Quote of the Week

Here's one of my favourite quotes from my "Rule of a Lady" collection. This particular one is gracing the wall of my bedroom for quite a while now.
Enjoy the last hours of weekend before the crazy Monday arrives!
xxx
Lucy Jane

Words Left Unsaid: Prolog

Have you ever felt like you're not good enough? Like everything you do isn't worth sharing with others, because you feel like it doesn't contribute to the world. Have you ever gave up your dreams, because you didn't want to fail, so instead you just gave up? Are you afraid to wish for something, because you're afraid it won't happen? Were you ever told you won't succeed at something, and you believed that? I've felt like this my whole life.

But this isn't a story about my misery, it's a story about a battle left unfinished, words left unsaid and people left hurting. It's a story about a girl named Autumn. She was like that. All different colours and beautiful with her auburn curly hair and pale complexion. When she was around everyone laughed. And her laughter sounded like an autumn rain. She was perfect, everyone loved her, and it seemed like she loved everyone as well. But it turned out this wasn't true. I'll tell you later about that. Right now, this is not important. Autumn was everyone's best friend, helping hand, she did everything for other people. Sometimes even too much. The beauty of it was, that she didn't care. She liked to help and she always knew when there was someone who really needed her help and if they just wanted her help for the wrong reasons. 

And Autumn always knew all the right words. Something I always had problem with. She knew what was the right thing at the right moment to say to anyone she meet; Autumn knew how to make people feel better about themselves, about what they did or about what was done to them.

The story I want to tell you started in May 2010. I remember that it was a huge storm on the day when it all started. I remember the tension in the air the moments before the sky opened and took it all away. The storm is just a distant memory now, because after it the sun came back to the cloudless sky. It was beautiful. Thinking back, I believe that what happened that day changed my life forever. Not just my life, it actually changed the life of many other people as well.

It's funny how I can get along with people that are either older or younger than me, but somehow I can't connect with my peers. This is the main reason why I even met Autumn.

I've been living in the big city my whole life. I'm not complaining, I loved every minute of it. After I finished High School I went to college. I was doing what I thought I wanted. I was at college, the place where I wanted to be for the last five years. And as it turned out college wasn't for me. I hated every minute of the first semester, I was daydreaming during classes, I wanted to escape from the thing I used to want the most.

I felt so guilty, and when I talked to my parents about it, they were like: "But honey, isn't this what you always wanted? The thing you were asking to finally happen for the last five years?"

At this point I had no idea what to do. I felt trapped and unsafe. Like everything I do isn't good enough. Suddenly the big city wasn't big enough for me. I felt like it was suffocating me with all the skyscrapers and  bad air and people always in a rush to get somewhere. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe and one May day I just packed all my stuff, sat in a car and drove for miles. I didn't stop until I came to the other part of the country. I knew people would be looking for me, but I didn't care. I didn't say goodbye to anyone, or wrote a goodbye letter. I just left.

It was the day I met Autumn for the first time.It was the day the story really starts.

-------------

So this is my promised story. Or at least the first part of it. I hope you liked it. It took me a while to get the story on a paper the way I wanted it to sound, the way I imagined it in my head. I am kind of proud of it, since I never did anything even remotely similar. I did wrote a few short stories for school, when I was younger, but they weren't in English, and if everything goes according to plan this will become a novel. Please leave a comment or write me a message on facebook or something, so I know if you liked it or not. I will be happy of any constructive (that means that I hope that besides:this is awesome/sucks, you also write: ...because --> for example: I already read a book with the same story, your narration is horrible, and so on and so on) reply I get, weather it's positive or negative.

xxx

Lucy Jane

Movie of the Month December: Ghosts of the Girlfriends Past

The third day of my December resolutions, and I already broke one. Yesterday, I didn't post anything on my blog. I do have an excuse though. I had a stomach bug and became inseparable with my lovely toilet. Disgusting I know, but this is my excuse and a damn good one, if I may add.

But back to the topic. I want to do a new best-of-the-month series, this one called Movie of the Month. I know I missed it for November, but I think you didn't need to hear it from me too (well you're gonna hear it anyway). The title for November was fair and square won by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The movie is amazing, story is amazing, and the cast is amazing. I loved Jennifer Lawrence in it and I can't wait to see her next movie that comes out right about now: American Hustle. I saw the trailer and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

 

So I told what I (and another half of the world) think about what was movie of the month November. But what about December? I was thinking something Christmassy or maybe at least something with a lot of snow. I couldn't decide, so I made a short list and watch all three movies again. Well I saw Frozen for the first time, and other two for like twentieth, but who's counting? The other two being Just Friends (with Ryan Reynolds, the gorgeous husband of Blake Lively) and Ghosts of the Girlfriends Past (with Matthew McConaughey). It was tough, especially after seeing the pretty new Disney tale about two sisters that love each other so much that are willing to do everything for the sake of other's well-being.

