My Interfaith Holiday Celebration

December 12, 2014 / azlotnik / 1 Comment

Hanukkah 2010

It’s here again — the holiday season. A time we look forward to all year. There are Christmas trees all lit up and decorated, Menorahs with burning candles glistening in the windows, holiday music is playing in all the stores, people go frantic trying to find the right gifts for their loved ones and everyone is in the holiday spirit.

I grew up Jewish, and I celebrate Hanukkah. When I was younger, I used to be offended when someone would wish me a Merry Christmas. I thought, why can’t you just say Happy Holidays? It’s funny — now that I celebrate Christmas with my husband, I don’t mind at all. I never thought I would ever decorate a Christmas tree or let alone have one in my home. But, I like to incorporate my husband’s traditions into our lives, so we have a tree in our home along with my menorahs and the Hanukkah decorations.

I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas and here are some of our traditions:

Hanukkah:

When I was a kid, we celebrated Hanukkah in the traditional way. We had 8 nights of lighting candles and received one or two presents each night — some big and some small gifts. We always had potato latkes at least once during Hanukkah. It falls on a different day every year since the holiday goes by the Jewish calendar. Now that we’re all grown up, we have one big Hanukkah celebration on one night. And, since my parents live in Texas and won’t be in town for Hanukkah, we will have a “belated” Hanukkah celebration before New Year’s. We did that last year as well. We make latkes and sing to the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack. Our favorite song is called Matchmaker. We sing and dance while we cook. We exchange presents with my family and sometimes there are so many it takes over an hour to open them all. This year, I think my husband and I are going to try and light the candles every night during Hanukkah. Hanukkah falls on December 16 — 24 this year.

Not many people who aren’t Jewish know the story of Hanukkah. It isn’t even one of the most significant Jewish Holidays. Click here for the story of Hanukkah. You will learn about the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil.

Making Latkes 2011

Presents Hanukkah 2011

Christmas:

Every Christmas, we go over to my in-law’s house on Christmas Eve. We bring presents over and put them under the tree. We spend the night, and in the morning open all of the presents and our stockings. Then, we usually have a big breakfast (Southern Style). We spend the day together and have a big Christmas dinner with ham and all the fixings. Sometimes we eat it for a late lunch. My in-laws are not very religious and they don’t go to church. So, this is how they celebrate the holiday. It’s a great way to celebrate indeed!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2013

Presents:

I like to get ahead of the game in regard to presents for the holidays. I strive to get all of my presents wrapped and under the tree at least by mid December. So far, I have bought all of my Hanukkah/Christmas gifts for my family and friends except for one item. I mainly buy for my family now and sometimes I buy things for my friends. When I was in school, I always bought presents for my friends, but as adults we don’t really want to exchange holiday presents anymore. But, we still have many gift-giving occasions, such as birthdays and weddings.

My husband and I have always given each other one big gift for Hanukkah and one big gift for Christmas. We usually make Amazon universal wish lists for each other. That way we know we are getting each other what we really want. It really has worked out well for us.

Presents and Tree 2014

Tree and Decorations:

This past weekend we put up our tree. When we first got the tree, we lived in an apartment. We decided to get a 4-foot tree since we did not have that much room. Since it was my first tree, we wanted to incorporate Hanukkah into the tradition. So we got all blue, white and silver ornaments. Glass and plastic balls, glittery icicle ornaments, a sequined silver tree skirt and a blue glittery gold star topper. We call it the Chrismahanukkah tree. Now that we are in a house, we still use the same tree. I imagine when we get our own house; we will buy a bigger tree and more ornaments. All of the presents don’t usually fit under the tree, so we put a large majority of them on the fireplace next to the tree. I also decorate for Hanukkah and we have a lot of decorations all over the house. I’m really happy with how our house looks all decorated right now.

The Future:

One day when we have children, I’d like to incorporate both holidays (Hanukkah and Christmas) into our children’s lives. I’m not quite sure how we would do that yet. But, I would like to have the traditions we do now live on by passing them down to our children and then one day to their children.

We’re ready for this holiday season! Are you? How do you celebrate the holidays? Leave me a comment below.

Our Tree 2011

Our Tree 2012

Our Tree 2014

The Fireplace at my in-law’s House

Pacific Northwest Road Trip

October 28, 2014November 3, 2014 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

My husband and I had high hopes for our anniversary vacation. We were already going to my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah in San Francisco, so after the family weekend, we planned to extend our trip and take a road trip up the coast all the way to Vancouver, Canada. (See my post called Planning the Ultimate Vacation.) During this trip, we drove a total of 2,300 + miles, traveled through three states and spent our first time in Canada. The road trip portion was all done in a mere five days (Nine days total for the vacation). Don’t get me wrong, we had fun on our vacation — but there were definitely times we regretted this road trip decision. It clearly wasn’t enough time to do all that we had planned. We sort of knew this from the start, but we planned on going anyways. We didn’t really realize how MUCH driving it was and how little we got to see of each destination until we actually experienced being on the road trip. Others had told us, well maybe just go to Portland and Seattle and skip Vancouver. Or, just drive to Vancouver and fly home from Seattle instead of driving all the way back to San Francisco. But, we really wanted to do it all and had our minds set on this vacation, so the original plan stayed intact. We had considered driving back to Seattle and flying back to Atlanta from there, but the rental car company would have charged us by the mile instead of having unlimited miles. Being on a budget, we determined that spending $300 + on miles was not such a good idea.

The Golden Gate Bridge

We really enjoyed most parts of our trip, but there were definitely some flaws to our anniversary vacation. Here is a quick outline of our trip for you to get an idea of our schedule:

Days 1 – 3: Family Bar Mitzvah weekend including a dinner, 2 services, a luncheon, the big party and a brunch.

Also on Day 3: The Start of our road trip. We went to a Napa winery, the Redwood Forrest, and Drive thru Tree Park. We stayed over in Eureka, California.

Day 4: Eureka to Portland. Took Highway 101 instead of I-5 for a more scenic route, and because our GPS led us that way. It took 10 hours instead of the planned 7 and we arrived in Portland at night in the dark.

Day 5: Portland to Seattle. We never really saw Portland, but we spend the majority of the day in Seattle.

Day 6: Seattle to Vancouver. No problem crossing the border, but arrived a little late for the activities we had planned.

Day 7: Vancouver to Portland. We had a big long wait crossing the border which caused us to miss seeing Portland again in the daylight.

Day 8: Portland to Marin County. Marin is outside of San Francisco where my family lives. It was a long drive home but bearable. I actually started writing this post on a notepad in the car during the last few hours. It was nice to spend time with my family before heading home.

Day 9: Fly from San Francisco to Atlanta. We enjoyed a Belgian waffle breakfast with Canadian maple syrup that we got for my family in Vancouver and then packed up, returned the rental car and headed home.

One day to rest and then the next day was our one year wedding anniversary. That day was very special. We got each other traditional paper gifts for the first year. Mine was a personalized notepad and his was a picture of our first dance at our wedding with the lyrics of the song around it all in a frame. And we got some other goodies as well. We dined at a nice restaurant and it was a great meal.

