ive heard so many people talking about this series and being as israel is late in everything, from movies to fashion to books, the "50 shades craze" just caught on here and im totally addicted to the books!
sadly, im on the 3rd and about to finish it, but i find myself actually feeling like anastasia & christian are real people with a real life! and i find myself looking at people a little bit differently now, thiking that anyone could be hiding some sort of sexual secret. it's actually really fun to think about.
have you read / are you currently reading the books?
im guessing there will be a movie, & while it will probably not do the books justice, i think it will be a fun film to see because of their luxurious lifestyle. who will everyone? so fun to think about! i wanted to share my picks :)
i can totally see matthew bomer or henry cavill playing christian:
for ana, i can see any of the following girls playing her:
for kate, i think they would be perfect:
& for kate's love interest elliot, i can see him:
(cause he's got to be hot enough to win kate over, but also not hotter than christian)
i think this guy should play jose:
i think she would play a fantastic mrs. robinson:
for mia, i would choose someone sweet & cute, like:
the bitter winter chill has hit israel & since we have almost no furniture in our living room since were moving, its even colder inside than outside! but keeping me warm is the thought that we leave for thailand in only 19 days!!!
anyways, seeing as i am in my sweats and socks most of the day, i wanted to put together a look i would love to wear back in dallas. a 'im-not-trying-to-look-cute-but-i-do' look. comfortable and casual with little details in the boots and the star hoop earrings. i would love to wear this to go shopping with my sister or to meet up with friends for drinks!
the last time i baked a cake, dekel took it to work for a "bake competition" and we found out the hard way that my cake had not even cooked on the bottom half, i forgot to turn the oven on turbo and the dough on the bottom stayed cold and raw. anyways, it was so embarrassing and from then on i swore to stick to cookies and fail-proof chocolate balls.
BUT...i was at my friend's house yesterday and she served this really delishious, perfectly-sweet chocolate cake with a thin layer of frosting and she kept telling me it was so easy to make, so i took the recipe and got the ingredients today and went to work!
ingredients:
1.5 cups of self-rising flour
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of water
1 cup of hot chocolate powder mix
1 cup of sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbs cocoa powder
directions:
whisk (or mix) the above ingredients together in a large bowl until there are no chunks.
pour the cake batter into two 12 x 4 sized aluminum containers.
bake in the oven at 300-320 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
check your cakes with a toothpick at 20 minutes and if the middle is still gooey, then bake for another 5 minutes & check again.
frosting ingredients:
8.5 fl oz of sweet whipping cream
1 bar of dark chocolate
1 bar of milk chocolate
directions for frosting:
break up the chocolate bars into little pieces & add to the whipping cream in a stove-friendly pan
heat over low fire until the chocolate is melted and the consistency is very smooth
you will want to fill each aluminum container half-way full, since the cakes will rise
& once the cakes are done, make your frosting and just pour over each cake and you are done!
enjoy with a hot cup of coffee :)
a little trick my friend taught me is to make little holes in the cakes before you pour the frosting on, so it will seep into the cake, making it delishiously moist :)
yes, that is a picture me on my own coffee mug...it was gifted to me by the sweet girls i worked with when i quit my job
we are not celebrating here in israel, but as tradition in my family, we always say what we are thankful for around the table. so...i am thankful for my loving & supportive family, my sweet & handsome husband and my amazing friends that mean the world to me.
continuing with the holiday spirit, & after seeing this pretty post, i wanted to put together a collage of what my dream outfit would be for a fancy christmas or new year's occasion. something that i would wear back in dallas. since this year we will be in thailand for christmas/ new year's, i can only imagine i will be wearing shorts, a tank and some sandals...but i'm not complaining :)
i'm always curious to know what little "perks" make people them,sotoday i thought it would be fun to share a few random weirdnesses about myself. things that make me me.
