Denmark in the fall

One of the things I love about Europe is the colors. We never see brick buildings painted...but the Danes paint the buildings yellow, blue and even red. It's really pretty especially when they have flowers growing up the sides of their walls.

What do you think? Do you like the bricks painted or left au naturale?

Fifty Shades of Grey

I read the first two books: Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker.

I only had to read the first one for my book club but once I got into it, I just kept going. The first page was the hardest part for me to get through. I really didn't like the way the author started out by describing the main character by having her standing in front of a mirror and talking about herself. But...who am I to judge because like I said, when I got past the first page I was okay with the story. I'd never read anything with so much "adult" content...but that didn't bother me, in fact I thought it was interesting...from an educational viewpoint or considering it from a research perspective ;D

Of course, being the Stephen King fan that I am, I was hoping for a little more action--maybe a vampire, werewolf, or zombie to pop out sometime...but--unfortunately--nothing like that happened.

I didn't know much about the books, just what my girlfriends were telling me..."You have to read the book(s)".

But, when my son told me the books were written as fan fiction for the Twilight stories, and once I thought about it, it all began to make sense. Of course Christian Grey is a bit dangerous, overly controlling, charismatic, extremely wealthy and extraordinarily handsome...sound familiar?

Anastasia Steele is a young, inexperienced student...another similarity?

They have an immediate attraction for one another that transcends Christian's unwholesome "hungers".

Christian's mother is a doctor...his younger sister is a vibrant, fun-seeking young woman who he has a special bond with.

It all sounds so familiar...doesn't it?

I thought the first book was better than the second (sort of like Twilight over New Moon) but I'm thinking about reading the third novel...it seems like the action will pick up in that story...at least that's what the ending of the second story leads me to believe. But...I haven't quite made up my mind. It was easy for me to read the first two...I was sitting on airplanes for about two days...and needed something to occupy my mind...besides The Avengers, Prometheus, and J. Edgar . . . but those are a few more blogposts waiting to be written.

Anyone want to comment a little on the third book in the series?

Jelly...fish, sharks and sailing! YIKES is that a vacation?

Ahhhhh.....most people love to go on vacation. .. Not me. I love to BE on vacation.

GOING--that's another thing entirely. See, I think flying is for the birds.

I always feel queasy on airplanes--I know, I'm a whimp. But I need to take motion sickness tablets to keep from having to use that little bag. You know the one. It's stored in the seatback in front of me. :( I know...gross!

But it's true.

Then I usually catch a cold. So with a runny nose, I'm usually spending my time off from work trying to get over my cold.

That's why when my hubby asked me to go with him, half-way around the world, I hesitated...it's hard to want to do something when you know it's going to make you sick.

So, call me a whiner. I am. And I know it's hard to feel sorry for a whinny whimp...I know it makes me mad to have to admit it. I'm the worst.

But even though we hit turbulence and I felt fairly lousy when we landed and--yes--I ended up with another cold to battle in the frigid temps of Denmark, I had a funtastic time!

We did all sorts of fun things that I'll share over the next week or so but here are a few photos to show you some of what we did....

We went sailing. Yep, first time I've ever gone on a sailboat. I always thought it was a relaxing thing to float around in a boat being propelled through the water and the waves with nothing more than a large piece of fabric flapping up over your head...in the wind.

I've always thought of myself as more of a water sports type of person...you  know, waterskiing, wakeboarding, innertubing...I had no idea sailing was a sport. Now, I've learned the error of my ways.

My husband even got to take the helm, or rudder, or whatever it is on a sailboat.

When it got a little rough, Soren took the wheel--thank God!

As you can see, the boat was tilted to the side, yeah this was just the beginning.

We sailed from Denmark to Sweden...yep, in the ocean!

A family voyage across the water, with someone who gets motion sick...

Luckily, I didn't even have to lean over the side of the ship...except to look into the water to see the fish.

:D That's definitely worth a smiley face, especially since the boat was tilted so far on its side a couple of times that I asked if it could flip over like Johnny Depp's The Black Pearl.

