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The Silent Wife by A. S. A. Harrison

The Silent Wife by A. S. A. Harrison

Lauded by many as the next GONE GIRL, I couldn’t wait to read A. S. A. Harrison’s THE SILENT WIFE. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the narrative quite as clever or complex as that of Flynn’s third novel. While extremely well written, I wasn’t as enthralled with this story as I had hoped to be. The story follows Jodi, an intelligent, overly rational psychotherapist, and her husband Todd, a hapless…

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My best friend came to Texas!! The weekend after I got home from London and Paris, my  life long best friend came down to visit over her spring break. For our first stop, Sarah and I headed for the boardwalk.

Notice our similar sunglasses? Even in our 20s, we still have tendencies toward matching each other. On the boardwalk, we spent some time catching up and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Later that afternoon, we picked Zach up from work and headed for the rodeo! (I never thought that phrase would ever come from my mouth.) Unfortunately, the rodeo-esque parts of the rodeo (i.e. horses and bull riding) were sold out, so we pretty much just enjoyed the part of the rodeo that was akin to a state fair. It was enjoyable but nothing too special. We headed back home, stopping by T-Bone Tom’s so Sarah could try some real Texas BBQ.

Most of the next few days were spent lounging by the pool, with one more trip to the boardwalk, where we got our faces painted like the children we still are at heart. It was a great visit, and I loved spending that time with my best friend. Click below to see a few more photos of our week. :)

view while laying out by the pool

free cone day at Dairy Queen!

while Sarah was visiting, it was the one year anniversary of the day that Zach proposed to me! of course he remembered (even before I did!), and he surprised me with roses. and because he is so thoughtful, he got BOTH Sarah and I chocolate. what a guy :)

Sarah visits Texas! My best friend came to Texas!! The weekend after I got home from London and Paris, my  life long best friend came down to visit over her spring break.

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While in London, my dad & I couldn’t help but take advantage of how close we were to Paris! Catching an early morning flight from Heathrow, we arrived in Paris around 1oam and had the weekend to explore.

After checking in to our hotel (Golden Tulip Washington Opera – our room was all blue and so quaint!) we walked south through the gardens of the Palais Royal. Our first meal in France was lunch at Cafe de la Comedie, right around the corner from the Louvre. The food was SO good! Dad got duck, white beans, and sausage, and I got a french baguette toasted with tomatoes and mozzarella. After lunch, we walked through the Louvre courtyard (and peeked in the windows to catch a glimpse of some statues). I was amazed at how big the Louvre was! It’s massive! And the architecture is so detailed.

After the Louvre, we walked through the Jardins de Toulerie where we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! The gardens were beautiful, and they end in a ferris wheel that lights up at night in the colors of the French flag. After seeing the Place de la Concorde, we strolled up Rue de Champs Elysees, stopping by Laduree to try macarons! Neither my dad nor I had ever had a macaron before, so what better place to try. We got a raspberry macaron and a chocolate macaron and split them.

Meandering along the Champs Elysees, we finally ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. It is really quite impressive! The underside of the Arc de Triomphe is covered in stone flowers that are all unique and extremely detailed. After that, we headed for the Eiffel Tower! We viewed it from the Jardins du Trocadero before crossing the Seine and viewing the Eiffel Tower up close. It was extraordinary.

After admiring the Eiffel Tower, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Takara (the #1 rated sushi in Paris), which was right down the street from our hotel. We both got the Paris uramaki rolls and split rice with tun, salmon roe, and sea urchin! It was all very good (although neither of us were the biggest fan of sea urchin). After dinner, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, arriving there at 9:57, which was perfect timing to see it sparkle! At night, every hour on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes. It truly was magnificent.

The next day we had breakfast and cappuccinos at Cafe Palais Royal. I had a cappuccino, orange juice, eggs, and toast with jam; I was starving and it was all so good. Up first on our agenda, we headed west to Ile de la Cite and Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris! I was blown away; it was my favorite cathedral of all that I have seen so far. It was just so intricate and massive and beautiful. I loved it. Across the street from Notre Dame, there was a little cafe (with a green awning) named Esmeralda – I loved the nod to the Disney story.

