Holiday

So as is the case with much of the world right now, the past couple of weeks have been jam packed with stuff to do! Here is a run down of what I have been up to:

+ Randi was gracious enough to host a holiday pot luck for us all on the 19th. I had worked all day and had to get back to work the next so I made a semi-early exit, but i had a ton of fun! Lots of people were there and her apartment turned Mary Poppins-esque fitting all of those people. I took bruschetta and crustinos. Oh and Yuengling.

+ Saturday the 20th was Ali's 22nd birthday! I worked all day (and boy was it crowded!) and then met up with her, Nathaniel, and Amira at P.F. Changs. What an awesome birthday dinner! Ali got scallops and shared (*love*) and we also had Tsaoting! (sp?) Our waiter was a hit, too, as he entertained us every time he came by.

+ Post dinner we headed to Hard Times for the drinking portion of the evening. You know when you get the perfect number of people together? Well, we did that. We pushed two tables together, got Ali in the middle and ordered. It was a lot of fun and I think she had a great time. We stalked the jukebox to request the first 13 songs as soon as the football game was over. Happy Birthday, Ali!!!!!

+ Christmas Eve I worked and then we all decided to head over for a drink after work. We ended up having a ton of fun and it was a slightly random group. I, as is expected, got way too tired so put off driving by watching Beautiful Girls with a friend and rang in* Christmas at midnight by dozing off after saying "Merry Christmas."

+ Do not fret, though, it was early and I got home before Santa came. Christmas was a lot of fun! For the first time in forever Ali and I stayed home the entire day. My parents went to visit the grandparents and Ali and I watched Burn After Reading and then way too many episodes of 17 Kids And Counting-those MFers are crazy and it's not for having that many kids.

+ Santa was kind to me, as always, and I was excited about the gifts I gave, too. My mom has been like a 10 year old with the iPod shuffle I gave her and I warned my dad I might steal the Chris Cooley pennant I gave him.

+ In other news, I'm watching a friends cat, which yes, should strike you as weird since I hate cats. Luckily, it's on my way to work and the cat likes to hide.

+ I finally saw Casino Royale last night and I really liked it. I never knew it had actual spy stuff in it. However, I can no longer say I've never seen a Bond movie.


XO,
SVR


*Can you ring in Christmas??

Rock 'N' Roll High School

So as I mentioned yesterday, I had no 10 year high school reunion. I graduated in the spring of 1998 so you would think that this traditional get together would happen in the fall of the 10th year, right? It could probably also be planned for the spring of the 10th year or even the fall of the 9th year since that would have been when we began our final year of high school.

But with only 13 days of the 10th year left, I think I can safely say that my graduation class will not be having a 10 Year Reunion.

How do you feel about an 11 Year Reunion?

Now, to be far to the non-planners of this event I had never considered going to my reunion unless it was held somewhere cool or didn't interfere with other plans I had. Do I want to see people I never talk to? Ehhh...it would be fun(ny) to see some. Do I want to go to an entire night of small talk? "I invented post it notes." Oh hellll no. If I don't talk to the majority of these people anymore, why would I care where they work now and how many kids they have? However, had the evening not messed up something more fun and my sister was willing to go and drink a lot with me, I was so going to go.

I also never volunteered to help plan the event so can I still think it's crazy it's not happening? Well, yes. Partly because if I had planned it, I would have just told everyone to go to a bar at the same time and partly because the SCA of the graduating class traditionally plans the event and I was so not a part of that in 1998.

So why and how was the ball dropped? I've heard some rumors, but I honestly have no idea. Do I care? Yes and no. I'm not exactly heartbroken about not seeing people I was friends with 10 years ago, but I am a fan of tradition and this one seems to have been left back in 1998 with our still new Friends episodes and fear of Y2K.


XO,
SVR

I Want You

I was going to blog about how no one ever planned my high school 10 year reunion and there are only a handful of days left in the year, but I can't think about that right now. All I can think about is the amazing drink I had at work today:

water and lemon


See, I quite often get large waters while working because it is important to stay hydrated and I love me some water. Today, though, I saw some mystery packets of something or other when I went to grab a straw and saw that they were lemon juice! I love lemons. I LOVE lemons in water! So I grabbed a pack and, after asking John if he thought it was a bad idea*, I dumped it into my cup.

O.M.G.

It was uber refreshing. So refreshing that I got another one a few hours later. I even had Ali try it and she agreed it was pretty good. It was so good I want one right now. It was sooooo goooooood that I am blogging about it.

Lemon and Water. It's going to catch on!

Xo,
SVR



*he did not

I Am The Killer

Who watched Dexter!?

Be Somebody

Yesterday, towards the beginning of my day at work, I encountered somebody who was being extremely pessimistic. Later in the day, while on a break, I was around a few people who were being loud and obnoxious. They were speaking just to seemingly hear their own voices.

I realized that I do not want to be like these people (and am not).

There are many things I complain about (hot weather, green peppers in food, Ugly Betty, people who talk too slowly, etc.), but there are a bazillion more cases where I take the optimistic route. People who complain about everything are a good reminder to not be like that.

There are also times when I am loud. I talk a lot more than I used to, but I still keep it quick and (sort of) relevant. I take a cue from the people who irritate the hell out of me to not bore others while I'm talking. You know, don't speak and just wait for your turn. Don't tell boring stories*. Don't be super loud around other people unless you are in a setting where it is appropriate (i.e. earthquake, rock concert**, large party).

