As Promised...

...lots of things going on in my brain today, but I wanted to write about the aforementioned weddings and vampire books I mentioned in a previous post.

So I had the opportunity to attend a friend's wedding a week ago. It was being held in a back yard, and I had imagined a really big house, nice yard, etc...simply because that's the typical setting I've seen for outdoor weddings. This wedding was nothing of the sort. Not that the place was a dump...it was a nice, modest-sized house in a quiet neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I was expecting. The yard was decorated with a few tables with homemade centerpieces, and there was a simple archway with some flowers at the far end of the yard, with a simple piece of fabric laid out on the grass, making up the "aisle." The ceremony started off as any other...groomsmen walked bridesmaids down the aisle and to their designated spots, the parents followed...and then my friend, in her beautiful dress. She was absolutely gorgeous. The ceremony lasted no longer than 5 minutes...the bishop gave a few words of advice, the couple said their "I do's" and that was it. Afterwards, we ate food, listened to music and chatted. The thing that really touched me, though, was my inability to stop looking at my friend and her new husband. I wish I could describe the incredible joy and perfectly pure love the two of them radiated as they enjoyed their reception...I was so drawn to that. I have never seen anything like it except at perhaps my own wedding, and I spent the rest of the night kicking myself for failing to bring my camera so that I might have captured it. And I know this is extremely cliche, but it was a wonderful reminder to me that you don't need a big house, nice yard, fancy decorations and catered food to have a magical wedding. I don't think there was anything that could have been done to make their wedding more beautiful, I really don't.

Moving right along...sticking to my theme of sappy sentiment, I'm sure many of you have seen this picture and thought, "Nooooooo, not those stupid vampire books!" I used to be one of you...but now...hahaha ok, that's just cheesy, even for me...


...seriously though, I resisted and resisted reading these books, until one day I was eating lunch with some girlfriends when one of them said to another regarding some guy who'd come up in the conversation, "Oh, that sounds like Edward." I made the mistake of asking, "Who's Edward?" They all looked at me like I was insane. My friend ran from the room and came back with 3 very thick books, insisting I read them. I protested repeatedly until my friends finally broke me down, me threatening them with the wrath of Jacob if I got hooked and suddenly became a negligent wife (yes, it's happened before with books I've enjoyed, I'll sit and read for hours and totally ignore him). They all laughed at me and told me I'd love the books. I left quite skeptical.


I began reading Twilight that night at work...finding nothing particularly special about it, but appreciating the fact that it was an easy read. The next day I picked it up again at home, and the next thing I knew, 3 hours had passed and it was time for me to go to work. By the end of my shift that night, I'd finished that one and had started on New Moon, which I finished the following day...and so it continued with Eclipse. Fortunately for me, I finished that one two days after Breaking Dawn had been released, so off to Barnes & Noble I went, and read that one in yes, a single day. Poor Jacob had to spend the weekend playing games on the computer.


I'm still kind of humiliated that I got THAT hooked on them. I mean, I finished the whole series in 5 days. Good grief. But that got me thinking...what in the WORLD is it about these books that makes them so addictive to girls (I don't think most guys really care that much)?? I have decided that Stephanie Meyer is a genius. Not because she's an amazing writer...because in all reality I don't think she's nearly as talented as people give her credit for (and what is her strange obsession with the word "chagrin?" She uses it more than anyone I've seen). However, she has successfully tapped into the hopeless romantic portion of the female brain. She made Edward the perfect man, and on top of being perfect made him dark, mysterious and basically unavailable. And we all know that every girl wants what she can't have. Then we have her protagonist, Bella...who is the literary embodiment of almost every insecurity we females have. She's not the prettiest girl in school, she's socially awkward, she doesn't say the right things, she's a total klutz, and depending on who you ask, she's incredibly stupid (sorry ladies, after reading books 2 & 3 that was my assessment...she only somewhat redeemed herself in book 4)...need I say more? It's the whole Jane Eyre complex--the mediocre, average girl (some may even say ugly, although I don't think that description quite fits Bella) gets the hot guy. And for successfully pulling that off, I applaud Stephanie Meyer. Seriously. Wish I could tap into that and make hundreds of thousands as well.

And then we have the movie coming out in December. A lot of people have complained about the actor playing Edward not being hot enough...my compalint lies with Bella. No offense to Kristen Stewart, she just wouldn't have been my choice. No matter though, I'm sure the hopeless romantic in me will be secretly excited (and I say secretly, because I'm still halfway in the closet about how much I liked the books...) to see the story I enjoyed so much translated into film, despite my disapproval of the casting director's choices. Having said that, I do think it's a good thing that the director is a woman...not that a man couldn't do a nice job with it...I just don't know if a guy could do it the same justice that (hopefully) a woman will. It will be interesting to see if the reception of the movie is as good as it's been with the books.

One thing I will say though, is that my dislike for extremely large crowds of hormonal adolescent girls does outweigh my desire to see the movie...hopeless romantic be damned, I will

wait a good few weeks after it opens to see it.

Ugh, ok...enough of that. Next time I'll talk about something less cheesy...