Highlights and “lowlights” of our trip by Destination:

Napa Valley and The Redwood Forrest:

Artesa Winery

Oregon Coast

We loved visiting wine country and the redwoods. It was all highlights and no “lowlights” on this day. Our road trip started off in Napa. We went to Artesa Winery because I had been there before and wanted to show my husband how beautiful it was. The first time I went, it was fall and leaves were changing. It was truly breathtaking. This time, it was still on the tail end of summer and since it had been so dry the rolling hills were not very green, but it was still a very pretty sight. We shared a tasting and bought a bottle of Merlot that had been my favorite.

Driving through the redwoods was an amazing experience. They were some of the largest most majestic trees I had ever seen. The roads were windy, the trees were massive, and the drive was awesome. We also went to this cool tourist attraction called Drive Thru Tree Park in Leggett, California where, you guessed it; you can drive through an actual Redwood tree. We drove through although our rental car (a Ford Fusion hybrid) was a bit tight and we had to pull in the side mirror! They had really large cut up trees that you could take pictures with and a cute gift shop that even had boxes and other items made of redwood. It was quite an adventure. We also drive up Highway 101 on the Northern California coast and the Oregon Coast before we cut through and went to Portland. It was a very beautiful and scenic drive that we will never forget. We stopped along the way several times and took pictures of the coast.

Chandelier Tree

Me and a big Redwood Tree

Portland:

Lowlights:

The problem was we never really saw Portland in the daytime. Since our drive took a lot longer than we thought, we missed out on a lot of the city. Poor planning and unexpected traffic were the main culprits. Arriving in a big city that you’ve never been to at night and trying to navigate both by car and by foot is a bit daunting. We really wanted to eat at a food truck but were parked really far away from them so we ate at a neat burger place called Little Big Burger.

There were a lot of things we did not get to see in Portland, one of them being the Columbia River Gorge. It’s actually outside of Portland and is a beautiful park with majestic waterfalls. It would have been a great opportunity to take some good photographs. We also missed out on another pretty place to take pictures: The Japanese Garden. We really did not get to do a lot of the things we had wanted since we were there such a short time.

Highlights:

One of the few things we actually got to do in Portland was visit the International Rose Test Garden. I have never seen so many pretty flowers in my life. There are rows and rows of roses in all different colors. It truly was beautiful. And a plus, it’s free! I highly recommend going to the Rose Garden if you’re ever in Portland. Plus, they have a really cute gift shop!

Rose Garden

Rose Garden Fountain

We really enjoyed Powell’s City of Books. Being an avid reader, I thought it was a really cool place. They sell new and used books and are the largest independent book store in the world. It takes up a whole city block. They even have a machine that will print and bind books so that you can re-print a rare book or publish your own manuscript.

Bollywood Theater

On the way back from Canada, we stopped in Portland again, in the dark. We set out to have dinner at this popular Vietnamese place called Pok Pok. Well, they had a 45 minute wait and we were starving, so we chose another place. We ended up eating at an Indian Restaurant called Bollywood Theater and we’re so glad we did. They had quick service considering the line was out the door and also delicious food. You order at the counter and then they bring it to you. The place was nicely decorated and they even had ingredients for Indian dishes that they sold so you could cook them at home if you wanted. It was a very good restaurant and we had a wonderful time.

Seattle:

Lowlights:

We always seemed to get caught in traffic on our trip, and we found that Seattle was one of the worst places for traffic. Parking was also an issue. Finding it and paying high dollar amounts for it. We parked in the Target parking deck near Pike Place and didn’t want to pay again to park later in the day, so we only saw a small portion of the city. When we left Pike Place, we were stuck in rush hour traffic at 5 p.m. so that pretty much kept us from exploring the city further.

After we left the city, we went to see the Olympic Peninsula. Rather I should say attempted to see the Olympic Peninsula. The traffic ended up being so bad that we would have never made it before dark. And you have to be there in the daylight to really see anything. We ended up driving about an hour to get there just to turn around and sit in even more traffic. We were a bit bummed and so glad to finally make it to our hotel room.

Highlights:

Pike Place Market

Pike Place is the place to be. Known for the fish throwing and being a wonderful marketplace, we loved it there. We walked in right as two seafood workers were in the act of throwing the fish. Pike Place has an assortment of goods from fish, to flowers, to fruit, to seafood restaurants, to crafts, souvenirs and boutiques. It was a very busy and happening place with multiple levels. We ate delicious seafood at a small place called Market Grill and later in the day we had ice cream in giant waffle cones at one of the candy shops in Pike Place. It is also the home of the very first Starbucks Coffee, which surprisingly didn’t have as long of a line as we expected.

Olympic Sculpture Park was neat. We walked from the Market to the Pier to the Sculpture Park. We saw some abstract artwork (sculptures) and even got a good view of the Space Needle. It was very unique and cool and definitely worth the walk.

My husband on the pier

The Space Needle

Vancouver, Canada:

Lowlights:

I had picked a hotel to stay at because it was close to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and it because it was a good deal. Before we crossed the border, I checked on Google to find out what time the Suspension Bridge closed and it said 8 p.m. So we went to Stanley Park first and then around 5 p.m. we pulled into the suspension bridge parking lot. The first thing we saw was a sign that said “New hours, closing at 6.” It was rather expensive to enter the park and we didn’t think it would be worth it to stay for only an hour. I was mad beyond belief. So, then we decided to head to Grouse Mountain only to find out that it was too cloudy to be worth the trip on the Skyride. The activities in Vancouver were kind of a bust, but we ended up having a good time driving around the city and eating at a nice Italian place that the hotel concierge recommended.

My husband and I walked into a grocery store in Vancouver. The employees suggested we got to Wal-Mart or the Dollar store to buy souvenirs because they didn’t have any at the market. To our dismay, neither Wal-Mart nor the Dollar store had souvenirs either. We ended up going to the duty free store right before crossing the American Border and getting shirts and other souvenirs there, but we were a bit mad about the time wasted. It was a lot easier crossing the border to Canada than it was to re-enter the United States. We got asked more questions on the way into Canada than the way out. The line of cars was incredibly long. It took about an hour and a half. And of course our line was the slow line. The line did not move much so people turned off their cars since British Columbia is an “idle free” province. Each car is X-rayed before you cross the border and we did not know this. We did not declare our unopened bottle of wine because we got it in Napa. Apparently alcohol loses its citizenship when leaving the country and you need to declare it. Who knew?

Highlights:

While on our road trip, we forgot to exchange some US dollars for Canadian dollars. So, during our adventure for souvenirs at the grocery store, my husband asked the clerk, “Do y’all take credit cards?” She knew we weren’t from around there and gave us the tourist discount when we checked out. They were especially helpful. When the clerk suggested we go to Wal-Mart to find souvenirs, I said, “I didn’t know that you had Wal-Mart.” The guy behind us in line sarcastically said, “We have everything here!” Haha. Guess we sounded like stereotypical Americans.

