safe & sound

 Taylor Swift?  And The Civil Wars?!  AND it's on The Hunger Games SOUNDTRACK?! Yes yes yes! Oh and the movie comes out in 24 days!! Yayayayayaya!!!  I mean...whatever...it doesn't matter.

:)

ece winter party

So last night we went to our 4th annual ECE winter party and it was great!  We had a wonderful time with friends and I for one am thankful for times like this when I'm able to get dolled up and have a night out on the town.  Annnnnd we took pictures y'all (amazing that we remembered, I know)!

(closer up)

the civil wars (barton hollow)

Love this band.  I just bought their CD and thought I'd share one of my fave songs on it with y'all.

you know you're from NC when...

My sister shared this gem with me and it has made my day.  You should probably go check it out:

You know you're from NC when...

crockpot cheddar beer chicken tacos

A lot of words for a lot of deliciousness.  I made them the other night for dinner and OH MY GOSH they are amazing!  Do yourself a favor and make them too because:

A. They are super easy.
B. They are fairly healthy (I examined the recipe and it didn't look like anything bad was in it).
C. THEY ARE SO TASTY!

Here's the recipe.  And here's a pic (photo and recipe cred go to How Sweet It Is):

book reviews

I wasn't crazy(totally intentional) about this book.  I guess I felt like I knew most of the concepts and it wasn't that riveting.  When I read a book about faith I want to be challenged and I didn't really get that from this book.  I also felt like the author was very black and white with most of the concepts and I personally don't view my faith that way.  I'm not totally ruling this book out though, it did have some good concepts in it and maybe you enjoy it.  2 out of 5 stars.

This book was pretty good, maybe a little cheesy but still good.  It's set in Ireland.  A man donates blood and shortly after a woman receives a blood transfusion, which contains his blood (gasp!).  She starts to have memories of things she's never seen (his memories, gasp!) and spouts out information that she didn't know a week before (all stuff he knows, double gasp!).  Haha.  I found this in the $3.99 or less section of Kindle books so that was pretty telling.  Not the best thing I've ever read but still decent.  3 out of 5 stars.

This book was sweet.  Also a Kindle $3.99 or less find.  It's about a man who has everything and then loses most of it.  It's also about a dog that was bred and brought up in a dog fighting ring.  Some people rescue him from that hell (don't even get me started on dog fighting) and he ends up in a shelter.  Some stuff happens, then the dog ends up with the man that "lost it all" and he becomes a better man and the dog has a better life...it's pretty sweet.  Maybe I cried a bit during a few parts.  You should read the book, if you're a dog person you should definitely read this book.  Pulls on your heart strings.  It crossed my mind that if someone ever stole my Dixie and put her in a dog fighting ring they would literally have hell to pay (and maybe even a little more).  Don't mess with this mama and her pup. 3 out of 5 stars.

I found this in the free section of Kindle books (do we see a theme here?).  It was pretty good for being free and all.  It's your basic "woman in her 30s has a crumbling marriage to a guy who kinda sucks and she forgets who she really is, so she has to search for her true self and figure out what to do about her marriage" along with some other drama thrown into the mix.  I liked the characters, the dialogue and the setting (Texas!).  But a nice little surprise was that it's a Christian fiction book so it had a positive twist on it.  Pretty good read, nothing mind blowing but entertaining and a bit thought provoking nonetheless.  3 out of 5 stars.

not-so-new movies & their reviews

This movie was FANTASTIC!  One of the best movies we've seen in a long time.  It's about a young man that grew up in foster homes and joins the Navy the first chance he gets.  Once he's in the Navy he begins to have some problems and is sent to a therapist (Denzel).  Basically he and Denzel unwrap his past and he begins to heal...you see where this is going.  It was a great movie and since it's based on a true story I think it's even better.  

This was a good movie :)  Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda were funny and cute.  I'm embarrassed to say that the first time I've watched this was in the past week, oops.  Sorry, Dolly.  You should see this if you haven't already and I'm guessing you probably have since it came out over 3 decades(!) ago. 

 

This movie was meh.  I don't know if it's because our generation is used to go-go-go movies but I felt like this was very slow moving and kind of degrading.  Marilyn's character is marrying a man only for his money.  Which she states many times.  Like, deliberately states that she has no idea why people marry for love, they should only marry for money.  And she plays a ditz the whole time.  Ugh.  I guess I just had higher hopes for Marilyn but I'm sure this movie was a huge crowd pleaser back then.  It had pretty women singing and dancing and I'm sure it was funny too.  Just not now.  The one redeeming thing in the whole movie was Marilyn's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" performance.

So this movie came on the other night and we weren't doing anything else so we figured we'd tune in.  Whitney's voice was amazing, of course.  The movie was pretty good.  Of course Denzel brought his A-game.  It was pretty cool to see Whitney and Denzel from like 16 years ago, they looked so much younger (duh).  So the premise is that Whitney is the wife of a struggling preacher.  And Denzel is the preacher's guardian angel.  Except that Denzel kinda develops a thing for Whitney(?).  John and I were confused and thought it was a little inappropriate that an angel from God develops a crush on the wife of the man he's been sent to help.  Hmmm...in the end God sent down some thunder as a response to Denzel having feelings for Whitney.  Fair enough, right?  Weird.  I digress...it was a good movie.

a true southerner knows...

So glad I came across this gem.  I thought I'd copy and paste it here for y'all...

A True Southerner Knows...

The difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit.

Pretty much how many fish or collards greens make up a mess.

What general direction cattywumpus is.

That “gimme sugar” don’t mean pass the sugar.

