Blue People and Grammys

I went to check out "Avatar" today...and actually sat down and immediately wrote out my review for The REEL Box Office, as I know if I don't do it now, it wouldn't get done. Anyway, you can check it out here:
Avatar Review.

It was interesting. I don't think I would go see it again in the theater, but I did enjoy it. And the visuals are so absolutely freakin' amazing! James Cameron's vision is pure genius. However, I gotta say there are some stupid people out there. The movie was in 3-D so we had on those lovely glasses. I think MOST people realize that when they have on those glasses that your perception is a bit distorted because of how you are seeing the movie, right? Well the lady about 4 rows behind me obviously didn't. She didn't take the glasses off when, about 15 minutes in to the movie, she got up to leave the theater for whatever reason. She toppled down the stairs. The movie had to be stopped for a few minutes so the could bring a wheelchair in, as she luckily only thought she had a sprained ankle. Then the manager had to remind people that you needed to take the 3-D glasses off before attempting to walk while the movie was on. Duh!

I'm watching the Grammy's currently:
- Lady Gaga and Elton John amused me...the performance was...well...odd. But you really have to hand it to her - Gaga keeps them talking.

- Taylor Swift is just all sorts of annoying to me. As is Beyonce.

- P!nk...oh my, amazing!!!

- Keith Urban looks sexy as can be!

- Performance of the night, so far, is Black Eyed Peas! So much love for them!

(They are cruising through the awards and there is still supposed to be 2 1/2 hours left? I do not want to wait until 10:30, sheesh!)

- I don't get the Jonas Brothers. (Though I guess people said that about New Kids on the Block, huh?) But Lady Antebellum were awesome.

- Ringo. Aww! And they are playing "A little help from my friends" for him. I love them Beatles.

- Jamie Foxx & T-Pain did one of my fave songs from last year ("Blame it") but what made it even better was when my 80's rock loving heart just got a SLASH (!!!) sighting as he mixed "November Rain" (my fave GnR song)into the mix!

- I do admit to loving The Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried".

- Still don't care for Taylor Swift, but hey, it's Stevie Nicks!

- Michael Jackson tribute. And I have my 3-D glasses from Avatar but I heard they won't work. Whatever! Odd combination of people compiled to do the tribute. They harmonize well together and this is one of Michael Jackson's more beautiful songs. (And how funny seeing Beyonce jamming in the audience with those stupid glasses on.)

- Bon Jovi..."Living on a Prayer"...eeep!

- The poor ostrich that gave his life to Rhianna for her dress. =\

- Mary J. Blige & Andrea Bocelli doing "Bridge over troubled water" is really beautiful.

- Blah, blah, blah talking.

- Oh Dave Matthews, please don't dance again!! That was bad...

(I can't stay up to watch the rest of this...too tired. So I consulted You Tube to check out the Drake, Lil Wayne, and Eminem performance. Wow, really if you have to bleep out so much of a performance maybe you shouldn't have that act perform? That said, I admit to loving Eminem and I do like that Drake song...and liked the performance.)

I heard that Taylor Swift won the big enchilada at the end of the show...and I agree with most of my friends on Twitter -- that is a big ol' ball of WTF!

Have some Kool-Aid and a smile...

Since I don't drink soda anymore, I can't say have a coke and a smile.

I spent yesterday with Tina. Over the last 3-4 months I have had numerous people tell me that I need to try chicken & waffles and we have a local restaurant here that specializes in that very combo. Paula and I had made numerous plans and never made it...the one time we tried to go, we found out that for some odd reason they close at 7PM. So Tina and I decided it was time to take the trek over to Lolo's.


(picture is from their website)

The decor is cute, filled with pictures of the owners adorable little granddaughter "cooking" and an awesome rooster in the window. The staff was friendly and laid back. And the food...oh my! Delicious! I had a chicken breast (I'm not crazy about bone in chicken...or southern fried for the most part), a waffle, and some grits. The grits were fabulous and my favorite part of the meal. Oh and I had a great big mason jar full of red kool-aid. Loved it!!!

After a completely delicious lunch (and I was STUFFED), Tina and I took a little jaunt over to Target. Oh my beloved Target, how much do I love going there! I needed to pick up a new book. I had just finished "Nefertiti" by Michelle Moran. The book was absolutely fascinating to me and I couldn't wait to read the sequel to it, "The Heretic Queen". While wandering around, I found this absolutely adorable tea pot on clearance. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I knew there was no way that I wasn't going to own it. It is sitting on my book shelf at the moment.

After Target, we decided since it was right there that no trip to Scottsdale could be complete without a trip to Sprinkles for delicious cupcake-y goodness.



