I Don't Get It

Has anyone here read The Hunger Games trilogy? I have, but I will save my review for when it comes up in the lineup. Right when I was in the middle of the series was when they started talking about the movies being cast. I was really excited because the books are good, but I think the movies will be awesome. There's a lot of visuals going on in the books and it will translate well to film.

My excitement, however, has faded. Have you guys been watching the casting news for the movies? There's a facebook page or something dedicated to this. That fact alone makes me think the movies are going to be lame. Also lame is that the first movie is supposed to come out on March 23, 2012 (less than 11 months away) and they haven't even started production yet. This worries me. Please don't crap out a stinky movie just because you want to capitalize while the books are still hot.

Anyhow, back to the casting. The cast is not at all who I expected it to be. Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role...fine...she'll probably do great. Then there's this little douche that they cast as Peeta. PEETA! Little and douchey and emo are not words that I would use to describe Peeta. Peeta is literally all wrong and I'm so pissed about it. Then they cast Miley Cyrus' ex as Gale. So, Peeta is short and dark haired and not buff and Gale is tall, blond and totally buff. No, no, no....casting directors you are getting it all wrong.

I just can't support this movie. This movie is going to make billions of dollars. This movie could be like the Harry Potter movies where they are just really well done. But it's not going to be. Hollywood is going to eff this up.

In a side note, did anyone else see the new HP trailer? I cannot wait for this summer. HP will be all I'm thinking about.

Sun, Hit Me With Your Rays

This is not a Disney post. I'm posting this picture because it's the last memory I have of being outside and hot. When my mom and I went to Florida last November we left 24 hours before the first of many large snow storms hit Minnesota this winter. Florida was unseasonably hot and I remember sitting in Epcot the last day of our trip thinking that I needed to hold onto this heat because I wouldn't be feeling it for awhile. Fast forward to today and I'm needing to remember this more than ever.

Today is a friend's birthday...Happy Birthday Ro! A few years back we were celebrating her birthday with a casual dinner in a Northeast pub. It was pouring rain outside, windy and chilly. I remember her saying that the weather is never good on her birthday. It sucks that she's right.

Last year we were spoiled with this amazing spring. This year is back to reality. I'm hoping that I only have to hold onto the memory of warmth for a few more weeks. Because that memory is slowly slipping through my fingers.

Fashion Files: Church

Has anyone ever been sitting in church and while you should be praying instead are looking at a fellow church-goer thinking "What in God's name are you wearing?" I think this all the time. Never more than at Easter Sunday mass.

I get that people aren't going to be all dressy dressy for mass anymore. Honestly, I think that's okay. We don't need to fancy ourselves up every Sunday for mass. If you want to great, but if you want to wear your jeans...I don't care.

However, some women believe that being fancy fancy means dressing skanky skanky. T & A has no business in the Lord's house. Leave those mini-skirts, low-cut tops and barely there dresses for the clubs. Let's show some class. On Easter, the skanky factor is amped up. I think it's the spring fever thing.

This Easter was no different. I just really can't imagine showing up for church with my boobs hanging out for everyone to see. Nor can I imagine wearing a mini-skirt and having to shift uncomfortably every time I sit down. You don't have to dress like a nun to go to church (I saw one woman who was wearing a Polly Flanders dress circa 1984), but you are in a space of worship and should treat it accordingly. That means dress with respect. Not dress like you are trying to become a walking Cialis prescription.

Last year, my brother was confirmed and I was his sponsor. At the confirmation, I literally could not believe the outfits that these young girls were wearing on the day they became a true Catholic. One girl (and by girl, I mean 16-year-old) was wearing a lace mini-dress that had a sheer, lace back cut all the way down to her ass crack. Just the way I'd want the archbishop to view me as he's welcoming me to the church.

Look, I'm not a prude when it comes to dressing, but there is a time and place. Church ain't it.

The American Adventure

I'm sort of a sucker for American history, so this one gets me every time. Literally. I usually cry at some point. This is one of the more well done attractions in all of Disneyworld. There are a lot of really good things, but this is an excellent show of American history.

First things first, get to the place a little bit before the show will actually start and walk through the bottom portion of the building. There's usually a really good display or artwork and artifacts to peruse. There's also a singing group that will perform while you are waiting. Dopey singing groups are not my thing, but this dopey singing group is pretty darn good. They sing the classic American songs circa the 1800's and it's really gorgeous music. Plus they are in awesome costumes.

