New Moon Hangover CAUTION SPOILERS!!!

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo I've been. Twice now. Probably will see it at least a few more times in the theater. If you have NOT seen the movie yet, you may not want to read any further. But if you have, I am curious to see what you thought.

Here are my thoughts:

*I absolutely love the soundtrack, and I was happy with all the song placement. A couple of my friends and I even predicted where songs would go, and I got a few right. That sounded wayyy less pathetic in my head.

*Loved the opening scene with Bella's "grandmother".

*Loved Jasper's reaction to the paper cut and how he just kept busting through everyone to get to her. Sometimes, you forget that they are vamps and that they are bloodthirsty.

*Something little that I loved-- when Carlisle was stitching Bella's arm up, and she was resting her hand on his waist. I don't know why I liked it, just thought it was endearing and kind of showed a closeness between the two. Is that weird?

*I thought both Edward and Bella looked absolutely beautiful in the movie. Loved the kissing scene outside her truck and the desperation of it and a little bit of moaning never hurts (sigh).

*Love Movie Jacob way better than Book Jacob. In fact, when I re-read New Moon before seeing it, I actually liked Book Jacob better because I was picturing Taylor.

*Kristen really didn't annoy me at all (no sputtering!) in New Moon which is funny because she's totally getting ripped apart in reviews and Taylor's reaping the accolades. Because, and don't hate me...

*I thought Taylor's acting was pretttttttttttty bad. Still liked Movie Jacob, still like Taylor, but there were some lines that made me cringe. There was one really bad one when Jacob is yelling at Alice, and now I can't remember, but it was realllly lame.

*Where were the damn tears?????? Like seriously, can't these damn actors cry on cue? Or couldn't they have stopped the cameras and given them some eye drops or something? Bella didn't REALLY cry once and neither did Jacob. Or Edward for that matter. Fishy.

*My favorite scene may very well have been the one in the forest when the wolves were chasing Victoria. The Thom Yorke song in the back may be one of my faves now. I am going to miss Rachelle LeFevre in Eclipse. :(

*Wishing they played the music in the trailer for the running through the palazzo scene at the end (played here around 1:33). Way more dramatic!



*Of course, and it seems most people would agree, Alice's flash forward of Bella and Edward hunting in the forest was so dreadful. Yeesh. Whuuuut was up with Edward's clothing? Or hers for that matter?

*And did anyone else notice that it seemed Edward had on the SAME clothing that he did when he left Bella? Like 4 or 5 months later? Well, sans the suit jacket, but that was a little grody. Until my friend reminded me vampires probably have body odor that smells like lilac and honey. HA.

*One of my favorite scenes from the book was when Bella finally realized that Edward still loved her. It didn't work for me in the movie-- too rushed and it was supposed to be AFTER they left the Volturi lair. Felt kind of cheated just as I felt cheated with the meadow scene in Twilight!

*Bummed they cut out any good shots of the cake!!! And a whole couple lines about the cake in general. It was the piece de resistance at my Twilight party. Oh well. It was still a good schtick I suppose.


Anyway, already getting some ideas for my inevitable New Moon partay. It's going to be tough to top the first, but I'm up for a challenge. Definitely making some wolf pack tats and probably a dream catcher or two!!!

So I'm curious to see what any of you think. My husband is glad this is all over. For now anyway...he just rolled his eyes when I told him the opening of Eclipse was just over 7 months away. Yippee! xo

Christmas? Really?

Look at my newest Target Xmas purchase! They're like matryoshka dolls, but Xmas characters. It has paid for itself already. The girls have been hypnotized.

This guy's my fave:

Also bought this Alexander Henry. Will be making some appliques for the shop (gasp, I know). I thought they'd look cute on a stocking. The top right angel reminds me of V and the bottom right of Quinn. Might make some packaging with "GLIY" on it as in "Girl Land It Yourself". heh.


Only 2 days, 10 hours!!!! Eek. V & Q have just gotten over the flu, and I'm PRAYING I'm not next. Bad timing!!! Send some healthy wishes my way, would you? xo

Party Time...is Over

So the birthday festivities have now ended. Here are some highlights...



