The Little Things: Book Rainbows & Starburst Candles

I really have to start writing these down again. I've been really slacking in the gratitude department lately and it makes it hard to come up with these posts sometimes. I got a cute little notebook in the last Kawaii Box so maybe I should start using that! Posts like these are a reminder to myself and others that there is always something to be thankful for, no matter how small it might seem :) here is my list of awesome little things:

♥ Randomly looking at houses in california and florida with my babe and daydreaming about our future home ♥ Finally getting my hands on ' your beauty mark' and reading it on snowy days ♥ Dita's perfume erotique ♥ chocolates with strawberry cream filling ♥ putting together a treasure hunt for valentine's day (with the best stuffed panda as a price at the end) ♥ doing my first succesful pincurl set and brushout! ♥ Getting a new desk! ♥ Reorganizing all of our books and decorating the desk ♥

♥ Browsing books on Kijiji ♥ Play breaks with the cat ♥ As Above So Below, this movie was so incredibly scary and it's been a while since I've been so terrified while watching a movie. Last time was probably when I watched the Blair Witch Project by myself at 2 in the morning. First person/found footage style horrors with 'unknown evil' scare me the most. I almost had to turn it off! ♥ Spinning records more often! ♥ Dancing to JD McPherson in the kitchen with the bf while peeling potatoes ♥ Starburst scented candles ♥

♥ Chicken Souvlaki Pita's from Greek Brothers. Omg french fries on your pita? Spicy Tzatziki? Heaven. ♥ Painting all day ♥ The first pictures of the Miss Peregrine's Movie ♥ The game Neko Atsume Cat Collector. It's so pointless but so addicting! ♥ Receiving a cute postcard from my family back home ♥ Re-watching 'Meet the Barkers'. The boyfriend and I have been on a MTV celebrity reality show kick lately. It's so bad but so good ♥ Grilled Cheese with ketchup ♥

A Very Dita Post: Your Beauty Mark + Perfume + Meeting Dita!

I MET DITA!! February was definitely Dita von Teese month for me. I don't even know where to begin... Obviously the best thing was getting to meet her. I finally got my hands on her book (which is now signed!) AND my lovely boyfriend randomly surprised me with a bottle of her amazing perfume. This post is basically going to be me raving about anything Dita related, so you have been warned!

I think it was back in December that I found out Dita was coming to Toronto. I couldn't believe it! I'm usually not the kind of person to freak out over celebrities, but Dita isn't just any kind of celebrity in my opinion. She has definitely helped me to get in touch with my feminine side, be more confident in my own skin and she introduced me to the wonderful world of pinup and burlesque. I got my ticket for the book signing shortly after and the countdown began..

The Perfume: Erotique

My boyfriend surprised me with Dita's perfume Erotique a few weeks ago as an early Valentines gift. I had been eyeing it for weeks, but never took the plunge because I just wasn't ready to buy something I hadn't even smelled yet! Apparently the boyfriend randomly saw it at a shop (not knowing I had been looking at it) and figured I'd like it since I had been without perfume for over a year and am crazy about Dita.

I asbolutely love this perfume! It features rose, incense, leather, pepper, coriander, musk, sandalwood, cedar and guaiac wood. The first time I sniffed it, it was unlike any perfume I had ever smelled. Very masculine and woody.. Needless to say I was a little scared! But then I put it on and after a little while it started to remind me of expensive leather. Sophisticated purses, bags, gloves. Later on the roses and musk came forward and the scent got more soft and rounded and all in all more feminine. But not like sweet, candy, girly feminine like so many perfumes out there, but a sophisticated adult woman. This puts all my previous super sweet perfumes to shame. I feel so strong, elegant and womanly when I wear this perfume. 

The only downside is that it doesn't last very long, and I've noticed I'm not the only one with this problem. It does tend to linger in my hair which is nice! Unfortunately I think this perfume isn't going to be around much longer, so I'm going to have to be quite sparing with it. I know there are some other Dita perfumes out there though, so I'm sure once I run out of this one I'll be able to find one of her other scents.

