Friday, March 30, 2012

Pregnancy Support Center

Thursday evening, I attended a lovely banquet for the Pregnancy Support Center
Their theme for the year is Equally Unique!


The speaker, Diane Hardee, had an incredible testimony. Her message was inspiring and funny. She has a book coming out soon, check out her website for more info.

Our hospitable table hosts!
All smiles after some delicious chocolate cake!!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Hunger Games (book and a little movie)


First: The Hunger Games ~ The Book
 
A little background: The setting is America but things have drastically changed.  The Capitol is placed in the center of 12 Districts.  Each of the Districts produces an item for The Capitol.  District 12, where Katniss lives with her mother and younger sister, produces coal.  The first few Districts are wealthier and better fed but as the number of the districts get greater the people become hungrier and poorer.  There is no communication or transportation between the districts unless it is Capitol business.  The Hunger Games are a yearly "festival" to prevent rebellion.  Each year a Reaping takes place, where a 12-18 year old male and female tribute from each District is picked at random to enter The Hunger Games.  All 24 tributes are placed in an arena and forced to survive or fight to the death.  The one remaining Victor becomes a District Hero showered in wealth and riches, a symbol of The Capitol's graciousness and generosity.  LOL!!  The 74th Hunger Games take a wild ride from the day of the Reaping until the final interview. 

Tid Bits I enjoyed from the book! 
  • As an older sister, I completely bought into Katniss' need to protect and care for Prim and then Rue.  (Not  that I've ever been in the position of complete caregiver for my siblings but I think it is a little instinctive.)
  • I love that Katniss is unexpected as a rival and real threat but her life back in District 12 has produced a desire and determination to survive no matter what.  
  • Who can resist a good love triangle
  • Self-Sacrifice
  • Paying Respect where it is due, in life and in death.
  • Unrequited love? Obligated love? Confused love? I'm not sure maybe all three.
  • Doing all you can for someone out of selfless love! (Katniss, Peeta, Cinna, maybe even Haymitch?)
  • Cleverness
Suzanne Collins writes with such understanding of human emotion, so much insight into pain, but also with so much emphasis on the healing power of good relationships.

Second: The Hunger Games ~ Motion Picture 

No huge spoiler alerts but 
you may want to postpone reading 
if you have yet to see the movie. 
Come back once you have to compare your thoughts!



I loved that it remained true to the story of the book.  It is easy to look at small details and be upset that they were left out because they added so much depth to characters and situations when reading the book, but I think it is easy to forget the movie has a time limit and a budget.  Unfortunately some things were left out that I really enjoyed in the book but for the most part the deal breakers were still included in the movie. 

One particular scene was added, which portrayed the reaction of a district when one of their tributes were killed as they stood idly by forced to watch.  I'm glad the director took the liberty to add this scene.  It was one of the most moving scenes of the film.  A father, a family, a community completely stripped of a loved one.  I'm sure even the districts who trained their children for the arena, had some twinge of rebellion when their sons and daughters were murdered for The Capitol.  



When Katniss and Peeta are introduced to The Capitol, the outfits they are wearing seem only possible in the imagination and obviously they were because Hollywood couldn't pull off the wonder my mind had conceived.  However, Katniss' interview dress completely makes up for it.  Cinna the costume artist, played by Lenny Kravits, always dresses Katniss in fire themed outfits.  The dress is amazing!!

Cinna and Katniss before she enters the arena.
just a sneak peak...


A few themes dulled by the movie: 
  • Katniss played the romance for the audience.
  • Katniss hated to owe people, to feel like she was in their debt.
  • The conditions in the arena are much worse.  They are desperate from thirst, hunger, and the elements.
  • Girl on Fire! 
As you can see, the close alignment
 out weighs the tiny differences! 
Great film! Awesome Book! Amazing Trilogy!


Monday, March 26, 2012

Celtics Vs. Bobcats

For Christmas, Chase bought us tickets to see the Boston Celtics play the Charlotte Bobcats! 

Tip Off! I'm fairly certain other teams don't try to win the tip off against giraffe man Garnett!
Chase also got me a Ray Allen shirt...
unfortunately #20 injured his ankle 
and couldn't play tonight. 
Super bummed about that!
(Ray Allen if you're reading this, and I assume you are:
Get Well Soon!)

 I would have loved to see the chemistry of Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo 
with Allen keeping them calm and steady but maybe that will be another day. 

Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo...playing hard!!
We had a blast...enjoying the city, cheering the Celts to victory, and laughing at the kids on the big screen!
LOL! Those dancing children get me every time!!