1. i hate when the shower curtain is left open after showering
2. sneeze attacks happen to me at least twice a day
3. i like my coffee so, so sweet...like 3-sweet 'n' lows-in-one-cup sweet
4. i use my hair straightener if i need to iron a shirt
5. i always back into parking places
6. when buying a baguette at the store, i always take a bite out of it before even getting home checking out
7. i can't stand when there are fruit chunks in yogurt, unless its coconut
as i mentioned in this post, dekel & i went to tel aviv friday morning and stayed the night at crowne plaza.
we were wowed by the room and the atmosphere of the hotel in general. it was super high class and, by far, one of the nicest hotels either of us have ever stayed in. our room was modern, simple and chic. the little touches really made our stay so comfortable. for example, there was a little note on our pillow that said if we wanted to exchange our feather pillows for a different type of pillow, just to make a call. also, on friday evening they brought little hazelnut chocolates to our room as a "shabat shalom" gesture. we also got to use the holmes place spa in the same building as the hotel for free so while browsing through the carmel market in tel aviv we picked up cheap swimsuits so we could take advantage of the jacuzzi :)
we arrived to tel aviv around 11 am, checked in & then set out for some lunch and to just poke around the street shops near dizengoff center (the city center). our hotel was within walking distance and right when we reached dizengoff we heard, what i thought was an ambulance, the city sirens go off. you see, there is sort of a war going on over here right now (read more about it here) and the palestinians are firing rockets on israel (mostly in the south) but some rockets have almost reached tel aviv and jerusalem. so back to where i was, the sirens started going off and i got this gut-renching, eerie feeling because you see the busy, bustling streets clear out in a few short seconds and no one is out walking, which is so weird. dekel and i just stood there in awe and took "cover" at a nearby restaurant and just waited for the sirens to silence. they soon did & everyone came back out and everything returned to normal, but it was definetly an experience!
so after walking around the carmel market and stoping in a few stores along the way (check out the cool hole-in-the-wall 2nd hand book store we found in the photos below!) dek & i decided to rent some bikes and head back to the hotel. like in many touristy cities around the world, there are bike stations all around tel aviv where you pay a small fee and can rent a bike for 24 hours/ a week/ a month or a year. all you have to do is "check in" at a station every 30 minutes or you just pay a small fee. you can get anywhere in the city basically within that time frame, so it worked out really well for us and was a fun way to get from one point to the other. after showering back at the hotel we got dolled up and went out for dinner and to meet a friend of dekel's from college, liron. we met at a cafe called 'streets' and had a beer. i forgot the memory card to our small digital camera and didn't want to take the nikon so i don't have any photos of that night. but after catching up with liron, dek & i contimplated going out, but just opted to go back to the luxiourious hotel room and snuggle.
saturday morning we woke up & had complimentary breakfast at the beautiful (& delishious!) buffet. i loved the various cheese choices with toast & dekel loved the jachnun. they also served fresh red grapefruit juice and yummy, tart yogurt with muesli. after breakfast, we headed to holon for 'dialogue in the dark'. we got there at 10 am & were in a group with 4 other people and we were given a white cane, as the visually impared use, and we were guided in total darkness through a maze of rooms. they were all different and we were instructed to use our senses of touch and sound to really focus on our surroundings. some of the rooms included a cafe where we got to order drinks by feeling the coins to know how much to pay, we got to "walk through a market" and feel the different fruits and vegetables to figure out what they were. it was really interesting and it really made me realize how much we rely our eyesight for everything. anyways, our tour was over around 11:15 and we headed home.
it was seriously such a great weekend!
please pray that the missile shooting on israel stops soon!
our room at crowne plaza
bath robes "for our pleasure"
he loved that chair!
walkin' through the streets of tel aviv
walkway/ bike path in the middle of the bustling streets
dizengoff shopping center
a hole-in-the-wall 2nd-hand book shop
he picked out a book for his 3-year-old niece, ma'ayan
gettin' ready to BIKE!
azrieli center. out hotel was in the square building
ready to go out for the night!
i was so proud of my eye make-up; used my naked 2 pallet
at the beautiful (and delishious!) breakfast buffet at the crowne plaza
glorious cheeses with toast & a baked cheesecake bite
this weekend dek & i are taking advantage of a free night's stay at the crowne plaza in tel aviv courtesy of dekel's work. we will leave here in about an hour to get there around 11 and walk around the market, which i love to do. then we will probably have some lunch and later check into the hotel. we love to explore the city & we might even rent bikes to do so!
on saturday dekel has planned for us to go to 'dialoge in the dark.' it's a museum of sorts, but you are led through it, in complete darkness, to different rooms by a blind guide. the point is to learn about & use your other senses, since we rely so much on sight. should be very interesting. i'll report back next week!
have a great weekend, ya'll!
(i really love this "toy" effect in photos. gotta learn how to do that with my nikon!)
