A Hardy Jane

I am so exhausted today - the holiday weekend of running around like a crazy person was very tiring. I'm glad I didn't have to drive to all of the places.

I didn't get a single book finished this last week though. I am almost finished with The Jane Austen Book Club and I'm 400, + or - a few, pages away from being finished with Far From the Madding Crowd. I love Thomas Hardy! He's so amazing.

Not this one...but he's quite dreamy!

This Hardy

Anyways, I need to rush back off to work. Joy :D Thank God the busy part of the day is over so far.

Fa la la la - Yay Me!

Ohhhhhhhhh - I just bought myself a Christmas present! I 32" flat screen tv. Yay me!

Relationships: I've had lots of little old men tell me how cute I am recently. Lols. Maybe I'll just have to marry one of the 96 year olds that swing by and think I'm cute :D

Health: Well, as you read, yoga kicked my butt last night! But I think I am getting better and better at it, despite not knowing half the positions she calls out.

Well - I need to be off so I can welcome my nephew home!

Merry Merry Christmas to you all! :*

Eat Crow Ghosts

Ugh - I am super tired tonight!  Just like I was last night.  After I got done with work (around 7ish) - I went and cleaned up my apartment for my company this week.  I am so excited to see my nephew!!!!  Sometimes I think my heart could burst out of my chest - and that's just looking at a picture.  I'm so lucky to have him as my graduation present (he was born the day I graduated from college).  Today, I worked early until 6 - then I ran to my yoga class, where the instructor kicked our butts.  I honestly couldn't do a majority of the last phase of sun salutations.  I just kind of attempted, sort of....  What the heck is a crow position?!?!?

hahaha - yeah right!  I couldn't do that when I was young!

Afterwards, someone had brought wine and cheese and almonds and chocolate!  We munched and talked about scary ghost stories.  There is apparently one that haunts the yoga building and the one next door.  Two of the people last week heard the door rattling (like someone pulling on the door, trying to get in), first faintly, and then really loudly.  I got a chill as they were explaining this!  I told them about the rolling ball at the palace in Scotland and the library ghost that slammed the book drop closed one night as I was walking away from locking the front doors.  We had a lot of fun and then giggled at the fact that we were sharing ghost stories like the Christmas carol, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, says:

"There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago."

This begs the question - why are ghosts such a part of Christmas?  Is it all because of Scrooge and his Christmas ghosts?  Are there other ghost stories that are supposed to go along with Christmas?  I can't think of any off the top of my head...maybe it's because I spent too much time trying to do the crow.  What do you think?

Frightful Weekend

So I am going to try to breeze through this.

I watched Fright Night - which is pretty good. I liked it. It was one of those scary movies that was just a little to far past believability. Colin Farrell was fantastic - you could tell he loved his part. And personally, I would have PAID to be one of his victims. You could see Doris, the first victim, smile as he licked the blood from her chest to her neck. She was trying to hide it with a grimace, but she couldn't completely keep the smile from her face. I do not blame her at all. Lucky Doris. I like that this vamp movie makes vampires scary again - not like fluffy house pets. BTW, what is with Anton Yelchin (cutie little Russian) always playing a character named Charlie B.



I also watched Sarah's Key - it was a weekend for Christmas spirit..not! It was a good movie about a little girl that locks her brother in the closet so as to not be found by the police rounding up the Jews. They end up being taken away - for a long time. She escapes and manages to get back to her house - only to find, well, you can imagine what they found in the closet after several weeks of him being in there. The story is unraveled by a journalist who finds out about the Jewish family that lived in the home her family just moved into (the building has been in the family since they moved into it during the war). It was nice to hear all the French dialogue in the movie.

I listened to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne this weekend as well - see, I told you it was a weekend full of Christmas cheer! I watched this movie by myself in the palace in Scotland. It ripped my heart out. The book did the same - the movie was really similar to the book. The story is about a 9 year old boy who's father gets put in charge of Auschwitz. They move next to the camp, and despite being forbidden to go exploring, he does. While exploring, he finds a friend. He talks to the little boy on the other side of the fence and they become best friends. Bruno, the small German boy, is very confused by the people on the other side of the fence. On the last day before he leaves to head back to Berlin, he decides to go exploring a bit further.

