Life
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Prague Day 4: Terezin and that One Jew Kid
Hands down visiting Terezin concentration camp was the coolest thing we did while we were there. If we are going to the Czech Republic this is a must do! It was probably one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had in my life. Sam and I had the morning free before we got picked up by our tour company at 12:30. So like any good tourists we were up with the sun (more or less) and headed out to look at the Castle. So even though we knew our hotel was ‘500 meters’ from the castle, we still weren’t exactly sure how to get there……well let’s just say…..we are f-ing stupid.…
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Prague Day 3: Karlstjen Castle and 28,000 steps later
Today was a big day for us….we got a lot in, not to mention we walked 28,000 steps (over 5 miles). So prepare yourself people, this post is going to be epic in length! This morning we were up early for a trip to Karlštejn Castle. I would like to know in what countries do people actually eat hot dogs and baked beans for breakfast? I love that our hotel has a free breakfast included in our stay and all, but I found it a little strange that hot dogs and baked beans were even an option for the morning meal….but others didn’t because a lot of other guests were eating them.…
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Prague Day 1 and 2: Soul Plane and the Missing Deodorant
I should have known that things weren’t going to go well for us when I realized I forgot to pack deodorant. Sam and I share deodorant and each thought that the other packed it. So here were are, sitting in our Portland hotel the night before we leave for Prague when we realize…..shit, we don’t have deodorant. We get up Friday morning early (4:30 am) and depart for Portland airport and check into Virgin Airlines for the PDX to LAX by way of San Francisco Airport (SF) flight that we have been dreading….cause really, 4 plane changes is just excessive even if we are flying across the Atlantic. No thanks…
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Special Feature: Happy Birthday Jane Austen
Today, Dec 16th marks what would have been Jane Austen’s 238th birthday! Austen is one of my most beloved authors. Her books and heroines have charmed audiences for years and the heroines of the book become role models for women around the world. Austen’s novels and stories never go out of style. I can read Pride and Prejudice over and over again. I am sure many woman have a favorite Austen heroine…..Elizabeth Bennet is the most popular of course. For me personally, I love Anne Elliot from Persuasion or Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. Austen is all things classy, elegant, and enduring. For all you Janeites out there I…
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Blog-iversary
Well Dear Readers, it is official I have been blogging on the Lit Bitch now for two years! 🙂 I can’t believe I’ve been able to keep it up for so long, my blog has come a long way! I must also say, it is people like you Dear Readers that make me keep blogging and reading….it is clear that there are others out there who like to hear me talk….or, well….write 🙂 Thank you readers for following a long and supporting my blog . I love you all and cheers to another year of blogging!
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Help Save Undershaw House (Home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A games a foot! Who could forget the eccentric detective that made forensics so dashing and exciting? Science and investigating became ‘cool’ thanks to Sherlock Holmes. Holmes has become an iconic fixture in pop culture….I hear in the BBC has remade Holmes into a modern day hero in the TV show, Sherlock (which I am dying to watch by the way!), it also goes without saying that the Robert Downey Jr/ Guy Ritchie films have made the classic literary figure and his partner Dr Watson into a charming, sexy heros–thus appealing to new generations and audiences. As a result of the recent ‘Holmes’ craze, the public is re-discovering Sir Arthur Conan…
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Review: The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries #3) by Charles Finch
I can feel fall in the air which means it’s time for another mystery book! This time I read the next book in the Charles Lenox mystery series, The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch. I started reading the Lenox series as part of the Historic Fiction Reading Challenge. When I started the series, I didn’t really know what to expect…I had heard mixed reviews about it. But after finishing the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, I was pretty much hooked. I guess we can still consider this book part of the Historic Fiction Reading Challenge though it’s technically ‘over’ for me, my goal was to read just two…
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Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (The Mary Russell #1) by Laurie R. King
I desperately needed something fun and easy to read….and this time of year I just love a good mystery….something about the turning leaves and the cool, slightly foggy mornings….geese flying south for the winter, the pumpkins ripening….I just love fall and always associate mysteries as the season’s preferred genre….maybe it’s the spirit Halloween (incidentally that is my fav holiday as well)! I just finished reading The September Society by Charles Finch and was hungry for another mystery but was waiting for my mom to give me back my copy of the next book in the series (The Fleet Street Murders) that I plan on reading next. So I was stuck…
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Locked up abroad & our return home–Aruba Vacation (Days VII/VIII)
I suppose comparing our VERY short detention at immigration to the National Geographic Chanel show Locked-Up Abroad is a GROSS OVER exaggeration. However after watching that show I am paranoid and when the US Customs agents stopped Sam and I at the airport all I could think of was ‘OMG it’s like that show….I’m never going home’!!! Though I was obviously not carrying drugs, firearms, or explosives….my thoughts drifted to the suitcase carrying the seashells that Sam had teased me about the night before…’I’m going to die laughing when they stop you, search your bag and then the shells and you get deported’. After waking up early and eating a large…
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The lure of nuclear radiation & heat exhaustion–Aruba Vacation (Day VI)
The soft warm trade winds wake me gingerly from sleep…a quiet whisper calling me back to reality. I hear the soothing waves breaking slowly, calmly on the white beaches not too far off. It’s may favorite time of morning, the sun has just risen but people are not quite awake yet, the day is new and fresh….anything is possible. As I lay in our hotel room with the window open I try to commit this last moment to memory….and every memory from our vacation, the sights, the smells, the sounds….everything about our adventures and experiences so I can recall them later, remembering every little detail. I lick my lips….they taste…