But seeing Matthew McConaughey shirtless resolved all the issues I had before and Ghosts of the Girlfriends Past has won in my book.

The story is not hard to tell. If you think hard enough, the title will remind you of another one you probably heard before. Well, the title isn't exactly the same, but I'm sure you all heard of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. No? Then you should go back to school! Just kidding. The stories have the same concept. A guy (Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and Connor in Ghosts of the Girlfriends Past) did some horrible things in the past (Scrooge was super greedy and didn't want to share his wealth, Connor had a lot of girlfriends and hurt the one he truly loves) and the higher power that controls life (in a story) decided that it's time to give them one last chance before they destroy any hope of bright future they might have. So during the night three ghosts visit them, a ghost of their past, present and future. As always in romantic comedies, everything turns out just fine (and exactly the opposite of what the ghosts predict).

The thing I liked the most about the movie (besides Matthew McConaughey and the fact that there's a wedding and snow) is that Emma Stone is in it. She plays this crazy ghost of the past. She is super cute with curly hair and scrunches and all the eighties clothes she's wearing. And the fact that she behaves like she has enough energy to jump up and down for eternity. And the fact that she uses a bed as a car. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt afterwards. She was just so funny in this movie! I loved it!

The verdict:

So Ghosts of the Girlfriends Past is a romantic comedy you want to watch when you're cold and tiered and fell like, I need some time for myself. Or at least that is what I do, because I always forget about my problems when I'm watching a hot guy chasing a girl of his dreams (or in this case, half of the movie pushing her away and chasing other girls). And not to forget, there's enough shirtless Matthew McConaughey and some hot girls in lingerie for both you and your boyfriend (if you have one, which I don't. Just saying. Not complaining). And there's a car chase that is at the same time romantic and full of adrenalin. Really it's a win-win movie. And you can watch it every Christmas and it never gets old. 

Feeling Bored

So earlier this week I decided to do some stuff until the end of the year. I made "The December Resolutions List". I put on all kinds of stuff. From lose five pounds to write more, and study more. The study more is more or less just a technicality, because I have to start to study all together. But to tell you the truth I don't like the college I'm going to, and I'm searching for alternative, but so far, I hadn't came up with one. My mom said that I have to study or I should go and get a job. But tell me, what am I supposed to do? The high school I went to didn't give me any sort of usable knowledge, unless you count the ability to finish advanced math with a decent grade without really studying a good thing to do in the world (please note that I'm not bragging, it's just a fact that I do OK in math and if it makes you feel any better, I suck at French because I'm too lazy to open the book so I only know enough French to not to get sold away in France. Or maybe not even that much. I should try it sometimes I guess). So for now I'm stuck in college doing the exact thing I hate the most, studying about things I know will never need in my life.

Instead of complaining I decided to do something about it. So I'm complaining about it on the internet. Well that and I also made a facebook page, updated my old polyvore account, made a new tumbler blog and a pintrest board (I hadn't quite figured out how to do all the "pinning" yet, so excuse me if I used a wrong term or something). So here you have it mom; I'm doing the whole social media experience! How's that for a quality time full of learning. Honestly, I had no idea you still can't add your pictures in polyvore collages, or that you can have a singing tumbler blog. Which is highly annoying if I may say, since I do most of browsing during college classes. It's not nice when you forget to turn off the speaker and suddenly in the middle of the heated discussion about Freud, all of the sudden One Directions Best Song Ever starts to play. No seriously guys, all I want to do is see and reblog your photo, not listen to One Direction or Lorde or whatever you set to play when I open your blog. Because than instead of being happy about seeing your beautiful picture all I want to do is close the tab that plays music (not that I have anything against One Direction or Lorde, I just want to be able to watch your photos during class without the possibility of getting caught because you just had to share that beautiful song with me!).

Enough about that, and more about the resolutions I made for this December. First I must say I am a person that believes that if you repeat the same thing every single day, than it becomes part of your routine and it's not hard to do anymore. I used to get up at seven fifty, but when I started high school I switched to getting up at seven o'clock and now that I'm in collage (and have all those morning classes that start before eight!) I'm getting up at six thirty. And now, that two months has passed I even wake up at six thirty on weekends (I usually don't get up until nine, but who cares?). So I decided to make it a point of starting to exercise every day for at least half an hour; Starting tomorrow, of course. And even more, I decided to write something and post it on blogger every single day until the New Year's Eve. And maybe even longer if start studying about, well right now.