The Book: Your Beauty Mark

Her book... oh my I don't even know where to begin. It's like my bible now. There are so many helpful tips and tricks on anything you can imagine. From in depth information of perfume making to shaving your armpits. Whenever I read it I feel like I'm in class, and I like to keep a sheet of paper and a pen with me to take notes of anything I feel I need to remember.

I have heard mixed reviews on it though. People either hate it or love it. Some complain about her comments on body hair or the fact that some things like hair and make up tutorials aren't very detailed or in debt. Personally I do think there could've been a bit more pictures and maybe diagrams
for hair setting patterns but overall it's pretty decent.

People also complain that's it too much of an add for MAC cosmetics, but I don't really see that. Dita mentions several brands and usually for good reason. Whether it's because it's something she uses regularly herself, she's friends with the creators or has some kind of history with the brand. I personally don't feel like anything is being pushed on you in terms of products or brands.

The main thing the book has done for me so far is to stop myself from feeling weird about the fact that I like to dress and doll up 90% of the time. I do love the spend time on how I look, and it's for nobody else but me (although it's nice to know the boyfriend appreciates it too!) I believe every day should be a special occasion. Plus I simply don't get stuff done in pj's and a bare mug..

If you're a fan of Dita or simply want to bring some more glamour into your everyday life I would definitely recommend this book. I would also recommend it if you're looking for a book on body positivity and self care. If you're purely looking for a book with in debt hair and make up tutorials you might be better off with youtube tutorials or other books.

The Meet & Greet

I got up super early this day not only because I could hardly sleep anyway, but also because I still had to set my hair and do my make up (I can't stand sleeping in pin curls). Luckily the weather was absolutely amazing.. it was like spring! So I could wear flats and my nice coat without freezing to death and also not worry about my eyes watering or my hair getting rained/snowed on.

Once we got to Rosie the Rebel (my favourite retro clothing store in Toronto!) there was a pretty big line of girls all dolled up. It always makes me so happy! The closer we got to the door the more nervous I got. Eventually I got in and last minute my boyfriend got to score a ticket from the guy behind us as well so he could come in with me :) A lady wrote your name down on a sticky note and you had to put this inside the book (which I btw thought was a very clever idea! No name confusions or misspelling). Then after waiting for a bit in line, I got to meet her and take a picture with her!

Not the most flattering picture.. I'm super self conscious about my teeth, but I guess for some reason I thought it would be a great idea to smile with my mouth open! Ugh!

She's honestly just as flawless in real life as she is in her pictures. She was also very soft spoken and came across very humble and timid. And she is so petite! She looks so tall in her pictures but in reality she's a petite little doll. There's so much I wanted to say to her, but all I could stammer was 'It's so nice to meet you' and 'Thank you so much!'. Unfortunately we couldn't make it to her burlesque show that same night, but she just said that she might just bring her show 'Strip strip Hooray!' to Canada in the near future so I'll just wait for that.

Sometimes you meet 'famous' people in person, or even just regular people you've seen online or whatever and it can be a bit disenchanting. Even the boyfriend said that once I'd meet Dita I'd realize she's just a regular person. But somehow I don't feel that way at all! Of course I know she's just human, but I honestly think she's an extraordinary person. She's not putting on a show all the time or a persona. She is the way she is. She lives and breathes everything she does. It's very inspiring.


And this brings me to the end of my Dita post! Needless to say February has been great to me concerning all my Dita wishes :) I hope you enjoyed this post and share your Dita experience with me in the comments!

Book Review: Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

Even though I strongly believe you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I kind of literally do that exact thing when I'm picking my next book to read. I really appreciate it when a book has a nicely designed cover, or the paper feels very nice or the fonts and typography look pretty. Secondhand Souls instantly caught my eye when I saw it on a stand in the bookstore a few months ago. It's bright pink and the cover illustration is a perfect combination of creepy and cute! And to make it even more amazing, I only just found out that it glows in the dark!

But enough about the aesthetics.. did the amazing outside actually match the contents? The simple answer to that is: YES. so what is this book about?

