In just a few short weeks my brother, sister in law will be staying with us, along with their two kids. Two, tow headed, rambuncious toddlers, who both walk, scream, and have the ability to get into trouble in under 2 seconds. I can’t wait to see my baby niece and nephew, but I’m terrified.

The boy and I are at that fun and carefree stage of our relationship. We’re very much in love but we are childless. That means our apartment has a fancy wooden chess set on it, and we have nice houseplants and ground level. We have breakable glass figurines on the shelves, and nothing is baby proof. I know this week long visit will give us a little taste of having babies in our lives, something we both want very much…eventually. I’m sure we’re not ready, and I know it’s going to be exhausting.

I’ve had a lot of talks about kids with my good friend Mama Drama, and they paint quite the picture. I can only hope that my three year old nephew doesn’t follow in Mama Drama’s four year old’s footsteps. allie takes troublemaking to a whole new level with her creativity. Just the other day MD was telling me how Allie had taken the mattress off her bed, propped it on its side and climbed up on top of it. That’s pretty creative in my opinion. So wish me luck this Christmas, and hope that the three and one year old will be on their best behavior, and don’t decide to use my new flat screen tv as a homemade sled or something!

Twilight holds a special place in my heart. My dear friend The Queen first brought the Twilight series into my life with one of her usual gifts for no reason. I got this book in the mail randomly back in March and I thought I would hate it. I’m completely terrified of scary things, and vampires are right up there in the scary category. But she insisted that I read it, and since she hasn’t steered me wrong yet, I gave it a try. I think by Chapter 2 or 3, where Stephanie Meyer first introduces us to the Cullens I was completely hooked. I tore through Twilight in record speed, and ordered the rest of the books online before I was even done (ordered New Moon for The Queen while I was at it!). So we were both hooked!

Then, as I was scoring the internet for all things Twilight related, low and behold they were making a movie about my beloved book. I couldn’t believe my good luck! So it has been quite the countdown for this movie.

Now, like any movie based on a book, there are going to be changes, and I was prepared for those. Like how Bella meets Jacob for starters was much different in the movie than the book. Also, some of Bella’s friends have much bigger parts in the movie than they did in the book. For instance, Eric was a very minor role in the book, but somehow in the movie he had all of these one liners. I think it was to add a little lightheartedness to the movie, but I thought his character was extremely cheesy. Still, it didn’t distract from the two favorite characters-Edward and Bella. I thought the casting was uncanny: he was exactly how I’d pictured him. And the rest of the Cullens too-they did an amazing job with casting, bravo.

My only real complaint with Twilight the movie was some of the underlying cheesiness of it. There were moments where it seemed that everything turned more playful when in the book it was really serious. I think to a point the director had to play it up for a diverse crowd, maybe some people watching that didn’t know the Bella/Edward saga, but I would have preferred it if they played up the suspense a little more.

Still, I loved this movie. I loved the scenery-it was shot in Oregon, my homestate (yay!) and it was beautiful. Also the cinematography was great; the way the camera would move around, sometimes spin around the characters. It made you feel like you were a part of the movie, and that the characters were real. Also, the music was incredible. Edward playing the piano for Bella-her lullaby was just what I heard in my head when reading the story. Also the chemistry between Edward and Bella felt so real, and I thought the actors did a great job with it. I can’t wait for the sequel, which I read is already in the works!
Here’s a prolonged movie trailer I found on youtube. It’s a little choppy but it shows a lot more of the movie. Enjoy!

I haven’t posted about any tv shows lately because nothing has been too compelling. Yes the stories have been good but nothing that made me stop and say wow. This week’s episode of Greys Anatomy finally gave me that wow moment.
I’ve been waiting a long time for Grey’s to get back to what it was in Seasons 1 and 2: a compelling, edge of your seat, leave you wanting for more, awesome show. Last season and the beginning of this season hadn’t impressed me nearly as much as the first 2 years. But this episode really brought it back!

Spoiler Alert of In The Midnight Hour:
In the beginning of the episode, Izzy still sees Denny, and it’s really freaking her out. My theory on this? I think that Denny is an angel of death, just like he was for Meredith. When he says, “I’m here for you” I think he means that in the literal sense. He’s literally there to guide her to the afterlife. I don’t want them to kill of Izzy’s character, so half me hopes I’m wrong. Or maybe they’ll do as they did with Meredith, and she’ll be on the brink and she’ll pull out of it. Either way, I’m hooked!