Oh and decided to do one more thing. Every since I was a little girl I always wanted to write a book, so I decided to at least finish the first chapter of a story I'm currently  working on. I decided that you will be the best judges of weather I should or shouldn't continue writing. So any comments or anything will be much appreciated. I don't mind a bad critic as long as they are constructive and have a good reason. "I hate it" or "It sucks" isn't enough for me. I want to know exactly why you hate it or why it sucks, I also want to know why you like it or love it. So please be constructive. I already wrote the prolog and first half of the chapter one. I will be posting prolog soon, and hopefully chapter one not long after that.

Oh, and I almost forgot. If you won't like the story I'm currently working on another one, that already has prolog and chapter one and some of chapter two written. For this one I have the entire story in my mind and already written the pointers down. It has a working title Madame and I'm really excited about writing it. Way more than about the other one, that I call Words Left Unsaid. Which is quite funny since I have almost no filter and practically always tell everything that is in my mind. You should hear me in the restaurant with one of my best friends talking about everything, including gossiping about the boy at the next table (I had no idea he was there, maybe I wouldn't say all the things I said if I knew he was. But what is done is done, it's not like I'm gonna date him or anything).

In hopes all of you are not as bored (and becoming obsessed with social media) as me,

xxx

Lucy Jane

Quote of the week

In memory of Nelson Mandela. 

He was a great men who believed in human decency and (in my opinion) is a perfect example of how people should live. Not only to save our asses, but also to save everybody elses!

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in  prison, only to be made stronger by the experience. He was black in a country known for apartheid (political system of racial segregation, in which black people-native to the area, were considered inferior in comparison to white people) and yet he become the president of the same country.

He was(is) a real life super hero. He believed in equality of all human races. In three words: He was (still is) awesome!

I hope this quote reminds you that breaking a nail isn't the worst thing ever and that there are people with real problems out in the world.

xxx Lucy Jane

Easy, Fast & Cheap Home Made Italian Lunch

I love Italian fashion, charm and their delicious food. I visited almost all the big Italian cities and some smaller ones too. I love Italy, and I can't wait for a trip to Rome I'm planning in March!

But today I'll share with you one of my favourite recipes for Italian pasta. It's super easy to do, it's not time or money consuming. And it's delicious and healthy.

  

This is what is waiting for you to eat it after less than half an hour of cooking (well you have to wait for 15 for pasta to cook and also for red pepper to steam).

Pasta with red pepper and mozzarella

 Ingredients (for four people):

- 2 red peppers

- 4 spoons of oil

- 1 mozzarella (200 g) or 100 g of cheese that melts

- 50 mL (or 1/5 cup) sweet cream

- salt and pepper

- 400 g of short pasta (I used Barilla's Farfalle; you can use Pipette, Rotini, Radiatore)

What to do:

Boil the water, add some salt and pasta. Cook for as long as it's instructed on the packaging.

Wash the red pepper and cut it.

Put 4 spoons of oil in a pot add red pepper and steam it for 15 minutes

Add some salt and pepper, and right before we serve the meal, add the mozzarella/cheese (which you already cut into small squares) and sweet cream. Stir until cheese melts a little.

Put the pasta on the plate, pour the red pepper sauce over, and you have a easy, fast, cheap, healthy and delicious meal for lunch or light dinner.

Buon Appetito Popolo! (and yes I used Google translator for this)

Lucy Jane

Lucy's Winter Wonderland

Lucy's Wonderland by lucka003 on Polyvore

December is here. This means that winter is officially here. I know that according to the calender winter started a month or so ago, but for me the real winter is from December to February (with an exception if it's already 10 cm of snow in November. But it has to be in the city - my city, not in the mountains). 

So this is how I want my winter to look like. What about you? Are you eager to watch snow falling from the warm haven of your house? I know I am, and yesterday when the first snowflakes landed on the streets of my city, I was so happy, that the winter is officially here.

Snowy December everyone,

Lucy Jane

The Different Look

The Different Look by lucka003 featuring a white gold ring

Winter Dream

Walking down the memory lane. I found this set I created about a year ago. Oh, those were the happy careless days. I miss them!

winter dream by lucka003

Best of Jenny Packham

 

Best of Jenny Packham by lucka003 on polyvore.com

Metallic Beauty

Metallic Beauty by lucka003

Quote of the Week

To all the people that have a sworn enemy. Oscar Wilde knew how to deal with them ;)
Spread the love peeps!
Lucy Jane

The Promised Macron Recipe

So here's the promised recipe for macrons. It took some time, but I finally did it.