Stanley Park

Stanley Park was very beautiful. Even just driving through the park is worth it. The views of the city were pretty awesome and it was really neat to see the totem poles. I wish we could have stayed there longer.

Overall, we are glad we did the trip and saw a lot of places we had never been before. We covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. We had good experiences and some bad, but we did it. We completed our road trip, all 2,300 miles, and we now know what to see when we come back to the Pacific Northwest.

What’s your favorite place in the Pacific Northwest? Leave me a comment.

Coming of Age

October 5, 2014October 5, 2014 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

We all remember them. Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. It’s that time when a 12 or 13-year-old Jewish boy or girl is called to the torah to lead the service and is seen as an adult in the eyes of their congregation. Well, you’ll remember if you’re Jewish or had any Jewish friends growing up. When the Bar/Bat Mitzvah leads the service, they are invited to read out of the torah and say the prayer for before and after reading the holy book. That is called an Aliyah and since the teenager is old enough to read he/she is now seen as an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community. Of course, they are still young and legally not an adult, but they are seen as men and women now by their temple congregation.

I myself had a Bat Mitzvah when I was 12 (almost 13) and it was a fun, stressful, and rewarding day. I think that having my Bat Mitzvah really set a change in me for the better. It made me reflect on how I treated those I love and was really a wake up call and made me a better person. Because we all know that 13-year-old girls can be brats (and that’s a nice way of putting it!)

When you study for your Bar/Bat Mitzvah it takes years to prepare. All of Hebrew school is preparing you for this one day. The endless learning of all the prayers until you know them by heart, the studying of your torah portion that takes months, practicing, writing a speech to be read to your friends and family and the congregation, etc. I remember staying up until 2 am the night before the big day still going over my torah portion. I could not have reached that day without the help of my rabbi, the cantor, and all my Hebrew school teachers, my parents and my family and friends.

Speaking of friends, when you have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah you attend yours of course, but also everyone else in your class, your Jewish friends at school and your cousins, neighbors, etc. I would have to guess that I attended several dozen Bar Mitzvahs in my lifetime so far, but it could be more. First, was my brother’s when I was 10. All my family came in town and it was really nice visiting with them. My paternal grandfather was able to attend that occasion before he passed away. I think back then I was a little bit taller than my brother! (But he grew and I stayed the same height and still am very short).

Then, I attended my friends’ Bar and Bat Mitzvahs who were a bit older than me. Next it was my Hebrew School friends and classmates at school. After that I became friends with someone who was a grade younger than me and she introduced me to her friends who were younger than me as well and I went to all their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. I was a freshman in high school then (I was young for my grade) and was still going to the services/parties. I also attended all my cousins Bar Mitzvahs (all 5 of them) which were all out of town. I actually just came back from the very youngest cousin’s Bar Mitzvah recently which was in San Francisco, California. That was my husband’s first Bar Mitzvah (he’s not Jewish) and for me, I have lost track of how many I have been to. But it’s a pretty high number.

My Bat Mitzvah 1998

There are many components of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. There’s the service and then of course the big party afterwards!

Service: It’s held on a Saturday morning, since Friday at sundown to Saturday evening is our Sabbath. Very few people attend the Saturday service unless they are invited to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, but it’s usually a full crowd. Some temples are so large that the teenager has to share their service with another kid in their Hebrew school class. My brother didn’t have to but I had to share my service. They take turns doing certain prayers and basically break up the service so both kids have a chance to read from the torah and involve their families in the aspects of the service (opening the arc, holding the torah, etc.). The Bar/Bat Mitzvah boy/girl also leads a prayer in the Friday night service before their special day.

Some Bar/Bat Mitzvahs have a lot of events, just like the one I most recently attended, especially for out of town family members. There’s dinner Friday night, the Friday night service, the Service in the morning (of course you have to arrive early for family pictures), the luncheon after the service at the temple, the Saturday night party and then a farewell Sunday brunch. That’s a lot of events for one weekend!

Party: It can sometime be the equivalent of a small wedding. There are many elements that comprise a Bar/Bat Mitzvah party, such as: the theme, DJ, decorations (balloons), ballroom, party favors, buffet and/or seated dinner, dancing, games for the kids, etc. Sometimes it can be just a kid’s party. I’ve been to some at Dave and Busters where the kids play and the adults’ party in the ballroom.

The candle lighting is a ceremony in which family member, friends, and loved ones are called up to the dance floor to light a candle signifying that that person is important to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah child. There usually is a poem read and one or more people come up from their tables to light a candle while a song that is catered to that person plays. There are usually thirteen candles, one for each year of the Bat/Bat Mitzvah’s life. Sometimes a group of people will come up and they all light the candle together.

I remember the first time I ever danced with a boy was at a Bar Mitzvah. I remember that it took us a minute to figure out the correct placement of our arms, haha! Now, as an adult attending a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, I can take full advantage of the open bar.

Chai

Gifts: One of the perks of having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is that you get a LOT of gifts! The boys will get more money and gift certificates than the girls since many people give girls jewelry and other type of gifts. I think I received frames, jewelry and music boxes and even a leather purse from Italy. I was lucky to receive quite a large amount of money as well. I saved most of it and spent a small portion of it. I bought clothes and a boom box with my Bat Mitzvah money, back when those were very popular! (circa 1998). The money that I saved went towards my first car I bought when I was 16. It certainly is a great way to save for the future, especially if you receive savings bonds. It is a Jewish custom to give a monetary gift in denominations of 18. Eighteen symbolizes the Jewish letter “Chai” which means life in Hebrew. So, it is not uncommon to give a gift of $18, $36, $54, $118, etc. when giving to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah child or even for a Jewish wedding.

When I look back on my Bat Mitzvah and all the other ones I attended, I will always have great memories of those times. What fun we had! My husband and I hope that one day our children will have Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. The rabbi that married us was actually the one who Bat Mitzvah’d me. There’s so much to look forward to in the years to come!

My husband and I at the Bar Mitzvah in San Francisco. Sept. 2014

From the Shelf to the Big Screen

August 7, 2014August 7, 2014 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

Some of my favorite books that have been made into movies. And why the books are almost always better.

Barnes and Noble posted an article on why the books are almost always better than the movies. Here are some of their points and I totally agree!

The Movie Gets Lost In Translation
Readers and fans say: “That’s Not How I Pictured It!”
Limited Storytelling Time
Script Writing May Not Do The Story Justice
Books Allow The Reader to Put it Together
The Book Stays With You

Here are some titles I have read and watched of books made into movies. This is by no means a full and complete list. I just wanted to share some of my favorites!

***Spoiler Alert:*** There are several spoilers ahead so beware! Or just read the book and see the movie so you can finish my blog 🙂

The Hunger Games:
“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.” Summary of The Hunger Games book 1 from Amazon.com.

