50 Shades Book Review

My flights flew by thanks to my guilty pleasure getting the best of me. As promised, I finished 50 Shades of Grey & am here to give my opinion. Don't worry, I won't give any spoilers!

Let's talk about the author first. I don't care for her writing "style". She didn't study English, she was never a writer before she sat down to spill her darkest desires, & her writing style shows it. I found myself bored with the repeating of some things over & over & over again. In fact, I ended up skipping several pages in a row at a few different points & still knowing exactly what was going on. I went back later to look at the pages & nothing written was anything that I didn't already read earlier in the book!

Do I think this book is capable of transforming someone's dull sex-life? Sure, if both partners are into the s&m thing, but for the majority of people I'd say no.

The thing about 50 Shades that's really bothering me isn't anything that's in the book, but it's how the media is reporting it. I heard Sherri Shepphard on The View (before I read it) talking about how the book deals with a very young girl being with a much older man. If I remember correctly, there's only a 6 year age difference & both main characters are in their 20's. It's not a sicko love story, so if you've heard mis-reports, get your panties out of a bunch & read it for yourself.

So why is this book making so much buzz? It's dirty. It's erotic. But in my eyes it's not capable of releasing repressed women across the world, like so many crotchety old news reporters are claiming. If you want to change your sex-life, reading this book won't change anything. Talk to your partner! If you're embarrassed to bring up that you'd like to try some kinky things, send him a text or email. You might be turning scarlett, but he'll probably be pretty excited that you're even thinking about sex while he's at work.

Don't get me wrong, read the book to get some ideas of what you might like to try, but merely reading 50 Shades will not get you very far.

Give it a read (or don't) & tell me your opinion!
xx

Dominican Republic {Days 6 & 7}

To be honest, after so many days in a foreign country, we were ready to head home.
Day 6 was just as slow-paced & relaxing as the previous 5 days, but at the end of the day we spent time saying goodbye to the beach.

After a long goodbye, we headed to the buffet. It was Mexican night & by far our favorite. This was the most unhealthy we ate all week & we enjoyed every savory bite of it! Fried potatoes with melted cheddar, quesadillas, spanish rice, chips & homemade salsas with guacamole... YUM!

After gorging for what seemed like hours, we waddled back to the room & crashed hard.
In the morning we rolled out of bed at 6 am in order to eat breakfast & enjoy the morning at the resort before catching our plane.
When we did get to the airport, we endulged in one of my favorite American foods... hotdogs by Nathan's!

J & I both loved our trip as we got to spent more time together than we had in almost a year. I was able to have his undivided attention & he had mine. It was really great to celebrate our anniversary without any distractions.
But it sure feels nice to be home!

xx

Dominican Republic {Days 3, 4, 5}

After a very restfull sleep, we woke early to run to the lobby & schedule a zip lining tour for the following morning.
Day 3 seemed to fly by. We spent quite a bit of time scheduling our excursion & laying by the pool. When it was time for lunch we decided to spend the rest of the day hanging around the suite & taking pictures at the beach.

Sprite in a bottle = fantastic!

We had to get up bright & early for our zip lining tour, so we retired early.
This is where my disappointment sets in. We were told not to take a camera because you're not allowed to keep anything in your pockets & there's nowhere to safely store anything.
On the 90 minute trip into the jungle, there was about 500 kodak moments that I missed out on. We have no pictures of anything from that entire trip & it makes me really sad. The villages & people are so interesting & I aside from describing every detail to my friends & family, I have no way to show them the beauty & sadness of it all. I'll get into that all in another post (sans my own pictures obviously). Oh, and it turns out they had lockers for us to store all of our belongings in.......
Aside from not taking any pictures, zip lining was an amazing experience that I seriously recommend trying! We zipped through the jungle & high above it for over an hour, seeing things no one staying on the resorts could ever see without doing a tour of some sort. My recommendation is to wear gym shoes because there's plenty of hiking in between some of the platforms & you're in a jungle! There are snakes, spiders, lizzards, & bugs.

When we returned we were definitely ready for dinner. We showered & threw on clothes as fast as possible & nearly sprinted to the buffet.

We were beat. A full belly & mai tais galore put us into a sleepy funk, so we headed to bed early... again.

Day 5 was our second to last full day on the island. We worked at a leizurely pace that day, heading to breakfast & then spending the rest of the day parked on pool lounge chairs & bar seats.

For dinner, we rushed to La Petite Fondue, a little swiss restaurant that happens to be very close to our room.

We started with a dish of pate, proscuitto, & mystery cheese. Then the best onion soup in the world arrived at our table. Holy deliciousness!

We decided on the Bourguignon Fondue for 2, which was a plate of raw meats including chicken, beef, & sausage.

We were serenaded by a local reggae band & naturally this is the best picture that I got while we were being sang to.

But here's a better one from when our neighbors had their turn.

And lastly, we enjoyed a fruit & chocolate fondue (the main reason I wanted to go here).

After 2 hours of cooking our own foods & dipping our dessert, we were ready for a good night of sleep.
We only had one more full day on the island & we wanted to make the most of it by getting up early.
We fled into our airconditioned room & fell asleep quickly.

Dominican Republic {Days 1 & 2}

I'm baaaaaack!
I was only out of my home country for a week & yet I feel like I have so much catching up to do. The more important thing, I have so much work to do to get you caught up on what I've been doing.
J & I sprung for a trip back to the Dominican Republic to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

The hotel was grand & this giant seahorse greeted us as we entered our room.

We got in later than expected due to a layover that turned into a delay, so we snuggled in for the evening & anxiously awaited the next day. When we woke to sunshine & reggae music, we dressed & headed to breakfast.
I fully expected J to be able to point & shoot with any of the cameras we took with us.
This is how almost every picture of me from the trip turned out...

MEN! (If only he didn't have big dimples & a face I love to kiss)

We spent most days lounging by the pool & slipping away for breakfast, lunch & drinks, drinks, drinks.
One of the first nights, we ran off to the deserted beach with a Cuban cigar purchased from quite the Dominican pusher. It was calm, romantic, & the view was unbelievably amazing.

When the hot rays of sun were shining through our suite window, it was time to do it all again.

My freckles were showing more than ever & I had swum up an appetite.
We dressed for dinner & opted for my second favorite restaurant in the resort.

Tex-Mex done by Dominican people is surprisingly delicious. The chicken fajitas tasted better than a lot of places in the US could've done. The homemade guacamole & salsas were fabulous, but the cheese, which tasted like fresh cheddar perfectly melted & chilled, was my favorite.

Days 1 & 2 were complete, I had a full belly & I was ready to hit the hay.
Day 3 was approaching quickly...