Weekend Reviews

All week long it has been nice and warm outside. Perfect laying out weather. But I've been working. Today is finally Saturday. And it is cold and yucky and overcast. Not laying out. Woe is me.

Since I have not been able to be lay out today I actually attempted productiveness. I went to Target and got my eyes checked (my vision has gotten worse of course) and bought a year's supply of contacts. Then since I've been home I attempted to hang up pictures on the staircase. Luckily there's no glass on the picture frame which is good, because I'm not sure I did the best job hanging them. So cross your fingers they last. (And that the boy approves of them when he gets home lol)

The plan for the rest of the day is still undecided. Maybe it will miraculously warm up! (Not likely) Maybe we will go see The Reader tonight. Who knows...

But last night we did actually make it to the theaters and saw Coraline in 3-D. I love this new 3-D obsession movies have. And there are some good 3-D movies coming out. Most significantly Pixar's Up. But that's another story. The 3-D in here was nicely done. Not to over the top. For instance the scenes in the "real" world the 3-D was somewhat subdued. But in the "other" world it kind of "popped" you might say. It worked well to differentiate the two. And while it is fun to feel like things are coming right at you, it distracts you from the movie. Thankfully, there wasn't any of that during the actual movie. Just during the opening and closing credits.

The story itself I did like as well. It didn't feel obvious what was going to happen, which is nice. It did totally remind me of an Are You Afraid of the Dark episode from back in the day. The one where a girl's friend disappears through a door in the attic. And she wind up going through to rescue her friend. And her friend is half turned into a porcelain doll. Anyone else remember that?

I though Dakota Fanning did really well voicing Coraline. It's kind of funny how this and Push cam out the same weekend, and she is such to different characters in both. Also I liked Teri Hatcher as the mom. But I think that's more of me just liking Teri Hatcher.

Overall I would recommend this movie. It's a good kids movie, but a thoughtful story line.

While I'm reviewing things I might as well continue. I finally jumped on the bandwagon and read J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Overall it was a fun read. There's five stories, each of which is followed by comments done by Dumbledore. The only complaint I really have is that she does the introduction as herself, but says this was found once Dumbledore died. I think it would have felt more "real" if the introduction was written by "Hermoine" instead, she she is the one who "translated" it from the rhunes. Since Hermoine is muggle born as footnotes done by J.K. could have easily been written by Hermoine. I guess overall I'm saying it would have been better if the book was treated more like it truly was from Harry Potter's world.

I think that's probably enough Geek-dom for me. (But hasn't Harry Potter transcended geekiness by now?) Well I guess I'm off to hope that it warms up and there's some sun for me today. We can hope, right?

~Shoshanah

I Heart Thursday

I really do. I love Thursdays. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that it's a day before Friday. But a lot of it is that I really let myself indulge Thursday Night.

So tonight for dinner I had a Kashi Tuscan Veggie Bake. It's one of their newest ones. It's funny I've started eating these back when I started grad school 2 and a half years ago. And back then there were only 6 varieties. Now that are 12. (Ohh they have a Mayan Harvest Bake now... I bet that's good too!) Looking at the list though, they actually got rid of one of the original types. The Lime Cilantro Shrimp. I never actually tried it though. I was a little sketched out about eating shrimp in a frozen meal, and it looks like there must have been a lot of people who felt that way. But back to tonight


There it is. My Tuscan Veggie Bake. One of my favorites. It had a different and longer heating time than any of the other types. Which makes sense, because I hate eating frozen lasagna or pot pies where the outside is still hot but the middle is still frozen. But the cooking time worked perfectly. It was warm all the way through, and there was just a little bit on the outside that was a little overcooked. Overall, it tasted like a vegetarian lasagna (and I love lasagna). It was actually pretty filling. Much more than the Kashi meals normally are. I didn't even feel like I needed dessert...

But come, like I said it's Thursday!

My Betty Crocker Warm Delight Fudge Brownie. Yum. My favorite of these is the caramel one. But I am addicted to caramel. When you think about it though, it's kind of like a glorified easy bake oven creation. Which I always wanted but never had.

My other favs about Thursdays are my shows. I watched Survivor (and of course flipped over to American Idol during commercials to see who went on). Grey's was a repeat tonight, but I hadn't seen the newest episode of Real Housewives of New York so I watched that instead. Pretty much makes for a great Thursday night!

~Shoshanah

Cats and Dogs and Turtles O My

On Glamour's Storked today Chrissy asked readers their pets' names. I never felt like I had a lot of pets growing up. But I started listing them off, and wow! Maybe, that's why I'm not really an animal person. It's more of a been there, done that for me. So I tried to comment with my pets' name (which it wouldn't let me do. I would hit post and noting would show up... anyone else?). But I realized doing so each of them has a story behind how they go their name. So here goes...

