Newlywed No More

This seems really odd to be back blogging. I haven't done so since just after my marriage to TidyBoy... which is going really well, in case you were wondering! 

Since my last blog we have emigrated back to my home of Vancouver and I have started a business. Those are the formal things... the informal things are little more drastic. My designer wear has mostly been replaced by athletics gear and my heels with walking boots. Its strange to say but this summer I spent the majority of my free time cycling, hiking, kayaking and paddle boarding... what! A good friend said it best when we visited her on Bowen Island during the summer, "What has happened! I was looking for someone in a designer dress and stilettos!" (I was in lululemons and hiking boots). 

Being back in Vancouver has been amazing. This city is the be all and end all of beauty. On a bad day just breathing the air and seeing a mountain peeking out from behind a cloud is enough to clear every doubt you ever had. We are so incredibly happy here and life is going great. My hubby has taken to the West Coast Life exceedingly well, in fact I have been running to catch up with him! My brother-in-law was visiting to him this week and after a discussion on how our summer went he commented, 

"Wow you are so West Coast. You're one step away from wearing Hemp clothing," to which I informed him I had taken that step and my favourite summer t-shirt was hemp! 

We have been doing our upmost to explore every nook and cranny of BC and we are loving it, and the mischief we are getting into doing it...so far... BC is a big province!

When we are not exploring TidyBoy and I are set free on the minds of children, as our day jobs are in the field of "artistic academia"... music and drama teachers! 

In amongst our day jobs I have also started a business.  Imagine That! Tuition 

- I call it a Creative Arts School! -

Our workshops teach creative writing and drama with kids creating their own characters and plots over a semester and performing it for their sometimes baffled parents on the final day! 

It is the best job in the world. Watching these kids imaginations take flight before me is a one of a kind experience and I love it. 

Other than that I think everything is still the same as it always was... who am I kidding nothing is the same as it was, (except my bookish tendencies. Our latest vacation I managed to consume 2 magazines and 2 novels of 500+ pages and a non-fiction book on orcas in 10 days!) 

Life, as it always does has thrown me a curveball and I felt it was the right time to pick up the pen, or the keyboard to be more specific. I suddenly find myself after two years of not writing 15,000 words from finishing my first novel and it is terrifying. Not only that but my schedule has opened itself up to let me pursue writing as a more permanent position. 

Every time I open the laptop and click on THE document my mind fills with doubt, and contention. Am I wasting my time? How do I even know if I am any good? Isn't there better things to do than practicing my hobby? What do I hope to achieve? What will I do when it all fails? What right do I even have to try and be a writer? 

But TidyBoy is always there with a suggestion/bribe, (which is probably why I married him),

"Take it one day at a time... and if you make it to 100 days of writing I will buy you an iwatch"

Here goes nothing... 100 days of writing! 

The Posh Gurl becomes a Honeybun

It has happened... I am officially a Mrs! 

 Mrs. Honeybun

What ever is said about weddings it is the most difficult, stressful, and political time in planning. But none of that matters because on the day itself none of the little stuff matters! It zooms past and you hardly have time to breath!

After an afternoon of running around the village looking for clues on the "Honeybun Hunt" fantastically set up by my family! We went to a village restaurant The Crown and were greeted by all our family and friends for a delicious rehearsal dinner. 

The Outfit: Banana Republic Dress, Coach Heels

Then it was the Big Day...

The Dress: - Astrid and Mercedes 'Lovely' Gown

The Veil: - Vera Wang

The Shoes: - Jimmy Choo

The Bag: - Vintage (my Grandmas)

The Earrings: - Tashi

The Necklace: - Boutique Bought

The Bouquet: 

Peonies and Sweet Peas tied with ribbon and pearl pins

AND THEN IT WAS ALL OVER AND WE WERE OFF TO ITALY!

(Sorry for the bad picture below it's not an official one!)

Outfit: Kate Spade Dress and Jimmy Choo Shoes

Thank you to our amazing photographer: - Martin 

And our awesome videographers Steele & Coe

The Book Review ~ My Brilliant Friend

Ratings: - 5/5

On honeymoon I took three books, but once I started Ferrante that was it. What a commanding voice! A fully absorbing experience from the intriguing opening to the cliffhanger ending. 

The characters are what drives this book. The narrator is compelling to the point where you do not want her to stop talking to you. Yes, she is unreliable. Yes, she is opinionated and bitter but you cannot wait to hear what she has to say next. 

There is not much I can say about plot or storyline without giving major elements away, (especially as I am already on the next instalment and plot lines are blurring)!

Just read it... the publicity around this series is well placed. It is a masterpiece. 

The Book Review ~ Villa America

Rating: 4+/5

I had no idea what Liza Klaussmann's new book was about. After "Tiger's in Red Weather" I saw this on the shelf of my local charity shop and grabbed it especially as it was on honeymoon reading list. However, I started it and then I left it on the shelf and its spine didn't crack until three days ago when I realised it was still unread and the honeymoon was only a week a way. I had been so excited to pick a book to take and fill my Kobo with some delights that I didn't want to take Villa America so I cracked the spine again, and I didn't put it down for the next 72 hours. 

Liza Klaussmann's writing is all absorbing. The characters and the settings just pull you in and they don't let you go until you are done. This particular story I had read before. Post World War 1, Europe and the artists. I had read 'Z' and "The Paris Wife" loving them both. Now was the turn of the Murphy's and their lives during this time and how it interwove with the Fitzgerald's and the Hemmingway's. This beautifully written semi-biopic book about the tragic love triangle of the Murphy's in the first half of the novel. Liza captures the age and the characters with utter perfection. I loved it which makes the last third of the novel so disappointing. 

The writing turns to correspondents among friends as the Murphy's story unravels into chaos. It is interesting, but it seems rushed. As if Klaussmann ran out of space and needed to close everything down. It got the job done. As in it closed the book down, but it lost its power. 

THEN, she pulled it all back with the most phenomenal ending that just broke your heart! The mystery trip that the characters continually mention during the heartbreaking times is finally revealed, and it is worth the wait. Klaussmann pulled it back from the brink and the rough middle part was forgotten. I just cannot wait to get her next book!