February Broad Goals

Well, I guess tomorrow is February...meaning...it's time for Goals List #2 :-)

1. Organize all Education material

2. Go through chest of drawers and dresser

3. Complete Defense Presentation...

4. Music

I figured I'd just go ahead and decide on and confirm the 4 big goals. I'll add the subgoals tomorrow night!

p.s. I'm still out of it :-(

Goal set back and intense pain...but keeping it positive!!!

Well, it looks like I may not finish all of my January Goals after all. But, this will be by no fault of mine...I have shingles!! :-( (Crazy intense debilitating neck pain...) It's hard enough to move around and do normal things, much less take clothes on and off...and drive...,in other words, the last couple of remaining tasks (trying on about 10 items and taking about 3 bags of clothes to Plato's Closet) cannot be completed due to my current physical limitations.

Regardless, I'm still extremely happy about how things have gone this month :-D The closet itself looks fantastic and everything has actually been gone through! I'll post pictures of my newly organized, happiness-inducing closet tomorrow :-P

Now I have to think about what 4 big goals I want to set for February...

Well, it's really hard to concentrate b/c of the pain so I'm gone for now...but with a semblance of a smile on my face :-)

Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project + My January Goals

So in an attempt to increase my happiness level, my mom gave me Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project" for Christmas a month ago. At first I thought the gesture was a sweet but misguided attempt at her trying to understand why I get lonely at times, what with being in grad school and living alone. But once I started this book and could not stop reading it, my life improved...lol.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (Book # 6 of 2012):
While this was an autobiography/self-help book focused on ways that the author herself worked to improve her own personal happiness over the course of a year, I found it to have an incredible amount of tips that were extremely useful in making my own days more fulfilling and satisfying. As I've mentioned before in this blog, my idea for the 4 goals per month, each separated into smaller goals, came from this book. And as any readers have seen, this has been an incredibly successful method for myself of getting things done. A few posts back, I also listed "Marie's Commandments," which was a concept inspired by this book. Inevitably, there will be numerous references to this book as I continue blogging. So all in all, while there were some aspects of her happiness journey that I didn't connect with, that was essentially the overall point of the book - that everyone is a unique individual who must find their own ways to reach happiness. And as a side note, this book is not spiritually or theoretically centered at all, but is much more practical and usable in anyone's happiness journey.

READ IT!!! :-)


JANUARY GOALS UPDATE!! - 3 of 4 DOWN!!
1. Go through my Christmas gifts - COMPLETE :-)
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - CHECK
f. mail thank you notes - CHECK

2. Financials - COMPLETE :-)
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? - No, so CHECK
g. call to make tax filing appointment - CHECK
h. update GrottoFae info - CHECK

3. Closet - maybe a couple more days work...
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (only a few more items to try on!!)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways - (I've done this for all the hanging clothes I've gone through)
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK
d. put these things away in proper locations - (still need to hang shadow box on the wall...)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (bags with future t-shirt quilt materials, clothes I want to keep for my future children) - CHECK
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS - CHECK
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK

A Useful Budgeting Tool + January Goal Updates

Check this out!
First off, I'd like to provide whoever may be reading this blog with an Excel workbook I created. This tool has been a tremendous help with budgeting. It's separated into 2 sheets. The 1st sheet is a breakdown by day (billing cycles for my credit cards provide the overall breakdown) of how much money I have spent in various categories including, for example, Grocery, Automotive, Medical, and Pets. The 2nd sheet keeps track of how much I have saved each month with 1 column for "Out of Pocket," 1 column for "Amount Saved," and a 3rd column for "% Saved." A totals cell below each billing cycle breakdown provides a total savings count for the entire month. CLICK HERE to download
Hopefully someone will find this useful!

I'm still going strong with my goals...
January Goals : 2/4 completed, 6 days left including today = SO DOABLE

1. Go through my Christmas gifts - COMPLETE :-)
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - CHECK
f. mail thank you notes - CHECK (the envelopes look like stamp collages since I still had some 32 cent stamps :-P )

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? - No, so CHECK
g. call to make tax filing appointment - CHECK
h. update GrottoFae info - (I realized my log doesn't include a number of entries so I'm gonna have to look on Etsy to finalize)

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (I think this'll just have to wait until I've gone through all of the other clothes)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways -
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK
d. put these things away in proper locations - (still need to hang shadow box on the wall...)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (bags with future t-shirt quilt materials, clothes I want to keep for my future children)
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS - I only have a very few more things to try on, so almost there!
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK

Time for some reviews...