For about 30 macrons (depends on how big you want the shells to be):

- 90 g of egg white (it's better if you leave it on a kitchen counter for a day))

- 30 g of white sugar

- 200 g of powdered sugar

- 110 g of almond powder/flour or fine blended almonds (preferably white)

- colour die for food if you wish (whatever the correct expression for this is, I hope you got my point)

Process (just be ready to repeat it over and over and over again, before you make perfect macrons):

-quickly mix egg whites, until you can see bubbles.

- add the white sugar

- mix until egg whites turn white and you are able to turn around the plate (you were mixing egg whites in) and the mix doesn't fall out of the plate
- add almonds and powdered sugar
- mix them into a think but creamy paste (mix like you're folding it (from downside to up)
- optional: somewhere in the middle of previous step add the colouring.
- paste is perfect when it flattens in about 10 s after you stopped mixing it

- put the paste into a plastic bag and cut off a really small piece of one corner
- make shells on a baking sheet (or however it's called - the thing you put your  cookies and stuff on so they don't burn into the baking pan) or you can buy a special macron baking sheet

- leave them to rest for about 60 minutes (depends on humidity), so they form a slight crust
- bake them in an preheated oven on 140 degrees Celsius for 22 minutes; when the macrons rise, lover the temperature to 130 degrees Celsius
- after we took them out of oven, leave them to cool down for 5 minutes
- turn macrons around together with the baking sheet
- pull the baking sheet off the macrons (not the other way around)

That's how your macron shells should look like

- put two together and put a marmalade or chocolate ganache or a cream cheese mix in between
-et voila:

Bon appetite
Lucy Jane

How (Not) to Make Macarons

The Cronut might be next black, but I still prefer the good old macrons. But, I do have to confess, that even dough I haven't tried a cronut yet (it was first introduced, like a week after I left New York City) I do have the perfect words for this culinary masterpiece: It's like my two favourite desserts got married and made a baby! Sadly I didn't make up those words, I heard them in one of the series I'm watching (N.C.I.S. Los Angeles, and it was said by Deeks to Kensi, when she brought him one).

Sadly I don't know the recipe for cronuts, and I read somewhere, that the chef that invented them sued a bakery in Los Angeles that made the same pastry for using the name cronut; But I do have a recipe for macrons and a story of how I made them.

For all of you, that don't know what a macron is, it's a French dessert made from egg whites, powdered sugar, almond powder and topped off with a different flavoured toppings. Macrons are also Blair's (for all of stone-age people, that don't know who this is Blair is one of the main characters in TV series Gossip Girl) favourite deserts. The most famous company that is considered to make the absolute best macrons.

The first time I had the pleasure of trying a macron was at a family gathering in Switzerland. Some of my relatives lives there and we celebrated my cousins birth. Her godfather is super rich, and he bought a "macron cake" in Paris and had it delivered with a train to Bern, where the celebration was held. It was the first time I even saw a macron, I had no idea how they taste or what are they made of. But I fell in love with the first bite. Learning how to do them seemed like the only option, considering that I'm not as rich as cousins godfather. So I did.

As all electronic age kids, I sat down in front of the computer and googled it. I found bunch of recipes and YouTube videos that showed how to do them. And the impulsive person I am, I decided to start right away. Without thinking or checking if I have all the ingredients, I just went right ahead.

The first thing I figured out was I didn't have any sugar. And you can't make macrons without sugar. So I went to the store and bought sugar. Naturally I bought the normal one (not powdered), and since I didn't feel like going to the store again, I decided to use the sugar I bought.

The next problem were almonds. I bought almonds with their peel (is this a correct word? I had to googled it and now I didnn't know how to use it...) still on. So I had to skin them. This is a long and dreadful procedure, that I never want to repeat. First I had to put almonds in a pot filled with hot water, waited for a few minutes and than almost burned my fingers, trying to peel the peel off (still confused over the word peel, hope you got what I wanted to say). After more than half an hour I finished and was getting ready to blend them, only to find out that my blender is broken. At this point I was losing the interest of making macrons and almost gave up. But I didn't. I used an old blender, that didn't do the job properly, which only added to the list of what did wrong. When the paste for the macron was finally done, I just wanted to sit down and eat some chocolate. But I had to make those perfect round shells, before I could do what I wanted. It turned out , it was easier said than done.I believe I made exactly one beautiful round macron. All the others looked like, hmm how should I put this, a five-year-old played darts with a balloons filled with macron paste. But the tip of the iceberg was, that the macrons didn't have "the foot". That is the crusty thingy that makes them so special. This was the first time I made them. It wasn't that they weren't good or eatable, they just didn't look right.

