Red Curry Chicken

Kashi's Red Curry Chicken
It feels like its been a while since I've had a Frozen Thursday where I've raved about what I ate, but I'm hear to end that. This dish was completely amazing. First the smell! Just smelling the curry in the microwave was divine. And the taste was just as awesome.

What were my favorites? All the vegetables were really good, but I do think my favorite was the sweet potatos. And do you see how big some of the sweet potatoes above were? I wouldn't have expected to see such large pieces, but they were there.

The chicken its was really good, which can be the low part of some of the Kashi frozen meals. But no complaints here, at least this time.

And have a talked about the "zesty Thai style red curry sauce?" Again, so good. It was a little spicy, but not too bad. Plus every few bites there was a nice sweetness to it.

This is easily now one of my favorite Kashi meals, and I really can't wait till I get to eat it again!

~Shoshanah

This is Halloween

This week on Kelly's Korner, the theme is Show Us Your Halloween costumes. I don't quite have ALL of my Halloween costumes to show you (thankfully), but I do have a few I hope you'll enjoy.

I actually didn't wear a costume my first Halloween, and feel like I suffered a little inside because of it. Yes, I was barely 2 weeks old for my first Halloween, but I'm surprised my small self was able to move on past that. I can promise even if one of my children is a tiny baby on Halloween I will dress them up! (At least in a "My First Halloween" onesie. It's possible right?)

This first Halloween I actually dressed up as a ballerina. I guess at only a year old my parents couldn't quite tell I wasn't really ballerina material.

Halloween 1985That's me on the right, with my best fried dressed up as a clown.

Most of my costumes that I remember growing up were of Disney Princesses. I think I cam close to being everyone. Let's see I was Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, and even Tinkerbelle. I guess I missed out on being Cinderella though.

Halloween 1988Here's me and the same best friend dressed up as Snow White. I'm on the left.

Skipping a few years ahead to Junior year of college. I didn't have any type of costume, and I pulled this together about 2 hours before we left.
Halloween 2004Its hard to tell from the picture, but I'm on the far right and I was dressed up as a teacher.

I was really proud of my costume Senior year of college. It think its still probably one of my favorites of my more recent costumes.

Halloween 2005
My first year of grad school was another last minute costumes. I borrowed a pair of horns and a picture, wore a red tank top and black skirt. Voila! I was a devil!

Halloween 2006
My second year of grad school I went back to my childhood roots, and once again was a Disney princess.

Halloween 2007And yes, I do realize without Sebastian you'd have absolutely no idea who I was supposed to be.

Last year I tried my best to get a little clever.

Halloween 2008Get it? I was white trash! Its at least a tiny bit clever, right?

I hope you've all enjoyed this flashback through my Halloween's past. And if you're looking for more costume inspiration, or just costumes in general, head of to Kelly's Korner to check more out!

~Shoshanah

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

Where the Wild Things Are
Last week I wrote about how excited to see this movie, and this past weekend I finally got to see it. Except... it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Actually I'm still a little disappointed by it.

Don't get me wrong, visually it looked amazing. The wild things looked likes the jumped out of the book right onto the screen. And actor who played Max did pretty amazing in his role. So there were a few high points.

The low parts? It seemed to take forever just to get to the wild things. And once you were in the thick of them, it really wasn't that exciting. The movie seemed to drag on forever, and that was just for me. We saw a matinee showing, so there were a good amount of kids in the theater. And halfway through the move all of the kids seemed loud and restless.

Funny enough I did like the ending of the movie. As in the way the movie end, not the fact that it was actually ending. I am glad a saw it, because I would feel like I was missing out if I hadn't. I do think this would be a great movie to use as background noise, and I mean that in the best way possible. Like the type of movie you have on when you're cleaning the house. Since you wouldn't be complete attention to the movie you would get bored, yet you'd be paying enough attention to still feel the charm of the actual movie.

And while were talking about mythical creatures, almost forever ago now, Anais at Through Green Eyes sent me a Dragon Loyalty Award!
Its one of my favorite awards, since I love the picture show much. Thanks so much Anais!

I'm supposed to in turn present this award to 3-10 loyal fans. I only hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!