April’s thoughts: I loved this trilogy. The books were fabulous. The movies really capture the plot of the book accurately and effectively even though they leave a few things out and got rid of minor characters. This page turner was such an original story and Suzanne Collins did a fabulous job with this popular young adult series. I loved the second movie more than the first and can’t wait for Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2 which comes out November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015 respectively. Here is the brand new trailer for your viewing pleasure:

The Twilight Saga:
“Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.” Summary of Twilight (The Twilight Saga book 1) from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I saw the first movie before I read any of the books. That movie didn’t inspire me to read the book, rather the hype did. I almost didn’t give these books a chance. I’m so glad I did. I got sucked in reading book 1 and have read the whole series including the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and The Twilight Saga: the Official illustrated Guide. (Yes, I agree that owning the guide makes me kind of a dork.) I’m also team Edward 🙂
I loved the Twilight saga and sure bummed when I finished the series. But, since there were so many movies, I felt like I still could experience Twilight on the big screen after I finished reading the books. The first movie was terrible and I loved the rest. I was very shocked in Breaking Dawn Part 2 when Carlyle died, (which did NOT happen in the book) but was relieved, like so many other fans, that it was just Alice’s vision and he actually did not fall to his death. Stephanie Meyer had a great vision for the plot and I loved the way she wrote the books, even if they are aimed at young adults. I will also talk about another book of hers called The Host which was also made into a movie.

Divergent:
“One choice can transform you. Beatrice Prior’s society is divided into five factions—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she’s determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different makes you dangerous.” Summary of the book Divergent from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I absolutely love these books. Divergent was featured in one of my Guide to Chick Lit posts. I was told to read it a long time ago but never did. Then a few months before the movie came out I read book 1 and I was hooked. I really liked the way the main character Tris was so willing to sacrifice herself for the ones she loved and the greater good. Insurgent and Allegiant were great too, but I was very torn about the ending of the series. I didn’t want Tris to die, but I see how that was the only way the book could have turned out. After finishing the series, I did some research on the ending and Veronica Roth said that Tris needed to die to make the book right. She had almost died in the first two books and in the end she finally sacrificed herself. I have not read the Four Books. Can’t get myself to spend money on a book so short… I thought the Divergent movie was pretty good. It did not get the best reviews. But I will see the remaining movies when they come out because I’m a fan and love seeing books I like when they appear in movies.

Movie Insurgent premieres March 20, 2015. Movie Allegiant Part 1 premieres March 18, 2016 and Part 2 premieres March 27, 2017.

The Help:
“Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town…” Summary of the book from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I believe I saw this movie before I read the book, but both versions are great. When I see movies before the books I almost always picture the characters from the movie in mind while reading. That’s why so many people prefer to read the book first so they can picture the characters from their imagination. I thought The Help movie was very accurate from the book. Loved both and learned a lot about the old South in the civil rights era and the way blacks were treated by the whites and vice versa. I loved the ending and the fact that they were writing a book within the book. It was a very comical book/movie.

The Fault in Our Stars:
“At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives.” Summary of The Fault in Our Stars from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: I also read this right before the movie came out. I expected it to be very sad, but it wasn’t terribly sad. It was a story about teens living with cancer, but they really lived each day to the fullest when the two main characters that fell in love came together. Shaline Woodly has really become a wonderful actress. (She was also in Divergent and I first saw her in the TV Show Secret Life of the American Teenager). The book had parts and characters not included in the movie, but that is to be expected. Since the lead male role was an amputee, I was able to convince my husband (who does not like girlie movies) to see the movie with me. (He makes prosthetics.) The Fault in our Stars is funny but John Green used a vocabulary that even I as a writer had trouble keeping up with. I was lucky I read it on my Kindle app so that I could look up a word or two every several pages! I thought it was unrealistic that sixteen year olds would talk like that, but it certainly made the book/movie interesting. Very cool story.

The Host:
“Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.” Summary of The Host from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: This is Stephanie Meyer’s lesser known masterpiece. I read this book after Twilight and loved it. It was quite weird because the story is set in the future when aliens take over the earth and use human bodies as hosts. I was so excited when I saw the movie was coming out. It was great and the end of the book/movie was fabulous. It’s one of those stories that you think is ending, but really there are like three more endings that could have been it but it keeps going. I highly recommend this book/movie!

My Sister’s Keeper:
“Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person.” Summary of My Sister’s Keeper from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: This book by Jody Picoult is very popular and it’s another sad story about childhood cancer and how it impacts everyone in this family. It is a very thought-provoking story. The movie changed the ending! The other sister died! I rented the movie after enjoying the book and was so shocked! That’s a great example of how Hollywood and movies change important facts from books when making them into movies. I guess they thought the movie would do better with a different ending but I think fans would agree that this was not a good move!

Something Borrowed:
“Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl—until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy’s fiancé. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.” Summary of Something Borrowed from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I love that this favorite Chick Lit book of mine was made into a movie. I’m a big fan of Emily Giffin and although this book/movie makes it seem that cheating on your significant other is Ok, it tells a great story. I’ve talked about this book in my blog before. If you like it, read the sequel Something Blue that follows the same characters. Two of the characters in Something Borrowed show up in Giffin’s other novels, which I love. The movie is only so/so but I still enjoyed it since I’m such a fan of the book.

Honorable Mentions of Books Made into Movies:

The Da Vinci Code (Read it in one weekend. It’s a classic page turner. Dan Brown is very talented)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: (Great young adult series that I read in high school. Several movies in this series have been made)
Where the Heart Is: (Read this a long time ago. Great story of the woman who had a baby in Wal-Mart and comes to love the town she was deserted in.)
A Walk to Remember: (The Nicholas Sparks classic played on screen by Mandy Moore. Wonderful and sad story)

Coming Soon:

Gone Girl
I read this amazing and mind blowing book and wrote about it in my post: April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 2. The Movie comes out: October 3, 2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOQG311cr80

These three were the rare case that I liked the movie better!

The Great Gatsby
The Notebook
The Devil Wears Prada

On my list to read:

In her Shoes: Jennifer Weiner
The Book Thief: Markus Zusak (still working on it. Pretty decent book so far, but hard to get into)
Safe Haven: Nicholas Sparks

Some would argue Harry Potter, but I’m not a fan of the books or movies. I’ve seen the first two or three movies, but it’s not one of my favorite franchises for sure.

Of course I have to talk about Fifty Shades of Grey since the Trailer just came out. This book was a worldwide phenomenon and the movie comes out Valentine’s Day 2015. I’m sorry, but I did not enjoy the book. I know several women who agree with me on this. It was not well written, was very repetitive with phrases, words and the plot was very predictable. Usually, when I read a book in a series, I finish out the other books in the series, but not Fifty Shades of Grey. I stopped after book one and I’m not sorry I did. Some women love it, but it’s not for me. Who knows, the movie may be pretty good but I know that many women are disappointed on the casting decisions.

Click here, here, and here for internet lists of books made into movies.

What’s your favorite book that has been made into a movie? Share in the comments section!

Planning the Ultimate Vacation

June 5, 2014 / azlotnik / 2 Comments

Vacation. Time spent away from home in a far away place for the purpose of resting, relaxation and doing things you enjoy. It’s a time to get away from it all. Where should you go on vacation? Well, it depends on the type of person you are. Some people vacation at the beach and some go to big bustling cities, while others prefer to go on the road less traveled.

