The Lovely Bones

I just got home from seeing one of the BEST movies I've seen in my 31 years--The Lovely Bones. Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame made a beautiful, stunning should-be-an-epic film. I won't give anything away, but if you are a fan of moving storylines and gripping climaxes, this is a movie for you. I knew I would like it before I ever watched the movie because I read the book back a few years ago before it became popular, and it hit a nerve with me. I don't know if it's because of my sister's death from so many moons ago, but I recognized myself in this story. The Lovely Bones was such a mesmorizing book I didn't want it to end. Skirting the border between human reality and the imagined wonders of heaven, I felt I had been introduced to a world both tangible yet so far away all the same.

What do you think?

2010 already?

This time last year I made a resolution to be happier...happier with my health, my weight, my love life, etc. I just didn't know how much happier I'd be New Year's Eve 2010 than I was for 2009. Heath-wise, I *think* I'm in pretty good shape--no major battles to report. Weight? Well, I'm down 40 pounds from where I was a year ago, except I've eaten like a bear going into hibernation over the past two weeks. I'm back on my regiment of smaller portions, healthier eating, and working out 3 days a week starting on Monday. You know you can't start anything diet-related on any other day, right? :) And my love life?  Let's just say I'm in a great place with Joon, and I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for the both of us together.

New Year's Eve took all of us--Joon, his sister, Ji-Yoon, and me--to a cool Chinese restaurant in Westport called New Peking. The food was unbelieveably good with the portions out of control. For the three of us, our table looked like a mini buffet. The best part was getting up late this morning and finishing off the leftovers.

After dinner, the three of us went to Argosy Casino to test our our luck for the new year. Who knew SO many people would have the same idea? It was crazy busy--"investors" spending money left and right. I was pleasantly surprised to have only lost $5.00 in the four hours we spent playing the slots. Not bad...it could have been worse. At the countdown to midnight, we toasted each other with our champagne and welcomed in 2010 with open arms.

In the same fashion as last year (I figured it worked for me then, it can do it again!), here are some of my thoughts about the upcoming year. I'm not calling them resolutions because those always get broken.

*Continue on my track to get healthy. I'd like to be down 20 pounds by my birthday and another 20 pounds by the end of summer. I will officially be in my ideal weight range if I can succeed with both of those.

*Continue working out 3x a week. This seems to be the easiest of the two because I've sort of actually learned to enjoy going to the gym. YIKES!

*Keep my house clean. I've always been one to be organized, but when it comes to dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc., not so much. Soze doesn't help matters since she loses about a pound of hair a day, but I'm determined to keep on top of the dirt this year.

*Learn to cook for myself. I don't cook at home hardly ever. For me, it's so much easier to stop through at Subway or Long John Silver's or Taco Bell or any other fast food place than it is to whip up a meal for one. However, in order to save money, eat healthier, and show Joon that I can actually make something NOT out of a box, I have to learn to refine my skills in the kitchen. Does anyone know of any good, simple, healthy recipes? Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals is my kind of cooking, but even her food tends to require ingredients I normally don't have in my house.

*Finally, become free of credit card debt and save up for a new car. My little Focus is turning 10 years old this year, and it's time to say goodbye. While I'm not sure what kind of car I'll actually get, the new Kia Soul looks SOOO cute!!

Monday means work again, but I'm not dreading this next semester. Nicole, my student teacher, begins on Monday, and will be with me pretty much until she graduates in May. Yea me! I'm looking forward to getting some much-needed organization done in my room at school while she's teaching, plus taking the opportunity to actually impart knowledge on someone new. Look out world!

Christmas time is here...and gone again

I can't believe Christmas is already over. Like most, the season seemed to rush by in the midst of work, giving finals, grading, buying gifts, decorating the house, etc. At least I can say that I truly enjoyed myself this Christmas holiday and had so much to look forward to. (I know...improper English, but this is my blog...:)) For the first time, I decorated my table with my new-from-last-Christmas tableware. I love the look of white! I didn't want any red/green, which is incredibly difficult NOT to find, since my kitchen in red/white/black.This is also the second year I put up the smaller tree in the dining room. I love this tree! It totally reminds me of something my good friend Hayley would do. What do you think Hayley? :)

Of course, my "real" tree in the living room is full of anything and everything Disney. I'm afraid I scared Joon just a bit with my Christmas-y decor since neither he or his family have celebrated Christmas since they were kids. (I asked him about that, and he didn't really have an answer. They just don't make a big deal about it. Christmas is just another day to them. Well, I have news for him...) He did have fun putting together my new tree. He spent almost 3 hours (HOURS!) getting the tree out of the box and arranging each limb so it would look perfect. He said this tree business was an art form, and he wanted to get it right. Apparently, I've been just slapping my tree together for years now.

