Twisted Fairytale

Anyone ever noticed how you can be sucked into that place for hours?! It’s sooo much fun. ha ha. Editing your profile. Adding goodies to your page. Music player selection. Organizing your friends. It’s a total time waster. And yet, I love it.

 I’m pretty sure I had a previous post with this title (hence the: part 2), which just proves that what I’m about to say is true.

I am a walking, talking disaster waiting to happen. Truly. I’m not even being hard on myself, it is just a simple fact. Let me illustrate.

My relaxing weekend began as well as can be expected. We went up to the Cape. I tried to stay awake, to be sociable. I was asleep before 9pm. I didn’t mind this really. I was so relaxed that I didn’t even hear the roar of the Xbox wars going on around me.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling a little ill. Like I might relapse into “The Flu” territory. I told my body that I refused to allow that. ESPECIALLY on vacation. So, I slept in, relaxed some more and really forced myself to just chill out. By the evening, I felt awesome. Sunday came and offered promises of one more blissful day, before I had to return to real life. We made a few dinner plans with the family. I was really looking forward to seeing 27 Dresses (I have a major girlcrush on Katherine Heigl).

Everything changed the moment the first snowflake fell.

Let’s just say that in the past three years, Cape Cod has seen two intense blizzards. BOTH of which have occurred when I’ve been visiting the state. Coincidence? I think not.  The trunk of my car still has the dent from the bushel of hay we tried to use to push the car out of the long driveway in 4-5 inch snow. *shakes head* If that wasn’t bad enough (which it was, we were stranded in the house, couldn’t leave the state and both Chocolate Bear and I had to call out of work), the ride home was even worse.

After accepting our fate, we had a really pleasant Monday and made the most of our final, unexpected vacation day. All packed up and ready to go we set out on the highway at around 8pm. Figured we’d lose rush hour traffic that way. Instead, we ended up overheated on the side of the highway in a dark, unlit area of Rhode Island, in the cold. For like two hours. *AAA and I are not on speaking terms right now.*

I got home at 3am, after our car was towed (it’s still in RI). And I still managed to go to work today and not die from utter exhaustion. I must have still been on a high from all the sugars I consumed at the Mobil gas station where I waited for my inlaws to come get us. Ha ha. At least the clerk was humorous. I felt like I’d walked into a deleted scene of the movie Clerks as he made the moves on the woman on the other end of his cell phone and tried to get her to come to dinner (which he proudly announced he cooked himself).

Either way, I’m back, trying to get my thoughts in order. Anyone know any tricks to avoid the bad luck that seems to follow me around?! I swear, you can’t write this stuff. Everyone would think it was over the top lies! Ha ha.

I’ve dropped by the blogosphere and left a few comments here or there. I’ll be back on my feet in no time.  Hope to catch up with you all!

I’m going on vacation! Finally! Come tomorrow morning I will be in the car, bags packed, laptop beside me, headed to the wonderful, magical place I know as Cape Cod. My Muse and the Cape have a secret little love affair. I think they do well together, in part because when I’m there, I feel like I can think clearly. A lot of my concerns take a wayside. Things can wait a day or two, rather than having to be done in the all-consuming present. It’s rather freeing.

So, I probably won’t post for the weekend. I hope you all have a great one! Party hard, work harder (Homer Simpson style). I’ll be checking in on your blogs.

Ciao!

Oh Karen Marie Moning. Some of her one liners in the Fever Series are priceless. That’s where the title to today’s blog comes from. AND from the amazing pair of pink stiletto leg warmer boots I own. I did some revamping on my MySpace layout. I finally got it to match my web layout! YAY! And I really like the way it looks. Elegant, mysterious, and neat. Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/isabellesantiago

I think it’s about time I start making up business cards! Man, I get shivers thinking about it. Holding a card with my website and name on it. Anyone have any good suggestions? I hear VistaPrint is trustworthy. I’d like to make a little goodies package to give away to those who visit my blog, the way Stacy Dawn does. They’re so much fun to receive.

