Twilight Zone Recap

It has been a crazy/stressful/sad couple of weeks. In the past two weeks, Joseph and I have gotten food poisoning, said goodbye to his Aunt Jan, I’ve sprained an ankle, we’ve been egged, we closed on selling his house, we’ve cleaned out his house and we got a call from the police department that 4 youths were arrested for trespassing at his house.
Needless to say, last night was the first time I had cooked in at least a week. We haven’t done a big shopping trip for groceries for two or three weeks, and both our eating has been sort of weird. Hopefully, with the closing on his house, our lives can get back to normal. I’m actually looking forward to it, a lot.
There have been some good times, in the past two weeks though. Charity sales with mom at Belk, day of Geocaching with Joe’s bros and their brood, getting our GA taxes back and subsequently paying a nice chunk on the car, and getting to hang out with lots of family in North Carolina (even if we were there for a sad reason). Additionally, since it’s been such an unusual couple of weeks, it’s really made me think about aspects of my life and along with a couple of things I’ve read, I’ve been ruminating on them. (More on that later)

Green Thumbing It

There is this part of me that constantly strives to be a hippy. I say strive because I so far short of my hippy standards.

For a couple of years now I’ve wanted to start a garden. I mean, ignore the fact that I can’t keep herbs alive much less whole vegetables. Still, the hope remains alive.

Since Joseph and I are finally living in our “for a really long time” house, I knew that this was the year. We went to Home Depot and I got a seedling kit and picked out my seeds. Within days most had sprouted green and I knew that they probably wanted some real dirt.

Today, Joseph and I went on a Home Depot adventure. I knew I wanted to do a box garden. It’s seems like the lazy girl solution since it minimizes both the possibility of weeds and diminishes the need to till the ground. We found a boxes garden kit that was easily assembled and bought lots of dirt.

The hope is to grow cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeños and bell peppers. Wish me luck!

Bridesmaids: Fashion Accessories

Bridesmaids: The newest fashion accessory?

You know, I’ve been married for three years, had my wedding, had bridesmaids, so I’m not sure why this bothers me so… but I’ve heard an increasingly amount of talk from Brides, Brides to be, past Brides about what all they put their bridesmaids too and what’s expected of them. It seems like, to me, somewhere along the way, we’ve given this great pass to brides that because they are stressed they don’t have to treat their friends like human beings.

Here are common complaints from Brides that I’ve had the lucky chance to hear and/or see on Bridezillas:

1. I can’t believe Jill got pregnant. Doesn’t she know my wedding is in three months? I can’t have a fat bridesmaid in my pictures.
2. As much as I love Christina, I hate her tattoos, I am going to need her to cover them up for the wedding!
3. I really wanted to have three bridesmaids but Tom only wants his two brothers on his side, now I have to kick someone out.
4. Or, even worse, Megan isn’t living up to all her bridesmaid duties, so I’m kicking her out, now we’ll have to kick out Derrick’s brother so the sides will be even.
5. Why won’t those heifer’s take me to Vegas on my bachelorette like I told them I wanted! *insert foot stamp*
6. How dare Samantha get engaged/married when my wedding is in x number of months/weeks/days.

Is it just me, or does it appear that today’s Bride has forgotten that her nearest and dearest friends are gracing her with the honor of agreeing to stand by her side, and stand up for her, on the most important day of her life. I mean, it isn’t like there is a raffle to see who is lucky enough to be picked to spend, on average $1,695 to stand up in a wedding. Because the fact of the matter is, the Bride ASKS her nearest and dearest for the honor.

But it seems, as wedding planning progresses, and she is surrounded by yes men all convincing her that her day is the most important thing EVER (ignoring the fact that these are all people wanting her to spend her money on their product/service/etc), she forgets that her friends are not simply accessories.

Your wedding, is never going to be as important to other people as it is to you. That means that your wedding party isn’t going to put starting a family on hold. They shouldn’t be requested to cover up their tattoos, which for most people are a visual way to share a part of who they are with the world. They shouldn’t be treated as place holders so everything looks even, nor should they be treated like their bank account is yours for the taking because you are THE BRIDE.

