The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

My, what a big sword you have...

I've never had much interest in J.R.R. Tolkien but when The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings came out I enjoyed it so much I went to the theater to see it again. I also decided I had to read the books because I couldn't wait a year to find out what happened. 

My friend Bernadette was very cute, she's from the Philippines and when I said I had to go read the books she said, maybe they should have waited to release the books. I had a great laugh and let her know the books were written a long time ago.

I devoured the books, I definitely didn't think they were the best thing ever written, way too much description and too many characters with multiple names, my favorite part of the book was the appendix, I loved knowing what happened to everyone afterwards but I did enjoy the story and eagerly anticipated every LOTR movie and watched them all twice in the theater. I remember bouncing in my seat when Legolas did something badass and yet, I was sort of ambivalent about The Hobbit.

A Saturday Smile

I hope this brings a smile to your face. Enjoy your friends, love your family and count your blessings. Today is a day to celebrate life and those you love! I always say it and I always mean it, I'm blessed with wonderful friends. Happy Holidays!

Fun Foto Friday - Family Togetherness

Nancy and I have been friends since our senior year in high school. She's as much a part of my family as I am. She's been hanging out with us so long that she tells people she's asian. She eats our food, she has the slanty eyes, her dad eats kimchee, she's one of us. Until she wasn't.

I come from a family of 9 kids. While growing up, it wasn't unusual to only have one couch and it wasn't a sectional.  So when we watched tv, we dog piled. This is one of my absolute most favorite pics because this was us when we were on the couch, except someone would also be laying on the other side of the couch. 

As adults, we're just as comfortable piling onto the couch. Nancy was in the middle of the pile with my sister-in-law Christina sitting next to her, squeezed in between every one else. At one point they noticed that they were practically on each other's lap but no one else was on the couch. Christina apologized and was moving away when Nancy said these fateful words, "Us white people have to stick together." Unfortunately for her, my sister Kimberly over heard her. Nancy, who has always told us she was Asian had kicked herself out of the Asian club. She's working hard to get back in. See where she's sitting now.

What's in a name?

The other day I was watching one of my guilty pleasure shows, The League. It's a comedy about a bunch of fantasy football fanatics, the characters are awful to each other but it's hilarious. I watched this show before I started playing fantasy football but now I love it even more. 

One of the characters on there is named Taco. No one ever meets him and asks, why is your name Taco? He's just Taco. It made me think about other nicknames. Right now, I love the fun football ones, Megatron, Legatron (he's a kicker), Beastmode and The Law Firm to name a few.

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

I'm a little behind this Christmas season. Normally I start listening to Christmas music as soon as Thanksgiving is over but I didn't realize my Xmas songs weren't on my phone yet so I just sat down  to do my music.

I love Christmas carols. I love when radio stations start playing strictly Xmas music. My radio usually stays on those stations for a month. In Sarasota they actually had a station go commercial free and 24 hour Xmas the first week in Oct. A little early for my tastes but you know I was still listening.

I went Christmas caroling when I was stationed in Korea. It didn't really feel like Christmas so my roommate and some guy friends (you know I talked them into it, LOL) and I went out to sing for some of the military families. We weren't very good and it was extremely cold but it was a lot of fun and the families really appreciated it. 

Les Miz Monday (updated with new video)

Since Les Meserables is coming out in a few weeks the publicity machine is out in full force but I've been able to contain myself and keep it all for one post.

The world premiere was last week in London and I am lady gaga over her dress! I've always thought low cut backs are sexy. 

Samantha Barks looks amazing in her dress. She's making the most of her red carpet experience and I love it! She was amazing as Eponine in the 25th Anniversary special and am so happy she's in the movie. 

The big red carpet disappointment is Amanda Seyfried. Do any of you like this dress? Here's a link to the rest of the dresses.

The Studs of Sunday- Eric Decker & Danny Amendola

Unfortunately, with one week left to go before fantasy football playoffs I have zero chance of making it in my money league. I'm 10th out of 10. No way to dig myself out of that hole. I know next year I'll be better prepared and won't pick a kicker based on looks who won't even make the final cut on his team. 

The good news is, all of this fantasy football play has given me an appreciation for the studs guys who play football. The last time I really noticed what a football player looked like was when Refrigerator Perry was doing the Super Bowl shuffle. Since I'm out of the money I figure now would be a good time to share my knowledge of football. 

Easy Irish Soda Bread or Scones

Last St Patrick's Day I happened to be in Northern CA visiting my fabulous friend Barb and she made this recipe for us (Su and Nancy were on this trip with me). We woke up to the delicious smell of bread being pulled from the oven. 

She raved about how easy the recipe was, we raved about how delicious it was. She sent a loaf home with us which I shared with my family and they raved. My brother wanted the recipe so she sent it, I don't know if my brother ever made it but I've probably made it about 20 times since then.

Fun Foto Friday - Suzanne Brockmann

This week I'm actually going to post Friday's foto on Friday. Something new I'm trying out. Today's pic is me at my first author signing. I've been a reader for a long time but for some reason never made it to a booksigning until 8 or 9 years ago. I was living in Los Angeles and had to drive out to the Valley but I was very excited to meet Suzanne Brockmann. 

She writes amazing Navy S.E.A.L books with hot Alpha males. If you have never read her Troubleshooter books I highly recommend them. My only caveat is I didn't love the first couple of books but books 3 and 4 knocked my socks off and I thoroughly enjoyed her books after that. Due to the fact that there are recurring characters I think it helps to read from the first book but you could always start at book 3 and then go back if you want to get a feel for her. 

Have you read SB before? What do you think? Either she's really tall or I'm really short, ok, maybe a little of both. 

You're the one that I want!

I debated posting this but you know my love for cheese, I had to share. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John reunited for a Christmas album with all proceeds going to charity. I don't know if this is how I want to imagine Danny Zucko and Sandy after they drove off into the sunset. Let's not call this Danny and Sandy 2.0.

This video has become a viral sensation with some people loving it, most hating it.  have to say, the video and song are growing on me. Apparently they decided at the last minute to do a video. It cost them $12,000 to do this video and they spent 4 hours before the shoot hashing things out. I have to say for $12,000 I would expect more. No this isn't a big budget video but you don't need a big budget to shoot a good video. Apparently the guy who shot this normally does wedding videos. The rest of the cast were locals in Ocala and John's family which I think is fun. The officer is a natural and that's really his son, although he's not in the military. Here is the original article.