#31

Yesterday was a day filled with movies. First, I went with the whole family to see Wall-E. I was surprised we went to the 5:05 and the theatre maybe had 15-20 people in it. I'll wait to write about my feelings on the film til you all have a chance to see it or until I can't figure out what to post one day and then it'll all just come pouring out.

Anyway after that movie my dad, Woie, and I headed over to the the Temple Theatre for the Saginaw Riverside Film Festival. They had a ton of films I wanted to see but the lack of money and the option of just renting the movies for free from Blockbuster Online won out. But my dad really wanted to go the main feature for Friday night. It was Mystery Science Theatre 3000: the movie. We grew up watching the tv show first on Comedy Central and then when it bounced to the Sci-Fi network. So it was really cool to see on a big screen and one of the creators came along to speak about show, his new book, and why Hollywood Sucks. 

Oh and I figured out that whole Starbucks Card. Toi had given me a Starbucks gift card for my birthday and I registered it online thinking I was doing all I needed to get secret cool stuff. But then I started noticing all these signs about benefits from the Starbucks Card and no matter how much coffee I bought during the last month I got nothing. So I went on their website and found out that you needed to register a second time in a special section. There you get to choose whether or not you'd like the wi-fi option which allows you 2 free hours of wi-fi daily in any Starbucks. Its all free as long as you use your Starbucks gift once a month. 

And then today my mom dragged me back to the movie theater where I saw Wanted. I liked it. Toi, if you ever need someone to play cat's cradle with, Morgan Freeman is pretty good at it. And its pretty hilarious to hear him say Motherfucker. I think that was the best part of the movie. 

#30

I stole this from Toi.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (I bought the first one, got really bored with it, but someday)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (This is another one sitting on my bookshelf staring at me)
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams*
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (doesn't this fall under #33? do I get to count it twice)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (I got halfway through this in France and stopped)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (We bought this from the nuns but I didn't read past Chap. 1)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (Toi~remember how obsessed Mrs. Manwell was with this?)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

*=reading at the moment

I've got 22. I feel all competitive now. So watch your backs!!!!

Where are all the books Deb made us read? Native Son? The Good Earth? The Awakening? If I HAD to read those, they should be on the list.

#29

I took the dog for a walk around my neighborhood today. It was hot and the dog was being his normal goofy self. As we passed a neighbor in his driveway, I heard "Hi, how are you?" I answered the guy back and he just stared at me for a long time before responding...





I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU. I WAS TALKING TO THE DOG. HE IS A NICE LOOKING DOG.




I didn't know what to think. I was slightly embarrassed. Harpo and I just walked away.

#28

I did just something stupid.

I reread Marley & Me.

Before when I got to the end, I was sad.

This time? I cried like a baby, sobbed.

My brothers were in the same room and didn't even notice.

#27

I just saw a commercial for No One Would Tell. It looks awesome. The story is about a shy teenager (Candace Cameron Bure) who becomes involved with an abusive boyfriend (Fred Savage) and when she tries to break it off she disappears!! Oh and its a "based on a true story" story. Its going to be on Lifetime tonight at 9. I think its a must see or at the very least its getting Tivo'd.

ETA: I Tivo'd this and it was awesome. Candace played the dumb girlfriend and Fred was creepy & controlling. Best parts were the adult characters including the skinny, alive Mama from the Mamas & the Papas and the judge was played by Sally Jessi Raphael who talked to the camera to give us a lesson about helping our friends in abusive relationships.

#26

I survived Bubba's party and am now feasting on the leftovers. They are so very yummy.

I went hiking in the woods today. It was actually fun. I think I'd go back and do it again at least once this summer.

If I get in to the grad school of choice, I'll live with a high school friend and her college friend. They e-mailed me a ton this weekend with prospective apartments. They also want to go visit and check some things out. It just all seems very weird and foreign to me. Probably because it really hit home that I wont me living with any of you for the next year. Oh well...

One final thought: Honey Puffs are very delicious.

