I'm not dead yet

I'm just nearly dead. Maybe next week?

I haven't forgotten y'all. I've just been swamped with school, and then it'll be the holidays. Gimme a few more weeks and I'll be back to normal. Crafting, crazy me. I've got some exciting things in life coming up (youngest BIL is getting married in April and Trena's having a baby at the end of February) so there will be plenty of shopping crafty goodness coming up.

Just before school got really bad I got into Etsy again, and for good reasons that I'll explain at a later juncture. They have much to do with the coming baby and new SIL though.

Much love,

Pix

My "list"

Today anyway... it changes often enough... one person stays the same... guess.

1) Johnny Depp ~ 2) Edward Norton ~ 3) Jason Statham ~ 4) Ewan McGregor ~ 5) Christian Bale

Can you see the pattern? :) This isn't why, I just realized it after I stated it today on Twitter. There's actually 3. The first...

1) Finding Neverland ~ 2) The Illusionist ~ 3) In the Name of the King ~ 4) just posing ;) ~ 5) The Prestige (and Newsies and Swing Kids...)

Period films. :) Love 'em. They've also got quite a bit of UK in it. (Ok Ewan's in kilt, and not Moulin Rouge garb, I couldn't help it though).

1) Sweeney Todd ~ 2) American History X ~ 3) Crank (really all his movies) ~ 4) Star Wars Eps 1-3 ~ 5) Batman Begins/Dark Knight

They're all bad boys. ;) Or at least bad-azzes.

1) Sleepy Hollow ~ 2) The Incredible Hulk ~ 3) Crank ~ 4) Miss Potter ~ 5) Little Women

And the love birds. This was fun... and cheered me up. I had a major bi-otchy attitude today. Who is your 5?

Help!

I can't remember how to change my header! LOL I made a new one (it's really cute!) and now I can't put it up!

First off: Happy Pinktober! :) These are the little (3' long really) pink ribbons someone ties on trees/lampposts near my work every October. There are more than double the usual amount this year. They made me happy.


This next one made me think of Trena. I could just hear her voice saying "in bed" after reading this one aloud.

Had a family bridal shower last weekend. Here I am with my cousin Kristal (we're 3 months apart) and her darling baby girl.

It's that time of year again, Los Angeles is burning. Well, really the San Bernardino mountains. Here was a view from a street near my house (you can hardly tell in the photo but it LOOKED close... it's really not).

But the fun part about LA burning is the purtiful sunsets we get here. Give and take folks. Again, the real thing was MUCH more vibrant, deep reds there at the middle of the horizon.

Ta-da! Save 2nd Base! ;)

And another...

My friend Sarah's little girl. Ain't she a doll?

Panda Land Kit here by Sweet Genevieve

Adapted from Silke Ott's sketch

Did this one Sunday afternoon too.

My Cause

So here it is... I bit the bullet and just finished the sucker.



Here's another video of the same walk. She got some really cute pictures too. :)

Shoulda been doing homework

But instead I created. I needed to. This is my new niece, isn't she cute? :)

ETA: Items are all Sweet Genevieve at Oscraps, found here.

I know, I still haven't posted Avon Walk photos. They're coming... it's being edited when I get little snippets of time here and there. You'll know as soon as it hits the Tube. ;) Meanwhile, remember that it's Pink-tober and learn something about boobs! :D

Much love,

BIZZ-ZAY!

School... Avon Boobie Walk... homework... Primary program... bills... work... Pixie is losing it!

The walk is this weekend... it's going to be so fun! (And you can still donate here if the fancy strikes you. Crew isn't required to raise money... but anything I do goes to the cause right?) I'll try to remember to stop and take pictures and then I'll hopefully, eventually, have a slideshow of some sort. Sorry that I've been essentially absent here lately. It'll get better when September is over... I hope.

This is why infringement sucks

So I was poking along in Twilight Land today. Just killing some time before I had to go to a family baby shower and I went to see how Twilight Guy was doing. This post was at the top and made my jaw drop! For those that don't want to click... someone got a hold of Stephenie Meyer's manuscript of Midnight Sun (the companion book to Twilight) and POSTED IT ON THE FREAKING INTERNETS!!

