THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for your support over the last months! Honestly, we can't explain enough hot much we really appreciate it! I know this may seem sudden, since we have not even been writing on our blog here for all that long, but we have decided to take a little holiday break.

As most of you can attest- the Holiday season can get pretty crazy, and for the two of us, it is no different. As we write this, we cringe with the idea of running around like chickens with our heads cut off!

Honestly, between Christmas present shopping, all of the overeating I already have planned, working 50+ hours (end of the year is crazy busy for me personally), and everything else that happens this time of year, we made the decision that we did not want to write half-ass posts (excuse the language) and just put boring filler content out there, but we would rather fill up the space will fun and interesting stuff!

So, we have decided to take a temporary break. We are breaking through the New Year, but we will (finger crossed) be back in 2015 with some better attitudes, and better content to fill up these pages with!

We sure hope you understand and continue to support us in 2015! We also hope you have the best Holiday season and a great New Years!

See you in 2015!

BOOK REVIEW: BROKEN MONSTERS

This past Summer, we started a feature we are pretty stoked about over here at You Me Oui- the monthly Book Club. For Octoberr- we read Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. This was Carly's pick, but we were both pretty excited to read it! So we did!

WARNING: post may contain spoiler alerts!!! Read ahead with caution!!! You have been warned!

What was you favorite part or parts of the book?
CARLY: My favorite thing about this book is that it is told from multiple perspectives but still in the third person. So although you are told what people are thinking, their thoughts aren't clouded by that first person barrier that can sometimes suggest mistrust.

SINA:  I like that the book told a whole story from start to finish. It didn't leave any parts out.

What was your least favorite part or parts of the book?
C: I also read The Shining Girls by this same author this month, and she is a fan of following multiple characters, and also multiple timelines. I felt like Broken Monsters was much more confusing in this regard because they refer to some dates but it's unclear if there is a jumping back and forth. And it's also tough to keep track of the characters.

S:  I really struggled with some of the jumping around. I have read a lot of books like it before, but it was tough to follow at some points,

Who was your favorite character?
C:  In a weird way, I kind of liked Jonno. He had ways of seeming like he was horribly out of touch, but that he always kind of had a sense that he was, so maybe it was ok. If that makes sense. Like he knew he wasn't cool really, but he owned his lack of cool, or carried on in the hipster crowds in spite of it.

S:  It was sort of difficult to have a favorite character. I did however like the daughter Layla- she was sort of funny and crass. I liked that she was taking it upon herself to catch a predator.

Who was your least favorite character?
C:  I don't know that I had a least favorite, all the others made me equally indifferent. None of them were particularly awful, except Clayton of course.

S:  I didn't really care for Jen Q all that much. I thought she was very annoying at points of the book- especially when they were shooting the art film.

What are your thoughts on the characters as a whole?

C: Beukes makes it very difficult to keep character traits straight because there is so much jumping around, so it's hard for me to have strong feelings about any of the characters in particular. 

S:  They didn't really do much for me. I was not all that moved by any of them, and none of them really stood out at me.

What surprised you most about the book?

C: That it took me until it was specifically described for me to figure out that Clayton was the killer (or the vehicle for killing) even after he had hit the deer and kept talking about not looking at his fridge. I don't know why, but of course in retrospect that seemed more obvious.

S:  Who the murder was! I was actually surprising a different twist.

Was there anything else that you found particularly unexpected?

C: Pretty much the whole book was unexpected. She writes a story in a way that connects reality and supernatural better than most other books I read. I like that it takes the scary parts of the book and makes them feel less threatening by adding elements of extreme implausibility to them. 

S:  Not really.

Did you like how the book was written?

C: As I mentioned earlier since this is the second book I've read by her I was sort of prepared for her style of writing, but I liked it less in this book. It felt more disjointed. Knowing she's a South African writer I'm also curious how she wrote this book and did her research on Detroit. I'm not questioning the integrity, it's just very detailed. To a point where the city is almost a character, and that takes first hand knowledge.

S:  I like that we heard the story from different peoples perspectives. I think that it made the story a lot more interesting than just a normal murder tale. That being said, I think the way that it was told - having the text messages, and callers to the hotlines, and all of the other additional types of writing styles, it was sort of hard to follow along, but it made it interesting. It was sort of like reading a mix of Hannibal and True Detective- with the weird murders and such- and the way that the book just back and forth from story lines is kind of like Game of Thrones, I ultimately enjoyed it.

Was there any particular part of the book that really stood out to you?

C: Uniquely I found this whole book fairly unpredictable, which is very refreshing these days. So nothing in particular stood out, except that I almost never saw anything coming. 

S:  I liked when Layla beat up the boy at school and his teeth fell out.

Happy Halloween everyone! See you next week!

DREAM DINNER ABROAD (PT.2)

SINA: GREECE

You, Me, Oui! was recently asked by the translation site Smartling to share with you all our dream dinner abroad. Since our blog is uniquely managed by two hosts, we decided to split it up and each tell you about where we would go, and what we would expect/how we would get by. (There are too many places to go in this world for us to both agree on just one!)

WHY GREECE?
I chose Greece because every time I hear about it or see pictures of it, I am immediately inspired and want to create beautiful things. I learned a lot about it in my Art History classes in school, and ever since then, I have wanted to travel there and see it for myself. Between the colors, the food and the culture- I want to be apart of it all!

