Gilmore Girls Reviewed!

You knew it was going to happen! I couldn't resist writing up a review of the long awaited Gilmore Girls revamp. I'm going to warn you now, if you haven't finished it, I CANNOT keep spoilers out of this review. If you have finished, grab a cup of Luke's coffee and follow along with me!

Okay, if you knew me growing up or even now, I've never hidden my love of this show. It has all of my favorite things: witty comments, cutesy townsfolk, COFFEE, books, strong women, a brooding rebel boy with gorgeous hair and a heart of gold...wait, what was I saying? Oh that's right, what's not to love? So like the rest of you, I was waiting with baited breath for this revamp to come out on Netflix. It seems like over Thanksgiving weekend, it was all I heard about on social media.

Now, I proceeded with caution here. Netflix has a way of playing with my nostalgia emotions and then falling short. Ahem, Fuller House? But, in general, it was very well done. I can absolutely tell that the original writer came back for these 4 episodes. The last two seasons of the original series without her were lacking. But it gave us what we craved, seeing our favorite characters and what they've been up to for the last couple of years. And how things all turned out for them. So let's see how they're doing.

Emily: Wahhhhhh. I guess they had no choice but to write off Richard Gilmore from the show since the actual actor, Edward Herrmann, passed away about a year ago. It is also very realistic that by the time a child is in her 40s and granddaughter is in her 30s, they should lose a grand/parent or two. Unless you're really lucky. But seeing Emily cope with her husband's death was so heartbreaking. They did it in a good way, though, it wasn't too much or over the top. It had some funny little scenes like the over the top portrait of him. But they didn't drag it out too much, it was just there. I could've done without the therapy sessions with Lorelai. Ugh, can she grow up already and bring her vendetta against her mother to an end? Which brings me to...

Lorelai: Oh, dear. I'm gonna try not to rant here. When I watched this show as a teenager, I wanted to be Lorelai. You know, without the 16 year old kid. She's so strong and funny and I just idolized her. Watching Lorelai as an adult, and seeing her in her mid-40s still questioning what she wants in life or having this vendetta against her parents while continuously asking them for help financially, just rubs me the wrong way. It seems like her character hasn't developed at all from when we left her 10 years ago! Shes still unsure about Luke, which, lets be honest would only make sense if Luke was some one dimensional character. She can't even be a normal person to her mother when her father dies! Just be there and support her and what she's going through instead of dragging up ancient history. I'm 33 years old and I've realized a long time ago that at some point, we need to just accept our parents for who they are. They're just going to make awkward or slightly rude comments about your outfit or whether you're going to have any kids - that's just them! Sorry Lorelai, you gave up the right to ever bring up old issues with your parents when you took money from them for Chilton, Europe, Yale and now the new Inn. Move on, swallow the awkward moments and just be an adult. Phew.

Rory: Rorrrry. I loved Rory so much when I was a teenager. She spoke to my soul because of her love of books and movie/pop culture knowledge. She wasn't the cool girl in school but she didn't care because she was so steadfast in who she was and what she wanted. And also we both wanted to be a journalist! Which made me love her even more. Even though I've always rooted for her, I was sort of glad that the revival didn't make things come easy for Rory. Which is the impression I always got was that they do come easy for her. So it was nice to see her sort of struggle with that a bit and find her footing because even by the time we're in our 30s, things don't just come easy. But she'll figure it out even though we won't (or will we?!?!) get to see what the next stage brings her!

What I loved:

• Luke! He's the same old lovable character that he was in the original series. Puts up with Lorelai's bullshit and just lets her figure it out, knowing she'll come back to him. He's always so confident in them, which I love. It was SO cute how proud he was of Rory and her New Yorker piece. 

• Lane and Zack are still married! And the BAND is still together. That seriously made me so happy, I felt like I was 19 years old watching them get married again. 

• Luke and Lorelai's wedding - the word that comes to mind is 'finally'.

• That moment we saw Logan without his shirt on. Y'alll know I'm #teamJess all that way and I'm not even into blondes but holy moly oly oly. 

• And of course...Jess. I love him, no really. It was so great to see him around and that he made a man out of himself. No more wishy washy kid who doesn't have it together - although that was part of his appeal. Although we did see him towards the end of the original series, having gotten it together and even wrote a book. I also love that he encourages Rory to write a book, as well. And the moment..BAH...when Luke asks if he still has feeling for Rory and he's like "oh no, we're friends" but then we see the way he looks at her. That was enough to make my heart go copper boom. 

• That moment at the town hall meeting where they tried to get Taylor to admit his true sexual preference. Haha. 

What I hated:

• The freaking musical. What WAS that?!?! It was like 15 minutes long! Whyyy, why was it that long? Why?

• On that point, I hated every scene that felt like filler and went on way too long. There were a bunch of them. I was excited to watch the show because of the nostalgia that it brought me but they didn't need to like force feed me little cutesy scenes for no reason. Like every scene by the pool and the life and death brigade. It was unnecessary. 

• Rory being a homewrecker yet again. Come on, Rory. I forgave you when you were 19 and it happened (also it gave you a bit of an edge) but now you're just better than that. 

• The story line about Luke and Lorelai needing a baby. Her mom who she never listens to anyways says one comment and all of the sudden they start talking about having a baby and even go through the process of surrogacy? And then it wasn't mentioned again beyond the one episode, except the joke about Luke not getting how it works. I don't understand.  

• SPOILER! We might never know the father of Rory's baby!!

All in all, though, it reminded me of why I love this show so much. Its so well acted and with the original writer back for the revival, I can say that its well written too! I love it. I hope you did too! Netflix has been teasing us with these episodes since the summer so its been on my anticipation list and it finally delivered!