Mama Cat - Mama Cat literally had kittens on my inside the column in front of the house. Supposedly my parents had to actually dismantle it to get her and the kittens out. I can't really picture this, but I wasn't alive yet.

Kathmandu - He was one of Mama Cat's kittens

Fluffy - We got fluffy when I was in 2nd grade I believe. Kathmandu had just died, and the period before we got Fluffy was the only time in my life we didn't have pets. We got Fluffy from a girl on my soccer team, Megan. Her cat had just had kittens. She was nice, until she had kittens the week before the Northridge earthquake. Which brings us to

Conan (Named after Conan the Barbarian) - Conan was one of Fluffy's kittens. My mom decided to let Fluffy get "knocked up" once so me and my brother could have the experience of raising kittens. If I remember right she had 4 or 5. And we kept one of them, Conan. They were born when I was in 4th grade.

Tinkerbell - We found Tinkerbell one Thanksgiving in the alley next to our house. She was in a box with 4 of her kittens. We wound up keeping her and one of her kittens. My parents still have Tinkerbell. She's like an old lady now

Indy (short for Indiana Jones Cat) - One of Tinkerbell's kitten. He was orange and white. He wound up getting hit by a car, like most of the cats, be grateful I'm not listing how each of the cats died.

Nicky (short for Nickolas) - He is named after Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, that was all me! Nicky and his 4 other siblings were born in the backyard of one of my mom's work friends. Unfortunately, their dog chased the mom away, and she abandoned her kittens. She gave my mom 2 to raise and raised the other 3 herself

Grizzly - Nicky's brother. I wanted to call him Carter (see above) but my mom and brother shot me down.

Nubi (short for Anubis) - My parents haven't had her that long. I think since last summer. I haven't really live with her, so I'm not sure of the story. I think she might have been a stray that my parents adopted. Currently my parents have 4 cats (Nubi, Tink, Nicky, and Grizzly). We actually had 4 cats at once most of my life (Fluffy, Conan, Tink, and Indy)

Moving on to the dogs...

Cicely - Cicely is an Alaskan Husky and is named after the town in Alaska where Northern Exposure took place. We got Cicely when I was in 4th grade when our neighbor's two huskies had puppies. My parents still have her, but she is also very old and going blind.

Clementine - My parents got Clementine when I was a Jr in college, so again I don't know a whole lot. I think they bought her from someone at a farmer's market. Maybe? If I remember correctly they named her after Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She is still there too.

Philbert - Was a Turtle. We name him after the Turtle Philbert on Rocko's Modern Life. My mom actually found him in the middle of the street one day and decided to rescue him. Turns out he was actually a water turtle (Why he was wondering the street then remains a mystery)

Godzilla - was some kind of lizard. After my parents sold Philbert to a pet store, my brother bough Godzilla to fill the cage. If I remember right, once my brother went off to college they sold him too.

And that my friends is it. Kind of ridiculous isn't it. But I guess I do still enjoy them all when I'm home at least. Buying my own pets... that might be a while.

~Shoshanah

Confessions of a Shopaholic

I finally went out and saw Confession of a Shopaholic. Having loved the books I was a little wary of the movie. But after seeing the previews, and reading all the reviews, and hearing complaints... I knew it wasn't going to be exactly like the book. Knowing that going in, I actually wound up liking it.

First off I though Isla Fisher did really well at capturing the essence of Becky. Yes, she wasn't British. But for an American Becky it really worked. I remember there was a scene early in the movie where she talks herself into buying something, and I just though, "That's her!" Just overall she really got Becky and I can't picture another actress capturing her so well.

But the fact that Becky wasn't British and it wasn't in London weren't even close to the only differences. And some of these details bothered me. Specifically that Becky goes to work for Luke at Successful Savings. The book starts out with Becky at SS and Luke is most definitely not her boss. Giving them that type of relationship just seemed kind of odd.

Speaking of Luke, I didn't really feel that much chemistry between Becky and Luke. But then again, I don't really feel like they have a lot of chemistry in the book. I don't think that was ever the author's intent, but that's just how I saw it.

Thankfully, there were a lot of small details that did make it into the movie. Like Becky "waitressing" at a cocktail party and being told to just "set it down." Yes in the book it was Luke's mother and in the movie it was some guy from the Magazine, but it still fit. Also at the start when Becky thinks her card was stolen because there was a purchase at a weird store. In both of them, it was because she bought a co-workers present. Even the dancing bit, while it wasn't really from the book, it still reminded me of the dancing bit from Shopaholic and Baby.

I though Leslie Bibb was pretty much perfect for Alicia. Sure they changed the basics about her character, but overall it was the same person. I don't know who else remembers this, but Leslie Bibb was on the WB show Popular back in the day. I really like that show, and I'm glad to see she's still working.