How could ANYONE do that? Her response is to now put the book on hold. This is why copyright infringement is illegal. It ruins things for the actual artist, and then for those that are trying to follow along in the "game". Cheaters ruin it for everyone.

She provides a link to the actual manuscript that's been posted, in her way of taking control of the situation, but I'm not reading it. In fact, I'll be writing my first fan letter to her. I want to tell her that I'm sorry and upset by this and that I want her to finish it. I encourage any of her fans that read my blog (not many readers, but I think most of them are Meyer fans) to also write her. Her posting made me very sad for her as she's always been very gracious and appreciative about her fandom. If this had happened to Jo (it kinda did) I'd want the same thing.

I want to read what she had polished up and got ready for public consumption, not the work in progress. (Although it'd be kinda fun to read it later and make comparisons... but in a learning the process kind of way, not cheating and getting ahead way.)

Its the same with music and movies. I'll admit to have downloaded things in the past, but I put a stop to it in our house a few years back. It's dishonest and takes money from the artists. They're just trying to make a living and support themselves like I am. They work hard for what they put out and they deserve to get fair market value back.

Annoying

Am I the only one that has a problem with this commercial?



WHO wears a pink dress with rust orange pumps? GAG!!

He Found the One

Let me tell you about my friend Chris. I met him very near the beginning of my 7th grade year, and I was hooked. :) I thought he was the most adorable guy I'd ever met. We were in band together (he's a barry saxy). He quickly became my friend's boyfriend and a good friend of mine. He was a bit (UNDERstated) girl crazy so that relationship (like many in the years to come) didn't last very long.

Our friendship remained. I think in part it was because of the crush I had on him at the time but he was also this fountain of liveliness (is that even a word?). He wasn't always the easiest person to put up with... a pest really... but I just couldn't stay mad at him for very long. He always knew how to make me laugh and forgive him in the process.

I didn't see him much the next year as he had gone on to high school, but come freshman year, we picked right back up. He became my first boyfriend, and first heartbreak. When that happened I got a pile of "I told you so's" (remember he's got a reputation at this point... in 10th grade!) but somehow I didn't care. I knew what I was really getting myself into, and because I cared so much for him as a person, I didn't really hold any of it against him. We ended up getting back together for a month or so a few months later, but quickly broke up again. Thus becoming my only repeat boyfriend.

I ended my freshman year very confused about boys in general (really not him at this point) and he told me something that I held onto for years after. He told me that I was a great girl that would make someone very happy someday and that someday he wanted a nice girl like me to marry too. Silly, a little, generic, probably, but coming from Chris at that moment in my life was exactly what I needed to hear. The hope for me that he had, in our weird friendship, and for himself. I wasn't alone in my lost feelings, I had his friendship to help me out that moment.

He spent a lot of time at my house that summer. I should say the front porch because my mom didn't want to encourage me to have boyfriends at that age (I was only 14). Her solution was that he could visit, but not come in the house. He came to my house almost every afternoon though. We'd sit and talk about whatever and get annoyed the hell out of by Roxanne. I used to get so mad at her for bugging us, but years later I realized my mom probably sent her out there to chaperon. (Trena this story was for you because you love it so much!)

Our friendship has been cemented by laughter. Mostly at the expense of each other, but we laugh. Whenever I get to see Chris 2 things happen. I get a big goofy grin on my face (because his energy is infectious) and we pick right back up where we left off. That's how you measure a good friend, not by how often you see them or how often you talk, but how no matter how much time has passed, you can just pick up where you left off.

This story leads me to Lorie. I've talked about her here before, but I came today to post something. Chris found his Ms. Right. It was one of the first things he told me when he introduced us a bit before they got married. "Meghan, this is Lorelei. I've found my girl." I was SO very happy for him, you could just feel the joy radiating off of him. Lorie and I hit it off right away and to this day I love to brag about how talented she is on here, and I tell her all the time. It's gotten to the point where I email, blog and Tweet back and forth with her all the time... Chris who?