I'll go to my grave hoping for a Gilmore Girls: The Rory Years but I won't hold my breath. haha

xoxo. 

The Pump is Back!

Well, its back. Vanderpump Rules made its 5th season debut with as much drama packed into one episode as we could handle...seriously, though, I almost couldn't handle it. There are few shows that suck me in quite like this one, and it makes my life complete when its around.

I see our normal cast is back with an official Stassi addition from last year. I guess Bravo's forced apology tour that she did last year worked. We also see Brittany, Jax's girlfriend, now working at SUR and Jax stressing to Tom Sandoval about how they work, play, and live together and its just TOO MUCH. I guess he should've encouraged her to keep her job at Hooters, then. Lala and James are still on the show and Tom Sandoval and Ariana are still going strong as the world's "coolest couple." Katie and Tom Schwartz are still engaged and Katie is SO BUSY planning her wedding she barely has time for Lala and her drama. Right... Kristen is dating a guy for solid 10 months now! Wow, shes only 33, I think she's at that age where 10 months sounds like a really long time. Non crazy people her age may even be married by then. Although she admits to having a "fake engagement ring". Ugh...

Anyways, here are my thoughts on the Vanderpump premiere!

• Within minutes of the episode starting, we hear Jax tell Tom Sandoval that he caught Kristen going down on his girlfriend Brittany one drunken night. He continues to repeat this throughout the entire episode and I have a feeling we're going to drag this out the entire season as well. It's not even that interesting, but its just a tad gross - mainly because its Kristen. As Ariana put it "You just can't go to sleep when Kristen is around". Brittany adamantly denies it, she even seems real pissed at Jax for bringing it up and ya know, telling everyone about it. Kristen didn't fully deny that it happened. We'll see how this unfolds.

• I'm pretty sure that all of the SURvers don't even really work there anymore. They've sold their souls to Bravo and just get filmed to be in their uniforms and stand behind the bar or at the server station and gossip. There's no way they are turning around 200 tables a night because we see them basically doing nothing. On that note, I'm also convinced that the only time Lisa even walks into her restaurants is when Bravo is following her around with a crew. I ain't mad at cha, Lisa. 

• In support of my last thought, we see that Brittany & Jax and Schwartz & Katie have both updated their apartments. I believe they have been brought through Bravo blood diamond money. 

• At the Ok! Magazine party, the crew all settle into their reserved spot and they all go crazy when James and Lala enter the party. James goes insane and Lala calls the girls fat. We then hear that Stassi knows some people, that know some people, who know that Lala is FOR SURE a sugar baby and her sugar daddy has a wife and kids. Katie sees red and won't stop talking shit about Lala the whole night. She also jumps down Tom & Ariana's throats when they come to the table and say they didn't know what happened. Is she still mad at Lala for going topless around Schwartz in Hawaii last year? My God... I hope the girls (Kristen, Stassi, Scheana, and Katie) saw how they looked like a bunch of rabid hyenas while trash talking Lala. It's really sad that their so insecure about her. 

• Did anyone else want to call bullshit on this party? Why did it seem like the cast were the ONLY people in that room? Even when James & Lala leave and go to the other couch, we see the camera span out to watch them walk away and no on else is in that room. SO WEIRD. I hate being a traitor to my Bravo-fandom but...staged much?

• I also love how Katie tells Lisa that Lala body shamed her as if she hasn't said MUCH worse about Lala and pretty much every girl she is threatened by at the moment. She throws around the word "whore" like no other. Also, Katie - you are boring and just grumpy. Have you slept with your fiance yet?

• Sandoval and Ariana are friends with James and Lala? I can see the Ariana & Lala connection since it seems like Ariana isn't quick to judge but the Sandoval and James big brother moment was odd. 

• We learn that James's excuse for being ridiculous is because his parents are getting divorced. I'm sorry, what? How old are you? Time to live your life and accept that your parents have their own lives as well. Baby. 

• Oh, don't worry. It wasn't lost on me that the girls are all sitting around best friends with Scheana and judging Lala for supposedly sleeping with a married man when they did the exact same thing with Scheana when she first started. I guess since Scheana Marie is married now she's perfect, huh?

• Best quote of the night " You've ruined my Yeezy" - James. I hate you. 

So there we have it. I honestly forgot that Katie and Schwartz aren't already married. BORING. If I have to watch one more Vanderpump Rules season where its all about someone getting married, I'll claw my Scheana Marie fake colored contacts outs. 

Til next time.

xoxo. 

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

Happy Halloween, ya'll! I know! It's been awhile, life got a little busy there for a minute. However, things are starting to slow down juuuust in time for my favorite time of year - FALL. The air gets chilly, the nights get darker, and you have to cuddle up to your favorite person (or puppy) and...watch a good scary movie! Ever since we moved in together,  my husband and I watch an assortment of scary movies during the month of October - some are classics, some are 90s hits, and some are just so bad you have to watch. Anybody ever see Zombeavers? Netflix it.

But we save our favorites for the end of October as we get closer and closer to Halloween. So since we're in the Halloween spirit, I thought I would share with you my top 10 favorite scary movies of all time.

Top 10 Favorite Scary Movies

10. Scream

Who DOESN'T love this movie? It came when there was a need for good scary movies again and it kicked off a series of 90s scary movies that everyone (maybe it was just me?) got into. Its also really smart in sort of being a tongue in cheek plot about other scary movies.

9. The Birds

My mom is so into Alfred Hitchcock so I remember watching these movies as a kid. We mainly made fun of how fake the birds look and how the actresses from that time period over acted. But as an adult I can really appreciate the genius of Hitchcock, and I don't mean to sound like a film snob or anything cause I'm not but if you've never seen a Hitchcock film, you're missing out. I'm not kidding, evertime I see a big mess of birds just hanging out, I panic that they're waiting to fly into my car and beak me to death!

