Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Little Late
Yep, I'm finally posting my January books & movies, much to all your delight, I'm sure. We'll start with the books:
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1. Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich This was a fun book; 99% of her books are. There were parts where I laughed out loud as per usual and had to explain my mirth to Collin.
2. Dead Time - Stephen White I really liked this book - I liked how he introduced Meredeth as a real character this time instead of a peripheral one. It was fun to see how they misperceived each other and both knew they were in the right when neither one really was. And the mystery was really good, too.
3. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer I finally broke down and decided to see what all the hub-bub was about. With Jordyn spending 3 days in the hospital, there was no better time to sit and read a book while watching her sleep. About a quarter of the way through the book, I realized I was hooked, no matter that the writing sometimes reminded me of my own attempts to write stories. But I'm a sucker for romance, especially between two people who shouldn't be together! Book of the Month.
4. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer Yes, I liked the first book well enough to get the 2nd book. I finished this one in the hospital as well, waiting for Dad's surgery to be over. It left me jonesin' for the 3rd one.
And now the movies....
1. High School Musical 3 My mom started watching the HSM movies first and kept telling Jordyn & I we needed to watch them - so we borrowed her 2 HSM dvd's and we liked them well enough to want to see #3. I loved #3. Yes, I know I'm too old for them but I really really liked it - I liked the music and the dancing...I'm a sap at heart.
2. Smothered Collin picked up this documentary on the Smothers Brothers and their fight with the censors. It was very interesting; they were ahead of their time on war protesting.
3. Lars & The Real Girl This was a sweet sad movie that moved too slow for me.
4. Fred Claus The kids' mom bought this movie and let us watch it - we were iffy about it.
5. The Apartment I picked this dvd up at my mom's store for $3. I love Jack Lemmon. LOVE HIM!!! He was adorable in this movie and I really liked Shirley MacLaine as well. It dragged on a bit but overall it was enjoyable.
6. Strange Wilderness I so wanted to see this after the preview with the shark and his overbite. But that was the best part about the whole movie. Basically I didn't like it much.
7. Burn After Reading The commercials for this movie made it look way funnier than it actually was. Didn't care for this one even though I loved the cast.
8. Who the @!#* is Jackson Pollack Collin picked this documentary out of the Insta-Watch on Netflix and it was very interesting. About a trucker who picks up a painting for some ridiculously low price in a thrift store and now people are thinking it's an unknown Pollack piece.
9. Helvetica Another Insta-Watch documentary from Netflix all about the font Helvetica. More interesting than it sounds, trust me.
10. Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay I liked this one, even despite the crudeness that pops up. Neil Patrick Harris makes everything better!!
11. Fool's Gold I was disappointed in this one - it was cute but I lost interest after a while. Am I getting harder to please?
12. High School Musical 3 Yet I'll go see this one twice at the $1 theatre! This was for my birthday with my Mom. Jordyn was supposed to join us but this was the night she started to feel sick. The sick that landed her in the hospital for three days.
13. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day I wanted to see this at first just because Lee Pace was in it. Then I decided the story looked good. I ended up loving it. I want to buy it. It was so fun and sweet and amusing....Movie of the Month.
14. In Bruges Colin Farrell - - I hadn't seen him in a movie for so long and he was fabulous. This was a good movie but it depressed me.
15. Hamlet 2 So we watched this afterwards. Silly piled upon silly but it made me laugh.
16. Zach & Miri Make A Porno Seth Rogen is too cute. And this was a fuun flick.
17. Little Shop Of Horrors I hadn't seen this one in years and this is now Jordyn's fave movie ever so we watched it with her.
TV 1 & TV 2. How I Met Your Mother Seasons 2 & 3 I love Neil Patrick Harris. He's legen-wait for it-dary.
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// posted by Heather @ 7:14 AM 
Monday, February 09, 2009
Holy Moly!!!
It's very windy here today - gusts are blowing up to 70mph! And of course this was the day that Shanon & I had decided to go run around. We did our shopping and were on our way home...I turned onto a small side street, Rio Vista, as a less-populated route to Constitution Ave. There were 3 vehicles in front me, including an older model white truck directly ahead of me.
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We were driving down the road when suddenly a gust of wind hit. A big tree in the backyard of a house started swaying and I thought, "that tree's gonna break. That tree is breaking! That tree broke and hit the guy in front of me!!!" Sure enough, what looked like half the tree broke under the force of the gale and shattered on top of the cab and the road. I slammed on my brakes and just sat in the road for a minute. The truck pulled onto the side road and stopped. I pulled around the tree debris and parked behind the truck before Shanon & I jumped out to see if he was okay.