Before school let out for break, the teachers met at Diamond Bowl, a little funky modern bowling alley in downtown Independence for the annual Christmas party. Guess what? I WON a basket!! Each house donated items to be gathered for 5 or 6 different baskets, and if you wanted a chance to win one of the baskets, you bought tickets. (The money goes to our Benevolence Fund at school, which helps our homeless and needy kids.) I put in $20, and I WON! This is the basket--I figured there was about $150 worth of stuff. Not too shabby!

Let's see...2 bags of Twizzlers, 4 soup bowls, 1 soup mix, 1 brownie mix, 1 cupcake mix, 1 large tin of hot chocolate plus the cutest little whisk, a cookbook that will never get used, an Andrea Bocelli Christmas CD, 4 free movie tickets (I only can find 2 now for some reason.), 4 handmade coasters, 2 nice reed diffusers, the Apples to Apples game, 2 bottles of wine (1 white, 1 red), a giant bottle of Begium beer, and a gift set of Irish creme/2 small glasses. I made the soup last night, and it was delicious!

Joon and I had our Christmas the weekend before and exchanged gifts because he couldn't wait until Christmas. I think someone's Grinch-y heart is growing...

He gave me a 320 GB external hard drive for my laptop. I had asked for this b/c I don't want to use my laptop's drive for all my music and pictures. He also gave me a pair of gloves and a very nice dress coat. He received some cologne, the new Call of Duty game, and an electric razor. He really likes the game--he's playing it right now!

Soze loves her new much-needed big dog bed. It actually matches the rest of the living room decor and is so soft! Maybe now she won't spend so much time on the couch, but I wouldn't bet on it. She enjoys laying next to me too much!

Joon drove down with me on Wednesday to surprise my mother at her retirement party (another blog another day), so he was able to finally meet my family. They all loved him, as I knew they would. On the very first day at my mom's house, Joon came across this picture of me hanging on her wall, and he fell in love! He thought I was just the cutest little thing at 3-years-old, and I couldn't disagree.

Grandma spoiled her granddog, and Soze literally eats it all up...

One surprise that I had in store for Mom was a shadowbox of her baby clothes. After my grandmother passed away in February, Mom found several of her baby dresses. She knew she wanted to keep them, but she wasn't sure how to display or preserve them. I think I surprised her with this one!

My brother Cliff and his son Adam...it seems like just a few years ago that I found Adam sitting in his crib, diaperless, with poop smeared all over himself and flung on all the furniture in the room. Remember that one Mom?

One present that I actually asked for...don't laugh...was a Snuggie. My house gets cold, and I refuse to turn up the heat anymore than I absolutely have to. A Snuggie could be my solution! So here we are, my sister-in-law, Terri and me--Snuggie Sisters! :)

I know that even though I have such a good time with my family since I only see them all once a year, the time comes to say goodbye and come back home. This is what Joon and I returned home to--about 8 inches of snow! We couldn't even get in the driveway, and I didn't have a shovel! Joon borrowed one from my neighbor to get started, and I drove to both Home Depot and Sears in search of a much-needed snow shovel. Sears came to the rescue, and when I got back to the house, Joon was in shovel mode.

It has snowed about 2 more inches since this, but at least the main roads seem pretty clear. Joon and I were supposed to visit my stepfamily down in Memphis, but with the snow and ice, and even Memphis's bad weather, we decided to stay in and go sometime either this spring or summer. I can't wait for them to meet him, and I know they will love him just as much as the rest of my family does.

I've been working on catching up on my scrapbooks the past 2-3 days, and I hope to have some pics up on another post. Instead of being 2 years behind, now I'm only 7 months behind!

Thanks to Mom

Mom and I spent some quality Mother-Daughter time over Thanksgiving. I drove down to Springfield to visit, eat, shop, and go to a Branson show. Ryan's buffet fed us a home cooked meal (at least it tasted like it!), and we both enjoyed out time there because 1) we didn't have to cook a giant Thanksgiving dinner just for the two of us, and 2) we didn't have to clean up after ourselves! We also treated ourselves to a movie, but for the life of me, I can't think of what we saw now.

Of course, Black Friday meant SHOPPING! I am NOT one of those people who venture out early anymore after standing in line for 3 hours to buy a $20 DVD player a few years back. Who wants that? So now I just get up and go out on my own when I feel like it. This year it didn't seem like the crowds were too bad. Most of my shopping was done that day, and then I met up with Mom after she got off work that afternoon. We went back out for more shopping and finally finished up around 9 pm. Needless to say, that was one LONG day!!

Saturday meant lounging around the house and then heading for Branson later in the afternoon. Mom had bought us tickets (FRONT ROW...) to see the Baldknobbers Country Jamboree. I used to LOVE this show when I was a little girl. Now? Not as much...After seeing so many Broadway shows, this was just a small letdown. I mean, the singers could sing, the comedians were funny, but it just wasn't the same show from when I was a kid. Next year, I think we will go back to our favorite show in Branson--Pierce Arrow.

