Twilighters...

If you haven't read the Twilight books you're missing out. Good stuffs! Go read them before you see the movie.

Last night I went with a group of my pals to the midnight showing of the movie. We had a blast. The movie is magical and beautiful. Siiiiiiigh. <-- Hehe. That was my inner teenage girl talking. Seriously though...FUN TIMES!

The Twins. *rolling eyes*

They talk and move so fast! This was the only pic I got of them...and I think it sums them up beautifully! =)

The Twins and their momma!

KK & I

Me n My Momma!

My First Knitting Creation!

I finished my first scarf! It's beautiful...if I do say so myself. =) And it's so soft. And most important...it was EASY! I heart the Knifty Knitter.

I love this yarn. It has several different shades of green. I bought this same type of yarn in four different colors. Next up...shades of brown. I am very excite!


Now I just need to master the hat...


Other than finishing my first knitting project, I had a pretty boring weekend. I worked late on Friday, slept late on Saturday and then worked late again Saturday night. After work, I met up with "my kids" for a movie. We went to see Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was pretty fabulous. Of course, I'm a fan of Michael Cera. No one does awkward-awesome like him. Plus, the soundtrack is fantastic.


Yesterday I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Another funny movie from Judd Apatow's group. I might be biased. I love everything they've done since Freaks & Geeks. Anyhoo, you'll see Jason Segel in full frontal mode, so beware. =) Speaking of the Apatow group of peeps...I just started watching Undeclared. I missed it when it actually aired years ago. Anyhoo...it does not disappoint.


And that's all folks. Another extremely unexciting weekend in my life. Woot!

Birthdays, Pals, Movies...

This weekend I went to a bday party for one of "my kids". It was Shaebaby's 9th! Sigh. My kiddos are growning up. Instead of a big blowout, they had a small family get together at Shae's g-parents house. The big sleepover will probably be in a couple weeks. Yay!

The Birthday Girl.

Tate wouldn't let us (KK and I) get a pic of his face. Only his butt...

He attacked me with his butt. Ouch!

Shae and her best pal.

KK and I

After Shae's b-day party, I headed to my pal, Angie's, house to hang with her and Flossie (a.k.a Presley Rae). We just hung out...chatting and playing with my Flossie Bear. We also watched a movie. Fun times!

Presley Rae.

Presley and I

Here are some of the movies I've watched in the last few weeks:

Gone Baby Gone - loved it!

Margot At The Wedding - Sucked big time. Didn't even finish it.

Sydney White - This was really cute. I'm a Amanda Bynes fan. =)

Across The Universe - Brilliant! Beautiful!

Rendition - Very good. Sad.

The Martian Child - Sweet movie. I heart John Cusack.

Good Luck Chuck - Very funny!

Mr. Woodcock - Meh.

We Own The Night - Intense! Slow at first...

The Darjeeling Limited - Funny movie. Gotta appreciate Wes Anderson's style though.

Boring Weekend...

First...a shout out to my pal, SBB! Happy belated b-day!!!!!!!!

I didn't do ANYTHING this weekend. Well, that's a lie. I watched 3 movies, read 5 trashy hollywood gossip magazines and had Rach over for a sleepover. BUT...I was very lazy all weekend. Ooooh! That's a lie too cause I totally redeemed my weekend with a 30 min walk around the neighborhood last night with my dog. Yay me!

So, to start over. I had a very busy weekend! =)

Here are some movies I watched:

10 Things I Hate About You - In memory of Heath Ledger. Rach came over Sat night and we sighed over what a tragedy it was that Heath Ledger is now gone. Isn't it funny (not ha ha) how you can be sad about a person's death when you didn't even KNOW them? Anyway, I may be a dork for admitting this, considering how teeny bopper this movie is, but it's one of my favorites! Very cute.

Little Children - Hmmm. What to say about this movie... First of all, there's a very annoying narrarator. It's like listening to someone read you a book...which is not what you want when you're watching a movie. I will reluctantly say that the narrarator did give you insight into what the characters were thinking, but DANG! Annoying. Also, do not watch this movie w/ kids around. Very racy. So, I didn't LOVE this movie.

