Stress:the ultimate buzz kill

For the first time in nine years, Mark and I did not carve pumpkins this Halloween. It's my favorite holiday and we did not even decorate this year. What's wrong with us?

Daisies In Danger?

I love my DVR. It lets me record shows and watch them when Mark's not home so I can spend an hour with him at the end of the night. Lately I've taken to DVRing all of my favorite shows and watching only one in real time.

Wednesdays at 8:00 I am glued to my TV watching the best show on television: Pushing Daisies. And now my beloved dramedy is in trouble. After being off the air for 9+ months (due to the writers' strike) after debuting its irst nine episodes, the ratings this season are dangerously low. Check out this link to a story on E! to find out how you can help to save my show. Please don't let my Daisies die.

Current obessions collide

So I'm sitting here watching Daisies and relaxing for the first time today. This is the one show I really look forward to each week and my excitement is reminiscent of the good ole' days of Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. I finally have a show that makes me giddy and girly and oh, so happy again. (I've missed this feeling!)

And then the first commercial of the first commercial break begins. With Edward and Bella! This is the first trailer I've seen on TV. And it has new scenes in it. Just a few small ones that I have not seen before that made me rewind and watch it two more times. The one I watched is not included in the clip below; I couldnd't find it!) And each time James tells Edward he's not strong enough and Edward replies "I'm strong enough to kill you.." I say the line out loud right along with him.

What could be better than Ned and Chuck and Edward and Bella all in a five minute time span?

Little C turns four

Happy Birthday, Caroline!

Holy Half Blood Harry!

I hate that we have to wait for this movie, but the last scene in this trailer totally makes up for it.

Bella's Lullaby?

I must confess, I was a dorky fan-girl and went to Hot Topic at the mall last night to hear the unveiling of the Twilight Soundtrack. I only made it though a few songs because I felt like such a dork. While I was not the oldest, I was in work clothes (ie: dressed up in heels) and did not quite mesh with the skulls and goth clothes in the store.
I very desperately wanted to hear two specific songs: Never Think by Robert Pattinson (the lovely Edward) and Bella's Lullaby, composed specifically for the movie. But I didn't want to be lurking around a store with lots of tweens ans teens eying me like I was out of place so I left before either song came on. So today I did what any dorky fan-girl would do after missing out on my songs - I found them on You Tube. They're not the best quality, but I'll take them. Enjoy.

Quote of the day: Talk

While looking at a Cougar paper sample book:
Susan: "Did you feel the chameleon? You totally have to feel the chameleon!"
Shawn: "I think I've been asked that before."

Muggle Quidditch? I could totally play this game...

For the first time, ever, I wishes I lived in the northeast. At least for the weekend. This Saturday at Middlebury College, the Intercollegiate Quidditch League Tournament will be in full force. 14 teams will compete to win the illustrious title of quidditch world champions, complete with trophy and major bragging rights.

Though they won’t be flying like in Harry Potter, these athletes ride brooms around a field and play with imitation quaffles and bludgers. They have the goals positioned on the ground so the hoops are high enough in the air to be a challenge. As for the golden snitch, well, instead of a speedy golden ball, it’s a person who turns the match into a game of hide and seek, making the seekers run all over campus trying to locate him. That's a position I could totally play.

TV quote of the week: Heroes

"High five turtle." - Matt Parkman to his spirit animal guide on finding his future wife Daphne waiting for him at the airport.

I'm too sexy...for a bus shelter?

Quote of the day as read in an article from the Los Angeles Associated Press about Kevin Smith's latest movie, Zack and Miri Make A Porno:

"If they want to call the movie `Zack and Miri,' that's fine, but Zack and Miri cannot make a porno on my bus shelters," Cutler said.

Good Eats?

I have one spiral notebook for the book, and another one for all other writing ie: ideas for future projects. One in particular is a very bare bones listing of characters for a young adult novel. It's been sitting open on the living room floor for a month now so I can quickly jot down names like "The Nova Academy" or "Jaclyn 'Jack' Gregory" before they slip out of my head again.

Lately, Chaucer has taken to picking at the notebook, using his front (clawless) paws to knead it curling the pages in the process. Today I looked down and he was eating the page. Litererally chewing the bottom right corner and pulling pieces off like he was going to eat my story piece by piece.

