The Weepies

I have found my new favorite cd, Hideaway from The Weepies. Please check them out.

Baby Mama

I saw this in Sunday. It combines my two favorite things; babies and Tina Fey. I loved it.

I am so happy I finally convinced my friend to watch 30 Rock (she refused because she doesn't like Brian Fellows...er I mean Tracy Morgan) and now she loves it also.

Brad and i still haven't decided where to go on our Honeymoon. I don't have a lot of vacation left for this year; but Brad is going to A.P.E (Alternative Press Expo) in November in San Francisco and I thought we could go there for a four day weekend for our honeymoon and then maybe something longer next year.

I am going back to work full-time in a couple weeks and I am not looking forward to it. I love free time!

This now ends my very random list of going ons.

I love Mr Darcy

I will probably watch this every week for the rest of my life. I had seen the remake and of course the two Bridget Jones's Diary movies (I also love Mark Darcy) but I just bought the BBC Mini Series and watched it in two sittings. Swoon!

I get goosebumps just thinking about Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

I just re watched the second Bridget Jones movie and in the extras, Renee Zellweger in character as Bridget Jones interviews the actor Colin Firth. All she keeps asking him about is when he jumped in the pond as Mr. Darcy. Hilarious. Check it out if you have a chance.

oh my maude!

Read this, get really scared, and then join me in not eating genetically modified foods (which I don’t actually think can be done since corn and soy are in just about everything). This disease seems really weird and scary.

http://www.naturalnews.com/023004.html

Family

About a month ago Brad and I got a joint bank account. I love it. It is great. Now we never have to worry about who should pay for what when because it is all coming out of the same place.

Then this weekend, I finally stopped being on my Mom's cell phone family plan (what?! It has just always been that way since I got a cell phone; yes, I know, I am 25) and now Brad and I have a family plan.

Now we are a real family......

Wow

This video is crazy amazing

Family Tree

I tried to do some research on my family tree a while a go and found some. I'm sure if I was willing to scour the internet i could do it all for free but at the expense of my time. So I finally signed up for Ancestry.com only a few days ago and it is blowing my mind. You can look at actual census records. I have done my complete tree up to Great-Great Grandparents within the last few days. I even started doing the family tree for my roommate. I should charge people money and do this for the rest of my life, it is that interesting to me. Here is an example of a census page, you can see my relative, the Kirklands on there.

If you want me to do your Family tree I totally will.

Yay!!

I got my yearly review and got a 0.50 cent raise!!! Woot!

quarterlife (remember not to use capital letters)

I watched that new show quarterlife last night and I just don't think I can buy into it. We all know I love blogs and "alternative" people but that main character, Dylan (wow, what an alternative name!) and her roommate (with glasses, how alternative!) are so damn skinny I can barely watch them. I find them completely unattractive.

Also it annoys me that everyone is pining after each other. If I like someone I overtly flirt with them or do really obvious things like asking them questions about themselves and actually listening (just ask Brad, after I started asking him all these questions about his family he said he knew then that I liked him). I don't just pine away and hope they realize their feelings too and then they will come tell me they love me! Well I used to do that; in jr. high, when I would listen to Dreaming of You by Selena and get butterflies thinking that tomorrow in school the guy I was crushing on would randomly tell me he loved me and my life would change. I guess I'm a little too realistic in that sense, if I don't think a crush is ever going to like me back, I get over it real fast. I don't like to waste my time and feelings on someone who doesn't like me back. (of course celebrity crushes are the exception, I will always love you Alan Rickman)

Then the two main guy characters are already douche bags after one episode. Danny (is that his name?) cheats on his girlfriend and obviously only went to film school to make a commercial success of himself. I don't understand how him and Jed are best friends, they don't seem to have much in common. Of course many girls will think that the sensitive artist Jed is a cute boy who just needs to be loved; but no, he is also a a**hole. He is a pretentious artist who is selfish and can't be observant enough to see that Dylan is in love with him and he has a hissy fit when Danny won't shoot the commercial the way he wants. Blegch.