1. Amber at A Little Pink in the Cornfields
2. Baker Girl at An Extended Vacation
3. Carissa at The Lovely Dove
4. Jennifer at Crazy Shenanigans
5. Jill at Peeptoe Pumps and Pearls

~Shoshanah

Chicken Pot Pie

Its been a while since I've posted any pictures of my cooking adventures. Which really means its been a while since I've actually cooked at all. But I saw this recipe online and decided I had to try it. Mainly because I've always been a big fan of chicken pot pie, but I've never attempted to make it before. The recipe is Paula Deen's but I found it on Kelly's Korner. This recipe seemed easy enough so I decided to give it a try!

Paula Deen's Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper, optional
1 1/2 cups instant biscuit mix
1 cup milk
1 stick melted butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a greased 2-quart casserole, layer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas.I didn't actually use any egg since I thought it sounded a little odd. But if anyone's brave enough to try it that way I'd love to hear how it turns out. And I wasn't sure how thin to slice the carrots, but this size worked pretty well. I did use baby carrots sticks, so I'd think if you used full sized carrots you might want them skinnier.

Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers.You can kind of tell from the picture I didn't do the best job mixing the two soups, but it all wound up working out fine in the end.

Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping.I was a little worried at first since I didn't seem to get the crust over the entire dish. Part of me thinks I could have used a little more crust, but the afterwards crust wound up being a tiny bit thick in a few places. I probably should have just poured it over slightly more even. With the butter, knowing it was a Paula Deen recipe, I didn't think the entire stick was necessary. Instead I used about 3/4 of a stick. Again, I could have done better at spreading it out when I was pouring.

Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.I wound up baking it for closer to 50 minutes. I was wondering why I had to bake it so much longer to get the crust to brown, and realized it was most likely due to not using the whole stick of butter. Although there were one or two carrots that were still a little crunchy, so it probably worked out better cooking it longer.

I was actually a little worried when it came to tasting it myself with all the slight changes I made, but turned out it was really good! The filling tasted exactly like a normal chicken pot pie. I was slightly scared with how the crust would turn out since that's my favorite part of a pot pie, but I had no worries there. Although the crust wasn't very flaky, but still really tasty. But not only did it taste good, it was so easy to make. Really the hardest part for me was just cooking the chicken breasts. We have enough left over for dinner tonight as well, and the boy's already been asking me to bake a second one to eat tomorrow. I guess you could say it was a success!
And if you're looking to see only the recipe without all my so-called helpful comments.

Paula Deen's Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper, optional
1 1/2 cups instant biscuit mix
1 cup milk
1 stick melted butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a greased 2-quart casserole, layer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas. Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers. Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

~Shoshanah

This Little Baby

This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde
I picked this book up on a random whim. I thought it looked like a fun easy read, but hadn't heard anything about it. I started reading the book and thought I had probably made to rash of a decision.

The book is about a new mom, Joy McGuire, who seems to be struggling through the first year of her son's life. As her son grows older life in general does start to get easier for her. Interestingly, the parts where Joy seems to struggle the most are the parts of the book that are the biggest struggle to read. As Joy starts to figures things out with her son, and mother, and husband, the actual book itself gets more enjoyable. When I first started reading it I wasn't too sure I'd ever finish, but now that I have I'm glad I stuck it out.

I have read books about new mom before, and I will tell you this one wasn't my favorite. It seemed the book was written for new moms specifically, almost to give them someone to commiserate with. If you do enjoy reading about the live of a new mom already then this would probably be one you'd enjoy. Although, if you think this genre of books might be interest to delve into I'd recommend starting with Jennifer Weiner's Little Earthquakes or Jane Green's Babyville.

While we're on the topic of new babies, the boy's nephew arrived this past week!The timing actually worked about perfectly, at least for me, since he was born on my lunch break. I wound up taking only a slightly longer than normal and still was able to be one of the first one to see him. I guess this means if anyone asks, we can tell them we'll be waiting to get married until he's at least old enough to be the ring bearer!

~Shoshanah

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Amy's Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

When I first saw this I thought this was the Amy's Lasagna I had already tried. But under closer inspection I realized this was ROASTED vegetable lasagna, completely different clearly. I remember how much I loved the (non-roasted) vegetable lasagna, and really wanted to try this one as well.