Turned out it was a young kid in his work truck. He was fine, a little freaked out (way less freaked than Shanon & I were!) and thankful to us for stopping. The tree had completely shattered his windshield and there was a large chunk of tree sticking out of the bottom left corner of the windshield. He tried to pull it out but it was stuck good. Luckily he had a cell phone with a camera on him and he was able to get pics of the damage. Thank God he wasn't hurt; him or anyone else!
Wind can be so dangerous!!!
Labels: weather
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// posted by Heather @ 12:38 PM
Thursday, January 22, 2009
And the nomination goes to.....
Today is a day I look forward to every year with excitement & hope: the Oscar nominations. This year I'm a tad disappointed, though...maybe because I didn't see a lot of movies in the last 12 months (except The Dark Knight which I saw 4 times) I don't have an emotional interest in who wins. So without further ado, the nominations (My picks in red):
Best Actor
Brad Pitt -The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Sean Penn for Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Best Actress
Meryl Streep - Doubt.
Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
All right. You'll notice that there were a couple categories I didn't pick in and that's because I didn't see any of the movies so I can't. Even though I didn't see The Reader or The Visitor, I'm choosing Kate Winslet and Richard Jenkins because I really like them. As for Heath Ledger - I've been saying since the day I saw The Dark Knight that if he didn't get the Oscar, there was something wrong. And not just because he died (*coughDEREKcough*) but because he did a phenomenal job as The Joker. He was believable as being crazy and evil and someone who just wanted to watch the world burn. DEREK!! Watch this clip, ok?
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Best Actor
Brad Pitt -The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Sean Penn for Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Best Actress
Meryl Streep - Doubt.
Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
All right. You'll notice that there were a couple categories I didn't pick in and that's because I didn't see any of the movies so I can't. Even though I didn't see The Reader or The Visitor, I'm choosing Kate Winslet and Richard Jenkins because I really like them. As for Heath Ledger - I've been saying since the day I saw The Dark Knight that if he didn't get the Oscar, there was something wrong. And not just because he died (*coughDEREKcough*) but because he did a phenomenal job as The Joker. He was believable as being crazy and evil and someone who just wanted to watch the world burn. DEREK!! Watch this clip, ok?
But if he can't win, my second choice is Robert Downey Jr.
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// posted by Heather @ 8:52 AM
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Time Has Come
For me to be a better American. My first step was to watch Obama's inauguration. I've never in my life watched a presidential inauguration before; this was pretty cool as politics go. Barack Obama is a very good speaker, very passionate and he's easy to listen to. He has a good message and I hope he keeps his promises for change.
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On a lighter note: I noticed as Aretha Franklin, one of the most awesome voices in history, was making her way to the mic to sing My Country Tis of Thee, someone hollered out: "Sing good." Well, duh.
Labels: Obama
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// posted by Heather @ 10:13 AM
Monday, January 12, 2009
My Homework Assignment
Collin gave me the assignment of writing about the play we saw yesterday afternoon. So here I go:
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We were lucky enough to see The Color Purple yesterday at the Temple Buell Theatre in Denver. Our tickets were a generous Christmas gift from Ray & MaryBeth, my uncle & aunt. To be honest, I didn't know that The Color Purple had been turned into a musical; sadly, my Broadway contact is in the hoosegow so I don't know much about Broadway musicals these days. But I love musicals so we willingly piled in the car yesterday to go to Denver.
It was a sold out audience - the place was packed! The lead was played by an understudy but you would never have known - she was amazing. Hell, everyone in that play was amazing. My favorite character was Sofia; she had a voice that was as big as her bosom and trust me, that was a crazy big bosom!! Her song "Hell No" was so cool I came right home and bought it on iTunes. Shug Avery was a close second for fave character; I loved her costumes, especially the dress she wore for her "Push the Button" song.
The rest of the songs were great....the songwriters/composers are all well-known musicians: Brenda Russell, Stephen Bray & Allee Willis. It was an enjoyable, powerful show. I would go back and see it again.
Getting out of the parking garage was the worst part of the day; like I mentioned earlier, the show was sold out so there was a ton of cars all leaving at the same time. We were edged out of the parking space waiting for a break - a guy in a minivan was obviously not planning on letting us out...he pulled up and blocked us, not even looking at us. No problem, we'll go out behind him. While we were waiting, the lady next to us got into her van. She edged out of her space as well. When the line started to move, the guy in the minivan let her go in front of him!! I was pissed!! So was Collin but I was pissed off enough to lean over and honk Collin's horn. The ass in the minivan jumped but still wouldn't look at us. There's etiquette in parking garages and this guy, plus the "lady" next to us, didn't get it.
