About Me

My photo
I am a twenty-something second year teacher living in the midwest. I am a Christian woman and proud of it! I am the middle child of three girls. I am the proud aunt of the very beautiful Lil E and Lil C!! I love TV, movies, reading, and baseball. I am in my second year of teaching , but my first year teaching kindergarten. It has been quite the journey!

22 February 2010

I Heart YA Books!!!

Ummm can I just say that I love young adult novels, they are amazing!! I also often love YA Sci-Fi novels, even though I usually say that I don't like Sci-Fi. I have decided that I like Sci-Fi when the story is mostly about the people and their stories with the Sci-Fi-ness just being in the background. Like Twilight, I would consider them mostly about the story of Bella and Edward, who just happen to be vampires. I have recently found two such fabulous series!!!

The Mortal Instruments Series (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, coming soon- City of Fallen Angels and The Clockword Angel) by Cassandra Clare

For me, these border on being too Sci-Fy-y for me, but I still greatly enjoyed them. They focus on Clary a teenager who lives in the "real world" until her life intersects with the world of Shadow-hunters, vampires, werewolves, Fairies, etc. The stories are really well told with lots of twists and turns. Although I must admit I kind of predicted the final big twist and even when I saw it coming I wasn't happy with it, but I still loved the books.

My first struggle with these books was that there was a lot of Sci-Fi info coming at me in the beginning of the first book and I had a hard time keeping track of it, but towards the middle of the book that tapered off and I was able to get my mind around all of it and I really enjoyed them!

My other point of contention was that I was cheering for the wrong boy. (Spoilers ahead!!!)

I love me some Simon and sadly Clary doesn't. Simon's her hilarious best friend who has always loved Clary, but she doesn't know it. Then she meets the rude, sullen Jace and falls for him :( While reading I felt a lot of empathy for those on Team Jacob, but I can't wait for City of Fallen Angels because Simon will be a more main character! Yay!!

The second series- The Hunger Games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Hunger Games, Catching Fire and coming soon Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins

OMG fabulous!!! These stories are sooooooo good, so compelling, you don't want to put them down. While I passed of the Mortal Instruments series to my Sci-Fi buddy as soon as I finished them, I told her I couldn't give her the Hunger Games until I reread them :) I cannot wait for August 24 when the third book comes out!!

These novels are about a future North American society- Panem, which is divided into 12 districts and the Capital. Previously, the 13 districts took part in a rebellion against the Capital, which led to District 13's destruction. As a result, each district must now send one teenager of each gender to compete in the Hunger Games each year. The Hunger Games is a fight to the death. It sounds crazy, but they are fabulous.

Of course there are fabulous young men and lots of romance!!! I <3 Peeta with my whole heart, but there are definitely those who are Team Gale, but whatevs... Busy Bee Lauren http://busybeelauren.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-strange-celebrity-crushes.html thinks she has found the best Peeta.... check him out.

Check out both book series' they are awesomespice!!

My friend, Oscar

It's that time of the year... Oscar season!!! Which means it is time for Jillibean's second annual Oscar Double Feature! Last year I saw Slumdog Millionaire (loved it, Amazing!!) and Revolutionary Road (not so much...) But it was a lot of fun and I love watching the Oscars after having seen lots of the nominees.

Last year it was really easy to find two highly nominated films at the local theater and see them back-to-back with little lag time. This year however was a different story. This year's double feature involved two different theaters 25 minutes apart with only half an hour between them!! It was crazy, but mostly fun!

First I saw Invictus at the second-run theater by my apartment. I was excited becuase it was cheap! The movie was really good!! I would definitely recommend it. It is the story of South Africa's rugby team's quest to succeed at the World Cup following the end to Apartheid. Morgan Freeman (nominated for Best Actor) as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) as the captain of the rugby team. They were both fantastic (sidenote- I once saw Matt Damon during studio tour in LA so I always love to see him in movies!)!! The story is easily described as Remember the Titans, but for a whole country and with rugby :) It was funny, touching and poignant, plus a good sports movie, even for a girl who didn't know what rugby was about before the movie. Plus, it is a good family movie, a bit of swearing, but no sex, drinking or violence (besides that during the match). Definitely check it out if you get the chance!!

I raced out of the theater after Invictus because I had 30 minutes to drive 25 minutes to the next theater. Of course traffic was crazy so I arrived at the theater at the time the movie was supposed to start and I still had to buy my ticket and popcorn! Of course the ticket seller delayed my progress by carding me, umm please I think I am eighteen and trying to get to a movie which you know has already started!!!!

Luckily due to previews I don't think I missed too much of the movie...
I really loved Crazy Heart! My mom convinced me to see it because she kept telling me how much she loves Jeff Bridges (nominated for Best Actor) was awesome! Loved his voice and great acting. Bridges plays an aging, alcoholic musician who plays bowling alleys and small town bars. He meets a young reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and they begin a relationship. There is also another story arc of Bridges mentee (played by Collin Firth) and Bridges' estranged son. The story was really good and the singing and acting was too! There was one story line that I predicted would happen that never did which disappointed me a bit, but it probably would have been cliche so I'm OK with it :) This one was rated R, mostly for a lot of swearing, lots of drinking and one provocative scene.

The Oscar Double Feature was a rousing success and I would recommend both movies!!
Other nominated movies I've seen- Up, Up in the Air (George Clooney, Anna Kendrick!!), The Blind Side (Sandra Bullock), Julie and Julia (Meryl Streep), The Princess and the Frog (songs and animated feature) and my Netflix for this weekend is the Hurt Locker which I'm excited for!!

17 February 2010

Umm I love her!

Of course I'm talking about Busy Bee Lauren!! Have you read her blog, cause you should, she's fabulous! Check it out --> http://busybeelauren.blogspot.com/

She's doing another wonderful giveaway. She is giving away a super cute dress from Shabby Apple. The dress is an adorable navy blue number. Check it out on her blog. To enter, just leave a comment on her blog. If you follow her blog you get an extra entry. If you tweet about the giveaway- that's another entry. And if you're as awesome as me and blog about her giveaway, you get another entry!

Good luck! Except I am saving all of the luck for me :) Sorry.

07 February 2010

Fab Weekend

I have had a really great weekend so far. It's been very busy, but all good busy :)

Friday night was my university's annual formal dance. I was going with some friends and it was super fun.



We danced and got our pictures taken in the photo booth it was lots of fun.



I was excited to have a green, over 21 wristband, even though I didn't drink :)


When I got home I realized that I didn't have any pictures of just me, so of course I took some.





Of course the night ended with very tired feet!




But I cuddled up with some ice cream and warm pjs and then slept soundly.



Saturday afternoon my parents came out and we went to a basketball game.



I was pointing out the president of our university (nicknamed T-Haas) to my mom and then his wife Marcia. My mom responded "M-Haas?" And that is why I love her!!



I spent the night with them at the awesome Hyatt Place Hotel. It was gorgeous!!



And the hotel was free because we got it with Frequent Flier miles or something!!!

Today included breakfast with my parents (where we also bought some amazing cupcakes!!), reading, church and the Super Bowl!