Relaxing Relaxing Vacation

It is SO GOOD to be back home, and even better to let myself do absolutely nothing for a little while. Pretty soon I'll be starting up the ol' engine and getting down to work and an actual daily routine again, but I've still got one last weekend to revel in the glory that is sleeping in late, reading out on the deck, playing Bioshock 2 until it is too dark and scary in my living room to take on the Big Sisters, and having to dig up an excuse to get out of the house and go shopping.

This week I've gone out every day to do random errands or try to find more things to make our house more "finished" looking. We have serious acquisitions to make in the next couple of months, including probably:
a grill
outdoor furniture for the deck
a ceiling fan for the living room

I've been keeping my eye out for all of those things (and others that are on our long laundry list of things we want someday in our house) but ended up getting some pretty neat things, including the following:

Gold Shower Curtain, from Home Goods

And matching towel sets for our guest bathroom #1


Two vases, from Home Goods, to help tie together the assorted Knick Knacks that I am putting up on the ledge in our guest room slash office.

Afore mentioned Knick Knacks.


Silver Shower Curtain, from Home Goods for our guest bathroom #2


Rectangular flower pot, potting soil, two basil plants, and a cilantro plant. (I had these out on the deck as initially planned, but the sun totally fried them, so they are sheltered in the kitchen until I can find appropriate shade out there on the deck where they belong.)

Flower pot, stand, and two plants that I got from Home Depot to make our deck look less abandoned.

They're OK looking...

And, last but not least:

a Mat Cutter and 4 large blank mats for me to get to work on with making our posters and pictures look a little more finished, without having to get them custom framed and matted. We'll see how good they look, but I am hopeful. As long as they pass for Not-Looking-Home-Made, I'll be happy. I might try fancier things with framing later, but for now it's just me trying to improve our "style" little by little.

I spent a GREAT amount of time reading for pleasure over my vacation, and finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You know, that book everyone else read about a year ago, and that Patrick says you're an a-hole if you like it... Uh oh... Anywho, here was my little review on Goodreads (which I now officially like better than Living Social - Books).


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sadly, this book is not about dragons. Once I got over that tragedy, and the droolingly slow beginning, I got pretty into the crime drama. Unfortunately, the book had two stories to tell. The overarching story, which was also what the last portion of the book was devoted to, was not in the least bit interesting or entertaining for me. Who cares about the Wennerstrom Affair? Not this reader. Get back to Harriet's disappearance slash murder mystery and the skeletons in the Vanger family's closet. But overall, I'd still say that the book had me on edge and entertained. I hope the next book in the series sticks with one plot line, or at least has a more captivating second plot line...
View all my reviews