Overall though I enjoyed it. As long as your not expecting to see the movie onscreen you probably would too. (And there have been far worse book to movie adaptions. Anyone ever see The Golden Compass) If they ever made a sequel I would totally go see it. Especially because it would probably follow Shopaholic ties the Knot, and I love wedding. But it hasn't been doing very well in the theater, so that probably won't be happening. But you never know...

~Shoshanah

Image from flickr

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Happy Mardi Gras! I actually had to go to work today. And anywhere else in the country that would have been a, "Duh." But this is Louisiana. All schools are closed at least today (most have MTW off). Literally there was no one on the road when I drove to work today. We actually didn't wind up going to any parades this year, and instead when to an LSU baseball game this past weekend.

The past weekend was college baseball's opening weekend. But morning important for LSU it was the opening of their new baseball stadium. Which in Baton Rouge is a pretty big deal. There are no professional sports teams here, so the LSU teams ARE the city's professional team. The baseball stadium is called Alex Box Stadium after a former player. (The football stadium is Tiger Stadium or more commonly referred to as Death Valley in case you were curious.) Of course the old baseball stadium was also called Alex Box Stadium. So here are two pictures for comparison.


This is the Old Alex Box (with Tiger Stadium in the background)


And this is the New Alex Box Stadium. It's hard to tell, but the new stadium is HUGE compared to the the old one. Here a bit of a comparison Just for fun
Restrooms: 2,000 sq. ft. before 9,274 sq. ft. after
Concessions: 2,200 sq ft. before 5,000 sq. ft.after
Press Area: 250 sq. ft. before 2,000 sq. ft. after
Press Area: 250 sq. ft. before 2,000 sq. ft. after

And the new stadium also has an arcade, hall of fame, and a souvenir shop. And they expanded their concessions. They had a brisket sandwich which I really wanted. But unfortunately, they were all out on Sunday and offered me a pulled pork sandwich instead. Being Jewish I try to stay away for pork, so I went with a hot dog instead.


Yes, I know it is probably a pork hot dog, but it isn't called Pork Hot Dog. lol. Yes, it's a bit crazy but it makes sense to me. But afterwards I did kind of regret the hot dog and wanted at Sausage Po Boy instead, which yes still would have had pork in it. lol.

Anyways, just for fun, here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day.


The wind was almost perfect for this picture. It's an American flag (clearly) with the 5 baseball national championship flags.


Eye of the Tiger


This is cool, because you can actually see the old Alex Box.

And just because it's getting to be a tradition...

He told me this would come off as artistic.

~Shoshanah

And the Oscar goes to...

ME! My picks finished 17 out of 24. Not so bad if I do say so myself. the Boy went about 13. So 3-peat for me. Unfortunately, there was no official bet this year. Just pride. (Last year the winner got to pick the movie and where we had dinner the next weekend and the loser paid.) I'll have to remember that next year.

So, my special dinner. I picked a food for each Best Picture nominee. So were pretty self explanatory (Milk?) others not so much. Well to the right we have Slumdog Millionaire Chicken Tika Masala.


The Reader Biscuits. Both uncooked and post oven.


Frost (en Peas) Nixon. O.K. This was a bit of a stretch. But I mean can you think of something better?


Milk. duh. Technically I didn't drink this. I don't do milk. The Boy does though and he drank more than my share, easily


Benjamin's Buttons.


Just for fun here's a plate of it all together!

Moving on to the actually ceremony though. I did like the intros they did for the Actor and Actress awards. Especially for Best Actress. I mean each nominee was almost in tears after hearing such nice things about themselves.

A weird thing I did notice though, is when anyone won there was no, "This is so-and-so's first win out of so many nominations." I do so how it could be a little monotonous hearing it every time. But still I want to know! How many times was Kate Winslet nominated before? How many foreign language Oscars has Japan won before? Did the sound guy with 17 nominations finally get his first win?

I did like the musical bit. Especially when Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens started singing bits from HSM3. Yeah, I had a bit of a tween moment.

I'm not sure how I felt about the 2008 movie montages. I get how by showing montages of classic movies every year it gets a little old. But seeing clips from "Forgetting Sarah Marshal" at the Oscars? It just seems a little off.

I think my favorite dress was probably Sarah Jessica Parker's. And I like Alica Keys' (at least I think it was her). Robert Pattinson looked hot, but very vampire like of course. And of course I loved how they brought the whole Slumdog cast up on stage, especially because you were able to see the kids on stage!


I figure one last picture of the two of us to end things off!