You can't really tell in my pictures how far we were on our side because--at those moments--I wasn't taking photos . . . I was hanging on so I wouldn't slip into the sea.

Yeah...I was hanging on for dear life...that was fun...no seriously...that was the best part of the journey.

I had to put my camera away and zip it up tight because I didn't want it going overboard if I lost my grip, which was very possible since my feet were edged up against one railing--the one at the side tilted toward the water and I was holding on to the rail up over my head (good thing I've been doing some weight lifting to train for that triathlon) and hoping I wasn't going to fall in.

I didn't.

But what's the worst that could happen?

I asked.

Soren said we could get wet. Yeah, I knew that part. What had me a little on edge was when he told me that this was the season of the jellyfish in Helsingor. Yeah, I even took a couple of pictures of a few I saw right along the walkway.

Yes, those are jellyfish. I'd never seen one -- well, except in an Aquarium. Oh and then I stupidly asked if they had sharks in this water. Soren smiled and reassured me, "Yes of course."

"What?!"

He grinned, "They're only small sharks."

Oh good.

We made our way to Sweden and went ashore to get coffee and pastry. Yes, we needed a little sustenance before making our way back to Denmark.

When we made it back to the safe shores of Elsinore, it was getting dark. That was okay. At least I couldn't see the jellyfish on my way back to the cottage.

So that was my first experience with sailing the high seas. What a fun way to spend a day. Thanks to my hubby's cousin: Soren.

September 21st

It's my hubby's birthday...and mine :D

Yeah, it's true. My hubby and I ...we share more than our house, our lives, our goals...we share the same birthday. It seems we were just made for each other.

So we will be doing something special today...I'm sure of it...well, at least I hope so.

And, it's not just odd that we share the same birthday...two of our kids share the same birthday too.

Nope, they're not twins...they are like me and my hubby...they just share the same date for their birthday.

Odd coincidence....?

Well, it goes further than that.

My brother and sister share the same birthday...nope, they're not twins either.

It's a very strange phenomena in my family...shared birthdays...

What do you think...weird or Onederful . . . as in sharing the same "one"derful day? Okay, I'm a dork...no denying the truth.

Scare Tactics

So, a friend of mine was telling me that her son recently lost his first tooth and they had to have "the talk". You know the one, the one about the Tooth Fairy.

She wanted him to hide his tooth and look forward to the thrill of finding a little money beneath his pillow the next morning. But then they got to talking and she told him he had to always remember to brush his teeth or they would rot out of his head. (Okay so maybe that's not a lie--technically--but it is a scare tactic...right?)

I'm just curious...are there any mother's out there willing to talk about things they've told their kids to get them to do something...and used a little scare tactic to get the job done...? Doi you think it's a good idea to scare kids into doing something . . . ?

I have to admit, I once told my son he couldn't cut the cat's whiskers or she'd die...

He thought they were too long and wanted to cut them. I was afraid he'd poke her in the eye with the scissors. I was frantic..."No, she'll....die!" I told him. Now, it didn't hurt him and it might have saved the cat's . . . life...or at least her eyesight.

So, I don't know....is a little lie--okay?

WICKED WEDNESDAY - Haunted History

So, Halloween is just around the corner and it got me thinking...about haunted houses, scary stories and haunted histories...

Do any of you live in a haunted house? Have you ever visited a haunted location? Do you even believe in hauntings, ghosts, or ghouls...?

I think it would be fun to have a ghost story contest here on my blog for the first couple of weeks of October, with real prizes and frightening tales.

How 'bout you? Would you want to play?

Let me know, if there's enough interest I'll put the contest together.

Fifty Shades

So I just downloaded the book on my kindle. I don't know if I'll like it. . . or even what I'll think but everyone's talking about it so I want to know what all the hype is about and I don't think it's fair to judge a book by its cover or its hype so...I'm going to find out for myself what all this talk is about.

Have you read the book...are you willing to admit it...? What did you think?

I'll let you know when I'm done...