My phone is giving me trouble so I can’t upload the photo of my boots. I’ll be back in a little bit to try again.

In the meantime, visit my website! I’ve made a few organizational changes. I think it looks much neater now. My bio is different. I have a picture up! And links and an excerpt to Cinematic Royalty are all available. Yes, I’ve been a busy girl.

EDITED TO SAY:

I’ve added the picture of the boots! Aren’t they just adorable?!

And, SURPRISE! The blog has undergone a makeover to match the MySpace page and the website! How awesome is that?!

No words. Honestly, there are just no words to describe the type of day I had today. So I won’t even try. Let’s just say that not even a trip to the movie theater helped distract me. My chest hurts. My hands are shaking pretty bad though I can’t figure out if its cause I’m still angry or cause I’m disappointed. Or maybe a mixture of both.

Either way… I’m going to just hush it now. I don’t want to bring you all down. Let’s just hope the rest of the week is better so that I don’t stick my head under my pillow and vow never to wake up again.

I went to see P.S. I Love You today. It’s completely unfair that Hillary Swank got to play in a movie with both Gerard Butler AND Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Irish accents=love. And JDM has dimples that looked like an angel touched his cheeks when he was born. It was a beautiful movie. It did make me laugh. It made me cry. Overall, (although my husband said it was what chick flicks are made of) I really enjoyed it.

I think it’s a testament to the power of books that so many are being made to movies lately. Has anyone noticed that? It seems more and more are making the transition successfully. As in the case of this movie, they don’t always stick to the book by the letter, but sometimes, I think that’s a good thing. There are things that work in books that just don’t work in movies. However, if the screenwriter develops a faithful rewrite, one that’s true to the book’s message, emotion and theme, then it can be truly successful, despite the changes.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Let me go make some toast and nibble away while I catch up on blogs and such.

I hope everyone’s day was bright, sunny, or at the very least productive.

I’ll be back tomorrow with better news and a sunnier disposition.

Cough has come to visit it’s darling Aunt Flu. I’m not happy about the reunion, but really, what can I do? *sigh* So, I’m once again on home lockdown until I can fight off whatever nasty bit has taken over my body.

I think it has also partly taken over my brain, but that’s a separate matter all together.  I’ve been writing little bits of my WIP, but what was clear (plotwise) just a few days ago has turned into a muddled questioning of everything I thought I understood. I keep trying to remind myself that it’s just the cold medicine making me loopy. It doesn’t remove the frustration over it though.

So, I gave myself yesterday off, writing wise, and just relaxed. Watched tv. Today I may rent a movie. I’ll focus on writing when I get better. *argh* I hate saying that. Especially when I was on a roll. But, c’est la vie.

The awesome Bettie Sharpe tagged me to blog seven random facts about myself. So here it is:

1. I have double jointed elbows. If I lean my weight on my arms, I can actually rotate my elbow in and out, without moving my wrists or hands at all.

2. Even though I’ve spoken English since I was like five years old, I was heavily immersed in the Spanish community until I was about fifteen. Because of that, I still sometimes think in Spanish, which can be amusing. For example, I’m calling to my husband from the closet telling him to grab a maleta so that I can get our stuff together for the trip. I don’t of course realize that I’ve said the word in Spanish. I simply assume he knows that I’m talking about a suitcase. Now, after three years of marriage he does, but, it still makes him laugh that there are words I can’t think of off the top of my  head in English.

3. I have 20/20 vision. But that wasn’t always the case. I was diagnosed to wear glasses when I was in 3rd grade. I hated them. I didn’t wear them. By 9th grade, I needed them again, to see the chalkboard. I wore them/contacts through most of high school. By the end of my junior year, the doctor said I didn’t need them anymore. I still can’t explain how that happened.

4. I have 8 brothers and sisters. Two from my  mother’s side, six from my father’s side (including twins!). However, between my mother and father, I am actually an only child. Go figure.

