Thanksgiving: A Recap

Ah, Thanksgiving. A time of year traditionally given to turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Mmm, carb-fest. Unfortunately, I am a young wife not particularly given to cooking at all, let alone feasts. I am also a night-shift LPN working both holiday shifts-- Wednesday night and Thursday (tonight). So, no beautifully garnished turkey with homemade cranberry sauce for us. Instead, I got home at 7, slept until 2, snuggled my husband a whole lot, and worked on homework. My husband, on the other hand, was kind enough to make a wonderful Thanksgiving feast for both of us! The menu: breaded chicken fingers (frozen), three cheese macaroni with shells, barbecue chicken bites (frozen), and white rice. And honestly? It was delicious. We even adhered to the Thanksgiving tradition of football, by watching Leatherheads while we ate dinner. I was almost as full as after a standard thanksgiving feast, except without all the leftovers. And, sadly, I only had an hour to nap before getting ready for work. But I'm pretty happy with our homey little holiday.

The REAL celebration took place last friday and saturday, at my in-laws. We went to colorado for a weekend, and managed to fit thanksgiving AND christmas into those short 2 days. Friday night was thanksgiving, and we had all the standard meal items, plus homemade rolls and jam and cinnamon honey butter. That may have been my favorite. Along with everything else. It was completely delicious, and we shared things we are thankful for. I am thankful for a wonderful family-in-law willing to bust their butts to celebrate a holiday around our stupid work/school schedule.

After dinner we decorated the christmas tree, and Saturday morning we had a scaled-down christmas. Personally, I got way more than I ever expected. Including a brand new crockpot, with a timer. Perhaps I'll actually be able to cook dinners now! It was hard to remember that the rest of the world did not think saturday was a holiday; that's how real it felt. It was amazing.

Sunday afternoon we took family pictures, and packed up and headed home. We miraculously fit all of our stuff onto the plane, and now I'm trying to find places to put all the cute decorating things I got. It would probably help if I cleaned my house. Maybe in 2 weeks. But probably not any earlier.

The Obligatory Twilight Post

I have important things to write about, but I'll wait until I get pictures (which I hope I'll get eventually).

Today, I saw Twilight with my husband, his brother, and two of my sisters-in-law. Here is my review, bulleted for your convenience:

The Good

• Some (emphasis on some) of the cinematography was fabulous, and the colors vivid and beautiful
• There were some cute one-liners, and some funny dialogue
• It was nice to see the books I love brought to life, and compare the images with what I saw in my head
• Bella was wonderful
• Emmett was nicely done, and funny
• I like the soundtrack

The Bad

• The movie was, in short, completely awful. Besides those good points.
• Nearly all of the Cullens were strange and not very good-looking. Bella was the most pale, and the prettiest of them all without even trying.
• The most climactic points of the movie (excepting the scene in the ballet studio) COMPLETELY fell flat. There were points in the movie that should have been exciting and adrenaline-producing, and they were simply disappointing.
• The dialogue was incredibly corny throughout most of the movie.
• The vital first-meeting of Edward and Bella, in Biology class, was laughable. Edward looked constipated/nauseated. It would have been easy to use the fabulous cinematography they SHOWED they know how to do, and focus in on his eyes.... make it less real-time... basically fake the intense emotions and hatred Bella felt emanating from her lab partner. Instead, it was hysterical, and Edward looked more ill than angry. Terrible.
• The MOST IMPORTANT scene of the book, of the whole Twilight universe, the scene based on the author's dream that started the whole thing............... it didn't even happen. It was weird, disjointed, the feelings were all off, it happened nothing like in the book (and I know a lot of things were edited, but of all the things to chop up, you could have at LEAST left that important scene untouched)... And yet, there were other RANDOM parts that they took straight from the book that didn't even add to the story
• ... which made the whole thing a little forced and, again, very disjointed. It was like they were trying to shove certain things in where they just DID NOT fit. Like a square peg in a round hole.
• At the very end, the whole prom scene... well, the whole thing was disappointing. Bella wasn't all dressed up and gorgeous like she was supposed to be, but more importantly, they just ignored a perfect opportunity for a gorgeous choreography scene. I thought he was supposed to be an accomplished dancer?
• Many random points in the film made no sense. Like the other vampires being in town from the beginning... there was NO sense of danger or concern from the Cullens. And there was a scene at the end where Victoria was close by, and Edward did not even react. I don't believe that the vampires Stephenie Myer established would not be able to sense a vampire so close, especially Edward.
  

