Dying...

Is blogging dying... or is it just mine?  I feel so sad about the fact that it has been a MONTH since I blogged. I'm so far behind and honestly, I feel like I should just quit... I pretty much have.  I want to get excited about it again!  I want to WANT to blog.  I want to have an experience and think, "I can't wait to blog about that!"  How do I get back there?  Do I even have ANY readers left?

One thing I AM excited about is the premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire tonight at 8 p.m.

I won four tickets from a local radio station to see it at an IMAX theater!  SO EXCITED! Maybe I'll blog about it?!

In the meantime, follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the exciting life of Shannon :-)

Thinking about 2013...

Over the weekend, I told Mike one of my New Year's Resolutions.  He threatened divorce.

Book vs. Movie: One for the Money

Close race... I'm giving it a TIE SCORE!  And that's big coming from this book worm!

 

One of my all time favorite book series is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I love love LOVE these books! When I found out that they were finally making a movie for the first book, I was pumped! I knew it would be great!

I was not disappointed!  The movie was pretty much spot on.  From the Burg neighborhood to Stephanie's apartment... and everything in between!  I loved it :o)

The Cast 

Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum

The characters were cast perfectly.  Katherine Heigl played Stephanie Plum.  I was worried about whether or not she could pull off a character like Stephanie.  In the book, she is portrayed as this go-getter Jersey girl.  She isn't the toughest or the smartest, but she knows how to get what she wants.  Katherine Heigl played the role perfectly!



Jason O'Mara as Joe Morelli

Jason O'Mara was great as Joe Morelli.  He had the perfect combination of sass and charm.  I'm excited for him to step into his cop roll in later films.

Daniel Sunjata as Ranger

Ah... Ranger :o)  When you read the books, you picture a big, hugely built, brown man.  Kind of like a mixture of The Rock and Vin Diesel.  Daniel Sunjata was great for the roll.  My only beef with him as Ranger is that he doesn't quite have the "bad boy" look to him that Janet Evanovich portrays in the books.

Sherri Shepherd as Lula

Nobody more perfect than Sherri Shepherd could have been cast as Lula!  She was awesome!  I so look forward to her in future movies, scrambling for some cluck in a bucket :o)

Patrick Fischler as Vinnie and Ana Reeder as Connie

Then, there is Vinnie and Connie.  They run the bond office.  Patrick Fischler was the perfect little weasel for Vinnie and Ana Reeder was just right for Connie. 

Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur

If you've read the books, you know Grandma Mazur!  Debbie Reynolds did awesome as Gram.  Again, she really comes into character later in the series.  She did do a great job at shooting the pot roast, though! :o)

Other cast members include Debra Monk as Mrs. Plum and Louis Mustillo as Mr. Plum.  They both seem like the right people to be cast as Stephanie's parents.

Overall, the movie was great.  Mike and I double dated with my parents to go see it.  Mom and Dad have both read the book but Mike hasn't (still trying to convince him!)  Mike still enjoyed it and was able to "get it" even without already knowing the story line and the characters.  It was awesome!  Go see it :o)

Ghosts, Werewolves, and Vampires, oh my!

I don't believe in ghosts... or at least I didn't think I did... until we got one!  We have a ghost.  You know, they say that animals and small children can see ghosts.  Jaden used to call us in her room nightly because she saw a ghost.  Once, Mike even asked her if it was a nice ghost to which she replied, "No, he's an ANGRY ghost!"  Great.  Then she wanted to put glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling because, "they keep the ghosts away."  Humoring her, I brought out a box of my old stars from college (I love them, don't judge) and we put them all over her ceiling.  After that, we never had to go back in her room for ghosts.  Then, one cold December night (are you scared yet?), Tabitha was over babysitting for the girls.  Jaden came out of her room and in a quiet, somber voice, she said to Tabitha, "There's someone in my room."  If I was Tabitha, I probably would have run screaming!  Again, I just chalked it up to her being a kid.

Fast forward a few weeks... Mike and I were getting ready to go to bed.  We were both in our room when we heard a LOUD thud.  It sounded like something crashed into the side of our house.  Mike said it was probably raccoons or rabbits outside (yeah, with a wrecking ball!) and not to worry.  Yeah right.  I saw Paranormal Activity 2.

