Photo found here.
And for the record, for any of you who have read these books...I'm totally Team Peeta. After book one and two, anyway...I'm about 1/3 of the way through book three and I might be sliding toward Team Gale. TBD.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Book Review: Catching Fire
This series did not slow down with book two. I finished it Sunday morning and it did not disappoint. If anything the story got more twisted, more complex, and more exciting (which is expected, yet still appreciated). Although I think I still like the first book the best (but I'm a basics kind of girl), the second one kept me turning pages just as quickly!
And for the record, for any of you who have read these books...I'm totally Team Peeta. After book one and two, anyway...I'm about 1/3 of the way through book three and I might be sliding toward Team Gale. TBD.
And for the record, for any of you who have read these books...I'm totally Team Peeta. After book one and two, anyway...I'm about 1/3 of the way through book three and I might be sliding toward Team Gale. TBD.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Bring It On: The Musical
Wow. I was pretty much knocked out of commission last week thanks to a fever and taking (my first!) sick day at work. Alas, this review is coming to you a few days late...
Last week a group of girls from work and I trudged to our first show in our 'Dallas Summer Musical' lineup. As you might remember from previous blog posts, my sister and I bought tickets to a few of these shows last summer. Since she's off being cool in Boston, I had to find someone else to accompany me while I get my musical fix. Result: season tickets with five of the sweetest girls from work!
Our first show was 'Bring It On.' We started the night with a dinner trip to Twisted Root in Deep Ellum and came prepared for a show full of glitter, back handsprings, and pom poms. It did not disappoint:
The show was cheesy, most definitely. But it honestly wasn't as dorky as I thought it would be. The acting was decent and the singing actually wasn't too bad. There was less cheerleading than I had anticipated which was actually a bummer because I love watching basket tosses and tumbling stunts, etc (read: REAL cheerleading, not your Friday night high school football game mock-up). It by far was not my favorite musical (sorry Campbell and Eva, you ain't got nothin' on Elphaba and Glinda), but it wasn't a wasted Thursday night either. And considering we got a steal of a deal on ticket prices, I'd recommend this for a $12.00 night out to any tween-mid 30s girl out there!
Last week a group of girls from work and I trudged to our first show in our 'Dallas Summer Musical' lineup. As you might remember from previous blog posts, my sister and I bought tickets to a few of these shows last summer. Since she's off being cool in Boston, I had to find someone else to accompany me while I get my musical fix. Result: season tickets with five of the sweetest girls from work!
Our first show was 'Bring It On.' We started the night with a dinner trip to Twisted Root in Deep Ellum and came prepared for a show full of glitter, back handsprings, and pom poms. It did not disappoint:
Photo found here.
The show was cheesy, most definitely. But it honestly wasn't as dorky as I thought it would be. The acting was decent and the singing actually wasn't too bad. There was less cheerleading than I had anticipated which was actually a bummer because I love watching basket tosses and tumbling stunts, etc (read: REAL cheerleading, not your Friday night high school football game mock-up). It by far was not my favorite musical (sorry Campbell and Eva, you ain't got nothin' on Elphaba and Glinda), but it wasn't a wasted Thursday night either. And considering we got a steal of a deal on ticket prices, I'd recommend this for a $12.00 night out to any tween-mid 30s girl out there!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Trolley Good Time
Last weekend about 30 of my college friends rented out one of the Uptown Trolleys for three hours on Saturday night. The experience was nothing short of magical. With party hats to celebrate Alan's birthday, an awesome driver named Doug, a Chinese Fire Drill in the middle of downtown, and a musical tribute to the great Whitney Houston, I'll let the photos speak for the awesome night we had:
I almost didn't include this because of my absurd face but, let's be honest, it's a photo the world needed to see. The trolley must have lurched forward at that moment, but there's no denying we're having a good time!
Yup. It sure was a trolley good time.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Hot Chocolate Run
Last Saturday I woke up early to find it a bitterly cold and brutally windy morning. Great. I was set to run my first 15k and running in 28 degree weather for over 9 miles is less than enticing. I begrudgingly dragged myself out of bed, donned my thermal pants and my black windbreaker, and set out for my two hours of misery.
What should have been a 7 minute commute to Fair Park turned into over an hour and, considering we had only allowed ourselves an hour to get there, we started the race a bit late. Along with probably a hundred other people.
In all honesty, it was miserable. I straight up hated it. About three miles in I started getting really nauseous and my knee was throbbing so I had to walk for a bit. This happened again a few more times so I'm pretty disappointed to say I didn't run the entire thing. I just couldn't bring myself to push through the pain, end up seriously hurting myself, and then having to cancel my half that's coming up. So I took a few breaks and let my knee rest up.
