Celebrity Sighting: For the Hunger Games Fans

Having lived both in New York City and Southern California, I've seen my fair share of celebrities: Chris Rock, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Parsons, Sean Hayes, Bernadette Peters, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, to name a few. I'm still not used to passing a celebrity on the street, and I always get pretty excited when I do. So when I crossed paths with this guy twice just a block and a half from my office, I wanted to start dancing.

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For those of you who don't recognize him, that's Stanley Tucci, one of my favorite actors. I adore him in everything - he's so quirky, fresh, and hilarious, and he always manages to capture my heart. And his chemistry with Meryl Streep is off the charts. Anyone who can steal a scene from the phenomenally talented Ms. Streep is just fine in my book.

This particular celebrity sighting seemed very apropos considering our Hunger Games discussion from last week (which was amazing - I loved all of your insightful comments and finally had time to respond to them all!). I cannot wait to see Mr. Tucci transformed into the delightful Caesar Flickerman this Friday. Do we all have our tickets? 

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The actual story of how I saw Mr. Tucci is a little boring. I was doing a late-afternoon FedEx run when I passed by this cute little French bakery right around the corner from my office. I glanced over and saw a man who looked oddly similar to Stanley Tucci. I think my actual thought process went a little something like this: "Wow, that guy looks an awful lot like Stanley Tucci! I mean, he's got the bald head, the peppered beard, the awesome round glasses. They look so similar. Oh wait - that is Stanley Tucci!" When I passed him again on my way back to the office, I snuck another peek just to be sure. And yes, it was definitely Stanley Tucci. Day = made.

Have you ever seen any celebrities? I'm dying to hear your stories!

Bedding, Bedding Everywhere!

I've been thinking about bedding a lot recently, more specifically, how much I want new bedding. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Jordan and I have a double bed with a California King sized comforter and King sized pillow shams (long story how we ended up with that). To be honest, our whole bed situation is kind of a mess. We have a very old mattress that does a number on my back every night, and it doesn't help that there's a noticeable dip on my side of the bed. We also don't have a real honest-to-goodness bed frame.

The situation's not great, but we're dragging on heels on doing anything because to fix one problem means that we would have to fix them all, and we haven't quite reached the point where we're ready for a complete bed-overhaul. So in the meantime, I dream about all the amazing bedding that I want.

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Oh sweet pink ruffles! I think Jordan would die. 

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Who doesn't love chevron stripes?

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I'm always a sucker for purple, especially anything light and airy like this.

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Oh sweet beautiful texture! I want to touch those 3-D florals. If only this duvet didn't go for a cool $368 (and that's not including the shams or bed skirt).

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More purple and 3-D florals - I think I might die!

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I love how bright this bedding looks. Though let's be honest, I'd get it dirty in about five minutes. 

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That blue-green color is simply heavenly. And I love the adorable "cloud nine" pillow.

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OK, this one may be my favorite. I love soft greys, and this one looks amazing, especially mixed with the hints of pink and the yellow lampshade. Everything is so soft and delicate without being too girly, and I think Jordan could get on board with something like this. Right now, this look is inspiring my dreams of a complete bedroom makeover. 

Right now, I'm still dreaming and collecting lots of inspiration. I know that one day we'll tackle our bedroom overhaul, and I promise to tell you all about it. 

Anyone else like daydreaming about making over your bedroom or other rooms in your house? Of the inspiration pictures I posted, which ones are your favorites?

Honeymoon Dreamin': Recommendations Please!

When Jordan and I started wedding planning last year (last year - really?!), we knew there was one tradition we would definitely have to forgo: the honeymoon. This decision was based partly on money and partly on timing. Like many others couples, the wedding took a hefty chunk of our bank accounts, so an expensive honeymoon was out of the question. But more importantly, Jordan was in law school and couldn't afford to take off for a week-long vacation. I imagine his professors would have looked down on that.

To be honest, this decision crushed me. Like most brides, I wanted a honeymoon with my new husband, and I hated that we couldn't take one. I especially wanted a honeymoon because Jordan and I have never taken a bona fide vacation as a couple. We've gone on trips and vacations together, but they've always been with family or close friends. We've never done anything just the two of us (which is ridiculous considering we've been together over four years!), and I wanted that vacation so badly.

Even though I'm still sad we didn't get a honeymoon, we are determined to go on our first vacation as a couple this year. If we could choose anywhere to travel, we'd go to Italy, but I don't think we have the funds or vacation time to do justify an Italian vacation this year. So that's where all of you come in - I want to hear your vacation suggestions and recommendations!

We're hoping to stay in the US because it's more financially doable for us, but we're flexible and open to other options. Ideally we'd like to get out of California, and we'd like to keep this vacation as affordable as possible (under a couple thousand, if not less). We'll be traveling at the end of July/beginning of August when Jordan has a break between his summer internship and law school classes, and we're game for just about anything: city, country, beach, you name it!

We started looking at the various possibilities, but we were all over the map (Seattle, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Washington D.C.). It's kind of overwhelming, and I would really love to hear from you! What are your favorite places you've visited? Where have you traveled that's awesome? What's at the top of your vacation recommendation list? I really do want to know about your amazing vacation suggestions!

What I'm Reading: Mockingjay Discussion

First of all, let me apologize for making you all wait for our Mockingjay discussion. I realize that a lot of you are anxious to talk about it, and I've been holding us up. I finished the book about a week and a half ago, but I needed time to process and get some distance before I wrote this post. If I hadn't, you would have gotten something really snarky, like the zero draft I started immediately after finishing Mockingjay. Let's just say that it was not kind.

Having said that, I won't beat around the bush: I did not like Mockingjay. To me, it was the weakest book in the series, and my motivation to actually finish the series kept me reading more than anything else. I'm sad to say that this final installment kind of changed my feelings about the entire trilogy. I was on the fence before, but as much as the previous books frustrated me, I still felt really interested in all of the characters and larger thematic issues and questions that the books bring up. Mockingjay changed that for me, and while reading it, I finally lost my sense of investment in The Hunger Games. In all honesty, I can't say that I enjoyed the series or that I would recommend them.

Let's break it down, shall we? I've divided my discussion into sections to make it easier to navigate my thoughts.

*Spoilers ahead. If haven't read the series and don't want to know about key plot points, you should stop reading now.

What I'm Reading: Room

I stumbled upon this next book while browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble with Jordan on date night. I had heard of it before, but it got stowed away in one of those back corners of my mind, and I more or less forget that I even knew about it. But when I finally picked it up and looked at the back cover, I knew I had to take this book home with me and dig into it once I finished Mockingjay (discussion coming later this week!).

So what book am I talking about? Emma Donoghue's international bestseller Room.

I've already started, and this book is hauntingly beautiful. It is totally captivating in a way that is quite sinister. For those of you who aren't familiar with this book, here's the same description that convinced me to pick it up in the first place:

"To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child."

And Room hasn't just done well with readers. In fact, my copy comes with nine (nine!) pages of reviews in the front. The New Yorker raves that Room is, "An astounding, terrifying novel...It's a testament to Donoghue's imagination and empathy that she is able to fashion radiance from such horror" and the New York Times Book Reviews comments, "In a narrative at once delicate and vigorous - rich in psychological, sociological, and political meaning - Donoghue reveals how joy and terror often dwell side by side."

Of course, I'll be anxious to share my own thoughts about Room with you very soon and hear from any of you who decide to read this book with me (or who have already read it). Be sure to check back here in the next week or so for our discussion.