And a Partridge in a...

I want to take a picture of every spring flower I see. I saw a house the other day that had an azalea (pinkish purple) next to a forsythia bush (bright yellow) next to some small tree that was just leafing out (bright green leaves), and if it wasn't on such a busy street, I would have stopped to photograph the color combination because it looked beautiful.

I'm kind of in love with our Cleveland Pear tree. It's only a few years old, and it's already ginormous. It has wonderful green leathery leaves and the white blossoms make it look like it's covered in snow. We walked by a restaurant in Ferndale last weekend, and they had twinkle lights on their pear trees, and at night, they totally looked snow covered.

Here are a few pics:




If you want to see some seriously beautiful TTV pictures of springy flowers, go check out my bud Alli's blog. Aren't her pics dreamy???

So back to my pear tree-- we had this tree planted in the right of way (which is the area between your property line and the street) by our City Forestry Department for a measly $150 or something which is really CHEAP especially since they do the planting in the right of way. Lots of municipalities especially in Michigan offer this type of thing, so check with your local Parks & Rec or Forestry division.

Speaking of Parks & Rec, do any of you watch the NBC show??? If you do, it is LITERALLY my job on TV. Well, I'm more Mark Brendanawicz (who's a city planner), but I think the writers should contact me because I could give them sooooooooo much material. :) If you haven't seen it, you can watch most of the eps on Hulu.


I love all the characters, especially Aziz Ansari's. Ryan's mind was almost blown when he heard AA would be starring in a movie with one of his other faves, Danny McBride AND it's being shot here in Michigan.

Ok, that's all kiddos. I hope your weekend isn't flying by like mine seems to be. Bleh. Plus, the weather isn't too great, so that's a bummer. Good news is that Ryan's taking Q to Jungle Java tomorrow morning (aka Lord of the Flies in a strip mall), and I don't have to go! Yippee!!!

xo

Twenty Ten

Here's a little recap of Girl Land's 2009 Flickr pics! Some of my faves, in fact.


Was today your first day back to work? Mine too. Wasn't as bad as I thought. I was more depressed on Saturday anticipating the return, but it was a'ight.

So deja vu-- I'm yet again trying to lose weight. Ugh! It's a never-ending battle, I tell you. I don't want to be complacent with where I am. I'm tired of being fat. I have tried every program under the sun-- Medical Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem. They all have worked, but then I lose momentum. I can't do it by myself, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail if I start back up. Horrible attitude, no? All I can do is KEEP trying, and that's what I'll do. I just hope I can keep up the motivation. Sigh.

Here's where I am now (and this isn't even as unflattering as most of my Xmas pics...shudder, shudder):


Here's where I want to be again (this pic is from about 6 years ago):


I wasn't super skinny here, but I was HAPPY. And I felt good about myself which is really what it all comes down to.

Wish me luck!!! xo

Girl Land's Top 20 Films of the Decade!

In the spirit of Roger Ebert's list, here is my own, but I couldn't pick just ten. I'm bored. Can you tell?

28 days later (2002)

Amelie (2001)

Lost in Translation (2003)

Chocolat (2000)

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

About a Boy (2002)

25^th Hour (2002)

Stranger than Fiction (2006)

The Good Girl (2002)

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) Punch Drunk Love (2002)

Brick (2005) – Let the Right One In (2008)

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Match Point (2005)

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) The Lives of Others (2006)

Inside Man (2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

The Orphanage (2007)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

In Bruges (2008)

**Post Edit: Forgot about some of my faves! :) Let me know if you liked any of these. xo

Lisa the Butterfly

This is Lisa the Butterfly. Lisa the Butterfly was purchased by Q's father at the Minneapolis Airport. Here are some fun facts about Lisa:

1. When she sleeps, a monster wakes her up.
2. Her tongue got blooded because she was bonked by a car.
3. A mouse was trying to eat her.
4. She likes to be walked around with a leash attached to her tongue.
5. She is Q's new best friend.
6. Q likes to warn her about stranger danger. As in, "Don't go with any other butterflies, Lisa, or you will be killed!" I swear, we don't say that about strangers...exactly.
6. She'd better not touch Q's ice cream sundae or she's getting a time out.