The thing that really bothers me, is the amount of validation from other people on how “No, it’s perfectly alright to get rid of the pregnant one, it’s YOUR special day after all.” (insert any validation for the crappy scenarios listed above) Seriously? You are willing to offend, hurt and risk the friendship of someone you feel close enough to want in your wedding because it’s YOUR special day? With that sort of attitude, I’m amazed Brides like that even have friends to stand up for them.

Because, when it comes down to it, once your ONE day of being the bride is over, you are still going to want to have these friends around you for when you get pregnant and you need someone to cower at your every demand for your baby shower.

Your friends are not accessories to change for pictures; to put their life on hold so as to not steal your “glory”.

Your friends are doing YOU the favor.

The Hunger Games Movie

Hope is the only thing more powerful then fear – President Snow, The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, a book and movie that has swept its way through our lives. One of those books, that for most, once you finish you instantly *need* to read the second and the third.

As is typical with most book adaptations, I was wary when going to see the movie. I’ve long since learned that I shouldn’t expect to see my vision of the book played out on the screen. The most I can hope for is that the director, screenwriter, actors, etc have managed to stay true to the message of the story.

It’s with that understanding that I go and see the movie versions of some of my favorite books. This past Saturday, I along with Joseph and his brothers and their wives, all went to see the Hunger Games.

First, I’d have to say it was really great. It covered a lot of information in a short amount of time. The casting was, in my opinion, amazing. Throughout the entire movie, I was impressed by just how perfect Lenny Kravitz played Cinna, or Woody Harrelson did with Haymitch.

It was hard to believe that the boy from Bridge to Terabithia was all grown up, but Josh Hutcherson played a VERY convincing Peeta Mellark. And Jennifer Lawrence has replaced the Katniss I had conjured in my head while reading the books with how real she made everything feel. Between those two, I really was rooting for their love to be real.

There were a couple of things I did have a problem with though.

A big part of the book that I felt they failed to show on screen wasn’t just that Katniss was playing with Peeta’s affections for the show, but how she was truly confused and conflicted with her feelings for him she didn’t expect. Perhaps if they had spent more time filming cave scenes as written in the book, the movie could have done a better job developing that relationship to show all the nuances that truly encompass how she feels, but I felt like the movie fell short for anyone who hadn’t read the book.

Additionally, I feel like although they showed in the movie, how Rue’s death affected her district, I don’t feel like they accurately showed the gratitude district 11 felt to Katniss. In the book there is a great scene where after Rue’s death, she gets bread from district 11 and Katniss realizes that it is a thank you from them. I think that part is really important because it not only nails into the fact that Katniss had her own standards when playing the game, she didn’t want to hurt a little girl that reminded her so much of Prim, nor would she simply leave her there to be picked up by a hovercraft (buried her in roses), but that the other districts saw Katniss as someone they could rally behind.

There was one thing the movie added that I did really love though. Unlike the book, that is simply from Katniss’ point of view, which keeps us only knowing what she knew; the movie showed us behind the scenes of the game. I really enjoyed seeing that layer of depth, putting a new spin on the games so we could see exactly how conniving the game makers and the president actually are. It added enough information so that the movies on the other two books will have some solid background.

Overall, I think the movie was very well done. I think that for those that havne’t read the book, there are so many nuances missed that, perhaps, it might be impossible to fully appreciate all aspects of the movie. Case in point, my brother in law thought it was a horrible movie, totally depressing. And while, that is partly true, I think anyone that has read the trilogy will agree, while depressing, it isn’t without its beauty and its hope.

The Color Run!

The happiest run of your life.

Seriously, what could be better then being splashed with different colors while doing a 5K. Especially on a wonderfully perfect, overcast Saturday morning in Atlanta. Oh, and did I mention all my wonderful friends who joined me; Joseph (of course), Katherine (enemies/frenemies/Friends since the 3rd grade, quite a history we have), Tiffany (my awesome boss lady), Chris (one of Joe’s friends) and then a couple other co-workers I didn’t actually run into (ha, pun) but were there.

But, since there is only so much you can say about the HAPPIEST 5K in the world, I’ll let the pictures do all the talking.