It makes me wander if he thinks I'm paying too much attention to my computer and not enough to him.

Phoenix raps with the best of 'em

So I arrived in Phoenix last Thursday afternoon (a week ago yesterday), and the first thing I noticed after the inundation of brown was the City of Phoenix's logo. At first glance, the logo whizzing by my taxi window looked familiar. The wings of a bird-like creature curved up into a "w" shape reminiscent of Wu Tang Clan. It didn't occur to me that this was the city's logo of a phoenix with flaming wings until the ride back to the airport. I thought the southwestern mecca simply loved its rap music.

But if Dumbledor had had a logo, I think it would have looked something like this:

(Please note: The landing was rough and I was trying not to hurl in the back of the cab on the way to the hotel, so my mind was not as clear as on the way back to Sky Harbor when I recognized what the symbol really was.)

Parasitic aliens in love

So I was sitting in the Phoenix airport on Sunday, after a long few days at a conference, sobbing as quietly as possible for twenty or so minutes all because of a book.

I had saved Stepahnie Meyer's first adult book, The Host, specifically for this trip. Not only would I be in the author's town, but I would be in the vicinity of the setting of the book. (Yes, I know, I'm a dork!)

I expected to love the book simply for the fact that I am obsessed with her other books. Her characters are more alive to me than some people I know. But I also expected to be a little wary of it. While vampires and werewolves don't phase me, I have a big problem with aliens. They're just not my type of thing. But this book is so my type of thing. Above all else, it is a love story. A wonderfully sweet, tragic love story that involves Melanie (a host body that has been invaded by an alien), Jared (Melanie's one true love), Wanderer (the centepede like alien in Mel's body) and Ian (the human who loves Wanderer even without Melanie's body).

In the beginning I was rooting for Mel and Jared. But by the end, the most heart-wrenching characters were Wanderer and Ian. These are the two that broke my heart. That had me bawling surrounded by fellow passengers who kept giving me sidelong glances to make sure I was OK. And if I didn't have as much faith in Stephanie Meyer and her love of romance, I'm not sure I would have been OK. But knowing that Bella and Edward survived it all to be together and no one stood in their way, I was banking on The Host to deliver much of the same. Lucky for me (and the passengers around me) the crying didn't last too long.

The vampires are coming...

Here is the full trailer for Twilight. Enjoy. (It gave me goosebumps!)

Love redefined

Random text from Mark while I was in Phoenix:
"So I got in my new grills and I think I'm in love."

Living Twilight

So tomorrow I am going to Phoenix for a work conference. And you know the most exciting part? I get to go to Sky Harbor Airport where Bella runs away from Alice and Jasper in Twilight. Then I get to take a cab into Scottsdale. Hopefully I won't be racing toward a demented vampire set on killing me though.

It'll be kinda cool to have that part of the book come alive for me once I've seen what it all looks like though. I may just have to take a detour to the bathroom on level three of Terminal 4 and take a picture for Karen and Ash, just for fun.

Facelift

I gave the blog a facelift today. And something about the change makes me feel more sophisticated, grown up. Like I could actually finish my book and be a published author. Like I could open a stationery store one day and spend my afternoons surrounded by paper. Like I may actualy get to do all the things that live quietly inside my head desperately hoping one day to be real.

2 years at Talk

Yesterday was my 2nd anniversary at Talk. Today is my review. I have a few things on my mind and I hope Deb doesn't fire me for saying them. But at some point, you've got to decide if your in it for the long haul, and if you are, you need to get over worrying that your boss won't like you if you speak your mind. Hopefully today is my day.

Love sick?

So one of my favorite shows returned last night - Pushing Daises. I've been waiting for this night since last fall when it went off of the air due to the writer's strike and didn't come back. I was giddy with anticipation for the return of my pie maker and his untouchable girl, Chuck. Olive was running off to a nunnery, Emmerson was longing for his daughter, and Digby was helping keep Chuck alive by barking if she and Ned got too close. It was going to be a perfect night.

And then the fever came. It was only 100.4, but it was enough to have me sleeping from 6-8 pm, turning on the TV and wishing I didn't ache everywhere so I could enjoy this long overdue premiere.

In the end, I made it though, laughed a little, sighed a lot and promptly went to bed.