This depressed me so much I didn't want to repeat the horrible process I went trough the first time. It took me almost a year to try again. I tried a different recipe, but I still wasn't able to do them right. So I repeated the process the next year. And they still looked horrible. I did them 6 moths ago, and they still didn't have "the foot". But a month ago I finally, did it!

For a change I bought almond powder, instead of blending them myself. It turned out it was the right thing to do. And I used powdered sugar as well.

I must tell you that I used more than 40 eggs and 2 kg of sugar, before I made my first perfect macron. So don't fell bad if your macrons aren't perfect the first time around. You'll get it eventually.

Here's how my macrons looked like, and the last picture is a macron from Laudree. I think they look almost the same. What about you?

Sugary goodbye,

Lucy Jane 

p.s.

I can't believe it, but I almost forgot to add the recipe. And then I figured out I lost it somewhere in that giant pile of my stuff on my work table where I save all those stuff. So in a day (probably two or three, considering the size of that pile) I will make a post with THE recipe for the best home-made macrons in town!

Let's Dance!

I know that it is an old movie (like so 2012) but I just couldn't resist. Hope y'all forgive me =)

 Today while surfing the web I came across the trailer for Step Up Revolution. It's kind of a sequal to previous Step Up movies, even though there is no Channing Tatum in it (don't know what do you think, but  for me that makes it half less interesting to watch). But I rememberd that Moose is in it and I couldn't resist and I wached it again. I must confess, it is not as good as the first Step Up (which I adore and know by heart) but it's good enough to watch it more than once (and not fall a sleep while doing it). 

Basically the movie is about bunch of kids that love to dance. They want to become famous, via winning a YouTube contest. So they make (or do, I have no idea how to say this right, and google doesn't know either...) flash mobs around Miami. But when a "mean" tycoon wants to build bounch of hotels in their neighborhood, they use their dancing skills to protest. Oh, and there is a pretty girl that falls in love with a hot shirtless guy (the reason that women love to watch those movies).

 

Obviously I have a lot of free time and I spent the majority of it in front of  a computer watching movies/TV shows/videos of Ellen Show on YouTube... And now that I'm writing about this "so last year" movie I would like to suggest some good (and not so good) "dance movies" that I watched I liked.

So here's the list:

-my personal favorite STEP UP

-HONEY (This movie has a sequal but I didn't like it. But as a Vampire Diaries fan I had to watch it since Kat Graham plays the lead)

 

-TAKE THE LEAD

-MAGIC MIKE, ok maybe it isn't a dance movie, but strippers dance right?

-CENTER STAGE 1&2 sequals about the hard world of ballet

-STOMP THE YARD

-SAVE THE LAST DANCE (also has a sequal which I did watch yet, but can't wait to do it)

-STREET DANCE, there is a bunch of hot shirtless guys with British accent. Do I need to say more? Oh, and it has a sequal, which I didn' watch. Yet.

-SHALL WE DANCE

I think I wrote down all dance movies that I came up with in the last 10 minutes. Of course they dance in musicals too (like Chicago and A Chours Line), but a musical is a musical, the main thing there is singing. But who didn't try to dance on All that jazz, or on Welcome to Burlesque?

I know I had a great time doing it =)

Lucy Jane

Quote of the Week: Coffee

If you're not a morning person, or just a fan of coffee and can't imagine your life without it, than here's a quote that was written just for you. At least I got this feeling every time I read it.

xxx

Lucy Jane

What if...

During a class about motivation and emotions, I did some thinking about what is my biggest motivation in life and came to a (un)realistic conclusion. To make it easier to understand, I even draw it for you guys (and I also wanted to share my talent for drawing).

I know I'm not five, but after the royal baby George was born I relapsed back into my royal obsession.

I found all my old magazines with the Royal Wedding as the main theme and read them all over again. I also started to daydream about my perfect wedding with a prince (any prince will do the trick, but somehow I always imagined it would be a handsome one, preferably prince Harry (don't mind that its rumored that he's about to get married too. Sadly not to me) or the prince of Sweden. He's one good-looking fellow.)

So if you're still trying to figure out what my current motivation in life is, here's a short simple answer: To marry a prince and become a princess.

I was even thinking to put an add that would be something like this: Single beautiful and intelligent woman's looking for a handsome prince. You can actually be a blue blood or only your last name is prince. The only thing is that you have to be (and remain) a prince. So no future kings please, I want to become a princess not a queen. Queens have way to many responsibilities, princesses not as much.