It seems like only yesterday that Charlie Asher took on a very dirty job—collecting souls and keeping the Forces of Darkness at bay. The new gig came with the Big Book of the Dead and a host of other oddities: creatures under the streets, an evil trinity of ravenlike Celtic death goddesses, and one very bad Underworld dude attempting to conquer humanity. Along with a cohort of other oddballs, Charlie faced off against these denizens of darkness—and met his own end. But thanks to Audrey, his Buddhist-nun boo, his soul is still alive . . . inside a fourteen-inch-high body made from lunchmeat and spare animal parts. Waiting for Audrey to find him a suitable new body to play host, Charlie has squirreled himself away from everyone, including his adorable seven-year-old daughter, Sophie, who enjoys dressing up like a princess, playing with her glitter ponies, and—being the Luminatus—spouting off about her power over the Underworld and her dominion over Death.

Just when Charlie and company thought the world was safe, some really freaky stuff hits San Francisco. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Then there's the Taser-wielding banshee keening about doom who's suddenly appeared while Sophie's guardian hellhounds, Alvin and Mohammed, have mysteriously vanished.

Charlie is just as flummoxed as everyone else. To get to the bottom of this abomination, he and a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall, two-hundred-and-seventy-five-pounds-of-lean-heartache Death Merchant Minty Fresh; the retired policeman-turned-bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the lunatic Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; Mike Sullivan, a bridge painter in love with a ghost; a gentle French-speaking janitor named Jean-Pierre Baptiste; and former Goth girl Lily Darquewillow Elventhing Severo, now a part-time suicide hotline counselor.

With little Sophie babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind, time is definitely not on their side. . . .

(source)

I only later found out this book is actually a sequel to 'A Dirty Job'. The books was mentioned on the cover, but there was no mention anywhere that it was the prequel to Secondhand Souls. I was a little bummed about finding out about this too late because I would've preferred reading the other book first. I also kind of felt the end was a little rushed and that there easily could've been another 200 pages. I would've liked to read more about other ghost's stories. The last bit of criticism I have is the fact that Sophie, the character pictured on the cover, really wasn't as big of a character as I think she should've been.

But all this aside, I think the story was wonderfully written and I had a hard time putting it down. I loved how in the story, our bodies were truly more considered as vessels. How in the end, all that truly matters is the soul. I also loved the mix of fantasy and reality and there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. Moore has a very modern and fresh way of writing. i really enjoyed this book and can't wait to get my hands on A Dirty Job, which I heard a lot of people liked better than this book.

I give this book an 8 out of 10!

Book Review: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Let me start off this review by saying this: if you don't own this book already, run to your bookstore or open up amazon and get it RIGHT NOW.

Got it? Okay good. Now go read it. Trust me, it won't take long. You'll blaze through it within a day, but then I suggest you don't and take lots of dance, tea, cuddle and netflix breaks to make it last a little longer. It's really that good and will put you in a good, positive mood to start this new year off right!

This book has been on display at every bookstore I've visited in the past few weeks, and normally when books are consistently being shoved in my face I tend to not want to read them (same happened with Hunger Games, but then I gave in and loved it and stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish the series). The main reason why I did put it on my 'to read' list is because I found out that mental illness was an important theme and most importantly that it was about living with mental illness but still being positive and kicking ass at life! Plus there's an overly excited raccoon with glittery confetti on the cover. I was sold.

My sweet boyfriend took note and got it for me for christmas and I started reading it right the next day while he was going nuts over his new videogame. I got halfway through super quick and then had to put it away, just to make it last longer. It's a very honest book. The humour is great and there's a good balance between being serious and silly. There's also small Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Star Wars etc. references thrown in there which made me relate to the writer even more. She is very random and always has the strangest thoughts in her head that she just HAS to share with the rest of the world.

A gratuitous picture of me looking furiously happy

What I also like is that the chapters are very short, so you can easily read one or two before bed, or on the bus to school. They're all like little mini stories about Jenny's life. Some are funny, some are serious, but they're all great. There's even some pictures here and there so illustrate her crazy thoughts and adventures.