Here are some popular vacation destinations and some great things to do there:

Paris, France: Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame, alluring cafes, vibrant markets and trendy shopping districts.

New York City: Central Park, the Met, Broadway shows, SoHo’s stylish boutiques, trendy restaurants, and diverse neighborhoods.

Rome, Italy: Monuments, churches, and restored ruins. Food: pasta and gelato.

Cancun, Mexico: Miles of beaches, endless luxury accommodations and resorts, and a party atmosphere.

London, England: Tower of London, the British Museum, historical landmarks, Portobello Road, Borough Market. Food: High Tea

Orlando, Florida: Theme Parks, Disney, Universal, City Walk, Downtown Disney, Water Parks, and Sea World.

San Francisco, California: Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Wine Country, Cable Cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Golden Gate Park and China Town.

U.S. Virgin Islands: Carnival season, hear reggae music, snorkeling, surfing and other water sports on beaches with clear Caribbean water.

Other noteworthy destinations: Beijing, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., Bora Bora, Maui, Puerto Rico, Sydney, Vancouver, Zurich, Montreal, Budapest, Maldives, Rio De Janeiro, Crete, Barcelona, and wherever your heart desires.

Personally, I don’t go on vacation very often. It can be expensive and my husband and I are currently saving up money to buy a house. But everyone needs a break from work sometimes. But when we go on vacation, it’s usually a big trip. Like Hawaii on our honeymoon, a cruise to the Bahamas, a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco, etc. I am lucky that I get about a week off in the summer and almost two weeks around the Christmas holidays in addition to the three weeks of vacation I can roll over at the end of each fiscal year. In addition to summer and winter break time off, I usually take a week here and a long weekend there to go out of town on vacation when I can. I usually don’t use all of my vacation time each year. Sometimes when I’m off in the summer and don’t have any place to travel to, I just relax at home and catch up on things.

This year in September is our first anniversary, and to celebrate, we are going on a road trip. The destination was sort of chosen for us already because my entire family is traveling to San Francisco for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. We will leave from San Fran after the weekend celebration and go on a trip of our own. We decided to take a road trip from San Fran up the PCH to Vancouver, BC. I have never been to Canada and I’m really excited to see the beautiful scenery of Oregon, visit Seattle and other cities in Washington as well. We probably wouldn’t have picked this vacation if we hadn’t have already been in the city by the bay, but I’m sure glad we get the opportunity to go on this fabulous vacation!

Planning our anniversary trip:
Here are some of the Places we want to go in Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver:

• Wine Country: Tastings in Napa Valley, California. Artesa Winery
• Redwood Forest: Drive through a redwood tree called Chandelier Tree in Leggett California
• Portland: Lan Su Chinese Garden, Powell’s City of Books, Washington Park: Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden, Eat at food carts.
• Seattle: Pike Place Market, Olympic Sculpture Park, Space Needle, Seattle Center, Chihuly Garden and Glass.
• Hiking on the coast of the Olympic peninsula
• Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada): Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Stanley Park, possibly take a ferry to Victoria Island.
• Back to Portland and then back to San Francisco

We bought these books to help us with planning our vacation:

If any of my readers have suggestions of other things to do in Portland, Seattle or Vancouver, please comment on this post!

Helpful tips in planning vacations:
• Budgeting: Decide how much you are going to spend BEFORE you go
• Save money on flights: use airline miles or a companion ticket if you have one.
• Flight Prices: Begin checking flight prices as soon as you begin the planning process. Try to make the purchase at least thirty days out for the best price. Airlines change their prices daily, but major price changes occur weekly.
• Be sure to pick the right place: where you really want to go, a place you can afford. If you have children, decide if it is kid friendly.
• Plan ahead: Do all these things before you go and do your research- Make an itinerary, book rental cars and hotel rooms, decide what activities you will do and sometimes where you will go out to eat.
• Trip Advisor: Check this site for other traveler’s reviews on hotel rooms, tourist attractions and other things to do. Read the reviews but keep in mind that all reviews aren’t the gospel.
• Discount hotel websites: Use these common sites- Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Kayak.com, etc.

NOTE: I was recently doing some research on those discount hotel sites and I found that Booking.com was actually more expensive than the hotel’s own website. Imagine that. Not every deal you find online is necessarily the best or the cheapest.

All the places I have traveled to in my life:
California (born there)
Georgia (Grew up and currently live here)
Tennessee: Nashville, Chattanooga, Oak Ridge and Kingston
Charleston SC
Washington DC
Virginia
Baltimore MD
Houston TX
New York City
Chicago
Israel
North Carolina
Bahamas
Kentucky
Alabama
All over Florida
Key West
Cancun, Mexico
Caribbean Cruise: Cozumel Mexico, Belize, Grand Cayman and Costamaya
Mexican Riviera Cruise: Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan
Hawaii

Where I’ve been in the US

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Future vacation spots:
There are plenty of places I’d like to travel to, but next on the list is a visit across the pond to the UK. We would want to travel to London and then over to Paris, France on the same trip. We will probably go next year. That will be the first trip to Europe for my husband and me. We’d also like to go to New York during Christmas time and travel on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. On that trip, we’d probably stay over in Ft. Worth Texas, where my parents currently live. So many places to go, and so much to plan for in the future!

Here is a link to my travel bucket list that I posted in August of 2012. So far the only place I’ve been to is Kauai, Hawaii, but there’s plenty of time to check the others off my list.

Where are you traveling to this year? Let me know in the comments section.

April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 3

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

In first post about chick lit, I was getting ready to read some great books by my top 3 authors who I mainly featured in the post. Here is a recap of those, although they have been out for a while.

Emily Giffin’s Where We Belong (2012) is about a TV producer whose long lost daughter rings her doorbell and turns her world upside down. It is about a powerful secret, its effect on two families, and how it changes all their lives forever. I really enjoyed this book, as I do all of Giffin’s novels. They keep getting better and better.

Another peek at my Kindle Library

Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got your Number (2012) is about a newly engaged woman who lost her engagement ring and her adventures of trying to get the ring back all the while planning her dream wedding. Wedding Night (2013) is about a woman who thinks her boyfriend is going to propose and when he doesn’t, she goes on to marry her college fling. All the while, her sister tries to stop her and ends up sabotaging her honeymoon. As in all of Kinsella’s novels, there are twits and turns right up into the very end that will have you guessing until the book is over.

More of my Kindle books

Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing (2013) is about a young woman trying to make it as a TV writer in Hollywood. The main character was disfigured as a child from a bad car accident that turned her into an orphan. She was raised by her grandmother and is determined to make it as a writer with hopes for her own TV show. This books deals a lot with beauty, self image, and overcoming obstacles.

New books:

There are two new books coming out that I’m really excited about. Read the summaries from their publishers:

Emily Giffin: The One and Only
Out: May 20, 2014

“Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.”