5. My little sister and I used to put on Ice Capade shows in roller skates (the old school, four wheel ones). Inside the house. Ha ha. Must be like riding a bike though. I can hardly stand on skates anymore.

6.  Speaking of riding bikes, I didn’t learn to ride until I was eleven. And I learned on a pink Barbie bike with training wheels. How embarassing.

7.  I’m obsessed with all things fashion. Couture, runway, hair, makeup, shoes, everything you can possibly imagine. I, however, have a pathetic personal fashion sense. My friends used to joke about me being Bill Cosby because I own a sweater in EVERY color. lol

And that concludes getting to know your author.

Frayed Tapestry by Imogen Howson

Candy is living a fairy tale dream. She has a rich husband who will buy her anything. She has a maid. She gets to have cocktail parties and trade banter with witty, rich, important people. Except… their friends are really his friends and, crazy or not, she sometimes feels like they watch her. It’s a problem because she keeps losing her shoes and her husband thinks bare feet are trashy.

She knows she should just tell him that she likes going barefoot and expect that he’d learn to love her just as she is, only he’s older and more sophisticated than she is, he takes such good care of her, and he loves her so much.  Mostly, though, she’s afraid of what he’d do.

I’ll just say that this is a fascinating and refreshingly different take on an old myth. I knew in advance which myth it was, so I kept wondering just HOW Ms. Howson was going to take it there. As I read, I sympathized with Candy’s confusion. After the opening scene, you can’t help but feel concern for the girl. She can’t remember much of anything, but now it seems she’s going a bit nutty too. Then you meet Clym, her husband, and you start to realize that maybe she’s not the nutty one. Maybe there’s more going on than meets the eye. After all, he has some really strange reactions to something as simple as her going barefoot.

A few of the scenes were pure magic. Particularly one in the park, and one involving the maid. Things just got creepier as you fell deeper into this world. In the end, even with the creepy husband, Ms. Howson managed to make me feel for him. I think that’s a testament to good writing, especially considering the story was rather short. All I wish was that there would have been more of an ending. It felt a bit too open ended, especially with the intensity of the scene before. But perhaps she has more plans for them? That’d be kind of neat. And I adore the cover. It’s what really caught my attention in the first place. Overall, I give this story an: A-.

It’s available on Drollerie Press. They have many wonderful and different reading selections. If you’re interested in fairytales and myths, as I am, they’re definitely a place to check out.

glitter-graphics.com

I’m wrapped up in warm clothes and sneezing a mile a minute. My shoulders hurt. I’m stuffed up and I’m starting to get that annoying red chafed look around my nose. I need Puffs Plus to soothe my little nogger. I believe I have contracted the flu virus. And I am none too happy about it. It’s my last day off this week from work. I have no idea whether I’ll have enough energy to pull myself out of bed tomorrow to go in. *sigh* Figures.

On the blogging front, it’s been awful quiet around here. Did you guys get sucked into the black hole known as the blogosphere? Come keep me company, will ya? I promise not to cough or sneeze on you. That’d just be rude. And… as an incentive, I may give you chocolates. Ha ha. Who says you can’t buy love?

I knew the moment I opened my eyes this morning that today wouldn’t go quite how I expected it to. Everything felt off kilter. I woke up rather later than usual. Despite feeling like I was dragging my feet, (and after an excruciatingly long shower that lasted until the hot water ran out), I somehow managed to still get to work early.

At that point, I’d convinced myself that I was dreaming. I mean, I had to be. It was snowing! I love the snow. And the store was virtually empty. The only person there was the manager who let me in. That NEVER happens. So, I nod. Ok, I’m definitely dreaming.

It doesn’t help that at this point a slow pressure has started in the back of my head pushing forward. Hours later this would blossom into a jackhammer against my sinuses. Headache, watery eyes, and overall exhaustion. Was that part of my dream too? Couldn’t I be healthy in my own dreams?!