BUT I finished. In the 28 degree weather and sideways winds and hills so steep you'd think we were in Colorado, I finished. With nausea taunting me the whole way and a knee that had a knife twisted through it, I finished.
It wasn't my best time by any means, but all things considered, I can't be too disappointed with a 1:54 time. I don't really care much about time now anyway. For now, I'm just trying to finish. We'll work speed next year.
What should have been a 7 minute commute to Fair Park turned into over an hour and, considering we had only allowed ourselves an hour to get there, we started the race a bit late. Along with probably a hundred other people.
In all honesty, it was miserable. I straight up hated it. About three miles in I started getting really nauseous and my knee was throbbing so I had to walk for a bit. This happened again a few more times so I'm pretty disappointed to say I didn't run the entire thing. I just couldn't bring myself to push through the pain, end up seriously hurting myself, and then having to cancel my half that's coming up. So I took a few breaks and let my knee rest up.
BUT I finished. In the 28 degree weather and sideways winds and hills so steep you'd think we were in Colorado, I finished. With nausea taunting me the whole way and a knee that had a knife twisted through it, I finished.
It wasn't my best time by any means, but all things considered, I can't be too disappointed with a 1:54 time. I don't really care much about time now anyway. For now, I'm just trying to finish. We'll work speed next year.
Yes. I look miserable and cold and hateful of life.
I do have to say that as miserable as the run itself was, the after party was pretty legit. There was chocolate ev.er.y.where! Hot chocolate, ghiradelli chocolate squares, chocolate fondu, etc, etc and about ten millions different things to dip in it! I was in chocolate heaven and I loved it:
Yeah, I don't know why my right eye is squinting. I blame it on the near hypothermia.
15k. Check. Next race? My half marathon in March!
Technically I'm running in The Color Run 5k and Dash Down Greenville St. Patty's Day 5k but those will just be fun runs :)
Monday, February 13, 2012
"I wish you joy, and happiness..."
...but above all this, I wish you LOVE.
In honor of all the nights driving with Carrie, top down, stereo blasted with this song:
This is a 'sing at the top of your lungs no matter how awful you sound' kind of song. Thanks for bringin' us this classic, Whit.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Week In Review
Last week was...stellar. Every night I did something fun and exciting. Here's a peek into how things went down:
Monday:
I hit my new Personal Best with a 9mile run on the Katy Trail. Because of such a long workout, I didn't make it out to my usual 'Bachelor watching party' at Steph's. However, I had a pretty awesome substitute of a night cooking dinner (Baked Potato Soup!) and watching the show with Lauren:
Tuesday:
No pictures of this awesome night because I spent the evening playing in our first kickball game of the season! That's right, the Baccas are back. This time for kickball. We rounded out the night with a little post-game happy hour at Stan's which was a nice excursion as always.
Wednesday:
Went to Allen to hang out with my parents for my Mom's birthday! Great food, great company, great evening. And I got to drive home in my new car (more on that to come):
Monday:
I hit my new Personal Best with a 9mile run on the Katy Trail. Because of such a long workout, I didn't make it out to my usual 'Bachelor watching party' at Steph's. However, I had a pretty awesome substitute of a night cooking dinner (Baked Potato Soup!) and watching the show with Lauren:
Tuesday:
No pictures of this awesome night because I spent the evening playing in our first kickball game of the season! That's right, the Baccas are back. This time for kickball. We rounded out the night with a little post-game happy hour at Stan's which was a nice excursion as always.
Wednesday:
Went to Allen to hang out with my parents for my Mom's birthday! Great food, great company, great evening. And I got to drive home in my new car (more on that to come):
Thursday:
I went to dinner with some girls from work at Sfuzzi's. The pizza was awesome but the frozen blueberry mohito I got was to. die. for. So much so that I splurged on two:
Friday:
A few weeks back I started (what we plan to keep as) a tradition of cooking dinner for friends. The goal is once or twice a month to all get together and cook at someone's house. It's a good chance for the six of us to catch up on each other's lives without the bumping of the bar music behind us and it beats paying restaurant prices! Friday night Carrie cooked dinner and we celebrated Alan's 24th birthday a little early:
What a fun week! So lucky to have been able to hang out with so many of my sweet friends!