The more 'serious' chapters helped me a lot. The writers gets super open and honest about her struggles. She talks about how she only feels 'accomplished' two or three days a month. All the other days it feels like she hasn't accomplished anything, even though she's get so many things done. I honestly thought I was the only one who felt like this. Every once in a while I feel like I can take on the world and are getting so much stuff done and I feel inspired and driven. But most days I feel the anxiety creeping up on me. I feel like I'm wasting my time on silly things. I feel unaccomplished. And I often wonder what I could do to change that. You see these lifes of all these 'shiny people' on social media who seem to have it all together. They look gorgeous, have the perfect relationship, the perfect food, work out, friends etc. etc. and you can't help but wonder: 'why can't I do all that?', but the truth is, you can't. These shiny people don't exist. They have their own struggles, their own 'behind the scenes'. You're merely looking at a highlight real of their life.

And then I look at Jenna Lawson. She has written two books, goes on book tours, has a career doing what she loves and a little family and still she has that feeling creeping up on her. I honestly think it never really goes away. It's what keeps you going, pushes you forward and keeps you from settling. At the same time, it's also about forming you own idea of succes. Succes is different for everyone. Some people might think it's fame and fortune, for me it's being able to make a phone call, going out by myself or even just getting out of bed in the morning. Succes for me is having someone to love and laugh with, to be able to spend time with those/do the things I love.

Anxiety and depression are no joke and can make you feel very isolated and alone, but this book makes sure to let you know you're not. There's thousands of people out there who understand. Who know. It's like a comfort blanket in book form. A comfort book. There's chapters in it you're going to want to read back whenever everything gets too much or you just need a laugh.

I recommend this book x100000 and also recommend to pass it on to anyone who could use some more insight regarding mental illness. Let's live this life furiously happy!

**Christmas: What I Wore and Gifts!**

Hi everyone! How have you all been?? How was your holiday? Mine was very lovely :) nothing too crazy or busy which is just the way I prefer to spend christmas. We spend it at my boyfriend's parents and they always do most of the festivities on christmas eve. We had a nice dinner and then opened all the gifts we got each other at midnight. I thought I'd share my look for the day and the gifts I got. Not to brag (I never even got presents for christmas before I moved to Canada!) but mainly because I always love seeing what other people got. If you don't like it, then just move along!

For my outfit my boyfriend's mom very kindly got me a dress right on the day before christmas. Unfortunately I don't have a good shot of it but it's a red maxi dress with a very pretty top half that's covered in glitter. I absolutely loved it and felt like a christmas princess! I paired it with some barrell rolls, red lipstick and....

Super sparkly pink nails! This nailpolish is Rockstar Pink by Sally Hansen on top of a generic red nail polish. I am sooooo in love with it. It's still on my nails and I keep admiring them at least ten times a day. Best sparkly nail polish ever.

Now on to the gifts! I got some really sweet thoughtful gifts that I did not expect at all. I never really make 'wish lists' because I like to be surprised and honestly don't really care what someone gets me. As long as it's thoughtful. You could get me a Hello Kitty lollipop and I'd be super excited!

The boyfriend said he wasn't getting me A book this year.. (which bummed me out because I was out of books to read) but turns out he got me 2 BOOKS this time. I'm already halfway through Furiously Happy (which is amazing and I'll do a review on it once I'm done) and isn't the cover of Secondhand Souls amazing??? The premise of it sounds good and I can't wait to dig my teeth into that one too!

He also got me a this super cute BB-8 mug and an adorable Kylo Ren Itty Bitty plush. Isn't it super cute? I kind of want all of them now including this giant Darth Vader! Isn't it the cutest thing ever?

He also got me a new straightener, but we all know what a straightener looks like and it's a plain black one! I love it mostly because now I don't have to use an adapter anymore (my old one was european voltage). I've still yet to try it but the reviews on it were good so it should be fine!

Something that you can't NOT get for christmas are socks and pj's! And the ones I received are super adorable ^^ Seems like the perfect combo to relax and drink tea in...

