Crafty - Autumn Wreath

Hello my reading enthusiasts!

Today we are not going to talk about a book. I know! I am just as shocked as you are! But it's Ok, don't panic, change is good. Today I am going to show you this awesome craft I did. It was very easy I think anyone can do it. It did NOT cost very much.

 I am going to tell you something. It's not a secret, everyone knows this, but I will tell you anyway. I have an unhealthy obsession with Pinterest! It's true, even if I'm not pinning, I'm on there browsing day and night. I love it, I can't help it. I have all these boards with these awesome ideas. The problem for most people seems to be they never do anything with these pins. NOT ME! I do them! I love it, it's so much fun. All these great crafts or ideas for cake decorations, and recipes! Oh the joy that is Pinterest.

What I have been seeing a lot of is burlap fall wreaths. Now I love to have something on our door. I have a little sign or wreath for most holidays. But I didn't have one for fall. So I decided to make one. Check it out!

Here are all the items I was using, a wire wreath form, rolls of burlap, flower wire, some pretty ribbon, a letter for our name and some lovely fall looking flowers. 

I attached the burlap to the wreath form with the wire. Then it is a matter of twisting the burlap and pulling it through each gap in the wire frame. 

Every point where there is a break you just have to wire the burlap to the frame. This keeps it nice and tight. 

It's starting to look pretty good! Surprisingly, once you get going it really didn't take me long at all. The only time I had to slow down a bit is when the roll of burlap ended in the middle of a wire section. But even then it didn't take me long. 

Here it is all finished. I attached both ends together and to then frame as well, to make sure that nothing came loose. 

I just had to cut the flowers I wanted and some of the leaves. I sort of arranged everything on the wreath first to see if I liked it. I also made my bow. I had to do this a couple times just to make sure that I liked the size. I attached the flowers with both wire and hot glue just to make sure it all stuck. I attached the bow to the letter with hot glue, and then attached the bow to the wreath with wire. Then it was just a matter of doing some final fluffing. 

Here it is all done and attached to our door. I think it looks pretty dang good if I do say so myself. THANKS PINTEREST!

Happy Fall everyone! Before we know it, it will be my favourite holiday HALLOWEEN! As you will soon learn, all of the Holidays are my favourite! I hope you get crafty this week. Enjoy.

SURPRISE! Here is my Halloween wreath that I made, which many of you have already seen. Also inspired by what I saw on Pinterest.

Love
Elyse

Vacation reads book #5: The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

Little, Brown and Company 2013

Genre: Adventure, Fiction, Action, Drama

Theo Decker sits in a hotel room in Amsterdam. He searches through the Dutch papers and looks for his name amongst the headlines featuring pictures of police cars and murder. He reflects on how is life is in total and complete ruins. He thinks back to when it all started. Theo is a teenager he and his mother live in New York, they are both off for the day. Theo has been suspended from school, he and his mother have a meeting with the principal. On their way they are caught in a rainstorm and decide to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the way there Theo wishes they were going for breakfast, he is hungry and is feeling daggers toward anything and everything. His mother’s favourite painting The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius is on display and she is eager to see it. While walking around the museum, Theo notices a young girl about his age with red hair walking with an older gentleman. He doesn’t think she is beautiful in the traditional sense. But he can’t help but notice her to him, she is lovely. He wants to talk to her so badly, he is thinking about it, as his mom explains she will be back. That is when there is a huge white hot explosion. When Theo wakes he tries to walk out. There is debris everywhere, and bodies he picks items up along the way. He sees the old man that was walking with the red head girl. He tries to help him, he gives him some of the water he found and tries to make him comfortable. The old man, Welty, is rambling not making much sense. The old man urges Theo to take The Goldfinch, and his ring to an address. Theo doesn’t want the painting to be ruined, it is his mother’s favorite. So he does. The old man passes away and Theo tries to get out of the museum. He doesn’t see anyone else alive. Theo makes his way out of the museum in the back, and goes home. That is where they agreed they would always meet. Only, she never comes home. Theo is alone with the painting.

(Picture courtesy of Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goldfinch_(painting))

I can go on and on about the painting. It evokes a lot in me. The sadness, the colours, the hopefulness. I love it. Take a moment and look at it. Really stare. What do you feel? But this isn’t about the painting. It’s about the book. I have no idea how I feel about this book. Honestly. I didn’t write this review right away. I was waiting, thinking about it, and pondering this book. How did it make me feel? Why did I feel that way? Why did I react this way? And I STILL have no clue. In the end, all I can say is, it is a good book because of that. It made me feel, and I had to think about it. I am still thinking about it now. Can I pick a theme? Yes (Loss, pain, obsession, unrequited love), but does it matter? No. There was so much. I started this one on vacation and finished it at home, which was best, as I needed the time to absorb.

