Couple of Crumbs

Story Time: 40 LOVE by Madeleine Wickham

By: Red Velvet
 


40 LOVE by Madeleine Wickham (best known for Confessions of a Shopaholic, written under her pen name Sophie Kinsella) follows four couples as they all get together at an old friend’s house in the country for a tennis party weekend.  There’s Patrick and Caroline (the hosts), Stephen and Annie (considered the most modest, aka not rich, couple), Charles and Cressida (who are as rich and hoity-toity as their names sound) and Don and Valerie (obnoxiously competitive at tennis). Of course, what is supposed to be a fun relaxing weekend turns into one filled with drama, hidden agendas, betrayal and more.  Secrets and lies come out and the plot revolves around how these 8 individuals react to everything.  

I should say up front that I’ve never listened to an audio book before.  I honestly never understood the appeal.  But a close friend of mine adores them so I was looking forward to giving it a try.  Two minutes into listening to the first disc I realized why audio books are not for me.  I can’t concentrate when being read to! Plus I need to read at my own speed, which happens to be very fast.  If I got distracted by a text message or email, I would miss important points.  Hours of listening would only equal a couple chapters.  It seemed like one person was doing all the reading but would use different voices (in British accents since the story takes place in the UK) for different characters — something I found distracting at first and later kind of helpful.  Not to mention, having descriptive sex scenes read to you while sitting on a bus can be kind of… awkward. But I don’t want to seem completely down on the book itself or the whole audio book thing.  I’m just letting you know what kind of audio book reader… or should I say, listener, I am.  (Apparently, not a very good one.)

Despite all that, I found myself getting into the story a couple of discs later.  Not all the characters were likable (though I suppose that’s the point - everyone of them is flawed in their own way) but the ones I did like, made the story enjoyable for me.  The main females - Caroline, Annie and Cressida - had the most interesting scenes in my opinion.  The reader learns the most about them and as a result, are able to sympathize with them the most.  The male characters - Patrick, Stephen and Charles - often felt like caricatures and I didn’t like their actions 99.9% of the time.  But the book wasn’t all drama.  There’s a lot of humor and wit and it’s easy to imagine these people getting together for a weekend to laugh, talk and get drunk.  

I’d say that if you’re into chick lit, enjoy being read to and would want to hear about the inevitable drama (and laughs) that come with putting four different couples in a house together, check out 40 LOVE by Madeleine Wickham.  

Let us know what you think and if you’re a big audio book fan, maybe you’ll want to leave us some comments on why you love them so!

RV’s Review of the Deathly Hallows Part 2

By: Red Velvet

[Note: Spoilers ahead!]

After the movie was over, the first thing one of cousins asked me was - “Did you cry?”

Yes!

I cried, I laughed, and I held my breath in anticipation (even though I knew what was going to happen).  It was a perfect ending to the series.  

The movie picked up right where it left it off in Part 1 and the action didn’t stop for a second.  Going in, there were specific moments I wanted to see captured on screen (even though I haven’t read the book since it came out, some scenes are still pretty vivid in my mind).  I wanted to see Snape’s story told (I’ve been waiting to see more of his childhood with Lily Potter!), the truth of his allegiance and the moment he asks to see Harry’s eyes before he takes his last breath (tear!).  I wanted to see the battle at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley’s take down of Bellatrix, Ron and Hermione finally kissing (still a Harry/Hermione ‘shipper deep down but I’ve grown to like these two).  And of course, the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort was as epic as I expected it to be.  Everything was just so well done and every important detail (I wanted and more) captured.  I was really happy with how this movie (and the whole series really) turned out.  

I can’t but feel sad though and I’m sure everyone who’s grown up with this series feels the same way too.  I’m going to miss the anticipation of waiting for the next movie to come out and the experience of seeing them at the theatre.  Every year it’s become this tradition between my cousins and I to go watch them together.  All seven of us taking up half a row, my older cousin daring our youngest to scream “Snape killed Dumbledore!” in the parking lot (and me yelling at them both to shut up and not spoil it for everyone) and the lunch/dinner following the movie.  

