Sunday, December 28, 2008
Once Upon a Win
Our friends over at LOL world (I Can Has Cheezburger and I Has a Hotdog, two sites that bring me much joy) have created a new branch to their site: Once Upon A Win. This great site is summed up with its tagline: A Visual Collection of Epic Wins from the Past. A contrast to their Fail Blog, which chronicles the failures and mishaps of our current world, Once Upon a Win reminds you of the greater parts of childhood. Take some time to peruse it's relatively short 9 pages (compared to the other lol sites which pages at the bottom reach to infinity and beyond) to experience a wonderful blast into the past. Page three currently includes a YouTube video of an entire game of Oregon Trail. Man, I miss fourth grade.
Happy Anniversary
Today was my and Mark's 5th Anniversary. Five years of marriage! It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. We usually do anniversary gifts instead of Christmas gifts, our anniversary being 2 days after Christmas. But this year, with moving and a new job, we didn't even make it to the anniversary gifts. Plus, our anniversary being a Saturday, Mark had to work two movies today to top things off.So, I decided to surprise him with a homemade dinner. I made a lasagna from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I started last night while Mark was at the movie by making the sauce, and let it sit overnight. Then when he left today, I completed the masterpiece, and topped it off with a Caesar salad, bread with EVOO (thanks, Rachael Ray), and a bottle of wine from the local liquor store - the only bottle of Italian wine I could find that wasn't the huge Maccaroni Grill bottle.
I think it turned out great!
Of course, what would a dinner at our home be without a pitiful-eyed dog begging for a share? The rule has become he has to eat his own dinner before he can have any of ours. He's catching on slowly...we usually convince him to finish just in time to have a few of the left overs. Tonight, he was treated to some bread, dipped in the leftover cheese and sauce from our plates!
Speaking of the dog, this would be the same dog who, while we went to the movie tonight, decided to eat Mark's Symphony bar that he (Mark) received as a Christmas present. 6 oz. of chocolate later, we're calling the emergency vet, wondering what to do. According to the after hours vet ER, he may develop symptoms in 12-24 hours that would include vomiting and diarrhea. If he develops muscle spasms or tremors, then we're to take him to the ER. So, on my anniversary, instead of snuggling up with my hubby for a good night's sleep, I'm up with my dog, paranoid that he's going to react. Thanks, Brisoce. Happy anniversary to me.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas Eve!
It's 11:14 on Christmas Eve, and I'm cuddled up in my pajamas in my bed listening to Casey Kasem's Top 60 Christmas Songs Countdown on the radio. It's taking me back to my childhood, when we'd listen to his Top 40 each week on the radio in the car after church. We always had to get out of church and through lunch at least in enough time to hear the top ten.
Our Christmas Eve plans have been postponed. We were supposed to go to hubby's family today and celebrate with them, but his mom is sick. No fun being sick on Christmas! So we decided to just stay home, and not even go into town. Mark, himself, is fighting off a cold, so being lazy is a great idea right now.
With so many family, and this year, with so many family spread so far out, we had to plan our Christmas celebrations over the whole week, pretty much. Monday-Tuesday was my family, Wednesday-Thursday was Mark's family, and Thursday afternoon is Mark's extended family. Of course with sickness, that hasn't exactly panned out, but where as we were looking at a solid week of driving to all of these places, we now have 2 days of true vacation in the midst of the holidays.
We spent Christmas yesterday with my family, and what a Christmas it was! Our big present was new cookware - Caphlon! It's so awesome. There are eight different size pots - two skillets, 3 sauce pans, and a 6 quart. Plus, we got a dutch oven that came with the set as a freebie. It's beautiful. We have pretty good cookware right now, it was a wedding present, and has held up well for a Walmart registry item. But I'm excited about having some really good quality stuff to use in the kitchen. Now, if I can just learn how to cook a meal without messing up something...
Another present was The Tales of Beetle the Bard! I hadn't really been all that anxious to read it, for some reason. As obsessed with Harry Potter as I am, you'd think I'd have been in line, but just wasn't. But when we were shopping earlier this week, we passed a bookstore, and I saw it out on a display, and thought, I really hope someone gets me one of those for Christmas. So I was very excited to find it wrapped under the tree.
I am a little bummed that we're not doing more Christmas today. I'm really excited about some of the gifts we got Mark's family - especially the kids. Mark did a great job this year shopping for our soon-to-be niece and nephew, and our baby niece. I was so impressed! I can't wait to share our gifts with them. Maybe we'll be able to pick up our celebrations later this week.
