Made the Switch & Funny Friday

Well friends, I hope you are preparing for the coming doom....of Google Reader going away, not the Mayan calendar ending. That was so last year.


Anyway, yay for Bloglovin' being there to support us.

Also, Funny Friday comes courtesy of Dad's new favorite joke. Did that sentence sound a little bit like the end of Sesame Street? No? Just me? Oh, ha, I've just been babysitting a lot...not watching Sesame Street by myself...awkward...

Dad's new favorite joke: If you had to choose between world peace and Bill Gates' money, what color would your Lamborghini be?

And now here are some humorous images.





And because eventually Monday will be here again...


Enjoy your weekend!

Making the Switch to Bloglovin'!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin


Since Google Reader is going buh-bye on Monday, I've made the switch to Bloglovin'. Hopefully I can figure everything out {as in, how to continue posting!} really quickly, but please bear with me if I'm clueless...which I am, so woot. To be continued...


*** 5 Minutes Later ***

So apparently you can follow my blog on Bloglovin' but I'm not sure how to actually post from there, which is lame. Oh well. I'll keep playing with it, and hopefully will have a Funny Friday post for you tomorrow, regardless.

*** 1 Minute Later ***

Just found the correct help section. Apparently Bloglovin' is all for reading, but not for writing. Dumb. Oh well.

Grumpiness

Folks, if you were wondering what makes Bek grumpy, it’s waiting and inactivity. I hate not being able to move forward on things. Like what things? Like expedite the process of growing up and moving out. Like not living with grandparents. Like not planning things because the day on the calendar isn’t the day to begin planning. Like counting down oh-so-slowly until fun trips.
Grrr.
The good news is, things are moving forward, even though you wouldn’t know it from my grumpiness. The grumpiness actually comes from things moving forward, but at a snail’s pace….actually, at a crippled snail’s pace…it’s killing me.
And because of this grumpiness and waiting season and other busy-ness, I have not written a review for either Man of Steel or Warm Bodies. Even though I’ve thought about writing them several times, nothing has materialized. I should just make myself write one, so here goes.

Man of Steel
My review is going to be divided into two parts: shallow and deep. Just roll with it, and see above paragraphs if you need help understanding what’s going on in my head right now.
Shallow:

• I really liked the character development. I thought they did a great job with Clark and Lois’ relationship, and I liked how they protected each other and then grew into romance. I appreciated that it wasn’t flirtation the whole time.
• Also on that note, Amy Adams was great as Lois. She’s totes adorbs.
• Let’s be honest: Henry Cavill is nice to look at. Definitely a plus in my book ;)
  
  Also- does he look familiar? Recognize him now?
  
  Why yes, you are the son of the Count of Monte Cristo!
• One of the only things I didn’t really like was part of the cinematography. There were more than a dozen wide pans and then a visual jerk into a zoom in order to focus on something in that big picture. Could have cut out the majority; the repetition made me think that the camera guy was a one-trick pony.
• Two words: Hans Zimmer. Amazing.
• Definitely not a chick flick…I would have cut the battle scenes in half, personally, but that’s just me…or maybe it’s because I sat too close to the screen.

Deep:

• It was really cool to think about the way the Kryptonites created every person with a purpose, and how that played out. I won’t discuss it here {again, see above paragraphs} as fully as it should be, but if you’ve seen it, tell me what you think!
• I loved how Clark had to wrestle with his identity and purpose and place.
• After Clark encountered his father’s consciousness and returned to tell his mom about it, I love that he reaffirmed both her status as his mom and his love for her. Love it.
• One of my favorite aspects is Clark’s relationship with his earthly father {Kevin Costner’s character}. I love that he trusts his dad enough to obey. I love that his father loves him enough to sacrifice. I love how his dad speaks identity into Clark, and is always vocalizing his love and respect.

Alright, homies, that’s what I think. And now I feel a lot better. Thanks for listening, friends.

Funny Friday - Family Edition

As promised, here are two funny stories for your viewing pleasure. One is a bit of a throwback, and the other was a phone call earlier this week. Enjoy!

My Sister, the Pyromaniac

My family has this long-running joke about Sister J being a pyromaniac, or "pyro" for those of you who abbrieve :) The origin of this endearing nickname is a story from long, long ago. I don't think any of my sisters were in double-digits, but we were certainly old enough to help set the table for dinner.

My mom always has a pretty centerpiece on the table - usually flowers or a plant - and on this occasion, the flowers were flanked by two tall candles. For some reason, my pyro sister wanted to light the candles for a romantic dinner...with the entire family. I'm actually not sure why she wanted the candles lit, but Mom humored her and told her how to strike the match and light the candles without burning herself.

**Note: Sister J is now a mature young lady with a healthy respect and admiration for candles, matches, and flames in general. She also has a clean record. End note.

J probably used three or four matches to actually create a flame, so she was a bit flustered. Mom offered to help, but J was determined to accomplish this feat on her own. After lighting a match, however, the candles were stubbornly not lighting. I think the wick had wax on it or something; anyway, it took another couple matches to light the darn things. Finally, success! The candles were lit, and the ambiance was set.

