movie reviews by me!

this weekend seemed to be the time for me to watch some movies i'd been wanting to catch, so i did just that! on friday night, kim and i watched mamma mia. we had been to the play when it was here in nashville a couple of years ago, so we were excited to see it on screen.

of course it wasn't the same as the stage show, but it was really good. at times it seemed like they were just singing song after song, but that is what makes mamma mia mamma mia, so that was just fine. i loved meryl streep and her two friends, their chemistry was great! and i also loved the greek chorus...it seemed like they would just pop up out of no where and start singing and dancing, but it wasn't like "oh, where did they come from?" it worked.

i had been wanting to see the secret life of bees since i heard it was coming out. i read the book a few years ago and loved it, and i'm always curious to see how they translate books to screen. they did a wonderful job this time!

if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, the secret life of bees is the story of lilly owens (dakotah fanning) and the boatwright family she comes to live with when she is 14 years old. the movie is set during 1964, just after the civil rights act is signed. the boatwright sisters live in tiberon, south carolina, and own a home and a good bit of land. august boatwright (queen latifah) tends the bees and takes lilly under her wing. this is a sweet story of a young girl desperate to find out who she is. a good girl power movie!!

this next movie, I had not heard of until i was looking at the redbox on friday. the lucky ones stars tim robbins (which is why i rented it), rachel mcadams, and michael pena. they are u.s.army soldiers all on leave from the war. as luck would have it, they end up traveling cross country (new york to las vegas) in a mini van. along the way they have many mishaps and there are many points when you think "oh, this is it, they are going their separate ways after this one!"

although these three are pretty much strangers, they come to know each other on a very deep level and kind of straighten out their lives along the way. although there is some language and other inappropriate talk, i thought this was definitely worth watching.

when i saw the preview for the bucket list at the theatre, i thought it would be a good rental. and it was. i'm glad i didn't pay to see it in the theatre, but it was a nice movie. i usually like both jack nicholson and morgan freeman, and did again in this movie, there were just a few points were i was thinking, "when are they going to die, already?" i really liked the ending...i love when movies bring things full circle, and it did make me think about what i'd put on my own bucket list if i had one. not bad for a lazy sunday afternoon!

so there's my completely unsolicited opinion of 4 recent movies!! have you seen these? or others that have been good lately? leave me a comment and let me know!

monday...again

so it's monday again. i woke up this morning, not feeling very well (i've had sinus crud for over a week now), and just thought "here we go again". don't get me wrong, i love my job, and i am so thankful for it....but sometimes i just wonder what it would be like to have a different lifestyle where i didn't have to get up and come to work 5 days a week. i think i would like to be able to not work and just travel around or just hangout around town. when i become independently wealthy i will get right on that!

so as we start this week, tell me what you'd like to do if you didn't have to work to pay the bills =) oh, and have a great monday and wonderful rest of the week!!

happy birthday, mom!!

friday, january 9 was my mom's 60th birthday...she got flowers at work and a massage that afternoon, and then a little surprise party for dinner at red lobster!! melissa, mr. & mrs. morel, john, janna and alana got to the restaurant before us, so they were already at the table when we came in. janna and mrs. morel made this cool basket...very cute!!

mom had to guess each "O" item based on the clue attached to the package.


alana was tearin' it up with the play-doh!!


mom was pretty embarrassed when what seemed like the entire wait staff sang happy birthday to her!

the next day we went to mema's house for lunch (yummy soup and corn bread) and her amaryllis from Christmas was already bloomed, and beautiful!!

happy birthday, mom....may this be your best year yet!! i love you =)

a few pics

a few holiday highlights:

alana's recital was the saturday before Christmas. it was so fun!! she did a great job! (this picture is blurry b/c we weren't supposed to use a flash "for the safety of the dancers")

she's so precious!!
the next tuesday, alana spent the the day with auntie melissa and i. we went to the adventure science center and out to lunch. then we just lounged around at my house and watched movies in the afternoon....we had a great time!

i love her in this hat!! she didn't keep it on long, though!!

i always take pictures of mema, my mom and my aunt fixing lunch...i've always done that!

my aunt juanita made some yum-yum...my absolute favorite treat!! it was awesome!!

at grammy's house, the main attraction was the guitar hero eli got for Christmas....i even tried it, it was pretty cool!!

every year the boys get some kind of little gift that they compeat with after we open gifts, this year they were jumping frogs.

john michael was the winner, but rick took the "bling" because it matched his watch! they are two cool dudes!!

a couple of times a year mel, janna and i get together with mrs. garrett...we were able to meet her for lunch and catch up the saturday after chistmas!

any free time that melissa and i had, we spent scrapping...this is our stuff spread out all over my craftroom table.

not sure which day this was, but we're still scrapping!! i think i got about 65 pages done all week (from feb. of 2006 almost to the end of 2007) I might catch up someday!!