Friday, February 10, 2012
"Truths For Mature Humans"
Found this via Pinterest. Can't stop laughing. So true. Must share:
1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than the moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my own neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? **** it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep people's numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
21. Sometimes I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it. ("Dirty Dancing," anyone?!)
22. I would rather carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber and dumber every year?
29. There's no worse feeling than the millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.
31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
31. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd be my *** everyone can find a push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time! (Story of my life)
1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than the moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my own neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? **** it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep people's numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
21. Sometimes I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it. ("Dirty Dancing," anyone?!)
22. I would rather carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber and dumber every year?
29. There's no worse feeling than the millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.
31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
31. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd be my *** everyone can find a push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time! (Story of my life)
Check it out fo realz here:
http://pinterest.com/pin/283304632778975129/
Thursday, February 9, 2012
"It just sounds so old..."
My friend, Steph, sent me a screen shot of a Facebook comment I posted on her wall years ago. September 24th of 2007 to be exact. Here's what it said:
"aww i wanted to see that but i had studying and everyone wanted to watch the cowboys game...but i plan to see it very, very soon!! i'm super excited about it!!
and...i know! i have less than a week and then i'll be in my 20s!!!!! how crazy is that? it just sounds so old..."
I've taken a few things from this archaic comment. First of all I obviously should have been given a limit on how many exclamation points I was allowed to put in each post. Excessive.
Secondly, "it just sounds so old"...really?! I thought 20 was old. I'm pushin' 25 here which makes me, what?! A grandma in my world? Sheesh.
I have no idea what I was "so unbelievably excited to see" and I don't remember a time when studying would have trumped something so awesome...but I guess this is simply a black and white example that I was responsible at some points throughout my collegiate career. Kinda. If you can enter a Facebook comment as proof...
Apparently Steph found this gem using the 'timeline' thing-a-ma-jig on Facebook. I've yet to convert and after finding out you need simply click on a specific year for it to unlock a world of forgotten posts and comments, I think I'll continue to hold out. My nostalgic personality would be addicted in .2 seconds.
"aww i wanted to see that but i had studying and everyone wanted to watch the cowboys game...but i plan to see it very, very soon!! i'm super excited about it!!
and...i know! i have less than a week and then i'll be in my 20s!!!!! how crazy is that? it just sounds so old..."
I've taken a few things from this archaic comment. First of all I obviously should have been given a limit on how many exclamation points I was allowed to put in each post. Excessive.
Secondly, "it just sounds so old"...really?! I thought 20 was old. I'm pushin' 25 here which makes me, what?! A grandma in my world? Sheesh.
I have no idea what I was "so unbelievably excited to see" and I don't remember a time when studying would have trumped something so awesome...but I guess this is simply a black and white example that I was responsible at some points throughout my collegiate career. Kinda. If you can enter a Facebook comment as proof...
Apparently Steph found this gem using the 'timeline' thing-a-ma-jig on Facebook. I've yet to convert and after finding out you need simply click on a specific year for it to unlock a world of forgotten posts and comments, I think I'll continue to hold out. My nostalgic personality would be addicted in .2 seconds.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Frugal Findings
A few weeks ago when my sister was in town, I had a flashback to college. Or rather, a flashback to being poor and creative. My mom, sister, and I were spending the day together for Cyn's birthday and decided to run a few errands before. First stop? Plato's Closet. My sister had cleaned out her closet and decided to ditch the items she never wears (read: Coach shoes and Seven capris). She's crazy. But regardless, she has no need for them in Boston, so to the recycling store they went! I had recently cleaned out my closet as well (read: Forever 21 tops and American Eagle jeans) so decided to do the same.
While they dug through our treasures at the resale shop, my sister wanted to bop across the street to the Goodwill. Whatever, it was her day. My sister (and all of her musician friends) are super into thrifting. I think it's a combination of "this is the cool thing to do" and "we go to expensive music school and have no money." Regardless, I had put my thrifting days behind me so tagged along merely to humor her (and what choice did I have, really...). However, upon entering the store, standing right in front of me, beckoning me over was a rack full of blazers. Ok, might as well browse the rack...
Twenty minutes later and two blazers in tow, I was out the door. That's right, I bought two blazers from Goodwill for a total of $8.10. Let me spell that out for you...eight. dollars. and. ten. cents. One blazer of the kind would typically breach the $60.00 mark. Go me. One of them is super chic and the other ultimate vintage.
I may have scrubbed and washed each one in the washing machine twice (screw "dry clean only"...) but I love them regardless. And I especially love them for less than ten bucks! I might just start perusing my local Goodwill every once in a while...
Oh, and I got $22.00 bucks from Plato's Closet for my discarded clothing so it's really like I spent no money at all. Good shopping day.