This is purely how I am as a reader and as a person, but I have very little tolerance for drug and alcohol abuse. I understand that Theo had severe PTSD, and abandonment issues. But he had a strong mother, who would have been so very disappointed in him. Throughout the whole book I kept thinking what if your mother could see you right now? What would she say about that? Do you think this would make your mother happy? There was a point in the book, and if you’ve read it you’ll know when I mean. When it was all still so new, that had he pushed and stayed where he was he would have had a different life. Everything would have been ok for him. Had he not been pushed to leave, had he stood up for himself it would have been fine. As a reader I was disappointed. I kept waiting for him to redeem himself. I wanted that reconciliation, that happy ending. The irony in the novel was painful at times. Theo puts himself through so much and yet, if he hadn’t then he would have had a different life.

In that same light, there were times when reading the book it all seemed so ridiculous that anyone could be so stupid I thought Theo would wake up in his bed, the morning before the museum, and change his life. But that doesn’t happen. I was waiting for maturity to hit, for him to realize that you have to live with your actions forever. For him to stop acting like life was a hustle. That discord made me uncomfortable and edgy. Everything he did made me edgy. I know what you are thinking “Elyse you’re such a lame-o, lighten up” I can’t! It’s how I am!!! Theo moves from vice to vice. Everything can be an addiction to him people, drugs, even work. It drove me NUTS.

BUT, this is a beautiful novel. The words, and the images they evoke are gorgeous. I loved her words, how she put things. It was simply magnificent. There was a lot of buzz about the length. How the book was too long, how there was parts that should have been cut out . When I read that, I asked myself “what could she have cut?” Despite the fact that it was uncomfortable. Despite that I didn’t like Theo. Despite that it was dark. What was unnecessary? It was all important story development. If you are going to pick this book up, you are in for a long haul. But it is beautiful. The characters are all important too. They all evoke something in Theo. Their actions, their personality, or what they mean to him. Even their quirks are important. I found that it was so complex, as I evaluate the themes I found that I was surprised at how complex it was. When you look at other characters and think about them, they are going through similar situations in there own way. It was so lovely. In the end, this book makes me think, and evaluate why I thought or felt that way. And it was beautiful to read.

This is my last vacation read post. As you can see I finished it at home with a nice cup of tea. I really hoped you liked all the vacation recommendations. Next week, I have something a little different. I hope you like that too!

My Verdict: Give it a try

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Did you feel for Theo? Or were you done with him? What did you think of Boris? What did you think of this book? Were you as confused by your emotions as I was?

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If you liked this, try:

All the Light We Cannot See

Life After Life

Vacation reads book #4: Omens

Omens

Kelley Armstrong

Random House August 2013

Part of the Cainsville Series

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Adventure

Olivia Taylor Jones is a beautiful young socialite. She has everything a girl could ever want. She volunteers and is engaged to a young man with political ambitions. After a dinner out with her fiancé James Morgan she heads home to her mother who asked her to come home right away. When she arrives she finds the family lawyer there with her mother. Olivia learns that she was adopted. This should be enough to shake the girl to the core, but worse than that, he explains that her real parents are the infamous serial killers Todd and Pamela Larsen. She is really Eden Larsen, and this information has been leaked to the media. Soon enough they are banging down the door, her mother flees to Europe and she is on her own. Olivia thinks the only thing she can do is run away. Eventually she finds herself in Cainsville Illinois, working as a waitress. Where she meets Gabriel Walsh, Pamela Larsen’s appeal lawyer. Olivia and Gabriel begin to investigate the Larsen’s crimes, Olivia is trying to find out if her birth parents really are as evil as everyone says they are.

Woah guys, woah! I was sucked into this book so quickly. I couldn’t put it down! It turned a little bit windy on our vacation and it was too cold for me outside. So, I was bundled up inside with my tea reading this book. Everyone was wondering “where is Elyse?” and I was like “IN CAINSVILLE!!!!!!” It was a real page turner, I read late into the night and fell asleep holding it in my hands with the lights on!