And the one that made it all worthwhile...

5 More Days...

Do you have your soundtrack downloaded yet? If not, it's realllllllly good. Way better than the first soundtrack. I already loved Death Cab for Cutie, St. Vincent, Grizzly Bear and Thom Yorke before, now I love them even more!

And once you download it, buy some CD labels and slap this baby on it...enjoy!


Click image to enlarge, right click to save to your computer. Open in CD labeling software (such as Memorex exPressIt Label Design Studio), choose "use your own background", then voila!

Happy Birthday, Quinnifer

Are you four already? Really? I can't believe it. I look at you and I listen to your words, and I know it's true. Your baby curls have turned into lovely waves, and those chubby roly tree trunk legs are now long and lean. You use words like "available" and you are the best in your ballet class at somersaulting. In the morning when I'm brushing your hair, you'll thank me for something like a book that I bought you 2 months ago or for giving you my Snuffles. And you should know how close I came to blubbering like a fool tonight when we celebrated your birthday with Grandma Janet's and your wish was to always be Mommy's best friend.

I'm so proud of you, and I can't wait to see what's to come for you because I know it will be amazing. xoxoxoxoxo

And now Quinn has a message for YOU!


(we attached these tags to the treat bags for her daycare buds).

Autumn Sweater

Halloween has come and gone. I'm hoping snow holds off for awhile. Fall is my favorite season, and we get far too little of it.

These pics are from our anniversary mini-getaway. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who sent us congratulatory anni wishes! We had a wonderful time sans kids, and they in turn had a wonderful time with their grandparents.

Now we just wait for Thanksgiving and then Christmas which will also be here and gone before we know it. In the meantime, my husband has put together a nice little cozy warm playlist and called it "Autumn Sweater", and I thought I'd share. I must admit that I added the last three songs because they are my current new faves. I'm sure many of you may guess why.

Here to Fall - Yo La Tengo
Cheated Hearts - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Time to Pretend - MGMT
Fake Empire - The National
Postcards from Italy - Beirut (Alli, this one's for you, how appropos! hee hee)
1901 - Phoenix
Autumn Sweater - Yo La Tengo
Favorite Song - KaiserCartel
Alone Again Or - Calexico
Possibility - Lykke Li
Friends - Band of Skulls
Violet Hour - Sea Wolf

If you give it a listen, let me know what you think.

Ryan has a good ear for music. He creates pretty good playlists and gives them awesome names like Dirty on Purpose or Mullet Proof Fence (we have a bizarre sense of humor). It's funny to me, but he doesn't remember liking music much until college when he discovered The Beatles.

For me, I can remember being 7 years old and going with my brother to a record shop and stocking up on Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Pat Benetar and Stray Cats pin back buttons. He would buy the albums, and seeing certain covers like Clash's London Calling, Synchronicity by The Police and Culture Club's Kissing to be Clever certainly takes me back. Although it would be the Flashdance soundtrack that was my first ever album purchased. What are your first memories of music? What was the first album you ever bought?

Quatre: A Party in the Making

The big FOUR is coming up for Q. It was a running joke in my family that we always had birthdays like Polish weddings-- they last for a week. This year, Q will be celebrating the day before, the day of, and the Saturday afterwards.

Her theme colors are yellow and aqua. She decided she wanted a doll cake with a yellow dress. I'm hoping Brooke can make it look something like this:
Her invites designed by moi, digital backgrounds and button images purchased from Love, Liette's Etsy shop:

This wonderful custom garland from Jennifer's Sugar Etsy shop (isn't her shop adorable???):


Favor bags:Containing fun things from Amanda K's Bake It Pretty:
And from Amanda G's Hey Yo Yo Etsy Shop:



I still can't believe Q is so old and getting so big. The girl is so tall, she is taller than every girl in her ballet class. She's wearing girl's size XS and 5Ts are fitting her perfectly. Sigh.