Hairspray (and other movies)

Shana and I have been doing the Netflix thing now for a few weeks and we like it pretty good. Usually our queue pattern is a movie Shana likes followed by a movie I like. My latest movie is Die Hard 4. We have yet to watch it. Last night we watched Shana's movie - Hairspray (PG).

It's a musical with lots of people you'd recognize in it (John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah.) The benefit I got from watching it was that Christopher Walken is in it and he's awesome. I wasn't so sure about this movie at the beginning but in the end I liked it. Probably 3 boxes of popcorn with extra butter.

Anyway, there's this line in it delivered by Queen Latifah who plays Motormouth Maybelle. Her black (African-American) son is dating a white (Caucasian) girl during the 60's - a racially unstable time in which this movie is set (didn't that part sound like a real movie critic?). Anyway, when the mom finds about them dating here's what she says:

"You'd better be prepared for a whole lot of ugly comin' at you from a never-ending parade of stupid."

Hilarious! So anyway, good movie, it's worth a rent.

Other movies we've seen recently (I have a new rating system):

Jumper (PG-13):
3 boxes of popcorn with a little extra butter. Good action. Cool concept. Good effects. In the extra stuff on the DVD the director said he tried to make an effects movie where you didn't notice the effects. He succeeded.
I'd see a sequel.




Penelope (PG): 3 boxes of popcorn. Entertaining. Kids could see it. It has a good message and is very fairy tail-ish about a girl with a pig-nose. Plus, Shana's boyfriend - James McAvoy - is in it. Apparently he's hot.




My rating system:
1 Box of popcorn - Terrible movie, don't waste your time.
2 Boxes of popcorn - Decent move. Wouldn't see it again. Watch at your own risk.
3 Boxes of popcorn - Good movie. Really enjoyed it. Worth watching.
4 Boxes of popcorn - Great movie. Everyone should see it!

The butter system: This is kind of like the "half a star" system. For instance, Jumper got 3 boxes of popcorn with a little extra butter. That means it was slightly better than 3 but not a 4. Is this lame? Probably, but I'm bored. (We're watching the end of Hairspray (again for me) - Shana fell asleep last night).

New Stuff

As you can tell we've made some changes to our blog and we're probably not done yet. I found a new program called GIMP. It's like a free version of Photoshop. Its not quite as user friendly as Photoshop, but its also not $300! It's free. So all of this new stuff on here was created from that program. I highly recommend it. We'll have more stuff coming soon. I'm working on a movie/music/book section and a section for the dogs.

FREE MOVIE COUPON

Ya'll know how cheep I am by now. While we lived in Georgia we went to Regal movie theaters often enough to earn a lot of rewards. Well, there are no Regal theaters here, BOO. So, I have a leftover free coupon for a Regal movie. It will expire in August though. Whoever leaves a comment first telling me they want it will get it first. I will drop it in the mail to you. Don't worry you won't need to post your address on my blog. Most likely I have your email or you have mine if I don' t have your address already.

Need Help

Alright this is a cry for help. See this really cool new addition to our site on the right here. The pictures of us with the Josh and Shana? Josh made that it is really cool. You'll have to click on it to see it in full size. We have been trying for a week now to put this as our header and it isn't working. We even started a new blog just to see if it would work, and it did. We copied and pasted the html code from the one that worked to ours here and it still didn't work. We are convinced something is wrong with our blog. I am so sad because the header Josh made is so cool, but doesn't get its full appreciation unless full size on top. So, if ya'll have any suggestions please help!

Teen Pregnancy, Hollywood Style

This was a post on Dr. Mohler's blog a couple of days ago. I thought it was a good read on the culture we live in today. What are your thoughts?

Early in July, OK! magazine featured a cover story about Jamie Lynn Spears and her new baby, Maddie. Newsweek reported that the magazine paid $1 million for the rights to publish photographs of the baby and mother. The young mom, now 17, is shown on the magazine's cover declaring, "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world." A good number of parents were understandably outraged.
This week, Newsweek is out with an article that questions how Hollywood is presenting teenage motherhood. The magazine reports that teen moms and their babies have become "a hot plot device lately."
"Many teen moms and the adults who deal with them are glad to see a conversation about teen pregnancy out in the open," Newsweek explains, "But they say that big parts of the story are being glossed over: how that baby bump came to be in the first place, and just how hard it'll be for a teen to raise a child."
Jane Brown of the University of North Carolina asserts that the Hollywood version of the teen pregnancy storyline lacks commitment, contraception, and consequences. Critics complained that the movie Juno mentioned condoms "only" twice. The assumption is clearly that teenagers simply will have sex, and the best parents can hope for us that it be "safe" sex.
Beyond that, "commitment" is the word one uses to avoid using "marriage." Waiting until marriage to engage in sexual intercourse is, for Hollywood, an unthinkable presumption. Teens are encouraged to establish "committed relationships" before sex. We can only wonder what kind of commitment would please Hollywood and its critics.
As for consequences, Hollywood generally abandons reality when it claims to present "reality" programming. The celebrity cult is even worse. The OK! magazine cover makes teen motherhood look positively glamorous. But, as one young woman responded to the OK! coverage, "I had a baby at 16, it was NOT easy, I did NOT look radiant and beautiful."
Then again, that kind of honesty probably wouldn't sell many magazines. Hollywood and the entertainment industry are selling their version of normal teenage expectation. Teen moms are, as Newsweek explained, "a hot plot device." Parents, you have been warned.

