My Sister's Keeper: The Complete Review

In the past week, I have read the book My Sister's Keeper, seen the movie, and purchased and (almost) memorized the soundtrack. Can you tell that I'm a fan? :) I will now review all three, but don't worry...I won't give anything away!
THE BOOK
It was amazing! I have never read a Jodi Picoult book, but I loved i,t and look forward to reading more. She has a very unique writing style, as each chapter is from a different character's point of view, and they all collaboratively tell the story. You can't really take sides this way, because you get to hear each character's ideas and reasoning and get inside their head. It is very unbiased. The chapters also jump around from past to present, which makes for a page turner. I read it in just a few days, and actually finished it on Friday night (technically early Saturday morning). I could not put it down and stayed up until 3am, reading it all the way until the last page. I woke up Saturday morning thinking about the book and dying to see the film (which had just come out the day before) so I convinced Zac, Ramsi and Bez to go with me at 11:30am. (I didn't wanna waste any time!)
THE MOVIE
Wow! I cried way harder at the movie than I did reading the book. (I have never cried harder in a movie. Ever! Not Seven Pounds, not PS-I Love You, not Marley in Me. Not ever! This was my record setter for amount cried in a movie!) In fact, everyone cried. Leaving the theater, you could tell who had seen MSK because they all had red swollen blotchy faces. I felt like I swallowed a metal plate at the beginning of the movie and could not get it out of my throat until hours after the movie. (I had a lump in my throat...a big one.) We made the mistake of forgetting Kleenex, so we had to use buttery, salty, leftover popcorn napkins, which needless to say didn't feel too good on the eyes. The movie was very different from the book, but I still LOVED it. Maybe even a bit more? I wondered if they were going to be able to jump around from character to character, but I think they did so pretty well. Yes, they left out several key parts of the book, but I wouldn't wanna change anything about the movie. It was SO POWERFUL! As sad as the movie was, I still HIGHLY recommend you see it. There are also light and funny parts, and the storyline is so touching. The music was AH-MAY-ZING, which leads me to my last review...
THE SOUNDTRACK
(Actually it's called "Music from the Motion Picture" because they are other artist's songs...not original tracks.) I don't know if you are familiar, but I would kinda compare this soundtrack to the Hope Floats soundtrack. Very soulful songs, beautiful, deep, and maybe a tiny bit dark. I obviously love it, because I bought it! I have listened to it quite a bit and I already know which song comes next, at the end of one song. The music definitely helped make the movie, and now when I listen to the songs, they remind me of the specific part in the movie that they were used. Just see it...you'll know what I mean. (You can click on the link "music from..." to hear the songs for free on Amazon. I bet you are familiar with at least a few of them! Wow!

So have any of you read the book? Seen the movie? Listened to any of the songs? Thoughts???

"get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now..."

You know how it is...every summer there are songs that define that specific time. For example, the summer of 2006 stands out to me because it is when we moved from small town Burnet to big city Austin. We were young and married but we had been living like old people, since we lived in a small town and there was nothing to do. When we moved to Austin, we felt so young and liberated. I remember waking up with excitement! The songs that were ALWAYS on my radio were Sexy Back and Promiscuous Girl. Those songs will forever remind me of that time in our life. I can't hear the song "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America without thinking of being 16, on a carnival ride with my best-friend Carrie. The song was blaring on the speakers and I remember being dizzy and feeling the wind blowing through my hair and that music screaming in my ears. That is such a memorable moment BECAUSE of the song attached to it. I have a million songs and memories that are tied together. I could write an entire post about it. I'm sure you would get a few chuckles out of that one. EX: The summer Zac and I started dating, he used to sing this Usher song all the time and he would do this cute little dance. (see 3:52 if you wanna see the dance) When we went bowling a few weeks ago, the song came on and Zac and I immediately looked at each other and shared a moment and a laugh. I just realized how I went off...and I still have a million more examples to share. That really might have to be a future post. :) GAH! I love music! See how powerful it is?
Anyways...back to the reason for THIS post. These summer songs I am talking about aren't just popular songs, they aren't even necessarily my favorite songs out, but they are songs I like, that will forever remind me of this space in time in my life. So yeah, I like Boom Boom Pow, and it's on the radio all the time, but it's not a "summer song" by MY definitions. Basically, it isn't on My List of 2009 SUMMER JAMS. But here are the songs that are...
Some of the songs would not let me embed from YouTube, so you will just have to click on them to hear the song.
"Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship (featuring Leighton Meester)
"Boys Boys Boys" by Lady Gaga This one hasn't even been released to radio yet, but I listen to it on CD at least once a day! :)
"Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry
"Ego" by Beyonce. HELLO...a week from today I am going to see her! OMG!
"I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas
"Calle Ocho" by Pitbull
"Ice Cream Paint Job" by Dorrough