The author Kelley Armstrong has written LOTS of series, and I have never read one before. In the Author’s note she had a little blurb about how she has left clues throughout the book and she hopes that the readers are patient enough to wait until the end for it all to be put together. But if they weren’t they could look up the clues and their meaning online. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what it meant. I was stunned. I am NEVER PATIENT. I can NEVER wait. Ask my husband, he will tell you. Here is the Author telling me that she has given it all away. Then what is the point of reading this book I asked myself. I know you are sitting there going “what did you do”???? Obviously I read the book for heaven’s sake. I said to myself “Read it, and then if you have to, look up the clues”. Of course I didn’t look them up because I love books and I love the experience. If you read the series and you looked at the clues you have to tell me what you thought of that. I may look them all up in the end to see if my hunches were right.

The point of view really works for this story. You know there is something so much bigger going on because you see so many different perspectives. But you still have no idea what it is. It’s just enough mystery to get you to keep going. I found that I really wanted to know what the heck was going on. Are these people aliens? Witches? Montsters? Daemons?

Clearly, I loved the mystery here. It was well paced I didn’t find myself pushing the characters to hurry up. What I felt at the end was a little bit frustrated. It felt like nothing was cleared up. There was so many more problems than when we started. I like resolve, and it felt like there wasn’t enough. Gabriel really grew on me, and I think he will continue to do so. He is struggling along with the reader and with Olivia and I liked him for it. He is confidant on the outside but I am not convinced he is so confidant on the inside.

I hope you guys are liking the vacation reads series on the blog. Next week is the last vacation book. It was a very popular Pulitzer winner, written about a painting. Let's see if you can guess before it comes out. See you next week.

My verdict: READ IT!!

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Have you read any of her other series? What did you think of this one? Do you think the Larsen’s are innocent?

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If you liked this, try:
Lynburn legacy

All souls trilogy

Vacation reads book #3: The Dinner

The Dinner
Herman Koch
Originally published by Ambo Anthos, 2009
Published USA Hogarth, 2013
Genre: Drama, Ficton, Mystery

Paul Lohman is getting ready for dinner; he and his wife Claire are meeting his brother Serge and his wife Babette. He isn’t going to tell you where they are going, he can’t let you know that. Paul is a very negative man, everything is an issue and he will tell you about each and every one in turn. But this is only to give you context, and maybe even distract himself from the truth. He and his wife have to go to this dinner, even though neither really wants to. They have to talk to Serge and Babette about the horrible thing their boys have done. They have to decide what they are going to do...

I took this along on vacation. Yes, yes I know. It wasn’t in the picture, it wasn’t in the post. Blah blah. May I remind you, that in the post I did mention that I enjoy variety while I am away? I grabbed this book at the last minute out of the read pile because it seemed different. It was very different.

This book was not about liking the characters, or a happy story. It was darker. I found it very interesting though. To me the darkness sort of crept in. The books I normally read start out a bit dark, but they seem to get lighter as you move along. This one was like moving from twilight (the time of day… not the book!) to midnight, on a moonless night. Did I get too artsy there for ya? I liked it! I might even do it again someday, so there. The whole time while reading this book I kept thinking “This is crazy! Why would you ever do that? What is the matter with you?” What was very interesting was this book was set over the course of one meal. The book is broken up into courses (appetizer, main etc.).

Even though this book took place during one meal, everything was scrutinized down to the tiniest detail. The descriptions were a little bit tedious. I don’t need to know where the bloody olives came from! But then again, perhaps that was the point. The pretension of the meal versus such a horrible discussion to have during it.

I really didn’t like Paul, he was very negative. I just couldn’t understand why the little things irritated him so much. Why he resented his brother the way he did. I could not wrap my head around it all. I kept thinking that Claire was a saint for putting up with him, but then again she isn't all she seems either. I do understand that we aren’t supposed to like him but I feel that for the purposes of the blog I need to point out that you will not like Paul. In the end you do sort of understand why he is the way he is, however it doesn't change how I felt about him.

Once I had finished this book I had to just sit there for a minute and absorb it. This book feels like it was created to make you uncomfortable. It did just that, it made me wonder what I would do in the same situation. All I really do know is that I sure as heck won’t do what they did!

My Verdict: Read it only if you’re looking for something different and a bit dark

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How would you handle the same situation? Did you like this book? What did you think of Serge?

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If you liked this, try:
We Need to Talk About Kevin (NY Times recommended, and I agree)