Really, I should have reread my post on the last lasagna. At that time I was a little worried that it would be too cheesy for me, but I decided to chance it and wound up loving it. This time I hadn't really thought about the cheesy-ness. Which of course meant it wound up being a little too cheesy for me. I really wasn't a big fan.

There were some things I did like. The was a tomato or maybe red pepper layer at the very bottom that was really good. Except there wasn't a lot of it, and in order to get to it I had to wade through the many layers of cheese. What can I say, I'm not a big fan of lots of melted cheese. I'm pretty sure I won't be trying this again. On a similar note, just in case you were wondering, I won't be trying Amy's Mac and Cheese either. Again, too cheesy for me and I'm not a fan of Mac and Cheese in general. Although I'm sure if you really like melted cheese you'd love this, and from what I've heard their mac and cheese is great as well.

~Shoshanah

Going Courting

Part 1:We Meet in Math Class
Part 2: We Get to Know Each Other
Part 3: The First Date

It has been a while since I've posted about the saga of mine and the boy's relationship, so if you need to catch up the previous entries are linked above. The funny thing is throughout middle school and high school and wrote most everything down in a journal. In college I wrote about all my adventures (guy related and otherwise) on my Live Journal. Except when I started dating the boy I wasn't journaling anywhere. Really I'm writing the history down more for myself so that way 10 years or more down the road I'll have something to refer back to. But hopefully everyone else finds it assume to read as well.

Everyone caught up now? You'd think after the first date I'd be through with my so-called games with the boy. But no, out of the next 5 times he asked me out only 3 of them actually resulted in a date. I will promise you all that it really wasn't intentional.

There was one weekend were I was heading back to Maryland to visit my college friends. There was another weekend where I was going to a birthday party in a sugar cane field. Only in Louisiana right? That night was quite an adventure though. My friend's car was one of three that drove into a ditch. And getting a car out of a ditch in the pitch black in the middle of a sugar cane field is quite an experience.

There was also a Friday where I slept through his phone call. We had talked about possibly doing something, except I had taken a nap Friday afternoon. I woke up to a missed call and could have called him at that point, but by then I wasn't in the mood to really get dressed or do anything. I guess looking back that could have actually been classified as playing hard to get, but I wasn't trying to play any type of game.

What about the actual dates in this time period? He called again the Sunday after I slept through his call and wanted to know if he could maybe bring over dinner. I had a friend over at my apartment at the time, but invited him over anyway. I did make sure both parties were ok with this agreement. The three of us all hung out and enjoyed the Chinese food he brought. It was really nice at this point to be able to introduce him to a friend and get to have someone else's opinion on him. I would count this as our 2nd official date, although if you ask him now, he will say this night didn't officially count towards our date count.

The next date we went on wound up being pretty standard date for the years to come in our relationship overall. We went to dinner at Macaroni Grill and then went to the movies and saw the Robin Williams movie Man of the Year. (Not a bad movie looking back, but I've never had a strong desire to watch it again) After the movie we headed over to a bar where he attempted to teach me how to play darts. I'm pretty awful at darts, but he did let me win one game. Although if you ask him now he'll still claim I won fair and square.

When he dropped me off at my apartment that night he told me he hadn't been feeling well lately but otherwise he would have attempted a kiss. But it didn't happen that night. When did it happen? Well, you're going to have to wait to hear how that happened!

Which means that one month and 3 dates into the relationship (or 2 dates from his point of view) we hadn't had our first kiss yet. What do you think, too long to wait for a first kiss or not long enough? How long would you wait for a first kiss in a new relationship or how long did you wait in your current relationship?

~Shoshanah

Relationship Survival Skills

Last we bought a new TV stand. It of course came in pieces, which of course meant we had to put it together. So together the two of us read the directions and managed to put it together. Or let me correct that statement, the boy read the directions and told me where to hold things while he screwed things in. The one screw I wound up screwing in got stripped according to the boy. I'm still not 100% positive what that means.

Once we successfully got the TV connected to the mount and survived we decided to tempt fate and also hook up the vcr/dvd player and his play station. The dvd players hasn't been hooked up since we bought this TV a few months ago, which as you might imagine has been quite a travesty for me. Without too much bloodshed we managed to hook up everything, and figured out how to get everything to work.

