So, after searching all over the place I found some pictures of my original kitchen. They are taken with the prop stuff that was in the house to show it off, not my stuff and that alone adds a nice touch i have never had. :p So here is old and new to compare. :)

( The Tale of One Kitchen! )

Singing and kids.....why I'm passionate about both things?....It's my calling....I still am learning more about the "why"

This is an an 8th grade choir and I don't exactly like some of their sounds, but they do very well on this song. We're singing it in choir right now (the women version). It's stuck in my heaaaaaaad!

LiveJournal: The First Decade

Just in time for holiday shopping, we're thrilled to announce the release of our ten-year anniversary anthology. Published by Blurb.com, the book showcases a decade of extraordinary talent drawn from LiveJournal users around the world. This must-read compilation features stories, memes, photos, comics, editorials, graphic content, and more, including:

1. Excerpts from Oh No They Didn't (a/k/a ohnotheydidnt), the largest community on LiveJournal, covering celebrity gossip, entertainment news, and pop culture
2. A look at post-Katrina New Orleans from the journal of Poppy Z. Brite
3. Gripping narratives, including a poignant reverie on a blind date
4. Photography that spans the globe, ranging from old-fashioned Polaroids to underwater photography
5. Mouthwatering dishes from food_porn

What began as a late-night inspiration back in Brad Fitzpatrick's college dorm in 1999 has grown to encompass nearly 25 million users worldwide, with journals and communities covering every conceivable hobby, passion, and topic. To get your copy, please visit the Blurb Bookstore. For updates and entries from book contributors, please join lj_turns10.

Tweaks and enhancements

• You can now ban a user from all of your communities and journals at once. To access this feature, hover over the person's userpic and choose Ban user everywhere from the drop-down menu.
• Follow LiveJournal on Twitter!

Give a little to help a lot!

In honor of National AIDS Awareness month, we've added a new charitable vgift. For each red ribbon you purchase for $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to support the development and global distribution of an affordable HIV vaccine (we'll cover credit card fees). You can read more about IAVI at lj_cares. While we're on the subject, we raised $740 from our November fundraiser for Love Without Boundaries, which supports emergency healthcare and adoption of Chinese orphans. We thank you for helping us help others.

Photos of the week

We're back with more incredible pictures from our super-talented LiveJournal photographers. Congratulations to ilya_gorokhov, who is the winner of our very first lj_photophile poll.

We hope you'll continue to post, vote, and comment! A gentle request: Please post only one photo at a time and limit size to 350x350 (so images display properly on friends pages). And now, without further ado, get ready to cast your ballot and view more awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Stay safe and snug out there!

Last night I went to see Me and Orson Welles at the Seattle International Film Festival. Despite having finals in the morning and having to brave rush hour traffic between Olympia and Seattle (its called The Black Hole for a reason) we, my two friends and I, managed to make it happen. And we only got lost twice.

After driving all the one ways around the Space Needle twice, we finally found a parking garage and walked to the theater. We got there at about 6:25 and the screening was at 7pm, so we only had to wait about five minutes before they opened the doors. Thank God, because we're in the middle of a cold streak and its suppose to snow next week and was about twenty degrees. There was a small crowd of about maybe fifty people waiting to get in with us, and most of them bought tickets at the door. The poster was out in front, and it was hideous up close, the photoshopping was obvious. When we were leaving they were taking them down and I considered asking for one to keep, but it was so bad I decided against it.

Once we got into the theater it started filling fairly quickly. The crowd was at first mostly over forty, but more college students and people on dates came in as it got closer to show time. My friends and I were easily the youngest people there, and we're freshmen in college. The audienced ranged from mostly mid twenties to sixties and there were a lot of men, I was happy to note.

A woman came up and gave a small speech about Me and Orson Welles being part of the awards buzz section, along with one other movie. And then it was mostly just asking for donations to support SIFF and such.

The Movie

I came into the movie having read the book, so I will be refering to that. The movie opened with a shot of Richard in class, being bored, and then cut straight to him on the train looking at himself in the mirror, like was in the trailer. I was disappointed they didn't give more of his background story because the beginning felt quite jumbled and confusing, if I hadn't read the book I would not have had a clue what was going on.

