Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone... sigh. 

And my blessings have filled my cup so that I can barely receive all of them! (scripture mastery anyone?)

So what am I thankful for? 

What are my blessings?

Here are the top 10!

1. My silly little sister

2. Being able to persevere through homework and schoolwork, despite being overwhelmed by outside influences.

3. Cars

4. Indoor plumbing

5. Funny little brothers

6. Hard classes and nice teachers that challenge me to do and be my best

7. My church youth leaders 

8. My friends

9. My parents

10. tv shows that I'm addicted to.. sometimes sitting down with some hot cocoa and a good show is just what I need. {insert Gossip Girl, White Collar, Burn Notice, Warehouse 13, Covert Affairs, Community, The Office, New Girl, Psych.. etc...etc..etc..}

Breaking Dawn: a critique

Oh heaven help us if this is where movies are going - shoot me before it gets worse please.

DISCLAIMER: all notes given on this movie are given of my own opinion - and added thoughts from two of my friends Hanna and Shilpa (they're both very verbal. Very.).

1. The first problem I had occured with the opening scene. Yes, I get that Jacob is really upset about Bella getting married - but we all know you're taking your shirt off because teenage girls love a half naked guy who's ripped. I actually secretly liked it (oh come on, so did you!)

2. The nightmare? Come on son! Not only was it obviously blue screen/computerized, but it was just poorly done and weird in general. Not at all effective.

3. The wedding was visually esthetic. One of the few good points of the movie (oh gosh it was beeaaauuutiful!)
4. The toasts were the climax of the movie - from there it all went downhill.
5. The acting did improve (finally. After four movies). Taylor, Kristen, and Rob did a good job in the Jacob confrontation scene during the wedding.
6. The first half of the movie is a porno. And not even a good porno - if I have to watch a porno it might as well be good right!? [sarcasm]
7. How did they make it from the ocean to the bedroom during that sex scene. Awkward shift.
8. Kristen Stewart is so awkward in lingerie. Just sayin. (actually, she's awkward in general)
9. Admittedly, I started liking Kristen Stewart as an actress a lot more - it started with the chicken scene. Some of my doubts concerning Snow White and the Huntsman have been washed away! (bravo)
10. I liked that they included a little bit of a Jacob scene. But then the wolves ruined it. It looked like they had taken different videos of wolves doing wolvy things and then pasted them all into the same background. Bad bad bad bad bad. Also, the wolf voices really bothered me. Was it a gruff voice, or a normal voice? Make up your mind! Really bad CGI
11. The drinking blood part!? I thought I was gonna puke, most disgusting thing i've ever seen in my life (until the end of the movie).
12. I did actually really love the scene where Edward discovers he can hear the baby - better acting!
13. The second half of the movie was a horror. Not like a suspense horror, the kind of horror were they show you images and instances that makes you want to puke up your popcorn. Do you remember the birthing scene from the book? They show that. All of that. It starts with the falling cup and Bella/Kristen breaking in half the wrong way (ouch!).  Then it moves on to the birthing scene were she's screaming her heart out as they cut her open (complete with squishy sound effects and blood spraying in everyone's faces). Moving on to more screaming so hard you would burst a blood vessel and/or puke up your large intestine, and then transitioning into Edward deciding that he needs to basically chew their baby out of her womb (and yet his hair and face stay almost perfectly arranged and clean... weird). The whole time Kristen looks like a meth addict going insane. Admittedley, the acting on her part was also well done for this scene. Oh, and it didn't hurt that the baby was adorable.
14. Don't forget the needle (that's actually a giant knife) that Edward stabs into her as he tries to revive the dying love of his life existence.
15. For some odd reason, the director felt a need to close in on Kristen's nose and then jump to a terrible CGI of moving blood vessels and veins. It looked like something off the magic school bus.
16. The imprinting scene was NOT visually esthetic, which is probably what they were going for, but it failed. However, the distressed Jacob was absolutely heart-breaking! I felt so sad watching him cry.
17. Wait... that whole wolf vs vamps scene never happened in the book. ever. never ever. I feel like they only added it because they could tell the movie was getting slow.
18. During the entire movie (and especially towards the end), I felt like the director/producers were trying to encorporate different artsy images and ideas, but all it ended up looking like was a cheap movie done on a pathetic budget. Which is weird because Breaking Dawn cost a LOT of money.
19. The credits were awful. You can always tell a good movie by it's credits - and these credits sucked.