So if you're a prince, what are you waiting for, I right here waiting to become a princess :)

xxx

Princess Lucy Jane of Wonderland

Where Not to Eat...

So today I went to a lunch with my friend. At first we were planning to eat healthy and watch our body-shape, but when we saw the menu in the "healthy" restaurant we were planning to eat, we changed our minds. It must of been quite a funny sight: "Two girls walked in this super small place, where they only serve fruits and vegetables watched the menu for a while, making faces as they read the words French bean salad, broccoli soup, beetroot soup... Then they looked at each other burst into laughing turned around and left the place." If you can imagine that, than you know exactly how we looked at the "healthy" restaurant.

So, we left the place and suddenly we didn't care about our health any longer and decided to eat at one of the Mexican restaurants in our city. We decided to go to the Joe Peña's Cantina and Bar. I never been there and I heard that the food is delicious and that it has great atmosphere. We were both excited and super hungry when we came to the Cantina.

I went by the Cantina many times before and I liked the way it looks and the people seemed happy with both the service and the food. But when we arrived the Cantina was full and we just sat  down at the table where two other guests just left. The table was still dirty and it was left like that until we left. As if this wasn't enough we waited for a waiter for about 20 minutes, just to get the menus. Oh, and I have to tell you that some of the restaurants in the city I'm currently studying have a special menus for students, that are cheaper and partly founded by the government. We have to use our mobile phone and call a number and than put our phone on a machine that identify us and gives us the right to a cheaper meal. Well I guess my phone had a bad day because I had to call the number more than five times, before the waiter gave up and brought another machine. And he was kind of rude about it too.

If it would be just that, I would survive and forget the awful first (more than) half an hour, but apparently I got a lot of bad karma for not eating French beans and broccoli soup. Because once we gave our order to the (not very nice) waiter we waited for a loooong time before we got the soup and than the main dish and than the desert. The couple next to us, that came when we gave our order got their food before us! Can you see why I'm so unhappy?

When the food finally arrived, the soup was (guess what!) broccoli or something equally not in my range of not eatable food. The nachos that we got were good, but we got only two different super small plate sauce for two people. Does that mean that if I was alone I would get even smaller plate? I'm not even sure if it's possible to get a smaller plate. Or they just thought that we didn't need two sets of sauce for two people? Anyhow, we were still having a great time gossiping about everyone and anyone we set our mind to. But as the time passed we were getting hungrier, and the waiter with  our food was no where to be seen. When he finally brought the food, for which he assured me, that is not spicy, I almost burned my mouth trying to eat it. So much for the nice waiter and the main dish went down the toilet. And the salad. We got mixed salad with some spicy sauce. If you haven't figured out that yet, I'm not the biggest fan of vegetable, so my enthusiasm when I got it didn't really show. And I only ate the tomato, cumber and corn. And there goes the salad. I really do prefer the restaurants where you can pick your own salad, considering that I left half of it and it was later thrown away!

At this point, we started openly complain about the food and the service. When the waiter came to pick our food and asked us if we finished, we said yes, but when he asked us if the food was all right I didn't say a thing, even though I wanted to scream how bad it was and that he lied to me that my fajitas wouldn't be spicy. We didn't know that there was a desert but when we saw it on the next desk, our spirits lifted up for one last time. I believe that desert has a potential to either saves or ruins the meal.

I was ecstatic when I got the beautify arranged plate with what at the moment seemed as a delicious desert with fried banana rolled in tortilla, served with chocolate and caramel sauce with some sweet cream on the side. I'm just thinking about it and I became super hungry, by the delicious vision I created in my head. And this is the main reason why I never want to set foot in this restaurant, except if the staff changes completely. The desert was (put in the nicest words possible) awful. Banana was all greasy on one side and super hard on the other. I would survive that, but it was black in the middle (we got half of banana each, and I still can't believe that the chef hadn't noticed this!) and I almost threw up, trying to eat it. And yes I behaved super unladylike and spit the part of banana that I had in my mouth into my napkin.

Please do something about that restaurant, because I'm kind of proud of my table manners and Joe Peña's is destroying my reputation. If you're my (future) boyfriend/friend that fells like he/she should take me to this restaurant, please DON'T! I really don't want to embarrass you, by my lack of manners that seems to come out when I visit this place.

I would say spread the love, but I really don't fell a lot of love right now, so goodbye my cyber "friends",

still hungry Lucy Jane

Under constraction

I'm making some beauty and technical changes, but I will be back! Newer and better =)

xxx
Lucy Jane

Book of the Month November; S. E. Phillips: Just Imagine

After a long time, I finally got my hand on Susan E. Phillips book Just Imagine. The book was first published in 1984 with a title Risen Glory. It was out of print for a long time, but the fans of miss Phillips demanded that its re-print. And they (we) got it. The author changed it a bit and the book got a new title: Just Imagine.

