Jet Lagged

There's no place like your own bed
after 2+ weeks away from home!

We're home from our awesome Asia vacation safe and sound and trying to recover from jet lag. I hope it doesn't take too long to adjust .. I was in a fog all day today between about six loads of laundry and I never made it to the grocery store. Our fridge is SO empty! I thought I'd go to sleep early tonight in hopes of waking up cured in the morning but now I'm wide awake and it's already almost 11:30 pm!

Thank you to those of you who followed my trip on instagram. It was a lot of fun sharing photos and having a little interaction with all of you while I was away even though I couldn't always get back online to reply to your comments. I'm going to work on getting some photos and interesting tidbits about our trip up this week, but in the meantime,
What's going on with you? 
Any news to share? 
What have you been reading?

I planned to do a lot of reading on the 19+ hour flight(s) to the Philippines and the 12 hours back to New York, but I barely read at all on this trip! I didn't feel so great on the flight out, so I watched movies and tried to sleep instead.

BOOKS I READ ON VACATION:
While on land, however, I finished my re-read of Demon Angel by Meljean Brook as part of my Guardians series re-read - series catch up I plan to do this summer in preparation for the final book, Guardian Demon which releases TOMORROW! (August 6, 2013) This was actually my 3rd or 4th time I've read Demon Angel and it gets better and better every time I read it. It's five star keeper book for me, no doubt about it. Of course, as soon as I finished it, I regretted not packing the sequel Demon Moon for my trip!

I also read Kitchen by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto, which I enjoyed very much even though it made me cry on the flight between Hong Kong and Japan. Kind of embarrassing, but oh well. I think I cried pretty discreetly even if I went through several tissues. ;)

On the trip home from Japan I started reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I'm really enjoying it so far. I didn't realize it was written from a child's point of view. Anyway, I'm looking forward to finishing it this week. I also started reading Demon Moon last night after we got home from the airport. I just couldn't help it! Of course I'm loving it.. Colin and Savi are two of my favorite characters in this series. This story is so unique, dramatic with an incredible amount of character depth, not to mention impeccable world building and series arc development going on in this one. Actually the same goes for Demon Angel but for some reason I'm really drawn to Savi's character.

MOVIES I WATCHED ON VACATION:
I watched an interesting mix of movies on the two flights from and back to the US and we even went to the movies one night in Tokyo! The other flights between cities and countries were too short to show films. (We had a total of six flights on this trip. Oh Lord, was it nerve-wracking!) :/

1. Jack the Giant Slayer. A twist on Jack and the Beanstalk, a predictable fairy tale.

2. Safe Haven. Based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. I've never read his books, but I enjoyed the movie even if I found it predictable and not as fully developed as I think it could have been.

3. Monsters University. We saw this in a movie theater in Tokyo. The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles. Hee hee.

4. Beautiful Creatures. Based on the YA novel of same name that I read a few years ago. Well done, pretty true to the book with a suitable, non-perfect ending. I liked it.

5. Katy Perry: Part of Me. My daughters and I watched this simultaneously. We were cute and we bonded over this documentary even though we had headphones on. Of course we all like Katy Perry a little more now that we watched this. ;)

6. Painted Skin: Resurrection. A Chinese fantasy action film that I just now discovered is the 2011 sequel to the 2008 film Painted Skin. I guess it can be watched as a stand alone because I didn't feel like I was missing anything. If you like Chinese fantasy action films, give this one a go. Just the right combination of fantasy, action, romance and tragedy to suit me.

Have you seen any of these movies?

Hope to catch up with you this week! :)