Well that basically sums up the movie, oh, did I mention the spoiler alert in the middle of the credits?

Ca m'est egal

Well - CAST LIST CAME OUT TODAY!

Guess who I am!?

No, it's not Eleanor. (I know! I was getting all psyched for it too. Dang it.)

I'm Mrs. John Dashwood!

Yet another evil character to add to my repertoire... it's actually weird how I'm always the evil mean people.

Flowers for Algernon - fires the mentally handicaped guy who works at her bakery

Macbeth Did It - the slut 

Get Smart - a double agent

oh! and Freshman Play - the mean teacher who hates the dumb kid.

It seems to be a recurring theme.... awkward.

No, I actually am excited for this play! Sense and Sensibility has long been one of my personal favorites, second only to Emma (the new one, with Romola Garai). However, in books, Pride and Prejudice will always be the favorite. 

<<to sum it all up, I'm actually really excited for this production and am so happy I made the cast list!>>

Ma Chambre

It's almost finished! I am so close to finishing my room; we finally finished painting the floor yesterday. Then we set up the bed and put on the sheets and plugged in the lights! 

I can finally sleep in it now - which is a huge relief from sleeping on the couch. Which isn't as comfortable as you might think.

I absolutely love these sheets - they're sort of whimsically soft and feminine. But the pink pillow is my absolute favorite - how perfect! It is my new favorite thing.

I also absolutely love my twinkly lights. My dad got them for me when he went to China on a business trip. And I love the snails! Plus, they perfectly wind around my headboard like they're going somewhere. It's a little detail that I like. 

We also hung the curtains!

You can really see the contrast of the green floor and the white sheer curtain in the first picture. 

In case you were wondering - the bed frame and the curtains were all purchased at IKEA (one of my all-time favorite stores - the cookies are delicious).

More updates to come soon! 

.... when we finally get the whole room finished :)

Paper Nature

I stumbled upon these fantastic hair-do's while surfing the interweb.

oh ps - they're completely made out of paper.

Some people's talent for paper and all things creative just amazes me. I don't have words.

So I'll just stare at them some more.

all credit to: Green Eyed Monster

I Certain Kind of Disappointment

I made callbacks! At my high school, we have a theatre show every season. 

The Fall Mainstage.

The Winter Mainstage.

The Spring Musical.

(and then the often-forgotten about, Senior One-Acts)

This year's Fall Mainstage was Get Smart (based off of the tv series), and it was a blast! One of my all time favorites :)

This year's Winter Mainstage is going to be Sense and Sensibility! The single most amazing Jane Austen novel of all time. 

While Mr. Darcy will always have a place in my heart, Colonel Brandon owns it. Love of the most sincere kind. What a man.

All I've ever wanted to do, was be Marianne. She is my Jane Austen twin. If we could meet in reality - we would be best friends. Undoubtedly. 

So naturally, I tried out - and I found out I made callbacks this morning! So I went in after school and prepared to stun my director (Ms. Peplow) into making me Marianne. 

You can imagine how that went.

I didn't read for Marianne once (a cold read is when you show up for callbacks and read parts of the script as different characters, so the director can get a feel of how you work with certain people as a certain character). I read for Eleanor at least 4 times. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Eleanor - she's a beautiful person. 

But Marianne is.... well.... Marianne.

I think she got it so stuck in her mind that I was going to be Eleanor that she wouldn't even let my explore different characters. 

sigh.

Well - I hope I at least get a part. 

It's a certain kind of disappointment. 