Deja Vu - I know. This movie came out FOREVERAGO, but I just got around to watching it last night. It's really good, IMO. I heart Denzel Washington. I wonder if the gov't can really do that????

I think that's all the movies I watched this weekend.

I just want to mention, real fast, the reality tv shows I'm currently addicted to...

Scott Baio is 46...and Pregnant - He makes me laugh.
Project Runway - I freaking love this show. I think Christian will win it this season.
John & Kate Plus 8 - My roommate got me addicted to this show. I love it!
American Idol - I'll admit, I'm not super addicted to this yet. I have a hard time watching b/f the top 24 are chosen. I get embarrassed for the poor people who think they can sing. =(

Hmmm... I think that's all. Thank the Lord for reality tv to fill in the gaps this writer's strike is causing.

Sigh. I need a life.

Change of Plans...

We didn't get to see 27 Dresses like we'd planned. The theater was a mad house tonight. I'd forgotten how bad it was b/c I usually go to the movies during the day. Anyhoo, when we got to the theather we found out that our movie was sold out. Dang! So we decided on another:

Charlie Wilson's War

As my mom would say, "FannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnTastic!"

Lots O' Movies!

I haven't blogged about my movies in a little while. Here are the movies I've watched recently.




The Invisible: This was actually a very good movie. Kinda sad.



Vacancy: I didn't expect this movie to be any good. I just wanted to watch Luke Wilson play a serious role. It turned out to be much better than I expected. Not great, but it kept my attention for the whole 80 minutes. Heh.



1408: Big ol' MEH. I didn't love this movie. I was disappointed. John Cusack is one of my favorite actors and Stephen King usually delivers some weird, creepy stuff. This was just retarded.



Once: OMG! Sooo wonderful. Love love loved it! It's so low budget and really doesn't have much of a plot, but it's definitely charming. The soundtrack is awesome too. I recommend it and the subsequent album, The Swell Season. Good stuffs! BTW, now i want to go to Dublin, find a cute Irish busker, make music with him and fall in love. Sigh.



The Gift: I was surprised to learn that this movie was written by Billy Bob Thornton. It's very good. It also has Giovanni Ribisi in it. In my book, you can't go wrong with Giovanni!


So, that's it! This weekend I'm planning to watch Breach, The Heartbreak Kid and Notes On A Scandal. And...I'll probably go see a movie with a pal...maybe 27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl. How's that for a life?!


TTFN.

Juno...

I forgot to mention that on New Year's Day, mom and I went to see Juno. Loved it! It was smart and funny. It has a great cast...specifically Jason Bateman and Michael Cera and Allison Janey. And my new fave: Ellen Page.

Go see it!

P.S. I've recently started watching The West Wing. I'm now on season 2. I FREAKING LOVE IT! It's brilliant, amaz-za-zing....the best show! If you haven't watched it...go rent it today! =) BTW, I realize that I'm a few years late on this tv show. I'm also a few years late on the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I have A LOT to say about that book. Stay tuned!

Christmas...

I was very lazy over Christmas and New Year. Yay me! I was off work 12/24 thru 1/1 and it was heavenly. I slept A LOT, watched movies and actually WENT to the movies three times.

My family's Christmas tradition is to get together on Christmas Eve. We eat a bunch of junk food, play games and open gifts. On Christmas day we sleep late and then all go to a movie together. This Christmas was especially fun because we had all of our doggies together. I have a few pics from Christmas Eve. Unfortuntately, I wasn't a good camera person...I didn't get ANY pics of us playing games or opening prezzies. It was basically all about the dogs. See below:

The tree @ my parents house.

Baxley, my parent's dog.

Duke, my brother's dog.

My Sambo.

My brother, Tim.

My otha brotha, Logan (Dad in background).

Dad with Bax & Duke.

On Christmas Day, we went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It was pretty good. Very entertaining. A couple days later, mom and I went to see P.S. I Love You. OMG! It is definately a chick flick. I really loved it. I was afraid that it would be a major bawlfest, but I only teared up once. I laughed thru most of it. Bonus: there are really hot, Irish guys in it. Yay!