8. Carrie

"They're all gonna laugh at you!" Stephen King, another horror genius. My mom and I use to trade his books back and forth (okay, my mom isn't a weirdo - we just share a macabre side) and I thoroughly enjoyed Carrie. However, when I first watched this movie it scared the shit out of me! Its so weird and dark and amazing. I torture myself with it every year.

7. Amityville Horror (the original)

Ummm, maybe we shouldn't talk about this one? Talk about scary - this one actually happened! I'm sure there are some naysayers out there but who's to judge the family that says these things happened? I don't think they wanted to be driven out of their home in the middle of the night, never to return. If you haven't seen this one - the ORIGINAL one made in 1979, you're missing out on a good scare.

6. Halloween H20

The Halloween franchise has a string of remakes and prequels, and whatever else to its name. And besides the first one, this one is the only other one worth watching. Its just so well done. This is also the only other one besides the first two that Jamie Lee Curtis is in so it just makes it that much better. 

5. It

Another Stephen King favorite of mine. A creepy clown terrorizing little kids actually sounds like recent news except PLOT TWIST, they are the only ones that can see him! I've never been afraid of clowns but they're not my favorite and this movie chills me to the bone.

4. Psycho

"We all go a little mad sometimes". To me, this movie is just more interesting and suspenseful than scary. We see a woman who steals money from her boss and leaves town only to end up at the Bates Motel and meet an odd man with a strange relationship with his mother. Another Hitchcock movie to add to your queue.

3. The Conjuring

This is one of the "newer" movies I've seen that quickly made its way to the top of my list. Its another true haunting story but its good and suspenseful without being gory which newer movies tend to go too hard on. If you haven't seen it, do so, its a must. 

2. The Shining

I don't even think I should have to explain this one. The Shining! Jack Nicholson was perfect for this role of the psychotic father. Read the book or what the movie, either way, prepare to be scared!

1. Halloween (the original 1978)

They call it a classic for a reason. And it can ONLY be this version. I'm not down with the Rob Zombie remakes in the 2000s because they just go completely over the top. The reason that Mike Meyers is so scary is because he doesn't die, he walks confidently and creepily the whole time he's chasing some screaming girl, and in the original we didn't know he was there to kill off his little sister (spoiler alert). We just thought he stalked babysitters. But its great, it leaves us in suspense and shock when we find out the truth. I usually only watch this one and Halloween H20...the others are kind of silly. 

Other favorites that didn't quite make the Top Ten are Urban Legends, Hocus Pocus, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Those are my favorites, what are yours? Which movie will you be watching tonight? Happy Halloween, everyone!

xoxo. 

Mastering the Art of Irrational Fears

I just finished reading Julie and Julia, a book about Julie Powell, a secretary in NYC who decides to shake up her life by cooking all 524 recipes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year. I'm sure you've seen the movie by now, it was released in 2009 starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. It was a good movie, and as always, the book is so much better.

We were at a book sale this summer when my husband came across volumes 1 & 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. He really wanted to buy them and other than cool looking old books (our favorite), I really didn't see a point. First of all, I've never really eaten french food; secondly, anything made by Julia Child intimidates the crap out of me. Don't get me wrong, I can cook and I love following new recipes but all I could think of was the part in the movie where Julie has to de-bone a duck and kill a live lobster and that was NOT for me. As fate would have it, at the same book sale, I saw a copy of Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously and thought "now that's a coincidence" and grabbed a copy.  I'm so glad I did. Not only is Julie Powell a hilarious writer but she also inspired me to break out MAoFC and face one of my major cooking fears.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an irrational fear of raw meat. I hate it. HATE. I've actually gone through various years of my life being a vegetarian simply because I'll eat chewy piece of beef fat, bite into a hard part in a hamburger, or see a vein-y piece of chicken. (gag) On top of that, when I see the meat in unflattering phases before its cooked, I'll have trouble eating it. My poor husband always has to do the meat part of meals because I just simply can't touch a piece of meat when its raw or I won't eat it.

I know its all in my head and makes no sense and can't even really be explained...which is why I decided to dive right into a meal that seems so simple but to me was a mountain to climb...roasted chicken. I mean, roasting a chicken. I put on my pearls (ala Julia) and made a martini (ala Julie) and washed the chicken, took out the giblets, and stuffed that thing's cavity with bread crumbs! Chopped up the heart, lungs, and whatever else and cooked them to make a stuffing. I tied its little wings and legs together like a hostage and checked on it every 10 mins to sear it with hot basting juices for almost 2 hours. Julia is not messing around when she roasts a chicken. Here's her recipe:

Poulet Roti [ Roast Chicken]

You can always judge the quality of a cook or a restaurant by roast chicken. While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that it is done just to the proper turn. 

Wine Suggestion: Bordeaux-Medoc or Rose

3 lb, ready to cook roasting or frying chicken

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tb soften butter

A shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold the chicken easily

To flavor the sauce: a small sliced carrot and onion

For basting: a small sauce pan containing 2 Tb melted butter, 1 Tb good cooking oil; a basting brush (I just used a spoon)

1/2 Tb minced shallot

1 Cup brown chicken stock, broth, or bouillon

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt, and smear in half the butter. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the stuffing (optional). Truss the chicken (meaning tie the legs and wings to the body). Place chicken breast up in the roasting pan. Strew the vegetables around it, and set it on a rack in the middle of the preheated oven.  Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, turning it on the left side after 5 mins, on the right side for the last 5 mins and basting it in butter and oil after each turn. Baste rapidly so oven does not cool off. 

Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Leave the chicken on its side and baste every 8 to 10 mins, using the fat in the roasting pan when the butter and oil are exhausted. Regulate oven heat so chicken is making cooking noised but fat is not burning. 

