Happy Birthday Debbie

With five older brothers we were destined to become friends...

Doing all the things that girls like to do...

We always shared everything, from clothes, a cell phone, a car, our friends and... maybe even a few crushes along the way... We share a strong love for our family.

A strong love of singing and dancing.

Thank you for not only being my sister but my best friend, I love you. Happy 25th Birthday

Something Very Important

A few month back my ear phones broke, I could not have that so I ran to the apple store to get some new ones. I can not remember how much they cost but it was ridiculous (I just tried to look it up online it doesn't even say, because they are ashamed). From there I headed over to Best Buy and called Mimi to ask her how much her green ear phones or ear buds as she calls them cost. She couldn't remember but was sure it was no where near the ridiculous price of the apple store. I found the JVC Gumy earphones and decided to go with the blue ones at 9.99.

Then a little less than a months ago my friend Jenny wanted me to listen to a song so she pulled out her ipod and ipod earphones. I put them in my ear and almost cried out in pain, they were huge and hurt my ear. And a few weeks ago I let Debbie borrow my ipod but she forgot that I had given her my ear phones so she pulled out her ipod ear phones. She discovered after listening for hours her hears would hurt, until she found my blue ear phones. Russ did not believe there could be a real difference so we held them to each other, the difference was significant. So all you ipod owners it is very important that you know that your ears don't need to hurt by the overly large standard ipod earphones. I am sorry I did not tell you sooner.

Connie's 2008 Book Awards

These are books I read in 2008 not that necessarily came out in 2008.

The book that made me want a sequel the most:

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

I may have actually started hitting the book repeatedly on my bed as I realized it was the end of book one. I would recommend this book to anyone.

The book(s) with the best male characters who love music:

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin

Will made the best mix CD's!!!

And

Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen

"Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in your or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment." Owen - Just Listen





Can I just say that I have read three of Sarah's books...she writes the best guys, I love Wes, Owen & Dexter.

The book that created a new fear for me:

Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

**Spoiler Alert** In the book one of the character starts getting attacked by birds hundreds of birds no matter where he goes. Well while I was reading about the birds attacking I am sitting in my aunts house in Utah in front of their window. When I notice a couple birds on the telephone wire I look up again in a minuet and there are like 10 more birds and they just kept coming and coming. It freaked me out a little bit. Then on the way home from Utah we stopped in Flagstaff to pick up some of Debbie & Russ' stuff. It had been raining all day it was wet outside and still drizzling a bit while I was moving stuff to the truck this crow or some loud bird kept cawing loudly. Birds are not out when it is raining. Yep freaked me out a little bit more. Then while Debbie and I are driving the truck home (the truck which window does not roll up the whole way) a bird flies like it trying to fly through the little crack in the window. Seriously no joke it flew right at me. And all this happened with in two days. So yes I now have a sort of fear of birds.

The book with the ending I waited the longest for:

Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer

I just have to say that I LOVE Jacob's book, even the titles for the chapters had me laughing. There was a lot more humor in Breaking Dawn, I mean Bella even quoted The Simpson's, it was great. The banter between Rosalie & Jacob had me laughing out loud. And when Jacob kicked her in the stomach in his human form...it was awesome. I love Jacob. I can't not mention Emmett's "Go Gators! About time someone scored around here." I laughed so long over that, maybe it was the lack of sleep or maybe the drugs.

The book with the cutest endings:

How To Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend, by Janette Rallison

Janette Rallison wrote a book I loved when I was 15. This past year I discovered she had a lot more books out and I have almost read all of them. But this book has been my favorite so far. Her books are clean, fun reads, seriously you will laugh out loud. I brought one of her other books "It's A Mall World After All" on a trip to Utah, it had everyone in the car laughing out loud.

And

The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen

Cutest might not be the best word but it is really really good.

The books that caused me the most emotional distress:

The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes, & City of Glass) by, Cassandra Clare

This is going to sound bad, but when I first read City of Bones I actually had to put the book down and could not pick it up for almost a month. You find out some distressing news in the book and every time I thought about picking the book back up it made me feel sick. But thankfully I finished and read City of Ashes. City of Ashes is so good, completely sold me on the series and gave me yet another fictional crush (oh Jace). I am also just going to add City of Glass in the mix even if I read it in 2009 and technically does not come out till March. I love all the books and they all caused me emotional distress. If you are wondering how I already read City of Glass I mentioned it already in a blog. But we made a video and took second in a contest and won an Advanced Readers Copy.

