Book Club

My girlfriend, affectionately known to me as Chica, and I go way back.  All the way to 1991, in fact, when we met at a Miami research lab where we were both employed.  My family left the area in 1997 but Chica and I have maintained a close friendship for almost 25 years.  She joined a local (to her) book club last year and it sounded like so much fun.  After meeting her book club friends in June I was invited to join.  My first meeting was this past Saturday and given that Chica lives an hour and a half away we've decided to make it a girl's weekend once a month.

The meetings places vary and each member takes a turn as host.  Each month the new host chooses a book and is responsible for the meeting.  Sometimes they take place in their home.  Other times they may be at a restaurant or at some local event, etc.  This past Saturday we met at at restaurant in the Villages of Gulfstream Park in Miami.  Beautiful place!  Upon entering you pass by this massive statue.  And I do mean massive.

We met at Brio, an Italian restaurant.  Great peach bellinis.  (I'm gonna like this crowd.  We enjoyed many pitchers of this delicious concoction.)

The book this time around was The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillip Sendker.  It has an almost 5 star review status on Amazon but as a group, we were very mixed.  Personally I gave it  3 stars on Goodreads.  It was ok but I certainly didn't love it.  What I do love however is that this club will "force" me to read a nice variety of books that I would not otherwise pick out myself.  And what a great group of ladies!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and look forward to getting to know them all. (There are twenty members in all but only thirteen at this particular meeting.)

After lunch Chica and I did a bit of shopping.  A store new to me is Charming Charlie's.  O.M.G.  It's a fashion accessory store that is all organized by color.  I was mesmorized and ectastic upon entering. LOL!!

Very inexpensive too.  I bought a necklace and matching pair of earrings, a cami and a pouch/clutch for all of $28.  Fun, fun, fun!

Later that evening Chica and I went to the Hard Rock Seminole Casino.  We only wandered through the actual casino, spending our time primarily in the outdoor shopping/eatery area.   Since lunch was Italian, we chose Mexican for dinner.

Cheers Chica!

Our next meeting is Sept. 12th where we will be discussing The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  I've heard many good things about this one so I'm anxious to get started.