Another Book Down...

I have finished my 6th book of the year for #19 - Read 10 books in one year. And once again, it was a book that should have gone quickly, but instead took six weeks to read!! Eeep!!

I recently re-joined my local library (I hadn't been there since I was a kid, but she still had me in her system! Gotta love small towns!), and the first night I was there perusing the selections, trying to find something to read before I start The Carrie Diaries for our next book club, I ran into a friend who told me I had to read the book she had just returned: Separate Beds by Lavyrle Spencer.


I know we have similar taste when it comes to other books. (She's a Twilight fan, too.) But for some reason, it took me forever to get through this one. It's a good ol' romance, with one of those classic "predictable" story lines - low-class girl meets high-class boy, girl gets pregnant, boy's parents force him to marry her, they're supposed to put on a charade until the baby arrives and then get divorced, but whaddya know...they fall in lurrrrrrrve...

Cue the chirping birds and harp music.

Maybe I just haven't been in a lovey-dovey, dreams-do-come-true mood lately. Maybe I've just read so many riveting books in the past few years that this one fell short in comparison.

I don't know what the problem was. But it took me too long to plod through it.

Hoping for better luck with The Carrie Diaries, which I started last night!

N Movie - Anything with Ashton is OK by me...

Sick of the movie reviews?

Too bad. That's all I seem to be accomplishing on the 101 List these days! Over the long weekend I was able to check off my "N" movie for #30 - Watch a movie starting with each letter of the alphabet that I haven't seen before. I rented No Strings Attached starring Natalie Portman and my cutiepie Ashton Kutcher.


I think my expectations were a little too high for the caliber of this movie. That, and I was quite tired the night I watched it. Like, so tired I kept falling asleep, then I'd wake up and skip back to the last scene I remembered, fall asleep, and so on until I finally gave up and just finished watching it the next morning.

So it wasn't exactly riveting. But then again, I'm not sure anything could have kept me awake that night.

It made me a little depressed that Ashton's character, Adam, was so head-over-heels for Portman's character, Emma, but she refused to reciprocate the emtional side of their relationship. Friends with benefits, nothing more. His attempts to woo Emma in the hopes of her wanting their relationship to become more were so sweet.

Like seriously. Who turns down a guy like that?!?

The movie was filled with dry, sarcastic humour. One of my favourite parts was when Adam gives Emma a mixed CD with time-of-the-month-themed music for...well, that particular "time of month"...Listening to them singing "Bleeding Love" was definitely one of the funniest moments.

If you like light and fluffy chick flicks, check it out. If you like Natalie Portman (who is in, like, every movie these days), check it out.

And, needless to say, Ashton is adorbs. Check it out!

B Movie...a RIOT!!

I was able to cross off another movie for #30 - Watch 26 movies I've never seen before starting with each letter of the alphabet last Friday evening, when I saw Bridesmaids on opening night. "B" movie - CHECK!



You see, my friend Lindsay is getting married (in less than a year now!! squeeeeal!!), so she rounded up myself (the MOH) and her bridesmaids, Rebekka and Amanda, for a fun night out for dinner and to see the movie, which was a highly appropriate way to kick off her "Wedding Year"!!

We may have laughed. Just a little bit. Just a teeny, tiny smidge.

No, seriously. It's a piss-your-pants-you're-laughing-so-hard kind of movie. People are calling it the girl version of The Hangover, but it's not the same at all. And it's not just a chick flick. My bro rolled his eyes when I told him this, but I truly believe that he - and any other man - would have drink squirting out of their noses from laughing so hard.

Like, literally pains in your sides from laughing.

Have I stressed that enough?

Go see it. Even if you're a boy.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I went through my list of movies that I've already watched and discovered I got all the way through the alphabet, to L I think, continuously. Go me and my movies! The crappy part? The only ones left to watch are the hard letters. Like Q and X and Z. If anyone has any recommendations for good movies starting with uncool letters, let me know!

The Turkey Blog

I have a few things to check off the list in my 101 Adventure.

The first is kind of a biggie to me. All my life, I’ve enjoyed delicious meals and baking, because I’ve been pretty fortunate to have a mom who is an excellent cook. (I blame her for my constant battle with my weight!

So, you would think I’m also an expert in the kitchen.

You would be wrong.

As wonderful a cook as my mom is, she’s passed very little of her talent down to me. It’s not like I haven’t tried. Many times, especially during my adolescent years, I’d ask her to show me how to do something – like make lasagne, or decorate a cake. The problem? Mom just can’t stand back and let me do it. The second I do something wrong, or struggle with one of the steps, she jumps in and takes over. Just easier for her to do it.

Eventually, I quit asking her to show me.

So, with this in mind, I put #5 - Cook a Turkey on my 101 List. Because I had no idea how. And it bothered me to think that one day I might want to cook a turkey, and I wouldn’t be able to do it.

Perfect opportunity to learn how: EASTER.

Now, I’m crossing it off, but again, I wasn’t able to accomplish the task without Mom trying to jump in from time to time. I would, eventually, like to do this on my own, without her hanging over my shoulder. But I think I did enough of it to cross it off the list!

Here are some of the pictures of me and my turkey-cooking skills.

Mom already had the turkey in a pot in the basement sink, defrosted and soaking. I did not know that you had to do this. I also did not know I had to "wash" it (rinse it with water). Already learning so much...

My first time fondling a turkey. Note the joy in my expression.

Okay. So we have him upstairs, in a pan, dried off, ready to season and stuff. This is so easy!!

She just can't let me to ANYTHING on my own!!

"How do you expect me to learn if you do it for me?!?!" Turkey frustration.

Hand up a turkey's ass. Yay!!

Succesfully stuffed the turkey without Mom meddling too much.

Those are not my hands pinning the turkey together (or whatever you call it). Shocking.

"MOM!!!!!!! LET ME DO IT!!!"

She informed me the giblets were to go in the pan too. I threw the bag in. She then informed me I had to take the giblets out of the bag. Ewwwwww.

Rubbing oil on the turkey: Not my favourite part.

I was so grossed out by touching the turkey that I probably washed my hands 10 times between the steps.

A little salt & peppa.

Then I had to build a tent of tinfoil over it. Note that Mother is still hovering, not even confident in my tent-building skills.

And we finally got that bird in the oven. Woo-hoo! Unfortuantely, there are no pictures to show I followed through with the basting over the afternoon. And unfortunately, there are no pictures of the finished product, because, surprise-surprise, my mom had it out of the oven and slicing it before I knew what she was up to.

But I assure you, it was delicious, and I gratefully accepted the compliments on how good it tasted all throughout dinner. (However, after successfully cooking my first turkey, I'm not sure how it is possible to mess it up, unless you forget it in the oven and burn it. Which I did not get the opportunity to do, as ol' Lizzie had it out before I knew it.)

Thanks to my sister Kara for being the photographer for this blessed event.

Moving on, from turkey to crow...I was also able to get another book done for #19 - Read 10 books in one year. By finishing Crow Lake by Mary Lawson, I’m now half-way complete this task! Woo-Hoo! I absolutely loved Crow Lake, which is a story told in the first person by Kate Morrison, who is struggling in the present to reconcile the tragic events and memories she has of her childhood.

The author smoothly transitions back and forth from Kate’s present to her past, as she tells the story of the year of her youth that forever changed her path in life – the year after her parents died in a car accident, and she and her baby sister Bo were left in the care of their two older brothers, Matt and Luke.

I gobbled this story up, and became absolutely enthralled by it. I literally could.not.put.it.down. Highly recommended, and once again, I enjoyed the discussion we had about it at Book Club.