~Shoshanah

Oscars '09

The Oscar are on tonight! I'm so excited. I love award shows in general, but the Academy Awards are my favorite. I don't think I have missed a show since 5th grade. I have a special meal all planned out. I will be posting pictures don't worry. And I am going for my 3rd year in a row win. (Last year I beat the Boy with my picks, the year before we tied. So technically I am undefeated.) So here, officially, are my picks for the Academy Awards 2009:

Best Actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Best Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Best Animated Feature Film: Wall-e
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Costume: The Duchess
Best Director: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Documentary Feature: Trouble The Water
Best Documentary Short: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir
Best Make-Up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Music (Score): Slumdog Millionaire
Best Music (Song): "Down to Earth" - Wall-e
Best Picture: Milk
Best Short Film (Animated): La Maison en Petits Cubes
Best Short Film (Live Action): Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Best Sound Mixing: Wall-e
Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Writing (Adapted): Slumdog Millionaire
Best Writing (Original): Wall-e

Yes, I know I made some risky choices. Milk for Best Picture and Best Actor, could really curse me. But I don't know... it might work out that way. Also since I picked Milk for Best Picture I really should have picked it for Best Writing. I guess it could be better than to go 1 and 1 there than 0 and 2. (Of course 2 and 0 would be the best.) So cross your fingers for me!

~Shoshanah

P.S. The picture is me and my sistah (aka my godsister, bff and all that other stuff) outside the Chinese theater. Which is now right next to the Kodak Theater. Which is where the Oscars are! See it makes sense! We're with Judy Garland's hand prints. Who did not win Best Actress for Wizard of Oz. Instead it went to Vivian Leigh for Gone With the Wind. Which, yes, makes sense.

Sammy's House

So I finished reading Sammy's House last night by Kristin Gore. Yes, Gore of Al Gore's daughter. I really liked it, much more than the first book Sammy's Hill. So much of Sammy's Hill was developing the character. And since who already knew Sammy by the second book there was no need to really go into her neuroses. Yes, there was still there, but they weren't as in our face. More of able to be in the background.

Being who the author is, you know a good part of it is fact based. I mean Kristin was in her early 20s when her father was vice president and Sammy is a white house staffer working for the Vice President in her early 20s. So while it isn't remotely autobiographical it is still real life based.

One interesting thought, that is hard not to think about after reading this is how the whole Clinton scandal might have affected Al Gore. Much of this book deal with how the vice president deals with the president's scandal. There's no Monica here, but still a scandal. Being that the outcomes of the two scandals are so different it makes you wonder... is this how Kristin Gore wanted this Clinton scandal to play out? How Al Gore wanted it to play out? Or more likely is it all just her imagination.

I would definitely recommend this book. Or at least start out by reading Sammy's Hill first.

~Shoshanah

The picture above is from Amamzon. And just for fun, here are Kristin's parents. Al and Tipper.

Sims 3?

I had a plan all ready for Saturday. I was going to wake up, spend some time internet-ing. Then meet the Boy on his lunch break. We could go to Chick-fil-a (which I've been craving for like the past month and haven't had). After lunch I would go to Target and see an eye dr there to get a new contacts prescription. I would pick up groceries at Target, but Target's in Louisiana have grocery stores inside.

But most importantly on Saturday, I would buy the Sims 3!

So I decided to go to the Sims 3 web page today. I figured with out coming out tomorrow they would have new videos or screenshots or something. What do I find instead

THIS

Posted on February 3, it's a press release saying the Sims 3 release date is June 2. But that doesn't make sense! Was I crazy? Did I really screw up the release date that much. I mean I told the boy to buy it for me for Valentine's day!

After a little research I found out that I wasn't at least crazy. It was supposed to be tomorrow. But February 3, less than 3 weeks before the release date, they pushed it back 4 months. They claim it was so the could create more marketing. B.S. Remember how I said the economy hasn't affected me. Well I guess now it has.

I actually stopped playing the Sims 2 about a month ago to create suspense for the new game. When best buy was liquidating I didn't buying expansion packs at 40% off because I wasn't playing it anymore. So now do I start playing again? Do I wait an extra 4 months before playing Sims again? Either way the whole situation sucks a lot.

~Shoshanah

Image originally uploaded by Müllmann on Flickr

A Coke?

So I went to the vending machines at my apartment complex to buy a coke. (OMG I am turning into a Louisianan! I didn't buy a Coke. I bought a Dr. Pepper and am now just referring to sodas as Cokes in general)

Moving past my own personal crisis. I put my dollar into the machine, and immediately heard coins fall. At that time though a light lit up on the machine saying use correct change. So I figured that was weird. That it took my dollar and gave me coins? I took the change out, but there was only $0.60 there! It didn't even give me my whole dollar back!

I had brought a second dollar bill just in case, but didn't really want to waste it. So I figured I would see if it would take the coins. Maybe it gave me the exact change to use? $0.60 sounds reasonable for a soda (ha! I did it right there) doesn't it. But alas, it kept spitting my coins back out!