Halfway through estimated roasting time, salt the chicken and turn on its side. Continue basting.

Fifteen minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt again and turn the chicken breast up. 

Indications that the chicken is almost done are: a sudden rain splutters in the oven, a swelling of the breast and slight puff of the skin. 

When chicken is done, discard trussing strings and set the chicken on a platter. Let it sit a room temperature for 5 to 10 mins before carving.
Bring the juices from the chicken to a rapid boil and add in the chicken stock until it thickens. If you need help making it thick, add in 1 Tb of flour. This is your gravy.

For Stuffing: 

3/4 lb. finely chopped mushrooms

1 Tb butter

1 Tb oil

1 1/2 Tb minced shallots

Chicken gizzard, chopped

chicken liver, chopped

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup of dry white crumbs

3 Tb cream cheese

1/2 tsp of dried tarragon

1/4 tsp of salt

Big pinch of pepper. 

Saute mushrooms in hot butter and oil with shallots for 5 to 8 mins, until pieces begin to separate from each other. Place them in mixing bowl. Saute gizzard for 2 mins in hot butter. Add the liver and saute 2 mins more. Add to mixing bowl. 

Pour wine into the mushroom cooking skillet and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced to a spoonful. Scrape into the mixing bowl. 

Blend the rest of the ingredients into the mixing bowl and season carefully to taste. Let the stuffing cool. Pack it loosely into the chicken. 

I was so freaking beside myself after chopping up the organs and you know, touching a baby chicken, that I completely forgot two key ingredients in the stuffing, the red wine and the mushrooms! When I remembered, it was too late, the stuffing was already inside this little baby and it was tied up to be
cooked. I really thought the basting every 10 mins seemed a little unnecessary and maybe it was, but I was trying to follow exactly as Julia instructed and in the end I came out with a perfectly cooked chicken and even made up my own gravy from the juices and some chicken stock. And when I say it was perfect, I mean perfect. It was golden on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside, just like you want in a bird. My husband and I were so hungry after smelling it cooking for 2 hours that we just dove right into everything and it was like a mini Thanksgiving dinner.

I found it very satisfying to cook a meal where everything was made from scratch which I can't say that I always do. It definitely wasn't the healthiest of meals, what with the constant butter slathering, but it was comfort food at its greatest. I was satisfied and proud of myself but thoroughly exhausted. I don't like cooking like that, to me the beauty of roasting something is that you sprinkle it with olive oil and salt and forget about it for 25 mins. Not obsessively opening the oven to make sure the juices are clear and the butter is getting everywhere. I now know what its like to be a helicopter parent. "How's it doing?" "Are you okay in there?" "It needs more butter! Get it more butter!"

I don't know how Julie Powell did a recipe a night for an entire year and all I did was roast a chicken! I can't imagine an entire duck or Beef Bourguignon that has a freaking laundry list of ingredients. If you read the book and try a recipe, you'll understand why she has consistent emotional breakdowns. (Full book review to come)

So all in all, great book, great recipe...and I'll never eat chicken again.

xoxo.

A Star Wars Rookie: My Theory Revealed!

Okay, I'm all caught up. I'm officially not a Star Wars virgin anymore. Do I look any different? Perhaps, older and more mature? I feel a bit wiser as I've expanded my pop culture knowledge and no longer have to pretend that I understand references.

I just finished re-watching The Force Awakens and I've come up with my theory of who Rey is and what her connect is with the force. If you'll remember from a couple weeks ago when I declared this a challenge accepted, my hope was to find out all I know about these movies and chime in with my theory of her origins.

Before we get into that I need to say how much I like this movie. Now, I saw it when it first came out, and while my husband promised me that I didn't need to know the other movies to get into this one, it was so great to have the insider knowledge! This has to be my second favorite of all the movies I watched (#1 has to be Return of the Jedi). It's just done so well. This movie some how manages to be self aware of itself as an anticipated Star Wars movie. Example, Finn and Rey are in the same boat as me when they realize they're on the Millennium Falcon and hey wait, they're talking to Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker they thought was a myth. I almost expected one of them to say "Wait, Am I in a Star Wars movie?" Unlike the prequel trilogy JJ Abrams and co. realize that they are not only making a new Star Wars movie for the die hard fans who grew up with the originals, but also to a new group of people who are experiencing these stories for the first time.

This movie also knows how to do the "comedic relief" very well. After having just watched the prequel trilogy and thinking I would be scarred for life from Jar Jar Binks, this was much appreciated.
Finn offered some funny lines "we'll just use the force!" and of course Chewie and Han Solo are always funny... "did you just call me Solo?" And you know I love a kick ass heroine and the originals delivered Princess Leia so of course I love Rey, too.

That brings us to Rey, who is she? Drumroll please...

Rey is Han Solo & Leia's Daughter!

Okay, okay, hear me out! There really is a lot of hidden evidence to support this. When you know what you're looking for you can find it. 

• She grew up right near the Millennium Falcon, which has been in a junkyard for years but she almost instinctively knows how to fly it even though its suppose to be a heap of junk.

• When Rey meets Chewie and Han Solo on board, they almost fall right into this sort of Father-Daughter team of being in charge of the Falcon...even saying things at the exact same time. 

• Han gives Rey a sad look when she says she "didn't know so much green existed in the universe". At this point, she never mentioned where she comes from or her story. You would think if they were perfect strangers that he would give her more of a puzzled look. He definitely already knows about her being stranded on Jakku for many years. 

• Kylo Ren has a pretty strong reaction when he finds out about "a girl from Jakku". We seem him lose his cool a couple of times when people mention Rey as if he already knows who she is..because why would a total stranger have such an effect on him? And we have all seen how Kylo Ren reacts to his family. 

