"I write, therefore I am."

"Forgive me Father..." "...for I have sinned." And gravely so. True Confession of my soul: 10. Remember that one time when I was Addicted? Well. I was going on this trip to see my sister (I'll blog all the deets about that. Promise!), and knew that based on how things would go my family would leave and I'd still be sitting at the airport in St. Louis. For like 3 hours. Le sigh. And they don't ascribe to the whole "free internet" thing the rest of the world kindly does. So I knew I was going to be: BORED. And I didn't want to read... because that's what I do on planes. And with 6 hours of flying ahead of me... no reading. So I maybe splurged right before I left and got the Second one ! *SQUEE* It totally came out this summer, but only on the DS, so I was safe. But recently, my good friends over at Steam got it. And then I bought it. And now... I may not be blogging for a while. SUPER SORRY!!! It's. Just. So. Friggin'. Addicting....

There's so much to catch up on! I've been seeing movies, reading books, living love, etc., etc., etc! Keep an eye out for posts soon on the Summer of '10, Into the Now circa 2010, and others. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Grade: C. Eh. The book was better. But isn't it always? *le sigh* They did cool things, not all the actors sucked; I enjoyed myself. Letters to Juliet - Grade: A-. This movie was cute. I like that she's getting away from role in Mean Girls , though let's be honest, I struggled sometimes to keep that image of her out of my mind. But she's not a bad actress. The storyline was very heartfelt, and I liked this movie. Would I see it again? Hrmmm, dunno. But once was okay. How to Train your Dragon - Grade: A+. This was a wonderful movie. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Laughed, may or may not have cried, really got emotionally involved. This movie was simply wonderful. The Last Airbender - Grade: F. F is for Fail. This movie was AWFUL....

I have so much to be thankful for in my life it's hard to know where exactly I should start. I'm not going to cover everything by any stretch, but a montage nonetheless will be nice. :) I'll stick to 50. I am thankful to be alive. I am thankful to not know want. I am thankful for my friends; you help keep me going. I am thankful to have a wonderful job, and a stellar boss who is unbiased. I am thankful for my family. Especially my imperfect parents. I am thankful that my sister is doing so much better and will graduate soon. I am thankful to have a warm bed, clothes, nice things, and food. I am thankful I have the freedom to do what I want. I am thankful for Veterans :P I am thankful for Jessica. She will always be interconnected with my path. I am thankful for struggle. I am thankful for heartache. I am thankful for difficulty. I am thankful for suffering. I am thankful for the opportunities I have to grow and better myself. I am thankful for the support I receive. I am th...

This post has been in draft form since MARCH. LOL. So YAY for having INTERNET!!! Now I can blog. With vengeance. While I wasn't internetting, I *was* reading. So here come a slew of books, watch for another 11 very, very soon! Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon - Grade: B+. I enjoyed this book, though at times I had trouble getting through. Was definitely able to put this one down, unfortunately. But overall liked the characters and the plot. Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse (Book 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians ) - Grade: A. Rick Riordan bounces back in the third book of his series. I had no trouble with this book, and may even have shed a tear or two. The characters are becoming more and more believable, and I think I love them. Nicely written. Timothy Carter's EVIL? - Grade: A+. Not a sequel, or a series, but I read Epoch for Kerry when I was playing Intern. Epoch was a decent read, but EVIL? outdoes it by LEAPS AND BOUNDS. Hilariously brilliant, ...

July 13th. The date of my last post. 3 FREAKING MONTHS AGO!! Seriously. UGH. UGH. UGH. This blog is not dead. I am not dead. I simply do not, and have not had, internet at my place. That will soon be remedied and then - then I will return with a blogging vengeance. Prepare thineself.

Been kind of a dry spell for movies lately. This post originated back in August...2009. So it took me 11 months to see this round of 17 movies. Wow. That's kind of sad. That's like one a month. Blah. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Grade: B-. I won't lie, I haven't seen any of these. Movies like this fall in the senseless kid humor category where I put other shows and movies I think are inane, crass, or just plain stupid (my opinion of this). But the S kids put it on while I was "nannying," so I watched (while doing other things like playing on Facebook (of course!)). I will admit to actually laughing once or twice. But that's all I will admit. Xmen - Grade: B-. I freaking LOVE Xmen, especially as a kid. From comics to cartoons to figurines, I was an Xmen addict. So you'll forgive if I was a little upset about them ruining many things. Granted there were cool things, and the special effects were everything, and I do love some Hugh Jackman, but sti...

Ack! I have so much posting to do! Two trips already to two different states and another one looming this weekend. Plus I'm up for a round of book reviews and *gasp* movie reviews! Been awhile on those. I need more free time. Sigh. Soon, promise.

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – Willa Cather Love is such an incredible force, one which drives us to do unthinkable things – even at the cost of life itself – for those we care about. I would trade love for nothing in this world, especially when it comes to my family. I’m sure I’m not alone in my sympathies. In 1998, I extended my love to a new member of my family, a sister adopted from a lonely orphanage in faraway Russia. She was just four when we welcomed her into our home. What happened in those four short years will always be a mystery, but the impact they had on her life will not. Unable to do anything to stop her, my family and I watched helplessly as my sister’s past swallowed her in the present. Her pain seemed unmanageable, her behavior got progressively worse and nothing seemed to help. At the beginning of this year my parents made the terribly difficult decision to enroll her in a long-term residential treatment center - for her own protection. ...