Once the show is ready to start you can crowd into the line and either take the escalators or the stairs to the theatre. Here's a tip, the theatre is effing huge. Every seat offers a good view. You don't need to be the first one in there. Relax. Stop trampling the kids.

Then the show begins. It's a mix of audio-animatronics and video and really presents a spectacular lesson on the history of America. The parts that really get me weeping are the Revolutionary War, anytime Lincoln "speaks" and when they start showing the video montage of things like the Miracle on Ice hockey team, walking on the moon and 9/11. With the video montage there's some really corny believe in yourself type of music. It uplifts your soul and you will leave the theatre with renewed vision and a bounce in your step. Don't worry, that will be sucked out of you the minute you step foot in the next line.

A great show, 5/5 or 9/10 stars.

Corn Syrup Free

If you have not seen the above movie, I will tell you to proceed with caution. Not that the movie isn't informative and well done. It is. It could possibly make you never want to actually eat food again. Which would be a health problem.

I watched the movie a couple of months ago. I've also read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. He is featured in the movie. The movie is all about how we have turned farming into a business and business isn't always focused on what is good for the consumer. But I don't think that's always bad. We need food to be affordable and accessible and nonperishable, which business does. Honestly, who doesn't love a Twinkie every so often?

One thing that struck me in the movie and also in Michale Pollan's book is how much more seed and corn we are consuming than we did maybe 30 years ago. Because corn is literally in everything that we eat. Not to get graphic, but corn is also incredibly hard to digest. Who hasn't gotten some floaties after eating a couple of cobs? That's right, your body actually excretes it whole because it can't process it. So, can you imagine what's happened to our little tummies after years of over consumption?

I decided to cut back on my corn intake. This has proven to be an extremely difficult and expensive task. There are plenty of organic snacks available at the super market, but $5 for 4 packets of fruit snacks is a lot of green. But I went for it. I did not overhaul my entire diet, I just bought a few options for snacks and cereal. I'm not going to say it has revolutionized my life, but I actually have noticed that the organic snacks leave me feeling more satisfied than say a Twinkie would. I mean, if I'm hungry and I eat a Twinkie, I ain't stopping at one. Overall, however, I think my tummy is thanking me for cutting back on my corn intake.

Side note, the best organic food I've found is the Annie's brand cereals. You can leave these suckers sit in milk for hours and they are still crispy and crunchy.

Me On: Bravo TV

Last week I did something that I rarely do, which is force Mike to watch something on television. It was the Real Housewives of NYC. Look, I am not super proud that I am totally obsessed with Bravo, but that doesn't change the bare fact that I am super obsessed. You cannot look away. Or, at least, I can't. It's definitely television crack. I'm going to breakdown my favorite shows for you.

• Real Housewives Franchise: The NYC one is probably my favorite, although last week's premiere seemed much more obnoxious than normal. And not funny obnoxious, but just obnoxious. I get it, you guys have expensive shoes, but do we really need to keep talking about them? Then there's the newer Beverly Hills one. It was definitely one of the better casts. I found them to be interesting and you cannot beat the whole Camille thing. The New Jersey housewives are a personal fave mostly because of the ridiculousness of their so-called wealth and the fights. You cannot beat the fights. Sing it with me Countess, "Money Can't Buy You Class." I will occasionally watch the Orange County show, but mostly it's to laugh about how dumb they are. I have never seen an episode of the Atlanta show, small snippets here and there, but I find that one to be the absolute worst of the bunch. The new Miami show was alright, but it was a little bit too "we are supposed to be fighting, right?" for me. Just read that they cancelled the DC show, which is a shame because that first season was television gold. Apparently no one watched it.


• NYC Prep: This was possibly the best of the absolute worst people I have ever seen. There is nothing more ridiculous than entitled, snotty and completely clueless rich kids. My favorite character was Jessie (if you didn't see it, you will have no idea what I'm talking about, but trust that she was awesome). Jessie was not attractive, but thought her shit didn't stink and would walk around like Miss Bossy Boots who knows so much at eighteen. It was really awesome to watch. These kids literally had no clue about the world, but thought that they ran it. A quick perusal of wikipedia told me that in the NYC Prep scene, the schools that these kids went to were pretty low on the scale.