We headed south over the Seine in search of a bookstore. I’ve had Shakespeare and Company on my list of travel destinations for years, and I was determined to find it while we were in Paris. It was the neatest little shop, and it was actually quite bigger than it looks from the outside. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside, but I spent close to an hour perusing the shelves. I didn’t want to leave! When I did, it was with a stack of books. :)

Shakespeare and Company was on the Left Bank of Paris in an area that we hadn’t yet explored. I am so glad that the bookstore was in that area because we loved the left bank! We spent the majority of our day just roaming the streets there, looking at the artsy stores as well as all of the delectable-looking restaurants. For lunch, we got crepes from Chez Suzette Crêperie. I got a dessert crepe with chocolate (that was made on the premises) and bananas, and my dad got an actual lunch crepe that had salmon and spinach. They were both very good, and I’m glad we tried crepes in Paris!

The sun was out all day and because it had been overcast the day before we decided to head back towards the Eiffel Tower to see it in the sunshine. It is absolutely beautiful, and I can only imagine how the Champ de Mars looks when all of the trees are blooming and framing the Eiffel Tower. My dad said we couldn’t leave Paris without drinking some champagne at the base of the Eiffel Tower and with time to kill before dinner, that’s just what we did! We stopped for champagne at Cafe le Dôme, the closest cafe we could find to the Eiffel Tower. After enjoying our drinks and the view, we headed to Il Sorrentino, rated the #1 Italian restaurant in Paris. The food was delicious. We ended the evening by walking back toward the Eiffel Tower and catching it sparkle for one last time. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

We walked miles upon miles, ate phenomenal food, and spent time in great company. I loved being able to share this with my dad.

Click on the photos below to see them in a full-screen slideshow!

the view from our hotel room

the gardens of the Palais Royal

the Louvre

Louvre

our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! in the Jardins de Tuileries

Place de la Concorde

Grand Palais

Laduree

macarons!

Arc de Triomphe

I loved all the little black gates on the windows.

view of the Eiffel Tower from the Jardins du Trocadero

love the reflection in this shot!

Dad & I seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up on our first night in Paris!

River Seine

Notre Dame

Esmeralda cafe!

Shakespeare and Company bookstore!!

roaming around the left bank

Paris While in London, my dad & I couldn't help but take advantage of how close we were to Paris!

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About 3 weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to London with my dad. He called me about a week beforehand – he was going for a work meeting and asked if I wanted to tag along and turn it into a Father Daughter trip. Of course I did!!

We flew overnight and arrived at Heathrow at 9am. After heading straight to Nottinghamshire for a meeting (where I scoped out the local scene, tried to see a castle but it was closed [who closes a castle?], saw a beautiful old church, and grabbed a drink at a local pub), Dad & I headed back to London. Though we were tired, we had to take advantage of our first night in London! We took the tube (which I, of course, loved and caused all kinds of nostalgia for New York) into Piccadilly Circus. After roaming the area, we decided on dinner at The White Horse where we split a traditional steak ‘n ale pie and a chicken & ham pie. A great introduction to London.

On our second day in London, we opted for a traditional English breakfast at The Sherlock Holmes – a pub recommended by the concierge at our hotel (Amba Hotel Charing Cross – which we LOVED, by the way). For a lover of mystery fiction, I was giddy about this pub. It was a low-key place with wood accents and just two guys working; I could imagine Sherlock here. To my delight, they had a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle (as an aspiring author, I’m glad the author was acknowledged). There was even a wall full of pieces of evidence from Sherlock’s solved mysteries. Needless to say, I’ll be back here on my next trip to London. To top it all off, the food was delicious.

After this, Dad & I crossed over to the south bank where we saw the London Eye and Big Ben for the first time, framing the River Thames. We caught a hop-on hop-off bus to the London Bridge. Yes, the London Bridge. Which is NOT the Tower Bridge. The London Bridge is a completely nondescript bridge but getting off at the London Bridge stop allowed us to see the Tower Bridge from a distance as we walked the remaining distance toward it. The Tower Bridge really is beautiful. I love the blue detailing. The area around the south bank side of the bridge is really unique with a brewery and narrow, cobblestone streets. After roaming around that area for a bit, we crossed the Tower Bridge over to the London Tower.  From here, we walked west to St. Paul’s Cathedral. I wish pictures were allowed inside of St. Paul’s because it was different from so many cathedrals that I’ve seen in that it was so bright – white stones and gleaming gold chandeliers. It was very pretty.

From St. Paul’s, we caught a bus to Buckingham Palace. I was surprised to see only three guards in front of the palace! I’ve always thought of palaces and castles to be something from a Disney story (or at least like some of the ones I’ve seen pictures of in Germany), but Buckingham Palace is essentially just a huge rectangle. If I had a palace, I would have some towers and turrets :) It was neat to see, though, and the gate was impressively grand. I loved Victoria Memorial – now that is an entrance.