So I've been holding on to these reviews for a few days now, but here they are...several movies and books.

Revenge of the Nerds (a movie):
So I've always heard that this movie was a classic and just never got the opportunity to see it. Well, it was available on Netflix Instant Play so I decided, "Why not?" While parts of the movie were a little crude for my taste and, I thought, gratuitous, the movie as a whole was definitely funny and ridiculous in a good way. I have to say though, if I was Betty, I'm not sure who I would trust! That poor poor girl :-( My favorite part was the general fact that the nerds ended up being sponsored by an all-black fraternal organization...definitely made for some hysterical moments. And the ending was wonderful, especially for all those of us who are self-proclaimed nerds out there. Definitely a classic :-)

The Sweetest Thing (a movie):
I caught this one on TV one day and the description said romcom so I couldn't help myself. It was in fact quite good and the interplay between the best friend main characters played by Christina Applegate and Cameron Diaz was just plain fun! Every girl wants an awesome friendship like the two of them had. I just enjoyed watching the way they were with each other more than anything...of course the love story was cute too...and super quirky in the end. Totally recommend this one.

Season of the Witch (a movie):
Watch the trailer but NOT the movie. It was stilted, contrived, and just plain awful!!

Blood Will Tell by Samantha Young (Book #4 of 2012):
Fantastic! This was a supernatural young adult novel without an obvious romantic side story which was a surprisingly refreshing change of pace. The story was focused on the difficulties the main character was undergoing in trying to figure out who she really is...and what she really is. It's the first book in a series, so I may run to the library at some point and see if they have the 2nd one (I got this one for free on my KindleFire). I really can't say enough good things about this book. It was a page turner. You're drawn into really caring about the characters. The mythological backdrop was intriguing. And the author just really has a way with putting you in the scenes. Loved it!

(Book #5 of 2012) - I have read 3 different short stories on my KindleFire that I've decided to combine together as book #5...they are:
-
Transfection by David Gaughran:
This short story has a very intriguing plot but, all in all, I thought the characters were vague and the story was told far too broadly. It spanned far too long a time period and the ending was extremely disappointing.
-
From Above by Jeremy Robinson:
I loved this one. It had great characters with very definite personalities and the story was quite imaginative. I liked the creativity and the depth to which the situational history of the story's backdrop was covered. Quite good.
-
Tuned in to Love by Karen Jerabek:
Short and sweet and lovely. This was a great little story about two people who unwittingly fall in love. It was strange how some of the scenes reminded me of a novel I wrote back in the 6th grade, but that's probably because every female wants to have a crazy electric, this is the man for me kind of feeling in their gut.

Where I am in my January Goals - doin' good!

I'm so close to being done...at this rate, I may just finish before the month is over :-) The greatest thing about laying out goals in this way of having 4 big goals broken down into smaller goals is that as you discover new goals that need to be met to fulfill a larger goal, you can just add on to the list under the larger goal and it ultimately makes things look easier and more doable (as opposed to a long list of goals that would start to look unwieldy!!).

1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - (I might need to call my Mom to get some of these. My address book is a shambles right now and filled with way outdated info...maybe that's a future goal...)
f. mail thank you notes - (hopefully I can do this tomorrow)

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? -
g. call to make tax filing appointment -

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (I'll double check this tonight)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways - (yeah, still haven't done this lol)
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK (I know what all's there...now proceed to step d)
d. put these things away in proper locations - (I need to hang one thing on the wall and figure out if I still want to keep the shoes I rediscovered...haha)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (I've already separated everything into bags containing future t-shirt quilt materials, bags of clothes I want to keep for my future children, and bags of clothes that I need to try on and then decide what to do with)
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS -
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK (now where to put the box...)