I hope your Christmas is going well! Remember to celebrate, and not rush. Yeah...'cuz I'm so good at that.
Our Christmas Eve plans have been postponed. We were supposed to go to hubby's family today and celebrate with them, but his mom is sick. No fun being sick on Christmas! So we decided to just stay home, and not even go into town. Mark, himself, is fighting off a cold, so being lazy is a great idea right now.
With so many family, and this year, with so many family spread so far out, we had to plan our Christmas celebrations over the whole week, pretty much. Monday-Tuesday was my family, Wednesday-Thursday was Mark's family, and Thursday afternoon is Mark's extended family. Of course with sickness, that hasn't exactly panned out, but where as we were looking at a solid week of driving to all of these places, we now have 2 days of true vacation in the midst of the holidays.
We spent Christmas yesterday with my family, and what a Christmas it was! Our big present was new cookware - Caphlon! It's so awesome. There are eight different size pots - two skillets, 3 sauce pans, and a 6 quart. Plus, we got a dutch oven that came with the set as a freebie. It's beautiful. We have pretty good cookware right now, it was a wedding present, and has held up well for a Walmart registry item. But I'm excited about having some really good quality stuff to use in the kitchen. Now, if I can just learn how to cook a meal without messing up something...
Another present was The Tales of Beetle the Bard! I hadn't really been all that anxious to read it, for some reason. As obsessed with Harry Potter as I am, you'd think I'd have been in line, but just wasn't. But when we were shopping earlier this week, we passed a bookstore, and I saw it out on a display, and thought, I really hope someone gets me one of those for Christmas. So I was very excited to find it wrapped under the tree.
I am a little bummed that we're not doing more Christmas today. I'm really excited about some of the gifts we got Mark's family - especially the kids. Mark did a great job this year shopping for our soon-to-be niece and nephew, and our baby niece. I was so impressed! I can't wait to share our gifts with them. Maybe we'll be able to pick up our celebrations later this week.
I hope your Christmas is going well! Remember to celebrate, and not rush. Yeah...'cuz I'm so good at that.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Update on our lives
As many of you know, Mark and I have moved! Mark is working as the Associate Director for Choral Programming at the college in town. He is also serving as the Director of movie theatre on campus for his first year here. His schedule has been very busy this holiday season with choir concerts and movies. The transition has been good, so far. We are blessed with all of the pieces having fallen into place: I was approved to work from home three days a week. We are renting a house from some friends, which is a great situation for both us and them. Briscoe is adjusting nicely, enjoying the smells and sounds of a new place to live! As I said, all of the pieces have fallen into place, with the exception of one: we're still looking for someone to buy our house! All we want for Christmas... maybe Santa will pull through for us!
I'm hoping to post more here, as I am hoping to have more visitors. Maybe that can be my New Year's Resolution, instead of losing weight...always a silly idea!
I'm hoping to post more here, as I am hoping to have more visitors. Maybe that can be my New Year's Resolution, instead of losing weight...always a silly idea!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Proof
We saw an amazing play Sunday night! The theatre group here on campus did Proof, a drama about family relationships. Not only was the play itself really well written, the actors did a great job. I was very proud of my fellow thespians.
The play is about a girl who has been taking care of her mentally ill father for several years. He was a mathematician, a genius, well known in the field. The play revolves around her questions as to just how much like her father she is - she's also a brilliant mathematician, but left school to care for him. She worries that she is going crazy, as well. It's an ensemble cast - the girl, her father, her sister, and an old student of her father's. The exploration of family dynamics is so intriguing, and very compelling. And the way the scenes are juxtaposed together, it keeps you guessing about her sanity the entire play.
The actors did a fantastic job, too. I got so pulled into their world. The way they balanced the humor with the drama was perfect. You could truly see their struggles, and how they dealt with them through humor, as anyone does. It was very natural, just very well done.
I love theatre. I'm so excited to be back here, hoping I get the opportunity to act again sometime soon. I love that the group here does plays that affect you - not just the "popular" plays. It's truly an intellectual experience, always challenging some part of life.