SITES AND SCENES

On my visit- I would go to the coast for sure! The coast is so beautiful and full of beautiful colors- blues, ceruleans, teals and other beautiful colors! I would also visit the Acropolis and other historical things- obviously- I am an Art History nerd!

WHAT WOULD YOU EAT?

When it comes time to eat- I would for sure eat fresh olives! I would pair it with a nice bottle of wine! I also would not be able to leave there without eating some hummus and pita, a gigantic gyro and moussaka. And for dessert- baklava!

HOW WOULD YOU COMMUNICATE?

When in a foreign country it can be difficult to get by if you don't speak the language. Especially if the language is very different from anything you're used to. There are so many translator apps you can download to help figure out the basics. I am also a firm believer in finding the best guidebooks- they usually have some basic phrases, like "where is the bathroom" to help get you through a tough situation.

DREAM DINNER ABROAD (PT.1 )

CARLY: DUBAI

You, Me, Oui! was recently asked by the translation site Smartling to share with you all our dream dinner abroad. Since our blog is uniquely managed by two hosts, we decided to split it up and each tell you about where we would go, and what we would expect/how we would get by. (There are too many places to go in this world for us to both agree on just one!)

WHY DUBAI?

I chose Dubai because every time I hear about it, the amazingness of it seems to multiply. It seems to rival Japan in it's technology and innovation, and it's an incredibly wealthy city so everything looks super lush and fancy. The architecture is unfathomable in it's creativity and gravity defying designs. It's also very warm there, and located on a coast, so beaches of course!

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SITES AND SCENES

On my visit I would want to visit the many markets (or souks) that they have around the city, in particular the Gold Souk, which is a tourist destination known for it's very cheap gold. It would also just be fun to wander through stalls with beautiful jewelry on display everywhere.

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WHAT TO EAT

When it came time to eat, I would head to Karama and search for a restaurant. Dubai is heavily influenced and populated by people from all over the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, so pretty much anything you have in mind, it sounds like you can find it! I would probably gravitate towards an Indian restaurant because I'm pretty passionate about my naan bread but I might also go to a few different places and sample a variety.

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 HOW TO COMMUNICATE

When in a foreign country it can be difficult to get by if you don't speak the language. Especially if the language is very different from anything you're used to. The only other language I can speak is Spanish, and Arabic is totally different from most Western languages, so I would try to plan in advance and take a community education class to learn some basics. I would also make sure I'm armed with a physical pocket dictionary as well as a translator on my phone (just in case something happens to my phone). After all, learning the basics can get you quite a long way.

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Where would you go?

ETSY LOVES

I love Etsy. Plain and simple. I am always finding fun things on there!

Here are some of the thing I am loving recently!

TEN TOPICAL HALLOWEEN COSTUMES FOR 2014

Ok everyone, we're in the home stretch here, and Halloween is less than a week away! If you love it as much as we do (we still dress up every year, and go to a friend's party where custom costumes are praised and encouraged) then you are trying to come up with your perfect costume. Maybe you've already figured it out, maybe you have a stand by, or maybe you've spent months crafting a perfect replica costume of some Game of Thrones character (I wish that reference could be better, but I'm like the only person who doesn't watch that show). But some people like to do something super topical, from the news or celebrity gossip or just 2014 general knowledge. Here are some ideas I came across:

1. There are a couple great tribute costumes to be had this year, both Robin Williams and Joan Rivers in particular.

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2. The ice bucket challenge was pretty popular, and there are a surprising number of Google variations (look it up, it's crazy). My personal favorite being the bizarre couples version below. But probably people will all tell you the stories of their challenge, the best one they saw, or how glad they are that it's over. So good luck.

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3. Frozen! Because Anna, Elsa and Olaf aren't just for kids! Or are they...? You might get lost in a sea of mini Annas and Elsas, but then again, you might be the only one at the bar. 

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4. Pumpkin Spice anything. We all love it, and this year there seems to be an extra explosion of pumpkin spice flavored foods from Pringles to M&Ms (haven't had either, but I'm guessing they're both terrible). Don't be too 'basic' on this one. 

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5. Any comic book movie that came out this year. Take your pick - Spiderman, Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men. 

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6. TMNT - Turtles are back again for everyone! While the movie left something to be desired, don't miss out on this opportunity for everyone to instantly realize you're April by simply wearing a yellow jacket. 

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7. Any character from Orange is the New Black. Finally women can wear a prison jumpsuit to a party and not look lazy. Bonus points for shoes made from maxi pads. 

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8. The Heartbleed virus. Remember that? No one else will either. But that guarantees you'll be the only one at the party, and when you explain it to everyone, most will at least say "oh, that's kind of funny."

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9. Shia Labeouf with the bag on his head. I know I just mentioned him a couple weeks ago, thus disproving this costume, which was him wearing a paper bag that says "I am not a famous person anymore" but you could do it anyway.

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10. Amy from Gone Girl. SUPER relevant, to a point where some might consider you to be a spoiler. But hey, if you are covered in blood, you don't have to say whose it is, do you?

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What are your favorite costumes this year? Let us know!

7 FAVORITE PINS

As you know by now- I love Pinterest- I love searching for new healthy recipes, I love looking at cute animals, I love all of the DIYs- I love it all.

Here are a few of my favorite new pins!