Thankful Thursday: Technology

Hello everyone!

Hope you guys are having an awesome Thursday! I'm working night shift tonight, so all I'm doing today is mostly being lazy...

For today's Thankful Thursday I wanna say how terribly thankful I have for technology. I'm not gonna go into all the darkness and dangers of being constantly plugged, but I'm gonna highlight some of the great things I find about some of it.

First of all, without the internet, I don't think I would have met my boyfriend. Cause what are the odds of meeting a guy from India that loves Star Wars if not through the official Star Wars message boards? Unlikely doesn't even start to describe it. So yeah, I'm thankful to George Lucas for making the movies and everything that came out of it!

Other technologies I love? Skype, it's just amazing that I can talk to my boyfriend from laptop to laptop on videocall or phone to phone on Skype call, and not having to worry about the humongous phone bill that would accompany it...

Twitter is another new thing I like, I know there are loads of bad things about the darker side of twitter or how inane it can be... but it can also be said about so many other things. I've discovered I like interacting with people on twitter, sellers, crafters, bloggers and most recently, authors. I love the chance to be able to tell an author I've loved their books, and I love getting the updates for sequels and getting a chance to get an ARC or swag from them!

So, thank you human brain that can think of all of this and allows us to be able to interact with others in ways we wouldn't have thought possible a few years back! And thank you, Uncle George!

 

Mark This Book Monday: Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

Hello everyone!

Finally, I'm back on Monday with a Mark This Book Monday entry! Hopefully, it'll be more than one, if I don't distract myself too much by reading!

For this first entry, I have to introduce you to Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

This book was a very pleasant surprise. The 4 stars kind of pleasant surprise!

When I first read about it, I was very intrigued, since it was about sylphs that could manipulate wind, but I wasn't so sure about the romance.

I decided to give it a go, and it really captured me. The alternate points of view worked perfectly for me, as did all the revelations and world building that came with each one. The progression of the story keeps you hooked, with every bit of information making you want to learn more. And the characters, well, what can I say, I love how both point of views let you see both of them through their own eyes and through the other's eyes.

I have to say I loved how very consequent both Audra and Vane are with the way events and consequences of those events have shaped them, and how their choices continue to be in character with who they are, and how they begin to change by interacting with each other. Vane discovers that he is an air elemental, and the last one of his kind, and to add to that, he is in danger and needs to learn to defend himself and use his powers in a matter of days. Audra needs to teach Vane about himself and his powers so he'll be able to help her fight the enemy, and does it out of guilt, out of duty and because it has shaped who she has become.

The building up to the climax is quite effective, and the twist at the end, though not completely unexpected in hindsight, it is quite effective.

The ending is not exactly a cliffhanger, but it does leave you wanting to read book two for sure!

Happy International Nurses Day!!

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday!

I know that for a lot of you today you celebrate Mother's Day, and I want to say Happy Mother's Day!

But also, today is International Nurse's Day! Nurse's Day is celebrated on Florence Nightingale's birthday, since she is considered the pioneer and mother of modern nursing!

So remember, do hug a nurse if you have one nearby and say thank you, we're always there to take care of you when you get sick, and we have more patience that you might give us credit for! ;)

HAPPY NURSES DAY, EVERYONE!!

Thankful Thursday: The Little Things...

Hi there everyone!

I've had a bit of a busy week, so I still have like 3 or 4 book reviews to write, maybe next Monday I'll have some of them up!

Today for Thankful Thursday I just wanna say I'm thankful for those little things, there are so many of them that can make a good day better, a meh day a good one, and a bad day tolerable.

Those little things like climbing in your warm bed with your blankie and your comforter after working night shift for 10 hours, like the sun through your window and a song playing that makes you smile, like a hug from a friend just because, like a smile that makes you smile, a good book you don't want to put down...

So many little things can and will make things better, just make sure to keep your eyes open to see them all!

Sunday Shots: Cupcakes inspired by Incarnate and Asunder by Jodi Meadows!

Hey there guys!

Hope you're having a good Sunday! I'm back from work and I'm gonna spend what's left of my afternoon and evening being lazy and reading!

Today for Sunday Shots I'm gonna share the other half of the cupcakes I was so inspired to create on Thursday.

I got the idea of creating some cupcakes inspired by the New Soul series by Jodi Meadows, Incarnate & Asunder, and I was even more inspired and had more ideas right off the start for these than for the Defiance ones. I just had to look at the covers for a bit and check a few things to see if my memory of the scenes was right to start working on what I wanted for each cupcake!