I figured I would press the Dr. Pepper button in desperation. And a Dr. Pepper popped out! Which means I only paid $0.40 for a can! That seems ridiculously little. My thought is maybe someone else forget there change? So sodas are in fact $0.70? Who knows, I am going to cross my fingers and hope that they are $0.40!

But Top Chef is on, so I must go. And I SO recognize the plantation the did the quick fire at! But honestly can't figure out which one it is! Maybe when the Boy gets home he will be able to tell!

~Shoshanah
Image from Flickr user Daniel Morris

Studying Abroad

No I am not going to be studying abroad, I wish! But it feels like everyone one of my facebook friends is! A lot of this is due to the college I went to. See the year after I graduated they started required every incoming freshman to study abroad while in school. It didn't necessarily have to be a semester long. They do offer a what seems like a million "3 week intensive study abroad" courses. When I was there they had things like, "Dance in England," "Social Justice in India," "Glass blowing in Romania," (Yes, I went to quite a hippy college.) And while I didn't actually go to school with any member of the class of 2012 (aka the first class that had the requirement), I am facebook friends with a few of them. Of which I currently have one friend in Australia, one in Greece, and one Spain.

Probably my biggest regret about college is not spending a semester abroad. I did do a 3 week intensive study abroad course in France for 3 weeks after my Jr. year (that's where the picture of me and the Eiffel Tower is from), but 3 weeks is not nearly the same as 3 months. I know how much my French improved during those 3 weeks, and maybe if I was there for longer I would still be able to speak some of it!

I feel like know, especially since I'm working, that I've almost missed my chance to live abroad. Or even travel abroad, it's hard going from having the summer off to only two weeks of vacation time. At least though I made the most of my last year in grad school.

Here's me standing in front of a temple in Japan in March 2008

And here's me with Jerusalem in the background in June 2008

But what about you? Has anybody actually spent a semester abroad? I'm so jealous! Or planning on studying abroad soon?

~Shoshanah

The Economy...

So, Rebecca at GGC started a new blog called Portraits of an Economy about different people dealing with the economy. It's kind of depressing reading it, thinking about what everyone else is going through. But I feel awful saying this, I really don't feel like this whole downturn has affected me very much, if at all.

First off I don't own a house. I don't really have a car loan. I don't have kids, overall I don't have a lot of debt. (Except of course for student loans, but that's good debt, right?) The biggest change for me feel like it is that gas prices are dropping and I have to pay less for gas, which is a good thing.

I do get that a lot of it has to do this the fact that many people don't feel secure with their job. Maybe I'm being naive, but I completely do. I do realize I don't work a great industry overall right now. One of our competitors recently went bankrupt, and we are attempting to take over some of their business. So it could happen. But every week at our company-wide meeting our president's always say we are doing well, and that we met our goals. I mean we're still hiring people. Our company is currently building a new building because we've really out grown ours. You know things are crazy when people call and say they are going to be late coming back from their lunch break because there is no parking left. So yes, I do feel secure at my job.

I do get that there are a lot of other people out there who don't. I also get how difficult it can be to find a job. I went one quite a lot of interviews, and sent out even more resumes. The only reason I am where I am now is because I started working as a temp. So I do get it.

But it's hard to know who exactly is affected. I talked to my parents a few weeks ago. And we were talking about how different people had been doing. I told them pretty much what I said above. And while my mom didn't say things were bad, there was definitely a weird tone of her voice.

So who knows what will happen. Hopefully it will all get fixed soon. I can't quite see that know its the whole world that's feeling this. Which when you think about it sounds really weird. How is all this money disappearing? It has to go somewhere right? So where is it? I mean it's almost like money is just this imaginary thing, and when you really think about it, it is! Ok... we're now getting a little too existential for my tastes.

~Shoshanah

The picture is my scratch-off winning from about a year ago. Beacuse wouldn't we all love to win some money right about now

Wedding on Valentine's Day

So the weekend. I'm not really in the best mood now (I think its coming off a vacation that is really doing it), and wasn't planning on writing this. But I figured maybe if I force myself to write about something happy I will feel better, right? We'll see...

So the original plan was to leave Wednesday night. But it turned out the boy had a tutoring appointment Thursday morning that he didn't want to miss. So we spent about an hour on campus. I went to the bookstore and had a gingerbread latte (They still have gingerbread flavor there! Yum) and a coffee cake. The kind I used to get all the time when I was still at LSU.

Before we left campus of coarse I had to get some shots of Mike the Tiger. Yeah, LSU has a real live Tiger on campus. It is their mascot. During home games they put him in a cage and bring him on the field (which sounds awful after typing it). But he does have a very nice cage. This is actually Mike VI. Mike V died May 2007, and Mike VI has been at LSU for a little over 1 year now. SO here's Mike...