A Change You Can Believe In!

We're undergoing some changes....check back soon!

Deals Galore

When Josh and I moved here to Louisville, KY, I decided to get back to my mega deal hunting. I started going garage sale hunting four weeks ago, and I started back to my coupon and shopper guides this week. I am already seeing tons of fruit. I am so excited about some of them that I had to make a post about it. I have to say that week 2 of garage sale hunting was by far my favorite here. It has been a downer ever since that week because we haven't found as near as much awesome free stuff.

Here are some of my top picks from week twos garage sale finds:

Starting from the left: a huge zipper bag, this thing could get soaked with water and be fine (free), the hanging picture are a small dainty extra for our itty bitty hallway (free), my awesome Fendi knock-off business bag to carry downtown to work ($1).

I really love my bag. I carry it to work with me everyday. The Fendi marking stuff is small on it so I don't know if you'll be able to see it in this picture. It took me a minute to realize it at the garage sale I was at.

My next picture is of all the free things that I got this week from my coupons and shoppers guide that you usually get in the Sunday paper (note to self though, you can usually get the guides online too). I learned a huge tip this week. You can use coupons on top of store coupons, discount cards, and rebates at stores like Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, and Petsmart. These three stores have become my favorites and where I got a lot of my free stuff this week. Now this picture only shows you my free stuff, but I got huge discounts using coupons and these guides on everyday name brand items that I use all the time. For example, chicken breast, Josh's brand specific deodorant (he only uses Old Spice High Endurance regular scent), ground chuck, soda, shaving cream, toothpaste, and way more.

I was thinking about going into detail about how I go about checking this stuff out and getting all my free stuff, but wasn't sure if my readers would even be interested. So, if you are please let me know and then I will work on that. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning, it has become a ritual to get the Sunday paper and scout out all the deals, and then plan my meals accordingly.

Fun with iMovie and other thoughts...

It's been a while since either of us have blogged anything, so I'll give you a quick update. We've both been busy with work. I'm at the Fresh Market in Louisville. Surprise, surprise, its just like the FM in Atlanta. I'm not crazy about being there but it pays the bills. I'm hoping that an on-campus job comes open soon (prayer request). Shana, on the other hand, loves her job. This is a huge praise. She is fulfilling her role as my sugarmomma. Hands in the air and praise the Lord! Anyway, we've seen a lot of movies lately. Since we've decided to save money and not get cable we are doing a trial of Netflix. We also made a trip to blockbuster for some freebies. Here's what we've seen and what we thought:
Gone Baby Gone - Excellent (watch for the language - ear muffs - but the dilemma at the end is rather perplexing). 4 stars
No Country For Old Men - Great story. Pretty bloody. Terrible ending. 3 stars.
The Bucket List - Funny. Probably 3 out of 4 stars. Worth seeing.
Untraceable - Like a long episode of Law and Order SVU only grosser. 3 stars
Drillbit Taylor - Funny. Too much kid-cussing. Bloopers are hilarious. 2.5 stars
P.S. I Love You - Shana loved it. Watch out guys...she'll cry...a lot. But still good. 3.5 stars
Be Kind Rewind - Shana didn't watch this one. I thought it was ok. 1.5 stars.
Batman - The Dark Knight - Best movie of the summer. Shana and I totally agree on this one. Its right up there with Iron Man. Heath Ledger was great. I wasn't buying the hype before the movie, but I am now. A little long, but 4 stars.