• Kell on Earth: I want Kelly Cutrone to make me cry so badly. I mean she can be brutally mean. I love when they have an intern who is all "I want to work in fashion", but they don't really want to work and she makes them pay. Brilliant! This show makes me want to work in a job where I need two cell phones and my email inbox is always full and I always have people to call. But I'm like those interns who would be fired in a few days, I don't really want to do the work, I just want to have the lifestyle.


• The Rachel Zoe Project: Does anyone else watch this and think "For how stressed they are all of the time, it doesn't seem like they do much work?" And honestly, how can everything go down to the last minute? What I find fascinating about this show is seeing how things go from the stylist to the photo shoot or red carpet in minutes. The other awesome thing is Roger (or is it Rodger?) I live for Roger totally not caring and then flipping his glorious hair like he totally cares.

So, these are my faves. I watch the repeats, I save them on my Tivo, I'm constantly bummed when comcast on demand doesn't have them. I know it's probably the worst television ever created, but this is my one thing. I don't read glossy mags, I don't look at gossip websites, I don't watch much reality television (or much television at all). This is my one guilty and embarrassing pleasure. And I absolutely relish it. Judge me, I know you want to.

Stumbling on Happiness

More like Stumbling on Crappiness. This book was the shits. Pardon mon francais. I almost never set a book down in the middle of it. I have OCD about finishing things, but when I was in the middle of this book I thought of something that I had read on the happiness project blog which was: if you are reading a book you hate, stop reading it. There are far too many books in the world and you are wasting your time. So, I stopped reading it and didn't look back. Surprisingly I stumbled into happiness by not reading this book.

Here's the thing that I hated about it. Over-generalizations and no explanations. I thought the book would be more, here's the problem and here's a solution to find your happiness. Instead, I found the book to be all our minds will make us forget what makes us happy or unhappy and why. So, it's virtually impossible to actually try to be happy because our minds aren't built that way. Ummmmmmmmm, thanks.

I don't buy it. Our minds may not be able to predict future happiness, but that doesn't make us unhappy. And I think there is a good purpose for our minds forgetting things. Like right now, with my new puppy, I forget that he can be a nipping little monster while I am away from him and only remember him cuddling against my lap last night. But that helps me to miss him and helps me to be excited to see him. Which does in fact make me happy. So suck it Daniel Gilbert and your dumb science experiments.

I also didn't like the writing. It was all here's what we think will happen, here's a science experiment to refute it and here's the doom and gloom of how we will always be wrong. It didn't flow and felt like the exact same thing being said over and over again.

This was the worst book I have read in a long ass time. Possibly the worst book that I have read ever. 0 stars both because I hated it and because I did not finish it. If I could give the book negative stars I would.

Quote of the Day

Since I have been a bad blogger, I'll throw a quote of the day out there for good measure. "When I was a teenager, my parents were so worried that I was going to get myself pregnant. So, every summer they forced me to go to Iowa for the entire summer." This sums up what my dad always says. Idiots Out Walking Around.

Busy Little Bee

I have been delinquent on posting. But, it's for good reason. You guys, I AM TIRED. And busy. This past Saturday, Mike and I were being pretty lazy. I was catching up on Real Housewives of Orange County and Mike was playing video games. I finally needed to get outside so told Mike, can we run to Hoodbury to look at new tennis shoes. Absolutely was his answer. Then he said, let's stop at The Humane Society out there and see the dogs. Little did I know that we would come home with this:

He is precious. But, he's also a puppy and although his training is going well, I'm still following him all around the house worried that at any moment he could squat. It's way more exhausting than I would have thought. It's also way more fun.

In other April busyness...work has been nuts (no pun intended), I've got birthdays galore this month, I'm working on some house projects and doing some major spring cleaning. I can't even tell you guys how happy I am that spring is finally showing itself. The weather has been beautiful and my tulips are even starting to come up. Color me excited!

Good One April!

April Fool's. You will have one more month of winter. Resolution of the month: Create a cleaning schedule. I've been a lazy mofo these last few weeks and need to get my rear in gear to open the house up for spring. I wish my resolution could be to create sunshine out of puppies farts or something like that. But, that violates one of my rules for resolution making.