• During Kylo Ren's interrogation of Rey he mentions that she feels "Han Solo is the father she never had". Why would she really have those feelings about him unless she feels a deeper connection? I think this was a big hint that is impossible to miss. 

• Leia gives Rey a pretty strong hug when she returns...maybe she's just being sentimental because she knows Han Solo died (spoiler alert) but for just meeting Rey for the first time, its a pretty long hug. I think there's a connection there. 

• When Kylo Ren reads Rey's thoughts he said she dreams of an ocean and a green island, or something like that. Which we find out at the end of the movie that is it the location of the Jedi temple where Luke is hidden. 

• Why would Leia just send Rey off to find Luke on her own at the end of the movie? You would think that Leia would be like "I'm going to get my brother not sending some strange girl." There's a connection there, which I'm aware is good support evidence for the popular theory of Rey being Luke's daughter. 

via GIPHY

My husband thinks that Rey is just Han Solo's daughter and not Leia's...but I had to debunk this because she has the force and Luke's lightSABER called to her. She must be connected to the Skywalker family. What I'm thinking is, that Rey is Han & Leia's daughter but was a former padawan of her Uncle Luke at his school. When Kylo Ren came back and destroyed the Jedi school and the padawans, I think Rey survived. Then, Leia and Han decided to put their child on Jakku for her own safety and wipe her memory of the event since it was so tragic. This would sort of be a similar situation that Luke was in when we first met him in A New Hope, except he was a baby. The story line connections are just so similar and I know that is happening on purpose. I predict that maybe Rey is going to be integral in turning Kylo Ren back to the light since Leia hints she feels "there is still light in him". I think that a brother and sister dynamic would have a bigger impact on this rather than a first cousin (if she were Luke's daughter).

So there you have it, my theory of Rey's origins. Like I said before, I really liked this movie. I think it was great in keeping the original generation of Star Wars characters and story lines while also getting us excited for a new generation of characters to see what happens with Rey, Finn, Poe, and even BB8. I'm so excited to watch the next couple of movies and see what we find out!

I know you can't call no spoilers on movies that are over 20 years old, but, thanks for going on this journey with me and for all the people who chimed in with their comments (mainly my husband and brother in law) without any spoilers. It's been fun and if any of you get into Harry Potter and have questions just holla at me, I owe you some answers.

Look, mom, I'm a Star Wars fan!
xoxo.

A Star Wars Virgin: My Questions Have Answers!

Yesterday, I posted Round 2 of my Star Wars challenge after I finished watching the prequel trilogy and I had some lingering questions and I wasn't sure if I would ever get answers (because I was NOT going on a Star Wars fan discussion board again).

This is where my brother in law, Rocco, is vital to my sanity. He has proven to be my own personal Yoda in this journey and I'm young and naive Luke. He's very wise and has a lot of insight into things I didn't even know were there. He has thorough knowledge of the characters, scenes, and facts about George Lucas and filming. It's been great to have an expert in my corner since I find these movies to have a lot of different parts and characters!

I think its worth stating that Rocco has been in my life for about 15 years. He is the husband of my older sister, Yana, and I've literally known him since I was 17 years old. And I have never, ever, gotten as many texts from him in those 15 years than I have in the past two or three weeks of me watching these Star Wars movies. But that's sort of the great thing about Rocco. He's not in anyway an overbearing person but when he's passionate about something...he's passionate. He always has insights into how movies were made and directed and unknown facts or has seen deleted footage...so I shouldn't have been at all surprised that he would text me after every one of my posts to drop some knowledge.

So after finishing six of these movies, I had a bunch of questions which I thought did not make any sense, some of which I would say could be considered plot holes. However, like the good Yoda that he is, Rocco sent me some answers to my questions and I couldn't help but share them with you.

Question 1. Why doesn't Obi-Wan recognize R2D2 in A New Hope? 

Rocco: Technically the appliance reference makes sense. R2 droids are extremely common and though droids become characters with us in the movies they are just tools. There is actually a very cool droid side story about how C3PO ends up with an orange arm in The Force Awakens. 

Question 2: How did the Jedi just end up using the storm troopers as an army?

Rocco: The Jedi investigate the planet that was removed from the maps (the scene with Yoda and the kids) and they discover a defect Jedi (later found to be Count Dooku...worst name ever) went there and had the clone people clone Jango Fett (Boba Fett's dad) into a clone army. The clone people were told by Dooku that this army is for the Jedi they will need in an upcoming battle. That battle is orchestrated from Palpatine with the trade federation as the "false threat". So the Jedi use the clones but they are also programmed to double cross the Jedi. They are also clones which is why they are so dumb later in episode 4...the gene pool is diluted. 

Question 3: What happens in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope? How come it seems like Leia grows up to already be involved with the Rebel Alliance? How did the Death Star get created? 

Rocco: Almost all of these questions will be answered in Rouge One coming in Dec. except Leia. They tried to shoe horn Jimmy Smits as her stepdad/rebel leader so she is essentially born into the rebellion but never told she has the force

Question 4: Yoda tells Obi-Wan that he should learn to commune with Qui-Gon (his former master) while on Tatoonie...what? That doesn't make any sense? Why would they put that in there if it never gets mentioned in the next one?

Rocco: Yoda telling Obi-Wan to communicate to Qui-Gon is Lucas's half- assed effort to explain the ability to talk to the dead via the force as Obi-Wan does to Luke later. There is actually a deleted scene where Qui-Gon talks to Obi-Wan from the dead but its stupid and rightfully deleted. The force can allow communication with the dead but its never really explained and this was a bad attempt. 

Question 5: How did Princess Leia get her message for Obi-Wan to R2D2 if they were suppose to be randomly sold at the end of Revenge of the Sith? 