If you have never been to Sprinkles, and you have one near you, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!! Yesterday's selection was a strawberry and I think it is probably my fave of the fruit flavors so far.

Upon arriving back at Tina's house, Abby (her 8 year old) had returned from her night over at her Grandpa's house and came home complete with a gerbil. Chaos! I am not a big fan of rodents but I do think that gerbils are cute. I used to teach day care and in my 3 year old classroom, we had a gerbil named Skippy. My little kids could never say "gerbil" so they called it a "dribble" instead. Cute little guy.

Today I am doing the usual Sunday task of laundry and am finally going to take in a viewing of "Avatar" in a couple of hours.

Happy Happy!

Sometimes I think it just needs to be done. With that statement I give you A list of things that make Michelle happy:

* My sweet kitty's face when he sees me come home. He loves me, even if he tries to play it cool.
* The fact that I have a sense of humor.
* 3:45PM on Friday afternoons.
* The darling faces behind the voices that call me "Aunt Chelle".
* Yummy Chinese food.
* My familia
* California.
* A brand new box of crayons.
* Purple.
* Hello Kitty.
* Good cinema.
* "That" song.
* "The Big Bang Theory"
* Laughing with Angelina over "Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn".
* A good book.
* "24"
* "Star Wars" Trilogy and my love for Han Solo
* "Sex and the City" reruns.
* The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
* Disco music, esp ABBA, Bee Gees, and Andy Gibb
* Las Vegas memories.
* The amazing friends in my life that support me no matter what.
* My camera.
* Yurt...just say it, it is hilarious.
* "Friends"
* Still getting that giddy 14 year old girl feeling when I see Rick Springfield.
* Horses and horse racing
* Margaritaville
* "I'll make ya famous"
* "Grease" and "Grease 2" (Yes, I do love that second one!)
* "Phineas and Ferb" cartoons
* Barbie
* New Kids on the Block
* Inspiring people in my life.
* The lovely friends I have on Live Journal and Blogger.
* Twitter
* Facebook
* Some of the awesome people I went to high school with in Turkey.
* Those that just "get" the sarcasm.
* The TV shows I grew up on.
* "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. I love that song!
* Traveling.
* General Hospital
* Han Solo! (What!? He makes me happy. heh)
* puppy breath
* fresh flowers
* my Coach bag
* Bath and Body Works
* Disneyland
* Snowmen
* The smell of lemon dishwasher detergent, Mentholatum/Vick's Vapor Rub, and Pine Sol. (No one said my screws were all there.)
* Baby clothes...they are just so wee and cute!

What about your happiness list?

Defining Adventure

I chose “adventure” as my 2010 word and was recently giving it a bit of thought as I look at how I want to apply that word to my life. What exactly is considered an “adventure”? Traveling cross country via the back roads on a moped? Going on an archeological dig? Running with the bulls in Spain? Sure, those are adventures…and really I would love to have the adventure of that archeological dig but does a true adventure need to be on such a grand scale?

What about those simple moments when you are reading a book or watching a movie? That moment when your imagination takes hold and transports you into that scene and you feel emotionally what your mind is taking in. Adventure can be found in the colors of a painting, in the verse of a song, in the inspiration of others. An adventure can be a trek down the narrow path of the Grand Canyon on the back of a donkey or it could be when your heart opens up and lets a new person in. It doesn't have to be a physical experience because an emotional one can make your heart race with the same adrenaline.

While some may scoff, I have to say that one of my biggest blessings in life is the fact that I have a very active and vivid imagination. (My brother, Jeremy, does claim his is better, but I might argue the fact.) I love the fact that I can sit down with a book and lose myself in the pages, seeing the words come to life in my mind. I can lose myself in a movie and feel it. That, my friends, is just as much an adventure as if I were to actually be partaking in the action in the movie or book.

Helen Keller said:"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

When you wake in the morning you have a choice. You can go through your day feeling the same conviction that you go through every day or you can greet the morning with a vow that today you will see that adventure you had been turning a blind eye to. Sure it doesn't mean that you are going to suddenly buy a plane ticket and jet off to Seattle, Washington to attend the "Coming Home" DVD release party with New Kids on the Block (*whistles innocently*), but maybe you will take a different route to work and see something that you wouldn't normally see. It may be as simple as turning your face up to the sky and looking at the clouds rolling by and giving yourself a few extra minutes to have a silly day dream. But always remember the fact that the chance for adventure surrounds you every day, it just depends if you are going to let your mind accept it and embrace it.

(Disclaimer: No, I am not/did not go to Seattle. I thought about it...yeah, yeah...)

Weekend Update...