Of course, not long after I took this picture Mike started playing with a stick, which unfortunately I have no pictures of.

Anyways we left campus around 10:30-ish. We drove, and drove, and drove. We got into Atlanta around 7-ish? (Minus 1 hour of driving since Baton Rouge is CST and Atlanta is EST) We parked at the hotel and walked down the street where the Boy's high school friend's (the groom included) were eating dinner. After dinner we stopped at the bar across the street for a few hours, and headed back to the hotel around 1-ish.

Friday morning we woke up and went to Breakfast. The place was called The Flying Biscuit and was pretty good. I got a salmon omelet with a biscuit and potatoes. I also had a side of TURKEY Bacon! Yum! And they had chicken sausage too. Overall it was good.

Me, the boy, and two of the guys drove back to the groom's house. The guys spent the day on the computer playing balloons. It's this game where you have monkeys shoot balloons. Yeah... the Boy is pretty much obsessed and he did his best to get his friends addicted too. I sat around and read my Cosmo.

Around 1:30 or so, we had to leave for the rehearsal. At least the Boy and the groom did. I figured I would tag along. We got to the church, which was actually built in like the 1800s and really pretty. Here's a quick picture:


After the bride and groom had confession (because they are clearly a nice Catholic couple) we had the rehearsal. Me and the husband of the matron of honor were even assigned a job. Since the wedding was technically during mass, we were in charge of making sure, no one sat in the row reserved for the bridal party. Tons of fun. Here is what is pretty much the only picture of the rehearsal.


From the rehearsal, we went to what was technically the rehearsal dinner. Although according to the groom it was more of a social hour. Very true, considering it was just desserts and whatnot.

We all left the "social hour," fairly early for the bachelor party. Which like the rest of the weekend was pretty low key. We went to a comedy club first, and then the bar across the street. I drank far more than I normally do that night (Around 4 sea breezes and one of those test tube shots) and has a nice little buzz. And actually made it through the night, and the rest of the weekend without getting sick (normally a big problem for me, I tend to get nauseous before I get even tipsy). Anyways here is a picture of me and the boy from the end of the night.

While I look a little scared and out of it this was by FAR the best picture of the Boy. He thinks it is amusing to make faces in every picture I try to take. Me, I'm not feeling it so much.

Saturday, aka Valentine's Day, aka The Wedding Day.
We woke up around 9am. There was a complementary breakfast which we took part in. We got our stuff together and then headed over to the groom's house to get ready. Honestly though most of the morning was spent with the two of them playing silly games on the computer. We all did eventually get ready. And here is pretty much my favorite picture from the day. (Both of the guys were not happy that I took this, but it came out so well... so artistic!)


We headed over to the church around 2 for pictures. Well, at least the Boy took pictures being the Best Man and all. I (along with the husband of the matron of honor) was relegated into bringing all of the drinks from the car to the reception hall. Yeah, so not the most fun. Of course when I finished the Boy and the wedding party and the families were all at a nearby park taking picture. So, unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the picture taking. O well.

The actual service started around 5. Here's a good picture of everything. I bet you can't find what the bride's something blue is. :)


Now when I say the ceremony was during mass I mean it was during mass. Like people showed up for the normal Saturday mass and the priest was like, "Guess what! You're going to get to see a wedding!" Not really what I would have chosen, but to each his own.

The reception was also at the church. Again, fairly subdued, mainly a lot of eating:

So starting clockwise from the roast beef sandwich at the top.
Bourbon Meatballs
Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Salsa
Crab and Shrimp dip
Crackers and pineapple
In the middle are sausage and Parmesan pinwheels (By far the best were the pinwheels and meatballs, although the dip was awfully good too)

Of course the best part dessert:

On the far left are mints. The normal wedding cake is clearly on the left. There's Brownies on the far right. And then there is the groom's cake which is called a dobage cake. Supposedly it's a Louisiana thing. It's a half chocolate and half lemon cake. Actually a lot better than the wedding cake. I would know, I had both:


Since the bride didn't actually have a bouquet there was no bouquet toss, and likewise no garter toss.

We left around 8-ish and went back to hotel. Where I pretty much promptly fell asleep. We started watching The Princess Bride and I was out by the fire swamp scene.

We woke up around 8-ish and drove back (and after forever) arrived back in the BR, around 3 which isn't really that bad.

I figure one last picture of the boy and me and the reception to end things.

And now you see how he ruins pictures.

~Shoshanah

The Return

I have returned. And I do promise a long post with lots of pictures of the weekend. But somehow I have been conned into cooking. My plan was to cook 1 chicken breast with some tomatoes and capers and somehow I am cooking 2 chicken breasts, one plain one w/ tomatoes and capers, and pesto pasta. Not quite sure how this happened.