Rocco: Its said that the droids are like ever present beings throughout the saga. Somehow, someway, they end up in all the crucial moments. So short answer...fate or the force.

Question 6: Why does Darth Vader interact with Leia so nonchalantly throughout the first trilogy but immediately knows something is amiss when Luke is present? Does she not have "the force"? Or if so, shouldn't he be able to sense something with her too? When Luke and company arrive on the Death Star to save Leia, Vader says "I sense a something, a presence I haven't felt since...". Is he talking about Luke?

Rocco: Leia had the force but doesn't get in touch with it. It can be said that she didn't ignite the flame before she met Luke. I have always felt that the quote you're referring to is for Obi-Wan not Luke because later Vader senses Luke when they are flying around the Death Star.

Question 7:  In the first trilogy...Palpatine tells Vader "We have reason to believe that the pilot who destroyed the Death Star is Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker." Doesn't Palpatine know that's Vader? 

Rocco: Like Obi-Wan telling Luke your father died, technically he did and Vader is not his father. So Palpatine is continuing the long con that you are now Vader and there never was Anakin Skywalker. The dude is evil. 

He also imparted his wisdom on what I SHOULD be asking:

• Would an Ewok make a good pet?

• Why is Lando randomly wearing Han Solo's clothes when flying the Millennium Falcon?

• Why couldn't Kylo Ren kill two people who never picked up a lightSABER after he showed that he can literally stop a laser in mid air while talking to someone and giving orders to kill. 

While I still maintain my point that Obi-Wan should have recognized R2D2, it relaxes me to have explanations for my other questions. There is a lot to focus on and keep track of in these movies and it was tough to keep everything straight. Now I feel that I can fully move on and towards The Force Awakens with full knowledge on everything that happened.

So thank you, Rocco! You're going to be a great help for your sons if they ever grow up to love Star Wars...or...maybe they don't have a choice. :)

xoxo. 

A Star Wars Virgin: Round 2

Okay, we need to talk. Although I was thoroughly warned, I was not prepared for how much I would dislike the Phantom Menace. I won't say hate, I'll say dislike. There were two major factors in this for me: Jar Jar Binks and little kid Anakin Skywalker. You guys, Jar Jar Binks is the worst. He's so horrible I couldn't stand any scene that he was in. I really don't even know what to say about him except that I'm so glad he wasn't a large role in the other movies. My husband said he thinks that is due to the fact that fans revolted after they first saw Binks. The whole movie was pretty odd. The little kid was horrible, the worst actor, and then some of the cheesy lines were annoying too.

As you can gather, I finished watching Phantom Menance, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. After watching these movies I can say that I'm so glad I started with the original three because I don't think I would've made it if I started with these three. They're pretty good, some of the lightSABER fights were awesome and it was nice to get most of my questions answered but overall I wasn't as into these as I was the originals. I had to kind of make myself watch them and I admit that I fell asleep a couple of times during Attack of the Clones and we needed to keep pausing and going back into it.

I didn't like the over usage of CGI but I know when these movies came out this was a new tool to use so I can sort of understand being overly excited about it. I definitely preferred puppet Yoda over CGI Yoda, something in his character just got lost there. And was anything on the set real or were they all just standing in front of green screens?

Let's talk characters.

Anakin Skywalker is of course the main character of the movies. The whole point of the series (for me) was to find out who he was and how he became Darth Vader. The writing in combination with the acting was distracting me from Anakin's character. The little kid in Phantom Menance and then Hayden Christiansen really fell flat for me. *deep breath* I didn't think the puppy love for Padme was cute at all. I feel like they tried to write him similar to Luke but he came off annoying instead of lovable. I was so excited to finally see how Anakin became Darth Vader but by the time Obi-Wan left him to die in the lava of Mustafar, he was so annoying I couldn't have cared less what happened to him. I was unconvinced that his anger towards what happened to his mother would harden him and make him weary to "the dark side".

Obi-Wan was another character I was interested in getting to know more about. In the second movie, Attack of the Clones, I was afraid we were going to get another stupid love triangle with him, Padme, and Anakin so I can be grateful they didn't go that route. I thought his character would be more integral for me...bringing up Anakin as a young Padewan and showing him the ways of the Jedi. The delivery of cheesy one liners, I could've lived without but overall his character wasn't too bad. He had some good lightSABER fights but I didn't really root for him...I guess I was suppose to feel for him when he was so disheartened by Anakin turning to the dark side but I was kind of just like "shut up".

I guess Padme is another main character. Going into these I wanted to find out about Luke and Leia's mom but I was ill prepared for the long drawn out love story. In the first movie I loved Queen Amidala. She was reminiscent of Leia by wiedling weapons and leading her troops. She had strategies and was really intent on making sure her people were safe. I really loved how they bait and switched me with her bodyguard, that was pretty cool. Then she falls in love and she goes totally pathetic on me. Like I said before, I was glad there wasn't a love triangle I would have to sit through. What was with that scene where Anakin is watching her brush out her enormous perm in the moonlight. Really? Who WROTE that scene? First, you don't brush OUT curls ever and second, no. And in Revenge of the Sith shes pregnant and just running around worried about Anakin and she dies from "a broken heart" and "lost the will to live"...even for your two babies? Whatever.

What I Learned:

• Palpatine! He is sinister to the bone. He ended up being my main source of curiosity throughout the films. His character is what makes me think there was some sort of talented writers on these movies because he is what you want in a villain. I learned how he manipulates Anakin into thinking that the Jedi are bad. Although Anakin spent his whole damn life with the Jedi and Palpatine says this to him once and now he's convinced of it too? Wait a minute! Maybe Anakin was suppose to be written as a big dumb kid?!?! 