BUT! Like I said, that was the only bad part of the day. After the play we hit Los Delicias IV in Parker - the best mexican food anywhere!!! So, thanks Ray & MB! Awesome Christmas gift!!!
Labels: weekend doings
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// posted by Heather @ 8:33 AM
Thursday, January 08, 2009
This post is brought to you by the letter "D"
This is a game I found on Kathleen's blog - she assigned me the letter D and what I get to do is list 10 things I love that start with that letter. If you want to play, leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter. Then you can keep the chain going! Have fun!
Daddy -
He's the best dad anyone could ever ask for. And I'm not just saying that cuz he's my dad. Any of you would be lucky to have him.
Dr. Horrible -
Collin sent me the link to this online show by Joss Whedon of Firefly & Angel fame and I was immediately hooked. I love Nathan Fillion and here he's at his cheesiest as Captain Hammer. Neil Patrick Harris was a pleasant comedic surprise as Dr. Horrible - I had never seen him anything other than Doogie Howser and Harold & Kumar; now I can't get enough of him. I had Collin rip the audio to the show to put on my iPod, we bought the CD & the DVD...needless to say I know every line to this awesomely funny show - I drive people crazy by randomly screaming out "Freeze ray! Tell your friends!"
Dexter -
We got started watching this TV show because of Michael C Hall; he was my favorite character in Six Feet Under and we wanted to see more of him. We purchased the first season and loved it. Then I read the first two Dexter books. Then we watched the 2nd season and the first 3 episodes of the 3rd season. Yes, he's a serial killer but he's a good serial killer. Trust me.
Duran Duran -
When I heard "Wild Boys" in junior high it was over. John Taylor was the sexiest thing that 13 year old me had ever seen. Soon my room was covered in posters of these boys. Even my mom liked them! And now, years and years later, they're still making good music and putting on the best concerts that Mom & I have ever gone to!! And they're stlll yummy!
Dark Knight -
For just ever, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was my favorite movie. It took over 2 decades to find something that overtook it and it surprises me just as much as it, I'm sure, surprises you. The Dark Knight is freaking awesome. Everything about it rocks. Heath Ledger's Joker is the ultimate villain. No one will ever match it. Batman's motorcycle dealie and his wall-turn....makes my heart go pitter-patter!
Dean Winchester -
Speaking of making my heart go pitter-patter....Supernatural's bad boy. I love this show, I love Dean Winchester, I love his car:
and I love everything about the show and Dean. Dean Dean Dean. And when he lip syncs Eye of the Tiger - HIGH-larious! Could I be more shallow? Probably....
Dog -
Carson Palmer Knight-Burton. He's a goofy dog but I love him to pieces!
Deelybobs & Doohickeys -
I love deelybobs, doohickeys, anything shiny & fun to stick on cards or scrapbooking pages. Or hang around the house. They make me happy.
Denver Broncos -
My team! I bleed orange & blue, I make the Thunder, I reside in Broncos Country!!!!
Derek -
He's a pretty good brother. I'm lucky to have him.
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Daddy -
He's the best dad anyone could ever ask for. And I'm not just saying that cuz he's my dad. Any of you would be lucky to have him.
Dr. Horrible -
Collin sent me the link to this online show by Joss Whedon of Firefly & Angel fame and I was immediately hooked. I love Nathan Fillion and here he's at his cheesiest as Captain Hammer. Neil Patrick Harris was a pleasant comedic surprise as Dr. Horrible - I had never seen him anything other than Doogie Howser and Harold & Kumar; now I can't get enough of him. I had Collin rip the audio to the show to put on my iPod, we bought the CD & the DVD...needless to say I know every line to this awesomely funny show - I drive people crazy by randomly screaming out "Freeze ray! Tell your friends!"
Dexter -
We got started watching this TV show because of Michael C Hall; he was my favorite character in Six Feet Under and we wanted to see more of him. We purchased the first season and loved it. Then I read the first two Dexter books. Then we watched the 2nd season and the first 3 episodes of the 3rd season. Yes, he's a serial killer but he's a good serial killer. Trust me.
Duran Duran -
When I heard "Wild Boys" in junior high it was over. John Taylor was the sexiest thing that 13 year old me had ever seen. Soon my room was covered in posters of these boys. Even my mom liked them! And now, years and years later, they're still making good music and putting on the best concerts that Mom & I have ever gone to!! And they're stlll yummy!
