Graceland

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Living Downtown

Friday, while I was driving home, there was a man dressed in a pink track suit with a pointy bra and a big blonde wig. He was drilling some kind of platform to the back of his bike. I thought, "Halloween or just a local???" I love this thought.

I love living downtown. There actually was a guy who I used to see often downtown who would dress in pink outift (often a mini-skirt) and wear a blonde wig. He hasn't been around for a while though. I'm feeling nostalgic about moving from here. I'll miss the crazy diversity, the homeless guy who yells at a trees, wacky ladies who ask if it's ok if they eat the fruit of the flowering plumb growing on the public corner, etc. etc. Although moving to Orem, it has it own version of crazy which may be a little more subtle but, given the right perspective, could be just as entertaining.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Update

Happy my favorite holiday everyone! How I love Halloween. Even though I'm stuck here at work all day, I just can't help being giddy. Maybe the stash of holiday M&M's in my drawer helps. :) Unfortuneately, Rick is working all weekend so I'm heading off to party hop tonight with other friends. I think we'll get a chance to sport the zombie bride and groom costumes again tomorrow night for his work party. Yeehaw or... I mean uuuuuuuuugh (that's a zombie moan).

Speaking of being giddy- here's an update on the wedding plans. The big day is January 16. We will be doing our reception the evening before. Please send me your addresses and relieve my stress level somewhat of all the things I have to do. :) I did decide on a dress which I get it back from the alterations person next week. You can probably drop by my house anytime between then and the wedding and I'll just be wearing it around. :) Now we just need a photographer and invitations. Any suggestions? Oh and fun honeymoon location ideas. Nothing too extravagent or expensive.

I was laughing last night when I was complaining to Rick that my head hurts from all these decisions. I'm just tired of making decisions. He offered to make them, then I realized that I really want exactly what I want, it's just that I don't know what I want. Being a girl can be hard. :) I can't even decide on colors. Really, in the end, not much of these decisions matter. We'll be married regardless of what we wear for our engagement photos. But really that is point. You do all of this craziness for good photos. The decision to get married is made so that's not so stressful anymore (well sometimes it's still a bit stressful), but the details which really shouldn't matter too much are just to have nice photos to remember the day. So, I ask again.... good photographer recommendations? Tell me some fun things you did at your wedding that you loved, or things you wished you did differently?

I figured this was appropriate for both Halloween and the wedding update (I stole this from Pinky's blog- thanks girl!)

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Halloween Fun

We had a fun weekend of Halloween festivities. Friday night Rick and I took Zane and Isaac (my future step-sons) to see Odessey Dance Theater's Thriller. It was a lot of fun. The dancers who were dressed as zombies interacted with the audience before and after the show. Here's Isaac and Zane with one of the zombies.

Saturday Rick and I went to a costume party at Heidi and Jairon's. Rick and I dressed as zombie bride & groom.

Jairon had a freaky costume.... as expected.

Me and my sisters!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Flashback Friday - Halloween Parties

In honor of my favorite holiday being just around the corner and pretty much using all my Halloween spirit this year. Instead of a party, you're getting a blog about parties past.

Here is Steph, Heidi and me. One of my many years as a vampire. This was early 2000's.

That same year's party- it was the first year we got into the big spook alley/haunted maze at mom & dad's. You came out of the maze to the haunted cemetery in the backyard.

Part of the spook alley was the classic talking-head-on-the-plate. Kira pulled it off well that year.

This wasn't a party, but I love this photo of the kiddos with their scary masks.

In this photo you can almost see my teeth. It was the year of the bike crash and my teeth were still wired shut. Plus I was finally Medusa- a costume I'd wanted to do for years.

Late 1990's. I had a cemetery party so, of course, had to go with the zombie look. Hum, I may resurrect this one for this year. Sorry about the funky flash glare. I was photographing photos to post.

That same year I went to a ward party. I was in the RS Pres of the singles ward. Here is the Presidency. Of course, I'm Kris. :) We made the bishop dress up as Bosley.

Another late 1990's party. I grew my hair out all year so I could have real buns for the Princess Leah costume. Mom and I freeze-framed the movie to get the details right on the dress.

This is one of my favorite costumes that has shown up at one of my parties. Tara makes a good Mona Lisa, don't you think? And Christy as Leo- very creative.

One of the parties we hosted in Colorado, which would mean 1995 or 1996. Steph did such a great Cher from Clueless.

Another vampire year for me. That's Tim as a bunch of grapes (I believe Kat made that costume) and I think it's Jake Bean in the scrubs.

This was one of my first themed parties. It was a sci-fi party. We built fake aliens who lurked about the room.

We made campy spaceships out of paper plates and bowls and hung from the ceiling with fishing line.

I was Dana Scully. I dyed my hair red for this costume and have never looked back. :) And it's not a party without Eric!

This was one of the last parties I threw and one of my favorites. It was a Hollywood theme and everyone came dressed as their favorite movie star or movie character. I was Doris Day. No, my hair is not blue- it was weird lighting. And that's Robyn as Cher. I think this was about 2004.

Steph and Matt won the costume contest. We made different movie backdrops for photos of everyone.

I love that mom got into it and dressed up this year.

Carol did well with Lt. how-ever-you-spell-her-name from the original Star Trek.

Aw, cute Katie and Nicol.

Look at the cutie little girls. I can't believe how much they've changed. I think we still play volleyball with that Wilson ball.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Plan a Party

Hey if anyone is interested in a fun girly night, check out my sister's blog

http://balletsnob.blogspot.com/2008/10/glitter-toes-massage-parties.html

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.