Not only that, I’m going to miss the characters themselves.  Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will forever be Harry, Hermione and Ron to me.  They brought these characters to life and we got to see them grow up on screen (which I think is pretty unique for a movie series!).  I’ll miss Harry’s strength and determination, the comedic relief Ron brings (the bit about Ginny not being all that excited to see him and threatening to kill Harry if saving Malfoy kills them both - had me laughing out loud) and Hermione being the voice of reason for just about everyone.  I could go on and on.  

Is it crazy that I’m already itching to see the Deathly Hallows Part 2 again (I’ve been watching HP movies since yesterday).  I guess for all my talk just now about it being the end, I’m not quite ready to let go yet.  And with that said, here’s to the end of an amazing series - I hope you all left the theatre feeling as happy (and probably a lil’ weepy) as I did!

—-

(Photo source)

Summer Solstice

Today is officially the longest day of the year, and to celebrate we have a little announcement to make. We don’t know if you noticed but things have been a little busy beyond the blog lately. Red Velvet has been slammed with tons of projects at work, which is why I’ve been primarily the one tweeting and writing the Throwback Thursday posts. It sucks because when life gets crazy, the blog sort of takes a backseat to everything else. We start to feel guilty, and then it’s not as fun anymore and blah blah blah. No one wants to feel like that about ansomething that is meant to be a source of creativity and enjoyment. AND WE WANT TO HAVE FUN, DAMMIT.

So we decided to put on our thinking caps, and we are pretty thrilled to say we’ve came up with a brilliant idea! (We hope you agree!!)

Instead of featuring a monthly series as we have been doing for almost a year now, we’ve decided to create a seasonal series featuring MANY different bloggers that we follow and adore. We’ve been lucky to have such an enthusiastic response from the amazing writers we’ve contacted and we are so thrilled to share their masterpieces with you! So starting this week and running through mid-September, we hope Couple of Crumbs becomes a fun way for you to learn about other people, and also discover some new reads!

We’ll officially kick off with two new blogs this week, featuring Red Velvet & I! (And not because we planned it, they fall in the same genre - same brain syndrome continues!)

Hope we’ll see you around this summer… in the comment section of course!

But for now, have you liked us on Facebook and do you follow us on Twitter? Both are great way to stay up to date with us as we jump start our newest adventure!

BSC, WWF, and Getting Older

By: Red Velvet

 
My cousin and his fiance recently asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding party. It’s funny, when they said they wanted to talk to me, I assumed they were just going to ask me to bake cupcakes for their engagement party.  Being a bridesmaid didn’t even cross my mind.  But I accepted of course (and I wasn’t totally off… they do want me to bake too).

Now I’m officially a part of the wedding party and while I haven’t had to do anything yet, I have listened to them talk about their plans.  The venue, photographers, wedding dresses, looking for an apartment.  And if I’m going to be completely honest - it’s weird.  I’m happy for him though, I really am.  This girl is perfect for him (believe me, I’ve watched him go through his fair share of “winners”).  But I just can’t believe he’s actually getting married and I can’t help feeling a little sad too.  Not that I wish I was getting married or anything.  But it’s more of a — this is it, we’re really growing up — kind of thing.

The groom/my cousin and I grew up together.  Of all our cousins, we’re the only two who are the same age (we’re 21 days apart).  A good chunk of my childhood was spent running around with him.

We played Nintendo in the basement almost every day (when we fought, he’d hide all the games).  We were obsessed with scaring ourselves silly so we’d lock ourselves in the bathroom and try to call on “Bloody Mary”, tell ghost stories, play hide & seek in the dark with our other cousins and neighbors (by the way, I was the lone girl in this sea of 7 boys).  He read a Baby-Sitter’s Club book to understand my fascination with them (it was “Kristy and the Walking Disaster” and he put a book cover on it to avoid getting made fun of).  He made me play roller hockey with him.  We watched WWF together.  I tricked him into letting me paint his nails blue (his mom loved that).  