Isn't that a huge couple accomplishment? Being able to assemble furniture and home theaters without ending the relationship. Granted we weren't hooking up any type of surround sound, I hear that's the real relationship killer. But its still what I would call pretty big on the list of couple milestones.

Want to see how it all looks?
Yes, I know you can see the TV stand from behind the TV. As soon as we finished I told the boy we had to take the TV off and move the latch up one notch. Clearly I was shot down. I was told that maybe when we move we might be able to fix the aesthetics. You might be thinking I should do it myself. And I would except there's no way I'm strong enough to pick up that TV by myself.

Anyone else considering assembling furniture and entertainment systems a true test of a relationship? Or what other non-standard relationship tests are out there?

~Shoshanah

Law Abiding Citizen

No, there's no cute title today. And no, I didn't get to see Where the Wild Things Are. It was the boy's pick the weekend, and we only wound up seeing one movie this weekend. I clearly missed out. But next weekend will be my pick, and I will most likely choose to see Where the Wild Thins Are. Which does mean I won't get to see Amelia next weekend, but sacrifices must be made. Till then...

Law Abiding Citizen
I'm not a fan of vigilante revenge type movies, and so I knew going into this I wouldn't be a fan. I wasn't a fan of Kevin Bacon's Death Sentence when the boy dragged me to it, nor was I a fan of Jodie Foster's The Brave One. Both of those movies came out within a month of each other back in 2007, not a fun month for me. But in case you do enjoy those type of movies, the basic plot line is that Gerard Butler's wife and daughter are murdered by two men. Jamie Foxx is the lawyer prosecuting them, and he makes a deal with of the the men in order to convict the other. So Gerald Butler's character believes the right path wasn't taken and vows to get revenge and everyone involved in the situation. Sounds like a fun time right?

I will say that there was some thought put into his scheme. It wasn't like Death Sentence or The Brave One, where something seems to crack and they wind up going a little crazy without much thought. No there was definitely a lot of so-called intelligent thinking going in here, to the point where as an audience you were a bit stumped.

Of course, the whole movie wasn't intelligent. There were a few bloody and gruesome scenes. I was practically cowering from the screen, and I'm surprised that the few young boys in the theater didn't make a scene when they saw certain things happen.

I can't say I have any strong desire to see this movie again. I'd like to say this movie is awful and advice you not to see it. But the boy was a huge fan, and I can admit that it was at least a little thought provoking. I guess if you a fan of those "justice must be served" type of movies, then go see it. Otherwise stay away. Too bad its too late to follow my own advice.

~Shoshanah

Fall Has Fallen

Fall has officially decided to make its way to Baton Rouge. It was in the high 80s and humid at the start of the week, and Friday it decided to drop 20 degrees or so. This is the first time since about April we haven't had the air conditioning on once in the past 48 hours. And without it is still quite cold in the apartment. Yesterday my Uggs made their first appearance of the season, and today I'm wearing the first sweater of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I do like fall and winter, but I'm not a big fan of being cold. I did enjoy living in Maryland for college and living with snow. But those four years were more than enough for me. My feeling is snow is fun to visit, not so much to live in. That's part of the reason I enjoy living in Louisiana, (and enjoyed living in California as well).

Although crazy enough it did snow last year!
It was the first time it snowed in about 20 years in Baton Rouge. I guess I can handle that. Anyone else just now feeling the effects of fall weather? Or have you been dealing with it for a while now?

~Shoshanah

Over The Top

Kelly at Keeping up with Kelly sent me an Over the Top award!
The rules for this one, well there's a whole list of questions.