{Sean Interrupted}

"Ok fine, be put crime scene photo's above the punch bowl." "It's called, theming."


1. Oh Dear - Carlton didn't solve the case!


2. So polite. And conceited.


3. I think Lassie is drunk.


"There had better be a massive pile-up, with burning bodies."


4. Travesty of Justice


"... instead of rotting in prison, busting rocks, and building the cross country railroad!"


"I am here to try and right this terrible wrong."


"Lassie your theory is ridiculiously far fetched. Why would someone pretend to be insane?" "So he doesn't have to go to prison."


5. oh the irony


"That's my daddy."


"He's the only one that can actually pass as mentally incompetent." "I'm taking that as a compliment."


6. This is shaping into a fantastic episode


"I have a keen understanding of the inside of mental hospital"


"This place is a fascist torture chamber. Where's Lisa. Where's Lisa.... it's from the movie"


7. smooth gus. so smooth.


"I too am a man of science. I'm a psychic. And a good one. So good it's stupid."


"Right idea, wrong choice of words."


8. Toldya he always gets the best jobs


"It's like the Weston for insane people."


"besides, it's Gus backwards."


9. That's a patient.


10. She scares me. They all scare me.


"Dude are you smelling me?" 


"What am I, your orientation adviser?"


"He thinks they steal a persons soul."


11. I don't think the "orderly" can restrain anybody


"I'm a varinable cornucopia of high octane maladies. Such as obsessive successful disorder."


"Sean's full of it."


"Orderly, restrain the patient."


"I'm gonna keep doing this. I'm gonna keep running around in this until I get hungry."


"I think it's alpaca, maybe baby muskrat."


"He's got a weightness for crazy chicks."


12. I want fluffy mittens!


13. If anybody sees him talking to that plant, they'll commit him for life. 


"It's like these sheets are woven from warm spring-time sunbeams."


"Insanity is no excuse for not picking up your towel."


"If I a dude kisses a crazy women who thinks she's a dude, is it the same thing as kissing a crazy dude?" "yes"


14. dun dun dun!!!


"... and a leather tooling class."


"This is worse than my nightmare. You actually like it here."


"I've taken great joy in watching you fail in the past. 63 times in fact."


"You can shove it in my face, and mush it around for months."


"I believe whole heartedly that you are insane. Cuckoo to the wind."


15. It's creepy that Gus likes the patient. creeeeepy.


16. He did NOT


"That didn't go like it did in your head did it?"


17. the brother!! duh.


"I was fired and immediately escorted off the property."


18. Frank.. ha. Frank.


19. CRAP. I knew this would happen.


"no no, he's fine. He's insane, maybe not. It's hard to tell."


"Dude, Frank is stacked."


"Much as I hate to say it, time to get Spencer out of the loony bin."


20. Her!? I told you she sacred me.


"My parents were hippies." "Evil hippies." "aren't they all?"


21. KNEW IT!


"This is your fault, This is your fault."


22. Double team!


"What are you telling me, that your a kiddy G fan?" "A little bit!"


"Yep, his name is Frank. A war-veteran. Good guy."


"There's no reason to thank me.... but now's the time to thank me."

Birthday (part deux)

My birthday finished up quite nicely. My mom made my favorite meal - tuna fish gravy on rice with cornbread and green beans.

Then we all gathered around to open presents!

I got some wellies (I've honestly been dying for a pair), an adorable new necklace (pics later?), a LOT of gum (I really like gum), a new board game, two magazines (one on beauty and one on drawing), some soap shaped like a popsicle (Lincoln. 'nuff said), money!!, and a lot of letters and cards.

Then we finished up the evening by watching Dad's favorite movie (and my new favorite), CHARADE. With Audrey Hepburn and Carry Grant. 

Love.

The Power of Resisting Attack

Strength

1. the quality or state of being strong; capacity for exertion or endurance

2. power to resist force

3. power of resisting attack

Dad

1. paternal protector or provider

2. a man of strength

Do you really need any other explanation? A dad is strength. It's just what he is. All fathers posses a special power in them, it's the power that makes their daughters love them. 

