The Wedding - A Review

After reading four consecutive thriller novels of John Grisham, I found The Wedding a little bit boring. Nicholas Sparks has always been my favorite love story writer but a sudden twist from the action-packed, exciting plots of legal thriller books to a simple and sweet love story has somehow made the feeling not the same. Reading Sparks' novels had always brought a kilig feeling back then. While I was reading this one, however, brought a feeling when I wanted my hands to let go of it but I just can't because I had this need to finish it. I was just actually reading the dialogue and scanned passed the unnecessary paragraphs, something that I don't do when reading. The last part, though, has made the book still worth-reading. The ending was, well, magical, a true touch of a romantic Nicholas Sparks. Unlike his previous books which usually has a tragic ending, this one has this heart-melting ending, indeed a great consolation for me finishing the book. Nicholas Sparks has made me cry once more.

Rating:

Solo Flight Soon!

So this is what's on my mind and has been my trending dream every night. I guess I'm going to blah-blah about this for quite some time now until that adventure will be over. I just can't wait for August to come. Though I'm dreading of becoming 23 (gurd!), I'm actually more excited of what's gonna happen during that day.

Oh, just where exactly am I going? Something just hit my head and I decided to finally grant my best friend's wish of visiting her in Boracay. And I just thought the perfect time would be during my birthday so I can also reward myself for working so hard (clap-clap).

And just so you know, I'm worried of what am I going to wear because I don't have any katanggap-tanggap na beach wear of some sort and I'm also dreading to wear a bikini. So I made a list of these outfits which I wish and plan to have.
(photos aren't mine. click caption to visit source)

Here's the first...and more to come. :)

Isn't it lovely? This is a must-have!

The Chamber and The Rainmaker

The Chamber and The Rainmaker
in one volume for only
P107.00 at Booksale.

Funny how those two big men stared at me when I handed this book down to the cashier to pay for it. Could they be thinking as to how nerdy I am for buying a 3-inch thick book? =p








Are you a bookworm as well? Let me share to you this very nice post in I ♥ Books.

Date a girl who reads...

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.  

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.  

She has to give it a shot somehow.  

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.  

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.  

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.  

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.  

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.  

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.  

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.  

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

by Rosemarie Urquico

Chris Hemsworth!

I have just finished watching Thor. Yeah, I know, I JUST watched it. This addiction of The Avengers has lead me to watch all those Marvel movies and collect their DVD copies. I'm not so much of a fan of fantasy movies. I don't go gaga over Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and such movies. I'm more like of a psychological thriller movie-watcher. So you can call it an achievement on the director's part for I have watched The Avengers twice in 3D and am still planning to get the DVD copy of it, simply because I got hooked with it. And yeah, I've got this crush thingy on Thor when I watched him on The Avengers.

I so love the voice and his manly built (oh my, it's so not me). While I was watching the movie (Thor), I got this crazy and funny thought. What if I would be like Natalie Portman in the movie, where a god would fall in love with me? What if the portal was never destroyed? What if Thor would ask me to come and live with him in Asgaard and become a queen? Will I accept the challenge of living on a weird planet, or a realm as they call it, and be ready with an unworldly way of living?

Just the very thought of Chris Hemsworth asking me those is just too good to be true that I would not think twice and say YES. Pinaabtik! Ha, ha! I'm not pretty enough to be someone's love interest, much more like that of a god's. Crazy thought nga eh. And a crazy answer from a crazy girl. Magkaaminan na. Alam kong kayo rin. =p

Eden Nature Park

After constant planning and careful spending (char lang), we, the bitches, finally were able to visit the Eden Park. It was an adventure-packed day. Needless to say, I'm still overwhelmed with lots of first time experiences that we had during the day.

The Eden Park is a 15-km drive from the town of Toril. 'Twas only a P75-tricycle ride going there. We arrived at around 8:30. We then arranged our itenirary and spent time waiting for our first stop taking pictures and of playing Indiana Jone, which is the first in the list of my first time experiences.

Our day tour started at 9:30 and we had to ride a shuttle to fully explore the wide area. We had this lady tour guide who told us that a certain Ayala in Davao (not the Ayala in Manila, as what she repeatedly said) owned the park. She also discussed about the mangosteen and the deer and the rainbow and the aviary and a whole lot more. We only had three 5-minute stops so we can take pictures of the place. First was with the rainbow park thingy, and I forgot what our tour guide told us about why it was called just like that.

Second was with the Tinubdan Falls.

Third was with Lola's Garden, called as such because most lolas would love the plants there. It has a wishing well, the Sadako well (hehe), which is filled with these:

The day tour lasted for an hour. After that, we went to the Skyrider area, which is about 250 meters long. That was my first zipline adventure and that was OH-some! The only scary moment was when I was about to take off, but the fear was then replaced with excitement, and of wanting for a longer zipline.

After that, we went horseback-riding with Kookie and Lupin. And oh, that was a first time as well, and I don't wish to experience riding one again because they look so helpless. Nakakaawa.

Afterwards, we devoured the food during our lunch buffet. The food were good but they didn't really stand out.

At 2:00 PM, we went to Pasyalan, which is surrounded by magnificent birds of all kinds, and later on went to see the aviary. There's a room there filled with these,

and there's also a room which is filled with worms and pupae, like you can really see the life cycle of a butterfly.

At 3:00 PM, they went swimming. Yeah, THEY, because I had this bloody period thingy that time.

We arrived home at around 6:30 PM, tired yet very happy. It was all worth the expenses, and a real great first time. Indeed, it's more fun in the Philippines.

***Here's the brochure for the Day Packages***