Chase if you're reading this, and all jokes aside,
I do assume you are: 
Thanks for a great Christmas Present!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Hunger Games Premier Pics

AWE-mazing girls I watched The Hunger Games with!!
Creative Shirts!!
A Real Life Katniss Everdeen!

Representing Effie Trinket in ALL PINK!
Waiting in line...we were so excited!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

What a Wonderful Wednesday!

I love that I can say two words to Chase 
and he knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Tim Tebow Reference
This just goes to show that marriage is a compromise 
because up until two years ago I had never heard of the Jets!


BTW 
I'm attending my first ever midnight premier tomorrow. 
Hunger Games here I come!!
I read the trilogy last spring,
 I look forward to sharing a Les Lit 
mixed with a movie review of the first book.


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Eye Sea

A few weeks ago I heard that people with brown eyes should stick with blue and purple eye shadow in order for their eyes to stand out.
I learned the least complimentary colors are brown, tan, and pink which used to be my go to colors.
I've been on a journey to pick out new colors and learn new ways to apply my eye make up.

Here's a blue color scheme I found.  Crystal Waters by Cover Girl


Blue is definitely risky. I mean, I didn't want to end up looking like this:


I wanted my eyes to pop so I decided to try the bold blues. 
The colors have an ocean beach feel to them.  
I used the two shades in the middle. 
I applied the lighter color up to my brow bone and the 
brighter color on the left, I put on my eye lid making it darker on the outside corner.   

Now, eye sea what blue eyeshadow can do for brown eyes.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Leap Blog with H.

Photobucket
Hi Everyone!
My name is H. & I blog over at Sew Dysfunctional.
My husband's name is D. & we have two large puppies named Sky & Tank,
Together, we make up the Hopewells.
My little blog is filled with lots of  DIY projects and fun, everyday happenings that I like to call adventures.

I know Leslie from back in college, we actually started playing volleyball together and from there we became instant best friends! The things I love about Les is that she is such an incredible person. She has been there for me through the good and bad, the ugly and the pretty, the thick and the thin. Les is the very essence of loyalty and friendship and I honestly can say I do not know what I would do without her in my life. She's just simply wonderful!

This post was originally designed to talk about one of my favorite memories of Leslie; but when it comes down to it, I just can't pick one. Instead, I would like to share a few of the ones I actually have photos to prove particular events.
1st on the list would be the night we all slept over at my friend Richelle's and stayed up way too late and got up way too early. On top of that early morning exertion, we decided trampoline jumping was a good idea and taking photos of random trampoline jumping was an even better idea:
My next favorite member is the night we all went out to watch the boy's basketball team play at OUL and we snuck in to the art room and took pictures of the extra large bricks we found in the room (I would share why the bricks especially entertained us, but I'm afraid you just wouldn't understand)
My next favorite memory would be the time we all decided to go on a picnic but forgot everything important: eating utensils, condiments, and other necessary picnic supplies. It was so funny to me because it was so like us to forget everything, but also like us, it really didn't matter because it was time we got to spend together. (read more about it here)

Another memory I love about Leslie is that she always went along with our crazy ideas and antics and may or may not have created some of these chaotic adventures herself. The beauty of friendship is that one person never care how silly you look or act because that one person is typically doing all those crazy, silly things right along with you:
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
When it comes down to it,
Community has always been such a huge part of my life. When I think about community, I think about Leslie and the 3 other special ladies who make up our little group.
Leslie helped make college some of the best years of my life and has been one of the biggest impacts that has made me into the person that I am today. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I had never met Leslie, then I stop thinking about it because I know I probably wouldn't be in a good place.
She's never judged me or ridiculed me; Les is just a person filled with so much grace and love.
 She's been there for every milestone that I've celebrated and I've loved being a part of her own milestones.  I know no matter what happens now or in the future, she will always be there for me when I need her. (that even includes a little move to a place we call NC)
Basically, she's a friend to the core and I am one lucky little lady to have her in my life. 

Thank you Leslie for being the beautiful person you are and filling my life with so many wonderful memories!




Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

For Christmas, Chase bought me a book by Mindy Kaling. She writes for The Office as well as plays the role of Kelly Kapoor.
I love when Kelly has lines on the show, she plays more of a background character, but she is hilarious. She always has something ridiculous to say about a relationship, a new fad, or the latest diet.
If you have ever experienced being a girl...this book will crack you up.
If you have ever lived life with a girl... this book will confirm that yes we all have our silly tendencies.
If you have ever shook your head at a girl... this book will give you more reasons to tweet SMH.

