Tonight

Not sure what YOUR Friday night plans hold, but, tonight I'll be traveling here...

...to see these boys...

...and hopefully bring home a t-shirt with this album artwork.

I hope you enjoy your Friday night as much as I'm going to enjoy mine!

People in glass houses

I love this time of year! The colors are changing on the trees. The temperatures are dropping. The t.v. schedule is finally back to normal. But, most importantly, the trips to the mailbox are finally producing the highly anticipated "TOY WISH BOOKS"!

I can remember squealing with joy as a child as I took the JCPenney catalog and a marker and proceeded to make my list for Santa. There were so many pages with dog ears that I'm surprised the book didn't bark at my parents.

Today, I had my first taste of that excitement from Big A. A holiday toy catalog arrived and no sooner did the words "Santa's List" exit my mouth before she had the book in one hand and stickers in the other hand to note which items were her favorite.

My friend Diana witnessed the exultation. She started to tell me about how her oldest daughter (who is Little A's age) is counting on Santa bringing her a driveable toy car stocked with presents. I laughed not only at the ingenuity of her daughter but also because my children have expressed exactly ZERO interest in those types of toys. (Much to my relief might I add)

And so, Big A sat down to review her choices with me and was sure to point out the 1 item in the book that is now at the top of her list.

Yeah. Who's laughing now?

What Makes Me Laugh

Periodically, I like to share links of bloggers who make me laugh. And I don't mean a chuckle. I'm talking tears down my face, hyperventilating laughter that goes on for 10 minutes. And if you think I'm joking, just ask Shannon about my response to almost walking THROUGH her screen door last week. Yes, I'm still laughing about it.

I hope you guys enjoy these entries as much as I did. If not, please humor me anyway. M'thanks!

Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana rarely fails to amuse me. This gem is a tale of a boat trip gone wrong.

If you have never visited Cake Wrecks, well, you have been missing some of the most hilarious stuff on the web. Jen's dry wit is something I admire! This particular entry just struck me with huge amounts of hilarity because Big A is currently going through a Scooby Doo obsession.

Happy Hour Sue has been mentioned here before and there's a good reason. She's freakin' hilarious! Anyone who, like me, is not a fan of those ridiculous Duggars in Arkansas will appreciate this entry.

Happy Hour Sue strikes again with this entry that even brought my hubby to tears of laughter. Introducing the lighter side of terrorists.

And to wrap this up, I bring you a trifecta of hilarious entries. Emails from Crazy People consistently has some of the funniest stuff that I've ever read. This is an exchange between neighbors that gets WAY out of hand.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Happy Tuesday!

Monday Morning Eye Candy

Missed me?

I won't even bore you with the details as to why I've been so quiet for the past few weeks. Sometimes, life's just a roller coaster with more dips than peaks. In the meantime, I've been finishing up a book that I've been working on for 2 months now. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It was great and I proceeded to go out & buy Breaking Dawn (the final book in the Twilight series) so I can wrap this up. Sigh. So, today's eye candy is a tribute to some of the new hotties from New Moon (opening November 20th...YAY!!) and Eclipse (opening June 30, 2010...YAY!!). Enjoy!

Alex Meraz - This cutie will be playing werewolf Paul in New Moon & Eclipse

Charlie Bewley - Another hot vampire from England? I don't know if my little heart can take it. This gorgeous Brit will be playing Demetri.

Daniel Cudmore - Taking on the role of Felix is this Canadian cutie.

Jack Huston - This hottie proves that not just wolves & vampires corner the market on hot guys in these films. He plays Royce King in Eclipse.

Xavier Samuel - And yes, it's not just the Brits who have adorable guys. This adorable Aussie plays new vampire Riley in Eclipse.

Happy Monday everyone!

It might be time for an intervention

So, I'm sitting in my empty house last Saturday afternoon as hubby & the kids had taken Roman to the dog park. I decided to check one of my seldom used email accounts and there sat a brand new email from my local scrapbooking shop. Seems innocent enough, right?

I'm the first to admit that I tend to be an email "skimmer" rather than "reader", especially when it's a sales solicitation. However, if something catches my attention, I'm usually pretty good about going back and re-reading to make sure that I understand everything. Usually.