Christmas night, I hung out with Abi (rommie's daughter). Here are some pics from that:

Abi and I with the dogs (no makeup...yikes!)

Abi and I

Handsome Sambo

Jack and Sam: Snugglebugs!

Settling in for a movie...

"How dare you wake me for a pic!" - Sam

Abi and Sam

Xmas Movie Xtravaganza!

So, I'm not really crazy about Chrismas. Maybe it's b/c I don't have children, but...aside from the meaning of Christmas it's all...meh...to me. My coworkers think I'm scrooge, but to be honest, I think they're CRAZY! Tee hee. Seriously. Donna has a whole wardrobe that she pulls out for Christmas. All these really awful Christmas sweaters and jumpers...yes JUMPERS! Ick!

Anyhoo, I don't really get into all the decorating and stuff, but I have been in the mood to watch Christmas movies. So far I've watched A Miracle on 34th St (sweet) and National Lampoon's Christmas vacation (hilarious!). This weekend I'm planning to watch It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. I'm excited! I plan to curl up in bed in my comfy pjs and fuzzy socks and just veg out!

ABB, what Christmas movies do you love?

Blast From The Past...

When I first joined myspace (about 3 years ago ) I wrote a couple of blogs that I loved. I've since deleted the blogs (and stopped blogging there althogher) from my page, but I saved them on my harddrive. I thought I'd bring them back out today and post them here. Enjoy!

Rob's Philosophy

As I was looking around on myspace today, I was reminded of Rob's philosophy from High Fidelity. This is a place for you to meet new folks... relationships, friendships, networking... whatever. How do you draw these potential new folks? By listing what you like... For example, I made a new friend just b/c I like Napoleon Dynamite. Sweet!

Rob's philosophy is:

"What really matters is WHAT you like not what you ARE like. Books, records, films...these things matter. Call me shallow - it's the effin truth."

So, you see...Rob's philosphy is what this whole myspace thing is built on!

More from Rob...

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

Okay. The whole idea of organizing your records autobiographically... GENIUS! I don't have any records to organize (I wish I had that collection!), but I can without a doubt categorize my life into different music phases. See Below:

The Top 40 Phase: I was pretty much a Top 40 girl when I was a kid. I loved just about anything on the radio. Anyone remember Zoo 98? Yes! Anyway, before middle school, the only two musicians that stand out in my memory are Michael Jackson and Reba McEntire. I know...total opposites, but my brain is a little fuzzy (see Grateful Dead phase).

The New Kids on the Block Phase: Yes, it's true...and I'm darn proud of it! I was OBSESSED with NKOTB. I had every album, book, etc... that they made. My bedroom walls were literally papered in their posters. I was the coolest! My mom took me and my cousin, Shelly, to camp out for tickets to one of the concerts on the Hangin' Tough Tour. OMG! I still get chills just thinking about it. He he. And, yes I still know every song by heart.

The Big Hair Band Phase: Shortly after NKOTB, I made a drastic change from pop to heavy metal. Poison was my fave! Sadly, I never got to see them in concert. I also loved G-N-R and Skid Row, etc...

The Return to Top 40 Phase: In Junior High...nothing stands out. I was focused more on socializing during those days. You know...the whole Drill Team thing, etc. In those days, I listened to whatever was on the radio.

The Beatles Phase (High School Part 1): In the 10th grade, my friend, Angie, turned me on to the Beatles. I was instantly OBSESSED. I gobbled up anything and everything I could about the Beatles. Fun times... Also, Samantha got me interested in all things 60's and 70's rock and roll. I remember many nights zoning out to Pink Floyd. Nice...and this was b/f drugs. See, you don't have to do drugs to experience and appreciate good music. LOL.

The Alice in Chains Phase (High School Part 2 and Beyond): After the Beatles phase I went straight in to grungeville. I loved Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, etc... But my absolute fave was Alice in Chains. OMG! 1995 was a great year for grunge rock! Another one who stands out during that time is Alanis Morrisette. She rocks! This music brings back great memories from working at Hastings. I'll never forget that group of people that I worked with. It was amazing and awful at the same time. That was where I met James...GRRR! The bane of my existance. That relationship screwed me up royally. The James relationship was directly responsible for the next phase.