1. Where is your cell phone... on the table next to me
2. Your hair... its wavy at the moment
3. Your mother... in California
4. Your father... also in California
5. Your favorite food...probably lasagna
6. Your dream from last night...Its rare when I remember my dreams, and last night wasn't one of those nights.
7. Your favorite drink... I'm almost always drinking water. But besides that it would be Vanilla Coke
8. Your dream/goal... white picket fence and all that jazz, eventually of course
9. What room are you in... the living room
10. What is your hobby... blogging! Ha!
11. What is your fear... being alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years... I'll be over 30 then. Yikes
13. Where were you last night...sleeping
14. Something you are not... tall
15. Muffins?... I would love a chocolate chip muffin right now.
16. Wish List items... I want the Jon & Kate book, 8 Little Faces
17. Where did you grow up... straight out of the LBC, aka Long Beach, California
18. Last thing you did... order a pizza online
19. What are you wearing... tank top and shorts
20. Your TV.... the boy is watching something on tv
21. Your pets... are also in California
22. Your friends... are all over
23. Your life... happening as we speak
24. Your mood... hungry for my pizza
25. Missing someone...everyone not in Louisiana
26. Vehicle... my Echo
27. Something your not wearing... shoes
28. Your favorite store... Victoria's Secret
29. Your favorite color... sky blue
30. When's the last time you laughed...earlier today
31. When's the last time you cried... is it bad if I say yesterday I teared up when watching the TLC special on the Duggars when Anna had her baby
32. Your best friend... is in California (sensing a trend here?)
33. One place you go over and over...the movies
34. One person who emails me regularly...my parents
35. Favorite place to eat?...It changes on a regular basis. I've been craving sushi lately

I'm and supposed to send this off to 6 people. But this is such a fun one, I want to open it up to everybody. Enjoy!

~Shoshanah

Tricks and Treats

They sent out an e-mail at work warning yet again about the dangers of swine flu H1N1 virus. They reminded everyone of the obvious to wash your hands, to not sneeze into your hand, silly things like that. Then to get us all in the health spirit HR came around and passed out a box of Kleenex to everyone. (I went with a red decorated box. I need to keep my desk color coordinated after all.)

The someone else from HR came by with a plastic pumpkin jack-o-lantern filled with packs of anti-bacterial gel. Sort of like trick-or-treating in reserve. Except you don't normally trick-or-treat for anti-bacterial gel. Although they had a few different scents. I wound up going with atomic apple.

And coincidentally HR also brought me my birthday cupcake not to long afterwards. Once a month they give out birthday cupcakes to everyone who had a birthday that month. They had a few different standard flavors, and I wound up going with red velvet. The cupcake was so pretty. It even had a chocolate fluer-de-lis on top. I even went to take a picture, but realize my camera was sitting next to my computer at the apartment. You'll have to trust me on how pretty it looked. And the cupcake itself tasted absolutely amazing. Although looking back now, I really want to try one of those chocolate chip cupcakes. I guess I might just have to pick up a chocolate chip cupcake myself!

~Shoshanah

More Birthday Fun

First I want to think everyone for all the nice words about the pictures. But honestly, you have no idea how much work they were! The boy pretty much enjoys making my life miserable by ruining pictures, so whenever by chance I get one where he's smiling I have to share. Don't believe me? Here's how our pictures normally turn out.
This was one of the better outtakes from 20 or so takes. I only stopped taking pictures after I wound up with the one I posted yesterday. I think the only reason he was smiling was because he thought he'd already ruined the picture. Guess his timing was a little off.

Coincidentally, yesterday I received my automatic renewal on my car insurance for the next 6 months. I was a little scared when I saw this since it was dated October 1. I knew your car insurance is supposed to go down when you turn 25, and was really afraid my insurance had renewed at the same rate of the next 6 months. Luckily, they automatically lowered my rates. It showed I would be paying the same rate I had been for October, but starting in November my rates were noticeably lower. Isn't that the last birthday benefit there is? Getting your car insurance lowered at age 25? Does this mean I'm officially past having good things happen on my birthday?

There were a few other good things that happened this year though. Here's most of my birthday cards and presents from my parents, grandparents, co-workers, the boy, and the boy's parents. (And yes, I've included the free mints I wrote about yesterday.)
Don't see the card from the boy? Well here's a close-up
I do realize it might look a little odd taking these pictures on an empty bookshelf, except the bookshelf was my birthday present from the boy. I came home one day from work and there was a bookshelf with that note on top. You might have noticed I read quite a bit, and the boy reads about the same amount if not more. Except we have no bookshelves in our apartments, so I've basically been lining up books against the wall. Classy, right? But now the apartment officially has a book shelf. I guess that means I need to go out and buy new books to fill it!

I wanted to wrap things up by saying thank you for all the birthday wishes, and the gifts, and the cards. I really appreciate it all.Thanks you!

~Shoshanah

P.S. Speaking of Birth Days, I'm awfully excited to watch the special on TLC tonight about the new Duggar grandchild! Anyone else with me?