#25

I have spent close to a week searching for this commercial online. I saw it for the first time last Saturday and it just made me bawl. I made everyone in my family watch it with me as I cried and cried. Sorry for its condition. Its the only one I could find. But I really wanted to share.



I am so excited for 08/08/08! Here are the other commercials from the same series.







I just saw the Michael Phelps' commercial but it wasn't very good. They filmed all new material of him swimming and it was about him being part fish with funky music in the background. Blah!

ETA: I forgot to add this one. I like the music box melody that plays and I think the way her body bends is so cool.

#24

8:35- I am currently at orientation with Bubba (that my youngest brother, I have called him that for years, he HATES it, I LOVE it). We are in a giant auditorium. No one is talking to each other or talking at all actually. Its very weird, very not AQ.  Oww, microphone feedback. I also feel that we are listening to Big Head's iPod. So far we've had DMB, Kenny Chesney's duet with Uncle Kracker, and some band that whined at us all song so I'm guessing Switchfoot? Dashboard Confessional? someone like them. I am only person with computer. Thus making me the coolest person ever!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOO!!! COLLEGE!! 

9:07- starting Welcome Presentation late!! Unacceptable!

9:10- Bubba is too slow to win trivia prize. Weird, since he plays trivia all day long online. 

9:13- Welcome Video; President of Ferris slightly looks like President Bush.

9:17- School psychiatrist has Frasier's hairline. hmmm...

9:20- NOW LIFELONG MEMBER OF BULLDOG FAMILY

9:23- I just learned at a ferris e-mail address looks more professional on my resume than gmail or yahoo.

10:30- All the students have left and it is just us "parents." We have done a wonderful job raising our children. After all they got into college didn't they? (So did the Unibomber, I don't really think we should think this is that big of an accomplishment.)

10:45- Guidance Counselor just instructed the parents to find out their children's user names and passwords to spy on them over the next four years. Nice!

11:00- Have broken away from herd of parents and decided not to attend the 3 hour Q&A session. Off to Qdoba's for free wireless & chicken tacos.

#23

This is for Toi and Frances. Tonight, I learned that they are in awe of this woman: Elizabeth Kucinich. She's a British citizen who married a Congressman who is 31 years older than her. He tried to run for President but got smacked down. She has her tongue pierced and one of her heroes is Princess Diana. She sounds fascinating.

#22

I’m watching the annual AFI countdown “10 Top 10” with my parents. I love watching these countdowns. But my parents keep ruining the ends of all the movies I haven’t seen yet. On a side note, "Laura" the movie I’m named after placed #4 on the Mystery list. It makes me happy.

ETA: I just discovered the origins of the dingo ate my baby. Oh Meryl Streep!

After watching “The Unicorn and the Wasp”, I was inspired to read some of Agatha Christie’s books. I remember as a child seeing them on my parents’ bookcase. So I spent all night searching for them in the basement where almost all the books were banished to when the den roof caved in. I couldn’t find them anywhere. I came upstairs and asked my parents where they were. Once they actually paid attention to my question, I discovered that my mother donated them all to library because no one was reading them. This was disappointing. So I headed over to Zauel and checked out “Murder on the Orient Express” and another something about a funeral. I’m excited to read them. 

I’ve also recently got the new Ann Brashares novel “The Last Summer (Of You and Me)” but I haven’t started it yet. I hope its good. I enjoyed the first Sisterhood book, the second just made me so mad, and the last two were okay.

#21

This afternoon I had an interview for a scholarship. I thought it went pretty well but who knows? Anyway, as I was getting ready for the interview, I was talking to Frances on chat about how nervous I was and then I wandered away to pick out an outfit. When I returned to my computer I found this typed in the send box: "Just be yourself and you'll do great." My brothers were the only ones home at the time and they both deny they did it. And I'm pretty sure the dog didn't do it, but I found it a very sweet gesture.

I just finished rolling out 9 pounds of meatballs. I smell like meat.  

