Aloha

[angela_o]

Home again!! Well, technically I've been home for a few days, but jet lag is really all kinds of no fun. Hawaii was wonderful. Warm tropical breezes. Water shading from cobalt to turquoise. Beautiful sunsets. Wonderful food. Whale and sea turtle sightings. Hotel rooms overlooking and literally steps from Kaanapali Beach. All of the cliches were proven to be based in fact. It was a wonderful vacation. Right up until the point where we were putting our luggage on the conveyor belt for mandatory agricultural screening and the agent asks us what airline we're flying and proceeds to tell us that our flight has been canceled. After making a frantic call to the 1-800 number handed out by the gate agent and being on hold for 33 minutes (the wait time was up to 225 minutes when I tried to call back later that night to see if any other flights had opened up) we were finally rebooked. On a initial flight that didn't leave until Monday afternoon. So, instead of getting home mid-morning on Sunday, we didn't get home until late afternoon on Tuesday and spent the last two days on the island more or less holed up in a crummy hotel near the airport in Kahului without a rental car. Getting home took 4 flights over two days in seat locations that were less than ideal. Tired. So, very, very tired. And did I mention that the airline didn't give any sort of compensation because the cancellation was due to weather at DFW? Even crummy hotel rooms in Maui are pricey. And food? How about half-gallons of orange juice for five bucks?

Luckily, we did eventually make it home with all of the kids and bags accounted for which is the most important thing.

On the plus side, I did have lots of opportunity to get reading done in the last two weeks. So, here are the updates to my list.

#24 is Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares(Feb/07).

#25 is Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares(Feb/07).

#26 is Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares(Feb/07).

#27 is Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares(Feb/07).

I read these the first day of traveling and liked them. I thought the author did a very good job of spreading the storyline amongst the various lead characters and there were some genuinely poignant moments.

#28 is Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock(Feb/07). I'll definitely be on the lookout for the sequel this summer. Thanks for the recommendation Jo.

#29 is Summer of Roses by Luann Rice(Feb/07). I picked this one up at the book exchange in the laundry area of the resort.

#30 is Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin(Feb/07). An interesting premise. She makes the adulterous protagonist likable.

#31 is Hunting and Gathering by Anne Gavalda(Feb/07). This one isn't published yet in the US from what I understand. My mother-in-law bought it when she was in New Zealand last November. A collection of French eccentrics make a nontraditional family in Paris. I'll be curious to see how it does if, and when, it gets published here.

#32 is Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore(Feb/07). I loved Lamb and enjoyed Fluke. This falls somewhere slightly below Fluke.

#33 is Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot(Feb/07). I like the series, but there needs to be some development on the romance front.

#34 is Something Blue by Emily Giffin(Feb/07). Manages to make the unlikeable character from the previous book much less annoying in this one. Although I thought the resolution was fairly pat.

#35 is Party Princess by Meg Cabot(Mar/07). Bubblegum, but fun.

#36 is Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan(Mar/07). This turned out to be much earthier than I expected. I'm not sure that I'd want my 13 year old to read it even if it is marketed as YA.

#37 is You Suck: A Love Story by Christoper Moore(Mar/07). The sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. See #32 above.

Now, to bed I go.

Comments

[tasyfa.livejournal.com]

Ouch on the travel home issues. I'm glad the rest of your vacation was lovely, though. It sounds delightful!

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

The travel issues were certainly not the highlight of the trip. Although I suspect that they'll be part of family lore for years to come. "Remember that time we got stuck in Hawaii...". :)

It was pretty delightful before that. My m-i-l was much less high maintenance than usual which is always a plus and the kids had a great time.

Oh, before I forget, I thought of you while on vacation. We went into a gallery in Lahaina and the artist was a nature photographer. There was a beautiful work of Peggy's Cove! I immediately remembered you saying that it was one of your favorite places to visit.

[tasyfa.livejournal.com]

Haha yes, I suspect you're right about the family lore. And it is one of my favourite places! That's cool, that there would be a photo of it halfway around the world.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Pretty picture. That does look like a lovely spot. Maybe I'll make it up to the PEI and your general vicinity at some point in my life.

[janajoh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a GREAT vacation, minus airline snafus. Glad to see you read so much too!! A couple of people have recommended Lamb to me -- I never thought to ask if you'd read it!

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I loved it when I read it. There were parts that I literally cried I was laughing so hard and others that were very poignant. My husband enjoyed it too. You should put it in that huge pile of things to be read. :)

[michak.livejournal.com]

WB! I'm glad that you had a lovely time despite the airline insanity and you got some reading done...YAY!

Now, I want to go...and soak up the warm tropical breezes. Sounds fabulous!

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the welcome. It was fabulous up until the end. But, even that got funny after a while. You have to be able to laugh at insanity or it wins.

Would you believe that I've gotten sucked back into GH? That whole Metro Court thing worked. Plus, I'm enjoying Patrick. He's even tempered my long-standing hatred for Robin that dates back to the early Carly/Jason days. Too funny!

[michak.livejournal.com]

Laughter does help in dealing with craziness that life throws our way at times!

You're watching GH again? What do you think of LW's version of Carly? I complete agree that the hostage/blowing Metrocourt worked, those two weeks, I didn't FastForward my tape, just watched from start to end.

Although, the second week, I had enough of Sonny being the group leader but Patrick was fabulous and the fact that he tempered your hatred for Robin for a little while makes me happy. Will you continue to watch or was that enough?

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I like LW as Carly. She's a good mix of strong and vulnerable. Plus, I love Jax, so anything that keeps him in the forefront is a good thing in my opinion.

I agree that Sonny got somewhat tiresome, but that's often the way. I'm actually feeling a little sorry for Jason these days. Elizabeth has a lot of gall asking him to give up his child just as his father dies. But, this being Port Charles, I'm sure it will all blow up before too long. I actually loved Jason with baby Michael, so it would be good to see him with a baby again. I wouldn't be sad to see Sam disappear though. She irks badly.

I think I'll continue to check in for a while. I record it on my DVR and then ff through the commercials and any boring parts. SoapNet is my friend. :) And speaking of commercials, the ones for DOOL are unspeakably bad. I don't understand how the show stays on the air if the commercials are truly indicative of the storylines.

Patrick is pretty much made of win these days.

[michak.livejournal.com]

I love LW while having the love/hate for Carly but I still think that SBr's version had the better writing.

Elizabeth is annoying the ish out of me and the girl just needs to open her damn mouth to Lucky. I don't even understand what the writers are going with this entire arc considering the spoilers for the next few weeks. Completely agree with the Sam opinion. She grates and her character does nothing for me.

You know, as bad as DOOL is at the current moment, nothing tops Passions. It's filled with bad acting, annoying mannerisms and just WTF in terms of SLs. How the soap managed to last this long is mind-boggling to me.