The power to love, to work, to live, to play, to be. 

It's their strength.

My dad is the strongest person I know. 

He bounces back. He moves on. He learns from all his past experiences. My dad's a hero.

At four years old - I was convinced my dad could pick up a truck. You couldn't tell me otherwise. I just always knew that if he needed to - he'd pick up a truck. 

I was also convinced that my dad was the tallest person in the world. At 6 foot 6 inches - he probably still is. But being so small and little, it was comforting to have my dad around. A big guy to help with the big problems. I remember looking up at him and thinking he was a giant, like in Jack and the Beanstalk - only, he was the good kind of giant. 
The one that held your hand across the street, that put you on his shoulders and made you feel like the biggest most important thing in the world. The one that swung you around and around and around until you felt so dizzy you fell over, but you'd still ask him to do it again! The one that was good at tickle fights and pranking.
When he would come home, he would make a lot of noise so that we knew he was there, and we'd run and hide. Then as he opened the door he'd yell "FE FI FO FUM! I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A LITTLE ONE! BE HE ALIVE OR BE HE DEAD, I'LL GRIND HIS BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD!"
Then commenced the hiding and tickling of the night, before he tucked us into bed with a story and a kiss. 
That's my dad.
My dad is strength.

How you've grown my little bird

It's my birthday. 

I'm officially 17. 

Wow.

My day went something like this;

I got up at around 11, and my dad made me french toast. Because he loves me.

Yeah - he loves me alright.

<3

After breakfast dad and I painted the floor. 

We also started taking out the ceiling tiles to spray paint different shades of pink. You can see some of the ones we've already done. I think I want it to be mostly light pink with a few of the hot pinks thrown in, because they go well with the bedspread we bought.

Next, I helped Quincy rake leaves.

Then I practiced my piano and left for my lessons! 

I love piano, it's my favorite instrument in the world. 

It's majestic.

Then I went for a walk on such a beautiful lovely day. The sun and breeze were calling me to dance in the light. So naturally, I said yes.

What a beautiful day to be 17.

Tint it Green

I have been in the process of moving into the basement since July - when my brother came home and took his room back. So my sister moved into my old room. 

Since then I've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in an unfinished basement with my clothes stacked not so neatly in boxes and my belongings crowded around them. 

So finally, finally, we paint the walls. A pure crisp white. 

Then the moldings - same color.

That happened aprox. 2 months ago. 

So I've been sleeping on the couch for a couple weeks - but I finally moved back into the basement. Only to return to the couch after we started with the floor! Which will soon be a tinted green. But first - we have to clean it!

Because it's the basement, the floor is concrete (which is why we can paint it). And since it  hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in years, we had to use a chemically-powdery cleaner that is harmful to our skin. So gloves were necessary to the process. 

The room is pretty big, so it took me, mom, and dad to finish it in one day. 

Dad scrubbed on the dangerous chemical stuff, while I rinsed it (after letting it sit so that it could completely penetrate the grime on the floor), and mom scrubbed all the grit and grime away.

We had to move everything from one side of the room to the other (trust me, it was HEAVY!). But we finally got all the room scrubbed! 

We had to let that sit for a the rest of the day, so that it could fully dry. But today we started painting!

You can't really tell from this picture - but I promise, the floor is tinted green! 

We gave it a second coating to make it even darker. Next we have to move everything so that we can paint the giant hole in the middle. But until then - I guess I'm sleeping on the couch. 

Oh goody.

November 11, 1918

The end of World War I was official on July 28, 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The ostentatious palace of Louis XVI and the last home of Maria Antoinette.

However, the brutal fight had ended on November 11, 1918. At exactly 11 o'clock.

{Taken in Stenay, Meuse in France - of the 353rd infantry. Two minutes before the Armistice was called}

President Woodrow Wilson officially began the holiday with these words:

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with the solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in this country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations..."