Mission accomplished, J blew out the match. Without turning her head. So the candle she had just struggled to light was now blown out also.

Sister J learned a valuable lesson that night. What that lesson is, I don't know. I personally leave the pyro to the pyromaniac of the fam.

Grandpa & Greek Yogurt

Earlier this week I called my grandparents {you know, the ones who live in the Frozen Tundra} and was talking to Grandpa. To refresh your memory, this is the grandpa who told me "Grammie won't go fishing with me anymore...I made her be the anchor one time, and now she won't go with me!" That Grandpa.

Me: Grandpa, tell Grammie that I'm still enjoying Noosa yogurt!
Grandpa: She just had to throw one out the other day.
Me: Uh oh. What for?
Grandpa: It expired before she got to it.
Me: Well, why didn't you help her eat it?
Grandpa: I don't care for that stuff.
Me: I guess if this is the first one that she's had to throw out, that's not too bad.
Grandpa: Yeah, she's been eating it since you lived with us, but I don't think she looks any more Greek.

And that, friends, is Funny Friday. Enjoy your weekend!

A Few Favorite Things

On the days that it's hard to regain consciousness wake up get out of bed, thinking of favorite things is necessary. And no more introduction is possible necessary because favorite things speaks for itself...and sings for itself. Sound of Music anyone??

moving on to this mystical list...

• Book Club tonight {we're reading Lady in Waiting and discussing it & it's FANTASTIC! a bit cheesy, but our discussions more than make up for that}
• good hair days...currently styling a ballet bun, which was surprisingly easy to put in {thanks, Mom, for those hundred years stabbing my head with bobby pins-4 is totes not a lot to this scarred scalp}
• birth stories...this is sorta weird, but I love reading or hearing birth stories, and last week I found a few good ones! Don't read if a) this weirds you out or b) you're in a quiet place like a library, because you will be LOL-ing for real on a couple of these. Camp Patton- Theo & Hysterical-Prepare to tinkle your pants
• trip planning! Dahlia and I are going to Prince Edward Island in August, and the other night we had a 2-hours-long conversation regarding this. Dahls is a champ and made an itinerary of our trip, and then we reviewed the things that needed finalizing and purchased things that needed purchasing, like tickets to these wonderful shows: Anne of Green Gables the Musical and Anne and Gilbert: the Musical. You can be jealous at any time now :)
• Introducing Sister E to Doctor Who...definitely a good thing! Gotta say, for being filmed in 2005, the first episode definitely has a 90s feel to it. Good ol' Britain! :)
• phone dates with AJ! Heck to the yeah, we're going to talk tonight! Maybe even use technology to see each other's faces...depends on how nice my technologically-advanced sisters are tonight...

And that, friends, are a few of my favorite things at this moment. Oh, add Taylor Swift to this list. She's totes adorbs, too. 

Happy Wednesday!

Funny Friday Fail, and Happy Father's Day

Sorry, guys... Funny Friday just didn't happen last week. But I will try and make it up to you with TWO funny stories this week!

Also, in case there was any confusion, I happen to have THE best dad ever, and he had a great Father's Day, thanks for asking. :)

The fam {yes, the whole fam! Wonder of wonders!} went to see Man of Steel. The reviewer in our newspaper here didn't like it, but he must have had Grouchy Burgers for lunch before seeing it. The film was really, really good. And Hans Zimmer did the score, so of course that was AMAZING. I want to organize my thoughts about the film and post sometime, so stay tuned for that.

So, yes, the whole fam is home. Sister J came home from the Big Bad B-ham on Friday, and then Sister E's host family went on a trip, so she's staying with us for most of the week. Can you say SISTER REUNION!?!?!? You know it! When the 4 of us are together, fun things happen. For. Realz. I don't know if you guys know this, but in addition to having the best dad ever, I also have the best sisters in the history of sisterhood.
 Little Women? Got nothing on us.
Fiddler on the Roof? They have one mere song together!
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood? They're not even related!
Finding Nemo? Doesn't have a sister!
Ok that last one was a bit over the top. Sorry. But seriously, my sisters are the bomb dot com!

And in case my mom feels left out, she's the best mom ever. As in, she laughs at us more than we laugh at us. She's that cool.

So yeah. Basically, you can be super jealous of my family, because we're awesome. I mean, judge us by our hair alone and we are still awesome.But don't actually use this picture. Or just judge by Sister P's hair in this picture...




***several minutes hours minutes-that-feel-like-hours later***

Do you know how hard it is to capture awesomeness on camera? Yeah, and then multiply that by 4 and try and find one good, recent, fabulous-hair-for-everyone picture with all of us...and then curl up into the fetal position and surrender. That's what I thought.

Anyway, one of these days we'll take a picture of the fam where everyone's hair is wonderful and there are no Christmas sweaters or picnic plates to be found. Until then, just enjoy this video of sisterly love. {Thanks Ash for teaching me how to embed the vid!}

What a Weekend!

Does it seem like Monday is Recover-From-The-Weekend Day? I need it! Thank God for Mondays.