My boyfriend's sister always has such thoughtful gifts. She got me this gorgeous Little Mermaid hair brush from Loungely and red hairflower (both which she knew I needed/wanted) and some super pretty nailpolish (one of which glows in the dark!) that I can't wait to try out once I remove my current glitter polish. And a French Vanilla scented candle I forgot to include in this shot.

She even got our cat Zorro a little present! He's crazy about these things, even though the picture might make you think otherwise haha...

And lastly a family friend got me this super pink and cute Betty Boop travel bag! I love it so much! Now I just need an excuse to use it. Let's hope I get to go on a mini trip sometime soon.

And that's all folks! I can't believe it's almost going to be 2016 already.. There's a lot of things I'm excited about and I'll probably do a post on that either before or right at the beginning of the new year. 

Happy New Year everyone!

Recent Reads: YA and Modern Romance

Cup from Momiji

Hi everyone! Today I'll once again be sharing the books I've recently read. This time it's two young adult books (one of my all time favourite genres) and one that's more of a funny research essay kind of thing.

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
My boyfriend  was actually the one who pointed this out to me. He really wanted to watch the movie of it so we went to see it at a theater downtown a few weeks ago. It was a great movie and especially Earl was hilarious. As usual though, the book is SO MUCH BETTER. Earl is even funnier. In short the story is about two guys who make movies together and a girl who has leukemia. The storyline is a little different from the movie. Thinking about it, there were some parts in the movie I really wish would've been in the book! In a way it's a funnier, more cynical and more down to earth version of The Fault in Our Stars if I were to compare it to anything (the movie of that completely ruined my love for the book, and it's the same case for Paper Towns. Ugh). It was a great, unpretentious and funny read that I would definitely recommend you put on your summer reading list!

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowel
I heard so much about this book that I simply felt like I was obliged to read it. Now, I'm obviously a little outside of the age group for YA readers, but usually it still works just fine. This was probably the first book I felt way too old to be reading it. It kinda felt like reading my diary when I was 12 years old and obsessing over every little thing my crushes were doing. It was just too much for me. Too cliché, too cutesy, too dramatic. Did it remind me of having my first crush? Yes it did. Would I have enjoyed this book 10 years ago? I most likely would have. But as a twenty something it was just too much..

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
You may know Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford from Parks and Recreation. He's a hilarious comedian and as it turns out, a writer too! Once again my boyfriend picked out this book to read, but then I kinda stole it from him when I didn't have anything else to read and got completely sucked in. This book compared love and romance in the old days to our new, modern, digital love world.It was very interesting, shocking and sometimes even sad. But then Aziz would throw in a joke here and there and you could laugh it off and not feel as bad as the pretty sad state this world is in. At least, that's my opinion. Yeah we have a lot of options now and can find our 'perfect match'. But maybe what we think we want, isn't really what we want or think we need. It's also a lot harder to commit yourself to someone, more fear that you're missing out. You browse through instagram and see all these other potential partners and wonder if you really made the 'perfect' choice. Cheating is easier, lying is, leading a double life is. But then again, I most likely never would've met my boyfriend if it weren't for the internet. So there's that. I definitely recommend reading this if you need something different from the usual fiction and fairy tales, or if you just want to laugh out loud while reading a book!

I think I'm done with reading YA fiction for a little bit now. I really want to read At The Water's Edge by Sara Gruen next. I loved Water For Elephants and Ape House so I'm sure I can't go wrong with that!

Currently Reading

Hi everyone! So I've always been a booklover. I have quite a nice collection back in the Netherlands, but unfortunately there are wayyy too many to move here in one go. However I did succeed in bringing out my boyfriend's inner book nerd so we're starting to create a nice little book collection ourselves here! We've been browsing the local bookstore and Kijiji on a regular basis and because of that I've been reading more than ever. I thought it would be fun to share some of my recent and current reads with you all.

Let's start with the three books that are on my 'to be read' list right now. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs I actually finished last night! I read the second book in the series 'Hollow City' before reading this one (because it was the only one they had at the store and I was too impatient). It was a great read that really teleports you to a completely different world. I do have to say that I liked the second book better. In the first book everything moves rather slow and not an aweful lot happens compared to the second one. The original vintage photographs in it are awesome though! 

