Author Archives: Kara

July Recap, Part 1

Posted in Adventures, Family, Recap, Summer by

We are half-stinkin’-way through summer! Can you believe it? I can’t. Life has been pretty hectic and I haven’t been able to set aside much time for the blog other than quick book reviews, so here’s Part 1 of what went down this month:

After the Canada Day long weekend, Isla and Norah got to go on a 5-day camping trip with my mom and stepdad! The weather wasn’t super great but they both had an amazing time – it was Norah’s first time camping with them and she was jazzed, to say the least! Kyle and I were also very thankful for my mom and stepdad taking them as well – it was wonderful to have a meal together without having to tell someone to eat their supper or to have “just one more bite,” haha!

Really, the weather was super shifty all month, but we took full advantage of the sunnier days by spending time outside and visiting the splash park:

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We also took a day trip to a lake to hang out with Kyle’s mom and stepdad while they were camping. They have kayaks, so we were able to borrow those and paddle around the lake for a little bit, and I borrow the kiddie kayak from my mom and Isla got to do some paddling as well! We also went on a little hike/walk around the provincial campsite as well, and both girls were exhausted by the end of the day. We were barely 5 minutes into the drive home and Norah had passed out hard in her carseat.

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At the beginning of the month Kyle had stumbled upon an AirBnB listing for a cabin at one of our favourite lakes to visit, and it just so happened to be available during his week of holidays in July! We booked it for two nights, and my goodness, it was amazing! I would hardly have called the space we stayed in a cabin – it had full amenities and was super spacious and comfortable! (And to be able to shower off at night was SO luxurious, lol) Really, it was borderline glamping, haha. While it wasn’t lakefront, we were only a 10 minute walk from the boat launches and a 5 minute drive from the public beach! The cabin even allowed pets, so both dogs were able to come with us.

The girls had a blast swimming and playing in the water during the day, and we made s’mores after dinner both nights. Overall it was AMAZING and I hope we can book it again next year!

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The water wasn’t nearly as warm as I’d like it, but these two crazies didn’t mind at all!
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<3
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Dirty little Lake Monsters!
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Take a stab at how many shots I had to take to get this single photo …

Overall, I think our family time in July was spot-on! We made the best out of every moment we could, and I think it worked out beautifully! I think we had a great blend of adventure and R&R.

Are you a camper or a “glamper?”

Tomorrow I’ll post Part 2 of my July recap, which will be my trip to Vancouver to see the Backstreet Boys in concert!

What I’m Reading: Sharp Objects

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

Sharp ObjectsFrom the book jacket:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

My review:

This is by far the deepest, darkest read of the Gillian Flynn “trilogy,” and as disturbing as it was I couldn’t put it down. I have no idea where Flynn’s headspace was at when she penned this one, but whoa…

The characters are all NOT OKAY, from 30-something year old Camille to little Amma and her cronies, but I still was desperate to know how much more messed up these individuals would become. (Answer: Waaaaaaaaay more.) I was able to kind-of-sort-of figure out who commits the murders, but the twist (because there has to be a twist) was perfect, not over the top, and explained a lot of the characters’ behaviours.

One relationship I had a bit of trouble understanding was the one between Camille and her boss, Curry. Overall, Curry seems genuinely concerned about Camille’s well-being given her past, so I struggle with why he’d give her this assignment. I understand that she has an “in” as the events being covered happened in her hometown, but did he now realize the damage this place had caused Camille growing up?

Aside from that, the remainder of the relationships in this story are beyond healthy, creeping me out in an oddly-satisfying way. I don’t even think Dr. Phil could handle the crazy of these characters.

In all honesty, I’m not certain Sharp Objects is for everyone. It’s extremely dark and a lot of the content I think would make your average reader extremely uncomfortable. Still, I was absorbed by it and thought it was disturbingly good.

My rating: ★★★★★/5.

 

What I’m Reading: Sorry Not Sorry

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

From the book jacket:

Sorry Not SorryIs this all there is? I hadn’t had so much as a sniff of a shag for over a year. I scraped the last dregs of Caramel Chew Chew ice cream out of the bottom of the tub with my finger and licked it. It left a sticky smear on my phone’s screen when I typed into Google, “How to find love, sex and happiness.” 

Charlotte has always been a good girl. 

She sorts her paper from her plastic. She eats her greens (even Spirulina, whatever that is). Boozy brunches with her best friends on the third Sunday of every month are about as bad as she gets. 

But being good is getting boring… 

Charlotte’s not just stuck in a rut – she’s buried in it up to her chin. The only company she has in bed is the back catalogue of Netflix and falling in love feels like the stuff of fairy tales. So when she stumbles across a popular podcast, Sorry Not Sorry, which challenges women to embrace their inner bad girl, she jumps at the chance to shake things up. 

Old Charlotte would never ask for a stranger’s number, go on a blind date or buy lacy lingerie… But New Charlotte is waving goodbye to her comfort zone (with a side order of margaritas). And it turns out that good things happen to bad girls, as Charlotte finally finds her Mr Right – or so she thinks… Is falling in love too tough a challenge even for Charlotte? 

My review:

I was itching to read something light and not overly serious, and Sorry Not Sorry hit the mark for me. It reminded me a lot of Sophie Kinsella’s works, actually, and I wasn’t upset about that.

The idea behind the plot was clever enough: Charlotte sees her long-time friends/roommates shacking up and getting hitched and wonders where her life is headed, so she decides after listening to a podcast to make a change.

It’s odd, because while I felt there was something missing, there was a LOT going on with all the various subplots between friends, lovers, and work. Either bits could have been omitted or more depth could have put into it to make it fully developed. (Such as the whole Tansy/Renzo bit. Hell, I’ll even admit that I’m toying with the idea of reading the “sequel” to figure out what’s going on there.)

Still, I thought Sorry Not Sorry was just fine enough for what I was looking to read.

My rating: ★★★½/5