Leaving Buckingham Palace, we walked through St. James Park. It was beautiful in March, so I can only imagine what it would be like in spring and summer. It started to rain (it had been gloomy all day with spotty sprinkling but now it really started to pour), so we ducked into Westminster Arms – Shepherd Neame pub. Come to find out, it was included in the TimeOut London pubs & bars guide, and when I looked it up later I found out that the pub is favored by politicians and journos. Makes sense sine it’s near Houses of Parliament.

After waiting out the rain, we headed toward Houses of Parliament, making a detour through the Westminster Abbey cloisters. Once we saw Big Ben, Elizabeth Tower, and Parliament up close we hopped on a bus back to Trafalgar Square. Only now did we realize how close our hotel truly was to everything. We could have walked from Big Ben to our hotel in less than 10 minutes. It was the perfect location, right near Trafalgar Square, with Covent Garden to the north, the palace to the east, and the Thames to the south!

On Trafalgar Square, we ducked into a pub called The Admiralty that quickly became our spot in our short time in London. We each got a pint and chatted with a friendly, native London couple. When we returned to our room, we found a bottle of merlot, chocolate truffles, and a handwritten note from the woman who had checked us in – like I said, we loved our hotel. After a jam-packed day, Dad & I decided on dinner at Lupita, a low-key Mexican restaurant around the corner from our hotel. With freshly made guacamole, a pitcher of mezcal margaritas, and a delicious burrito, how can you go wrong? It was a really nice night spent talking and relaxing with my dad.

The next day, Dad had to head up to Northampton for a meeting so I was on my own for the morning to early afternoon. I started my day by blasting ‘London Calling’ and dancing around the hotel room. I believe everyone visiting London should start at least one day this way. After that, I walked back over to the south bank and grabbed a hot chocolate from a local vendor right under the bridge and strolled through Jubilee Garden admiring views of the London Eye and Big Ben. I then wandered over to the south bank book market and showed remarkable self-restraint by not buying a pile of books. After that impressive feat, I walked back over the Thames and headed towards Big Ben to get some close up pictures. Once satisfied with my shots, I walked up to Trafalgar Square and on to Charing Cross Station to pick up a £5 day bus ticket and then hopped on a bus to Abbey Road!

Seeing as I ended up at Abbey Road alone, I had to ask a total stranger to take a completely cliche (but totally necessary) picture of myself recreating the Beatles album cover on a crosswalk that is still very much in use (and busy!). Luckily, I encountered a very enthusiastic group who seemed to have no issue stopping traffic multiple times in order to get their perfect picture, so I asked one of them.

After catching a bus back to Trafalgar Square, I walked toward Covent Garden. I stopped by Patisserie Valerie to get a scone with butter and jam (which was delicious). I really enjoyed Covent Garden, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon Covent Garden Market! I grabbed some Ben’s Cookies to take back for my mom, little brother, and husband (and myself), then headed back to the hotel to meet my dad for the rest of the day.

We walked back to Covent Garden Market and strolled around there for a while. For dinner, we opted for a traditional fish and chips (supposedly the original fish and chips) place – The Rock & Sole Plaice. It was a tiny little place but the atmosphere was exactly what we were hoping for, just a very local place. I’ve never had fish and chips, so I would guess there’s no better place to try them than London! Having now tried them, I’m definitely a fan.

After dinner, we walked around aimlessly, just enjoying our last evening in London. We stopped into a Hotel Chocolat, a British chocolatier. The sample caramel-filled chocolate bunny they gave us was so good that I bought some to take home. After ending up back in Piccadilly Circus, we headed back toward Trafalgar Square and The Admiralty for one last pint in an English pub. When we left The Admiralty, we weren’t quite ready to end the trip just yet so we walked down The Strand (the street our hotel was on) and ended up at Garfunkel’s restaurant for a late night snack and chocolate milkshakes. Evenually, we had to get back to our hotel because our flight home was early the next morning. It was a perfect last night in London with my dad.

I am so lucky and immensely grateful that I was able to explore more of Europe, and it is so special to me that I got to do this with my dad. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip! Cheerio London!

      Dad & I on the flight to London!

While dad was in Nottinghamshire for a quick meeting, I was able to stop by St. Mary’s Church (c. 1109).

Our first venture into London – Piccadilly Circus!

