Photobooks

I absolutely LOVE photo books.

Since the digital age, I have been making them for my family on a yearly basis, and we all enjoy them tremendously. I have tried many different companies over the years and generally had very positive experiences. Given I am a die-hard Mac person, this year I decided to try the version I could create directly using iPhoto on my iMac, and well, the rest is now legendary history :)

Seriously, as with most (if not all) Mac things, there just is no comparison. The interface was easy! And the result is fabulousness! I will never look to any other service to make my photo books, ever.

Photo memories are one of the precious things in life! Enjoy :)

The Hunger Games

LOVED the trilogy, and the first instalment of the movie series definitely does the book justice!

It is always a very difficult transition from the written word to the screen, and most often it fails, sometimes miserably. This movie is a notable exception, I think because the writer (who started off life as a screenwriter before becoming a novelist) managed to convince the film company to allow her to be one of the screenwriters, thus ensuring the fundamental integrity of the story wasn't tampered with. Obviously they had to leave certain things out, add others, while changing some altogether. The finished product is truly fantastic. The novel is vividly visual, and this lends itself nicely to this translation.

Read the book first, then go see the movie, you won't be disappointed!

"May the odds be ever in your favour".

The Italian Pantry

The Italian Pantry on Monkland is a fantastic little specialty Italian food store replete with stuff to bring home to use for your own culinary creations, or pre-cooked meals and desserts to pick up when you are in a pinch and still want to eat delicious food. It isn't an exaggeration to say everything I have tasted there is yum-yyy! Their cannoli and zeppole are the best I have EVER tasted (and I have tasted many, both homemade and from high-end Italian establishments), these seriously rocked!!!

There isn't much on their website, but it will help you find the place, which is always an important first step :)
www.italianpantry.ca

It is run by two Italian brothers, who are both friendly and helpful. The stores (they own two side by side, one is like a grocery store and the other is a coffee dessert place) are immaculate, and so quaintly picturesque you could imagine they were actually in Italy. Fantastic.

Definitely worth a visit, and promise me you won't pass up on savouring the desserts!

Ciao.

Eyebobs

Sadly, my eyes are making it impossible for me to deny my advancing age. I'm not old (just over 40), but suddenly I can't see things as well as I used to. Specifically, most text always seems either too small or too close. Frustrating...

As I had never had a proper eye exam, I enlisted one of my old friends who happens to be an ophthalmologist to check me out. At the end of the exam she pronounced that my 'vision' was fine, and I just had a mild case of what most 40 year old's have, called "presbyopia", and that I should just invest in a pair of dollar store reading glasses and I'd be fine.

DOLLAR STORE glasses! Now way.

I'm not snooty about most things, but the idea of using something even remotely related to my health and well being from the dollar store was never going to happen.

At first I was going to get a fantastic pair of custom frames made into reading glasses or even progressives for my minor 1.5 magnification need. Obviously this turned out to be a ridiculously expensive option.

Luckily, I happened upon a reasonable alternative.

Eyebobs! www.eyebobs.com

Reading glasses with a bit of class. I think this bit of pizazz makes them fun, and makes the reality of your eyes aging easier to handle :)

I have the On Board version, in the Tokyo tortoise shell with black. I LOVE them. I love how they look, and I love how they work.

You can buy them online directly from Eyebobs. As I wanted to try mine on, I went to Alain Assedo optician on Sherbrooke in Westmount near Claremont as they have a vast selection, and then ordered the strength I needed (at the same price as ordering online). I love how the Canadian dollar is FINALLY normalizing prices on most things.

Happiness restored :)

Ahhhhh!

Audible

This discovery originated during my quest to entertain my exceptionally motion sickness prone son during long trips. Even when he is loaded up on medication, he ends up being sick more often than not, therefore reading or watching a movie are entirely out of the question. Then I thought, I wonder if there is some new awesome versions of audiobooks that he could listen to on his iPod? After a foray through several underwhelming sites and apps, I came across www.audible.com, and WOW!

Audible has a vast library, from the old to the new, and a great selection for kids of all ages as well. They are owned and operated by amazon, and all you need is an amazon account to sign in and use it, and you're set! You pay a monthly rate to accumulate credits, and you can purchase the books for download either using these credits (1 book generally costs 1 credit), or you can pay for it.

For our most recent car ride to NYC I got him Catching Fire (the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy), and this one book provided 12 hours of listening enjoyment (there and back)! Truly outstanding.

My little guy is thrilled, and to me that is priceless :)

Cool Kindle

While I think I will always prefer the feel of a book in my hands, I cannot deny the convenience of an electronic reader.

If you have an iPad, in many ways it is the ultimate e-reader, but if you are getting one just to use it as an e-reader, I think you aren't necessarily making the most informed choice. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my iPad, but I use it for all kinds of things (writing emails, surfing the net on vacation, downloading pictures while I'm on vacation, my kids play games on it, etc). The reason you don't want an iPad if you just need an e-reader is firstly, it is far too expensive if you only need an e-reader, and secondly it is too heavy for an e-reader, and thirdly because it is backlit you cannot read it outside in the sun on the beach.

All those are the reasons I have a Kindle. I LOVE my Kindle too! Even though I love the tactile experience of holding a book, the reality is I read way too many books on vacation to make it practical to bring them along, making a Kindle the perfect solution. It is much cheaper than an iPad, and considerably lighter (making it a perfect travel companion). The other benefit is I don't have to pick all my books ahead of time. You turn you wifi off in order to conserve your battery (you only have to charge this thing every couple of weeks), and then when you want a new book you connect to wifi and browse through amazon. It's fantastic! Also e-books are cheaper than the print versions. The other great thing about my Kindle is even though I am loathe to admit it, I'm over 40 and my vision is failing me. I guess I'm super sensitive because I only require reading glasses with a magnification 1.5x, but reading with a Kindle makes the glasses unnecessary as you can simply magnify the text. Brilliant!

My tip to any Canadians who decide to get a Kindle is to get yourself an account on amazon.com . The reason is the selection of e-books is VASTLY different on amazon.com compared with amazon.ca (some kind of copywriter issues... blah blah blah). It's simple, go to amazon.com and create an address for yourself from any US address you have at your disposal, either family, friends, or even a favourite Gap store. Anything works! Browse around a little and you will understand what I mean. You may also want to get an account on amazon.uk as many titles are released in Europe before they are released in North America, and if you read French books look into amazon.fr .

First stop, buy your Kindle at: www.amazon.com , it ships internationally if required, and as I write this post it costs $108.00 USD for the most basic version (all you really need). There are different ones if you are interested in added features, check them out.

Happy reading!
One of my favourite indulgences.