Later President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the national holiday (and got us all out of school ;) ) by signing the Veterans Day Bill

{President Eisenhower signing the Bill - October 8, 1954

Isn't it funny that one day can change all of our lives?

One day, one hour, one minute. 

They gave their lives, their happiness, their future's, their families, their everything. It's the least we can do to honor that and what they stood for.

Justice. Equality. Peace. Hope. 

To the troops - and the girls who let them go.

Ketchup

Yes, yes I did watch and publish 3 different posts on psych episodes. But that's because I hadn't seen them and I found out how to watch them without having to wait for them to show up on Hulu!

And since - of course - you couldn't possibly function without my insight on these episdoes, I felt it necessary to post all of them. I was playing ketchup.

{Dead Man's Curveball}

"I won't chew tobacco, that's murder on the gums.. and I definitely  won't grab my crotch so much. That's just weird."

1. What's with the shoulder hitting?

2. SBPD vs. DMV how epic

3. They looked like seals right then.

"I'm gonna leave before he does anything truly embarrassing." "Too late."

"The minor league baseball team, not the birds."

4. So persistent. I <3 Sean.

"We're a package deal."

5. Gus always gets the bad jobs.

6. Sean is chewing gum. And a lot of it. He gets so into character!

"I'm not dressing up as that mascot again, that was embarrassing... that wasn't the worm. Or the centipede, I was dealing with an itch on my stomach. I think that suit has fleas."

"Come on son!"

"Why would he leave those out?" "Because he's dead." "That's no excuse!"

7. I wonder how long he had to practice in order to juggle...

"He accidentally ingested speed."

8. I like speedy Sean.

"At the address you told me to drive to before you passed out!"

9. I like how much Gus loves Seabirds. The actual birds.

"I would NOT let you touch my urine." "Well, you're not the friend I thought you were."

"I have a tendency to over-think things."

10. He's very intimidating 

"It's never wise to mess with a drunken idiot Sean, you should know that."

11. Gus' pride is hurt, poor Gus.

"You are not a real coach." "You're not a real person."

12. Man crush

13. He's devious!

"Stealing the pants off a drunk guy to get his urine? You're crazy Sean." 

14. He's only thinking of this now!? I caught that when he said it!

"Last night you said, lets steal this guys pants and the investigation will be over."

15. Dramatic, yet - not.

"Big. Warm. Moist. And gooey chocolate chip cookies that melt all over your face!"

"That was a stupid speech."

16. I love it when Gus tap dances in a bird suit. Yes, it did take effort to say that nonchalantly. 

17. Baseball signs look sketchy.

18. I love hot guys fighting with each other.

G:"Grilled or crispy?" WB:"Very funny" S:"No, Gus never kids around about his food." WB:"Mostly cripsy." G:"Wow, that's impressive."

"You'd say anything to keep from wearing that bird suit again." "I can't deny that."

19. He just doesn't strike me as the killing type

20. Sean's crazy logic always wins out.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" "Yes I do, now that I've said it out loud."

21. I think the coroner is a secret sociopath.

"Yeah I'm gonna state the obvious here, this is a complete waste of time."

22. Knew it was him all along!

23. How does he know her name? What a people person!

"Just like OJ and Jamie Farr." "Jamie Farr never killed anyone." "You're so naive." 

"I will never doubt you again." "Oh, I wish that was true."

24. Why did he call him, and then tell him he would call him back!?

25. Sean does a great bird-Gus impersonation

26. I wonder, does that suit cushion his fall?

"I have some good news, and some bad news, and some good news."

"Uh, I know you may think that I know stuff. But I really don't."

27. Gus selling out Sean? Not surprised...

"...too Tanya Hardingish for you?"

"Oh no we're not, Wade Bogs is here!"

"I can't shoot Wade Bogs."

28. That looked like it hurt.

"I am never coming back here."

"Bring it to me, like soft bread."

29. I knew that wouldn't work

"Why don't you try to swing without your gut looking so large."