Butterflies are an important part of the imaginery of the book, since they represent Anna, the main character, and her possible ephimeral lifetime compared to the others inhabitants of Heart.

 

I chose the cupcake liners cause I thought the fit the mood of the books' covers.

I managed to add different colours to the buttercream by using colorants in the piping bag, and the colours are also inspired on both books covers.

Cover colours piping, with a piano keyboard, since Dossam is a musician, and it's Anna's first instrument to try and love. I modelled the keyboard from scratch, so it was a bit of job, and it shows that is not as perfect as I would have liked.

Covered in white fondant, with white walls (I didn't have a brick rolling pin, so I used a basket weave I do have) and the red heart to represent the weird white walls with a heartbeat of Heart.

And the two roses, the blue (purple) one to represent the New Souls and the Phoenix (red) ones to represent the Old/Dark Souls. This is from book two.

All in all, it was quite a bit of work, but I did enjoy myself immensely making them! So much, that I'm already planning making more book inspired cupcakes!

Saturday Song: May The Fourth Be With You!

Hello everyone!

Today is May 4th, and it's considered officially or unofficially Star Wars Day! I had considered making some cupcakes to celebrate it, but since I already have a dozen of them that I need to get someone to eat, I didn't want to push it!

If you are wondering why it is Star Wars day, just say May the 4th and May The Force, and you'll get it! ;)

So, to celebrate I'm sharing some Star Wars music for this Saturday Song! The ever so talented John Williams scored all six movies (so far) and his job was absolutely brilliant in all of them!

I'm gonna be sharing one song for each one of the Prequel movies, despite not being as equally loved by the fans and whether you can say they're not as good as the originals, the music is equally superb!

Duel of The Fates from Episode I: The Phantom Menace



Across The Stars from Episode II: Attack of the Clones



Battle Of The Heroes from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith



Here you go! Hope you enjoy! I'm gonna be wearing my geekiness proudly today and May The Force Be With You, Always!

Friday Photos: Defiance by CJ Redwine inspired cupcakes!!

Hi there again!

Remember the cupcakes I was thankful yesterday for being inspired to make? Well, here you can read all about half of them! ;)

This Friday Photos is the result of my brain wave & inspiration yesterday to take part on a contest!

What contest you may be wondering? Well, as it happens, CJ Redwine the author of one of my favourite books from last year, Defiance, is hosting a contest on her blog for the chance to win an annotated ARC of the next book in the series, Deception! Getting any ARC is super cool (Advance Reader Copy) since the book doesn't come out till August, but an annotated one? That's like 10 times cooler!

The contest called for us the readers to create something inspired by Defiance, be it a poem, photos, a cake... and even though I'm thinking of also trying to get some photography inspired by the book done, I just got the idea of baking some cupcakes!

I wasn't too sure of how to decorate them, so I decided to re-read the book last night and instantly started getting ideas! So this morning I was up bright and early with plenty of energy and super excited to start baking and decorating!

 Yeah, those are all the tools involved... a wee bit of a mess!

The cupcakes recipe is for lemon cake cupcakes, since lemon cake is Rachel's (the main character) favourite dessert, with a lemon buttercream, with fondant decorations.

And then it was time to start piping the frosting to then decide how to distribute all the fondant decorations I had made.

Celtic knots, ribbons with initials, sticky buns, a wrapped parcel and leaves from the forest, it all has a significance in the book. I wanted to include one of the "Cursed Ones" but my modelling abilities are not up to par for a wingless dragon creature yet!

The Celtic knots might be my favourite part, I love how they look and I love using the stencils with fondant!

 Don't they look cool? I love those designs! Also, I spent quite some time trying to get a fondant colour that would match the cover colour! Yay for gel colours! At one point my hands were looking as if an unicorn had barfed on them, so many colours! I think after all the hand washing and the dish washing I got rid of all of them...

So there you go! Those are half the cupcakes that kept me busy and happy yesterday. Whatcha think? They're not poetry, but I think they look quite awesome, even if I say so myself! Wish me luck on the contest!

Thankful Thursday: Days off and inspiration.

Hello everyone!

I'm a bit behind on some of my book entries, cause I have a few reviews pending, but I've been down with a cold, and my brain wasn't at full capacity!

Today for Thankful Thursday I'm just happy for having days off to recover from being sick, to rest, to switch off my brain from work, and specially this week, for having the energy and inspiration to bake, decorate and photograph a special dozen of cupcakes!

I've had such a blast and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, so I'm feeling quite grateful!


More on said cupcakes soon! ;)