My Book Club - Tuesday Girls

I gush about my awesome Book Club Tuesday Girls each month when I review the books we have read and thought I'd share a bit more about us.

We've been together for nearly 2 years now and meet on the last Tuesday of the month hence the name Tuesday Girls.

 

We started with about 15 members and it has now settled to about 10 of us which is a good number because we all get an opportunity to contribute to the group. We take turns picking a book and a location to meet, we find city central up and coming bars and restaurants and enjoy a nice meal and even nicer wine and discuss our books each month.

 

We each give the book a rating out of 10 and the ratings are posted on our Facebook page. The Facebook page is also where we create events each month and is an essential tool for us to all keep in touch.

 

Honestly, we do read a lot of wine labels! But we read books too - old classics, romance, sexuality, controversial and just plain strange. I love the challenge of reading a book I would never normally pick up and finding amazing books that I have passed on as must reads to friends and family.

 

If the book has been made into a movie we organise a movie night as well and over some nibbles and bubbles we compare the movie to the book. It's amazing how different you imagine characters to be and when you see them on screen it can totally change your view of the book. The best book/movie night for me was Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - I laughed harder than I had in ages!

 

We plan a Christmas party, last year we went to Subiaco for dinner and dancing and this year (yesterday!) we went on a Swan River afternoon cruise followed by cocktails and dinner. We celebrate Birthdays together and even go to charity events too. We get along so well we even spent a girls weekend away stayed at a vineyard villa in Yallingup and went on a fun filled wine tour.

I'm wearing blue in every one of these photos!

Saturday's Christmas Party river cruise, cocktail bar and dinner

 

Celebrating my Birthday at Elmars in the Valley
 

 

Participating in HBF Run For A Reason
 

Girls weekend away 

 

I thought Book Clubs were for nerds and intellectual types and whilst I love to read books I don't see myself as one of those! My view has certainly changed since meeting this like minded group of girls, from all walks of life, and our love for reading has pulled us together and we have become great mates!

 

If you love to read I would really suggest joining a Book Club!

 

I found my group on Gumtree, you can try your local newspaper or online community. If you can't find a group, start one yourself you won't regret it!

 

[First image via my pinterest, all other images my own]
 

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DIY Advent Calendars

I've been wanting to make an Advent Calendar for years now but as we don't have kids I feel like I don't have much of an excuse for making one other than for Mr P and I's love of chocolate!

I like the easy no sew options of little envelopes or bags, string, cute pegs and stickers. I have looked everywhere for the envelopes or bags but not had any luck so this little project might have to wait another year unfortunately.

It hasn't stopped me stalking Etsy shops and admiring these beautiful Advent Calendars ....

Have you made your own Advent Calendar?

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[First image Desire Empire, All other images via My Pinterest 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]


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Help! I've Reached My Limit

 

I had a bit of a panic attack on the weekend when I went to upload some photos into a post and was told I had reached my free storage limit in Picasa and it wouldn't let me upload any more photos.

 

I deleted some photos from my Picasa albums to try to clear some space and even after deleting about 50 photos it still didn't budge from the 99% full mark.

 

I also stupidly deleted my profile picture which I was devastated about and no matter how many times I tried I couldn't upload another one from Photobucket or Picasa. I also noticed a lot of my photos on my blog had been replaced by a big black box with a line through it which I managed to fix over 2 strong coffees by changing all my photo albums to public. Phew!

 

The only option I seemed to have was to buy extra storage from Google storage at $2.49USD a month for 25 GB - so that's what I've done and it was simple enough to do online and the changes to my Picasa storage came through within a few minutes.

 

But I'm still peeved about it - I would have thought that in this big wide web world that Blogger would remain free and thus blogging would remain free and it really blows that I'm going to be up for a charge each month due to the photo album storage. A blog needs photos - it would be pretty boring to just read all these words you need the photos to help tell the tale. So scarily enough the photos and size limit in the albums is only going to grow as my blog grows and I continue to post.

 

So I have some questions for my lovely readers -

Have you reached the storage limit before? If so what did you do?