So most of you have reported to me that you don't listen to the music I post on my blog (haha, your loss!!), but don't y'all have songs like this? I mean I know I am not the only person who has a soundtrack to my life. I know music is SUCH a big part of my life, but do you guys know what I mean? Do you have songs that remind you of a certain time in your life or even a specific event?

Five-year-old FUN!

When I got out of class on Thursday (ahem, I made a 94 on my "endocrine system" test, thank you very much!) I drove to Dallas to meet Ellen and Nati and Claire for lunch. We had some delicious sandwiches at Potbelly and then Nati came home with me for a sleepover! :) We had so much fun, even though we could barely go outside due to the high heat. Thursday we went and got snow cones, then Ramsi joined up with us to eat some Mexican food, and play in the splash park near the restaurant. (Well, Nati played...we just watched!) When we got home we walked to the park. We ended the night with some dancing in the living room, a bath, and three good books. It was an awesome day.





Friday was way too hot to do anything outside, so we headed to the mall to go ICE SKATING!! :) Nati had never been, but he was pretty good! Gosh, kids are so amazing at catching on to things super fast. He seemed to have tons of fun, and loved the food court pizza too...just like his Aunt Julia! ;)



Friday night we met The Enrights and Falcos in Dallas at Chuy's. Claire was as cute as usual. We had such a fun time with Nati, and I can't wait for another sleepover! I hope we can get at least one more in before the summer is over! ;) I truly have the best family ever!
ALSO- Madeline is coming to stay with us for several days in July! I know it will be so much fun. I did learn that I need to have some crafts or games or some type of indoor activity in case it's as hot then as it was this weekend. Also, I can't wait to take more field trips that we wouldn't normally get to take, if we didn't have a kid to use as an excuse! :)

Just a quick post

I just wanted to share a few quick thoughts, they are all over the place so I tried to group them:

PAST WEEKENDS:
We tubed the river with Ramsi and Bez two weekends ago. It was so much fun. I didn't take any pics of the tubing, since I forgot to buy a water camera, but I did get a few pics of us bowling at this cool alley that is kinda like a dance club. It is dark and they have cool lights and music and big screens with music videos. It was superfun, but all the "extras" made it kinda hard to actually bowl. haha. Since we were in Austin, we got to see Tatem and Scott and Ellie. I have always loved spending time with them, but as Eliza keeps getting older and showing her personality more and more, it keeps getting better! She's a doll!
This past weekend was the Hardwick Family Reunion. It was amazing, of course. We stayed in 2 beautiful cabins, and it was so much fun. I am so blessed to have such a tight-knit family! There were 31 of us there, and next year we will have four more! I will be devoting an entire post to this very soon. My cousin Shaun got married to Allen while we were out there, and I did the photography for them, so I have been spending lots of time viewing pics, cropping, etc...

MOVIES
1. Zac and I saw The Hangover, and it was hilarious. If you like comedies like Old School, you will LOVE The Hangover. It is definitely rated R for a reason, but it was amazing!! :)
2. Yesterday we rented two movies. Last night we watched Defiance and it was incredible. It takes place during the Holocaust, but it is still uplifting. It is a true story and thinking about what these people went through is so inspiring. If it wasn't a true story, I would never believe it possible! This afternoon we watched He's Just Not That Into You. It was okay. Not the best, but not awful. Just kinda "ehhh."