Chinatown in Soho

Piccadilly Circus

To me, this picture is quintessential London town — great architecture, red double decker bus, and a traditional black taxi cab.

our hotel! right next to Charing Cross Station – we LOVED it

Trafalgar Square

The Sherlock Holmes – pub where we ate our first breakfast (a traditional English breakfast recommended by the concierge at our hotel)

cappuccinos :)

River Thames

London Eye with Big Ben & Parliament in the distance

Tower Bridge

The Tower of London & the Tower Bridge

I rather liked the black telephone booths.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Buckingham Palace

I want this for the entrance of my house.

St. James Park

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben/Elizabeth Tower with the London Eye in the distance

The Admiralty

Trafalgar Square

view from our hotel out to The Strand

neat little skate park under a bridge on the south bank

Piccadilly Circus in the daytime

Abbey Road

Can you find my name? :)

channeling my inner beatle

scones from Patisserie Valerie – cute little place!

Covent Garden Market

so many neat antiques – I don’t think I was supposed to take pictures, but I saw the sign after I did, oops!

street art

traditional fish and chips

beautiful sunset on our last night

London About 3 weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to London with my dad. He called me about a week beforehand - he was going for a work meeting and asked if I wanted to tag along and turn it into a Father Daughter trip.

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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Disclaimer: This book review is going to be a bit different than most, likely less detailed, because I happen to be sitting in the Boston airport and I didn’t bring the book with me. I already wanted to bring so many books on my trip, I couldn’t afford to bring one that I had already finished! When you say Gillian Flynn, most people think GONE GIRL. It’s the novel that really made her famous, not…

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Before I jet off to Europe, I wanted to do a recap of our life lately in Texas. We’ve been super busy, especially with Zach beginning tax season, but we’ve still managed to soak up some of the beautiful weather and have some fun.

The view from our apartment is beautiful. We can take walks or run along the marina, a feature I exploit as often as possible!

We love walking around the boardwalk area of Kemah. It’s such a cute little beach town with laid back vibes. For New Year’s Eve, fireworks were shot off of the boardwalk and we sat down on the rocks near the water on the other side of that lighthouse to watch them. It was so impressive seeing the fireworks framed in the water, hearing the waves, smelling the salt, and enjoying the fresh breeze – Zach and I were awestruck.

The boardwalk is beautiful at night. Zach and I find ourselves wandering down here most weekend nights, just to walk around and enjoy the lights.

My mom and younger brother visited for a long weekend recently, and we went to the Houston Space Center! It was neat seeing aircrafts that had actually been up in space. The rest of their visit was spent in onesie pajamas watching Gilmore Girls and making homemade cookies and gelato – perfect!

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Soon after that, I had another visitor, a friend from college who recently moved to Dallas. We had a quintessential Texas dinner at T-Bone Tom’s, then went to Skallywag for a bit in the evening. The next day, we went on a hike at Pine Gully Park. It was a perfectly clear day, and the water and sky were brilliantly blue. However, the hike took us away from the water and we ventured into some desolate areas that reminded me of settings from the first season of True Detective!

I was just running errands one Sunday and I pulled over to snap some pictures of the sunset. It felt like a very Texan setting – I halfway expected some tumblewood to blow by!

The first picture above is the view from our gym. The second is just a shot of a budding tree against a clear blue sky – I was feeling artsy.

I took this on a walk around the marina one evening. I’ll never get tired of that view.

Both of the photos above are from a sunset I accidentally caught one evening while walking to get our mail.

Valentine’s day! The Fannie May chocolates are from my parents, while Zach took me to a nice dinner at Opus Bistro Saturday night and surprised me with flowers Sunday morning.

The photos don’t do the food at Opus any justice… it was all delicious! I got red snapper with crab and shrimp on top, while Zach got a juicy steak. We were so hungry and the food was so good that I didn’t even get a picture! ;) For dessert, we chose the crème brûlée – it was absolutely delectable.

  Life in Texas Before I jet off to Europe, I wanted to do a recap of our life lately in Texas.

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Mardi Gras in Galveston

Mardi Gras in Galveston

In addition to my writing portfolio, I would like to update this blog section of my website with what I’ve been up to. It will allow for a more informal glance into my life and my writing. I wrote this first post a month ago. Last weekend (Jan. 30), Mardi Gras celebrations began at The Strand, a historical district in Galveston. Having not ventured over to Galveston since our move to Texas, my…

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Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon

Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon

An enthralling story told from both past and present, TRY NOT TO BREATHE captivated me from the moment I started reading. I stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish this novel and it was worth every lost hour of sleep. Alex Dale’s life is falling apart. Having lost her marriage and career to destructive habits, she works as a freelance journalist writing mindless pieces to get by…