-loving hair. *g* Oh and the extra stuff included some fun interviews with him talking about the movie and the role and I don't really know what else because I was just listening to the accent and not the words. In one part of the interview, it was obviously just after a scene wrap because he was taking off his chain mail and shirt while talking and being all casual and funny. Damn him and his prettiness.

So that's my day. Pretty lazy but that's ok. We all need a snow day now and again.

Gerard Butler and his really BIG sword. *snort*

4 comments:

Tracy said...

That first pic of Gerry is the best I've seen a long while. He's not my fav but dayum - that one's hot!

Sorry the book was only ho hum.

Let's not talk about weight. I think I gained a small child over the last 6 months. But good for you for losing the 4! woohoo!

Rosie said...

Back in December we here in sunny SoCal had a snow day. It was sublime once we made our slippin' slidin' way home. I got a couple of good books waiting to be read. I'd love a cozy snow day for that.

Hey! Did you hear about the 'guest' that's coming our way in a couple of weeks?

lisabea said...

No Rosie, who is it???

Heh.

Hey Sula, I was reading this and I completely mixed up the old Lisa Kleypas Russian story lines with Jane Feather. They all smooooosh into one big Russian cluster f**k and I was thinking, oh yeah, that dude with one hand (or did he have one eye???). I guess I'm not so into the Russian story lines.

Snow+Ice. I hear you.

sula said...

Tracy, lemme tell you, Gerry was looking mighty fine. I think the medieval grunge look suits him.

Rosie, I hear tell that a verra speshul person was going to be out your way soon. hrm. iz jellus. You cats are gonna have WAY too much fun.

lb, I think this Feather is kinda new. And it wasn't bad...just not all that fab either. A good editing might have saved it for me, but it just ran on and on.

It's the weekend already and since I had two days off (tues-wed), I feel like it's been an awesome week. lol.