I can't believe Myer was actually excited about this film. It butchers her wonderful books completely. Doesn't even begin to do them justice. I'm not sad I went... it was fun, and I enjoyed it... but I would never see it again, never buy the movie, and never recommend it to anybody who hadn't read the books already. It was amusing, and that was all.

The BEST Conversations!

I just had a telephone conversation with the cutest little girl on the whole entire planet. Can I tell you how smart she is? This little 2 1/2 year old sang Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, and her ABCs. She counted to 10, she told me her favorite pizza, and that she likes ice cream. And she told me her brother goes to school. I swear, she has the cutest little voice. I said "Isabelle, do you know you're the cutest little girl in the whole world?" And she said, "YEAH!!"

Seriously. Melts my heart.

My Repressed Mother

I had the funniest dream last that I just remembered. Well, to be fair, I did just wake up. Anyways, to summarize, I dreamed that my family and a bunch of extended family (the extended family was made up, i didn't recognize any of them except in-dream) took a trip to the "heartland" (I'm not sure what to call it... some dumb central state like Ohio or Iowa). We were going to some show, in addition to staying for a while and visiting. There was a baby involved that I was mothering, but that is a recurring theme in my dreams. And my mother, in total motherly fashion, was fretting about "Do we have enough food for everybody? What do we have left? What about the weed? Is there enough left for everyone for the show or did we use it all already? Oh, I wouldn't even know where to get more out here..."

It made total sense, while I was asleep.

I've been tagged!

I feel so special. I've been tagged by my cousin, Amy.

8 TV shows I love to watch
I watch hardly any of these any more, what with the utter lack of cable, but this would be my TV wish-list...
1. The Office
2. Scrubs (is it really over? Cos if so, LAME!)
3. House
4. Heroes
5. Ugly Betty
6. Doctor Who
7. Eli Stone
8. Lost

8 Favorite restaurants
1. Jason's Deli
2. Outback
3. Carraba's (but only if Kelly is working there, because otherwise it's just too expensive)
4. Red Lobster
5. Macaroni Grill
6. Panera Bread (does that count as a restaurant? I think it should)
7. Chili's
8. Mimi's Cafe

8 Things that happened yesterday
1. I took a shower
2. I forgot my sweatshirt in the rental car
3. We spent too much money on Cinnabons at the airport (but they were soo good)
4. I finished a supposedly "challenging" sudoku puzzle from the Sky magazine
5. We watched a movie on Brit's iPod on the plane (and were amazed that the battery lasted through the whole thing)
6. We got the amazing 1st row exit row seats for the 2 hour flight from FL to Atlanta
7. I got zipped up in 2 sweatshirts while we waited outside for Bruce and Kelly to pick us up (it was COLD! And we were being very silly.)
8. I snuggled my kitty to pieces cos i MISSED HER.

8 Things I'm looking forward to
1. Christmas in November
2. Graduating in December
3. A cruise that may or may not happen with my brothers next year
4. Not caring about my body or my diet for the next couple of months
5. Getting into really great shape starting next year
6. Having a baby in... a really really long time :(
7. Getting a job in the hospital
8. Buying a house. Several years away, granted, but still, I look forward to it.

8 Things on my wish list
1. A house!
2. To not have to work on thanksgiving
3. A wireless printer
4. A crockpot with a timer on it so i can pretend like i'm domestical
5. A good desk chair
6. A puppy
7. My dream job in Labor & Delivery or Mother/Baby or NICU. Or all three.
8. More friends

8 People I'm tagging
1. Emilia
2. Heather
3. Kari
4. Natalie
5. Alia
6. Cassie
7. Bekah
8. Brittany

I am still planning an update about my vacation brother's wedding. I need to go to work and get my paycheck and schedule, though. It would be awfully nice to know if I was working tonight...