Sooooooooo was anyone else reading Sweet Valley High circa 1985? It was my life. That and going to Circus Circus every day after school for ring pops and slushes. Circus Circus was an ice cream/candy store/arcade a block away from our middle school. It had an awesome tiny merry go round and penny horse rides in front. It was torn down to build a parking lot I think in the late 80s.

But I digress. I also read the Sweet Valley Twins series a little later on. I was a die-hard. And that damn Jessica Wakefield-- I had a love/hate relationship with her. So imagine my excitement at the news that Diablo Cody is re-making the book series into a movie! Pretttttttttty good.

I also learned a valuable life lesson in the pages of SVH-- you try cocaine-- even once-- you will DIE. Do you remember Bruce's girlfriend, Regina Morrow? She died. From snorting coke. One time. Had a heart attack. Burned in my memory forever. Seriously, even if I ever had the opportunity to try coke (which I haven't), I would have passed SOLELY because of this book, no joke. Good stuff.

Happy weekending all. xo

8 Things Meme & Randoms

This post is light on pics. Sorry. Found this on Jenna's blog today...

8 Things I am Looking Forward to
1…..Giving Ryan his Father's Day gifts
2…..Losing another 25ish pounds
3…..New Moon, November 20!
4…..Retirement (no joke)
5…..True Blood season two starting this Sunday
6…..My birthday! I loves my birthday. 27 days, y'all...
7…..Starting Q in ballet class in the fall
8…..V walking

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1…..Coughed. I think I coughed a lung up.
2…..Watched Cop Land (besides The Fugitive, probably my favorite movie to watch when I'm sick). I stayed home from work if ya can't tell.
3…..Watched some real life MTV show called Fat Camp for two freaking hours. Two hours that I'll never get back.
4…..Watched a really bad movie, Never Back Down. Only watched it because I wanted to jump on Sean Faris. Holy hot. He's like a younger, non-crazy, smaller-nosed Tom Cruise with a super hot beauty mark at the corner of his mouth. And that damn inguinal crease does it to me every time!!!


5…..Drank 7 cups of hot tea with skim milk and Splenda
6…..Actually did take a shower though
7…..Laid on the couch
8…..Took a buttload of Mucinex (did I mention I was coughing?)


8 Things I Wish I Could do
1…..Speak my mind without getting upset
2…..Speak and understand French fluently
3…..Retire
4.....Be rid of my food issues FOREVER
5.....Wear a bikini and look good in it
6…..Be a better mom & wife
7…..Hire a professional organizer to clean and organize my house. I would just sit in a big throne, point my sausage finger here and there, and direct them what to do. Awesome.
8…..Teleport my entire family (sorry, Jenna, stealing from you)

8 Shows I Enjoy (DVR)
1…..Lost
2…..Dexter
3…..How I Met Your Mother
4…..So You Think You Can Dance
5…..True Blood
6…..The Office
7.....30 Rock
8…..Best Week Ever

Miscellaneous random stuff on a Tuesday:

• After the Tony Awards, Diablo Cody Tweeted: "And yes, I’m concerned about Bret Michaels’ fractured nose. An acute sense of smell is essential to his dating process."
  
• Someone I know and like had to get a cancerous mass removed recently. This person doesn't know that I know. I saw this person smoking a cigarette today, and it really freaking pissed me off.
• I wish I were more into cupcakes. They are so cute and pretty and you can decorate and display them in such cool ways. But the stinking frosting to cake ratio is just way too low. (photo courtesy of melisdramatic via Flickr).
• My Twerd posse is growing. Today, we added another Twerd to the mix. If she is going to accompany us to the New Moon premiere in November, that will make 11 of us. Snap.
• I need ideas of how to recreate this cake. I'm thinking I may use dummy layers for the bottom two because I'll only be feeding like 20, but how to make the stripes?? I do not want to pipe that many stinkin' stripes. I'll let you know later why, but you may have guessed. Yes, I'm that dorky.