Wednesday night, Mike and I were watching a movie in the family room when out of our computer speakers, we hear an angry man yelling!  We couldn't make out what he was saying.  Mike said it was just interference picking up someone's phone conversation, but I've seen White Noise!  I know that the angry man ghost is trying to tell us something.  If I had to put money on it, I would bet that he is telling us to get the heck out of dodge!  Yes, sir!

Last night, Kalie came over to watch New Moon.  We were sitting on the couch in the family room when I heard, clear as day, a whispering... "I SEE YOU."  I fumbled for the remote and paused the DVD.  After freaking out for a short second, Kalie just laughed and said it was her phone... STILL.  I know we have an angry ghost.

Speaking of New Moon...

Book vs. Movie

The movie wins by a teensy tiny bit!

The book was definitely more detailed.  In a way though, I think that hurt it.  I kind of got lost in parts of the book.  I felt like there was too much focus on the history of the wolves and the tribe.  Also, I missed Edward like crazy in the book!  The movie was a perfect blend.  I also thought it was pretty awesome seeing the wolves phase.  I still recommend reading the book first, but definitely watch the movie as soon as you're done!

Oh, and in case you are wondering... I'm still Team Edward but Jacob was really starting to win me over in the movie!!  Seriously Bella, werewolves AND vampires?  Can you not find a hot HUMAN guy??

Flavor of the Month

Food

I have been obsessed with all things peanut butter lately.  I eat a PB granola bar for breakfast every morning. I HAD to have a PB cup blizzard last night. Jaden and I made PB cookies this week.  Peanut butter is currently my heaven on earth!

Music

I love this song!  I seem to have a thing for songs that are remakes of old favorites :o)

TV

I know, I know... I can't help it!  This show is like crack to me... bad for me but SO addictive!

What I'm Wearing

Earrings: Forever 21, Both Shirts: Old Navy, Jeans: Maurices, Shoes: TOMS

I'm loving gray and yellow... just about as much as that peanut butter!

Movie

Watching this TONIGHT!! :o)

Twilight: Book vs. Movie

Book wins, hands down! 

What I love about books is the fact that you make the movie in your mind.  When I read Twilight, I absolutely fell in love with each character.  It was written in a way that I could get so lost in the story, I would literally find myself holding my breath.  Even if you've never read Twilight, you know basically what it is about -- vampires.  But, don't let that put you off.  I was picturing some kind of Buffy the Vampire Slayer type of story with people running around scared... TOTALLY not Twilight.  In Twilight, Bella Swan takes you into the secret vampire world and makes you fall in love with Edward Cullen and his family. 

The movie was good.  What I didn't like was Bella's character.  She was so skittish in an acting-too-hard kind of way.  Also, Edward can read minds.  I would've liked to have heard through his mind... actually, it would have been better if the movie would have gone more in depth with Alice and Jasper's special talents, too.  Another major difference was the book talked a lot about the Cullens' "vegetarian" diet, meaning they only drink the blood of animals, not humans.  It would have been neat to see Edward and Emmett hunt.  Having said that, I do realize that the book was narrated by Bella, as was the movie.  Bella did not get to see them hunt in the first book... I don't know. 

Oh yeah!  If you have seen the movie, did you notice Stephenie Meyer sitting at the bar in the diner?  I saw her right away!

Both movie and book were great.  If you haven't read/seen either, definitely read the book first!

Next week, Kalie and I are watching New Moon :o)

Three Years!!

On Wednesday, Mike and I celebrated our three year anniversary!



Our honeymoon to Riviera Maya, Mexico. You can't really read it in the picture, but my shirt says "Just Married" and Mike's says "Game Over."


To celebrate, I took the day off work to hang out with Mike and Jaden (he already gets Wednesdays off). We took Jaden to see a movie at the theater for the first time. We took her to see "Horton Hears a Who" a.k.a. "elephant movie on the BIIIIIGGGGG T.V."
She got a little scared of the seat. It kept closing up on her :o) We sat in the first row behind the bar so she stood for most of the movie. She does this at home too, so really it wasn't anything out of the ordinary!

