Photobucket Tag

I saw this fun tag on another blog and the blog author tagged anyone who wanted to do it, so I said "hey, why not!" *Sorry some of the pictures are so huge! I tried to adjust them.

Here are the rules:

1) Answer the questions below.

2) Take each answer and enter it into photobucket.com

3) Take a picture from the first page of results and post it.

Here goes!



My age at my next birthday


A place I'd like to visit
(There are lots of places I'd like to visit, but the first new place I'm likely to get to is Alaska)


One of my favorite places


Favorite object


Favorite food
(cupcakes- and these ones look like the ones from Costco- my favorite right now)


Where I live
(Utah Valley)


My middle name


My college major
(Broadcasting)


Bad habit of mine
(sleeping too much)


Favorite color


Favorite animal


Name of pet
(the last pet we had was named Indy)


Favorite holiday
(Halloween)


I now tag anyone who reads this post!

Finished and Moved On

By the way, I finished reading Frankenstein at the end of last week. It really was not the story I expected- "It's Alive!" shouted with maniacal glee. Nope. It was still a good book, though. Frankenstein's monster is a distant relative from the one that Hollywood taught me. Sure, he's uncomfortable to look at and frightening to be near, but he's also intelligent and he wants desperately some companionship.

I'm not really good at putting my thoughts into words, so reviews and such are always a challenge, so I found a film review that discusses some of what I'm trying to say about the differences between my Hollywood expectations and the actual original story: (A Review by James Berardinelli)

During the course of more than thirty adaptations, sequels, spin-offs, rip-offs, and spoofs, the name of "Frankenstein" has become associated with one of the world's most recognizable movie monsters. The creature, as typified by Boris Karloff with outstretched arms, flat-topped head, and ubiquitous neck bolts, has met the likes of Dracula, the Wolfman, and even Abbott and Costello... Rarely, however, has a cinematic interpretation of "the daemon" approached the level of three-dimensionality with which it is portrayed in the novel.

As conceived and written by Shelley, Frankenstein was more of a gothic melodrama than a horror story. Considered in its most basic terms, the tale is one of actions and their consequences, and of what happens when man, in his hubris, attempts to usurp the role of God. For the most part, however, motion pictures have chosen to ignore the weightier issues of the book to concentrate instead on the "monster movie" aspects...

...The greatest strength of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is that it illustrates both the good and evil qualities in each of its main characters.

Just a snippet of the review, but it helps explain how the original story felt.

I am now working on Bored of the Rings. I'm not sure I'll actually read it all, but Nate bet I wouldn't read it, so I'm giving it a shot. And then Dracula is up next. We'll see how that compares to my Hollywood teachings.

New Episodes!!!

I am so excited that new episodes of my favorite network TV shows (that were forced into repeats and taken off the air and what-not due to the writer's strike) are finally starting trickle onto the air! I'm not a big network reality tv fan (although I've seen more American Idol this year than any other year- dang you David Archuleta!) and I don't watch the majority of those crime dramas, law dramas, and medical dramas (even in repeats) so there hasn't been much for me to watch lately (only LOST, Eli Stone, and the now finished-for-the-season Sarah Connor Chronicles), which probably is a good thing since it's reduced my tv time but it still doesn't mean I haven't missed my beloved shows!

REAPER aired it's first new episode last night. I know, I know, most of you are thinking "Reaper? I've never even heard of that show!" And it's a shame. The show really deserves a larger audience. It's downfall is that it's on the WB, I mean the CW, same difference. It's a fun show about a guy who's parents sold his soul to the devil before he was even born. It's not all dark/spooky like Supernatural (which is also a CW show that I love). It's a comedy. Of course it's not for everyone. I'm sure my mom wouldn't like it AT ALL, but my dad would enjoy it. And I happen to know it's one's of Nate's brother's favorite shows. Maybe it would be for you. Thursdays at 9/8c on the CW.

Virginia Here I Come!!!

On Tuesday, I came across a great deal on airline tickets to DC ($196 round trip, including taxes and fees), so I quickly talked to Nate about me taking a weekend trip to Virginia in April, and after a little bit of pleading, he agreed that I could go as long as I arranged caretakes for the kids for while I am away. Yea!!! I am so excited. I had been looking for tickets for awhile and as the date I wanted to go for drew nearer and nearer, the less I expected to get to go, but suddenly this deal showed up and now I have a plane ticket! My high school is celebrating it's 40th anniversary and there is a school reunion and a couple other events and even though I didn't LOVE high school, I didn't hate it either and I thought it would be fun to go. It will be weird to be away for the kids, by myself, for that long (4 days) but I know I'll still have lots of fun.

Reading

Since Christmas I have made a big effort to read more books. I've always been a reader, but over the years I have slacked off and don't read as much as I'd like. Sure, there's those short waves of rabid reading (Harry Potter, DaVinci Code, Twilight, etc), but now I'd like to be more consistent. Since Christmas I have read several books, most only taking 2-3 days to read (some less). I've read: The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and Princess Academy(all by Shannon Hale), Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Among The Free (Shadow Children series) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and all of The Spiderwick Chronicles (Books 1-5).

Most of those books on the list were quick reads since they are Children's or Young Adults books. The shortest book on the list, The Time Machine (I'm counting all five Spiderwick books as one), took me the longest to read because it took me awhile to get into the style of writing, but still was a good book.

I would recommend all of these books, although, while I liked the concept and character discovery of The Catcher In the Rye, I did struggle with the foul language that was used. I actually had started the book several years ago and had never finished it. After knowing so many people who love that book, I was determined to finally read it from start to finish.

My favorite book on the list to date would have to be The Goose Girl. It took me a couple chapters to get into the book, but once I was in, I couldn't pull myself away from the story. It was beautifully written and weaved a great tale. It's actually based on Grimm's Fairytale "The Goose Girl" and Shannon Hale did a wonderful job expanding and giving more life to the story.

Right now I am working on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Like The Time Machine, Frankenstein is taking me awhile to read because of the style of language used. I am also finding out that the original Frankenstein story is quite different than what I had thought it to be from all of the different usages of the Frankenstein concept.

I have also been reading The Book of Mormon to Jefferson to help him with his challenge to "Beat the Bishopric." The Bishopric of our ward challenged our primary to read The Book of Mormon and if they beat the Bishopric, then they are promised to receive a candy bar the size of The Book of Mormon. That has been a good incentive for Jefferson, so we have been (mostly) diligently working on our reading so that Jefferson will earn his candybar. We are currently at the beginning of the book of Alma. I stop every few verses and have him repeat to me some of the words I read to make sure he stays focused. I don't really expect him to understand most of what we read (since he is only 5) but hopefully the next time through he will remember some of what we are reading now and be able to understand more.

Once I'm finished with Frankenstein, I plan on reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and then moving on to some Jane Austin (of whose books I've never read). That is, unless I break down and buy the hardback version of River Secrets or Book of A Thousand Days (both by Shannon Hale) because I can't wait any longer for the paperback editions to be released.

A Concert-Attending We Will Be

It's official, Nate and I will be seeing The Cure in concert in May and The Police in concert in July!

Although, as we found out from the last concert we went to (Morrissey last May), we are now old and earplugs are our concert-going friends. Of course just looking at our list of concerts we've been to is probably a bit of a tip-off. All three concerts I've mentioned just now are bands or singers from bands that were BIG in the 80's. Okay, I'm not THAT old. None of my teenage years were spent in the 80's. I'm a 90's teenager, but I loved (most of) the music of the 80's.