Marie's 12 Commandments

In Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project," she starts off her journey by coming up with "Gretchen's 12 Commandments," little things that she feels she needs to focus on to improve her outlook on the day and make her as a whole, happier.
Well, after reading over half of the book, my 12 commandments had yet to hit me and then one night several days ago, they all came in a flood. So now that I have "Marie's 12 Commandments," I'd like to share them in hopes that someone else may have a spontaneous mental explosion of little reminders to improve your happiness level :-)

Marie's 12 Commandments::
1. Be Marie
2. Enjoy what I enjoy...without shame!
3. Reply immediately
4. 2-min rule...Just Do It!! (If something will take less than 2 min to do...then go ahead and do it)
5. Communicate with friends and family
6. Be honest with myself / take responsibility
7. I am not defined by others!!
8. Show love
9. Talk to God
10. Shower!! (haha)
11. Use what I have...don't hoard things with expiration dates!
12. It's okay to go to sleep around 9pm :-)

So hopefully this list will inspire someone else to make their own list of things they need to be aware of in their life. Maybe some of these commandments will even ring true for you...

Gratitude, Goals, 2 books, 3 movies!

So to start off my post tonight, I just wanted to mention a few things that I am thankful for. When I find myself getting down, it's helpful to remember the things in my life that are worth smiling about.
- I have a loving cat who is the sweetest creature a girl could live with :-)
- I'm grateful that I'm not ashamed to get excited about things...it makes watching my favorite movies and TV shows all the more enjoyable!
- And I absolutely love my church. It is an amazing place filled with amazing and loving people :-)



And now for my January Goals update - still going strong!

1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards and addresses - (Sometimes, the simplest things are the most difficult things to actually get done...sigh)
d. write thank you notes

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (I think I've pulled out all of them, but I need to give it time to make sure I really do get all of them!)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways - (once again, the simplest things take forever...)
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - so close to being done! (I actually found a number of items that were supposed to go in my memory box!)
d. put these things away in proper locations - same here!
e. go through clothing on closet floor - ditto!
f. take all give aways to Plato's Closet

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK (I decided on a beautiful wooden box I've had laying around for a while now. I purchased this box from The Hospitality Shop back at Sewanee which is basically like a thrift store of everything left behind by college students...a pretty cool place. The box has a beautiful Swedish heart pattern on the lid, which is perfect to honor my heritage :-)



Just to warn you, there's still more. Below are 3 movie reviews and 2 book reviews lol. I think I've been more productive than I realize since I've also been doing homework, prepping for Sunday School, and all of the above goals plus watching/reading the following :-P
I'll start with the books!

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (Book #2 of 2012)
This was a fantastic story with characters that I truly cared about. I found myself walking from room to room of my house with my Kindle in hand not able to get my eyes off of the pages. To summarize, Jessica finds herself in a very interesting situation involving her surprising past and must learn to love or at least tolerate the new vampire in town. The ending is so intense and gorgeous. Beth Fantaskey is a truly incredible author as she takes you from a barn in Pennsylvania to a castle in Romania and you never question how bizarre the change is, especially since Jessica is undergoing the same crazy journey. I rate this a 5/5!

The Wedding of Antanasia Jessica Packwood and Lucius Valeriu Vladescu by Beth Fantaskey (Book #3 of 2012)
So this is a web-only novella sequel available on bethfantaskey.com. Yes, I did just give away some of the above book, but I promise (!) that nothing can take away from the suspense of the above novel. This novella was fabulous and I read through it in no time. There are a few pictures along with the chapters that show off the Romanian castle, Antanasia's wedding dress, and the wedding rings. I would LOVE to have her dress for whenever I get married...it was so incredibly gorgeous! Even though it is a web-only novella, the writing was just as profound and drawing as the above book...I once again loved it. I was additionally delighted to find out on her website that their is a full-length print sequel that just came out...I can't wait! Rated this one 5/5 too.


My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (a movie)
Frankly, I just wanted to watch a sweet mindless romcom to get my mind off of the fact that I am still oh so single. This movie did the trick. I have to say that the twist at the end absolutely blew me away! And a few tears were most definitely shed. The love story is adorable and Alyssa Milano was, of course, fantastic :-) You won't believe what happens...

Morning Glory (a movie)
This movie was simply a sweet comedy about a passionate and wired workaholic who makes a huge difference in an unlikely place. It was absolutely hysterical at times and the ending produced a moment of open-jawed smiling joy...I'm not exaggerating on this one. Harrison Ford once again plays an insufferable bitter man, but this time I couldn't help having a soft spot in my heart for him.

Hot Tub Time Machine (a movie)
Yes, I did in fact sit through this entire movie despite all of the terrible reviews and warnings against it. Just like Horrible Bosses, the first half was absolutely terrible, but the second half was substantially better. The humor finally become decently funny and the ending was definitely interesting. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this movie as the first half is just awful, but if you're forced to watch it, know that it does improve.