The play is about a girl who has been taking care of her mentally ill father for several years. He was a mathematician, a genius, well known in the field. The play revolves around her questions as to just how much like her father she is - she's also a brilliant mathematician, but left school to care for him. She worries that she is going crazy, as well. It's an ensemble cast - the girl, her father, her sister, and an old student of her father's. The exploration of family dynamics is so intriguing, and very compelling. And the way the scenes are juxtaposed together, it keeps you guessing about her sanity the entire play.
The actors did a fantastic job, too. I got so pulled into their world. The way they balanced the humor with the drama was perfect. You could truly see their struggles, and how they dealt with them through humor, as anyone does. It was very natural, just very well done.
I love theatre. I'm so excited to be back here, hoping I get the opportunity to act again sometime soon. I love that the group here does plays that affect you - not just the "popular" plays. It's truly an intellectual experience, always challenging some part of life.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Twilight: The Movie
I went to see Twilight last night. My sister took me as my birthday present. I took her to see Sex and the City for hers, so it was a good trade off. And it enables us to spend time together, which is fun, ‘cuz we don’t do a whole lot together, just the two of us.
Note, I'm really talking about the movie ahead. Spoilers for the movie (and the book, too, I guess) will follow.
It was okay. It just wasn’t...realistic. And I know, vampires, not realistic, but that’s the whole idea of a movie. It makes you think that it’s real. And this one just didn’t do it for me. The special effects were almost too much. Special effects are supposed to look like they could actually happen. They help you suspend belief, but these just looked like special effects.
The whole movie was angsty teen. I thought the books had a lot of lightness and humor, and while a lot of the lines in the movie were funny, they were all said with a dark, ominous feeling, like at any moment the world’s going to come crashing down. The actors just couldn't lighten up and enjoy their own humor. They really were funny!
The movie did follow the story of the book very closely, quoting it often, but they left out some of the most important parts, to me. All of the questions and details about being a vampire were mentioned in passing, but never really discussed, as they were in the book, as they deserved. And the whole hotel scene...that’s where Bella and Alice’s relationship was really established and developed, and it was completely left out. I think they could have spent a lot more time on her developing relationship with the Cullens, and left out a lot of the process of her finding out what they are.
There were good parts, great parts, actually. I LOVE Charlie! I think he was amazing. The actor did a great job with that character, and the things they did with his character in terms of lines and direction were a perfect representation of what I think of when I think Charlie.
And I really liked Rosalie, too. I didn't really have a strong opinion about Rosalie from the books, one way or the other, but I really liked hating her in the movie. The actor just seemed to convey a lot of Rosalie's emotions in her few lines and just through her visual looks.
I am glad I saw it, and I will see the others. (Summit announced today that they're moving forward with New Moon.) Maybe it’ll be like Harry Potter - the movies only got better. And I do still love the story. It’s a love story at its heart. And a good one at that.
Note, I'm really talking about the movie ahead. Spoilers for the movie (and the book, too, I guess) will follow.
It was okay. It just wasn’t...realistic. And I know, vampires, not realistic, but that’s the whole idea of a movie. It makes you think that it’s real. And this one just didn’t do it for me. The special effects were almost too much. Special effects are supposed to look like they could actually happen. They help you suspend belief, but these just looked like special effects.
The whole movie was angsty teen. I thought the books had a lot of lightness and humor, and while a lot of the lines in the movie were funny, they were all said with a dark, ominous feeling, like at any moment the world’s going to come crashing down. The actors just couldn't lighten up and enjoy their own humor. They really were funny!
The movie did follow the story of the book very closely, quoting it often, but they left out some of the most important parts, to me. All of the questions and details about being a vampire were mentioned in passing, but never really discussed, as they were in the book, as they deserved. And the whole hotel scene...that’s where Bella and Alice’s relationship was really established and developed, and it was completely left out. I think they could have spent a lot more time on her developing relationship with the Cullens, and left out a lot of the process of her finding out what they are.
There were good parts, great parts, actually. I LOVE Charlie! I think he was amazing. The actor did a great job with that character, and the things they did with his character in terms of lines and direction were a perfect representation of what I think of when I think Charlie.
And I really liked Rosalie, too. I didn't really have a strong opinion about Rosalie from the books, one way or the other, but I really liked hating her in the movie. The actor just seemed to convey a lot of Rosalie's emotions in her few lines and just through her visual looks.
I am glad I saw it, and I will see the others. (Summit announced today that they're moving forward with New Moon.) Maybe it’ll be like Harry Potter - the movies only got better. And I do still love the story. It’s a love story at its heart. And a good one at that.
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