Now, have you ever gotten the sense that something just isn’t right? That was me through most of my opening. Then I noticed why. All of the cafe signs were upside down. I blinked a few times, tried to make sense of it. Huh, I thought. What psychological significance does that have? When I pointed it out to the manager, he shook his head. Turns out, it wasn’t some insight into my psyche. It was a practical joke. And not even on me! I just happened to be on the receiving end. Grr… wonderful.

By noon I felt like I was swimming in my subconscious. I was allowed to go home. I’ve been lounging ever since but I think I’m about to go down for a nap. My eyes are too heavy to keep open. The last thing I want is for Chocolate Bear to get home and find me passed out over the computer desk. He’d have a complete conniption.

Now, as for Juno:

I think overall, it was a cute movie. Witty in all the right places, full of memorable side characters. Ellen Page is a great actress. She’s smart, and has good comedic timing. Her father, played by J.K. Simmons, really made me laugh. Not just because of the way he took the new about his daughter being pregnant, but because of the little jabs he’d throw in regarding how irresponsible she was. Granted, through it all he supported her and helped her, but it would just make me snicker when he’d say something totally offbeat. It was very endearing.

But I think, above all, Michael Cera’s character, Paulie Bleeker is who really won me over. He is a wonderfully refreshing hero. Adorable, a bit awkard, the boy you may have grown up next to, who’s always just sort of been your best friend. The kid you hang out with and watch movies with on Saturdays, who for whatever reason creeps under your skin. What I loved about him most was that there were no pretenses. He was exactly who he said he was and he was ok with it. Cera’s line delivery is brilliant! And just about every scene he was in, I smiled. Most times, laughed out loud, other times, sighed in contentment, because really, “Paulie Bleeker is totally boss. He is the cheese to my macaroni.”

I vowed, as part of research into new genres (sure, research *snicker*), to read more this year. I struggled with deciding how many was enough to realistically handle. Plus, my budget is in order, seeing as how I never go to the library to get books, I just buy them. Most of the time, I end up loving them and wanting to reread them. And if I really don’t, I pass it on to someone who might. So they never really go to waste. But it’s a habit that can quickly get expensive, if you know what I mean.

A common meme I saw going around LiveJournal was 50 books a year, with a little post to chronicle your progress after each book. I think that’s a very reasonable goal. So I’m jumping on the bandwagon. Why not? It’s always good to 1- promote more authors, and 2- make recommendations. Everyone’s looking for something new to read.

So here it is. Book 1:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Imagine the world we know, but different. A world where things crawl and exist right under our nose that we know nothing about. They’re Downworlders: demons, vampires, werewolves, and monsters of the likes you can never imagine. And they live among us. Most people don’t know. They can’t even see them, or tell them apart under their glamours. But some can. In fact, there’s a race of Shadowhunters who keep the Earth from the Downworlders meant to harm mankind.

In enters Clary, a mundane, who somehow manages to see three incredible looking teens, Alec, Jace and Isabelle (woohoo!), as they kill what looks to be a normal, blue haired teen. Turns out, they’re Shadowhunters. And he’s a naughty demon. Now the question is, how can she see them? And why? And is this all related to the reason Clary’s mom suddenly goes missing?

The journey begins there and really only gets more interesting, with the history of the Shadowhunters, the Institute, some neat-o parties and side characters, and the cool underground world Miss Clare has created. The whole rebel sanction of Shadowhunters fascinated me. Their history, their purpose, it was all really great stuff.

Only thing that really bugged me: the twist. Every story has that major twist. This one, I didn’t see coming. Usually that’s a good thing. This time… well it’s such a twist that it kind of made me gape at the book. And I don’t mean that in a good way. I mean, I was stunned into silence. I’m not even sure I could give the book a high rating, the way I probably would, because of this twist. I won’t give away what it is, but I’m hoping she’ll somehow fix this in her next book. Otherwise, I think I’ll be very disappointed.

So yea, overall, I’d give the book a: B-.

Stay tuned. I’ll be back a little later with a quick review of Juno, which I saw in theatres!