SO, to the real reason I'm posting here today. I've been playing catch up on my blogs this afternoon and I ran across this post on Lorie's blog. When I read it, I remembered that letter and talk I had had with Chris all those years ago and I was overcome with happy mushy feelings for my old friend. One that always held a special place in my heart. The lovable imp. I embrace my obnoxiousness because Chris taught me that you can be a lovable pain in arse.

Lorie, I don't know if he's ever told you any of the weirdness of our friendship in those days, and even then, it's different coming from the guy's side. I'll be forever grateful to you for being such a blessing in his life. You may think he needs a medal for putting up with you, but I say you're a saint for taking on him. :) Oh! And I could have spared you all the blushing and embarrassment if there was only a way for me to comment on your blog. Instead this became a long winded run-down of how a silly boy I met in band caused me to meet you, and in turn, how you almost made me cry today.

When do we see you guys next? :D

Hopping on the band wagon with the new peanut

Face Your Manga is the newest avatar craze. I jumped in on the fun...

And my other good news that I've been having to hold close to my chest for a bit... I'm gonna be an auntie again! Trena is 14 weeks along... here's her U/S from her 12 week appointment.

(S)he's waving at us!!

Oh! And I finally finished Breaking Dawn so hopefully I'll be getting better about posting more regularly.

This is the game that Allie and Trena play. Allie wants to feel the baby "kick" so she puts her hands on Trena's belly and waits. Then Trena twitches her stomach and Allie gets all excited. She does this for LONG periods of time. When Trena gets tired she just tells Allie the baby is asleep. It's funny to watch because the kick and sleep usually only have like 5 seconds in between.

Breakfast Club

Another JC Penny commercial that I totally love. I'd really like to talk to their advertising agency, some fun creative folks there.

Still coming to terms with geekdom

Anyone that reads here semi-regularly will know that this is a topic on my mind a lot lately.

I had friends drop everything to run to Vegas the day I mentioned that Star Trek: The Experience was closing. If I hadn't started reading Wil's blog, or subscribed to his Tweets, how would THEY have known? Yet, I didn't go. They tried, REALLY tried, but I couldn't justify going into debt for it. Instead they bought me a tribble and communicator badge from TNG. Good enough, no? I just resigned myself to knowing that I didn't know what I was missing and there's the chance it'll open somewhere else... and then I won't have to worry.

I really think I was destined to be a geek really. I am the daughter of 2 Trekkies and my mom is a big Tolkien fan. From the time I was a tiny kid I remember begging to look at her Froud Fairies book or through her jewelry box which contained various silver charms (ones that I'll kill my sisters for when she dies; they can have the opals and pearls, I want the silver unicorn and moon).

Anyway, my personal geek journey probably can be listed as starting when I was like 5 or 6. In my little world D&D was a cartoon (in reruns) that I wasn't allowed to watch. At the time I was told that it was too scary and would give me nightmares. As an adult I found out that Mom didn't want me, the obsessive little thing that I was watching it. The last thing that she needed was a small starting on a pathway to rolling 20s.

She had had a lonely childhood (friends wise, with 8 kids in the family, she was around plenty of people). I think she was trying to spare us the grief. Well, 3 out of 4 of us geeked out anyway. My youngest sister and I had it easier (geeky chicks are worshipped! lol) than my brother though.

Because of my obsessiveness, I'm beginning to think that the geekiness started before that (like just after I turned 3). From the time that I could barely talk, I was all about Rainbow Brite. I, again, didn't know this until I was an adult, but I could barely talk, and talked a blue streak about Smurfs and RB. I saw that happen when my nephew went though his Thomas the Tank Engine phase. it was so bad that my preschool teacher (who hadn't' seen me since I was like 4) remembered it. A few years ago she was at a family wedding (my aunt had kept up with her) and she immediately asked my mom "Where's Rainbow Brite?"

When it started at a point that I can remember clearly would be 21 Jump Street. Mom would watch it, and I remember being glued to Johnny Depp. Judy (Holly Robinson) was cool and all, but I loved Tom. That little tid bit in itself isn't geeky, but because of that, I was led to Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. That also meant that all I wanted to do for my 12th birthday was have my parents take me to see Nightmare Before Christmas.