Yes I know. It's pretty much 2011, and I'm still talking about 2009. Honestly, sometimes I get so far behind I feel like quitting and never writing another blog. Ever. But sigh. Let's forget about the fact that we are in month 5 of 12, and pretend it's still January. I mean, the weather outside TOTALLY reflects the "still-January" mindset. Why shouldn't my blog? (Other than the fact that I'm so sick of snow I might die). So in 2008, I joined the masses in the world of iTunes. One year (and 5 months we are erasing) later, I still abhor iTunes. But kind of love my ipod. Like alot. So I guess it's a love/hate relationship. Anyway, I already did my Tops of 2009 , except MUSIC. So let's get on with it shall we? First off, I must say that the play counts are all kinds of skewed. I had iTunes only for a limited time in 08, so the difference in clear. The #1 song of 2008 had 122 plays, whereas the #25 song in 2009 had 260, more than double, lol. 25. Li...

Sigh. Want/need to blog. No energy or desire. I just let the apathy consume me as life and my dreams keep walking. Here I sit.

Somehow I seem to have taken up reading almost purely books that are part of a series. Call it laziness? I dunno. I call it, hey that book was pretty good, there's another? Fantastic! Gimme, gimme. Heh... Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Winter Night - Grade: A+. What I said before. Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief - Grade: A. I 100% felt like a 10-year-old prepubescent reading this book! L O V E. This book was...genius. The pacing was spot-on, the characters believable, lovable, AND validly humorous! Win, win, win. Let's just hope they don't screw up the movie. Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games - Grade: A. I'm not sure what it says about me that I like this book. I feel in a twisted way that makes me just like someone from the Capitol. Hmm. But wow! What a great read! There were slow parts and things that annoyed me, and an occasional unbelievable moment, but I let almost everything slide because the story was so grippingly wonderous. Jame...

Here's to 2009 (screw you!) and all the memories (and nightmares...) Let us recap the best of the best. Best Trip of 2009: Idaho/Washington Trip with NFJ (which pretty much is the whole post). Hands down, no contest. That trip RULED my summer. Best Restaurant of 2009: I'm actually going to go with most FREQUENTED restaurant of 2009, which makes the best. Obviously. That would have to be Toaster's, the coffee shop right down the block where I work (hence part of why I frequent it so freaking much *grin*) Best Article of 2009: Yeah, I don't read too many articles, just blogs? So I'm going to opt out on this one. Best Book of 2009: Yikes. Hold on to your hats for this one. I mean how many books did I read in 2009? Oh wait 45 (including 11 I haven't reviewed yet - that's coming soon, don't worry!) In reviewing the thousands of pages I've devoured, I'll add myself a caveat here and make this best NEW book of 2009, because let's be honest I did m...

And cue Winter. Though I don't really know when because there's pretty much been no snow this whole winter in the valley. Not that I'm complaining. Ushering in December brought its own slew of Holiday get-togethers and reasons for me to make amazing appetizers including my now-famous Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts. Yummmers. I think that's really all I want to say about that. I took cute pictures though of my new suit and Turtle got a smokin' new dress. Toward the end of the month, I of course went home for Christmas. Thankfully it went pretty fast. My synopsis of the experience is: "It could have been worse." Christmas heralded the attempt to get me a new phone - again. This would mark #7 in one year. Can you believe that? 7 phones. Wow, not the best of years for me and phones. The pre-festivities went rather quickly, and Christmas arrived. Yayness. Christmas day after opening presents I wanted to get away so BigBro, LilBro and I all went Christmas caching...

The moment I got back from Ohio, it was pretty much Turtle's Birthday. Which means my time to shine, because I'm awesome at birthdays (especially when 1) you're my best friend and 2) I know you better than you know yourself, and 3) you live the same place as me. Heh. Birthday pretty much owned). I got her a computer game from my Childhood (since she'd been so taken with MYST), King's Quest. Actually I got the collection of all 7, and so we spent most of the day just playing that, enjoying ourselves. She loved it. Then we went out to a very elegant restaurant for dinner, where she ordered whatever she wanted, and I got her a super yummy dessert. The very next night we hung out with the S Family to carve pumpkins, which is always a blast for me. Now I will admit to being something of a pumpkin snob, and with good reason if you've seen any of my pumpkins. Turtle's Pumpkin: Last year I carved three pumpkins (I lived in a backwoods lodge and had tons of free time...

Grin. Disclaimer . Grin. I wish I had time to upload all 70 photos from my trip, but I don't. You can see them all here . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After what seemed like months of agony, discomfort, and incredible bad luck, I needed a freaking break. And Ohio was just what the doctor ordered. Tuesday, October 20th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I got up butt early to get on a plane. Most of the time I spent reading. At the time, I was in the midst of Deborah Davis' Not Like You . As the plane descended into Ohio, I was overcome with a feeling of giddiness and elation. Home. TREES!!! FALL COLORS!!! I remembered to turn onto Sawyer to get to Broad Street, and then as I drove the memories just flooded back. Everything, everywhere, pieces of ME. I love this place so dearly. Of course I visited my old neighborhood. There's so much growth and change in my little town, it's definitely becoming full-blown suburbia. But thankfully, some things haven...