Birthday Weekend

Its hard to believe my birthday was this past weekend, and I'm now officially 25. How did that happen? Its a little bittersweet being past the days of "exciting" birthdays, but I still had a good time.

Saturday me and the boy went and saw Couples Retreat.
No, I don't normally take pictures in the theater, buts its my birthday! I had to document!

After the movie we went to California Pizza Kitchen for an early dinner. We decided to split a garlic cheese focaccia.
He stayed away from the bruschetta-like topping, wheres I ate almost all of it. He's not a big fan of tomatoes.

He wound up getting a their barbecue chicken pizza.
Yes, he refused to wait for me to take a picture before he started eating. Priorities I guess.

I decided to change things up a bit a little and go with a Greek pizza.
The pizza had a lemon-y sauce on the bread that was really good. And while the pizza was good, I think next time I might stick with one of their standards, probably their Thai chicken pizza. I used to always get CPK's Peking duck pizza until they took it of their menu. I mean really, am I the only one out there who likes duck pizza? I'm guess that's a yes.

Then since it was my birthday I had to have dessert.
I'm not sure what this was called, but it was one gooey, chocolate-y, butterscotch-y, delicious-ness. You can't tell in the picture but there were also caramelized pears inside. Pretty much amazing.

After the game we headed back to the apartment to watch the LSU-Florida football game on the couch.
These happy faces were clearly before we lost to Florida. Pretty much the one sore spot of the weekend.

Sunday we met up with the boy's family for lunch at DeAngelos. We arrived early (a habit of his, most definitely not mine) so hung out in the car waiting for everyone else to arrive.
I wound up getting their lasagna for lunch. And yes, I do apologize for the lack of picture. I decided not to have dessert. So instead the restaurant brought me about $20 packaged mints as a birthday present. Pretty amusing since me and the boy are constantly arguing if complementary mints means unlimited of 1 per person.

I even got to have my birthday extend a little bit today when my co-workers brought me a card and a birthday cake.

All in all, it was a pretty nice an relaxing birthday weekend. Minus the LSU loss. Although technically if we win the rest of our games this season we could still wind up playing for a national championship. Cross you fingers for that. Here's to hoping next years birthday when I turn 25 again is just as good! Just kidding :)

~Shoshanah

Zombie Retreat

Couples Retreat
I've been really looking forward to seeing this, mainly due to the girls in the movie Kristin Davis (from Sex and the City), Kristen Bell (from Veronica Mars), and Malin Akerman (who always looks familiar, but I recognize her from The Proposal and 27 Dresses). The movie's about 4 couples who go to an island together thinking they they're going to have an awesome relaxing vacation, but instead are required to do all different types of couples skills building.

The movie itself was cute, but pretty predictable. One of the high points of the movie was a Guitar Hero Battle (yes, you read that correctly). But overall its wasn't amazing. Cute yes, I might watch it if it ever reruns on TV, but it isn't the type of movie I feel like I'll need to own when it comes out on DVD.

Zombieland
Again, the main reason I wanted to see this is because Abigail Breslin was in it. The movie is about zombie, but isn't anywhere near a horror movie. Its all comedy. Although there is a good bit of blood and gore throughout the movie. Gross, but mainly done for laugh.

The funny thing is, even though Couples Retreat was my pick and Zombieland was the boys, if I had to re-watch one of them I would pick Zombieland without a doubt.

A funny coincidence is that both movies had scenes at the very end of the credits. I always make the boy wait with me till the very end, mainly to show a little respect to all the people who helped to make the movie happen. I'm guess its part of growing up in Southern California. Very rarely do movies have scenes at the end of the credits anymore. But both of these movies do. So if you see either one be sure to stay to the very end. Although, not much of a surprise, the bonus scene at the end of Zombieland is by far the better one.

~Shoshanah

Show Us Your Team

This week's Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner is Show us your favorite team, tailgating or traditions. Now I might get run out of Louisiana for admitting this, but until a few years I really had no idea who LSU was. What a way to start this post off right?

Proving things have changedGrowing up I really didn't follow football of any kind. Growing up in Southern California I remember reading in the newspaper about the UCLA/USC game every year, but that was about it. I would want UCLA to win this match up every year, since I was raised in a UCLA family. But other than that there weren't any games that really mattered to me.