From there it cut to him getting peanuts, etc, and then to the music store where he meets Gretta. There were some funny moments, but there wasn't much chemistry and though the actress did a great job, Zac was just so so in those scenes.

The first half of the film was a bit slow and jumbled, and you weren't quite sure if Richard was the main character or Orson was. The transitions between scenes were also weak.The writing for Richard's character was extremely weak, and I was disappointed in that because the book was much more interesting in Richard's motives (getting laid) and his fascination with music and theatre. I felt that that could have been fleshed out much more fully.

Claire Danes was good, she played the part well but the chemistry was lacking in conviction. She wasn't as fleshed out as in the book either, and was a little too tame for my taste. But she wasn't unpleasant and she wasn't cold, as I've seen her in some roles.

Christian of course was fantastic and I especially loved the moments when he let Orson be vunerable, such as a part in a cab where he talks about loosing both his parents before he was fifteen and another moment where he whispered thank you to his producer before the play opened.

The movie was slow you could say, but I never lost interest and it built its rhythm very well. By the time the climax rolled around, that being the play, the audience was wholly absorbed and very into it.

The play scenes were easily the best part of the movie. I got chills up and down my spine through all of it. Zac's singing part was perfect, it was acoustic and beautifully sang, and there was dead silence in the theater in the movie as well as the theater I was in.

For people who have read the book, I was sad because they cut out the part where the other actress in the show gives Richard a book after the show in which she tells him that she was in love with him. It was just a cute little part in the book that I liked and was kinda sad they cut out, though I can understand why they did.

The ending was slightly anti-climactic, but it was true to the book and there were some cute moments.

The soundtrack was marvelous, and so was the lighting and kind of sepia tone. The costumes and everything were beautiful, and I especially enjoyed the long camera angles that just followed the actors faces. I've heard that its something Richard Linklater is known for using and I think it gave an intimate feeling to the film that was nice.

The audience I was in enjoyed it very much, there were a lot of funny moments and everyone laughed out loud. When Sonja tells Richard that she was spending the night with Orson there were lots of murmurs of pity and people seemed to sympathize with Zac and his performance throughout the movie.

It really was a good film. Could have had stronger writing but it was fun and lighthearted and enjoyable.

Zac's Performance

Part of the issues with Zac's performance was the writing, no doubt about it. He did great with the lines he was given, and his comedic moments were good as well as most of his dramatic ones. The biggest problem that I saw, and I understand why many of the critics picked on it, was that there was a lot of moments when something would be happening and the camera would be on Zac's face for a reaction, but his face would never change. He had a staple "I'm learning, I'm absorbing, I'm fascinated" face that he used through most of the movie and it was not up to par. His facial expression were much better in 17 Again to be honest.

It may sound like I'm being negative, but I'm really not. He was good, but I was expecting him to be good and he met my expectations. He didn't exceed them however. Part of that was the character and part of it was his acting. He really did nail the character perfectly, but its not like there was much for him to work with. Honestly, Mike/Mark in 17 Again was a much meater role. Richard could have been Link thirty years earlier. (and imo even Link had more character depth)

People keep wondering what will be his break out role. This wasn't it. It was a good movie, and one he can be proud of and happy to have on his resume, but he's still got a lot to learn. And amongst this cast, which was quite good, that was fairly obvious. I think he will continue to grow into himself and his charm and I'm very excited to see the end result.

**EDIT Thu Dec 3 23:24:15 UTC 2009 **

Hey Everyone, we are about to run the last alter job that we need to on our database servers. This will effect userpics / scrapbook / vgift images for the next few hours. Have no fear, your images aren't lost, there is just a really intensive process running on the servers which store the information for mogilefs. Thank you for your understanding and all the LJ love...

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're high on adventurous spirit, but low on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about inexpensive hotels and youth hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!

Oh my goodness! I love Christmas Lights! I want to decorate for Christmas SO badly. I don't know why Christmas lights make me so happy, but they do!