A Matthew MacFadyen Universe

So last night, after completing my 40th hour of work, I ran home...cleaned...and got ready for book club!  We watched a movie last night: Death at a Funeral.  Matthew MacFadyen - you are dreamy! If only every girl could have one of you!  Lols - that strange alternate dimension would be beyond weird!

Anyways
Relations: Well, I've had a lot of fun with the ONE other person in my book club (yeah, that's how we roll).
Health: Well, I got to yoga once this week and I managed to lose a whole pound in a week.  Wii Fit is worried about me since my goal was only 1lbs in 2 weeks: I may be losing too quickly!
Career:   I'm still searching for the one that will be perfect for me and I for it.

Full Bellies

From work to yoga to packing food for kids around the world...I am exhausted. I packed meals and helped clean up for about an hour and a half. I'm just so happy so many kids in Guatemala and Haiti will have full bellies because of the work we did. Amazing time! I know myself, I hadn't eaten since lunch and my stomach was growling loudly in protest around 8:30pm. I thought to myself though: these kids sometimes only eat once every other day - the pangs in my stomach are nothing compared to theirs. Check it out, and if you can help somewhere this Christmas - maybe try a new tradition.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!

So I found out from someone recently that you can shatter bubbles like glass! I had no idea, nor would I have thought of this, but if you blow bubbles when it is below 32 degrees (freezing) they freeze and shatter. The bubbles will float for a bit until the outside air has chilled your warm breath inside of the bubble - the bubbles then fall to the ground and shatter. I attempted this the other night, but it was still just a little too warm for it (34 degrees). I'm really hoping that the temperatures drop enough for A. Some snow and B. So I can do this with my nephew. I can see his shocked little face right now!



From the videos out there...it doesn't look like they quite shatter.

The World Isn't Fair

I finished reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson last week.  It was a really interesting novel - telling the story of the Chicago's World Fair and the infamous murderer and first American psychopath, H.H. Holmes.  I've already written a bit about this novel, but some of the most interesting information put forth in the book was about the World's Fair.  All the things that were introduced at the fair, how the main architect of the fair didn't have a degree (he had test anxiety), the landscape architect had extreme anxiety and insomnia, and how the Ferris Wheel came to be the rival to the Eiffel Tower despite everyone saying it would never work. 

The real thing I am excited to hear about is the fact that this book is going to be turned into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio.  It isn't slated to come out until 2013 but it looks to be an interesting telling of the fiend of hell living side by side the heavenly white city of the Chicago's World Fair.

Take Me To the Movies

So I have a few movies to talk about: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Conan the Barbarian and Water for Elephants.

So starting with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It's a chick flick to the CORE. It is a story of true friendship and it is gut wrenching. I really liked how they didn't hold back on the full details of how girls feet were bound and how they were the property of the men (not good enough unless you bore a son, able to beat you at his whim, and you HAD to OBEY him...even if that meant going to bed with him early despite the presence of your laotong). It is about a Chinese tradition of laotongs. It is basically girls who are bonded at childhood and are best friends/sisters through a strict code. Bingbing Li and Gianna Jun are the lead actresses; they play both the modern story and traditional story of loatongs. Snow Flower and Lily are bonded to each other through a matchmaker. Lily is an impoverished girl; however, her saving grace is the perfection of her bound feet. She is paired with the wealthy Snow Flower and they are taught the secrets of a laotong. Life flip flops on them, ending with Lily a wealthy woman and Snow Flower impoverished. Their friendship is really tested through these times. The story of Snow Flower and Lily closely mirrors the lives of Sophia and Nina - two modern day loatongs. Their friendship is also tested....

Crazy, Stupid, Love was just a spectacular movie. Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell, and Emma Stone were brilliant. I have to say my least favorite moment was the appearance of Josh Groban; my favorite was when he got dumped :D I so can't stand that man! Anyways...Steve Carrell's character, Cal, has a bomb dropped on him one night: his wife wants a divorce because she slept with another man. He is devastated and pretty soon he's spending his nights at the bar telling the air his sob story. Jacob, played by Ryan Gosling, is a suave and seductive man that takes pity on poor Cal. Jacob is giving Cal his manhood back - he's turning him into a suave and seductive man just like him. Both men end up finding exactly what they need.