Then there's Star Trek. I loved TNG! That flowed over to Deep Space 9 and Voyager. When Generations came out, my friend conned her dad into taking us down to Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood and seeing it there (I think) on opening day. Oh and also X-Files (which I'm Netflixing now and loving it!) and Unsolved Mysteries.

Did I mention that I read too? All kinds of things from Anne McCaffrey's Pern books to CS Lewis' Narnia, to Nancy Drew. Let's not get me started on comics okay?

Jeebus how didn't I "know" this before? I always knew that I was weird (and proud of it... popularity was overrated) but sheesh! Then when you throw in band, a passion for musical theater and the Buffyverse... yeah...

Sorry Mom, I never had a chance.

Magnets can change their shape, but they still attract

For a smallish timespan, I changed my banner every month. For one reason, I loved how Dooce changes that often, and for another, I'd get very bored with my banner. Then one day I realized I was a metal geek magnet. I found if funny and spent more time than usual on my banner. Then the month came and went, and I still really liked my banner. I thought it was fun and I'd leave it up for awhile longer than normal. Several months have gone by and a couple promises of updating as well... but the banner remains (cue the Metallica riffs).


The last couple weeks I've really decided that I needed to change it, but didn't make the time and when I did, I didn't like any concepts I'd worked up. So it's still there due to laziness. After last night, I'm thinking that I won't take it down for a LONG time.

So...


Matthew and I went to RatLand for our ritualistic public "drunkeness". 2 Skippies were skipping out, 1 planned, 1 burned out so we planned to meet Allen at Downtown Disney for dinner with Matthew's 2 brothers (Trena got her behind conned to going to Girls Camp again so Aaron is a free agent this week) and possibly hang out for a bit in the park if we felt up to it (getting old again I think).

We got our food at the Tortilla Joe's window and the guy leaned across Matthew to yell out the little window at me. He wanted to know if I was excited about "the new album." And then proceeded to tell me that he can't wait until he can see them live. Die hard Metallica fan who was desperate to escape Disney insanity for a minute? Or could it have been the Metallica logo stretched across my boobs? Who knows... but they always wanna talk to me.

Hi-dee ho!

I know, I've been slacking off. I don't really have any true excuses so I'll spare you. Wanna see what I've been up to? :) Of course you do!

We have a friend who recently obtained his pyrotechnics licence. He had several friends from church come down to assist him in his first show on the 4th. Jeremy was totally in charge of the whole set-up and take down as well as all that went in the middle of that. Here is Matthew and his buddy, Rocky, taking a quick break while Sarah, Rocky's wife, and I took their picture. The boys had fun, but it was a LOT of work!


That whole set up behind them is their "camp". Here is a fun photo and some footage of the show. It's sideways because I'm terrible about turning the video. I'll fix it someday... but for show here it is!

My cousin's little baby girl, Delilah, was blessed that Sunday. I wasn't able to make it to the blessing in LA (I'm the new Primary chorister and it was hard to find a sub so quickly) but had lots of fun at the open house afterwards.

Kristal, my cousin, has given up on scrapbooking due to time constraints & motivation, but she asked me to customize her prints for the blessing for her instead, so I have the whole set anyway! ;) Here is our grandma (my maternal, her paternal) my aunt, Kristal and Delilah taking a 4 generation picture. I'll post some of my creations with the photos another time.


And the Yippy Skippies at Disneyland this last week. The 5 of us on the right have been going every Wednesday night for the last 6 weeks or so. Seth even made a shirt to commemorate our fun little group. Those are my beloved new Chucks on my feet there too. :D The 5 of us go, invite our other passholder friends, and just have a blast being stupid silly together.

(L to R: Dawn, Jaana, Blaine, M&M, Seth, Allen & Cindy)

That's the quick version of what's been going on. I hope to post again soon!

Yippy in my Skippy!

Good Lord. Last night has to go down as one of the craziest trips to Disneyland ever. We've been going weekly for the last month or so and LOVING it. Cindy has been bringing assorted people but her new buddy Seth has been coming every time. He's hilarious! The first time we went with him, a few weeks ago, he yelled "Yippy in my Skippy" as we were finishing up on Thunder Mountain. As of last night, we are determined to get people to start yelling it. Someday it'll be the thing to do while you're on a ride and we'll be able to tell our kids we started it all! So next time you go over the dino bones, you gotta yell it loud and proud!