We will have Mac's birthday this weekend. I'm going to let the girls put on make up and make some jewelery. I'm eager to try out a birthday cake made from maple bars. If I can afford Krispy Kreme then that will be easy since theirs are round like a regular donut. Otherwise I need to figure out how to stack the bars and make it look pretty. Sprinkles should help.

Mac got her ears pierced on Sunday, her actual birthday. She was so scared but really brave. She cried into Nilla Bear (her teddy) for a few moments before she could look at us. She got some cute little rainbow CZ studs.

She was in a good mood the whole time considering and let me take some pictures.

( This one is insane! )

Next I will try to post some pictures of my kitchen!

There are just too many to choose from but if I had to make a list...

Vuelve by Ricky Martin because it makes me cry the snotty cry and sing along with it at the top of my lungs no matter where I am

Oh Pretty Woman by Van Halen because well...its Van Halen people come on m:P

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da because it's the Police and it takes me back to my high school days and the goofiest PE class ever

Fruta Fresca by Carlos Vives because your ass is up and shaking before you know it

Shake Your Groove Thing by Peaches and Herb, see above ^

A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash...lol...I think the title says it all

Mi Vida Loca by Pam Tillis, God bless country music and the lyrics describe me so well..

Already Gone by the Eagles because it seems like an anthem to me, a declaration of freedom

Anyways there ya go...ecletic and somewhat random...sorta like me

I'm jealous of my hubby's iphone and service. his jobpays for it not us, so I guess i can't complain. But I'm bored and he's hogging the computer.

bookfails
Planning to do your part to help boost the declining publishing industry this holiday? Better check here first. Sure, there are plenty of folks who post glowing reviews of their favorite books. But what about the epic fails? Compose and/or discuss snarky, incisive critiques on the books you despise most.

foundphotos
Ever stumble across a frayed photo in your grandmother's attic? How about a faded picture tucked in the sleeve of an old novel at a used book sale? This is the place to post them. An amazing, eclectic collection of photographs sure to delight anyone with a penchant for history or nostalgic memorabilia.

note_to_cat
Having trouble conveying the concept of accountability to your cat? Now you can share letters to your significant felines and give public witness to your declarations of love and domestic negotiations. Whether you want to publish an apology for falling short on your cat-nip obligations or you need to raise a delicate hygiene issue.

Liv is on the coffee table dancing to the Wiggles. She is so cute sometimes I think that my heart will explode. You'd think I'd be used to it after so many kids! But no! they are all cute and I can hardly take it.

Even my teenager is cute but don't tell him I said that. :p

Thanksgiving was low key and nice even though I did more work this year than I usually do.

What is beauty exactly? How would I define it?

I’m not sure. I do know that when I think of beauty I picture people like Kate Winslet and Catherine Zeta Jones.

I think back to a time when I didn’t know what beauty was or what it meant to be black or white or skinny or fat.

I do remember though the first time someone called me fat. I feel like as women if you’re ever unlucky enough to be called fat you’ll always remember it.

I was in kindergarten and I wondered if we could get a second slice of pizza. The boy sitting next to me named John, who I still know to this day, was the first person to call me fat.

Since that day I was always aware of my size. I have problems with food. It is my drug of choice. I eat when I’m sad, happy, stressed, anytime really. I use it because it makes me feel good, I always think about food and I hate it. Even when I shouldn’t be thinking about food, I’m thinking about it.

I’ve struggle with diets and eating disorders. I constantly am weighing myself and sucking in my fat in the mirror.

I always wonder if I’ll ever fit my own brains fucked up standard of beauty. I don’t think I ever will, but I do realize I have to learn to accept me and who I am. I just have to be happy. I don’t know how I’m going to be happy but I have to learn and I hope it’s sometime soon.

I do know that even though the world can be fucked up and people can hurt you that there is good in the world.

My friends are beautiful and kind. My family and supportive. I can have the world in my hands I just have to reach out and take it.

I try to think of beauty in different terms. In laughter in, acts of kindness, in the world around me. I try to picture the ocean and sunsets, I try to picture the stars and green forests. That is what beauty is.

Humans are beautiful too or at least they can be. I want my friends to know I think they’re beautiful inside and out.

We need to create our own standards of beauty and accept us for who we are. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Fuck everyone else.