Dark Knight -
For just ever, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was my favorite movie. It took over 2 decades to find something that overtook it and it surprises me just as much as it, I'm sure, surprises you. The Dark Knight is freaking awesome. Everything about it rocks. Heath Ledger's Joker is the ultimate villain. No one will ever match it. Batman's motorcycle dealie and his wall-turn....makes my heart go pitter-patter!
Dean Winchester -
Speaking of making my heart go pitter-patter....Supernatural's bad boy. I love this show, I love Dean Winchester, I love his car:
and I love everything about the show and Dean. Dean Dean Dean. And when he lip syncs Eye of the Tiger - HIGH-larious! Could I be more shallow? Probably....
Dog -
Carson Palmer Knight-Burton. He's a goofy dog but I love him to pieces!
Deelybobs & Doohickeys -
I love deelybobs, doohickeys, anything shiny & fun to stick on cards or scrapbooking pages. Or hang around the house. They make me happy.
Denver Broncos -
My team! I bleed orange & blue, I make the Thunder, I reside in Broncos Country!!!!
Derek -
He's a pretty good brother. I'm lucky to have him.
Labels: Games
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// posted by Heather @ 9:44 PM
Year end books & movies
Yeah, I skipped like July-Nov on here. If you're interested, the lists can be found here.
BOOKS:
50. Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell I used to read everything this woman put out with great glee. Then I read one a few years ago that didn't impress me and I stopped reading her. When I saw this book at the library, the title caught my interest and I realized I couldn't remember why I didn't like the last one I had read. Well, now I remember. THIS BOOK SUCKED. All this build up and depressing stuff happening at every turn and then suddenly this serial killer who had been brilliant about not being caught suddenly turned idiotic and within 2 pages he was caught, imprisoned and the book was over, leaving some very important plot lines untouched. Hated it! Hated it. Yes, I hated it. And I don't say that much about a book.
51. The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman Ahh, this book was better. Alice Hoffman is a great writer and comes up with the most intriguing plots. This book was chock full of sympathetic characters and stories that made me laugh and cry.
And that was it. I actually started The Plantaganet Prelude by Jean Plaidy and Body Movers by Stephanie Bond but had to take them back to the library. See, most of my reading (99%) was done at work while I was on my breaks and lunch. Now I don't have work so the books just sat on the counter. I feel great shame.
MOVIES
119. Bolt - This movie was freaking adorable! It made me want a new hamster. It also worried me that kids watching Rhino throwing himself around fearlessly in his ball would think it's cool to toss hamsters about willy-nilly and the bunny-wunny death rate would rise sharply. But I haven't heard any bad news so I'm hoping it didn't happen. And this movie is great - GO SEE IT!
120. The Frighteners - An older movie that I had never seen but when Collin saw that Chi McBride, my fave character in Pushing Daisies, was in it he said I had to see it. So I did. And I really really liked it.
121. License To Wed - I did not enjoy this movie. The humor seemed forced. The only thing I liked was John Krasinski. He's a cutie.
122. Ghost Town - From a movie starring a guy from The Office, I move to one with the guy who started and starred in the original British Office; Ricky Gervais. He's hilarious - I love him! This movie was a departure from the kind of roles I'm used to seeing his play but he did it well and the movie was fun and moved along well. Plus Greg Kinnear is in it. :D
123. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We got it on DVD and had to watch it. I gave up halfway through trying to NOT say every line with the movie.
124. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We made my family watch it on Christmas Eve. They were lukewarm in their reception of it although my Mom enjoyed NPH's singing and Derek snorted with the line "The hammer is my penis." That was expected.
125. A Christmas Story - Of course.
126. Wanted - I bought Collin the special edition 2 disc copy of this movie for Christmas so we checked it out again. Great movie.
127. The Dark Knight - I got this for Christmas as it was just as good the 4th time.
128. The Man Who Sued God - A Billy Connoly movie that was unexpected and fun and good.
129. High School Musical 2 - Jordyn & I watched this one cuz we knew we were going to see HSM3 at the $1 theatre soon. My least fave of the 3 but I really like the song "I Don't Dance."
130. Iron Man - How Collin & I spent our New Year's Eve after Game Night. This was a good movie and Robert Downey Jr looked gooooood. Yep.
TV SHOWS:
TV18. Dexter Season 2 - I saw a Flair on (sssh) Facebook once with a pic of Dexter that said SKILF. That's about it. When Michael C Hall puts on his "killing clothes" - oh, my!! But yumminess aside, this is a great series. Well written and acted and you never know what's gonna happen!