While they dug through our treasures at the resale shop, my sister wanted to bop across the street to the Goodwill. Whatever, it was her day. My sister (and all of her musician friends) are super into thrifting. I think it's a combination of "this is the cool thing to do" and "we go to expensive music school and have no money." Regardless, I had put my thrifting days behind me so tagged along merely to humor her (and what choice did I have, really...). However, upon entering the store, standing right in front of me, beckoning me over was a rack full of blazers. Ok, might as well browse the rack...
Twenty minutes later and two blazers in tow, I was out the door. That's right, I bought two blazers from Goodwill for a total of $8.10. Let me spell that out for you...eight. dollars. and. ten. cents. One blazer of the kind would typically breach the $60.00 mark. Go me. One of them is super chic and the other ultimate vintage.
I may have scrubbed and washed each one in the washing machine twice (screw "dry clean only"...) but I love them regardless. And I especially love them for less than ten bucks! I might just start perusing my local Goodwill every once in a while...
Oh, and I got $22.00 bucks from Plato's Closet for my discarded clothing so it's really like I spent no money at all. Good shopping day.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Commercial Bowl
I mean Super Bowl. I didn't watch it. Ok, just the last half of the last quarter. Sorry, America, I feel as though I let you down.
A jam-packed Sunday coupled with a lack of exciting plans left me to decide that I honestly didn't care that much about this game. I decided to be productive instead. And I had already seen a couple of the commercials anyway and, let's be honest, that's all anyone talks about the next day anyway. That and maybe how intense the last 57 seconds were. But as long as I was watching that and have seen enough of the good commercials to hang in conversation, no need to sit my butt in front of the tube for the full four hours. So I didn't.
What I did do today was:
1) Brunch at La Fiorentina where I gobbled up the most delicious ::wait for it:: Nutella-filled French Toast with Caramelized Bananas and Banana pudding. Served with pure Maple syrup. And then I topped it off with a $1.00 mimosa. Thank goodness I ran 7 miles Saturday because I could feel the pounds packing on.
2) Kickball practice with the Baccas. We're gearing up for our first game of the season on Tuesday so everyone went hard. My shining moment came when I went to catch my first pop-up and misjudged how high and fast it was coming in. I meant to catch it into my chest but instead caught with my face. Did I mention it was freezing out and the ball has ridges so this felt a little like a ball of crunched ice hitting my cheek bone? Well, it did. The boys were literally doubled over with laughter while the girls yelled at them to shut up and tears ran down my stinging cheek. It hurt, absolutely. But I definitely wish we would have caught it on film...
3) Church with Carrie. Let me tell you how full the parking lot of The Village was at 5:00 PM on Super Bowl Sunday. Needless to say we got a prime parking spot. They didn't even have the full worship band there. Oh well, still gotta love a little Jesus action.
4) Whole Foods run. I'm absolutely scattered when it comes to planning out my meals (and actually making an organized shopping list) so I've ended up with five or six different meals to make, all missing one essential ingredient. Annoying.
I ended the night cooking dinner and catching the last 6ish minutes of the game so all in all? Not a bad Sunday :) Oh, and for the record, my favorite commercial was:
Are you surprised? Good song choice, too.
A jam-packed Sunday coupled with a lack of exciting plans left me to decide that I honestly didn't care that much about this game. I decided to be productive instead. And I had already seen a couple of the commercials anyway and, let's be honest, that's all anyone talks about the next day anyway. That and maybe how intense the last 57 seconds were. But as long as I was watching that and have seen enough of the good commercials to hang in conversation, no need to sit my butt in front of the tube for the full four hours. So I didn't.
What I did do today was:
1) Brunch at La Fiorentina where I gobbled up the most delicious ::wait for it:: Nutella-filled French Toast with Caramelized Bananas and Banana pudding. Served with pure Maple syrup. And then I topped it off with a $1.00 mimosa. Thank goodness I ran 7 miles Saturday because I could feel the pounds packing on.
2) Kickball practice with the Baccas. We're gearing up for our first game of the season on Tuesday so everyone went hard. My shining moment came when I went to catch my first pop-up and misjudged how high and fast it was coming in. I meant to catch it into my chest but instead caught with my face. Did I mention it was freezing out and the ball has ridges so this felt a little like a ball of crunched ice hitting my cheek bone? Well, it did. The boys were literally doubled over with laughter while the girls yelled at them to shut up and tears ran down my stinging cheek. It hurt, absolutely. But I definitely wish we would have caught it on film...
3) Church with Carrie. Let me tell you how full the parking lot of The Village was at 5:00 PM on Super Bowl Sunday. Needless to say we got a prime parking spot. They didn't even have the full worship band there. Oh well, still gotta love a little Jesus action.