But before the Bachelor is on in 20 minutes, my predictions. I think it will be close tonight. But I think Molly will be going home. Deanna might be on tonight, probably. How crazy would it be if he wound up choosing Deanna? Crazy times!!

~Shoshanah

Off to Atlanta

So we're off to Atlanta tomorrow. The Boy's in a wedding this weekend. And I'm like really really excited (and not just because I'm missing work the next two days).

First it's a wedding, and what girl doesn't love weddings. I even bought I new dress, and I'm excited to wear that too. And while I don't want to get married for a while... well I've always though 26 was the perfect age to get married at, and it still seems far away. But I'm 24 now! So it's less than two years away! But by going to a wedding I can get ideas for mine. Actually, the last two wedding I went to with the Boy I didn't necessarily get ideas for mine, but more of what I don't want. Like assigning tables would be mandatory, and I'm not a big fan of buffets. But luckily I have years (or like 2, yikes) to plan.

But the other main reason I'm excited about this weekend is because we're driving to Atlanta. Now this my seem silly, but in 8th grade I read Gone with the Wind for the first time, and pretty much fell in love. I think I read it every year, for like 5 years after the 1st time. And since I had read both my grandfather's and my mom's copies, I actually got my own copy for Christmas one year. And well, just in case you didn't know the book takes place in Atlanta.

I've never really been to Atlanta before. Except for when me and my dad drove my car cross-country. Then we stopped for lunch just outside Atlanta and drove through downtown. But other than that, it hasn't happened. I would love to go to a GWTW museum, while we're there but unfortunately with the 10 or 12 hour drive each way, and the actual wedding we are going to I doesn't seem like it will actually happen.

And just in case any one's really curious we will technically be outside Atlanta in Macon. But if you've read GWTW, then you know that Aunt Pitty refugee-ed to Macon when the Yankees were coming.

So I will be gone to Sunday, so I'm off till then!

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

P.P.S. In case you wanted to know, the picture was taken at Nottoway Plantaion in Louisiana. The curtains are replicas of the curtains from GWTW.

Internet-ing

I got home from work today and was absolutely exhausted. But the boy was actually here, for like 5 minutes, so that manage to revive me a bit. Since then I have been sitting at my computer "internet-ing" and have slowly started getting tireder and tireder. And before you ask, no I have not worked out today and no I am not planning to.

But moving on... It's hard for me to start reading new blogs. Not that I don't enjoy finding new ones to read. It's more of the fact, that to me it feels like you're starting in the middle of the story. Like you wouldn't pick up a book and open it up and start reading it in the middle, and yet when you start reading a new blog, that's almost what you have to do. So in order to combat this, pretty much whenever I want to start reading something new, I'll read a few entries, and then go back through the archives starting at the beginning. It's time consuming though, and it's hard to do with more than one blog at a time, (ok, I'm doing two right now) but even so. It's a little daunting finding a blog with more than a years worth of archives. It's almost like do I really want to get into this mess?

And then of course when you're reading something that's over two years old, do you leave a comment? About something that was written so long ago? It seems a little silly. But I don't know, I'm not sure of the proper etiquette.

Of course you could start from the most recent entries and work your way backwards, but that kind of ruins the surprise. It's like, "O, you're surprised you broke up with your boyfriend, well it wasn't to me since I read the entry when you got back together with him."

Any one else opinions? Am I completely alone in this weird habit. Do most people not have a problem starting in the middle? If so, I'm assuming you have a problem starting in the middle of a book right? So what's the difference?

~Shoshanah

P.S. I was finally right about The Bachelor last night and Naomi left. And I was glad they finally showed Deanna in the previews, I was beginning to think I was crazy, "Did she somehow show up and I slept through that part of the episode?." It's funny I was totally not feeling Jillian, but after last night, I really think something might be there between the two of them.

I told myself I needed to work out today. I said, no I really don't want to. I told myself I had to. I compromised. If the Bachelor starts at 7 (O the joys of living in Central time) I will not work out. If it starts at 8 I will work out. It starts at 8. I am not planning on working out.

~Shoshanah

P.S. The Bachelor is on tonight. Again my pick is Naomi to go home. Yes, I know I have chosen her to leave the past 3 weeks. If it is not her I want Jillian to go. Melissa and Molly are my favorites. And we still haven't seen Deanna. Will she make an appearance tonight? Any predictions?

Weekend Movie Reviews

In what will probably be the first of many, a weekend movie review. Friday night we saw Push, staring Chris Evans and Dakatoa Fanning. Over all plot of the movie, in a futuristic world, there are people with special powers. The government wants them for evil experiments. Somewhat similar to Jumper with Hayden Christensen, but so so much better. Overall the movie was fun an entertaining. Good action scenes, and a tiny bit of romance thrown in. The highlight of the movie by far though was Dakota Fanning. I've always thought she was good, but she is so old now. How did that happen! And if she is old that must mean I am really really old.