The story is the same in the both books, so it doesn't matter whether you got the Risen Glory or Just Imagine. But if you're not very fond of old books, than you'll probably read the Just Imagine version, like me.

The story takes place after the Civil War, when Kit Weston, comes to New York from a small southern town. She is dressed as a boy, and is on the mission to get back the only thing that matters to her, The Risen Glory plantation. To do that, she is convinced she has to kill the Yankee that inherited it. Yankee is Colonel Chain, whose late mother that left him the plantation was Kit's stepmother.

As it turns out Chain didn't only inherited the plantation, but is also appointed as Kit's guardian. They reach an unusual agreement, that sends Kit at a New York's finest school for ladies, and Chain to the South, where he takes care of The Risen Glory plantation.

The next time they meet, Kit is all grown up and... Well for more you'll have to read the book.

I liked the story, and I read it in less that a day. Or maybe it was because I wanted to read it for more than three years now and got my hands on it just recently. As I said, the book is good, maybe I'll even read it more than once, but the truth is, I prefer the books that S. E. Phillips set in the present (like Ain't She Sweet or What I Did For Love or Breathing Room). I read all of her books and I liked them all (except for Hot Shot, I just can't make myself to read it again from the beginning to the end, because the first time I read it I was in a hurry and read the first and last three chapters. Oh, and Hot Shot is also the only romance book I read that has a different end; The heroin doesn't end up with the guy she fell in love at the beginning.), but Just Imagine is different. If I'm not mistaken, it was S. E. Phillips first book and the story is set in a completely different area and time than the rest of her stories.

THE VERDICT:

The book is worth reading on a cloudy, grey day, because it will definitely cheer you up.

I would give it four stars (mainly because I prefer her other stories and know that she can write even better stories than Just Imagine)

Fer-well, my fellow bookworms,

Lucy Jane

Quote of the Week

Never give up peeps :)
Spread the love,
Lucy Jane

In Memoriam

My Grandpa's favourite poet Li-Tai-Po;

ALONE LOOKING AT MOUNTAIN

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I.

The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains

App Challenge

It's been a week since I went to the first event of The App Challenge and in a week there will be the second event. Let me start by saying that, I know almost next to nothing about applications and computers and graphic design and all the other stuff that people talked about at this event.

But I did have a good time. I met a lot of new people, some of them were girls, but mostly guys. You are probably wondering why I even mentioned this. Well the thing is, the schools I went to were always mostly girls and always less than ten guys. And you can imagine what a welcome change it was. Not to mention that this was the first event that there was a line in a men's and nobody in women's bathroom. Oh yes, it was a day to remember.

So about the event, it was sponsored by Huawei and Microsoft and organized by a local organization Združena Evropa. Their idea was to find people with ideas for new applications for mobile phones. The organizers choose about 40 people from 103 applicants. I was one of the lucky ones, that was chosen. So we pitched our ideas and voted for the best ones. Then we formed groups that worked on the wining ideas. I won't tell you about them, because I don't have the permission, but I can tell you that if everything goes as planned you'll soon be able to join new awesome social media!

So as I said, it was a day remember and I'm happy that I spent 3 hours trying to find someone that would be willing to have statistics class instead of me on Friday morning at eight o'clock. Thankfully, there was someone, that apparently likes statistics so much, that wants to wake up at 6.30 in the morning and catch a bus, just for the two hour class of standard deviation, variance...

Greeting from the future computer geek,

Lucy Jane

W.H.Auden: Funeral Blues

Better late, than never!

I know it's not a quote, it's a poem, but it's beautiful, and I love it.
Lucy Jane

New TV shows worth watching

It's the season of new TV shows and now, that most of them already have at least one or two episodes, I decided to make your life easier. I sacrificed my precious time and watched the most promising ones. I must say that I did found my replacement for Gossip Girl (its NBC's Dracula) and a few other shows that I'm quite interested in.

• Dracula, my new favourite show, that I already dedicated a post to =)

• The next on the list is CWTV Reign. It's a story about young Queen Mary of Scotland. I like the cast, especially the male part (the guy playing Bash is super hot) and story is also interesting. But the thing I like the most are the dresses that they are wearing. Whoever is responsible for costumography did an amazing job so far and I would love to say this to him personally (in the hopes to be allowed to try one on). 