#20

Ever sit down to write and find you have nothing to say. Hmmm...lets see. I spent Saturday in Frankenmuth with Toi and was surprised to see how lame the Bavarian Festival was. I always thought it would have been like homecoming at AQ. Nope, just old people and goth kids competing in a Battle of the Bands. Guess which group I attracted more? Anyway, we ended up fleeing the town after we were unable to find reasonable prices for food.

Then on Saturday, Toi and I went to Birch Run to meet up with MMM(omg, I cannot think of a nickname for you and I want to publish this entry and its been an hour, so I'll come up with something later and edit this I promise) (I think this shall be your nickname but I'm just trying it out) and Swede, her boyfriend who was visiting from Sweden. They were adorably cute with each other. After lunch, I rushed back to Saginaw to help with party preparations to find my house abandoned. So I was able to avoid chores for a bit longer.

Now I am watching the Tony Awards and the cast from "Passing Strange" is performing. Its really good, different than traditional musicals. 

ETA: The Little Mermaid flipper costume is scary. She has a tail and two legs at the same time.

Oh, Toi and I were thinking a weekend in Chicago would be fun before summer ends and we truly have to become grown-ups. So start thinking about a weekend that works well for you and hopefully, we can all get silly drunk & re-enact our sneaky cab ride. 

#19

I bought a hat today. It was an impulse buy. I liked it in the store. But now that I've got it home I'm not so sure. So I'm wearing it all today with the tags still on trying to decide whether or not I should take it back.

#18

Seriously you guys, I have the best brothers. One just randomly brought me home a mint mocha  chip frapp from Barnes & Noble. And the other volunteered to go grocery shopping and when he came back, he put them all away himself. Living at home can be difficult at times but sometimes its just plain awesome.

#17

So I got bored with the template. It took like 4 hours and 2 computers but I was able to create the header. I think I like it. I'll probably change it again in a few days. 

Anyway, I got into graduate school. I found out last week but I didn't tell anyone for a while until Toi's mom came over. It just feels weird and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. I think its because it really hit home that I'll be by myself next year. Soo...if anyone wants to come to grad. school with me next year, let me know!

Coldplay is coming to the Palace of Auburn Hills on July, 5th. I think it'd make a great "Wooo!!!! I graduated college! Wooo!!!! I got into grad. school!" celebration thing. 

#16

I was already pretty excited for Dark Knight even with my mother's mandate that we were not going to see that movie that caused Heath Ledger's accidental overdose. But then I saw these.

Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter!!! Yummmm.... Apparently, they were first released in 2003 but I completely missed them. So I'm glad they have brought them back because they sound like heaven. This is my new summer goal to find and eat as many as a can. 

#15

Is it wrong that I want to go see NKOTB in concert?

#13

I accidentally skipped 13 so these are a little out of order.

Anyway, I might have started gathering information on a little trip that would take me from Detroit to Cardiff. It'll only cost me $1,455 for the airfare, which is kind of expensive. But then Toi suggested flying to London and driving to Cardiff. So I looked up that option. While it is more expensive, it comes with the experience of driving through the English countryside, which I think would just be the best part of the entire journey. So who is up for it? If more than 2 people want to go, we could upgrade to a better car like a convertible. And we could learn about driving on the wrong side of the road!

ETA: Jessica Alba named her baby Honor. Did she not see the Scrubs episode with Carla telling Turkleton how stupid it would be to name their daughter Honor?

 

#14

Yo!

I went and had dinner tonight with some friends from high school. It was fun. Though, I wished I had sat by the ones I haven't seen since graduation. We would have had more to talk about and I wouldn't have had to hear the same stories over and over again. After that Toi and I did what almost every Saginaw Friday Night (SFN) consists of: searching through the Target 75% Off rack and a stop at Starbucks. I just wish there was something anything else to do on any night of the week here in Saginaw. 

Earlier today I was shopping with my mother for Michael Fest '08, which you all are invited to by the way. Anyway, I had just parked the car and was walking to the store when I hear my name being screamed across the parking lot. Another high school classmate had spotted my car and remembered it from high school all those years ago. Its weird being back home this summer even more so than years before.