And that's it for today. I've got class at 8am and I'm getting sleepy so I think I'm gonna head on to bed...

3 New Movie Reviews :-)

So since the last post, I've seen 3 movies. You'd think that all I do is sit around and watch movies but, I'm always multi-tasking regardless of what situation I'm in. So I've been super-productive as well :-) And grad school has started back up...full on education now...I love it :-)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (a movie)
I should probably preface this by saying that I am a sci-fi junkie and a sucker for prequels. With that in mind, this movie was a slam dunk choice from the get go. I really have nothing negative to say about it after watching it either! This was an incredible lead up to how the planet got over-run with super intelligent apes. Completely objectively though, James Franco could have had a bit more emotion with everything that was going on. I'm with all the critics when I say that Caesar was by far the best actor in the movie!! I watched the last 20 minutes twice to double my adrenaline rush from seeing how it all starts (I've totally done the same x100 with the end of Star Wars Episode II). After a quick web search I found that there is in fact going to be a sequel!! YAYAYA...I canNOT stress my excitement enough :-D This is gonna be one good series...


Extraordinary Measures (a movie)
Hmmmm...honestly, I don't get why this was even made into a movie and Colin Farrell (John) seemed overwrought throughout the entire affair. Keri Russell (good 'ole Felicity :-) was definitely the better actor here. It had a happy ending of course which was great, but the way that that ending was achieved completely disregarded Harrison Ford's character (Dr. Stonehill). This film basically left me feeling cheated because to have been a really satisfying movie, it would've had to've unfolded much differently. Thankfully, the very last 5 seconds gave me a little bit of an uplift for Dr. Stonehill.


Dylan Dog (a movie)
So once again, this movie was a slam dunk choice from the beginning because I knew it would include vampires, zombies, and werewolves and I am a huge fan of the supernatural. Needless to say, I loved it. The feel of the whole movie was actually more like a TV show than a film and this was actually a pretty enjoyable approach to the story. I really hope that another movie comes out so that more stories can be told. It was funny, intense, alluring, suspenseful, and action-packed although I have to admit that the twist at the end was obvious for me from the very beginning. Also, the actor who plays Dylan Dog...whoo boy!!! gorgeous much!!!! The movie was almost worth it just to enjoy his gorgeous face :-P Besides that nice plus though, his sidekick Marcus was hysterical and the movie would have been incomplete without this character's constant banter and freak out moments. Totally recommended :-)


That's it for now!
Oh, and as a side note, the January Goals are still going really well...I'll update on that later.

Horrible Bosses and January Goals update!

I may post again later, but I thought I would go ahead and post my review of Horrible Bosses, which I finished watching this morning, along with an update on my January goals.

Horrible Bosses (a movie) review:
Okay, so after the first 40 minutes my only thought was that this was the most ridiculous movie that I had ever seen. The jokes were not funny and the characters were far TOO over the top. I decided to give up and go to bed. But I have to admit, the last hour was actually not so bad (which I finished watching this morning before my first class of the day). The jokes finally became funny and everything jelled together for a decently acceptable ending. The funniest character had to be the dental hygenist with the helium-affected voice...especially when he was high on cocaine which was probably one of the funniest scenes in the movie. I don't think I would actually recommend this movie, but if you have to watch it, don't fight it...it does get better if you stick with it...

January Goals update...it's going SO WELL :-D

1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards and addresses
d. write thank you notes

2. Financials - almost done!!!
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK (and all put in one location)
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - almost there, all together except GrottoFae info

3. Closet - I'll start this tonight!!
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give aways
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor
d. put these things away in proper locations
e. go through clothing on closet floor
f. take all give aways to Plato's Closet

4. Memory Box - almost complete!!!
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK (The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin really helped with this. I was organizing things by type of memory such as school work or art but she suggested by year. So I reorganized everything by elementary school, early middle, late middle, high school, college, and grad school which worked a LOT better. This book is amazing so far btw!!)
b. decide on separation method (boxes/bags/folders?) - CHECK (folders within the large purple Rubbermaid box) (I think that I'm going to have to separate out post-college memories into a new box b/c the current box is exploding! I'll update how this goes...)
c. separate into piles - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in

January Goals Update!!!

The past few days have been incredibly productive and I am so happy. It's amazing how getting things organized can really lift your spirits and feelings of accomplishment.