Back to Halloween

Since I hadn't blogged about Halloween yet, I thought I'd go back and put in a little blurb before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Joon and I met some friends at Ernie Bigg's Piano Bar, my favorite spot downtown. They were celebrating their two year anniversary with a big party and costume contest. Joon and I didn't win (we didn't enter, so I guess that takes us out of the equation), but we had so much fun just the same. I'll let you figure out which ones we are. :)

Thinking of summer

Since it is really, really cold outside (try 17 degrees or so...), I thought I would look through some summer pictures and reminice about the good ol' warm days. Joon and I had a summer pool party to bring both sides of our friends together. This was my first chance to meet his good friends, and I love them all! They are so genuine and seemed thrilled to meet Joon's "better half".

Sarah, Jill, me, and Kelly take some time to relax and enjoy our time off from school. Of course, I'm sure all we talked about was school during our time together (as always!).

I finally broke down and had to buy a new lawnmower this summer as well. The old one was really old, and I was done restarting it every five minutes. Joon helped me pick out my new shiny red one (see how technical I can get?). I love it!

Joon also helped me start my own little garden of tomatoes. I've never grown anything in my life, except maybe a Chia pet when I was in the 6th grade. Much to my surprise, the tomatoes grew! I had plenty of cherry tomatoes for my salads all summer, plus a few regular tomatoes for my world famous BLTs!

Zac Brown Band's Southern Ground Tour

My good friend, Lindsay, from school, invited me to go see Zac Brown Band perform at the new Independence Events Center (this was the first event I believe at this new arena). Knowing that I’ve past up too many concerts before, I immediately said yes! So, two weeks ago, we met up after school with her daughter and five of her middle school buddies.
Needless to say, the concert was fantastic! I was very surprised that I even enjoyed as much as I did, even after standing all night on the floor! I knew I liked what little ZBB songs I’d heard on the radio, but I loved every song they performed, even the ones I’d never heard in my life (and there were plenty!)
(Levi Lowry above)
Because this was the Southern Ground Tour, ZBB had three other performers with them. Levi Lowry came out first and sang a few songs. I immediately became drawn to his sound because it felt so raw and full of emotion. The crowd seemed to really like him more than the other two openers because of his music. Now the third guy that came out, the crowd liked for a different reason—he was HOT! Nic Cowan looked nothing like a country singer, but he hails from Texas and has that southern drawl. He was making the women drool. No wonder the floor was wet and sticky by the end of the show. :) The only woman on tour, Sonja Leigh, sang in between the two guys. She had a rocker-grittiness to her voice, but she could sing. I liked her, but she was my least favorite among the opening acts. One part that I thought was cool was that Zac Brown (I did learn there is an actual Zac Brown in the Zac Brown Band!) himself came out and sang at times with each opener. Most “big name” singers don’t do that, but he seemed very down to earth and normal. He was just a country rocker with a guitar and a song, and he wanted to share his music with others.

One sour note of the evening was that there was a group of girls (I hate to use the term ladies or women because they certainly weren’t acting like any.) directly in front of us who were SOOOO drunk they could not stand up on their own. Two women danced with each other during most of the opening acts. One of them kept swaying and bumping into me. I’m not a confrontational person, but I’d had it at that point. I politely asked them to move up just a bit into some empty space in front of them. She ignored me, and the girl next to me jumped in and asked again. She still ignored me. Finally, I elbowed her in the back and pushed her forward. Both girls stumbled but didn’t say anything. Fast forward 15-20 minutes and ZBB is getting ready to come out. One girl looks like she is going to puke, one is holding her up, etc. Lindsay said something to the “leader” of the group, and 5 minutes later, they all left! The “leader” was pissed off at us, but we just said it was because of her group no one wanted to be around. Once they all left, we all enjoyed the show just a little bit more…
Zac Brown came out and rocked the crowd. The band performed for almost 3 hours! That is unheard of in the concert world I think. Most groups usually sing for MAYBE 1 ½ hours at the most?? ZBB did it from about 8:20 or so until almost 11:30! We definitely got our money’s worth of entertainment! They played everything from Bob Marley to America the Beautiful and country in between. Of course, “Chicken Fried” and “Toes” were two of the biggest hits with the crowd, and we all sang along to “Whatever it is”, but we also went nuts for their rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, the same tune they performed at the CMA’s just last week! Other songs I enjoyed were “Sic ‘em on a Chicken”, “Jolene”, and “Highway 20 Ride, but my new favorite song of ZBB is “Free”. It’s a beautiful country ballad about being free and going in whatever direction your life takes you. This song just really hit home for me after the turmoil of the past year.

After this show, I will definitely follow ZBB music. I’ve already downloaded their album, and I can’t wait to hear the next one! I just added 5 or 6 of ZBB songs to my playlist, so if you want to listen to a specific song, just scroll to the bottom and look at the end of the playlist. :)