A Little Bit of Magic

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Last week I picked up this book from my library and started reading.

The story is about Sylvie and when she finds out that her U.S. Senator husband had an affair with a staffer. (sound familiar?) The story is about Sylvie and her 2 daughters, Lizzie and Diana.

Sylvie has to figure out what to do with her life now. For so many years her life has revolved around her husband. In the meantime one of her daughters is a recovering addict and the other is having an affair of her own.

I read this book quickly but I'm still unsure how I feel about it. If I was married and my husband cheated on me I'd be out of there as quickly as possible. I also wouldn't have spent so much of my life only focused on my husbands career so it was really hard for me to relate/like Sylvie. The character I liked the most was Lizzie. She made mistakes but she was trying to get better. She was real and like able, unlike her sister.

If you like Jennifer Weiner you will probably like this book. It wasn't the best book I've read this year and if I wasn't a fan of the author I probably wouldn't have finished. Although the characters seemed like real people, I just didn't like them.

The Anatomy of Planning a Trip to Disney World, Part 2.....Getting There

Living in Michigan, I won't be driving to Disney World.

Been there. Done that. Never doing it again!

That leaves air travel. I love airports and flying so it's no big deal to me.

Again, being from Michigan, I'm most likely to fly Delta. Detroit is one of Delta's hubs plus I'm a Silver Medallion member this year (ie. free checked bags).

When I first started checking for an upcoming trip to Orlando airfare was a little more than I really wanted to spend so I keep checking back every couple of weeks.

I soon discovered Kayak to help.

This website looks at all the airlines and lets you know what the price on each airline is for your travel dates. I have it set up to send me an update once a week with prices. You can get it to send you updates daily if you really want it.

You just put in your departure and destination airport plus the travel dates and your job is done.

By using Kayak, I was able to save about $80 on airfare and already have another alert set up for another trip to Orlando.

You can also search for hotels, cars, vacations and cruises.

A benefit to flying into Orlando airport when traveling to Disney World is the use of the Magical Express.

The Magical Express is a bus service that takes you from the airport to your resort and back to the airport at the end of your trip. The best part is that Disney collects your luggage for you and transports it.

Before you leave home, you're given luggage tags that have the name of your resort on them. You put those on your checked luggage and it magically ends up in your hotel room. Beware it may take a few hours for your bags to get to your room so if you have anything important you may want to carry it on with you.

I have used the Magical Express a couple times and love it. I really enjoy not having to drag my luggage through the airport.

****I am in no way associated with Kayak, they just saved me some money.

The Anatomy of Planning a Trip to Disney World, Part 1

I’ve been to Disney World the past 2 years at Christmas time and as it gets closer to December I’m not sure if I can celebrate Christmas without the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT.

So a trip to Disney was in the works for December.

The first thing was to figure out where I wanted to stay. I have stayed at Economy, Moderate and Deluxe. Economy was defiantly out because those rooms were SMALL! I knew I wanted to stay at a resort that didn’t require me to ride a bus everywhere which only gives me the Deluxe option.

Every time I go to Disney I like to talk to random strangers in line, especially if I’m on my own. I ask them where they are staying and if they like it. In all my trips I had never heard anything bad about the Polynesian Resort. It fit the criteria, only a monorail (or two) ride away from EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom. (I also read reviews at AllEars.net and the Polynesian has the highest rating)

The Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge were also options for me, they’re both cheaper than the Polynesian. The reason I said no to the Contemporary is because if I wanted to stay in the main building then it would have been more expensive and the Wilderness Lodge would only give me a boat to Magic Kingdom but a bus to everywhere else. Also, the only Moderate I have any interest in staying at is Port Orleans and even that urge isn’t very high.

The next step in planning was to figure out when I’m going to go. If I get my way, I’ll be in Vegas the first week of December for work and I didn’t want to travel back-to-back. The date was decided (and then pushed back a day so mom could go).

Lastly I was waiting for a price I was willing to pay. About a month ago I had an email that said 40% off hotel stays and the dates I wanted fit in there, but when I called the price was too high. I figured I would wait to see what else came up or convince myself to stay at a Moderate resort.

About a week after the first offer expired I received another email and thank goodness, the price was right.

Next up will be dining….. I’m doing the Disney Dinging Plan for the first time so I’m trying to figure out a tentative plan. But everything is on hold until I can make my reservation for the Candlelight Processional and mom can tell me Steven Curtis Chapman or Thomas Gibson.

Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

I often judge a book by it’s cover and title. I’m not ashamed, but the cover and title make me interested enough to pick the book up and read what it’s about.

Before I finally gave into reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I picked up the book a couple times and even read the first couple of pages, but none of it made me interested enough to actually want to read the book.

Then one day I’m reading a blog and the writer commented on how they bought the whole Millennium Trilogy and was engrossed in it during a vacation. That was enough to make me hurry up and buy the books (the 2 I could get in the US). I figured the only way I’d read them is if I bought them and gave myself no other choice.

After finishing the series, I can say it was a great choice.

I’ll admit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo started a little slow. I had to force myself through the first chapter, but it got better. The first book is more about Mikael Blomkvist than Lisbeth Salander (who is the main character of the other 2 books). Mikael is hired to solve a 40 year old mystery and enlists the help of Salander. The mystery is solved, but more importantly these two characters have developed enough that you care about both of them. Blomkvist is a journalist who likes the big story and Salander is a girl that has had no advantage in life and also happens to be a very skilled hacker.

The Girl Who Played With Fire starts the roller coaster that is the next two books. Salander is accused of a murder which she may or may not have committed. Blomkvist sets out to prove her innocence and falls into a story about government corruption and abuse. Salander meanwhile is trying to figure out what really happened while hunting down an old enemy. I think this is my favorite book of the trilogy, because it has the most substantial story line and you find out the most information.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest continues only minutes after the previous book ended. Salander is about to stand trial for the many crimes she’s accused of committing and Blomkvist is still trying to prove her innocence. This book makes everything clear. You understand more of the story and realize just how corrupt a government can get.

None of these books are quick reads. I’ll say they each took me a couple weeks off and on to read them. There is a lot of detail. But in the end I have to say they are some of the best books I’ve read in awhile. They’re different than anything out there, I think. The story is so brilliantly thought out and written.  I strongly recommend them to anyone, men and women. I’m gently prodding my mom to read them. Who knows, one of the books might magically appear in her suitcase on her upcoming vacation.