Busy week-end!

Hi everyone!

Wassup? As usual, I had plans to blog... but you know what happens to plans :) Out the window, most of the time ^_^: I knew I had a busy week-end, which is why I took Friday and Monday off... but it turned out a lot busier than I expected. Anyway, since I don't have any reviews, I thought I'd share some pictures :)

Saturday was the annual BBQ. You know which one I'm taking about :) Before one can BBQ though, one must buy food, drinks and stuff. And that's how I spent my Friday. I kid you not, I was grocery shopping the whole day on Friday... and I wasn't even in charge of the meat! Had some bad luck, but eventually pulled it off :)

As usual, we had lots of food and lots of leftovers :) But I prefer that than running out of something. The weather was also perfect for a BBQ and we had lots of fun! One tiny little issue was wasps. I noticed last week that we had a lot of wasps under the awning... After inspection, turns out that we had a hidden nest! Not a bit one, but nobody wants to mess with wasps. Especially after what happened to our mayor :( Last month, our mayor died after being attacked by wasps after she had stepped on their nest! So that's why instead of being on the patio, we were in the yard. It was good though since we were in the shade and there was a lot more space! :) I think that's where we'll be from now on... Unless it rains.

In case you're wondering about the wasps, we called an exterminator on Monday. We had a nest in the attic when I was in high school... It started poking holes in the walls and was coming in my parents' room. Back then, my dad took care of it, but got stung several times... So my sister and I called the exterminator because we were not taking any chance. Hopefully, it's all taken care of now... The only issue is that it's a hidden nest, so they couldn't remove it. We'll keep an eye on it for now.

On Sunday, a friend organized a pontoon boat party. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be on a boat because of my vertigo, but it turned out to be a lot of fun! It was a very long day though because we were at Mont Tremblant and that's 1.5 hour drive... and had to be there for 10am. We had the boat from 11am to 3pm and the weather was gorgeous. Really looking forward to the next time :)

One of our friends has recently bought a selfie stick and she had the chance to test it out :)

 I'd say it was a success ;)

So really, on Monday, I was pooped and so happy I had the day off!! And now, hopefully, back to blogging :)

How was your week-end?

Hauling Sunday CXIV

Okay... so this was not how I planned my come-back to blogging after my blogiversary post ^_^; My excuses are the usual: busy and my blogging muse is still on vacation, sigh. However, it's high time I stop complaining and just blog! Warning though, my reviews might come out a bit incoherent LOL.  

Before getting to my new books though, I thought I'd share pictures of what I've been up to lately :) Seriously, I don't know what it is this year, but it feels like my calendar is really full! A bit part is fun like curling, trips and gatherings... but I've got several grown-up appointments as well and that got me running. 

So a couple of weeks ago, we went horseback riding :) It was my first time!

LOL, it was a fun experience and I'll definitively try it again :) Although I have to say, I'm such a city girl!

Then last week-end was a long one so we took the opportunity to get away :P We went to a chalet about an hour away. 

We BBQ-ed... a lot of food LOL. We also did some canoe, played some games, told stories, built a fire, made cookies, chilled in a hot tub and on the side of a pool :) Another experience that I'd repeat, but if we had to go again, I'd love it for a tad longer :)

And yesterday, we went to pick berries! We got lucky and found a place that had both strawberries and raspberries ready for picking at the same time :) However, next year, we probably should go on separate occasions, because it was the first day for raspberries and they weren't as bountiful and sweet as if we've waited one more week. 

We were a bit concerned about the weather initially, but it turned out to be a beautiful day... although a bit warm. And the strawberries were oh so sweet! :)

And here are my constant in life, my new precious from the last couple of weeks :)

 

These were all books I was looking forward to which is why I pre-ordered them LOL. What the Duke Desires is the first book in Ms Jeffries' new series, The Duke's Men. I'm hoping this series hits me better than The Hellions of Halstead Hall. The Newcomer is the newest release by Ms Carr and one I've been really looking forward. I really enjoy the feel of Thunder Point and can't wait to read more about it :) I've enjoyed The Reckless Brides series so far and hope it will continue on with Scandal in the Night... although I don't think there isn't any cross-dressing from the heroine in this one LOL. One of my favorite debut author for 2013 has been Kasie West and she had another book out, this time a contemporary YA. Not my favorite genre, but definitively willing to give The Distance Between Us a try :) And finally but not least, Fifth Grave Past the Light, the newest installment in the Charley Davidson series! Yay! Can't wait to see what Charley is up to!

