Friday Fill Ins

And....here we go:

1. Apparently there is some sort of website that has Awesome Friday Fill Ins!

2. I hope Saturday turns out to be a Sunny Day.

3. 2009 seems to be a great year for discovering blogs and books so far.

4. I sure hope that was it.

5. For too long, I have been wasting Saturdays cleaning house!

6. I am not obsessed with having Pizza on a Friday, I am not!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to having pizza and reading

a book, Tomorrow, my plans include shopping, gardening and taking the kids to

a party and Sunday I want to read some more.

The Fiorenza Forced Marriage by Melanie Milburne

Excerpt: Emma March was only doing her job caring for the late Valentino Fiorenza. She expected no mention in his will, let alone a stipulation to marry his son! But financially, she's desperate...... Rafaele will treat Emma like the money grubbing harlot he thinks she is. He'll wed her, bed her and destroy her. But then he discovers his new wife is a virgin! He's forced an innocent woman down the aisle......

My thoughts: Wall banger on more than one occasion. Emma is just so gullible and sometimes needy. I saw the little greedy monster sticking out when Rafael asked her to sell him her portion of the house....she said she couldn't sell to him as it belonged to him anyways but she never said she would "give" it to him either.........

Rafael drove me crazy with his "high handedness". Who does he think he is? He treated Emma like crap and she allowed it. I just didn't like the tone of this book too much and felt like Emma had no goals beyond that of finding love and happiness.

1. Join me in 1 hour for a glass of red wine.
2. Put a little love in your day!
3. Happiness is waking up on Saturday with a cup of Blue Mountain Peak coffee
4. Blogging and confused.
5. I'm waiting for a back rub.
6. A massage is hard to resist.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pizza & a harlequin, tomorrow my plans include taking the kids to a party and Sunday, I want to garden, after all, is SPRING!

MySpace Comments and Friday Comments

Georgia Aquarium

This aquarium is the largest in the world and who would think that it would be packed tight like sardines in a can. Unbelievable. With my kids and mom in law, we embarked on a mission to explore this "ocean in a tank". The aquarium is divided into 4 areas:

Georgia Explorer: features a highly interactive gallery with touch pools full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays and shrimp.

River Scout: we saw a wide diversity of animals that are found in the rivers of Africa, South America, Asia and right here in Georgia. I am talking piranhas, otters and alligators.

Cold Water Quest: home to the adorable Beluga Whales, they can actually turn their heads!

Ocean Voyager: we walked through an acrylic tunnel with fishes and sharks swimming all around then at the end of this exhibit is a gigantic acrylic viewing window with thousands of fish, a few whale sharks (yes, they are huge) and manta ray called Nandi. Nandi is the only manta ray in a U.S. aquarium. My son's favorite exhibit!

Tropical Diver: finally, we went to the last exhibit which was a coral reef. These exhibits are arranged like a gallery of living art. There were garden eels popping up out of the sand and above them a swirling mass of thousands of tiny glassy sweepers. We saw the adorable "Nemo" as well as seahorses, fairy basslets and yellow-head jawfish. There were even three exhibits of jellyfish that will mesmerize you. Take a look at the pictures I have here and I hope you can come and see it for yourself (come back soon for the pics).

Savas' Defiant Mistress by Anne McAllister

THEY WERE LIKE FIRE AND ICE ...... In the office people called Sebastian Savas "The Iceman." Fiery Neely Robson knew why. What she didn't know was why a man so hard and cold could melt her defenses with a single look. The solution: stay away from him.
Easy to say. Impossible to do. How could she keep away from Sebastian when the Seattle houseboat where she was living had a new owner — Sebastian himself — and he was, heaven help her, moving in!

I absolutely loved this book. First up, Hero and Heroine are both working as Architects so they appear to be equally "yoked". Harlequin moment: When Savas refuses to let Neely work side by side with him as he views her work as "fluffy and girly". Typical Harlequin men. Oh but I am not complaining........she has to step in and handle one of his meetings and was able to convey Savas designs to their clients. As great an Architect as he was, he had a challenge in this department. I enjoyed the book because the home they shared is a houseboat rather than a stark penthouse apartment. I also liked the fact that Savas has a large family (mostly women) but he finds time to listen to his sisters problems and even helps with an impending wedding. He is gorgeous and hard working but can be charming. I just don't understand how he has the money to spend the way he does when his dad obviously does not help him financially. On the other hand, Neely is beautiful, smart and very much wants her own family.

I was hoping Neely to stick to her guns a bit more and not fall into bed with Savas.........alas, I was hoping for more "action" but all I got was sweet, romantic and caring in both Hero and Heroine. Who's complaining? Not me.

The Terracotta Army

So I finally took 2 days off to enjoy the Spring Break holidays with my lovely kids......not! They were driving me crazy at home so I had to get out. On Thursday we went to see the Terracotta Army which are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China. I stood in awe amidst the various pieces that were on display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta............amazing I thought to myself. This once great man decided that he wants to have soldiers to protect him in the afterlife so he built a Terracotta army. In so doing, Qin Shi Huang (Emperor) was able to introduce the "assembly line". The workers formed a line and worked on different parts of the body before finally putting the pieces together to make warriors and horses. He held the higher ranking workers accountable for the final products by "stamping" each product with their initials; introducing what we know today as foreman/supervisor.......you catch my drift. It was amazing and I will put pictures up as soon as I get a chance.

Sisterhood Award

As a new blogger, I was so excited and honored to receive this award from my friend Yvonne over at socratesbookreviews.blogspot.com/. Thanks so much!

The name of the award says it all...... I can't tell you how much I appreciate getting it! Here are the rules to spread the sisterhood spirit:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

My lovely sisters that I nominate for this award are....

Pabast at http://readingmama.blogspot.com/
Myza at http://booksandsomanymorebooks.blogspot.com/

Kara at http://karabookchallenges.blogspot.com/
Danielle at http://gatadelafuentelibros.blogspot.com/
Lezlie at booksnbordercollies.blogspot.com/
Book and Musings from Down under at sally906.blogspot.com/
Carrie at booksandmovies.today.com/
J. Kaye at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/
Lindsay at bookfan0684-forloveofreading.blogspot.com/
Lilly at http://lilly-readingextravaganza.blogspot.com/

Forced Wife, Royal Love-Child by Trish Morey

Sienna Wainwright has one passionate night with international financier Rafe Lombardi before he unceremoniously casts her out of his bed. Sienna hopes never to see his seductively arrogant face again, but six weeks later their world changes -- forever. Rafe is no longer just a billionaire but is revealed as the prince of Montvelatte. What's more, Sienna is pregnant-with his twins! What choice does she have now? Rafe is determined to claim his heirs and take Sienna as he royal wife!

I read this book in a matter of hours, not because of the mind-blowing sex (no pun intended) but because it was refreshing to see a heroine that was a pilot. A first for me. Recently, we had a discussion going at at one of my yahoo groups about the careers (or lack of) that most of the heroines in the HPs had. They were usually waitresses, store clerks....you get the drift. The book was so different and well worth the read.

A bit of a spoiler.......I thought Rafe was an ass because he slept with Sienna and just left her.....no phone calls, emails.....nothing. The other thing I really couldn't stand was when he was looking for a Bride, he didn't even consider Sienna. I know she didn't have royal blood or the right grooming but the sex was awesome. I could empathize with Sienna and understood her frustration over the fact that Rafe did not want a relationship based on love. Wall banger moment: Sienna spent the entire book refusing to Marry Rafe and the minute she crashed, she changed her mind. It took a crash for Rafe to realized he loved her.