I don't like any of these characters. I will give it a couple of more episodes to see if it changes

Bad Timing

I just started reading Rock Star Mommy last week. When I start reading a blog, I really get into the archives and can read it for hours. Just last night I had read up to November 2007, only a couple of more months to go; but alas, this morning I tried going to my saved link to keep reading and it didn't work! I tried a couple of times and finally just went to the main url and saw that she had taken everything down and had a final message on there. She is quitting her blog and taking it down! I am actually sad about this. Of course I never met her, but her writing was so funny, heartfelt, witty, biting, and sometimes mean and it was great. I was really looking forward to catching up to present on her blog and commenting.

This is also not good for my obsessive behaviors because I really want to have read all of it. I will now always know that there are three months of her blog that I will never be able to read. Ack!

Sonic Commercial

I love the ones with the husband and wife and I just found out that the woman (actress/comedienne Molly Erdman) has a blog! I haven't really read a lot, but here it is.

This is mostly for Christy because I know she hates it when I tell her she looks like and sounds like her. But I think she is pretty and so funny, so it is actually a complement.

Clumsy

I know I am very late with this realization, but I just heard that Fergie - Clumsy song a few weeks ago and I hate to admit it but I love it (exept for the part where she talks, I hate talking in songs).

It really pains me to admit this because I really hate Fergie. I loved her when I used to watch Kids Incorporated and when she was in Wild Orchid; but even though she made the Black Eyed Peas famous, I think she ruined them. I think she is fugly and has dead meth eyes.

But this song is just so dang pop-y and I can't stop listening to it.

Lay offs

I am feeling tired and stressed. They are doing lay offs at my work and it is really fucked up and scary. It started yesterday completely out of the blue and no one knew who would be next. I sit right next to the room which they were taking each person in to offer them a severance package, so I kept watching friend after friend going in there. I kept waiting for my turn, but it never came. I think they are done.

In reality, I wouldn't have minded if I was one of the ones laid off. Having five weeks of paid time off sounds nice, but I hate getting a new job. I hate interviews; they are so fake. I would hate not having insurance. I hate having to try to immerse my self in the cliques that have already been established. But it would be nice to work with people more my age. I am pretty much the youngest here.

I wonder what stupid bullshit moral booster they are going to try and get us to do now. "Yay! Be happy, we still love you!!" the company will try to tell us, but now we know that we are never safe.

My weekend

Some things I did this weekend:

Friday my friends and I all went to a restaurant/bar for Karaoke (and a belated birthday get together)! I am a newbie to it but I really love doing it. But I really have to have people I know there or else I feel really self conscious. I actually got a little tipsy for the first time in like a year (since my last birthday). Then we went to Denny's and played Cranium Conga and kept waiting for all the drunk people around us to get into fights.

After finding a new blog, Splendid Sustenance via another blog I read I decided to make two of the recipes she was able to copy from Vegan with a Vengeance. So Saturday I made Creamy Tomato Soup and ate it with a grilled cheese sandwich. Then on Sunday I made Hot and Sour Soup and homemade egg rolls. Everything was so so good. I actually ordered the cook book along with another one, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and the non-fiction book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. I can't wait for them to arrive!!!

We are not planning on becoming vegetarian or vegan anytime soon, but I want to learn more styles of cooking than just meat/veggie/starch that I am becoming so bored of. I really want to learn more Thai and Indian recipes.

Sunday night I watched The Sixth Sense and then Waiting to Exhale after Brad went to sleep. I have been staying up way to late lately. When I had to work at 6:30 every morning, I would be asleep by 11:00 pm at the latest, but now that I have school at 8:00 am some days and 9:00 am others, I am staying up until about 2:00 am.

I can always watch Waiting to Exhale. I just love it so much. I think that Loretta Divine is so beautiful; not to mention Angela Bassett and Lela Rochon.