The Grateful Dead Phase: OMG! How can I even begin to describe this phase? Well...after some unfortunate business w/ James, I decided to move to Arkadelphia and live with my friend Samantha. Oh yeah...and to go to college, but I wasn't very good at that. Anyway, the first thing Samantha said to me was, "Beer's your friend. You'll drink a lot of it." (quote from PCU) I wasn't much of a drinker b/f that, but it only took one night to really break me in. I was ready to forget about James. So, I drowned my sorrows for 3 whole years. I was drunk and/or high almost every day! No wonder I can't remember anything! What I do remember is going to lots of cool shows (Phish, Leftover Salmon and other jam bands) and hanging with my beautiful friends. We would move around to different houses switching roommates. We were like gypsies or a commune...crazy. We were always broke, but always had money for some smoke (Heh! I'm a poet). And we were always up for organizing a kegger. Back then, it was all about the tunes. I could lose myself for hours listening and dancing to the GD. We loved the GD cover band The Schwag. FUN TIMES! Acid parties w/ different "mood" rooms. Day trips w/ sidewalk chalk. Awesome. I could talk for hours about the good times I had during these years, but there was also a lot of bad times. Eventually, the bad won out and my mom rescued me. On to the next phase...

The Christian Music Phase: So, after a while I got sick of the drugs and started thinking about life. I would look around at all of us- high and stupid. I would think, "Is this how it's going to be for the rest of my life?" I was homeless, jobless... My car wasn't running and I hadn't really spoken to my family in 6 months (can you imagine?!)... I felt cut off from the world and didn't see any way out of the hell hole I had dug for myself. Then I got really sick and finally swallowed my pride and called my mom. Hence the rescue. She said, "That's it! You're coming home. Pack your bags. I'll be there in an hour." And that's what happened. She took me home and I turned my life over to God.

And that brings us to the real story of the Christian Music Phase (finally!) After that life changing move back home, I just wanted to listen to music that helped me grow as a Christian. Music that glorified God. So, I quit listening to secular music. It wasn't that I thought that secualr music was bad (sinful, whatever). It just wasn't what I needed at the time.

The Return to Secular Music Phase: This is my current phase. For the past year or so, I've gotten back into "secular" music. I'm trying to discover all of the great bands that I've missed the last 5 years! And of course, I'm still digging the groups listed above... EVEN NKOTB! I still listen to their Christmas album every year. LOL. Don't judge!

Okay, so that's some highlights from my musical life. Hope you enjoyed.
Later!

p.s. In this post or any future posts...if there are spelling/grammatical errors...blame it on the Grateful Dead phase. Lots of brain cells lost then!

One more movie...

The roommate and I watched Reign Over Me last night. I actually saw it on opening day in the theater. I am a major Adam Sandler fan! =) Anyhoo, I rented it because the roommate hadn't seen it.

If you haven't seen it...GO RENT IT NOW! Heh. It's a departure from the normal Sandler roles, but he handles it beautifully. I bawled like a baby. Also, I happen to think Mike Bender is a genius. I loved The Upside of Anger.

TTFN!

Dreary Sunday Afternoon...

Where George Washington worshiped when he was in Charleston, SC.

Its the perfect day for sleeping in! Which is great for me b/c I'm sick...AGAIN! I can't seem to shake this stupid cold. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm allergic to something in this house. That'd be one more reason to get the heck out of here. =)

Speaking of the homefront, things are okay right now. The roommate is basically pretending like nothing happened. I can live with that for now. I do have a back up plan, so if she does the yelling for no reason thing again...I'm out of here. I still have all my stuff in boxes and all my clothes are easy to transport. As far as furniture goes, I only brought my bed, armoire, end table and a couple bookshelves. So, I could seriously be out of here in a truckload. It's pretty sad that I'd even have to think about these things, huh?