THIS WEEK
1. I am getting my hair done tomorrow! Yay! I will finally be blonde again! I have missed it! I will post pics as soon as possible.
2. Girls night tomorrow! My birthday party was such a hit and several of my friends who had never met before got along so well that we are getting together again! :) Stacy, Meredith, Ramsi, Rheanna, and me are going to eat at Gloria's in Arlington! I am so excited for our first girls night...I hope we have a few more before the summer is over, since we are all teachers!
3. Job interview on Wednesday. I am trying to get an aide job for next year. Since I will be full time student teaching in the fall, and I will be required to be at the school Monday-Friday all day, I would rather get paid and get insurance while I am there. :) My school offers an aide-exemption program where they waive your "student teaching" and just come observe you as an aide. I really want (and need) a job for next year. I have a few leads, but please pray with me that this will all work out. I have faith! ;)
4. Thursday I get to meet Ellen and Nati and Claire for lunch. The best part? Nati is coming home with me to spend the night! :) We will have him all day Friday too, then we'll meet for dinner Friday night to return him. We are still deciding on the perfect activities for Friday. Zac and I both have off all day so we will get to spend the whole day together with Nati. Any suggestions as to what we should do? I can't wait!

State Track Meet

State Track meet was last weekend and it was AWESOME! Zac had two kids competing in it, and they both got GOLD! One of them won the girls 3200m (she ran 2 miles in 10:52) and she also won the 1600m (1 mile in 5:02); the other won boy's pole vaulting by jumping 16 feet! It was such a triumphant day. Zac was even interviewed by the media! It was pretty cool, if I may say so myself! I am so proud of him...he has a really hard work ethic. A lot of coaches don't put much effort into their "second sport" which is assigned to them (football being their first), but if his name is on something, he is gonna make it good. He works hard and it pays off. He takes no credit, and gives all the credit and glory to the kids. I think it's awesome. Alot of coaches try to take ALL the credit for their athlete's success, but not my Zac. It's music to my ears when kids and parents come up to me and say "your husband has really turned this program around!" I have had several comments along those lines, and it just makes me swell with pride that I picked such a great guy! ;) Okay, I feel like I am just going on and on about how amazing he is (um, cuz, he is!) so I will just show you some pics from the weekend...

Zac (the distance coach) with his athlete and the girls track coach.

Right after Zac's pole vaulter won, a little boy asked for his autograph. It was so cute. I felt like his mom, I was so proud! The kid was so in awe of him!
Zac being interviewed by a reporter.
Haha, everyone knows Zac has a big "personal bubble" (he doesn't much like to be touched!) so this is his kid giving him a hard time and rubbing all over him. See Zac trying to push him away!? Too cute! They developed a neat bond over the past two years.
Me and Zac with his State Champion distance runner! She is a sweetie!

I talk about track ALL the time (or so it seems) so why, this one night, writing this post is the song Hollaback Girl stuck in my head? "Few times I been around that track, so it's not just gonna happen like that. Cuz I aint no hollaback girl!" Is it just because it has the word "track?" Who knows...maybe I have been smelling too much formaldehyde in my Biology class.

Summer School Stinks

Smells like liver and onions, to be exact! I am taking Biology I this summer session and I am not so much enjoying myself. We "examined" onions under a microscope, which was stinky, and I HATE onions. We also studied oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and liver. (which smells awful...how do people eat that? Do any of y'all like that?) So when I say it stinks, I mean that figuratively AND literally! Being in school in the summer is just not fun. The school I usually attend runs it's classes like masters programs, and we meet once a week for three hours. This spring I took 15 hours, but we only met on Monday's from 4-9. It's nice to have it condensed. Going every morning from 8-12 is not fun, and especially because it's summer and I'm supposed to be having fun and staying up late and being carefree. The good thing about my class is that we don't have homework. We do have a test once a week (I made an 89 on the first one, and a 90 on the second) but that hasn't been too bad. The good thing about testing weekly, is that the material is still somewhat fresh on the brain. But enough about school!

I have so many exciting things to share with y'all! Sorry I have been so bad at blogging lately. I really and truly am going to try to be better about it! I hope y'all are having a nice summer so far. Also, thanks to those of you who comment! :) I love it.

SIX months until I graduate from college! Finally!
I wish my commencement speaker was this awesome...

Saved By The Bell...

Real posts are in the works, but I saw this and thought it was too funny to pass up. :)

Forgive Me??

As a blogger, I always want to have exciting things going on in my life, so I have plenty to talk about on my blog. I have to admit that the past month was so busy and adventurous that I actually avoided posting because I didn't even know where to begin!! OOPS...I'm sorry!
This week Zac has to work A LOT though, so I think I will have plenty of time to be home and get some good blogs in. I have much catching up to do!! :) I can't wait to share some pics and stories with y'all!
In the meantime, look at this cute family picture of Ashlee. You probably know she's one of my favorite celebs...I love seeing her looking so happy!