We had quite a good time last night. I think most of it was one of those "you hadda be there" type things.

Makes you wonder…

According to this article the US citizen test gets harder starting in October. They include a sample test of 20 questions that are among the "harder" ones. Granted, the REAL test isn't multiple choice, but almost all of these I would *hope* that the average American could answer, or at least come close. The sad truth is that most of us probably couldn't. I'll be honest, I took a guess on one (got it right) that I should have known… and now I do.

The one I got wrong, I should have known, and may have if I had spent time really thinking about it. I'm protesting that one because my American History classes rarely got that far. Isn't that sad? My 5th grade history was supposed to take me up to the Civil war, and we never got close. In 8th grade we as far as the Industrial Revolution I think, I don't remember ever discussing WWI. High school probably got up to the Korean War but she was cramming it in so fast that I don't really remember much. We studied up to the Civil War enough to actually retain, and maybe finished out the century but after that it was a BIG BLUR. And college? Ha! I graduate with a degree in Liberal Studies next semester with only 1 actual history class under my belt. I picked it myself from many different options. It was a survey of American history UP TO the Civil War (and I don't think we even got that far!).

It makes you worry about "the system." I think myself to be pretty knowledgeable about HOW the government is set up to run, but look at how one question points out huge holes in my education. Another one that made me think is the last one. Susan B. Anthony. I don't think I remember EVER discussing her in a class. It may be my faulty memory as far as school goes, but I know I learned about her from my grandmother. She really worked on me and my siblings to start collecting coins so she quite often gave us silver dollars or something like that for our birthdays. At the time, I think she was the only historical female to appear on a coin (or at least that I know of) so I was really interested.

If you're curious, my results are here.

It's that important

I love PostSecret, and support anything that Frank tells me to. He's always been highly supportive of Hopeline on his site and what they do is incredibly important. They need help. Please watch the video and donate if you can help.

Wow... just wow

I really think that the title says it all. So glad I'm not out there fighting the good fight. I'm also linking all my single guy friends to this so they can KNOW what I will kick their @$$ for if they EVER pull this crap.

The Douchiest Phone Message In History

Custom Chucks that make Bono proud

Oh how I love my new shoesies!

Even the box is cool...


A shoe bag? Wow, cool!!


How's that for personalization? I wanted PixieMegh on the back but I had one too many letters. My scrap-board girls call me Pixie anyway... it's now become a nickname of sorts.

I'm thinking I should have made the tongue blue too now, but whatever. I wanted them as close to my usual as possible. I'm weird about matching so the minimal blue is really okay.

See? They're officially Red-ed. I wanna meet the coolest Irishman to walk the planet now.

For all you globally aware people, I am aware that (Product) RED is controversial. I bought the shoes that I normally would have... except now their customized... I paid more and SOMETHING is going to a good cause. That's better than what I would have given before had I just gone to the mall and picked up my usual pair of black low tops.

Post-dated

So you know... I started this review of the new ride at Disney's California Adventure a week ago, but my internet went down and then I had issues with updating. It's finally done and I left it dated of when I had originally intended to post it. Click the link and catch up! :D

Apparently I grew up in a sex-crazed ghetto

This wasn't the exact dealership that I Twitted but you get the idea...

This one is actually worse than the one I was watching. The person SELLING the cars was a suited dude and the girls were just wearing some slutty dresses. These ads are so bad they're all over YouTube!!

Twitter 1

Twitter 2

Twitter 3

The hands down best ride ever!

I got to ride the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride at Disney's California Adventure. I won the chance in the Passholder Preview drawing. I had asked for two tickets for ANYTIME I could get them. I got them for a Wednesday day window (10-3). Matthew didn't want to take the time off work, but I get vacation! I called my friend Sarah as she's a formeer castmember and we always have a lot of fun! :) Andwe were going!!