Let's see....

Got packages together that need to be mailed out! Yay! (Now I just need to go to the post office...boo!)

Bought and assembled a book shelf! It looks FABULOUS!

Worked on a budget. (Wish I could say that was fun...)

Watched "Obsessed" with Beyonce Knowles last night. It was kind of stupid, glad I didn't waste the money in the theater for that.

Watched the SAG awards. How darling did Drew Barrymore look?



Started reading "Nefertiti" by Michelle Moran. Fascinating!!

Made some lunch plans for next weekend.

Looked over some soup recipes for some culinary experimentation.

Did the usual Sunday "fun", ya know, the big "L" word. (laundry! eww!)

Played some Bejeweled Blitz.

Currently watching "13 going on 30" and about to do some de-clutter cleaning. Go Me!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

A little writers block...

One of my fave icons...
And right now, very true! I have many thoughts running in my head...I have a couple of half started posts that are not ready to see the light of day. I want to create something and it just isn't forming completely where it can be shown. Frustrating!

Instead I just amuse myself with this...
Instant Bazinga! Ala Sheldon Cooper

I'm singin' in the rain...

Just singin' in the rain...

I will need a canoe to get to work tomorrow if it doesn't chill out!

I ordered my Valentines Day stamps...I have my cards out...Woo hoo! How cute are these stamps:

My next job?

Assistant needed for Shreve with The Daily Coyote.

Ha-ha! I am not too sure I could handle living in a travel trailer in Wyoming. But I did read it with interest and yes, for a brief moment, toyed with the idea of applying.

I woke up this morning feeling lucky...

So I bought this:



100 Million Dollars is the Power Ball jackpot! And I not only feel lucky, but I think that my destiny is to be a lotto winner!! :)

(I also woke up with a cold plaguing me, but that isn't as interesting as the lotto.)

Holiday weekend is officially over...

In 15 minutes I am going to go crawl in my bed and tomorrow it is back to the daily grind of the j-o-b.

But I did get some things accomplished this weekend:

(+) I attended an 8 year old's birthday party on Saturday. Abby is getting so big. She is almost as tall as me! That little one is going to be a tall girl!

(+) I went to the movies.

(+) I read.

(+) I attempted to make cinnamon rolls stuffed with bacon, but that was a little bit of a mishap. Need to rethink it and try again as mixing them together was actually good.

(+) I lunched with the former boss and co-worker.

(=) Had Mike's b-day dinner tonight...and had a lively conversation with niece, Michaela, over hairballs as she was present for Tyson yacking one up. (So disgusting.)

(+) Enjoyed the Golden Globes.

(+) Worked some on finishing up my list of 101 goals for the projected February 1st start date.

(+) Fabulous Monday night TV: How I met your mother, 24, The Big Bang Theory, and Castle. Whoot!

What I did not accomplish:

(-) I didn't get a single nap in! (I had really looked forward to this.)

(-) I didn't get to sleep in today. =\

(-) The Cardinals took a whooping, courtesy of the New Orleans Saints.

(-) Did not get packages ready to mail out.

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

Random Facts about me...

The lovely Lesli at Pretty Random Thoughts wants to know 21 Random Facts. I am going to first link up my 10 Random Facts about me that I did in December and give you 11 more.

Ready? Here we go!

1. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I have never really had a set career plan other than to be rich. (Only I really like to spend money to much to be rich so I need to win the lotto.)

2. I tend to gravitate towards creative, quirky people. I find the every day same boring and too vanilla.

3. I have low tolerance for ignorance.

4. I tend to avoid talk of politics and religion. I respect your views, I hope you respect my views, but I don't think they need to be discussed as the differing opinions lead to resentment and arguing most of the time.

5. I hate horror movies, but will end up watching them when they air on TV. I usually scare myself but I have to watch it anyway.

6. I am a curious kitty. I always want to learn and know.

7. I used to want to be an Archeologist because of Indiana Jones.

8. I am not big on the saying "Forgive and forget". This is not something I do easily.

9. I cry when they air those ASPCA / Humane Society commercials.

10. I probably have 20 unread books in a stack, but will continue to buy new books and add to the stack, reading a few and then buying more.

11. I take so many pictures of my cat that it is no wonder he runs when he sees the camera.

My heart is taking a beating today.

A darling friend of mine is going through a looming tragedy that has her just spinning.

The utter devastation of what is happening in Haiti is a horror to watch.

The heart breaking "rescue stories" on the kitty cages at PetsMart tonight.

All of these weigh on my heart and bring tears to my eyes. It drives home the need to always show love and compassion. Be kind to those that are less fortunate than us, including the animals that depend on us to love and take care of them. Make memories, look at life as a blessing instead of dwelling on the negative.