Then we got older.  We went to high school, I went off to college.  But we stayed as close as ever.  I’d come home during my breaks and we’d hang out all the time.  Baking, renting movies and going to the mall.  It wasn’t until he started having serious girlfriends that we started to drift apart.  He’s one of those guys who tends to revolve their lives around their significant other and drop everyone else.  We’re still close in a way but not like we used to be.  I guess that’s why I didn’t expect to be in his wedding party.  We haven’t been those two inseparable kids (against all the adults) in a really long time.  

With all the joy that comes with watching someone you love get married, it also feels like another door of my childhood is closing.  It’s so easy to forget how old we are, especially when we’re just hanging out at my house, playing board games and watching TV.  We even refer to our parents as the adults and us as the kids.  But we really have grown up and with half of us in the wedding party (no seriously) and celebrating this new chapter of his life together - maybe this is more of a beginning than the ending I keep thinking it is.  

Crumbistas: I’m a Bagaholic

By: Red Velvet

Our fashion series wouldn’t feel complete if I didn’t write about my love of bags.  I’m obsessed with them (in case you need a refresher!) and everyone who knows me can tell you that.  But I’ve been working on my impulse buying (no really, I have) and my bag addiction is definitely more under control these days.  Now, instead of just buying any bag I like (even if it’s an inexpensive one from Forever 21), I try to only buy bags I really want.  
 
So what do I look for in a bag?

• Something that can hold all my essentials (phone, wallet, ipod, lotion, lip balm/gloss, compact, gum and bonus points if I can fit a book too).  
• Easy to throw over my shoulder (loving cross-bodies right now!).  I occasionally buy bags that I have to carry on the crook of my arm but not too often.
• Fits me (sounds weird but given my small frame, really big bags look funny on me).  
• Color! For the longest time, I would only buy bags in neutral colors like black and brown because they go with everything.  But now I have bags in purple, red, cognac, green, blue, metallic.  
• Lightweight.  I see a lot of bags with big chains and/or a lot of metal going on and they’re cute (sometimes), but they’re not for me. I tend to carry a lot so I don’t need the extra weight on my shoulder.  I like light, soft bags that are easy to schlep around, especially in the city.  

A lot of the bags that I use on a regular basis lately happen to be designer ones but honestly - I don’t discriminate! I could walk into Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy or even Target and more often than not, something cute will catch my eye (I just try to walk away).  But I also think that if you want a quality bag (especially soft leather which I am a fan of), that involves a little (or a lot more) investing.  My favorite “affordable designers” are Coach, Dooney & Burke and Longchamp.  If I wanted to go more expensive, Kate Spade and Cole Haan.  If I wanted to go super duper expensive, Louis Vuitton (I only like the checkered print), Rebecca Minkoff (I only get her bags at sample sales) and Chanel (dream bag! I don’t own one yet).  But the most important thing is finding a bag YOU like - regardless of brand.  

A big factor with buying a bag, that I have yet to mention in detail, is price.  I’ve gotten a good portion of my bags through some sort of sale.  I’m on the Kate Spade and Saavy & Co mailing lists (they send out emails about sample sales).  I check out Gilt Groupe and Swirl for their online sample sales.  Then being a fairly regular shopper as Coach has earned me 25% coupons at least a few times a year.  And of course, there’s department store sales at Macy’s, Lord & Taylor’s and Bloomingdale’s.  But sometimes I just luck out and stumble upon a good deal - which is always nice too!

Here are the bags I use most:

(L-R, top-bottom)

1.  Coach Mia Leather Convertible Shoulder
2.  Hello Kitty I Heart Nerds Tote Bag (couldn’t find on Sanrio.com)
3.  Forever 21 Quilted Bag (not available anymore)
4.  Cole Haan Vintage Valise Claire Mini Satchel
5.  Jessica Simpson Collection Katie Satchel
6.  L.A.M.B. Crimson Leather Vane satchel
7.  Longchamp Le Pliage tote
8.  Louis Vuitton Damier Ebene Neverfull PM (my biggest bag splurge ever)
9.  Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Mini (got this at an amazing sample sale for a great price!)