So:
1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards and addresses
d. write thank you notes

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK (and all put in one location)
b. stack documents in proper piles
c. file away
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope

I also caught a movie today on tv that was absolutely adorable so I figured I'd go ahead and review it:
Return to Me
This movie with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver is brilliant and so realistic. It's a romcom without extra slapstick comedy and filled with heart (literally). Ok...that was a bad joke (you'll understand when you see the movie). But still, I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to spend some time with a lovely family filled with fun people of all ages and two actors with incredibly cute chemistry. The best part is...no sex scenes! Crazy how a romcom can suck you in like this one does when all the two romantic leads do is kiss...*sigh*.

January Goals

This year I am planning on "goaling" my way through organizing my life.
For each month I will have 4 goals that can be broken down into even smaller goals to make accomplishing everything more doable.
I only have January planned so far but it's certainly a good start. There are a number of free goal accomplishing worksheets that I have come across in several couponing blogs I subscribe to. I will use them this month to see which one helps me break down my goals the best way for me personally.
So to begin! ...

January:
1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used
c. write thank you notes

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around
b. stack documents in proper piles
c. file away
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give aways
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor
d. put these things away in proper locations
e. go through clothing on closet floor
f. take all give aways to Plato's Closet

4. Memory Box
a. decide on categories for memory box
b. decide on separation method (boxes/bags/folders?)
c. separate into piles
d. file these piles into box

I'm hoping that I can get through all of this in the next few weeks... It will help me go a long way to making sense of all my chaos :-)

Four Christmases and Solitary...

Yesterday I finished a book and watched a movie while anxiously awaiting word from my advisor about the status of my thesis. Well, he had finished looking it over by 4pm and at the moment I'm just editing the little bits and will finally distribute it today!! Hallelujah...that took FOREVER :-O

So, anyway, here are my 2 reviews for the day:

Four Christmases (a movie)
Ok, so I love Vince Vaughn and I love quirky family comedies which made this the perfect movie for my tastes. The situational comedy was hilarious, especially the satellite dish installation scene and the craziness of Vince's brothers. And the movie ended on a sweet note which is always a plus. No mystery here. And for a romcom that's a good thing.

Solitary: The Solitary Tales Series by David Thatcher Book #1 for 2012
Hmmm. This was an entertaining book what with the mystery and intrigue throughout. I had a hard time putting it down at times and so that was pleasant. The only problem was that the ending was incredibly sad and the mystery was never fully explained. I was definitely left wanting more and am debating whether or not I want to read the next book to see if things are wrapped up at all. I'm worried though that the secrets will remain just that as part of this author's M.O.

Hopefully I'll get a chance later to post a picture of Creation #1 for 2012 - a pair of copper chain feather earrings! They are fabulous, if I do say so myself :-)

The New Year --- 2012!!

It has been a long long time since I posted and I figure that it's time for something different. So this blog is now going to be my way of keeping my life organized and making every little thing that I experience last more than just a few minutes. This may include lists, book and movie reviews, as well as recipes and other such everyday things that make life interesting. To start:

The Ghost Writer (a movie):
I love Ewan McGregor. I have to admit that any movie the man is in I cannot help but at least like just because he is incredible. So I knew regardless of the actual movie's plot that I would in fact enjoy this movie. Well, the credit's are currently rolling and I have to say I'm still left a little confused. I'm not really sure what the ending was supposed to mean and think that this might be one of those films that you have to watch twice to understand exactly what was going on. It was a fabulous movie with interesting intrigue and character interactions but I don't think I was every really sure throughout what exactly was going on. Ultimately, i'll give it... 3/5 stars just b/c it was entertaining and Ewan McGregor of course was the main character...although as I already said...it, in the end, didn't really make any sense. Oh well, now I guess it's my job to scour IMDB for a plot synopsis...


FREEMAIL
Today I received in the mail a free sample of NeilMed Saline Sinus Solution and also downloaded a free audiobook of JI Packer's "Knowing God" which I have heard gushed about for years now. I'm excited to start listening to it soon. Several months ago I received a free NeilMed nettypot, so maybe if my sinuses get really bad I'll try it...seems to be all the rage, although luckily I have not had a need yet this season.


Well, if there's anymore to share, i will post again, but for now I'd just like to say have a fantastic 2012 everybody! Everyone deserves a good year :-)