I'm looking at the message from the scrapbooking shop and I see a sentence that reads (and yes, I'm paraphrasing) "Hey, we've got tons of new stuff this week, including the new Twilight line of papers, so come check it out fast before it's gone!" Click. Slam. Screech.

Approximately 7 minutes later, I was at the front door of the store. (and no, unfortunately, I'm NOT exaggerating) While the only other customer in the store was being helped, I am COMBING the walls in search of the Twilight papers. I have visions of Edward permanently adhered to the pages of my scrapbook. I'm looking everywhere and beginning to panic because there is no Edward to be found. I wasn't fast enough!

The salesgirl comes over and asks if she can help me. I casually say "oh, did I read correctly in your email that you guys have the Twilight papers now?" She excitedly says, "Yes, they're right there on the wall." I walk over. I see nothing. She says "they're right there." And so I grab a sheet and bring home the newest member of my scrapbooking collection.



You didn't really think I was going to walk out of there like an empty-handed idiot did you? I'm just glad I wasn't wearing my Team Edward shirt on this excursion.

(Note: The paper is from the new Twilight Collection from Pink Paislee. It's really cute Halloween paper, but not a vampire in sight. Sigh.)

"Trim the Fat" Thursday

Inspiration

This is a word that I think about a lot. What inspires me? What's my motivation behind this whole weight loss journey? The answers to these questions have been very tough for me, which I think is one of the reasons that I've had such a hard time staying on track.

This week, a new season of The Biggest Loser began and it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the show. The season opener always includes some back story on each contestant, which is usually interesting but never really grabs me. This time was different. There is a contestant this season named Abby. She's a 35 yr old teacher and has a lovely Texas drawl. She reminds me a lot of myself actually. When she told her story, I was brought to tears within seconds. Abby went from her happy life to tragedy in the blink of an eye 3 years ago, when her husband, 5 yr old daughter and newborn son were all killed in a car accident. I can't even imagine.

Towards the end of the episode, the infamously hard-ass trainer Jillian Michaels was even brought to tears by Abby's amazing resolve. And I think that Jillian said it best when she explained her tears. She said that she always thought that if something like that happened to her, she would commit suicide. However, to see Abby and how she has chosen to motor on despite this horrible tragedy makes Jillian want to be a stronger person. And I have to say that I feel much the same way.

I've been having a one woman pity party for a week now over feeling crappy and being under the weather. And beating myself up over the fact that I just can't seem to stop bringing home chocolate donuts from the grocery store. That's when my order for a dose of perspective arrived.

This week, my goal is simple. I'm going to sit and write some letters. Letters to the most important people in my life, including myself. Letters to remind myself of just how lucky I am to be surrounded by people who actually give a damn. Reminders of how fortunate I am at this moment in time.

What inspires you?

The Tuesday Entertainment Roundup

Let me start off this week by saying that I just read that Patrick Swayze passed away today. I don't know this news saddens me so much, but it does. Maybe it's because his movie "Dirty Dancing" had such a strong impact on my early teen years. Maybe it's because he just seemed like a regular guy who fell into a movie star role. Whatever the case, I hate that he's gone now, especially considering the disease that robbed him of a long life. RIP Johnny Castle. You'll be missed.

Well gang, it was a lean week. Between being sick, being without power for half a day, & having LOTS of work to do, there wasn't much time for anything else. Hubby & I managed to see 1 movie last night and here's my assessment.

Yes Man - Ok, let me begin by saying that I'm not a Jim Carrey fan. I think he tries way too hard to be funny. And this movie was no exception. The redeeming qualities of this flick include an adorable performance by Zooey Deschanel and a decent amount of screen time from the delicious Bradley Cooper. Past that, this one just didn't do that much for me.

Now, here's where you all can help me with some upcoming entertainment choices. I'm thinking of checking out something in theaters at some point this week. Which one would be your choice?

All About Steve

Julie & Julia

The September Issue (this one I would actually have to travel to Atlanta to see because the hick town movie theaters here rarely ever show scarcely heard of independent films. Sigh.)

I did manage to make progress on one of the books that I've been reading for, ahem, 6 weeks. Sad thing is that I'm a fast reader. That should tell you how hard it is to get a couple of hours of uninterrupted quiet time around here! I'm REALLY hoping to finish at least 1 of the books this week. Until next Tuesday...