When somebody’s “fixin” to do something, it won’t be long.

The difference between Yankee’s and damn Yankee’s.

How good a cold grape Nehi and cheese crackers are at a country store.

Knows what, “Well I Suwannee” means.

Ain’t nobody’s biscuits like Grandma’s biscuits!

A good dog is worth its weight in gold.

Real gravy don’t come from the store.

The War of Northern Aggression was over state rights, not slavery.

When “by and by” is.

How to handle their “pot likker”.

You should never loan your tools, pick-up, or gun to nobody.

A belt serves a greater purpose than holding Daddy’s pants up.

The differences between a redneck, a good ol’ boy, and trailer trash.

Never to go snipe hunting twice.

At one point learned what happens when you swallow tobacco juice.

You may wear long sleeves, but you should always roll ‘em up past the elbows.

The difference between “pert’ near” and “a right far piece”.

They know that “just down the road” can be 1 mile or 20.

Never to assume that the other car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

A true Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of “yonder.”

A true Southerner knows exactly how long “directly” is – as in “Going to town, be back directly.”

True Southerners know instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. (If the trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin’.)

True Southerners make friends standing in lines. We don’t do “queues,” we do “lines.” And when we’re in line, we talk to everybody.

When you hear someone say, “Well, I caught myself lookin”, you know you’re in the presence of a genuine southerner.

And a true Southerner knows you don’t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 on the freeway – you just say, “Bless her heart” and go your way.

your daily (love) quote

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

Plato

Happy Valentine's Day, Y'all!

grammy recap

I enjoy DVRing awards shows so that I can watch them the next day without commercials, acceptance speeches from artists that I don't care for and performances for artists I don't care for (side eye: Chris Brown).  It's really the best way to go.  So here are some of my fave performances/moments from the Grammys:

• Taylor Swift's performance (didn't really care for the outfit but whatevs)
• Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys' tribute to Etta James
• Jennifer Hudson's tribute to those who have passed away in the last year
• Tribute to Glen Campbell
• Beach Boys montage
• Reba (love her!) introducing Kelly Clarkson/Jason Aldean

But my FAVE, FAVE, FAVE performance was Adele.  I mean that woman is AMAZING!  She has a magnificent voice and is so beautiful!  If you haven't listened to anything by Adele you should start now.  This is my fave song by her, it's so powerful.  Love her :)

movie (aka ryan gosling) night

We watched The Ides of March Friday night and guys, I really wanted to love this movie.  Because, I mean...it's got George Clooney AND Ryan Gosling in it!  But it just didn't deliver.  Don't get me wrong, the performances were really great, but at the end I was left thinking "Annnnnnd...what happens next?  Surely this isn't the end, because that doesn't really make any sense."  But it was the end, friends.  And we were disappointed.  OK guys, I really like Ryan Gosling a lot, so I decided to give him another chance.  Which is how we got here...

Drive was better.  But I had heard that it was amazing and I would say that it was just pretty good.  I mean I liked it but I don't think it was the best movie I'd ever seen.  Also, Ryan Gosling was pretty great (duh) and it was entertaining.  Carey Mulligan and Christina Hendricks did really well too.  So that's how our Friday night was turned into a tribute to Ryan Gosling.

your daily quote

found here

your daily quote

Dolly Parton's Facebook status today: 

I never, ever get involved in politics. With politics you are not allowed to be honest. I don`t have time to deal with that. I would rather work with kids.

Amen to that, Dolly!

pretty girl hair

So remember that one time when you didn't really want to get ready but you had to leave the house and face the world?  Yeah, that's me...every dang day.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm a gal that likes to get dressed nice and do my hair and make up.  BUT when you roll out of bed before 7 AM(!) and know that you're going to spend the day with 3 boys under 6 years old you don't really feel like it's a make up and high heels kinda day.  So, I usually indulge in the bare minimum--foundation, mascara, perfume, earrings, clothes that are somewhat acceptable in public but I won't die if I get puke/poop/dried up food remnants on them. 

Where am I going with this, you may ask?  I came across a great and easy hair tutorial that you can do at night (yes, I'm a night showerer) and look pretty fabulous when you wake up.  Of course I'll share it with you because I want y'all to look fab while doing as little as possible too. 

 

And here's the link.  You're welcome.

your daily quote

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.

Andy Rooney

movies, lately

Y'all, I wanted to like this movie.  Like, I really, really wanted to love this movie.  I mean because it has DOLLY freaking PARTON and Queen Latifah in it!!  It was supposed to be amazing!  But it wasn't.  It really, really wasn't.  I feel like I'm committing treason stating that I didn't like it.  Because I LOVE Dolly.  A lot.  But honestly, half the time I didn't know what was going on or what the plot was or why they were doing whatever the heck they were doing.  I'll be the first to admit it when I don't like something but I really had to dig deep in myself to admit to my friend that I wasn't impressed.  The ending performance (which I couldn't find on youtube so I could show y'all, sorry) redeemed about 30% of the awfulness of the movie.  There, I said it and I wipe my hands of this movie.  Sigh.

Now, this movie I really liked.  I really like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. They were great together.  The movie is about a 27 year old guy who is diagnosed with cancer and the way he and his friend deal with it.  This is a true story and the guy diagnosed with cancer (Gordon-Levitt) is Seth Rogen's friend in real life.  And I'm pretty sure Seth Rogen is playing himself in the movie (of course they all have different names).  Did that make sense?  Hope so.  But really, it's sad (of course) but also funny, clever and witty(sounds redundant but whatevs).  I definitely recommend it!