This is me in line with Miss Melodie (Sarah''s ADORABLE little girl). Isn't she freaking cute? She's pretty shy of strangers and never seems to wamr up to me enough to let me hold her. We became best buddies this time. She actually asked me to pick her up!

Here are the cars. It's two of these booth things, back to back and then 2 sets of 2 are linked into a car. Confused yet?





So we got to the FRONT (as you can see from the position of the pictures) and it broke down! We had to "reverse" in line and as we were leaving, Melodie freaked out. She knew we were getting jipped... so we rushed over to the carosel so she could get on SOMETHING.

We then took a ride on the Sunwheel, and while we were on it, we could see that they were putting people back in line so we rushed on over. The line didn't move for awhile, and when I went forward to find out why, it turned out that the Beckhams were there that day and so they got to cut in before they re-opened the ride! I apparently had just missed them getting off the ride. Bummer. Well, we got back through the line and actually made it ON this time!

So, see those cannons? You pull the strings to shoot whatever you're throwing at that particular moment. The ride itself is 7 minutes long with 5 (I think) mini-games. You wear 3d glasses and launch different things. One games is throwing darts at balloons (and you feel air blasts on your face when you pop the big ones up close!). Another you break plates. One is like an actual shooting range and the ride moves along as you try to shoot the moving targets. That's my fat arm there below.

That's my score... 85,400. Not bad for a first time, and I can promise it will probably not get much better as the years go by. Sarah and I both agreed that they have all the potential to change the games if they want and vary it so that it can be different almost everytime if they want.

As we were being pulled back up to the docking area. We had so much fun!!

Thriller with a side of awesomesauce

From last weekend's Star Wars Days at Walt Disney World. It's pretty self explanitory after that.

The Great Twitter Debacle

For those of you that follow me on Twitter via wireless something... I apologize for the Twit-storm. It never dawned on me until my sudden shut-up moment that I may be disturbing others. (No one has complained yet, but I wanted to pre-empt any bad feelings.) :) Since my 2 friends have started on it we have used it as an IM/Group Chat service a few times, this one was the funniest by far, so I'm including the transcript for sharing. I've eliminated their names as they have private Tweets.

(All my spelling errors and everyone's rampant neglect of the shift button have been left intact.)

M: I hate my life.

S: Move up to Oregon with meeeee! :-D

M: I need to finish school so i can get a job so i can get my own place!

S: It was worth a try... heh...

M: Thanks though

P: Besides Oregonsmells of unwashed hippies.

M: I like hippies!

P: Not stinky dirty ones.

S: Not all of oregon... lol... Just parts... Kinda like how parts of LA smell like BO and urine. Hahah

M: Lol really really hating my life

P: @ S. Roflmao

P: Yes M. you like hippies. But hippies are like clowns, they're funny to watch but you don't want want to live next to the circus.

M: Good analogy Megh! Thank you

S: Hahahaha... Actually, hippies are quite amusing to watch...

S: And they're fun to live close to... Its like going to disneyland to people watch... but for free

P: I know! I said they were.

P: No. Because you get to go home & leave the scarey fake animals @ home after disneyland. The hippies stay, especially if you feed them.

S: Hahahahahaha... Megh's channeling eric cartman tonight... Damn dirty hippies!

P: Ok I'm laughing so hard I'm crying & can't see!

P: Jeez! I must be tired.

S: One nice thing about hippies... They have nicely kept lawns and gardens... And they leave all the steak for me to eat! Haha

P: Where dod they grow their pot then?

S: Hahaha... In their "hydroponic" indoor garden. In the basement.

It was actually where I made the crying comment when I realized that I may have faux pas'd myself. Please forgive me, I was having fun on a Friday night. :)

I love my friends.

Greetings nerdlings

Do you know how happy finding Wil Wheaton's blog has made me the last couple weeks? I feel my inner dork coming out more often now. We can thank my sudden possible intrest in playing FF11 on two things: the rest of the family playing... and my realization that being geeky is something that I just need to fully embrace. It's a part of me that isn't going anywhere and it doesn't compromise my "cool points." I can thank Aaron, Munchkin and Buffyverse RPG's for that!