she blogs again

yes, it's been a while....lots of things going on, but i won't bore you with my excuses for not blogging. i have been thinking a lot today about my new year's resolution...and yes i only made one, but it's a big one!! i didn't even know what to call it, but last night when i was driving i saw a sign in front of a church that said it perfectly...it's time in 2009...that's my resolution. i am resolving to make things happen this year. big things and small things...i am cutting the crap and just getting to the business i need to get to. it's time!!

i'll post some holiday pics later!!

clitnon's birthday and survivor finale!

this is a long one, folks!

today is officially clinton's birthday, but sunday was his diego party at his gg's house. he's 4 now...it's hard to believe he's getting so big!!

i tried to take this shot about 4 times....the child would not smile!!

here's the birthday boy with his tina turner, uh, i mean diego cake.

mister max enjoyed the birthday fun, too!

the star gift was the cap guns....everyone there got shot (and died appropriately)!! great fun!!


later sunday night was the survivor gabon fianle. for the past three seasons we have had a little pool going...we just put in $5 per name, and we all draw two names. whoever's person wins gets the pot...sounds fun, right?

well, in the beginning it was...you know you root for whoever you draw, even if you don't like them. the first season john won...the second season janna and i came pretty close, but janna won. and then again this year, mine, mrs. morel's , and janna's people all made it to the final three...and guess what...janna won again!!! i'm not sure how, but i think the mcgregor's have fixed this whole thing....it was janna's idea... hmmmmmmmm!!

janna loves to point out that her dad's people always get voted out early on.alana and ava, sweet cousins!
mrs. morel made congo bars to go along with the african theme of the show...yum!

miss alana in her christmas pj's....she was having lots of fun dancing around for everyone!

Christmas addictions

over at buzzingsofaqueenbee carrie listed her addictions of the holiday season and challenged her readers to do the same, so here goes (in no particular order):

• Christmas music - seriously, i listen to Christmas music from Thanksgiving night straight though to Christmas. i pretty much like it all (the that darn Christmas shoes song...i really don't like that song!), but some of my favorites are: the bing crosby white Christmas cd, dominic the donkey, and joy to the world.


• baking - i just feel the need to bake at Christmas. last year i made two peppermint ice cream cakes.
  
• taking off of work - again, i just feel the need for this. i always take off a few days around Christmas. this year i am taking the whole week of Christmas and am scrapbooking as much as i can....WAHOO!!!

• Christmas lights - i don't usually go out just to look at the lights, but i thoroughly enjoy the ones that i see while i am out and about.
  
• Christmas eve - besides visiting family on Christmas day, this is my favorite tradition....every Christmas eve we go to Christmas eve service at church, then head over to the morel homestead for lots of great food and wonderful times with friends!! it just feels right!!

• treats - i am all about the food and drink that only comes at the holidays. my grandmother used to always make haystacks and peanut butter balls and yum yum....and I always enjoy a bit of egg nog and apple cider!!

what are your Christmas addicitons?

a gift for me?

so last night i got home and it was all dark and rainy, and i see a huge box sitting on my front porch. now, i have ordered a few things for Christmas, but i always have that stuff shipped to my office, besides that, i know i have not ordered anything big enough to require such a large box. so as i get out of the car and go up to the porch i see the oranges on the outside of the box, and remember that last year i got the same thing...a big box of oranges and grapefruits addressed to the people who lived in my condo before i bought it.

this is the huge box...half oranges and half red grapefruit.

here's my question...knowing that they were not addressed to me, was it wrong for me to have opened them? my thought is that i don't have anyway of getting in touch with the folks the fruit is addressed to, and if i send them back wouldn't they go bad soon (not to mention with the weather we've had the box probably would not have made it outside much longer).

i plan to give a lot of the fruit away...there's about 35 oranges and 20 grapfruits (which i am not a huge fan of anyway). and today i thought i might make some orange marmalade. i love orange marmalade!! what else can i do with oranges?

hanging of the greens

every year our church has a "hanging of the greens" service where we decorate the sanctuary in preparation of the celebration of Christmas. the past couple of years they have had us take part and actually hang the wreaths and put some of the chrismons on the tree...it is always a special service!

alana is looking through what she called her camera at the hymnal (which is upside down, btw)

the garland is hung over the balcony

the advent candles and poinsettias (and if you look very close you can see the nativity and the toys underneath the other tree for the nashville toy store)

a Christmas cutie, indeed =)

Christmas at my house!

welcome friends!!

i got these urns at a yard sale, $5 for both, and just added some small trees and a fun little bow!

this is right inside the door, i will put Christmas cards in that little tin when i start getting them!

my little baker's rack in the kitchen

this is on my kitchen table. i just put some fresh cranberries in the bottom and poured sugar on top, then more cranberries on top of that.

Christmas tree...got it on sale at target.com last january...great deal, and much better than the charlie brown tree i had last year!

mantle, with my awesome nativity (that stays out all year long), candlesticks (just changed the candles), and stockings.


this is one shelf on my built-in bookcase...those little bowls have Christmas light ornaments in them, the old kind of lights...i love those!!

now for some gifts
a couple of message boards and a book mark, and a close-up of the book mark.