The book in the middle is called 'Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times' by Emma Trevayne. We discovered it in the sale section and thought the cover looked really cool. It's a children's book, but I mostly read kid's and young adult books anyway because they're just that much more fun and relaxing to read :)'s All I know so far about this book is that it's about a fantastical steampunk London and I can't wait to start reading it!

And of course the third one is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I've already read all the books multiple times, but it's been a few years now and we fell in love with these new covers. We're slowly starting to collect them all. We already have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd book! This is definitely one of my favourite books (and movie) in the series and it's a lot of fun re-reading these books. Takes me back...

The next series is one we've been wanting to check out for a while now, so when we came across someone selling all of them for an amazing price we got them right away. The graphic novel series Locke and Key are in a bunch of top graphic novel lists and after reading them I surely understand why.

The story is written by one of my new favourite authors Joe Hill (Heartshaped Box, Horns..) and the amazing art is by Gabriel Rodriguez and it's basically about a family living in a haunted house that has a bunch of mysterious keys. It's the perfect mix of reality and fantasy, emotions and horror. If you're looking for a place to start when it comes to graphic novels, definitely pick up these babies.

What are you reading right now? Have you read or do you want to read anything from this list?

To-read list

A small list of books I still want to read. I love books, and I love collecting them. I hardly ever give out my books to other people because they're too precious to me. Anyway, on to those books now, shall we?

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
'Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.' Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery. In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place - and voice - through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her. Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.

Theory of Everything by Kari Luna
When Sophie Sophia's eccentric physicist father disappears for good and Sophie's mom moves them from Brooklyn, New York, to Havencrest, Illinois, for a fresh start, things take a turn for the weird. Guided by Walt, her shaman panda, and her new (human) friend named Finny, Sophie is determined to find her father and figure out her visions, once and for all.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, teenager Will Grayson crosses paths with.. Will Grayson! Two teens with the same name who run in two very different circles suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions. Culminating in epic turns-of-heart on both of their parts, they team up to produce the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high-school stage. 

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and its amazing 'White City' was one of the wonders of the world. This is the incredible story of its realization, and of the two men whose fates it linked: one was an architect, the other a serial killer. The architect was Daniel H. Burnham, the driving force behind the White City, the massive, visionary landscape of white buildings set in a wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H. H. Holmes, a handsome doctor with striking blue eyes. He used the attraction of the great fair - and his own devilish charms - to lure scores of young women to their deaths. While Burnham overcame politics, infighting, personality clashes and Chicago's infamous weather to transform the swamps of Jackson Park into the greatest show on Earther, Holmes built his own edifice just west of the fairground. He called it the World's Fair Hotel. In reality it was a torture palace, a gas chamber, a crematorium. These two disparate but driven men toegther with a remarkable supporting cast of colourful characters, including as Buffalo Bill, George Ferris, Thomas Edison and some of the 27 million others who converged on the dazzling spectacle of the White City, are brought to life in this mesmerizing, murderous tale of the legendary Fair that transformed America and set it on course for the twentieth century.

♥ Rookie Yearbook One ♥

I'm not allowed to spend money on things I don't absolutely, desperately need. So it was more than reasonable for me to buy this.

I knew I needed this book in my life ever since it came out, but after lots of bad experiences with ordering art books from the USA online I figured I would just wait for a bit. BUT, then I randomly visited my local bookstore and there it was... sitting beautifully on one of those plastic display thingies, simply screaming at me to take it with me. So I obbeyed. There was no way I was going to leave the store without the books after I got my hands on it. I seriously feared that if I did put it back, somebody was going to snatch it away and I would have to live with that regret for the rest of my life. 

Rookie is easily my all time favorite thing on the interwebs, and having it now sit among my pretty books makes me think and feel a lot of very happy things. Happyhappyhappy.

Stickers! Could this book become any more perfect?

I highly recommend getting this book! You can get it right over here! Or it might just magically appear in your local bookstore as well.