Also, I got a refund check from AQ and I was so excited because who doesn't love money! Until my mother pointed out that it was probably just my housing deposit. And then suddenly it just wasn't as exciting as it was before.

#12

I was looking at the sale section at anthropologie.com and while everything was still too expensive for me (I mean seriously $139.95 for this on clearance?!?), I found some pants.

I would show a picture of them. Except wait a mere 2 hours after I found gray dress pants available only in my size reduced to $9.99 from $125, they are gone! GONE! gone!

I was weighing the pros and cons of the pants. 

Cons: were wide leg pants, already own a pair of gray pants with slight wide legs, seemed to draw attention to hips 

Pros: a pair of anthropologie pants for $9.99!!!!, i could always use more pants- they are kind of mandatory for being in public

I was torn and I didn't know what to do before I was like "Aha!!! I will blog about it and my friends will tell me what to do." So I start writing this post, go in search of the pants, and can no longer find them. 

This teaches me to buy first, think later. I mean thats the only lesson that can come from this, right?

#11

So this entry is a little unfocused.

I had to go make an edible picture for my mom because she was making a retirement cake for someone. It was supposed to be simple. I take in the image to the cake store and they scan, copy, and print on edible paper. It ended up taking 40 minutes! So there I was surrounded by cakes, cookies, and candy for almost an hour and no samples to try. It was difficult.

I went to visit Toi (formely known as Bestie) tonight. We ate some Chinese and shopped. I got a t-shirt from J.Crew and some nifty lip gloss from Bath & Body Works. I fell in love with the mini scone pan at Williams-Sonoma. If I had it, I could make scones everyday. And I know that I would make them everyday. Really I would. You all could have some. 

On my way to meet her, I realized I came home from France a year ago today. That just seems crazy. It does not feel like a year has gone by.

Did anyone else stay up ridiculously late last night to watch the Wings only to have them lose in the 3rd overtime?

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. They kind of ambushed me and forced me to make an appointment. I have to admit I haven't been in a while with the combination of not living in the country, working with dental people in the summer who would clean my teeth for free, and the fact that the hygienist would make me cry when she cleaned my teeth. But I've heard they got a new one who is gentler. Downside, she is the mom of a high school classmate. Last time, my brother went in, she made him talk on her cell phone with her daughter. I hope nothing like that happens tomorrow because 8:30 is just too early in the morning for that.

Oh, just to let you all know, Bath & Body Works is coming out with a new scent on July 7th. It is entitled Rain Kissed Leaves. And it has a motto something like: lustrous. youthful. poetic.

Ya, its special. 

#10

After attending my cousins' jr. high track meet, my other cousin's baseball tournament, and getting myself sun burned, I decided I needed a reward. So I went shopping. After looking at all the shoes the store had to offer and wondering why my options were cheap hooker platform or old maiden shoe. I saw this kid trying on the cutest gold sandals. So I casually planted myself next to her and started searching for my size. I tried on the 5's but they were a little too big. I tried on the 3's but they pinched a little. And then after much searching I found 4's and they fit perfectly. And here they are:

Yes, I know. I just got new shoes like a week ago. But these are sandals and they were on sale. And I got to try on 3 DIFFERENT sizes to see which one's fit better which I never get to do. As I was desperately trying to find a size 4, the kid's mom approached me. She had noticed that I was a bit older than all the other 8 year olds in the kids sections. And she wanted to know if I normally have a problem finding age appropriate shoes and where did I usually get my shoes because her 12 year old daughter was having the same problem. Yeah, I'm sure the exact same problem with you know me being 22 and her daughter being 10 years younger! I explained that it took a lot of searching but it is difficult finding something that does not have a Disney's character's faces plastered on it or lights up when I walk (which she just found to be the funniest thing ever). ha ha ha ha, so damn funny. Laugh it up, lady, laugh it up.