7/25: The Hunger Games

:O that's the best emoticon I can make on the keyboard to describe this book.

It is indeed a Young Adult fiction novel, but certainly (for me anyways) on the older side of YA.

Set in the future, there are 12 districts surrounding the Capitol that send a boy and a girl to the Hunger Games each year. A fight to the death in an arena. Sounds morbid, and it is, but the story is amazing.

Katniss pulled me in from the beginning. She shows a battle of wills and smarts. I don't want to go into much detail of the book because it's so amazing I couldn't forgive myself if I ruined it for someone.

All I can say is this... My FI disappeared for the two days he read this book. Never have I seen him ignore everything just to finish it. He's done the same thing for the second novel, and I'm sure when the third one comes out (in May), I will not see him for 2 days again.
I disappeared from life for the two days I read the first book. I plan to spend Friday and Saturday reading the second and want to pre-order the 3rd already.

I read this book for the WBC because my fellow Nesties voted for it on my book poll. Thank you so much Nesties!!!! You have officially got me addicted to another series.

Movie Review (1): Book of Eli

My FI and I have tried twice to see this movie. Everytime we went, the parking lot was so full we couldn't find a spot to park. Friday we decided we'd go to a matinee. The lobby was busy with kids, but they were all going to a different show. When we got to the theatre our movie was in, there was 4 other people.
On with the review:
Very disappointing.  The story had lots of potential. Denzel's character has the only Bible left in the world, and is on his way West to find a place that is worthy of it's power. The previews looked promising for action. there was lots, but it somehow just seemed all fake to me. The world is in shambles (which they never really explained why) and somehow this one town has water, food, gasoline, booze, and lots of guns. I guess I was expecting more. I thought perhaps it would follow him farther than just through one town. His cross-country walk seemed to have been going on long before the movie began.
We used free tickets to go see this show, and I wish I hadn't. This is just my opinion. The ratings for the show were high, and I've read another blogger who gave this movie a great review.

The Wedding Fair... I survived

I was anticipating a lot of women. Check.
I was anticipating a long morning. It was, but I didn't notice.
I was anticipating getting a good amount of stuff. Check, but wow not to that extent!

Doors opened at 9:30, so I got there around 9:20. Long line up. I had to wait for my mom and sister, so I stood in line. Once 9:30 hit and they opened the doors, I didn't realize how quickly they could get people through the entrance. I ended up waiting just inside the ticket gate for my entourage. They gave me this neat little sticker that said "Bride" and my mom got one that said "Mother of the Bride".
We figured out that most people just start at the beginning of the booths and work their way to the other side. We started at the end and worked our way back. Thought maybe there would be a few less people. It worked out fairly well.

I managed to enter my name into a number of draws. Hopefully I win something other than just being on a ton of mailing lists. I did book a free consultation with a DJ and got an envelope for $150 off their services. They didn't have a price list, so I'm not sure about that.
I had a blast, which wasn't what I expected. I had thought the whole thing would be somewhat stressful, and it wasn't! I was so impressed and happy.

There was a fashion show included in the entrance. They had wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, mother-of-the-bride/groom wear and lingerie.  Took a few pics with my phone, but they didn't turn out great. I did find it helpful for my bridesmaid and mom to get an idea of what I'm looking for. Narrows down the field a little when I go looking for wedding dresses in March. The highlight, other than the wedding dresses, was the entertainment the men provided. Salsa and hiphop dancing sure gave the crowd a hoot.

Once I unloaded the super heavy and very full bag I collected things in, I sat down and went through it all. I seem to have collected cards and papers mostly for attire (both FI and I), DJ's, and decorating.  I was hoping to find a lot of catering, but that wasn't the case.  This week I'll have to sift through a lot of the DJ things and make some appointments.

I'm rather disappointed there isn't another fair until September now. Hopefully by then I have most everything organized and won't need to go.

Thanks mom and sis for coming with me! It was very fun.

6/25: Dead in the Water - Stuart Woods

I picked this book for the 5 point task of "read a book by your favorite author."

"Dead in the Water" is the 3rd Stone Barrington book in the ever expanding series. I believe there are currently 17 books that are a "Stone Barrington Novel".  I love his character. Stuart Woods takes a man, strips his job, his girl(s) and puts him in unpredictable law scenarios. His police background really gives him the upperhand when it comes to representing a client.

In Dead in the Water, he is vacationing in St. Marks, awaiting the arrival of his live-in girlfriend. Aside from the girlfriend not coming because of weather in New York, Stone finds himself representing a widow being tried for the murder of her husband. She sailed into port without her husband, after sailing from another island with him. In St. Marks, there is a capital punishement for murder, and it's a completely different legal system from that in North America. Stone finds himself trying to save the woman, representing her in a place where he feels out of place in the courtroom, not something he's used to.

I liked the story, I liked the characters. I did find Allison (the widow) a little transparent. A great quick read, and one that transitions nicely into the 4th book "Swimming to Catalina", which is next on the list of to-read.

Pole Update

I am now done level 7! I still can't believe how far I've come since the beginning of last year. I am in need of making a montage of pictures and videos of all the things I learned last year. That would be a fantastic keepsake, and really show myself and others what I can do. I forget sometimes all the things I've learned, and go back to the basics.

I will be starting level 8 next week. I'm ecstatic! I'm also realizing that I need to start practicing at home. I 've reached a level now, where I can't easily do things on the first try and actually have to work at it. There are those moves that I can get every time, and they come easy now. For the majority of level 7, I was learning moves that will require a little effort on my part to perfect and easily do. The more you do something, the easier it is. In this case, the less frightened I'll be that I'll need to bail and crash to the floor (this is why I LOVE my crashmat)

This leads me into one of my New Years goals.  I want to become better at pole and improve my skills. I've been focusing on so many things, and never completing any of them. I want to learn so many things in my life, that I can't focus on them all. So, that said, I have two major things to focus on (other than the wedding).

I will take the next 6 months to:

• Finish the RCIA process (date I should be done is May 19, 2010)
• Concentrate on practicing pole at home on my own time