Anyhoo...Its been a boring few weeks. I've been laying low. Thanksgiving was boring. My family didn't get together. Mom's not eating right now. Hehe. She's doing the UAMS weight loss program. So, basically she exists only on their supplements (shakes, etc...). My Dad and brother, Timmy, went to my Dad's moms...which, yes, would technically be my grandmother, but I'm not close to her. She's actually my step-grandmother and it's a long story. My other brother, Logan, worked on Thanksgiving. My pal, Jennifer, took pity on me and invited me to dinner at her house. So, on T-day, I slept late, then got up and made dressing. It was my first attempt and although it wasn't awesome (like mom's) I was very pleased. I took my dressing to Jennifer's house and had a lovely dinner with her family. Fun times! In fact, Jennifer and I had so much fun that we've decided to do it again next year. The rest of the T-day long weekend I spent in my bedroom. I was either sleeping, reading or watching tv. I watched four or 5 movies, watched a 5 hour Dylan documentary and watched 8 episodes of The West Wing (just started the first season thru Netflix). TALK ABOUT LAZY!


Let's see...what to talk about...


Last night the roommate and I watched two movies. The first one was The Reaping with Hilary Swank. I had high hopes for this movie b/c I really like Hilary. Plus, it was a thriller w/ Biblical plagues. Creepy! Well, the movie WAS creepy and a little hard to follow at first. There was a twist at the end. It was...I don't know. I didn't love it.

I loved the second movie: Waitress with Keri Russell. LOVED IT! It was hilarious and sad. Sigh. I want to watch it again today that's how much I loved it. It's def one that I will buy. I've been a fan of Keri Russell since her Felicity days. I was obsessed with that show! So, I'm very excited that Keri has a great movie out there.

On a totally unrelated note...I finally got the Charleston pics from our trip in October! They're not as great as I hoped they'd be, but then again...I'm no photographer! =) I've posted a couple of my favorite ones and you can see some more here. Enjoy!

I loved the cobblestone streets.

George Washington Park

East Battery Mansions...

The only "white orb" we found on our ghost hunt.

Music and Movies...

So, I bought two albums today. I just couldn't help myself. See below:

Casting Crowns - The Altar and The Door

I had to buy this after hearing the songs in concert this weekend. I especially love the songs Slow Fade and Somewhere In The Middle. Good stuffs!

Leeland - Sound of Melodies

Rachael is now in love with this band. Actually, I was impressed myself. Leeland Mooring is only 19 yrs old and very talented! This is very good for a 1st album!

Steph and I watched a couple movies this weekend. See below:

I actually saw this movie in the theaters. I love Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow. Comedic genius! Anyhoo, Steph hadn't seen it so I was more than happy to rent it. Even better the 2nd time around. HI-larious!

I really had no idea what this movie was going to be about. I was pleasantly surprised. I love Anthony Hopkins and that Ryan Gosling is a cutie! Good stuff!

Next movies: Kicking It Old Skool, Shooter and Half Nelson

Movie Review...(I heart Netflix!)

Actually, I'm not going to give you any intellectual thought on movies. I'm so tired from packing and NOT sleeping that I'm so beyond intellectual thought! I'm mearly going to tell you what I watched this weekend.

I don't know what I was expecting when I watched this movie. I certainly didn't expect it to be as deep (deep is stretching for the acting, but the subject was deep) as it was. It was vulger in parts so don't let the kiddies watch it with you. Um, yeah...it has an R rating. I guess I was in la-la land when I thought about it. The previews didn't really give me a clue at all. Basically I wanted to watch it b/c I love Jane Fonda. Anyhoo, it was touching. It made me want to shed a tear in the end.

I couldn't WAIT to watch this movie. I was excited b/c the cast is great. But, it didn't turn out as well as I expected. Sigh. It was good, but I spent a lot of the time confused (that could be b/c I was distracted by the dogs and Abi).

I thought this was going to be a funny movie. Mom watched it and told me it was great. Plus it has a great cast... Hello Molly Shannon and John C. Reilly! IT. WAS. SAD!!!!!!!!! I'm normally a fan of weird or quirky movies. I was disappointed cause I thought I was going to have a good laugh...but wanted to cry instead.

Overall, I wasn't super impressed with my movies.