 

I was also toying with the idea of moving my blog across to Wordpress as I've read lots of good things about it and that it can do a lot more things than Blogger -

Have you moved to Wordpress? What do you think?

 

I really love my blog I've grown to rely on it as my creative outlet and it makes me so happy to share my goings on and I'd be absolutely devastated if I couldn't continue to post and share photos as I have been for these past few years.

 

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Image via Pinterest]

 

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Book Club: Chocolat By Joanne Harris

The November book club read was Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Chocolat is the story of a quirky woman and free spirited child who move into a quaint French village, open a chocolate shop, and unbeknown to them start to change the lives of the villagers. Ironically this sweet indulgent chocolate shop sits opposite the Church where the villagers go to speak of their sins.

 

The book came from the library and was old and worn and suited the story well. I really enjoyed the writing style everything was described so you felt you were living in the village yourself .... I could imagine the cobblestone roads of the village, the boats on the river, the old women and bristly men characters, the nasty priest and most of all the smell of the chocolate shop. I didn't really like the ending of the book and I thought there could've been more of a love interest in the story.

I have neither watched the movie (shocking considering it has my favourite Johnny Depp in it!) nor read this book before and I was in for a real treat. Us book club girls are also planning a movie night after the book review which I think will be fitting for us all to bring chocolate dishes to share!

I would recommend this book for both young and old it is a really beautiful story and well written. I give this book 4 stars.

 

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

 

 

[Image from here]
 

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Fridays Letters - Dear Dads Birthday

It's Friday which means it's time to join in with Friday's Letters link up party hosted by the lovely Ashley at Adventures of Newlyweds

 

I'm imagining I'm writing this weeks letters tapping away at the laptop on this comfy chair and sipping on a dry martini

Dear Dad's Birthday - Happy Birthday from Monday to my awesome Dad! Thank you for a lifetime of love and guidance xx

Dear Sunshine - Spring is about to meet Summer and the warmer weather and sunshine on my skin is a welcome change ... bring on the sunshine!

Dear Fruit - You have become my morning staple and I'm loving the stone fruits in season they are healthy and delicious.

Dear Party Planning - Why do I turn into a stress head with a list a mile long before a party? I even want to wrap my Christmas presents to put under the tree so it looks pretty! Anyways I'm sure it will be worth as soon as I have a nice cold beverage in my hand!

 

Dear Tour De Fridge - Saturday will be a day of crazy fun riding around with friends dressed as Super Heros ... now that's what a call a wild weekend ahead!

Dear Thanksgiving - Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers I hope you have a fantastic time with family and friends and eat lots and drinks lots too!

[Image via my Pinterest]

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What Is A Tour De Fridge?

I'm planning our annual Tour De Fridge this weekend .... What is a Tour De Fridge you ask? 

For those who haven't heard of a Tour De Fridge before it's when you get a group of friends together, travel to a house and drink the esky dry and then travel to the next place and drink the esky dry and so on.

Travel is by anything on wheels - bike, skates, skateboard, scooter - thus the name Tour De Fridge.

In the interests of safety we all have to wear helmets and in the responsible service of alcohol there are nibbles with the drinks at the first 2 stops and then a BBQ dinner at the last stop (which is at my house for this tour de fridge).

We charge a cover fee which pays for the wine, beer and food.

The theme this year is Super Heros so there'll be a few capes flapping in the wind as we ride on by!

It's an awesome day out and my once a year chance to get on a bike and go for a ride!

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[All images via my pinterest 1, 2,  3, 4, 5, 6]

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Good Thoughts and Sunbeams

I'm heeding the advice of the beloved Roald Dahl this week

 

Sadly, Roald Dahl left this world 22 years ago (23 November 1990) and was an incredible author, poet, fighter pilot, the list goes on.

 

Matilda was my favourite book I must of read it 10 times over I absolutely loved it. Most likely because I could relate to the book loving character Matilda :)

 

Do you have a favourite Roald Dahl book?

[Images via my Pinterest here here and here]

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