4) Whole Foods run. I'm absolutely scattered when it comes to planning out my meals (and actually making an organized shopping list) so I've ended up with five or six different meals to make, all missing one essential ingredient. Annoying.
I ended the night cooking dinner and catching the last 6ish minutes of the game so all in all? Not a bad Sunday :) Oh, and for the record, my favorite commercial was:
Vid compliments of YouTube.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Book Review: The Hunger Games
Ok. I jumped on the bandwagon. I gave in. I broke down. I read 'The Hunger Games.'
And I'm so glad I did.
This book was phenomenal. Yeah, so it's a YA novel. But it was war, love, and is incredibly intriguing the entire time. What more do you need?! And although the big events throughout the book were pretty predictable (or maybe it's because I couldn't help but keep reading ahead...), the twists and turns in the plot kept me turning pages until the wee hours of the morning. Literally. I haven't been to bed before 1:00 AM this entire week and most nights it was edging dangerously closer to 2:00-2:30 AM. I couldn't put it down.
Needless to say I'm eager to pick up the next book in the series. However, I'm definitely being thoughtful in timing this reading because if it's even half as good as it's predecessor, I know I'll be suffering from sleep deprivation until I've made it to the end.
I think it's pretty clear this is a definite recommendation from me. It may seem gruesome, and to be honest, the storyline is, but it wasn't so unbearably graphic that it ruined the book. And I'm generally not a book-to-movie fan because the movie always tends to ruin the beautiful images I've created in my head but I can't help but start counting down the days until this champion of a novel is unveiled on the big screen. There's talk of making an appearance at the midnight showing, but that's still TBD:
Photo found here.
And I'm so glad I did.
This book was phenomenal. Yeah, so it's a YA novel. But it was war, love, and is incredibly intriguing the entire time. What more do you need?! And although the big events throughout the book were pretty predictable (or maybe it's because I couldn't help but keep reading ahead...), the twists and turns in the plot kept me turning pages until the wee hours of the morning. Literally. I haven't been to bed before 1:00 AM this entire week and most nights it was edging dangerously closer to 2:00-2:30 AM. I couldn't put it down.
Needless to say I'm eager to pick up the next book in the series. However, I'm definitely being thoughtful in timing this reading because if it's even half as good as it's predecessor, I know I'll be suffering from sleep deprivation until I've made it to the end.
I think it's pretty clear this is a definite recommendation from me. It may seem gruesome, and to be honest, the storyline is, but it wasn't so unbearably graphic that it ruined the book. And I'm generally not a book-to-movie fan because the movie always tends to ruin the beautiful images I've created in my head but I can't help but start counting down the days until this champion of a novel is unveiled on the big screen. There's talk of making an appearance at the midnight showing, but that's still TBD:
Found on YouTube
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Run On
Last night I hit another mile marker: I ran the entire Katy Trail. Beginning to end, up and down, 7 miles, no stopping. It was exhilarating. I loved it. And it made me feel a little bit better about running 9.6 next weekend in my 15k...
I typically run during the week with my friend, Gretchen. As I've mentioned before we're perfect pace partners so it works. And running alone on the KT after dark? No thank you. I've seen enough wild coyotes for my liking.
But beyond just keeping pace with each other, Gretchen and I are a good running pair in other ways. She typically sets our goals high and I end up convincing us we can actually do them. Neither of us like to talk while we run which is good, because I don't think I could handle 7 miles and a conversation. But yesterday we brought the running buddy thing to a whole new level:
I typically run during the week with my friend, Gretchen. As I've mentioned before we're perfect pace partners so it works. And running alone on the KT after dark? No thank you. I've seen enough wild coyotes for my liking.
But beyond just keeping pace with each other, Gretchen and I are a good running pair in other ways. She typically sets our goals high and I end up convincing us we can actually do them. Neither of us like to talk while we run which is good, because I don't think I could handle 7 miles and a conversation. But yesterday we brought the running buddy thing to a whole new level:
Don't worry, it wasn't intentional. I promise. We were planning on leaving straight from work since our office is about a half mile from the Katy Trail so we both brought our gym bags to the office. She walked around the corner after changing into her running gear and...
Me: "Oh no. I brought that same shirt to wear today."
Gretchen: "No you did not."
Me: pulls out neon orange, highly obnoxious running shirt
Gretchen: "Oh. Well this should be fun."
We matched in almost every way possible. From our exact same brand of running pants to the pearl studs in our ears and black stretch headbands holding our hair. Needless to say we got a few chuckles around the office and quite a few stares on the trail.
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