Blend Creations

I am giggling like a little kid because I just received my custom necklace from Blend Creations.

It is awesome and easy.  You print out the custom worksheet from the website and draw within the lines.  Then scan it and send it to the company.  In three days I had my brother's childhood drawing on a necklace.

So of course being a teacher I think, "Great Mother's Day gift!"  It is too expensive for me to order for each of the children in my class.  We are on the tissue paper flower budget in most schools, but Dads could totally get their tot to draw within the lines.  You also sign the back.  What a perfect momento. 

They also have great and unusual items like bottle opener necklaces.  Which is more ingenious then flip-flop bottle openers, since, well you walk on them.  Gross! Blend Creations also offers flowers suspended in resin and many other items.  There are more traditional items as well, but those are less my style.

There is a custom portion to almost any piece of artwork on this site.  You can really make your mark on any piece.  

Please give Blend Creations a try and you will not be disappointed.  

Stardust

Neil Gaiman is my go-to traveling companion.  I love the fantasy and the unusual twists and turns, he gives you.  Stardust is no exception.  It is a relatively modern fairytale.

It follows both a father and son's journey out of their sheltered lives.  These stories take place consecutively.  The father's story give us the interesting story of his son's origin.

The bigger story is that of the son.  He is madly in love with a girl and promises her the star that fell from the sky.  The rest of the story is his journey to find and return the star to his love.  Along the way he meets many fanciful and fantastic creatures.  Some will help and some will hinder him along the way.  The story is woven like a typical Gaiman spider web, you are never sure which way it will go and where it will end up.

I would love to write more, but the beauty of this book is discovering the fairy tale one strand at a time.

There is also a movie based on the book, but of course it is different and not as exciting.  Gaiman has said that when your story becomes a film you have to let go of your piece of art and let someone else take it and make it their own.

Diary of a Married Call Girl

To feed my constant addiction for small and/or used book stores I wander into them as much as I can.  My way of keeping them around so I can continue to enjoy them.  On one of my journeys I wanted a little bit of fluff to read and Tracy Quan's Diary of a Married Call Girl fit the bill.

It is an unusual story.  It follows a woman who hides being a call girl from her new husband.  The new husband wants to start a family and she wants to keep her business.  I enjoyed the parts about her family history, rather than the main story line about hiding ones life from another.  It is an easy quick read and does not require too much brain power.  It would be great for the beach.

Bossy Pants

I love my Nook but I hate that I can't read it during take off.  So when I forgot to bring a book along I wandered into the many Hudson News shops in the airport and picked up Tina Fey's Bossy Pants.  I will admit I love everything Fey.  This book did not disappoint.

Fey's book has her humor throughout, so there are giggles every couple of pages.  It follows her from the beginning of her life up until now.  I find it funny that you can see 30 Rock episodes in your head that were taken from her life.  The truth is always funnier than fiction.  Tina has used all she has been through to make an outrageous book and tv show.  

It is a very quick read, it took me only 2 days to finish it.  You can read it in any order since each chapter is its own story.  Although I would read it from start to finish.  That could be the OCD in me, but chronologically is always better.  

So enjoy the giggles.