• The Tomorrow People is also a CWTV new show about a new spices - Homo Superior. They are the next step in human evolution and are capable of telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. The main character is a teenager Steven Jamison, whose father is one of the tomorrow people. The twist is, that the government doesn't like this "new spices" and they made an organization called Ultra, to hunt them down and kill them. Jedikiah is the head of Ultra and also Steven's uncle. Steven works for him as a double agent in hopes of finding his father, that will help him save the tomorrow people. I did some research and I found out there already is a series called The Tomorrow People, an old UK one. It has a slightly different story, but both have people with "powers" and enemies that wants them destroyed. 
• The Originals, a spin off series of The Vampire Diaries. I'm sure you already know all about them, but I just had to add a picture of Claus and his perfection =)

Then there is also three new series from ABC Family: 

1. Ravenswood, a spin off series of The Pretty Little Liars. 
2. Twisted (this one already has 11 episodes and is currently on a break, but I always start watching new series in October. It's kind of a ritual)
3. The Fosters (the same thing applies here, and I don't like that ABC Family does series premier in the middle of the Summer. It breaks my ritual of trying to keep up with all the old series, that already have 4 seasons and I can watch from beginning to the end in one week if I want to)

• And I would almost forgot ABC new hit series Agents of S.I.E.L.D. I saw commercials for this show all over Manhattan while I was there in September. You'll love the series if you're into superheroes, since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are kind of human super heroes (if you watched The Avengers, than you know that The Black Widow is one of them, but sadly she' not a part of the series)

Don't spend to much time in front of TV watching all those awesome series I just told you about ;)

xxx

Lucy Jane

Dracula: True Love Never Dies

There's new TV series that everyone is dishing about. And no it's not The Originals (not that I'm saying that story about Claus isn't a thing to dish about...), it's NBC's Dracula. And it came out with the perfect timing - it's Halloween, and Dracula is one of my all time favourite Halloween movies.

The pilot episode came out on the 25th, I just watched it and I must say I'm already IN LOVE! The plot is perfect, it's a mix of Vampire Diaries and Revenge set in the Victorian England. Oh, I can't believe it, but they made a series of my dreams. I must confess, I had quite a hard time after the final episode of Gossip Girl, and watched like twenty different series at the same time (I somehow managed to see 4 season of Mentalist, 6 seasons of Leverage, 2 seasons of Lie To Me, and 3 seasons of White Collar in a week. Just so we're clear, that is about 280 episodes, each of them about 40 minutes long, so I somehow watched more 7 hours of TV during my final exam period. You can imagine the results I got - I passed and that is all that matters. If that was one week, I'm sure you can do your own calculation of my time in front of a TV). I just couldn't find the one that would occupy my minds for more than 40 minutes that lasts. And now I finally found it:

• hot English guy (check)
• period costumes (check)
• another hot English guy (double check)
• vengeance and conspiracy (check)
• lovely ladies for a hot English guy (check, the part about the hot English guy, that so (not)obviously occupied my mind)
• vampires (not a necessary, but a welcome addition, check)
• Romeo and Juliet twist (check)

There you have it folks, the perfect plot! With a hot English guy as a main character :)

So the hot English guy I'm talking about is (of course) Dracula, played by not by an English, but Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Mayers. If the name sound familiar, there are a few movies/shows he is known for: Bend it Like Beckham, Tudors, and the most recent; Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. He's a bit old, but still super hot as Dracula. Most of his co-stars are also English born, but the Dracula's love interest is a fairly unknown Australian actress Jessica De Gouw. The only thing I saw with her in it is Arrow, where she plays The Huntress. But I like her, or should I say her character, since I believe you can't judge a book by its cover, so that means I have no idea what kind of a person she is, but like her as a character she plays. 

 

The story follows the Dracula as he's been awakened from; I have no idea what is the right term, so I'm just going to say: the dead. As I already said it's set in Victorian London, where Dracula introduces himself as a American entrepreneur named Alexander Grayson (anyone else see the humour in his last name? Well I guess this time, it's "the Graysons" that will seek revenge for the killing of someone they loved dearly). He has come to London with a quest to revenge the death of his wife. In the pilot episode, he is introduced to a woman named Mina Murray, for which he believes is a reincarnation of his deceased wife. The plot thickens, when the enemy that he has come to destroy, quickly puts the pieces together and tries to kill him.

So, yes I'm already marking the days that the next episode comes out in my calender. And yes I'm serious, because this is the only way that I'm capable to control my obsessive need to check for new episodes every few hours!

Scary Halloween and don't let Dracula bite you (if it's as handsome as Jonathan, it's fine by me ;))

Lucy Jane