Sunday 30 January 2011

Birthday contest!!!

Yes it's my birthday today!!! It's the last one that begins with number 2 - o la la! I'm officialy old! I'm just kidding :)
Anyway.... With the help of fabulous author Michelle Moran I have a surprise for you! It's a contest and you could win: a signed hardcover copy of MADAME TUSSAUD

as well as a pair of Marie Antoinette cupcake earrings (I'm so jealous of the winner - these earings look great!)





Ms Moran was kind enough to send me a little bit of information about this fabulous book:
MADAME TUSSAUD: The Woman


When most people hear the name Madame Tussaud, the first thing that comes to mind are the eerily lifelike waxworks which crowd her museums throughout the world. But who was the woman behind the name, and what was she like in the flesh?
Madame Tussaud’s story actually began in 18th century Paris. While most people know her from her famous museum in London, it was in France, on the humble Boulevard du Temple, where Marie first got her start as an apprentice in her uncle’s wax museum, the Salon de Cire. At the time, the Boulevard du Temple was crowded with exhibits of every kind. For just a few sous a passerby might attend the opera, watch a puppet show, or visit Henri Charles’ mystifying exhibition The Invisible Girl. The Boulevard was a difficult place to distinguish yourself as an artist, but as Marie’s talent grew for both sculpting and public relations, the Salon de Cire became one of the most popular attractions around. Suddenly, no one could compete with Marie or her uncle for ingenious publicity stunts, and when the royal family supposedly visited their museum, this only solidified what most showmen in Paris already knew — the Salon was an exhibition to watch out for.

But as the Salon’s popularity grew, so did the unusual requests. Noblemen came asking for wax sculptures of their mistresses, women wanted models of their newborn infants, and – most importantly – the king’s sister herself wanted Marie to come to Versailles to be her wax tutor. While this was, in many ways, a dream come true for Marie, it was also a dangerous time to be associated with the royal family. Men like Robespierre, Marat, and Desmoulins were meeting at Marie’s house to discuss the future of the monarchy, and when the Revolution began, Marie found herself in a precarious position. Ultimately, she was given a choice by France’s new leaders: to preserve the famous victims of Madame Guillotine in wax, or be guillotined herself.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution is the story of Marie’s life during one of the most tumultuous times in human history. Her survival was nothing less than astonishing, and how she survived makes for what I hope is a compelling read.

I didn't read this book yet, but I did read Ms Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter and it was great. I have no doubt that Madame Tussaud will be the same or even better. If you'd like to read my review of Cleopatra's Daughter just click here.

The contest is International - it doesn't matter where you live, all you have to do to enter is leave a comment to this post. Contest ends February 22nd.
For extra entry post about this contest at your blog or facebook and leave link here in the comments. Be sure that I can see the post at your facebook page. The winner will be announced here on my blog on 23rd of February and he/she will have to contact me in a week or I'll have to draw another winner. The prize will be mailed directly by Ms Moran!

I want to say one big THANK YOU to Ms Moran for being so generous with the prize!

Visit MichelleMoran.com


Check out Michelle's blog at  michellemoran.blogspot.com

Thursday 27 January 2011

Some beautiful music for gloomy Thursdays...

The other day my two nieces asked me to borrow them the Dirty Dancing DVD. They watched it a few months ago at my place and wanted to see it again. It's nice to see that younger generations enjoy the same good movies as my generation did. I really enjoyed watching this move (for 100 times) and was saddened when I remembered that Patrick Swayze isn't with us any longer.
I hope you will enjoy his song.

Rest in peace, Patrick.

Monday 24 January 2011

Cold...

It is really cold in my part of the world. It's been snowing for couple of days and now it has stopped and everything is frozen. Luckily I am at home studying for my exams so I don't have to walk to work in this cold. I haven’t read any book since December, I just didn’t have time. It looks like I won’t be doing any reading until March, can you believe it? I have so many exams and a lot of work to do at my job, that I just don’t have the time or the energy to read, Sad...
So, how is the weather in your corner? Do you have any tips for a good book to read?

I hope you are warm wherever you are.

Thursday 20 January 2011

Some beautiful music for gloomy Thursdays...

The old one but the great one!

Thursday 13 January 2011

Some beautiful music for gloomy Thursdays...

This is one of my favourite songs, I just can't get enough of it :)



While you are listening to this great song, I'll be in Vienna (Austria) on a business trip. Wish me luck! I'll be back on Saturday evening and will post some pictures on Sunday (I hope).
Have a great week!

Thursday 6 January 2011

Some beautiful music for gloomy Thursdays...

It's not exactly gloomy Thursday here beacuse we have a holiday today so we don't have to work :) Yay!
It was snowing yesterday but it's raining today - yuck! Before everything started to melt by b-friend took some beautiful pictures. Here are two of them:

Beautiful scenery

Max - my dog :) He just loves the snow.

And here is some nice music to keep you warm until the weekend.



It's a live version and I love it :)

I hope you are happy and healthy wherever you are!

Sunday 2 January 2011

Happy 2011!

zwani.com myspace graphic comments


Happy 2011!
Wishing you and yours a fabulous new year!