Jennifer Weiner: All Fall Down
Out: June 17, 2014

“Allison Weiss has a great job…a handsome husband…an adorable daughter…and a secret. Allison Weiss is a typical working mother, trying to balance a business, aging parents, a demanding daughter, and a marriage. But when the website she develops takes off, she finds herself challenged to the point of being completely overwhelmed. Her husband’s becoming distant, her daughter’s acting spoiled, her father is dealing with early Alzheimer’s, and her mother’s barely dealing at all. As she struggles to hold her home and work life together, and meet all of the needs of the people around her, Allison finds that the painkillers she was prescribed for a back injury help her deal with more than just physical discomfort—they help her feel calm and get her through her increasingly hectic days. Sure, she worries a bit that the bottles seem to empty a bit faster each week, but it’s not like she’s some Hollywood starlet partying all night, or a homeless person who’s lost everything. It’s not as if she has an actual problem.

However, when Allison’s use gets to the point that she can no longer control—or hide—it, she ends up in a world she never thought she’d experience outside of a movie theater: rehab. Amid the teenage heroin addicts, the alcoholic grandmothers, the barely-trained “recovery coaches,” and the counselors who seem to believe that one mode of recovery fits all, Allison struggles to get her life back on track, even as she’s convincing herself that she’s not as bad off as the women around her.

With a sparkling comedic touch and tender, true-to-life characterizations, All Fall Down is a tale of empowerment and redemption and Jennifer Weiner’s richest, most absorbing and timely story yet.”

Can’t wait for these books to come out, but one of my favorite authors, Sophie Kinsella (pen name for Madeline Wickham) has not come out with anything new in a while. Where’s your next novel Kinsella!?

If you missed my second guide to Chick Lit, read it here. I hope these guides have been helpful to you and that you have found some great books to read. What books are your favorites on your bookshelf?

April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 2

March 17, 2014 / azlotnik / 2 Comments

Nearly two years ago, I compiled a blog post listing of chick lit books and authors that are my favorites. Read it here. Reading is a hobby I truly enjoy, and I wanted to share some of my preferred books I have read recently with the readers of my blog- that’s you! Last night, an idea came to me to write this updated listing. It seems like I always get inspired for my next blog post late at night right before bed. Like most writers, I get my best ideas in the late evening. I hope you enjoy this guide and that you will find some good books to read from it!

In my last guide, I concentrated on the authors Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner. Although they are still my favorites, I have found several other chick lit author’s books that I enjoy.

Kim Gruenenfelder is a great author and her books are geared towards women. I really enjoyed:

A Total Waste of Makeup
Misery Loves Cabernet
and
There’s Cake in my Future

Kim has a new book out that was published at the end of last year called Stay Calm and Carry a Big Drink. It is the sequel to There’s Cake in my Future. I actually found out about it on a site called Fantastic Fiction while I was doing research for this blog post. It is certainly on my list to read!

Lauren Weisberger is also a great chick lit writer. She wrote The Devil Wears Prada, which was made into a movie. Her sequel to that book, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns was published last year. Several of her books were on the New York Times Bestseller list. I would recommend:

Everyone Worth Knowing
Chasing Harry Winston
and
Last Night at Chateau Marmont

Marian Keyes is a very prominent chick lit writer who has a series of books about a family also known as the Walsh family books. I have read the first one called Watermelon and enjoyed it. It begins with one of the sisters at the hospital soon after she gave birth to her first child. Her husband left her for another woman as soon as the baby was born! The book deals with her and her family and how they come to deal with the situation and move on with their lives.

Each book in the Walsh family series features a different sister and I have started reading the second book called Rachel’s Holiday about a drug addict in rehab. I started it and wasn’t thrilled with it, but I think I’m going to give it another chance.

I don’t read chick lit books exclusively, and there are some other authors I have read recently from different genres that I have really enjoyed.

Divergent series
Everyone is talking about the Divergent series books and I am one of them. Divergent is a thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author Veronica Roth.

“In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior’s world, society is divided into five factions — Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) — each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a “perfect society.” At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family’s group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly “perfect society.” To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.”

There are two other books in the trilogy called Insurgent and Allegiant. Where one book stops, the other one picks up where the story left off. The Divergent series is very popular right now and they are making the first book into a movie set to come out March 21, 2014. See the trailer here:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was a book I read for my sorority alumnae association book club and it was a twisted mess! I really enjoyed it, but it was intense and you would never believe what happened and what goes on in some people’s sick minds. It starts out with a husband who is looking for his missing wife and the train wreck that is the investigation. I can’t really explain what happens without giving everything away, but you won’t want to put this book down!

I mainly read books on my Kindle app. I use the Kindle app on both my iPad and my Android phone. You can even read books on a computer with the Kindle cloud reader. It’s good to read through the kindle app because it tells you how many pages you have left and what percentage of the book you have read. It also lets you highlight sentences and look up words you are not sure of the definition.

I’m very passionate about reading, especially chick lit authors. There was so much to say that I had to break this post up due to length. Read my next chick lit guide coming soon.

A peek at some of my Kindle library

Life after your Wedding: Advice for Newlyweds

February 24, 2014February 24, 2014 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

Picture taken waiting for our plane to Hawaii.

What should you do after your wedding? Once the planning, the organizing, dreaming, is over, what do you do next? You spent so much time getting ready for this day, but it is over in the blink of any eye. Are you having wedding planning withdrawals? It was a big part of your life for so long. You dreamed of your wedding day since you were a little girl. Depending on when you got engaged or started really deciding what you wanted your wedding to be like, you have been preparing for your big day for months if not years. Do you feel a void now that it is over? Some newlyweds do, but being married is an adventure in itself. Now you are on the next chapter of your life and you should enjoy every moment. Now that your wedding is over, look at it in this perspective: I don’t have to feel stressed anymore. No more seating charts or making favors. I can just sit and relax and enjoy being an Mrs. Enjoy being with my husband and establishing our lives as a married couple.

I planned for my wedding for quite a while. My husband and I have been together for over eight years, so I had plenty of time to dream of and plan for my wedding. I did most of the planning myself, only having a day of coordinator, but I loved every second of it. I made a binder, did my own research, and had a ball with it. Our wedding was the most wonderful day of our lives thus far. The wedding was a blast. The reception, the way everything turned out beautifully and, of course, the hora. People are still talking about it. As much as I enjoyed planning, I have to say I am glad it is over. I do remember mostly everything that happened on our special day, but it did feel like it was over in a flash. We had an amazing honeymoon. Read about it here and here. We have been married for about five months now and marriage is bliss. However, sometimes I do miss preparing for my wedding.

So what can you do to fill that void? Spend time with your spouse. That after all is the reason why you planned an amazing wedding. Go on dates regularly. Dating should not end after you say “I do.” Every couple needs that alone time and bonding with their husband or wife.

Once you get married, and you attend other weddings, it is really fun to just be a guest at a wedding. All the fun with none of the stress. If you are in the wedding, you kind of get to re-live your own wedding but with a different perspective. You can give advice and help plan for your friend’s wedding too. After all, you are now an expert!