There was one actor in it, the shifter (aka he could shift things into changing shape for a small amount of time) who looked very familiar. I looked him on on imdb and turns out he was in 10,000 BC, which I actually liked. He was also in Whale Rider, but I don't think that's what I recognized him from.

The girl in it (not Dakota Fanning) was Camilla Belle also looked a bit familiar. Turns out she was also in 10,000 BC. More important, at least to me, was that she was in A Little Princess which is my all time favorite movie. She wasn't anyone big, just one of the girls at the school, but still I love that movie.

One last thing about Push. After the movie we talked about which of the powers we would want to have. The Boy said he would be a shifter. I would want to be a Pusher. They have like the power to push thoughts into people's heads. Then I wouldn't be paranoid about what people are thinking about me, because I could make their thoughts be what I want. Ha!

Moving on to movie #2. He's Just Not That Into You. Based on the book He's Just Not That Into You (which I have read and enjoyed). In case you're from a different planet, the book stems from a Sex and the City episode when Jack Berger tells Miranda that the reason the guy never called is because he's just not that into you.

I wasn't really sure how they were going to make it a movie, considering the book has no plot and it's just an advice book. What they did is took several different story lines, to try to hit on all the different scenarios from the book. Of all the story lines I like the Jennifer Aniston/ Ben Affleck one and the Justine Long and uhh... the girl from Big Love (I looked it up Ginnifer Goodwin).

Also to keep with the book they had a few one-on-one interview things. Kind of like the 1st season of Sex and the City. Not that bad, they definitely fit better than they did on the show.

Overall I did enjoy the movie. I have no intention of buying it, but it was amusing. I assumed everything would have an unhappy ending, but not so much. (I don't think the movie studio would have liked that too much.) I did catch Greg Behrendt's cameo as a priest. I wonder if the girl that co-authored the book with him got a cameo too?

Well we have reached the end of this weekend's reviews. Unfortunately, I probably won't have one next weekend, since we will be at a wedding. But you never know. My pick next week? Would totally be Confessions of a Shopaholic

Our First Apartment - In Pictures

So I just finished my snack of beef summer sausage and aged Gouda. I have been craving this combination since I bought both last Saturday. Eating food like this reminds me on lunches at my parents' house growing. (This was not actually lunch though, lunch was last night's leftovers from Carraba's.) Moving forward, the long awaited tour of our apartment.

The front door to the apartment enters the living/dinning room. The living room is currently a mess, and sparsely decorated, so per the Boy's request there are no actual pictures of it. Once it gets a little better I will post pictures of it. The rest of the apartment is still pretty minimally decorated. Nothing is hung up on the walls yet, and overall it is pretty bare. But I promise it will get better. So here goes!


This is taken at the back of the living room. On the far left is the entrance to the kitchen. If you look closely you can see the microwave, dishwasher, and trashcan. The door in the center goes outside onto our closed in patio. To the right of that door is a half bathroom. It is a very tiny room with just a sink and toilet, hence there are no pictures of it. On the right are two of the first few stairs.


Here is the kitchen. On the left, but not visible in this picture is the closet that holds the washer and dryer hook-ups. We have nothing in their now, but hopefully that will be our first big purchase together.


This is heading up the stairs. The door to the left is our bedroom. The door on the right goes to the bathroom.


Another view of the landing. This time the door on the left goes to the bathroom and the door on the right goes to the second bedroom. There are no pictures of the second bedroom. Hopefully it will eventually be an office/library. Right now we're calling it the big closet.


The bedroom. Not a lot to explain here. This is the view from walking in off the landing. On the back right side of the room is where the bathroom is.


Taken from the entrance to the bathroom. The Boy's closet is on the left. Mine is on the right. And just in case you were curious we sleep on the side of the bed that corresponds to the closets.


The door to the bathroom. This is the Boy's sink. The purple thing in the corner is my towel turbie. I need to get hooks to hang over the doors for them. It is currently hanging on the door handle of the linen closet.


My sink. The bathtub is in the left corner. The door you can see heads out to the landing.


Myself laying out at the pool. Yes it was actually warm enough to do this today. In the 70s. When the clouds were over the sun it was a little cool, but overall it felt nice.


The view of the pool. On the other side is the laundry room and the main office. If you're curious you can see the book I'm reading Sammy's House by Kristin Gore (aka Al Gore's daughter) on my chair.

So yes, that is our first apartment! Once it is decorated and looks much better I will post more pictures. I hope you enjoyed!

~Shoshanah