So, in conclusion***, I am keeping these annoying characteristics in mind so I do not fall into their traps. In addition to the ways I try to be (patient, deliberate, fun, respectful, classy, polite, etc.), I will also try not to be pessimistic, loud, and obnoxious****.


XO,
SVR



*Hahaha, I tell terrible stories...so I often just do not.
**Although, don't talk during the songs. WTF is wrong with you people? I came to hear the band!
***I loved it in school when teachers would sigh and say, "And please don't start your conclusion part of your paper with "So in conclusion..." hahhahha!
****Honestly, though, it shouldn't be difficult:)

Under The Moonlight

As promised, here is my New Moon playlist:

1. Apocalypse Please- Muse
2. Pain- Jimmy Eat World
3. The World Has Turned And Left Me Here- Weezer
4. Take It Easy (Love Nothing)- Bright Eyes
5. Blue Side- Rooney
6. Fix You- Coldplay
7. Someone's In The Wolf- Queens Of The Stone Age
8. Vampire/Forest Fire- The Arcade Fire
9. Hyper Music- Muse
10. Honey And The Moon- Joseph Arthur
11. Under The Moonlight- Travis
12. The Scientist- Coldplay
13. DOA- Foo Fighters
14. Black Tangled Heart- Silverchair
15. Sing For Absolution- Muse

XO,
SVR

We Suck Young Blood (Your Time Is Up)

In addition to my mom inquiring about Twilight the other day, I have now gotten her into True Blood, as well. Last night I let her know a mini marathon was on and today she told me how much she enjoyed it. We both love how Bill says Sookie's name and thinks he's a vampire dream boat.


So over the summer, when Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer came out, I volunteered to make some mix CDs for the Barnes & Noble midnight release party. I went a little overboard and ended up making six mixes. One for each book and two extra, just because. If you would like a copy of the following, let me know! And I'll post the other playlists later.

Twilight:

1. Why does it always rain on me?- Travis
2. Charlie- Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. And it rained all night- Thom Yorke
4. In my place- Coldplay
5. Blood- Sons & Daughters
6. The blood is love- Queens Of The Stone Age
7. Rain Ammunition- Pavement
8. What is your secret?- Nada Surf*
9. Raindrops + Sunshowers- Smashing Pumpkins
10. A forest- The Cure
11. Precipitate- Interpol
12. Time is running out- Muse
13. Stand inside your love- Smashing Pumpkins
14. Twilight- Elliott Smith


*Anyone wanna go to the show on Friday? I got my ticket forever ago, but my peep can't go.

Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...

I am sucked in, for lack of a better term, to the mini True Blood marathon on HBO. So while I watched these vampires, let me write about some others.

Like I said the other day, Ali and I saw Twilight on Thanksgiving. I had read all four books about halfway through the hysteria. I finished the 3rd one just as Breaking Dawn came out so I wasn't as invested as the people writing "Bite Me, Edward" on them at the release parties, but I was more into it than the average Joe who had yet to pick any of them up. I'm a fan of a good story. If remembering that the books are for teens and written to also promote abstinence, then they're pretty good. So while I don't consider the books fine literature, I think they're very entertaining and I guess I could say that about the film version as well.

First off...the casting.

+Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen is perfect. He's hott. And brooding. And did I mention hott? I am so glad the film version of Edward did not constantly "wrap his arms around Bella's waist" as he seemed to constantly do in the books. I think I like film Edward way more than book Edward.

+Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan. She's described as being kind of dumpy in the books (yet beautiful...mostly just dumpy clothes) so I was pleasantly surprised that she did not go around wearing khakis and blue silk shirts in the movie. My only negative is her way of acting flustered...it looked a little like Tourette's. Otherwise, she was as I imagined, yet they left out a lot of her clumsiness in the movie.

+Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black. Ali really liked him. I heard some people say he wasn't cute enough, but I wouldn't say that. And apparently he is not as tall as described in the books, but I thought he was well cast. He definitely looked younger than her and is supposed to start getting a lot bigger soon, so that should be interesting.

+Gil Birmingham as Billy Black was dead on how I imagined him. Perfect.

+Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen. He is married to Jennie Garth. He looked so young, but otherwise, he was great. So was Esme. She was as I imagined her.

+Alice was good, except I didn't know she had short, choppy black hair until book 4, I think. Jasper made me laugh every time he came on screen because he looked like the younger brother of Edward Scissorhands.

+Rosalie and Emmett were fine, too. I loved the scene, *THUMP* "Oh, it's just Emmett."

+Charlie was awesome. I had pictured him as older and with grey hair for some reason, but I think that is because my dad has gray hair. I always love the dad in a movie.

So enough about casting. I thought it was a good adaptation. Not much seemed to be left out (unless I forgot A LOT of the book, which is possible). Ali and I have been reenacting the car scene all week: "Your hands are ice cold!" "Put on your seat belt!" I was curious before seeing it if it would come across as believable and I'm not talking about the vampires. Would it come across as real that Bella and Edward love each other or would they just seem like stupid teenagers? The progression from meeting to loving was quick, but believable, in my opinion. It was also a quick progression in the movie from Bella wondering what makes Edward different and hearing the Quileute story and piecing everything together that he is a vampire. "How old are you?" "17" "How long have you been 17?" "Awhile."

Twilight is one of those "go to" movies. When you want to sit down and be entertained for a couple of hours, but don't want to invest in something too deep. It's like when I pick Cruel Intentions over Babel for a movie to put on.

Oh, and my favorite thing about the movie? It ending with a Radiohead song. <3!


Has anyone else seen it? Thoughts?


XO,
SVR