Camping

So we randomly decided to go camping last Saturday night...we packed up the car, hit the road and ended up at Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway. I love this campground, first of all because it has actual bathrooms with sinks and flushing toilets (the whole squatting thing doesn't really make me happy), and also because each campsite has a fire pit, BBQ grill, picnic table, and the tent pad has sand instead of dirt, so you can enjoy a nice meal (we had tinfoil dinners) and then you don't have to worry about your back getting poked by rocks when you sleep. It's really good times.

Once we got there, Jacob started a fire (notice the rather large container of lighter fluid on the table haha) as I prepared to set up the tent.

However, after I'd laid out the tarps and grabbed the tent, I realized that we had failed to bring the tent poles with us (in fact, since the move I have no idea where they even are, because they weren't by the tent...). Yeah, we had the tent, but no poles. BRILLIANT. We had managed to remember to bring our air mattress (YES, we sleep on a full-on queen-sized air mattress when we camp...that was my idea), so we decided we'd go ahead and sleep under the stars...here's where we were going to sleep...

But then we looked at the sky...

...and since I'm really not too keen on getting wet when I sleep, here's where we actually ended up sleeping...

It was a good thing too, because it rained. And you know, surprisingly enough, sleeping in the back of our car wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I could actually fully extend my legs (Jacob had to sleep diagonally), and even though it was a little bit hard on my back, thanks to my pillow (Jacob didn't bring one and apparently I don't like to share mine once I'm asleep, so he was a bit grumpy about that) I was pretty comfortable. In fact, the morning clean up was so easy (our least favorite part of camping is taking down the tent in the morning...) and fast, that I think we'll probably do the whole car camping thing again. NICE.

For the evening's festivities, we didn't do much other than sit by the fire, munch on snacks and talk. It was really relaxing.

Haha we also tried to make some Jiffy Pop...but we were highly unsuccessful (as have been previous attempts at making the stuff while camping). This is what happened when we tried to cook it over the fire...

And here's what we ended up with. Not a salvageable piece in there. We were pretty entertained by it though, being the pyros that we are. :-)

So all in all it was a good trip, burned popcorn and all. Although I won't lie, I was really happy to get back to sleeping in my own soft, extremely comfortable bed last night...

I'm Baaaaaack...

Hi people. I have so much I could potentially write about...here we go.

First, it's movie review time:
The Dark Knight-AMAZING. Enough said. Although for a more in-depth analysis, feel free to check out my friend Peter's blog (the link is to your right). He is, after all, a Batman expert. :-)

Mamma Mia!-Surprisingly enjoyable. For me, at least...after all, I was QUITE skeptical. I think to really like it, you'd have to be a dyed in the wool ABBA fan (which I am, thanks to my parents...who made sure my siblings and I were very well versed in their songs starting basically when we were born), and I also think people would enjoy the movie more if they've already seen the actual show (although they might be slightly irked at the things that didn't make the final cut of the movie). I am not a Meryl Streep fan, but she surprised me with how well she did. And kudos to Colin Firth for being one of the most entertaining gay characters I've ever had the pleasure of watching. One complaint though...WHO in the WORLD cast Pierce Brosnan as an American??? And a NEW YORKER no less!! Sheesh, not only was he the worst singer in the entire cast, but he couldn't hide his British accent to save his LIFE. Awful. No offense to him, he's a pretty good actor...but this was NOT the role for him, by any stretch of the imagination.

The Midnight Meat Train-Worse than horrible. Not that most of you would ever consider seeing it...after all, it's an R-rated slasher flick. But it was BAD, even for Clive Barker (who directed films like Hellraiser, if that helps any of you...). Seriously, I was pissed that we actually spent money on our tickets, even though we only spent about $3 (it was released directly to the dollar theater, which I tried to tell Jacob was a very bad sign...). Yeah. I'd reccomend staying at home to stare at the wall, it would be a better use of your time.


Moving right along...here's what's been going on at our house as of late:

I bet you have no idea what that is. My camera is not cool enough to effectively capture fire, and I know this because I tried it on every setting it had. Anyway, this is the view from just outside my front door at 2:00am on July 25th after some brainiacs hiked the Y and lit off a bunch of fireworks for the 24th...and managed to catch the mountain on fire. Jacob had gone to sleep way before this happened and had left the window open...so our house smelled like a campfire that night. Good times, eh? I was never worried about having to be evactuated or anything, but I will admit it was slightly unsettling to arrive home from work and see the fire so close to our house. So kids, don't hike a mountain covered in dry gass and light off fireworks. You'll probably get arrested if you do.

Here's what my cats have been doing lately:

I know, that's not super exciting...but I think they're so dang cute. Not every afternoon, but quite frequently they'll come sunbathe once it gets to be about 4:00pm...that's the optimal sun time (and our apartment usually gets quite hot...). I'm usually insistant on closing the blinds so it doesn't start cooking in here, but when my cats do that I just leave them open...yes, I'm a weird cat lady.

Ok, gotta go pick up Jacob from the airport (yes, he's flying planes 4 times a week now...with his instructor in the cockpit with him, of course...but still, he does most of it by himself), but those of you who know me will not be surprised to hear that I am far from finished. Until next time...when I will talk about weddings, Twilight (yes, you heard me...I got hooked on those damned vampire books), and whatever else I have in my head at the time...