So to honor my newfound full comfort with dorkdom (let's face it, I've always admitted to being geeky... I'm just finally fully aware of and happy with the extent of it) more droolness for Wil fans. ;)
The beard just enhances people. And not everyone who can grow one carries it off well either. Jessica is lucky to be married to someone who CAN carry it off. Matthew can't and knows it so he doesn't even try... thank heaven! Can I just say he seems like the nicest person in the world too? Not just some pompous @$$hat that thinks the world owes him something. I can't wait to have enough extra money to buy one (or all) of his books. I'm even overlooking the whole Democrat thing. He's not obnoxious about it, and he's from LA. Most folks around here just are that way. I forgive him.

And the other dork moment that made me totally gasp today...

To anyone that said Robert Pattinson was a horrible casting choice for Edward... eat that!

When I first read the books I had nobody in particular in my head (I don't think up actors to act out my books... I just kinda get vague images in my head, probably hybrids of people I've known or something, any way) so if you had asked me my favorite casting choice I wouldn't really have had an idea. I would have guessed some actor that's way too old for the part because I don't really know many of the young ones these days (guess that's good since I'm 26 now). I just would have said that I'd know him when I saw him.

Then I read who they cast. I was ecstatic! I knew INSTANTLY he was perfect! All those other actors that girls were boo-hooing about not being in it were all wrong. Those nay-sayers must not have really read the books because they all had the wrong coloring... skin, hair etc. Tan/olive skin and dark brown hair won't work people! She distinctly repeats over and over that he's got BRONZE hair. That's like a golden redish color. RP is a doll and I'm totally stoked for this!

Enough for tonight though. :) Have fun drooling and I'll post again soon!

Lake Beauvert

Lake Beauvert
Originally uploaded by elementalPaul

Here's another awesome one!

One If By Sea…

One If By Sea…
Originally uploaded by carpe icthus

I just hadda draw attention to this one. Beautiful!!

The one where I avoid hijacking Trena's blog

Trena posted this and I started to respond... but it quickly got long winded and so I've turned it into a post.

I like Jessica's explanation... not changed, just expanded. I still live by the "if it screams I like it" mantra, but so many awesome and different bands have come out since HS. The Killers, Muse, etc. I still list Metallica and Korn as my favorites of all time, but my "current" faves have shifted to Killers, Morrissey and Muse from 311, PM5K and Depeche Mode. Doesn't mean I love the others any less, they're just not as high on my playlists right now.

Plus I've always appreciated 80s rock but didn't have as much access to it then as I do now. I'd heard The Cure, Smiths, New Order etc. but I only had access to what was played on the radio... not that I'm complaining. ;)

I went through high school during an amazing time for music. I know just about every decade says that, but we have a one up on the 80s or 70s kids... we had the benefit of those types of music too. Thusly why our music rocked so much. Those bands we had were influenced by the older styles.

When you thrive on music like I do (Trena MUCH more-so than I), you always look for the new and exciting. I firmly believe that 90s grunge & alternative will always feel like home to me, but I will always listen to contemporary music stations. Even when KROQ starts a 90s station, I'll always try to keep up with what's new. Granted there will be periods of timewhere I can't stand what they're playing and will jump around, but I'll always come back. Winter '06- winter'07 was a period where if I heard that STUPID 30 Seconds to Mars song ONE MORE TIME I'd have gone postal on some random emokid on the street. Not a happy time for music IMO.

During that rough year, I was constantly checking back to see if it had gotten any better... no? Okay maybe in a month...

I can't stand the thought of missing something new and cool. I've never been willing to go digging around for underground stuff. Granted, it may be better at times, but I really do believe in the free market and feel that the good stuff will eventually get there. There IS crap on the radio. I've bought CDs due to the heavy marketing of said crap and can look back and say some purchases were mistakes. That being said, I still enjoy said mistakes, but I just realize that it's mindless crap (Limp Bizkit for example). There's stuff that I love now, that I know Trena probably doesn't, that leads me to belive that it will also be a mindless crap mistake that I love anyway.