I'm cooking now...

Or will be!
One of my goals for 2010 is to get some serious cooking and baking skills under my hat.

And I have two sites that are just begging for me to bake from them.

The first came courtesy of a link from the fabulous Karyn Bosnak:

Cake Spy, where there are grilled cheesecake sandwiches...and cinnamon rolls with bacon wrapped inside.

The second one came from my sister, Liz:

Bakerella, where there are some adorable sweets!

Checking out these sites and recipes that come from various friends have me ready to get my bake on!!!

Cutest blog!

Zooborns has pictures from baby animals at zoos around the world. So. Cute.

Including this adorable one:



What a face!!!

I love it when a plan comes together...

I was a sucker for the TV show in the 80's and I will be at this movie...

The Lovely Bones

I started to read this yesterday.

It is hard to put down, but I don't know if I like it or not.
Anyone else read it??

Happy Hump Day!

So I'm doing some shameless plugging today...

If you are in New York City (Friday), Los Angeles (Saturday), or San Francisco (Sunday), my darling and kooky chickie, Minae Noji's, movie "Bitch Slap" is having sneak previews in those cities w/ a lot of the cast in attendance. You should check it out. :)

I'm watching The People's Choice Awards...kinda boring and BADLY edited for the west coast. They were in the middle of a commercial and suddenly cut back to the adorable Alyson Hannigan giving her acceptance speech for Best Comedic TV Actress. Uh...you didn't even show the nominees.

Mariah Carey is drunk...interesting. Mr. Mariah (aka Nick Cannon) is tailing her pretty close. Haha!

And "The Big Bang Theory" won for Best Comedic Series. Whoot!!!

I really liked this.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that
wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You
will have your heart broken probably more than once and
it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so
remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight
with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things
an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast,
and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too
many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never
been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset
is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be
afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

A word on gratitude...

On my birthday I decided to start the 365 days of gratitude with the best intentions of posting frequently with what I was most grateful for each day. I made it to 74. ::sighs::

The thing is I am always grateful for so many things, both big and small, on a daily basis. I just struggle with posting them every single day. Much like resolutions, I have a hard time with a posting schedule and generally break it because I'm a rebel like that. Hehe!I give massive props to those that not only met the 365 days of gratitude but surpassed it.

One of my goals for 2010 is to blog more, but I am not going to put myself on a schedule...I am just going to blog from the heart when it strikes me.

I really want to see "Nine" and I'm beginning to think that fate is conspiring against me. It is only playing in select theaters with very few showings and this is the 2nd week in the row that I have had to not go see it due to the Arizona Cardinals playing at the stadium and me not willing to pay $20 to park at the Westgate Center where both my favorite AMC theater and the Cardinals stadium are located. Boo!!

I spent a bit of time last night looking at movies that are due to come out in 2010...there are some good movies!! :)

Anything you are looking forward to?

The word of the year...

A couple years ago one of my dearest friends told me that she wanted to know what word I would pick to define my year on New Years Day. Since then, each New Years Day I revisit the blog she directed me to and I contemplate what word it is that I am going to define my year by.

Would I choose "Patience"? Something that I have very little of, but truly need to work on.

Or maybe "Creativity" as it is something I really want to work on this year -- being more creative.

How about "Focus"? Or maybe "Clarity"? "Peace" speaks to me. As does "Compassion".

After a lot of reflecting on this and thinking about where I want to see 2010 lead me, I chose "Adventure".

I want to look back on December 31, 2010 and say "Wow, would you look at all that I did during the year? Who would have guessed that I would have done :insert amazing adventure right here: this year."

A lot of time we live our lives like we are on a merry-go-round. We get up, we go about our routine daily existence, we go to bed. Round and round we go...you get dizzy after a while and have to take a break, but then you get back on and start the spinning again. I want to stop the routine and step off that merry-go-round. I want to look back and say that yep, I did do something out of routine. I instead decided to climb the ladder to the slide and have the rush of sliding down.

I don't make resolutions. I have the NEED to break a resolution immediately. It feels self imposed and usually something you don't really want to do but put a lot of pressure on yourself to do. Instead I have goals.

They are pretty simple for 2010.

* Be true to ME. I need to be who I am and not shy away or hide the person that I am to make everyone else happy.

* Experience life. No matter how big or small, life has so much to offer and I want to fill up on those offers.

* Which means, putting the word of the year ("adventure") to good use.

* Write more!

* Create.

(For those of you interested in the word of the year, you can check out the link here: Christine Kane's blog: Resolution Revolution post.)