Monday, August 29, 2011

Movies: This Weeks Edition

Fright Night (2011) – This movie was great. We saw this Friday night to get out of our hot house and spend some time with our friend Holly. Mostly we saw this movie because it had David Tennant in it. but He was just a pleasant highlight. For the most part we all really enjoyed watching this. The language was terrible (as it usually is for this quality of horror movies) as we don’t believe that every other word in a sentence needs to start with the letter F and have four letters. But whatever. A vampire moves into a Las Vegas neighborhood and then people start disappearing. The boy next door is clued into the fact that something is wrong and then the movie goes from there of trying to run from the crazy vampire and trying to kill it as the same time. This was a very entertaining kick off to our Halloween Movie Month for 2011.

 

Burlesque (2010) – Good movie. I am totally fascinated by the world of burlesque. I think it all started back with Moulin Rouge, so when this movie came out last year I told John I wanted to see it. And he quietly admitted that he wanted to see it too. It took us a while, but we finally rented it… and we loved it. The story goes that a small town girl from Iowa moves to LA looking to be a singer and stumbles upon a Burlesque club and falls in love with the idea of working there. By being a push devoted person she gets a job and it’s all up from there. There’s is a love story, and a story of persevering no matter what mixed in. It stars Christina Aguilera and Cher.

 

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)Matt Farrell: “You just killed a helicopter with a car!” John McClane: “I was out of bullets.” – This movie never gets old.

 

Die Another Day (2002) – One of my least favorite Pierce Brosnan Bond films. But still good none-the-less. Bond is off the record and trying to find a villain that escaped him. This includes: Exploding diamonds. Face changing. A giant satellite used to kill people. And an Ice hotel. All great fun. It also has Madonna in it. Least favorite part of the movie: Halle Berry.

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) – So much better than expected. It wasn’t to campy or cheesy and was enjoyable to watch. Brendan Frazer, while looking for clues to the disappearance of his brother, discovers that Jules Verne wasn’t full of it when he wrote his book. This was a good family movie.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Blood Magic

Blood Magic

By Tessa Gratton

 bloodmagic_hires

I don’t know what it is about the Paranormal YA genre lately, but I have loved reading all of these books that have a touch of something magical in them.

This is the story of two teenagers who are a little more than slightly damaged by the acts of their parents. They’re drawn together by the use of magic. Blood Magic, to be exact. Nick has hidden memories of his mother, and Silla is just learning things about her father. Together they have to discover what is wrong with their families and what they need to do to make sure everyone is safe.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t get this as an audio book to listen to at work, so it took me a little longer to actually read than it would have if I’d just listened to it… but it was worth it. I loved the story line. I loved finding out little hidden things about the characters. I was surprised when my hypothesis was incorrect and the twist in the plot that made me says “hmmm.” I admit that I cried a little at the end.

I really loved this book. I'll recommend it to anyone who is looking for a little entertainment and doesn't mind a little dark magic.

Blood Magic is the first novel by Tessa Gratton. The book was recommended to me by Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver and Linger, who is one of Ms. Gratton's critique partners, along with Brenna Yavanoff (author of The Replacement). The three of them make up the members of the Merry Sisters of Fate website. (Where one of these three people post a new short story on Mondays. They're fun to read.)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hi I am not Dead.

Hi I am not dead. I just don't get on here much. Just saying "Hi."

I also tried to fix my dishwasher today after work. That did not happen. It must be the pump. I think I have to somehow remove the bottom, and come in underneath. ha ha that's what she said.

Its ok because no one will read this. Just because I haven't updated this in so long.

Really!?

This summer has sucked. Well, not the entire summer, we’ve done some really fun things., but for me personally, this summer has sucked.

 

We have had a ridiculously busy summer. But that’s how summers go (isn’t it?) It feels like we’ve had something to do every weekend and most of the days in between. Aside from all the family stuff, out doors stuff, and normal stuff I have been sick with one thing or another for the last two months. Ick.

 

Some high-lights of the last few weeks:

 

John’s sister Kristin came up with her son nick to visit for a few days at the beginning of the week. We were able to spend a few evenings with them, and the rest of the local Evans’. It’s always fun to spend some time roasting marshmallows around the fire pit.

Bryce and Jennie were in town for the summer and we got to spend a little bit of time with them (even though we wished it could have been more.) On Sunday night we went to Logan and Jenny’s house where John, Bryce and Jacob and all the families attached were able to be together for just a little while this summer. It’s so fun to have everyone get together. We all spent so much time together as teenagers that it’s sad that now, with families and lives that we can’t be together more often. (Yes, I was still itchy and miserable, but with a lot of Benadryl I made it through the evening.)

We went to a Ludo concert with our friends John and Angie on August 1st. It was at “In The Venue” in Salt Lake. I’d never been to a club before. (yes, I lived a sheltered life) and this was… interesting. It was a lot like how I pictured it, but a lot hotter. The club was dark and full of sweaty people. The opening bands were – okay – the sound was really not that great and the loudness of it all made the bands kind of suck. I think I liked Tommy & the High Pilots, but I’d have to here them *not* in the venue to really decide. It did inspire me to write poetry. I wrote this little didy the next morning:

 

Own the Night

by liz evans 8/2/2011

 

I close my eyes to shut out the noise

Allowing the lyrics to emerge from the chaos

Bass reverberates through the souls of my feet

Creeping up my legs in a cacophony of feeling

Pounding in my chest like a second heartbeat

Freeing my inner punk to awaken with the sound

Lights pulsating in blinding flashes

Tangles of arms and heads moving like puppets to the singer’s command

Dirty jeans, scraped shoes, shiny reds tarnished for good.