Birthday

My 25th birthday was on Monday, but I stayed home sick Monday and Tuesday so I didn't do much. We rented Once and Paprika. I heard good things about Paprika but it was just to weird for me I guess. I haven't watched Once yet but I have the soundtrack and have been looking forward to watching it forever. Tuesday we went to see Persepolis. That was amazing. We have the books and the movie was probably even better.

While grocery shopping at Whole Foods I got fresh seafood, mussels, shrimp, and scallops. Then last night we went to our friends' house to cook dinner. I made an italian tomato sauce and it was probably the best thing I have ever made ever. I agree with Brad when he says he could probably stop eating read meat if he could have seafood every night.

Brad got me a Ipod shuffle and I love it. I just loaded random songs onto it so listening is a discovery of our music that I haven't heard in a while. Here are some random songs.
Wedding Day - Rosie Thomas
19th Nervous Breakdown - Rolling Stones
Easy Skanking - Bob Marley
Some TOOL song that I don't know the name of (no display remember)
Lets Get Out of This Country - Camera Obscura
Time After Time - Cindi Lauper
A Decemberists song
A Kelly Clarkson song
A George Strait song
An Arcade Fire Song
Maybe Sparrow - Neko Case
A few punk songs of brad that I like but don't know the names of. I think the bands are Scared of Chaka and Pinhead Gunpowder.

When i say I listen to most every types of music, I really mean it.

100 greatest movies

Here is a list of AFI's picks for the 100 top movies of all time. The movies I have not seen are in Bold

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
6. Gone With The Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's list (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On The Waterfront (1954)
20. It's A Wonderful life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extra-terrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years Of Our lives (1946)
38. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound Of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. M*a*s*h (1970)
55. North By Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
75. In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)
77. All The President's Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night At The Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do The Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-hur (1959)

I can't believe I have seen so few of these. Some have resolved to watch any they have missed by the end of this year. I think I will try not to watch any of them. I used to be so into watching movies all the time (my first job was at a movie theater); but now I only go to the movies like once a month (that is a reduction for me) and on Netflix I usually only watch TV show DVDs now. I like it this way. My latest Netflix obsession is X Files on DVD. Damn that Smoking Man!

via Defective Yeti

The Gym

I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about a year. Don't even get me started on how I have been paying for it and not going. Hey, I finally went and it only cost me $240! psshha!

There are a couple of things that annoy me about gyms. I will list and explain.

Personal Trainers. I get one session a month, but I only ever used one. They just push too hard and make me never want to come back. I do not want to be a gym rat, I am not exercising to lose weight, I have not exercised much in the past. So going to the gym for the first time in a long time and pushing myself too hard is not what I want. And don't even get me started on the diet supplements they try to sell you.
The way I see it any exercise is better than none. So ten minutes on the elliptical and ten minutes of weight training are good for me right now as a beginner with knee pain. I was in my target heart rate the whole ten minutes so it was all good for me. I am still a little sore today from the little amount of weight training I did. I don't want to feel that my muscles are all torn up (which is actually what you go for when weight training, then they heal even bigger) but that they have actually been used; for something other than changing the channel.

Judgy Judgersons. This is one reason a lot of overweight people don't go to gyms because they always feel judged. I have been trying to get over a lot of my issues about that in all situations in my life (like being afraid to dance in public, big fear of mine). It is so true you should fake confidence until you feel it. I walked in there with my robot pajama pants, instead of tight exercise pants, with my head held high and didn't feel judged at all. The way I see it, when people are judging me, it is their self esteem issue not mine. It is easier to change the way I think than the way they think.

The Story of Stuff

Amazing video.

bye, bye, bye 2007

I got these questions from here, via here

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

Got engaged!
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't remember if I had resolutions, but see my last entry for this year's resolutions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my two closest friends both gave birth. One on 11/27 and one on 12/10, both were boys
4. Did anyone close to you die?

