Movie Review 7, 8 and 9

These are all rentals, so if you are so inclined run out to your nearest video rental store....


Movie Review 7: Milk
A political movie about the rise of the gay rights movement of the 60s and 70s. The setting is San Francisco and the movie stars two of my favorite actors; Sean Penn and James Franco. I liked the movie. I thought it was historically accurate, well portrayed and insightful. But, it is a political movie, no laughs, no action- but some drama. If your into historical and/or political flicks you'd like this one. I would have given it a three star if it were not for Sean Penn's amazing acting...
Four out of five stars.


Movie Review 8: Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Fu*king hilarious! This movie is written and produced by Kevin Smith...and if you don't know who Kevin Smith is... seriously...get off this page! It stars Jason Mews, Seth Roden and Tracy Lords. Its not serious but is incredibly funny and of course, in Kevin Smith fashion, has side-splittingly funny dialogue. If your looking for a great laugh, run, don't walk, to rent this one!
Four out of five stars.

Movie Review 9: Twilight
Ok, I had my reservations about this one. Any "teen pop" reference usually has me running for the hills, but I heard so many people say they loved this movie...so we checked it out. OMG...I loved it! If your into Vampire flicks, love stories, or just sexy movies in general, you'll love this. I seriously didn't want the story to end and I can not wait for the next movie!
A surprising Five out of five stars!

Hells yes!

Well the job situation might be in limbo but one thing that isn't anymore...my weight! I have been balls to the wall for the past three months and finally, after switching up some things, the weight is dropping. Of course its not "falling off," and it never will for me...but I am happy to report as of today a 15 pound loss! I am very, very proud of myself : )
(Fred has also been diligent himself, joining me at the gym three days a week and joining me on the diet, and has lost 20 pounds!!! so proud of my man!)

Limbo

...great to play, not so great to live in. So as I posted previously, there is soon to be a job opening at work that I have been coveting. This job will allow me to use everything I've learned in school, make some very important connections in the academia-research field and allow me to work in the environment I love, the university setting. Not to mention I will be working with some of the smartest people I have ever met! Problem is I have no idea when they're even starting the interview process!!!
I am just incredibly stressed about it all! Bills are rolling in, medical and otherwise, and in May another large bill (student loans) will be added to the pile. My problem is I have put my job search efforts on slow-down because of the good things I am hearing about them wanting me for the job, yet nothing has actually been offered. I will be in an extremely bad situation, if come the end of summer I don't get this position and am, once again, behind on applying elsewhere.
I don't really want another job, I want this one. Even if another paid more, I would still want this one. I've always been the one that would rather love what I do than get paid tons doing something I hate...because in the end, when you die...the money never matters.
But, bills still need to get paid.
I just hope they start the process soon, as the weeks go by I am becoming more and more anxious...people tell me to calm down and relax about it...but that's easy to say when you have a job. I know I'm doing better than a lot of people out there and I am grateful for that...
Its just hard to have something dangled in front of you that you want so bad for months....

Gentry

Have you ever felt when you were talking to a child like they had an old soul? Like, even though they are very young they "get it" already? Well that is how I feel when I spend time with my niece Gentry. I love this little girl to death and feel like we have a special connection. Not many kids make me want to have a child as much as this little one. There is just something about her.
Fred and I were watching her and her brother (who I also adore) the other day and decided to take some photos...
As the day ended and we fell asleep together on the couch she stretched her little arm around my neck and said..."I yuv you aout Rassshel," ...my heart melted.

B & W- pouting

and in color

ice cream face

gumball mouth

silly girl

big brother Richie playing soccer with uncle Fred

It's been three years to the day...

...since Fred and I signed the papers and moved into our very own home- our condo. I can't believe it's been three years already! So much has changed since then; friends have been married, divorced and seperated, we've been married, we've had health crisis' and gone to Greece, I've attained my Master's degree and we've welcomed so many new additions into the world! It's amazing how time flies...
It has also been a year this month that I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease by a triple factor blood sample...and digestively I am light years away from the pain I was in this time last year!
I hope we can look back in three more years and see as many accomplishments and fewer set-backs, but one thing is for sure- we are a stronger couple now than we were then and more in love too. There is nothing in this world we can't accomplish if we are together.
I'm thankful for our home and for our lives and appreciative of the blessings as well as the challenges because they have made us who we are today.

Movie Review 6: Slumdog Millionaire

OMG...what an amazing movie. This is a must see! Great cinematography, script, story-line, acting and more. It has it all; romance, comedy, action, suspense and mystery...and I can't imagine anyone not being able to at least appreciate the movie, let alone love it. I understand why it won so many Oscars and in my humble opinion it deserved every single one of them.
GO OUT AND SEE THIS MOVIE IN THEATRES WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
Five out of Five stars !!!

Looking for a blog...

...that talks about thrombophilia or DVT's, blood and other clotting disorders. If anyone runs across some, please let me know. The yahoo groups are pretty disappointing. Thanks bunches!!!

I'm famous, I'm famous !!!