Sweat drenched pleasures of an age not long past

Years falling off, through time and music

Swaying to the forgotten memories

And missing the freedom of youth

 

We had decided early that morning that it would be a great idea to get a hotel room in Salt Lake and just stay in town that night instead of having to drive home in the dark of the night. Thanks to a friend who works for Marriott we were able to get a great deal on a room at SpringHill Suites in downtown. It was a nice hotel, and we were a little sad that we were just spending the one night instead of a couple. It would make a great place for a quick vacation away from the house.


Some Low-lights from the last few weeks:

 

I got a cold back at the beginning of July that has just never seemed to go away. I’m really done with it, but it apparently has yet to be done with me. There was a few weeks I battled a severe bout of depression, what with feeling sick and tired and all the family togetherness I’ve had to be a part of. And then, most recently I’ve a UTI that I actually went to the doctor for. He put me on sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, an antibiotic which, after 5 days of taking it, caused me to break out in Hives on Friday afternoon.

I had just been minding my own business, making dinner, when I looked down at my arm and notice that I had a patch of spots. John and I just thought that maybe I had rubbed on something that was causing an irritation, but as we watched they multiplied… At this point, we didn’t really know what I was allergic to. We thought that maybe it was caused by Banjo the Woodpile Cat that allowed me to touch him earlier that afternoon.

By the next morning I was covered in giant patches of red hives. I’ve never had hives before. I was itch and irritated and just wanted to not feel that way. We ran to the store for some Benadryl and Cortisone 10, but to be on the safe side I decided to ask the pharmacist what the best course of treatment would be. (Side Note: the pharmacist at the local store looks a bit like a rejected 70’s pharmacist with silly hair and a mustache.) He confirmed my first guess, and commented on how covered in blotches I was. (Thanks, like I didn’t already know.) Coming home I stripped down and wore my nightgown for the rest of the weekend, because the thought of wearing clothes was very unpleasant.

I wanted more sympathy than I already had so I contacted my oldest sister, because my mom is out of the country, and between me and her and a quick look at the prescription I had been taken it was decided that I was probably allergic to the antibiotic. Turns out she’s allergic to it, and one of her boys is too. Hmmm. That made me feel better-ish. I was glad to know it wasn’t poor Banjo outside that was causing me such irritation. I was itchy and splotchy all weekend, and completely miserable… I had way too much Benadryl in the last few days so I have a very fuzzy head and no concentration. I’m finally not taking anymore Benadryl and coming out of the fog. What a bummer weekend.

 

We didn’t get to go to a concert on Saturday that we had tickets for. The useless tickets are sitting right here in my purse. It was the Utah Symphony Orchestra performing “The Music of Queen” at the Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City. I tried giving the tickets away, but no one wanted them. I hate letting good tickets go to waste. We also missed the “Wood Family” reunion, which is John’s Grandma’s family reunion that happens every year.

 

On the 9th, Mom and Dad and Jessica all went to England without me. John and I really looked into going with them, but were unable to come up with the $5,000 it would take for just the two of us to get to England let alone be able to do or see anything while we were there. Oh well. I hope they have fun. Maybe I’ll get there someday.


August marks the 5 year anniversary of trying to have a baby. And it seems that everyone I know is having babies this month. So that’s contributed to some depression. But for the most part I’ve dealt with it pretty well. But thankfully for me I have a really good support system of women who have been through infertility and are willing to share their lives and their kids with me. It helps a little.

On the Job front… I haven’t found anything yet, but I haven’t been looking too hard. I’ve applied for a few in the area, but there’s not a lot out there. There aren’t too many jobs in credentialing around here because most companies are outsourcing this type of work to India, like my company did. So that’s frustrating. We are budgeted in until the end of the year so I at least know I have a job until the end of December. I may start looking into other career fields. I don’t want to, but we don’t always get a choice.

 

Coming up:

 

We’re taking a short trip to St. George. John’s nephew Mitchell came home from his mission and we’ll be going down to visit and hear him talk at church. He’s been in Albuquerque. (I think) So that will be fun for us. We’re staying at a hotel instead of with the 10 + people who will be at Kristin’s house. This always makes for easier Sunday mornings. It will be a nice break for us. We’ve been looking forward to this trip for a while.

 

After that, it looks like our schedule will clear up for a few months. We have decided to start HALLOWEEN MOVIE MONTH in September this year so you can look forward to our horror movie reviews sooner than later. We think we’re going to start it off by seeing the new Fright Night movie that comes out. It’s actually being release this month on the 19th, but we will probably not see it until next month.

 

That's about all for now. I'll return again with some movie reviews, recipes and favorite CD's another day.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Movies: Nothin' Else to Watch

Empire Records (1995) - This movie wasn't as good as I had been led to believe. It seems like everyone I know who has seen it loved it and recommended it to me... Well, we watched it, and let me just says... I wasn't impressed. It was actually quite boring. It was kind of fun to look back at the world of 1995. The styles, and teenage issues... but didn't I see this all happen before in an episode of Saved by The Bell? I had been hopeful that it would be full of teenage mayhem as the group had to ban together and fix the major issue that was brought up in the first 10 minutes of the movie, ala Ferris Bueller fashion, but it never happened and I was disappointed.
 
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) (2001) - As always this is a fantastic movie. I love the extended editions for all the extra bits of fun that are put in. We've watched the extended edition so many times now that we have forgotten what's in this that isn't in the other, but when we watch the other it's like there is too much missing. What great movies. Epic in every sense of the word.