• If you are a Star Wars virgin, like me, don't make the mistake I made by asking a question on a Star Wars fan discussion board. All I did was point out what I thought was a tiny plot hole. I said "How come Obi-Wan doesn't recognize R2D2 in A New Hope when we see him spending all this time fighting along side R2 in the prequel movies?" Well, that upset the nerds. Within minutes...no SECONDs...I received answers like "Anakin owned R2D2 not Obi-Wan" and "R2D2 isn't a person, he's more like an appliance...do you remember the blender that you owned 20 years ago??!?!?!" to which I replied "Yes, I freaking loved that blender". 

• The Jedi Order is all wiped out by a single order to the storm troopers to kill them. Although, I really didn't care too much about the Jedi for this moment to make a large impact. Sam L Jackson's character seemed like he was suppose to be a main character but I don't even remember his name, to be honest. 

• The twins get separated as babies because of the order that killed all the Jedi. They move the twins to where Anakin/Darth Vader won't know how to get to them. Leia ends up on Alderaan and Luke goes to Tatoonie. 

• The meaning of the different colored lightSABERs is all in my head.

• Some battle scenes and lightSABER fights go on for 20 mins and then the really cool one with Darth Maul gets cut way way too short. 

Lingering Questions: 

• Why doesn't Obi-Wan recognize R2D2 in A New Hope? He even freaking says "I don't remember owning a droid before". And yes, even though he technically didn't own him, you would think he would still remember him! R2 is fighting along side of them throughout the other prequels. It doesn't add up.

• How did the Jedi just end up using the storm troopers as an army? Were they just hanging out and waiting for someone to tell them what to do? Because then Palpatine shows up and tells them to kill all the Jedi and they're like "oh okay." And then as we know they become Darth Vader's army...I missed something with that one. Like I said, I kept falling asleep. 

• What happens in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope? How come it seems like Leia grows up to already be involved with the Rebel Alliance? How did the Death Star get created? 

• Yoda tells Obi-Wan that he should learn to commune with Qui-Gon (his former master) while on Tatoonie...what? That doesn't make any sense? Why would they put that in there if it never gets mentioned in the next one?

• How did Princess Leia get her message for Obi-Wan to R2D2 if they were suppose to be randomly sold at the end of Revenge of the Sith? 

• Why does Darth Vader interact with Leia so nonchalantly throughout the first trilogy but immediately knows something is amiss when Luke is present? Does she not have "the force"? Or if so, shouldn't he be able to sense something with her too? When Luke and company arrive on the Death Star to save Leia, Vader says "I sense a something, a presence I haven't felt since...". Is he talking about Luke? Or maybe he's talking about Obi-Wan!

• And in the first trilogy...Palpatine tells Vader "We have reason to believe that the pilot who destroyed the Death Star is Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker." Doesn't Palpatine know that's Vader? Why doesn't he say "Oh snap, we think you're son is alive!"

Overall, I think I can say all these movies were good for was to answer a lot of the questions that I had lingering since the first trilogy. They weren't bad but they definitely weren't good and they were no where near the first trilogy. At points in this movie I felt like they just threw in some old characters to be involved in the action for nostalgia? I'm not sure. Like Chewbacca? Why was he there? I understand there is a whole Wookie species but throwing in Chewbacca was just like, yeah okay. You're trying to make me excited to see a loved character. 

Anyways, I could talk about these movies for days. haha. I am glad I watched them! But I'm not quite finished. I'm going to re-watch The Force Awakens and see if there is anything I missed. I started this whole series-watching to figure out my own theory on Rey's origins so that's what I'll be stewing up next. 

Until next time, may the force be with you.

xoxo

Unity & the Olympics

I'm speaking from my heart, here.

It seems as though the past year in the United States has been nothing but turmoil. Well, the past couple of years, really. Let's be honest, we've gotten use to hearing sad and disturbing news reports every evening while making dinner. The steady climb of social media, race relations, gun control, parenting choices, and politics have put us in a divisive mentality in our daily lives. My newsfeed and twitter is constantly retweeted "news" articles (yes, I mean to put that in quotations) and memes that put ourselves in a specific category. Why do we do it? Because we're angry!

And with the start of the political election last summer, things have gotten worse. We're getting more angry and more hateful. We have two nominees for the presidential election and without any thought we have compared one of them to that of Adolf Hilter and another one we so callously say should be thrown in jail. Two things that I don't think should be thrown around lightly. We find anything to take sides about and we chastise the people who don't agree with us. I can't even tell you how many people I have unfollowed on Facebook because I can't stand the fighting anymore. It's enough to make a sane person crazy. Actually...its just enough.

I've had it. I'm tired of the divisiveness that this country has gotten to and I have been desperate to feel any sense of unity.

Cue the Olympics.

I've always loved the Olympic games and enjoy watching the top people in the world compete on the same level to be the best of the best.

This year I was craving it. This year the Olympics is about more than just sports, to me, its about feeling the sense of pride in our country. The USA has always been a power house to beat in these games, but this year I just needed something to root for in our country.

I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning, excited to turn on the news and hear about Katie Ledecky shattering her own world record. Watching the women's gymnastics team dominate the competition and there really was no competition, they beat the other countries by a long shot. I was tearing up this morning seeing the footage of Michael Phelps kissing his baby after winning two more gold medals to add to his collection. I've never exclaimed "USA! USA!" more in my life! And even though he's not an American, I can't wait to watch Usain Bolt set records and beat them in track and field.

The media is finally reporting on things that feel positive besides running away with a news story about which politicians are currently in a Twitter fight.