It seems like I'm missing one. Oh well. I had a little free time on my day off and was messing around with iMovie HD on my computer. Here's what I came up with.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday and it was a good one. It was sad to be far away from family and friends, but my friends and family really made me feel special today. I thought I would let ya'll know how my birthday went today. I woke up this morning and made myself one of my favorite breakfast items, hashbrown casserole. I went on to work for my temporary assignment, I was supposed to have an interview at 3 for a new job. Well, I got a call around 10:30 from a gentleman that I had been interviewing with earlier that week and the week before. He had called to offer me the position I was looking for. It was a huge birthday present from the Lord. He really looked out for us with the provision and benefits of this job. I start tomorrow. Well, I then came home early because my temp position didn't need me anymore. Which it was super awesome that I came home early because shortly after, the door bell rang and I had an awesome pitcher of daises delivered to my to door. I have never had flowers delivered to me before. It was awesome, and the flowers could not have been any more awesome. Below is a picture. OO and the flowers were sent to me from Lauren and Zach. Thanks guys it was super sweet of you.

After they came I went outside to walk the dogs and met up with a new friend from downstairs. We attempted to go up to the pool on campus but found out that it was closed due to the fact a kid had thrown up in it earlier today, total bummer. O well. So, then I come home and Josh is now home. He had gone to Fresh Market to finalize and establish job stuff, and to get some stuff to make me a birthday dinner. He had brought me home a surprise birthday gift too. He got me a bike. It is so cute and so nice. We went for a little bike ride tonight to break it in. Here are some pictures of that too. Isn't it pretty it is pink and grey. I have never had a pretty bike like this before.


Well, to top it all off, Josh made an amazing, as always, dinner. It was Filet Mignon with goat cheese and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette sauce with a side of vanilla bean mashed sweet potatoes. It was an amazing dinner. Most of you know how awesome of a cook my husband is. Well, for dessert he made some really awesome brownies from scratch with peanut butter, caramel, and marshmallows. It was really awesome. We invited our new friends from below to join us for dessert. We had a good time chatting and playing around.

So, all in all I have had a really good day. I felt special on my birthday. I am not always a fan of getting presents and celebrating not on the day unless time and circumstances don't allow it. and you have already celebrated. I guess as I get older things change and there are no big birthday parties every year with tons of friends. Not that I had that every year as a kid growing up, but I think the kid in all of us really likes to celebrate birthdays with a bang. Maybe I am alone in this thought, or maybe I am not old enought yet to think I don't want people to know how old I am.

Who knows, but all I can say is that I am 28 today. I feel like I am finally growing into the woman I am supposed to be and really getting to know who I am and how I tick. I feel like I am finally getting to a point in my life where my self esteem is high and I appreciate myself for who I am. I feel like God has gifted me with a good head on my shoulders and I am amazed at the things he has allowed me to accomplish so far in my life. God has made me into the woman I am today, and he has a plan for all the flaws and crazies I have been through. I am still excited about this journey that I am on with my savior. So far, this pit stop in Louisville is one heck of a ride of seeing His mercy and glory at work in our lives.

Thank you Lord for a great day today. I am blessed!

That Crazy David Crowder...

While I was studying for a test tonight I ran across this hilarious music video that could only be put out by David Crowder. I'm guessing that most of the people who read this blog have never heard of or rarely listen to Crowder. Give him a chance. He's pretty great. You've heard of Passion right? He's one of them. Anyway this video is pretty funny. I read that the squirrels somehow represent the things that stand in the way of our relationship with Jesus....er...maybe. I don't know. Just watch it. Comments are good.

Video Blooper

When we were making the video this happened...

Welcome to Southern Seminary (Part 1)

Here it is. Finally. Sorry it took so long. The video was too long for blogspot and youtube so I had to break it up in to two parts. If you'd like a DVD copy you can send $9.99 to our address plus $2.49 shipping and handling, plus $4.29 fuel charge (that's really what our gas prices are here), plus $10.99 misc. charges. Please allow 3-20 business days for shipping (ha!). If you act now you can get two for the price of one. Act fast - there is a limited supply. (Offer not valid in Alaska, Hawaii, or Canada)

Since the video is much smaller on here you can't read all of the titles. I'll let you know what they say:
-Louisville Slugger Field
-Churchill Downs
-Some Skate Park
-Our Exit

Music Provided by (in order of play):
John Williams, All American Rejects, Garageband (by Josh, Shana approved), Kanye West, More Garageband, The "OH Yeah, Ferris Bueller song," Theme from Italian Job, The Commodores, more Garageband.

Welcome to Southern Seminary (Part 2)

Here's a message from Clay and his family to all of you who have been praying for him. Particularly at Christ Church...

Zoe Loves Hotdogs!

This is a video I found while I was cleaning up my camera (yes, the KY video is coming soon). It's a video of Zoe digging around under the table for some leftover hotdogs. This video was taken our last night in Talmo I think. (note, there is a random section at the end of a video I took on a mission trip to Moldova. I forgot to edit that part out)

Enjoy.