...or at least that's what I was running around telling Fred today when I got this month's issue of Wayne State University's newsletter- Visions. I am the featured photographer for the Center for Social Work Practice and Policy research!!! My name is in the newsletter and everything! Very exciting- to see what I'm talking about visit here- my photos are on the front page and the CREN tab : )
Yeah me!!!

Movie Review 5: Watchmen

Ok, first of all- this is a review by someone who has never read the book, didn't know what to expect and didn't know one ounce about the story. For a review from a comic book reader visit this review.
I generally like comic book based movies and have watched Iron Man several times and the recent Hulk movie twice. This one didn't do anything for me though. I found the story to be a bit depressing, and frankly weird. There was little in the characters to connect to and although I did want to know the ending of the story, I honestly didn't care much about what happened to the characters. While visually the movie was well done with "300" type affects, some elements were simply disturbing and distracting. Like the 30 foot blue penis they kept showing and the gratuitous sex scenes that did nothing to add to the story but to display another gratuitous sex scene. I am the last person to complain about this sort of thing but I found many of the scenes to be used for shock value rather than adding in any way to the story. Finally, it was entirely too graphic to be tasteful and way too long. If you are an avid comic fan than go, you'll feel like you have to.... but if not save this for a rental.

Two and half out of five stars

Fun with Photography

In a creative mood today so I thought I'd play around a bit with Photoshop; editing some new photos and some oldies but goodies.

Amelie Josephine- 5 months- March 2009

Ethan Brady-Six months- December 2008

Ethan Brady- Three months- Summer 2008

Gentry Rose- Two years- Fall 2008

Mandy Elizabeth- 6 months- Summer 2008

Nicole- Summer 2008

Lori and her husband Jim- summer 2008

Opps!

Did I say I was down 10 lbs? I'm sorry...make that 12 lbs!!! Whoop, whoop!
Gotta love it! I know it will slow down again eventually but I am loving it for the moment anyway. Had some injuries this week that have slowed my work-outs down. Get this...while I was running last week my sports bra somehow managed to burn the skin under my chest so bad that I had a 6 inch long laceration!!! Like it took off the first couple layers of skin!
Its sucked, so I've had to tone it down a bit while that heals. Plus for some reason my legs been hurting a bit this week-so I've decreased my intensity but hoping next week to step it up again.
Problem with being on Coumadin, they want you to eat low Vitamin K (which is in most vegetables) and what do you eat freely when your trying to lose weight...yeah vegetables. So needless to say I have some added challenges, but I am happy with my progress so far and I'm feeling good!
Well off to the gym...taking my Dad home from the nursing home today- so it should be an interesting weekend to say the least...

A Random Saturday Night

So, I've realized- you never truly know how much fun you can have on some random night out sitting at a restaurant bar...
So my girl Courtney and I went out for dinner last night to TGI Fridays, and the place was packed wall to wall...so in a sneaky maneuver Courtney snags us two seats at the bar- SCORE!
We order drinks, a daiquiri for her and diet coke for me (and yes the diet coke plays an important role in this story). We catch up; we talk about work, friends, life, our hair etc...you know, the usual stuff you talk about with your girlfriends.
As the night wore on and we stayed at the bar nursing our "drinks" we began to notice the later it got the more fun the bar became. A Jenga game broke out on one end of the bar which we were invited to join, and declined. I met a very sweet, and very tipsy couple from the east -side on my right- she's a nursing student craving a cigarette and her big, hefty boyfriend doted on her...
To our left we spot a couple of guys having dinner.

Court: "You see that one there on the end?"
Me: "Oh, yeah the one with the dark hair and brown eyes..."
Court: (excited) "Yeah..."
Me: "Oh, yeah totally...for you."
Court: "For me, what do you mean- isn't he cute?"
Me: "Oh yeah, I just meant tall, dark and handsome, that's for you. But I wouldn't get too excited, I think that's his boyfriend sitting next to him."
Court: "Oh yeah he is really too skinny...hmmm- maybe we'll see."

So we continue our night joking with the bartender. His name was Chris, he was hilarious and continued to tease me about drinking my Diet Coke at the bar. Eventually we got a bottle-flip show from Chris at the dismay of his other bartender friends who couldn't get around him to serve the rest of the bar. One bar tender, Trevor began to scope us out- but alas Courtney was not interested...
Eventually we ended up meeting the boys sitting to the left of us. The one was a real estate agent and the other a hair dresser....oh yes, a hair dresser- my gay-dar has never failed me...
Turns out these two boyfriends were an excellent source of conversations and entertainment and one had worked at Fridays a few years back- so they knew the entire staff.
The night continued and we had a blast, between crazy bathroom encounters, free drinks, hair tips from the gay men and the continued hilarious antics of the bartending team- it was a wonderful night!
So funny; so much fun!
It never fails, wherever Courtney and I end up- a fun story is sure to follow.
At the end of the night after hair-dresser boy told Courtney to cut her hair:

Court: "Do you really think I need to cut my hair, straight men love my hair."
Me: "Your not exactly trying to marry a gay man so don't worry-your hair is beautiful."
Court: "Thanks...that was a fun night."
Me: "Yeah, it really was. I wonder how often Trevor sits at the pool naked?"

And, laughing, we both headed to our respective cars.