With Tiger Stadium in the backgroundFor a lot of people they get big into college football when they actually go off to college. Except for me, I went to a tiny liberal arts school for college that didn't have a football team. So nothing really changed then. Although I'm sure if I had gone to a college with a big football team things would have changed then.

Running into Death ValleyI did go to college in Maryland, which meant that when anything exciting happened in California I had to show my "home pride." And when I was in college USC started winning championships, so I become at least somewhat of a USC fan. Even a little bit of a fan of Matt Leinhart, even though he went to a rival high school. In 2003, all I knew what that USC had somehow been tricked out of a national championship they deserved. I wasn't completely sure how this occurred. Even more, I had no idea who actually won the BCS National Championship that year.

Soaked in 2006Until I randomly decided to go to LSU for grad school. Turns out LSU won the BCS championship in 2003. And LSU fans hated USC fans with a passion, for claiming half of their championship. I started dating the boy not too long after I started grad school at LSU. Slowly he started to turn me into an LSU fan. I may not bleed purple and gold yet. But I'm getting there. I know who the key LSU players are. I've learned far too much LSU football trivia. I get awfully excited and nervous during the LSU games. I've even started yelling at the tv. And I can guarantee you, that if USC were to play LSU now, I will most definitely be cheering for LSU. But, if they played UCLA it might be a different story.
Go check out Kelly's Korner if you want to hear more people's stories. And of course, Geaux Tiger! Here's hoping they're able to beat Florida on my birthday! What a present that would be!
~Shoshanah

The Gatecrasher

The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickman
I've read all of Sophie Kinsella's book (except for her newest), and enjoyed them all, so I assumed I'd enjoyed the books she wrote as Madeleine Wickham as well. I actually saw this book being with the bargain priced books, and since I wanted to read it eventually, figured it would make sense to pick it up.

The book is about Fleur Daxeny (And yes, every time I see that name I think of Fleur Delacour from Harry Potter. Turns out The Gatecrasher was actually written in 1998 before Fleur Delacour appeared in Goblet of Fire). To put it simply Fleur is a gold digger. Although it might be more accurate to classify her as a con-woman. Someone who tries to get rich men to fall in love with her, and they she steals their money. The novel is about what happens during one of her "relationships."

With a lot Sophie Kinsella's books the main characters seem to be the same person to me. I always felt that you could easily see Becky Bloomwood as the main character of Can you Keep a Secret or The Undomestic Goddess. But Fleur was cut out of a completely different cloth, which I liked. I found it hard to like Fleur's character herself, but I'm not sure you were meant to like her.

I actually liked the book as whole a lot more than I thought I would. Although I will say the end leaves a lot of ends untied. I'd love there to be a sequel to this book, but since it was written over ten years ago I don't think its going to happen. I'd say the book is a little more deeper than those she wrote as Sophie Kinsella, and I'm definitely willing to read the rest of Madeleine Wickman's books to see if that continues to be true.

~Shoshanah

Early Birthday Present

I bought myself an early birthday present today.
Yes, that is the new Backstreet Boys album, This is Us. What can I say, I became a fan back in 1998 and I've never moved on. I'm a fan of the album so far, but I'm sure the more I get to know the songs the more I'll be enjoying it. And no, this isn't the first time I've taken a picture like this.
Yes, I could see how this could be a bit embarrassing, but my only regret is that I didn't do this with all their albums when I first bought them!

The boys had a good amount of promotion lined up, until Brian Littrell caught Swine Flu. How awful would that be? Being sick on the day your album comes out? Hopefully he starts feeling better soon. And if you're a Backstreet fan or used to be a one back in the day, you might want to check the new album out.

~Shoshanah

It's All a Lie

The Invention of Lying
Ricky Gervais' movies haven't done very well in America but if you've ever seen talk, I'm thinking of a few awards show appearance, he's really funny. He's also the creator of The Office, and while I don't watch it I still know its awfully funny. Even if you didn't know anything about him, and just saw the preview you'd think the movie is going to be funny.