Let's recap this weekend, because it was super fun! :)

First of all, Sister P and I watched Warm Bodies. Oh my gracious. This has just become one of my favorites! I think it hits this generation's sense of humor right on, and it's a sweet story. I might have to do a post dedicated to this film, or at least its soundtrack. :)

Secondly, I got another babysitting job! I had an interview with the lady Saturday morning, and now I'm scheduled for Friday night :) Her kids are cute, which is always a plus.

Thirdly, I went over the mountains to visit my friend Dahlia, whom you've met before. It was her birthday last month and her older brother's birthday this month, so they had a combined party! It was so fun! She has lots of extended family, many of whom joined the celebration. It was so good to meet the people that I've heard about!
I got to spend the night, which made Saturday really relaxing {since I didn't have to drive home the same day} and meant that Dahlia and I stayed up WAY too late!! Haha, when will we learn that we are too old to do that?!

Fourthly, graduation party! My house sister during MC's graduated from high school, which is simply craaaazy and awesome! Mom and I picked up Sister E and headed to the party, and it was super fun. Got to catch up with some friends and talk nerdy with Ashley...we are united in our love for British shows :)

Fifthly, we watched Warm Bodies again. We had to let E see it! :) So funny.

And now it's Tuesday and I'm celebrating by renewing my First Aid certification! Woot. Totes being sarcastic with the woot part, btdubs. In case you didn't pick that up. Or in case renewing your First Aid skills is super high on your list of fun things to do.

Anyways, hope your weekend was grand, folks!

Funny Friday- Bird Edition

I totes meant to post this on Tuesday when it actually happened, but ce la vie....and stuff. See how good my French is? So sad. 15 years of ballet and I can't even speak a complete sentence.

moving on...

So, Bird Edition. First of all, on Tuesday, I think that Mom and Sister P and I all said "put a bird on it" like 467 times total. If you have not seen this yet, please watch it...and then go put a bird on things! you tubin' here, yo
{P.S. if someone could tell me how to put the clip here on this very blog page, that would be wonderful. Please and thank you.}

Second part of Bird Edition: The weather has been fabulous this week, and so I went on a walk around the parking lot during my lunch break. And there was a dead bird on the ground. Grossness. I did not kill it or step in it. You're welcome for those almost-graphic details.

Third part of Bird Edition: Because of said-lovely-weather, my fam dined outside on the deck. And then I heard a *thunk* by one of the windows, but I didn't see anything. At first I thought my dad was home from work but had moved into the kitchen...and then there was a *thunk* on the kitchen window, and there was a bird in the house! Seriously, just like the Portlandia video {that I'm linking again} the bird was flying all over the place! Thankfully Mom was able to direct the creature out of the curtains and into the great wild blue yonder...of outside, not of our living room. Like a boss, Mom, like a boss.

Happy Friday, y'all, and be nice to birds.

Brain Blip

You know it's a Monday when...

...you go to type "brain blip" as your title and type "brian" instead....yep

I totes had a post planned for Friday, and it was going to be really funny! But alas, I started working on a project for Victoria {ok guys, for realz- she's amazing, she's my friend, and I sometimes get to work with her! Totes fun!} and the Funny Friday post just didn't happen. Sorry, peeps.

So instead of posting about something deep and intense and serious, I'll be trying out something called "7 Quick Takes" which means you get to read my mind in 7 areas....more realistically, I'll be sharing my thoughts about 7 random things, and when you put the number in the heading, it makes it not random but official and bloggy-sounding. So there. Beat that with a stick. Except I don't know if I'll make it to 7...this is so totally a Monday, it's not even funny. But I'll do my best to overcome.

1. Anyone know any good ways to take off nail polish and get EVERYTHING off? Is there some natural way to do it, or some magic cotton balls you have to use to get it all off? Please share your secrets!

2. Wow, that was a lame #1. What a start we are off to... and now I better think of something quick so #2 doesn't flop also....deodorant is the only thing that comes to mind, so I guess we're going for a hardcore belly flop. Go big or go home.

3. Mom and I have watched 3 episodes of Call the Midwife, Season 2. Augh! So many changes! I won't divulge spoilers, but if you're watching, let me know where in the season you are!

4. Oh yeah, so that totes British takeover post last week? I really don't know how I left off Doctor Who... well, I do. I'm trying to save my episodes and find other things to fill my time {hence, CTM and other British shows that are not as emotionally involved}. But seriously...David Tennant. Totes adorbs.

        source





                                                    source
Butforrealztho....oh yeah, AJ, he's Scottish, complete with accent :D

5. How to compete with David Tennant? Let's not even try and purposely aim low. My bestie and I went to Target yesterday and bought a tea towel for our future place together. No, we don't have a place yet. Yes, we bought it anyway. We bought the teal one with forks, because we're mature like that.

6. My friend Dahlia is having a birthday party this weekend. So exciting! I got something for her last night at Target, but of course I can't say what.
I did warn her that I might buy this for her....she begged me not to, but I may not be able to help myself :)

                       buy it for Dahlia here source

7. Just found this on face.book. Pretty much sums up today.



Happy Monday!