Conan the Barbarian - I am so sorry Jason Momoa....you couldn't even make that movie better. It just seemed like every actor and actress was just trying a little too hard to be convincing in their roles. There were some funny/witty lines and some intense battle scenes, but just badness everywhere else. Ugh - it is really all I can say. It's depressing to me since I really wanted to see this remake. At least I hear that Thor really sucks it too. Story: young barbarian "prince" sees his dad brutally murdered for a piece of some ancient mask that was divided up long ago because it's power of bringing back the dead got too dangerous. He's pissed off by it and spends the rest of his life looking for the man who did that - he finds him and keeps trying to kill him. I'll give you a hint, he gets what he wants...and the woman too! ...before he rides off without her.


The most recent movie I watched was Water for Elephants. The book is way different and just better in the plethora of detail you get from the book that can't transfer to film. It was an overall good movie even if I didn't like a few of the character changes they made. The story is about an old man remembering his circus days with the Benzinni Brothers. He went to Cornell to study veterinary science and then work with his father. The day of his exams, he is informed that his parents have died in a horrible crash. He breaks down at the loss of his family and all of their possessions, so he tries to head for the city - he ends up on the circus train. There, he is taken in as the show's "Ivy League Vet." He diagnosis a terminal disease in one of the shows main attractions. The loss of this main attraction leaves the circus leader searching for a main attraction. He finds it with Rosie...an elephant. There's a love story, a cranky midget clown, a sweet old man, a bipolar header, and Rosie. It's a wonderful story, plus, I love Reese Witherspoon.

H.H. Yuck.

This week has been crazy!  And now, after putting in 40 hours at one job, I'm off to put in another 12 this weekend.  Migraines and stomach aches have had me off all week, but I'm sort of starting to feel better.  I feel asleep right away at 7 when I finished with work and ended up waking at 10 and staying up until 2.  I finished my book around 2 in the morning.  I'd had a stomach ache most of the night, but I think learning about H.H. Holmes twisted murders of the three kids only made it worse.  I must say - peppermint tea is fantastic!  My stomach still hurt when I woke up and so I made myself some peppermint tea and sipped it throughout the morning and my stomach ache literally disappeared.  It was nice!

This is the creepy murder - H.H. Holmes. And I'm guessing a picture of "The Castle"

Relationships:  I got to see one of my friends from school that I haven't seen in like a year.   It was fun to catch up with him.  We talked for hours and drank wine and wandered around town. He is one of my few guy friends whom I can just talk - intellectually - for long periods of time. 

Health: I went to the Holiday Hip Opener at the local yoga place.  OUCH!!!!  We watched Elf while we did some of the most PAINFUL hip opening positions.  I didn't realize it was a "special" night, but for an hour and 45 minutes...I was in HELL.  My knees were so bruised from the workout. It might have been all those moves down on my hands and knees...or perhaps my falling up the stairs as I was running to get ready for class. It took me 4 days to not be able to feel my abs so painfully every time I moved after the free hour long workout that I did on Saturday. 

Career: Mine is getting a little stressed with EHR requirements.  I'm starting to think a lot more about potential careers that I could be happy at - I'm still drawing a blank at the moment....maybe that will fill in some time soon. I hope so.

"Yes, I yell at inanimate objects"

So I have been listening to Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It is very interesting. I have spent most of the night struggling with my computer and the audiobooks site and transferring my books. I am now exhausted. I will write much more when I am not working straight 9 1/2 hours and feeling sick and fighting with my computer. Yes, I yell at inanimate objects. I'm special :D

Conan

I am currently in the middle of watching Conan the Barbarian.  I had to come back home to drop Elisabeth off for a babysitting job.  I have yet to finish it!  I also got Beastly to watch and it doesn't work!  Off to call Redbox and let them know...while also returning to Jason Mamoa!