Out With The Old In With The New part II

My top 5 favorite movies in 2008 were...

Penelope


Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

"HE IS MAGNIFICENT"

The Dark Knight


The Fall

Thank you Debbie & Russ for Clearplay

Chaos Theory


Movies I want to see in 2009
Terminator Salvation

I Love Christian Bale

Wolverine

I first saw this trailer last summer at Comic Con and at the last couple of movies I have gone to see & everytime I clap when they show Gambit.

Public Enemies
This will most likely be R so I will have to wait for it to come out on DVD but come on, a movie about gangsters with Johnny Depp & Christian Bale who doesn't want to see that? You can read about it here.

Christmas Celebrations

I had such a great Christmas season, first Debbie, Mimi & I invited some of our friends over to Debbie's for hot chocolate and then went and saw the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. Then I had my annual Christmas/Melanie's birthday lunch with my friends Melanie & Melissa.

Christmas Eve I went to Debbie & Russ's for dinner, Christmas lights & the kids and I did the Nativity. Then I headed home to wrap my presents and make a bag I had promised to Vaeh. Around 4 am I was on the phone with Mimi because she had finished the video we entered for a contest to win an Advanced Reader Copy of the book City of Glass. It is the final book of a series we can't wait to finish called The Mortal Instruments. You can see the video here and see the results of the competition here.

Christmas morning I went to my parent's along with the rest of my family for breakfast more nativities and then opening presents. It was a very special Christmas, I am so blessed to be able to spend it with my loved ones.

Dancing for your pleasure

I was so excited for November and now it is December so how did it pan out? Well first was the release of two albums Travis's Ode To J. Smith & Little Joy's self titled album. Both were great, and let's be honest I had heard most of the songs before they came out anyway. But it was nice to have the whole thing legally.

A friend was asking me my thoughts on Travis's album, I am not the person to ask I love them too much to be objective. But as usual Fran said it better than I ever could..."Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)" - Fran Healy
Here is one I really like that I already did not blog about.


This is one of my favorite songs from Little Joy. For some reason it makes me want to watch a Doris Day & Rock Hudson film.


Quantum of Solace was not as good as Casino Royale, a car, airplane and boat chase were a little too much for me. But for an action movie it wasn't half bad but it was no Jason Bourne.

Last but not least was of course Twilight. I want to start off by saying I have heard people complain that the movie did not have this or it did not have that. Yes I know because it is impossible to cram a 500 page book into a 2 hour movie. It is like Pride & Prejudice I love the book and I love the 5 hour movie with Colin Firth that is very true to the book. But I also like the 2 hour not so close to the book adaption, because it captures the heart of the book. And truth be told if I am in the need of a little P&P hit I throw in the 2 hour version before I do the 5 hour.

My point being that although I did not think the movie was perfect I still love it because it captures the emotions I get when reading the book. If I let myself stop wishing for things that are never going to be in the movie I easily get swept up and feel the torture Edward feels, the surety Bella feels about her heart and the happiness Edward finds from that.
If you hate the books or hate the movie, I really would not waste your time trying to sell me your hate. Asking why I like Twilight is like asking why I love Jane Austen or why as a little girl I pretended to be Cinderella twirling around the ball with Prince Phillip...I don't know why like I also don't know why guys like Die Hard movies, Halo or Firefly but I have tried to be more understanding, ask Russ I watched the new Hulk with him. I would also like to say concerns are not the same thing as hate. If you would like to discuss concerns that is fine. I don't think people realize part of the reason I love Twilight so much is because of the friendships it has brought me. How could I not always love it?

Want To Have Fun

I have not had anything I've really wanted to post about for awhile. But I just watched this video of The Killers doing a cover of one of my favorite songs.

The Cyndi Lauper version was released in 1983 which means I would have been two years old. I don't really want to admit that this is one of my favorite songs but it has been a part of my childhood. I remember being very young watching this on TV and loving it.

Then of course there is that fabulous movie that shares the same name that I grew up watching.

And for the last few years it has been one of my nieces Vaeh's favorite songs. Whenever I drive her some place we will listen to it at least a couple times, both of us singing along at the top of our lungs. So for better or worse Girls Just Want to Have Fun would most likely be on my life's soundtrack.