For a little background, the movie takes place in a world where lies don't exists. Which means all those things you think that you would never actually say out loud people say in this world. Some of these things are things we wouldn't say because its mean. Its hard to read the poster because its so small, but one of the lines on there says, "Your baby is so ugly its like a little rat." Other times its information that's a little too personal to tell even a good friend, but in this world its all completely out in the open.

In the movie Ricky Gervais' character gains the ability to lie. And as you might imagine has quite a bit of fun with it. After all, if everyone else in the world believes everything you say as the uncontested truth you could have quite a bit of fun with it. But as you might imagine this does come with a few consequences.

Because of this realization the movie's feel changes about half way through. The first half of the movie is filled with all types of jokes, but as the movie goes on it takes on a more serious vibe. Don't worry, there are still jokes by the end, just not nearly as mainly and the actual jokes are a bit more subtle.

The cast of the movie is another high point. Just looking at the poster there's quite a few well known faces, but there's quite a few cameos as well.

I think its a really enjoyable movie, and if you're looking for something to make you laugh I'd say this could be it.

~Shoshanah

Still Undefeated

An other weekend and yet an other win for the LSU Tigers. Which means we're undefeated and number 4 in the country. The game wasn't the prettiest, but we still managed to pull out a win. Next weekend we're playing number 1 Florida. Have I mentioned that next Saturday is also my birthday? I'm really really hoping we manage to pull out a win and my birthday isn't ruined. I told the boy to make sure to pass this message along to any football players he sees on campus, "I'd like a win for my birthday!"

Also this weekend we made a trip to Olive Garden for the never ending pasta bowl. I actually hadn't been to an Olive Garden until I went off to college. And now, well I won't go as far to say its my favorite restaurant (a la the Andrew Firestone season of The Bachelor), but I will say that I need a fix every few months or so.

I started off with spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce was their new mushroom marinara sauce which was pretty good. I'd love to show you all pictures but I forgot my camera. I actually forgot my cell phone as well that night. I guess I was thinking to clearly when I left the apartment. My refill was again spaghetti and meatballs, but this time I went with their meat sauce. I didn't really eat my second bowl, instead brought it home for leftovers. I had about half for lunch today, and I'm planning on having the 2nd half for lunch tomorrow. Overall, 3 meals for under $10. Not too shabby.

As for the last few hours of the weekend? Well, the boy is currently watching the Saints game. We're winning and undefeated there as well. But the boy hasn't yet been able to convert me to a Saints fan. Instead I'm really just looking forward to watching Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters tonight!

And yes, have no fear we did still make it to the movies this weekend. I'll post a review tomorrow. Anyone want to guess which of the 3 new releases we saw?

I hope everyone else is having (or had) a great weekend as well.

~Shoshanah

The White Queen

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
I've read almost everything by Philippa Gregory and enjoy her books, so of course I was going to her new book. Plus the book takes place during the War of the Roses, which is a time period I've read about quite a bit and enjoy reading more about. The book is about Elizabeth Woodville who married King Edward IV of the York line and became Queen of England. Its interesting because out of all the books I've read from this time period Elizabeth has never been on of the main characters. Instead she's always portrayed in a bad light, that she was a witch and somewhat undeserving of her status.

I think partly because of my background of her character I wasn't a big fan of Elizabeth. But I also don't think the character was written to make you fall in love with her. Elizabeth made a lot of decisions that weren't the smartest in her life, and I'm not sure you could write about her in a sense to truly make people fall in love with her.

I did say I've read a good amount of this time period, which is helpful because its a confusing time period. Its taken me a while to fully understand who all the key players are, and even so I can still get confused trying to figure out who is who and how they're all related. Therefore, if this is the first book you read that take place during the War of the Roses, its a given you'll get confused at some point with all the politics in the book.

Overall, I'd enjoyed it, although there hasn't been a book by Philippa Gregory I haven't enjoyed. In general, her books do veer away from some historical facts, but she is at least honest about that in her afterward. If you haven't read any of her books I'd say you might be safer starting out with The Other Boleyn Girl or The Queen's Fool. But if you do enjoy her books and historical fiction, this is a really interesting time period to read about, especially if you haven't read about the War of the Roses before. Some pretty unbelievable things happened during this time period, several times power shifted between on King and another, there's war between cousins, war between brothers, and most famously this is when the two princes disappeared in the Tower of London. Quite a page turned considering its actual history!

~Shoshanah