Another thing that will fill the void of no longer planning a wedding is looking at your pictures or your video. I have made several photo books of our wedding and honeymoon. The best sites are: Shutterfly.com and AdoramaPix. You can also scrapbook your wedding photos. I am in the process of making the ultimate wedding scrapbook. By the time I finish it will be massive, but I love paper crafting. I am also making a scrapbook for my honeymoon and all the wedding events, including engagement photos, showers, the rehearsal dinner, etc. Cut costs down on your honeymoon scrapbook by taking brochures from all the places you went and things you did and cutting out pictures from those to have unique embellishments and then you don’t have to buy as many stickers. And there’s always looking through your wedding board on Pinterest. I just looked though mine and it was neat to see the transitions in my planning process and what I liked from my pins compared to how the aspects of my wedding actually turned out. Looking at that Pinterest board actually inspired this blog post.

My Wedding Scrapbook. Putting on my dress.

Another scrapbook page. Our first look.

Things to do as Newlyweds

Here are some things you should do after you tie the knot:

Enjoy your honeymoon: Spend time just the two of you somewhere tropical without the distractions of work/friends/family and the outside world.
Write thank you notes: Make sure to do this within a couple months of your wedding. It helps to do them as you get gifts. I did all the thank you notes myself because I wanted to, but ask your husband to write some of them to share the task.
Return the gifts you don’t want: Everyone gets gifts they wish they didn’t receive. It just happens. Going to the stores you registered and exchanging things you don’t want and getting the items off your registry that you really need/want. We still have credit to one store we registered at and don’t really need anything else. We really don’t know what to buy with it!
Change your name: I am still going through the process. It is a headache. Go to Social Security before DDS first since Social Security (at least in GA) does not accept paper licensees that you first receive at DDS. Your new license will be mailed to you. Don’t forget to bring your certified copy of your marriage certificate. The most trouble I’ve had with the name change is the banks. What a pain! Here is a checklist for changing your name from The Nest.
Review your vendors: I actually got a lot of free stuff for doing this. I got a free canvas print and a Shutterfly photo book. It makes your vendors feel great about the service they gave you, helps their business, and helps other brides planning. Not to mention it feels good letting your vendors know how much you liked them. I did reviews on Wedding Wire, WeddingChannel.com, and also sent emails to vendors as well as writing on their Facebook pages.
Preserve your wedding gown: I was told not to go to a dry cleaner. Go to a processional wedding gown preservationist. They will clean and preserve your dress. I couldn’t justify spending as much money as the gown preservation business I contacted charged, so I went a different route. I called the place I got my wedding dress at and they told me about Memories Gown Preservation. You buy a kit, pack up and mail your dress and accessories and in two weeks they mail you your preserved dress in a keepsake box. It will last for thirty years. Maybe one day my daughter will want to wear my mother’s veil that I also wore.
My preserved wedding dress!

Once you get engaged, everyone always asks you, “When’s the big day?” Once you get married, everyone asks you, “When are you planning on having kids?” I get asked this all the time, and it gets really old. The other day I stated that I was starving and a co-worker asked if I was pregnant. Some day down the road it will happen for us. We are not ready yet and want to live our lives, enjoy being married, and travel to Europe and other destinations before having kids. So, I know I speak for a lot of newlyweds when I say this- stop asking!

I hope this blog post gave some insight on life after the wedding. Wedding planning was a big part of your life for so long, so it’s natural to miss it. But what happens afterwards is something you want to cherish. So, enjoy married life and what’s to come!

Growing Up in the ’90s

December 19, 2013 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

I’m a ‘80s baby. Born in 1985 to be exact. So, most of my childhood was during the 1990s. Ah, those were the days. It was before everyone had a cell phone and personal computer. It was before everyone knew what everyone was doing all the time and before you could reach someone through 10 different media channels. The ’90s were a time when kids actually loved to play outside and imaginations ran wild. Growing up in the ’90s was awesome and this blog post is dedicated to all the things that remind us of our childhood- Generation Y, this is for you!

We all love remembering things from our childhood. Back in the days of less stress and worries. Here is my tribute to the Best of the late ’80s and the 1990s.

Music:
I think the most significant contribution of ’90s music was when Nirvana came out with Smells like Teen Spirit. This single changed the face of rock music and a new genre was formed: alternative rock. I’m a lover of rock music and hits from the 1990s are my all time favorite. Bands like Counting Crows, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighers, Silverchair, Radiohead, Third Eye Blind, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, Live, The Red Hot Chile Peppers, Weezer, Sublime, etc. I still love to listen to rock music from this time and I think the ‘90s were when the best of the best were recorded. Living in Atlanta, there is only really one radio station that consistently plays ‘90s rock. Radio 105.7 does a great job of playing all my favorites.

Movies:
Oh the movies from the ‘80s. Who couldn’t love them? Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buhler’s Day Off, and Weird Science are all classics. Some of these movies were a little before my time. I may not have seen them at the time they came out, but I always had a love for them and grew up learning to appreciate pop culture from my generation. The ‘90s had some great teen movies come out too. When I think back of movies of this time, these come to mind: Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s All That, American Pie, Now and Then, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Can’t Hardly Wait, My Girl, There’s Something about Mary, The Wedding Singer, Titanic, Casper, Tommy Boy, Wayne’s World, etc. If you haven’t seen any of these, you definitely should. It’s always good to reminisce of things from our childhood and teenage years.

TV shows:
I grew up watching TV with my brother. He always had the control over the remote. (And he always used to nag me during the commercials. Lol). Of what I can remember, our favorite shows were usually on Nickelodeon or on ABC’s TGIF. We watched Doug, Rugrats, Are you Afraid of the Dark?, Salute Your Shorts, Double Dare, Guts, Legends of the Hidden Temple, What Would You Do?, Wild and Crazy Kids, All That, Round House, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains it All, You Can’t do that on Television, etc.

TGIF was a weekly Friday night tradition with my brother and the neighborhood kids. We would always watch it, and sometimes stay over each other’s houses for a sleepover. The lineup usually included: Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, and Hanging with Mr. Cooper. It was always the perfect way to end a week of going to school.

Fads:
Each generation usually has a fad that is very popular at a certain time. According to Wikipedia, “A fad is any form of behavior that develops amongst a large population and is collectively followed enthusiastically for a period of time, generally as a result of the behavior being perceived as popular by one’s peers or being deemed “cool” by social media.” Here are some fads that I remember growing up: Lisa Frank stickers, folders, pencils and basically everything of that brand were very popular. I loved those colorful unicorns, rainbows, animals, stars and designs. Also, Trapper Keepers with cool designs were a great way to organize school papers in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

When I was in middle school, everyone was obsessed with Beanie Babies. Cute little animals filled with beans from Ty Company complete with a name tag and a story. I remember going on the Beanie Baby website on my America Online account and looking up different animals. Obviously, it took forever to load the pages since all we had was dial up internet access.

Pogs were also a popular game. Some kids collected them while some played with the cardboard disks and the heavier pieces called slammers that were sometimes made of metal. The slammers were thrown down to cause the pogs to turn over. There were different variations of playing this game and some kids played for keeps. I had quite a number of pogs and slammers, although I never really played the actual game, just collected them.