Then there are the murderous interns. This group puts the original cast to shame with their antics! Giving Meredith’s old friend an appendectomy WHILE SHE’S CONSCIOUS?! Without prior experience? Just ACK! And I really can’t stand Meredith’s friend, so much that I haven’t paid attention to her name. Dying is it? Something like that. Well the girl acts like she’s taking horse supplements or something for all the weird and crazy stunts she’s pulling. Cutting herself and asking to be sutured up, and then cutting her own stomach for her appendectomy. EW. I really can’t wait till she leaves the show-she just bugs me.

Finally, there is Alex. I love Alex:  always have, from the first season. I am sad that Izzy is so torn over everything, but I love that he’s there for her. It’s just like when Izzy found Denny, and Alex picked her up and carried her home. He’s the romantic, reluctant hero. Sigh.
I can’t wait for the next episode!

The boy recently posted a great blog about what to get me for Christmas. It was definitely one of the sweetest posts he’s written about me. What was cool was that he knew what I wanted, and that was before I sent him a list.  Some other things that I want that aren’t something you can buy in stores :

1. To lose about 10 pounds in the next two months would be amazing. So what I’m wishing for is the will power to stick to a workout routine. It’s going to be rough with the holidays too-all the food is so tasty. So I think I’ll just have to work out extra hard whenever I eat anything less than healthy. Fudge? Drop and give me 20!
2. For sure knowing where we are going to live come January. Right now we have a great opportunity, but nothing is for sure. I hate the unknown and it will be so nice to have that all figured out.
3. For the boy to be done with his fire academy-something I will get right before Christmas. I just can’t wait to be able to spend our weekends together. Just the idea of sleeping in and then cooking breakfast sounds like the best present I could ask for.
4. For everything this Christmas to go smoothly with my ridiculously large and extended family. I want to share my Christmas with both my family and the boy’s. My family can be less than understanding of that at times, and it annoys me. This year though, I can’t wait to have the boy with me to share in all the activities!

Last night I told the boy we need to make a wish list for each other for Christmas. He’s surprisingly hard to shop for and I want to make sure I get him something he really wants for our first Christmas together. I’m also trying to come up with a wish list for him and for my folks. Seems like every year I get things i don’t really want, or end up throwing away. Also I get a lot of candy in my stocking, and I’m going to request that no one give me any of that this year. I’ve gained way too much weight! Maybe I should ask for some Orovo all natural supplements in my stocking. Ha!

While we talked about Christmas gifting last night, I went to go make a list on my home laptop. That’s right about the time my home computer decided to DIE. One minute I was clicking on a web link, the next minute the computer was frozen. I rebooted it, and up popped the folder with the question mark. Any mac user will know this is the equivalent to the PC blue screen of death. I was so sad! My hard drive failed, and my Christmas video project along with it. Luckily I backed up most of my photos and videos onto my external, but still. That was at least 3 hours of work that I didn’t back up. Now I guess a new hard drive is on my list. Major bummer! Thank god I have a work laptop, so I can make a new project from scratch. Too bad my pc can’t load the pictures on my external drive.

So if anyone out there has a spare mac they want to loan me for the next month, I’d appreciate it. Hahah!

52. My favorite season is fall. I love it when the leaves change color and it gets cold outside. I think it’s the prettiest time of the year, and the most comfortable weather and clothes wise.

53. I hate it when people I don’t know very well call me “Little”. It bugs me a lot, and makes me feel like I’m a little kid. From my friends that I know and love I find it endearing but when my secretary does it I want to punch her in the face.

54. I’m a lil bit fiesty.

55. I used to have a really hard time falling asleep. I’d lay in bed and my mind would race, and then I’d toss and turn and get up ten times a night. Now I sleep like a log-I think it’s because I let go of a lot of stress in my life.

56. I lost a lot of friends when I stopped drinking for a year. It really showed me who my true friends were.

57. I can’t stand it when people say “What can I do you for?” It sounds dirty and it’s a dumb phrase.

58. I hate fake phone voices-like when people act super sugary sweet on the phone and it’s not their normal speaking voice. What is that?