TV19. How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - After seeing Dr. Horrible and deciding NPH was the shit, I begged Collin to get me this for Christmas. And he did. And we loved it. Barney Stinson is my new hero. He's, dare I say it....Legen - wait for it - DARY! We watched the whole season within 2 or 3 days. And then he bought me Season 2 for my birthday which isn 't for 17 days and forced me to open it so we could start that one. Great series!
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BOOKS:
50. Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell I used to read everything this woman put out with great glee. Then I read one a few years ago that didn't impress me and I stopped reading her. When I saw this book at the library, the title caught my interest and I realized I couldn't remember why I didn't like the last one I had read. Well, now I remember. THIS BOOK SUCKED. All this build up and depressing stuff happening at every turn and then suddenly this serial killer who had been brilliant about not being caught suddenly turned idiotic and within 2 pages he was caught, imprisoned and the book was over, leaving some very important plot lines untouched. Hated it! Hated it. Yes, I hated it. And I don't say that much about a book.
51. The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman Ahh, this book was better. Alice Hoffman is a great writer and comes up with the most intriguing plots. This book was chock full of sympathetic characters and stories that made me laugh and cry.
And that was it. I actually started The Plantaganet Prelude by Jean Plaidy and Body Movers by Stephanie Bond but had to take them back to the library. See, most of my reading (99%) was done at work while I was on my breaks and lunch. Now I don't have work so the books just sat on the counter. I feel great shame.
MOVIES
119. Bolt - This movie was freaking adorable! It made me want a new hamster. It also worried me that kids watching Rhino throwing himself around fearlessly in his ball would think it's cool to toss hamsters about willy-nilly and the bunny-wunny death rate would rise sharply. But I haven't heard any bad news so I'm hoping it didn't happen. And this movie is great - GO SEE IT!
120. The Frighteners - An older movie that I had never seen but when Collin saw that Chi McBride, my fave character in Pushing Daisies, was in it he said I had to see it. So I did. And I really really liked it.
121. License To Wed - I did not enjoy this movie. The humor seemed forced. The only thing I liked was John Krasinski. He's a cutie.
122. Ghost Town - From a movie starring a guy from The Office, I move to one with the guy who started and starred in the original British Office; Ricky Gervais. He's hilarious - I love him! This movie was a departure from the kind of roles I'm used to seeing his play but he did it well and the movie was fun and moved along well. Plus Greg Kinnear is in it. :D
123. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We got it on DVD and had to watch it. I gave up halfway through trying to NOT say every line with the movie.
124. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We made my family watch it on Christmas Eve. They were lukewarm in their reception of it although my Mom enjoyed NPH's singing and Derek snorted with the line "The hammer is my penis." That was expected.
125. A Christmas Story - Of course.
126. Wanted - I bought Collin the special edition 2 disc copy of this movie for Christmas so we checked it out again. Great movie.
127. The Dark Knight - I got this for Christmas as it was just as good the 4th time.
128. The Man Who Sued God - A Billy Connoly movie that was unexpected and fun and good.
129. High School Musical 2 - Jordyn & I watched this one cuz we knew we were going to see HSM3 at the $1 theatre soon. My least fave of the 3 but I really like the song "I Don't Dance."
130. Iron Man - How Collin & I spent our New Year's Eve after Game Night. This was a good movie and Robert Downey Jr looked gooooood. Yep.
TV SHOWS:
TV18. Dexter Season 2 - I saw a Flair on (sssh) Facebook once with a pic of Dexter that said SKILF. That's about it. When Michael C Hall puts on his "killing clothes" - oh, my!! But yumminess aside, this is a great series. Well written and acted and you never know what's gonna happen!
TV19. How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - After seeing Dr. Horrible and deciding NPH was the shit, I begged Collin to get me this for Christmas. And he did. And we loved it. Barney Stinson is my new hero. He's, dare I say it....Legen - wait for it - DARY! We watched the whole season within 2 or 3 days. And then he bought me Season 2 for my birthday which isn 't for 17 days and forced me to open it so we could start that one. Great series!
It's hard to pick between Dr. Horrible and The Dark Knight for movie of the year so I'm declaring it a tie!! Whee!
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// posted by Heather @ 8:35 AM
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Health Warning
So yeah. This is a warning: if you're crying, don't do it lying on your side. I did this last night and you know what happened?
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A tear fell from the one eye directly down in my other eye, almost blinding me! Needless to say it was funny enough to remove the blues!
Labels: Funny
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// posted by Heather @ 8:56 AM