Another popular toy of the ‘90s was the Tamagotchi, a keychain-sized virtual pet simulation game. You could make your pet eat, sleep, and play, and if you didn’t take care of it, your virtual pet would die. I had one of these as well and it was really cool at first, then months later, mine would be dead at the bottom of my desk drawer.

Flashback of Fashion:
When thinking back on a certain decade, it’s always fun to look back on the style of fashion that was very popular. Although we had some fashion faux pas in the ’80s and ’90s, we thought it was so cool back then. Some of them are coming back in style. I will touch on that later, but first here are some major fashion trends of the ’80s and ’90s that I remember.

1980s:
Shoulder pads
Power Suits
Dancewear
Miniskirts
Doc Martins
Big permed hair
Ray-Ban sunglasses
The Miami Vice look
Stirrup leggings
T-shirts tied to the side or with a clip
Big hoop earrings

1990s:
Parachute Pants
Reebok pumps
Mini Backpacks
Crimped hair
Bandanas
Baby G watches
Overalls
Slap bracelets
Tattoo chokers
Wallet chains
Wide leg jeans
Shell necklaces
Butterfly clips
Scrunchies
Bucket hats

’80s & ’90s Fashion Coming Back in Style now:
Acid-washed jeans and vests
Half tops
High wasted shorts and pants
Jelly shoes (once sandals, now boots)
Floral print jeans
Neon colored blazers
High-top sneakers
Off the shoulder sweatshirts and tops
Printed leggings
Side ponytails
Lace
Platform shoes
Headbands
Keds
Jansport backpacks

Jelly Boots. Can you believe this is actually a thing?

The ’80s are also coming back in style another way, on TV. The hit show The Goldbergs comes on ABC Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. The series was created by Adam F. Goldberg who based the sitcom on his family back in the ‘80s. I do watch the show and it is really funny. I doubt that it will play for more than one season, but it is really entertaining to watch. Everything on the show is based in that time period and it’s very amusing to get reminded of it. Such as: the big hair, the blue and pink heavy eye shadow, DeLorean cars, the original Nintendo, boom boxes, over the shoulder camcorders, etc.

Here is a blog that is dedicated to the children of the ‘90s. I have spent a good amount of time reading all the posts and reliving my childhood. They haven’t posted anything new since 2012, but if you scroll down and read all the archives on the right hand side, it will be worth your time. The blog is well written and even had guest bloggers back when it was being consistently updated. They also have a Facebook page where they post things about growing up in the ‘90s including Buzzfeed lists.

Here are some Buzzfeed lists that children of the ‘90s will appreciate:

25 Ways to tell you’re a Kid of the ‘90s

Things Kids Today will never get to Experience

Things that Look Just like Childhood

Looking back on it all, the ‘80s and ‘90s were great decades and the pop culture, fashion and trends of the time should not be forgotten. I loved growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s and it is so fun to relive my childhood days. So, I hope this blog post reminded you of your good memories of your childhood and helped you re-live things from back in the day.

Honeymoon in Paradise Part 2

November 22, 2013May 24, 2015 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

We did so many fun activities on our honeymoon that it was too much for one blog post. Here are more of our experiences on the island of Kauai.

Dinner and Sunset Cruise
We went on Captain Andy’s Southern Star Catamaran for a sunset dinner cruise of the Na Pali coast. This area is not accessible by car, only by air, by sea or by foot. But we were able to see the beautiful Na Pali coast by sea and by air (in the helicopter). The boat was very nice and large enough to hold about 50 people. The boat rocked back and forth while hitting the waves, so sometimes I had trouble keeping my balance while walking around the vessel. The staff of the Southern Star had no problem maneuvering around the boat. Being experienced sailors, they have had plenty of practice walking around a moving ship and carrying drinks and serving food. They make it look easy. The staff was fantastic, catering to our every need, always refilling our drinks, telling us about the island and taking our picture in front of the sunset.

The Na pali coast

We had a great experience on the boat, and one of the most memorable moments was when a group of dolphins swam along the bow of boat and jumped in and out of the water in front of us. It felt like we were in a movie. A nice thing about this particular catamaran is that there is a full kitchen on board, so the chef cooks everything during the cruise. We were served delicious five-star meal of steak, jumbo shrimp, potatoes and mixed vegetables. After dinner, my husband and I found us a nice spot on a bench in front of the ship, relaxed, had dessert, and watched the sun set in the sky.

Sunset Cruise

Hawaiian Luau
You haven’t really experienced Hawaii unless you have gone to a Hawaiian Luau! We had dinner and saw a spectacular show at Kilohana Plantation. It is one of the larger Luaus on the island and is more commercialized, most likely because it is put on by Norwegian Cruise lines. When we arrived, we were greeted by the dancers dressed in costume and were given Hawaiian Leas. I was very excited about this because I had wanted one from the moment we stepped off the airplane in Kauai! We got a cocktail at the bar and then went on the train tour of the plantation. The tour guide was funny and was very informative, giving us the names of all the plants and trees that we passed and what grew off of them. During the middle of the tour, we stopped and to our right was a fence filled with goats, pigs, and of course chickens (chickens are feral in the islands and are everywhere! Even on the beach). They gave us bread and we fed the animals and watched them fight over the food.

The train tour before the Luau

After the train tour, we headed to our seats to have dinner. They sat us with other couples and dinner was served buffet style, but they still roasted the traditional pig. The food was good and the show was theatrical style telling a story from Hawaiian culture. The actors and dancers all did a great job and the costumes were impressive looking like Hawaiian clothes and headdresses of the past. After the show they served dessert and coffee and we were able to buy the pictures they took of us when we first arrived. Then we went all around the plantation at all the shops and perused the jewelry and souvenirs that they sold. We really bought a lot of souvenirs during our vacation and somehow they all fit in to our suitcases on our way home. Overall, the Luau was a really neat experience and we were glad we went.

On the green

Nine and Wine Golf Game
My husband and I really enjoy playing golf together and we decided to splurge and play a game on a course overlooking the ocean. We went to the golf course at the Marriott in Lihue called Kauai Lagoons Golf Club. We had signed up for a couple’s golf experience called the Nine and Wine. It was nine holes and they give you a bottle of wine and a cheese plate to drink and snack on during your round. I would have to say that I played very well for my experience. Maybe the wine helped! It was a very fun game and we played better-ball. Only a few balls were lost in the ocean, but we didn’t mind because we got to play with an awesome view. The course itself was the nicest one we had ever played at. We rented a cart and clubs and were even given clean towels and a cooler filled with water bottles. We felt a tad bit rushed during the game since there were other couples behind us, but it was a great game and the golf course staff was very accommodating. We were very glad we played there because how many people can say they golfed overlooking the ocean in Kauai? We can!

After the golf game

Those were all the major things we did while in Kauai, and I highly recommend visiting the island. We literally went everywhere you could go and over the two weeks, and got to experience island life. It was the perfect honeymoon and these newlyweds really enjoyed Kauai. We will definitely be going back one day!

pieces of april blog

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Author: azlotnik

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April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 2

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Growing Up in the ’90s

Honeymoon in Paradise Part 2

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