What about you? Got any good books lately?

Hauling Sunday CXII

Hi everyone!

How's your week been? Mine has been okay. I still haven't gotten back into a rhythm or found my mojo yet, sigh. And the weather is just not helping. It's been cold and rainy the whole week, but particularly this week-end. Brrrr, simply didn't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to stay in bed and get warm with a book which is pretty much what I've done LOL. The good news is that I did catch up on my reading a little bit. May won't be totally catastrophic :P

It has been a really quiet week release-wise as well. I actually didn't think I'd have a post, but this came in the mail on Friday. Have to love pre-orders and early releases :P

It came just in time because I was between books and didn't have to think too hard what to read this week-end :P Fans of the Jane Jameson series by Ms Harper, you'll want to get A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses :P

***

I was sorting through some of the pictures of the trip this week-end and I thought I'd share these with you :) Guess what they have in common? :P

Book landslide

I'm still not ready for NYC ^_^; Haven't packed - actually, I need to do laundry first. Then, I'm half-done cleaning my room... I'd like for it to be clean before I leave... so all I have to do is pick up my books. Hopefully, I'll be able to weed my bookshelves at the same time...

Anyway, I've had this book landslide next to my desk for a couple of weeks ^_^; I told Ames I'd take a picture - perfect time to test my new camera! What do you think? I think the image quality is pretty good.

Lucky I have tomorrow off, so I'll have time to take care of things. The downside though is everything is close because it's a holiday. Ugh.

And I'm really crossing my fingers and knocking on wood that I have time to write some reviews and blog posts for next week :P

In any case, wish me luck LOL.

Workplace and more misc

Yay!! I'm finally blogging!! Woohoo!!!

My sister has hijacked my computer over the week-end. So I didn't have access to it the whole week-end plus Monday and Tuesday nights. Then, at work, it's been really busy ^_^; Like I said earlier, I usually use my spare time at the lab to blog and blog-hop... but haven't had time :( As a result, I'm behind on my blogging and it really sucks. I've tried my best to catch up on blogging and commenting, but I still feel I'm behind. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I'll be all caught up :D

So wassup with me?

I've been really annoyed in the past few days... A little at my sister because her spending so much time in my room, she's kind of invaded my bubble. Then, I still haven't gotten my hands on Kindred in Death. UGH!! However, tomorrow for sure. I've been kind in a slump lately. Don't know what to read, anything I pick up, I read a few pages and meh. I'm hoping Kindred in Death will restore my reading mojo.

In grand news, it's 99.999% sure that I'm going to go to RT convention in Columbus next spring!! Yay me!! I was planning to go to the RWA, but Jill and Kristie convinced me otherwise :D I say 99.999% because LOL, I still haven't registered... and till you haven't registered, it's not 100% sure. But I'll do it soon. Probably this week-end :D Already, I can't wait! and I'm trying to convince Ames to join us! :) Then, it'll be party time! :)

By the way, for those who wonder, the McGill bookfair this year was so-so. I bought only 10 books for 23$. Not bad considering 3 were hardcovers, 3 were trade-sizes and 4, paperbacks. The selection was kind of meh... Nothing that made me jump and squee. There was another booksale at a church yesterday. Went, but didn't find anything interesting.

And my confession du jour: I'm now addicted to Starbuck Green Tea Frappucino. All because it kind of taste like green tea ice cream. However, gotta stop the addiction to save money LOL :P

To finish this post, I thought I'd post some pictures of my lab. Ames has been asking for them and I finally did it this morning :) So you guys get to see where I work! :D It's kind of small, but quite clean compared to others - mostly because we're a new lab. It's okay when we're 2, but I have to admit, lately, it's been feeling quite crowded :( Ah well, it'll only be for a short while...

So let see, first picture is the view of the lab from the door. In the second picture, you see my lab bench where I do my experiments... third picture is my computer where I hanged out when I don't do experiments.

In the 4th picture, you see the machines that are behind my lab bench. In pictures 5 and 6, you see both ends of the lab - more instruments... and the dreaded sink. I say dreaded because I don't like washing the dishes... so you can imagine what I think of lab glasswares ^_^; I usually let it pile up and do it only when I don't have a choice.

Oh and the last picture, that's the end of my bench... You can see pipets, tubes, the labshaker for microcentrifuge tubes... and the gel apparatus.

So yeah, that's pretty much it, my lab :D

And I think that's all I have to say for now... Unto my monthly reads list now! :D