Then there's the mindless crap that I hated at the time but years later I'm able to go back and love it for what it is (or vice versa). You wouldn't have caught me dead watching, listening to or buying into the Spice Girls way back when. I now own their movie and have downloaded songs and videos since. There, I said it... I ENJOY the Spice Girls! Britney Spears? I bought her first album. I saw potential there. Never again. Gave that sucker away about a year later. It goes both ways for me.

When all is said and done, I don't think your taste changes. The bands I like now are influenced by the bands that I liked 10 years ago. I think you just keep looking for that similarity (ask any Grannie, they'll tell you that Squirrel Nut Zippers or Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is great music). Easy listening in your older years only uncovers the fact that you didn't really mind it back when, it just wasn't a priority to you then, and now it is. I listened to KBig and Kost as a kid/early teen. I didn't start listening to KROQ until 10th grade. I've been making up for it ever since, but I'll never deny liking to listen to Phil Collins and The Police either. Or Dire Straits and the Beatles. My parents had much more influence on my music tastes in those days and it shows through on my iPod playlists (as I've posted here in the past). Hell! I'll even listen to GOOD country music (none of that Honky Tonk Badonkadonk crap... classic Garth Brooks or Johnny Cash!) on occasion.

Old age just makes you less rigid to what you'll listen to at that given moment. When you're a teen all caught up in angst and anger, that's all you want to hear, when you're older and your moods diversify more, so does your playlist.

Catch Up

It's been crazy! Here's some photos to catch you all up on what I've been up to.

First up, my little troop has grown! I don't think I've posted pictures of my newest turtle. Easter also brought me an iguana. So meet: Jonas, Bree, Rhiannon, Emma, Chloe and Iggy!

This spring brought babies for 2 wonderful people in my life. I'd decided that I wanted to give them something truly from the heart so I found fabulous fabric (way more expensive than I'd thought, oops!) and had my dear friend, Stephanie, sew them up for me. Didn't she do a beautiful job?

I got my hair cut and dyed the weekend before Easter. Ain't it cute? It's faded a lot since then to a more brownish, but I was so sick of the really grown out bleached blonde nastiness. :) Much happier now.

Got bored one day... here's my school. This is the view from the top of one of the parking structures. That building in the front is the performing arts building/theater. The windowed one on the far right (top of the skyline) is where I've taken all my math and science classes. The visual art building is behind those trees on the left.

More gift fun! I made these onsies for Michelle (my friend from school who has kept me sane on this LONG journey). Her blanket & burp cloths are the cherry pattern seen above (they also went into the bag). Sweet and Rockababy credits can be seen in each link.


I had WAY too much fun wrapping that!

Trena started a bunko group. I forgot to take pictures before anyone left, so I took this one instead. I had a lot of fun!!

Went to Disneyland on 5/2 with T&A and the Richins'. We had a lot of fun! Matthew got on the carrosel with Liam. Cute shot huh?



Dear friends of ours bought a Coldstone about a half hour away from our place. He was in our wedding line and Matthew's best friend growing up. I'm looking forward to many nights down that way this summer!

My mother's day gift to my mom. :)

We went to Minnie's Moonlight Madness last week with our friends Kim and Matt. We had lots of fun and came in 121st place out of around 400. Not bad for 2 newbies (the Matts).

And I got these great shots of Main Street being essentially empty. The first is with my back to the hub and castle. That's the train station and flag pole at the end. The second is at the other end with the pole behind me looking at the castle. So cool!


Saturday of Memorial Day weekend always has my behind at the fair grounds for the Highland Games. We spend most our time at the athletic fields watching Allen compete, but we also eat meat pies and go shopping. Here's Allen preparing for his first caber throw.

And his second throw... messed up by some OLD crazy lady (no really... she doesn't look so bad in the photo but you had to actually SEE her to understand) who just randomly stopped right in front of me. Thanks!

The Highland Midgets. I've got video of them too. I'll post that later. ;) They were pretty funny.

And my latest acquisition. ;) I love it.

Sunday was Liam's birthday. Matthew is officially the favorite uncle for a bit as he picked this out for him:


That brings you up to date on me. It's been crazy busy. There was a lot left out too. Whew!! Stay tuned for fun video clips in my next post. :D