Some of my fav topics of the book:
Growing apart from friends as time and interests change. Moving from middle to high school and then to college naturally separates friendships which is a sad but healthy transition.

Her parents were very busy and successful professionals but they never complained or mentioned stress they just did what they had to do with a positive attitude. Reading this I thought about all the times I've been asked how I am and my reply is "tired" or "busy" we've all said it before. How refreshing would it be to leave that negativity behind? To leave out the stress...everyone has it so why dwell on it?

I could relate to the issues she addressed while rolling on the floor laughing. Great Book!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 Bloglovin
 is a site that makes it easy 
to keep up with
 and follow your fav blogs!
 It's even an app!!



Speaking of FAV blogs...
On Thursday, two of my friends
from college and I,
will be blog swapping
or "leap blogging"
(in honor of leap year)
LOL!!!

Check Out
Not The Girl I Used To Be!
and
Sew Dysfunctional

Monday, March 12, 2012

Happy Hunting

With interest rates in the housing market being so low, Chase and I decided to start looking at houses in the area.  We met with a realtor today to fill out some paperwork to make an offer on a house.  What a crazy ride!! Within an hour we got two calls from her which pretty much left us rethinking this whole thing. 

I've been given advice from others not far removed from this process that if you like a house enough you shouldn't give up because even though you have to jump through some hoops it will be worth it in the end.  I'm sure being in a house is definitely worth it.  A place to call our own, to decorate, to relax on the porch, to have a yard, to invite more than two people over without feeling like you're in an elevator.  All of these things sound nice and this particular house looks like a good starter home.  Don't get me wrong, it's not our dream home.  The sinks are shaped like sea shells...and if you've ever been to our apartment you know why I hate sea shells.

Who knows where this will end up? We aren't in any rush so we feel confident we won't get ourselves in any kind of bind.  It's exciting to think of the possibilities but if we are still at the apartment for a while it won't be the end of the world.  Summer's coming quick and we have a pool here!!

If you are in this boat too, Happy Hunting!!



kitchen wall paper = the reason I hate sea shells


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Groom'd

Willow likes to go to PetSmart because of all the attention, other animals to sniff, and usually a toy at the end of the visit. Today our visit was a little different, Willow experienced her first grooming. She started out going somewhere she loves only to be blindsided by a bath and nail clipping...not her favs. I decided that grooming at PetSmart is Punk'd for dogs.

Willow. Got. GROOM'D...but isn't she cute!!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Prayer Lock In 2012

Filled with energy, on our way to the church for the all nighter!!
Tara, Kari, and I rockin' Xalt apparel!









Feeling tired but good after a fun night of Nerf wars, Just Dance, a concert, good talks, the Prayer Walk, and IHOP!

Holy Fog

When the priests left the Holy Place, a cloud filled The Temple of God. The priests couldn't carry out their priestly duties because of the cloud-the glory of God filled The Temple of God!...People are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonder-working power, who come to pray at this Temple. (1 Kings 8:10, 11, 42 MSG)

It took Solomon seven years to build a permanent dwelling place for God. When they completely had the Temple moved in, a cloud of God's spirit appeared and the priests couldn't even do their work.
Can you imagine getting moved in to a new office and then not being able to start working?
I'm sure the priests were upset at least a little. God postponed their plans and showed them what they needed to be focusing on.
I'm picturing how amazing it would be to have a cloud of God's glory at Trinity and Xalt. WOW!!
If we did, it says people will be attracted to our church because of God's awesome reputation and wonder-working power.
That's the kind of faith I want to have, a faith that shows how great God's character is and that shows off His power so Everyone is left in wonder of Him.


Saturday, March 3, 2012

Movies @ Cheslie's

Our celebrity couple name would be Cheslie so events at our house are dubbed with that name.
Up to date our youth group has been primarily boy lead but last night for the first time in Xalt history more high school girls were at an event. I worked hard on Wednesday to make this happen...I made sure every girl had a personal invite. Call it my competitive side but we needed more girls to start having fun together too. The girls did not let me down, we had a blast.

Tonight, middle schoolers will fill our couches with a little more energy and randomness. Both will be fun in their own unique way.

Movies @ Cheslie's Movie Line Up

High School                          

Middle School                 
I've never seen Soul Surfer before but The Proposal absolutely cracks me up. I'll let you know about the former.


Lol!! Craig T. Nelson was in both movies. He played Ryan Reynolds dad in The Proposal and the surgeon in Soul Surfer.