Patiently waiting for the movie to start.

She LOVED it!! We sat at the end of a row in case she got too antsy and we had to leave. She was perfect though and completely entertained for the whole 90 minutes!

Later that evening, Karen watched Jaden and Mike and I went to dinner at Red Lobster... I think I'm STILL stuffed!! It was SOOO good!

After dinner, we spent a quiet evening at home watching a movie (I did some scrapbooking too!)

Remember I said I was at a loss for a leather gift for Mike? Well, I went with the golf glove and gift certificate for 18 holes. Of course, he LOVED it! Oh, and guess what he got me?!?! MICHAEL BOLTON TICKETS!!! AND, he is going with me!! He had told me this a couple of weeks ago so I could get the tickets and so I didn't find anyone else to go with me. I assumed this was all I was getting (and was PERFECTLY fine with that), but he surprised me with a leather gift too :o) I got an iPod case!

It was a fun anniversary... cheers to many more!!

A Case of the Mondays... on a Tuesday... but like a Wednesday

Stop. Rewind. Play.

I wish it were that simple! Today is starting out freaking fabulous... not. Jaden woke up around 4:45 this morning and when I went in to check on her, I noticed that it looked like the dome light was on in my car. I chalked it up to being tired and figured it was the street light shining down in my sun roof. I went back to bed but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I woke Mike up and told him I was going to go outside to see if my light was on in my car. Sure enough, it was! The driver's door was ajar. I unlocked it, opened it, closed it, locked it, and went back inside. I got back in bed and just laid there wide awake thinking, "why was my door ajar?" Eventually, I got up and got ready for work just HOPING my battery wasn't dead. I got in my car to go to work and noticed the contents of my console and glove box on the floor of the passenger seat. I freaked out, noticed my iTrip was missing and went back inside. I went and told Mike my car was broken into. I checked it again to see if the lock had been messed with, it hadn't. I checked for broken window, scratched, anything... nothing. The only thing we can come up with is that I forgot to lock it and as luck would have it, some dumb kid got lucky. You see, when J and I got home yesterday, she was a little moody and I had a TON of stuff to carry in. I had all four doors plus the back end open at one time or another so I had to lock it with my key remote. I lugged everything up to the house and must have forgotten to click it locked. I'm ticked that my iTrip is gone but it could've been worse. I'm just thankful for no damage to my car. All of my CDs were still there too (the WHOLE reason I bought a bumble bee CD wallet... nobody would steal that!). That just proves that I AM the only Michael Bolton fan left :o) I was parked RIGHT UNDER a street light! I don't get it... oh well, like I said, I'm grateful it was just one $40 item instead of hundreds of dollars in damage. The day can ONLY get better now, right?

WRONG. So, I was about 10 minutes late to work and didn't have time to stop to get a coffee (which by the way I REALLY needed considering I had been up since 4:30 am). I got caught up on a few projects and went to the pop machine to get a Diet Pepsi... SOLD FREAKIN' OUT! The ONLY diet pop in the machine and it's gone. I already had my money in there and the coin return didn't work, so I got a Mtn. Dew, straight up. Now, my teeth itch and my mouth tastes sour. Gross.

This is supposed to be an easy-peasy week! I have Friday off so TECHNICALLY, today should feel like a Wednesday! On Friday, I'm meeting up with a good friend for lunch. I'm excited because like me, she is also pregnant (due one month after me) and we can share our stories. Then J and I are off to buy birthday presents for Mike's dad. We are getting him lawn chairs... I know, fancy-schmancy, right? Well the man has two. That's it. Two. For nine people to share. We are getting him two more. I know, I know... 2+2 does NOT equal nine but 4 is better that 2, right?

Mom and I went to see My Sister's Keeper last Saturday. It was good. The ending was disappointing and I still have a hard time taking Cameron Diaz seriously (she was the mom?!?!), but other than that, I enjoyed it! It was a really good movie :o) Our next book-to-movie date will be The Time Traveler's Wife. I was planning on reading all Marian Keyes this summer, but the preview looked so good, I can't pass up the book!

That's about it around here! Hopefully my day will improve a little... Happy Tuesday/Monday/Wednesday ;o)