No one very close to me, but my great aunt did die from cancer, and my second cousin was in a hit and run accident. Although it is sad for those left behind, I never feel sad for those who die; they are now a part of everything.
5. What countries did you visit?

Um, only the one I live in sadly. :( If my reader(s) want to donate $3500 I can go to Europe this year with my Geography professor this summer.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

A baby; but that would not be "good" this year. That is tentatively planned for 20010. I am surprised I will actually be getting married before I have a baby, who knew! I would like to have a husband this year.
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Well the births of the two new babies I got to meet, and the date I got engaged (Christmas Eve).
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Finishing my classes for the fall semester.
9. What was your biggest failure?

Not being ready to go to ASU this spring
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope. But that could be because I don't do much. There is not a lot of ways to get hurt while laying on the couch.
11. What was the best thing you bought?

Hmm, well now my copy of Offbeat Bride by Ariel Meadow Stallings is turning out to be my best buy. I bought it long before I was engaged, because I love her blog.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Hmm, I can't think of anything.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

No one I actually know, but Britney Spears mads me sad and appalled. She is rich, she doesn't always need to be driving her own car or leaving the house to get Starbucks everyday. I am sad for her and her family.
14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My friends having babies. I love living vicariously through other people!
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Animal Collective - Peacebone
Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry
The Knife - Heartbeats
I may have heard some of these in 2006, I just can't remember, the years run together.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?

a) happier
b) same
c) poorer, but I guess it is by choice. I work part time during the school semester.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Traveling and going outside.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Less watching of the TV.
20. How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas Eve and morning were spent with my family, then we drove to Taos, NM to spend the rest of the week with Brad's Mom and Step-Father.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007?

More and more each day. (awwwwww)
22. What was your favorite TV program?

Too many to choose from. The Soup became one of my favorites.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No, not that I can think of.
24. What was the best book you read?

With by Donald Harington
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I am happy that I no longer know what is popular. I never listen to local radio stations (I have Sirius) and people will bring up a song and I never have heard it. I like discovering music I like, not liking music because it is pushed down my throat by Clear Channel.
26. What did you want and get?

Engaged (wow, it is great to use this for all my answers).
27. What did you want and not get?

A new car
28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Superbad or Knocked Up or Dan in Real Life
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 24 in 2007 and I had a get together at my apartment. I think that was the one time I actually got drunk this year.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

$1000000
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Comfortable, jeans, tshirts, a hoodie zip up jacket, and slip on flats.
32. What kept you sane?

My personality, I am not one to stress about anything. I don't let things bother me.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I developed an Alan Rickman major crush this year.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Environmental ones, our breaking of the Geneva Convention, and generally just how this administration breaks laws without any consequences.
35. Who did you miss?

It seems although I have grown closer to a couple of people from our group of friends, the rest of the group seems to be growing apart. I have only been around for three years, but they have all been friends for more than ten years, so I am sad that we may be moving in different directions.
36. Who was the best new person you met?

Malia, a girl in my geography class. I actually haven't talked to her since the semester ended, but I plan on continuing the friendship.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007

Don't try to change yourself to fit society, try to change society to fit you.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Joy and Pain, Sunshine and Rain.

Resolutions

In 2008 I will:

Exercise more. Mostly in a fun way (tennis, racquetball, basketball, etc.), but also to the gym. The goal is not to lose weight necessarily, but to build strength and a healthy heart (and perhaps tone my arms since I am getting married this year).

To work more on my crafts (knitting, sewing, crocheting) and to actually sell something I have made for money.

To get married!

To move into a smaller apartment and to downsize our stuff in order to save money. In the last few years we have been moving each time into bigger and nicer places, but I realize that we need to save money in order to buy a new car and someday a house.

To frame all the artwork I have. Frames are expensive!

P.S.
I am working on a Wedding Website for Brad and I. There is not much there yet, but you can check it out at www.mywedding.com/bradandshannon