59. I love Christmas. I decorate like crazy for it and I love everything from the songs, to the family time, to the food, to the specialty drinks (peppermint schnapps you are so good). Every year it looks like Christmas exploded in my house.

60. When I was a little kid I used to insist that we cut down our own Christmas tree instead of buying it. This would already result in super ugly Charlie Brown looking Christmas trees that I thought were beautiful.

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I stole this from my good friend, The Queen, first because I love these kind of things, and second because this is my 102nd post! I can’t believe that I’ve written over 100 posts-for those of you who do read my blog, thanks for tuning in!

So here are 102 random things about me, starting with the first 51

1. I waited to be born till after my dad came home from work, and I was apparently a very quick and easy labor. My mom said I’ve been trying to please people ever since.

2. My older brother was my best friend till he went into 1st grade and some kid told him it’s not cool to be friends with your sister. To this day I wish we had a closer relationship.

3. I grew up on a quasi farm-we had goats, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, a hamster, at one point a ferret, and one sheep. Not a herd, just one.

4. My stepdad killed and ate the lamb-her name was Precious. He actually said, “Mhmm, Precious sure tastes good.” Mean. He was just playing around though.

5. My stepdad has been the best father to me I could have ever asked for.

6. My stepdad was my track coach in high school, and I couldn’t run a race without hugging him first and getting a pep talk.

7. I have a really strong connection with my mom. Sometimes I think we can read each other’s minds.

8. My mom is manic depressive, but she doesn’t let it rule her life. She is the strongest woman I know.

9. When I was a little girl I loved the color pink. I wanted a pink house, pink car, pink everything. When I got a little older I was a huge tomboy and hated pink. In college, I dyed my hair pink.

10. In 6th grade, I was part of the junior pep squad. We performed at half time for a high school football game and I thought I was really cool. I watched a video of it when I got older and it turns out I’m really uncoordinated.

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I got tears in my eyes as I watched the news tonight, announcing that Barack Obama has officially won the 2008 Presidential Election. With the state our country has been in, I can’t help but feel a giant wash of relief over the outcome.

I was absolutely terrified of what could have been if McCain/Palin had won the election. I wasn’t as against McCain as I was Palin-I shudder to think of what that woman would have done being that close to being Commander in Chief. I think it would have made the last 8 years look mellow and carefree by comparison. But thankfully we can rest easy, knowing that we don’t have to worry about that crazy evangelist getting any more power than she already has.

And now, it is time to celebrate. Crack open the bubbly, uncork the wine, because we finally have a true leader!!

I love love love How I Met Your Mother, and last night’s episode was no exception.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The show starts with Ted reflecting on being left at the alter by Stella-one of the sadder moments in HIMYM history. I loved it because he talks about moving on and how he’s doing fine, and all his friends look at him and go, “um, Ted, the wedding was yesterday!” I love his denial because it is so something I would do. I’ve had my share of heartbreaks, and my solution is to just move on and pretend it doesn’t bother me.

Then Ted busts out the line, “Why confront something when you can avoid it?”So classic! So true! But the episode had such a good moral, and it’s another reason I love the show so much. They touch on key topics that really matter in life, but they crack you up along the way. Barney always makes the show with his super creeper stints too.

So the whole episode is about people that each friend wants to avoid, and how they would freak out if they ran into that person from their past. For Ted, it was Stella, who actually shows up at the restaurant where they all are. The gang decides to hide under the table, where they tell the stories of who they would avoid. At one point Barney gets up and hides under the other table, where there are pretty girls in skirts-the little creepster! Of course his story is about a girl he dates in prison for conjugal visits, ha.

At the end of the episode, Ted is about to confront Stella and tell her dumping him at the alter, and about leaving him for her ex, when he sees the family outside their apartment. He sees how happy they are, and how Stella made the right choice by leaving him. Ted realized it was the perfect end to a love story, but the story just wasn’t his. It was a great episode, but of course it leaves us wondering, who is Ted going to end up with?! It is the stuff that keeps us watching, and I can’t wait for next week’s episode.