It just hits home with me. We are a great country and we're becoming our own worst enemy. Our ego is getting in our own way and we will self destruct. But for these two weeks, we can have the same common pride in ourselves as a country. We can watch people of all different races and backgrounds represent the United States because THAT'S what makes us a great country.

I hope we keep this feeling that we can root for each other even if we're different. Isn't that what we're all about as Americans?

Oh say, does that star - spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

USA.
xoxo

A 'Star Wars' Virgin : Round 1

Twins, huh? I didn't see that one coming...but we'll get to that.

So I finished the first round of Star Wars movies! I watched IV, V, and VI and I have to say, overall, I really liked them. At first I wasn't sure what to think with the Han Solo chest hair, the corny lines, pouty main character, and bad special effects but I told myself I just needed to watch it for what it is and for the time period that it was. I got a lot of advice about which order you're 'suppose' to watch these movies. Some said to watch it by release date, others said to sort of mix the first three and the last three together, and others said to watch from episode 1 and on. I ended up going with the release date order because that was what I had always heard as the way to watch them, and honestly I had already started the first movie before I decided to do this challenge, so I couldn't start over. But I really liked watching it this way, I feel like I was right along with Luke Skywalker in his quest to find out who he is and I think that would've ruined it a bit for me if I would've  known everything ahead of time.

So let's get right to it. Let me take this time to mention one of my favorite exchanges of the whole series:

Leia: Aren’t you a little short to be a stormtrooper?

Luke: I’m Luke Skywalker, and I’m here to rescue you!

Dawwww, Luke! He's like a puppy. 

I think I need to start by apologizing for thinking Princess Leia was going to be this damsel in distress princess that everyone needed to save. Yes, she literally needed saved, but I pictured her to be randomly flailing around and people were going to have to stop and pick her up all the time. I guess I just only knew the gold bikini scene where she's Jabba the Hut's prisoner. But she totally kicked ASS. I love her. I mean, she was in the Force Awakens, that's true, but to me she was just another character. Again, I knew enough to know who she waaaass but I just didn't get the full scope of her until watching these originals. When she grabbed that weapon and shot off the storm troopers, I was impressed! And she kills Jabba! She's awesome. 

That brings me to Han Solo, if you'll remember my initial thoughts on what I assumed coming into these movies,  I thought Han Solo was a 'good guy' in my head that equaled me thinking he was a Jedi. I had all these visions that Luke was going to join them in their fight against the Empire. Boy was I wrong. I found out that he's a smuggler with a sidekick named Chewbacca and he's the one that has the Millennium Falcon! So he's on the run and becomes tangled up with the Rebel Alliance in the first movie. He then becomes an unofficial member. Anyways, I find his exchanges with Leia kind of annoying but I understand why he becomes an important character. I already knew he would get with Leia since in the Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is their son, but I wasn't prepared for all the corny lines and really wanted Leia to keep saying things like "into the trash, flyboy!" Also, all the chest hair...

I loved Luke Skywalker as a main character in the first movie. I didn't realize he would be learning all of these things about himself, I suppose it sort of mirrors Rey in the Force Awakens. I'm assuming that's on purpose. In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi,  Luke sort of falls flat for me. He spends two weeks training with Yoda and all of the sudden he's a master Jedi? Okay... Even if that was believable for me, I still felt like he got a little boring. I missed young, naive Luke. The best moments with Luke are when he's finding out who he is. I did love his lightSABER fights with Darth Vader, particularly the one in Return of the Jedi. That was amazing!

What I Learned:

• LUKE AND LEIA ARE TWINS! I really don't think I ever knew this! I always just knew "Luke, I am your father". So this was a big reveal to me. When I watched the first movie I was anticipating a love triangle between Luke, Leia, and Han and we would have to see if she wanted the good boy or the bad boy. Also, didn't they kiss? I think I remember a kiss..so that's a bit strange but I liked this twist. And I was underwhelmed with Leia's reaction to the news. You'd think she would be like "Uhhh, Darth Vader is my DAD!". But she was just like "Oh yeah, Luke is my brother, Han, so you can make out with me now". 

• James Earl Jones is the Darth Vader voice. This didn't work for me since I equate his voice to that of Morgan Freeman, very soothing and reassuring, so I was never afraid of Vader. I get it though. 

• Not everyone in the Rebel Alliance is a Jedi. 

• Storm troopers are dummies. 

• If you're literally hanging in the universe at the bottom of a ship while escaping your crazy father who just cut off your hand, just use your twin super powers and have her come rescue you. Then fall perfectly into the small door that was opened for you. Works every time. 

• R2D2 is not a robot, he's a droid and he plays a very integral part in their fight against the Empire! Even if C3PO puts him down all the time... 

• Around the 3rd movie, my biggest question was "Why doesn't Darth Vader take off his helmet like Kylo Ren?". Besides just not being as gorgeous as Adam Driver (that hair <3), I found out that he actually needs it to breathe! I was also disappointed that it wasn't actually James Earl Jones...

So Many Questions: 

• So what happened to Darth Vader to make him look so scarred up and need the helmet to breathe?

• Why are there so many species on all these different planets? And how come some of the species need a translator like C3PO with Jabba the Hut, but everyone pretty much knows what Chewbacca and the Ewoks are saying?

• Who is this "beautiful but sad" mother of Luke & Leia? I know there is a Queen in the next couple of films...soo...maybe? I mean she is Princess Leia...

• What happened to all the Jedis?

• What is Obi-wan Kenobi's relationship with Darth Vader? 

• How did Darth Vader become Darth Vader?

• Who is Emperor Palpatine, really?

That's it for now. Is there anything I missed? Anything I should keep an eye and ear out for? I'll be starting the Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. I'm a little weary going into these movies because people always mention how terrible they are but I feel like I just need to see for myself. I need answers!

xoxo. 

A 'Star Wars' Virgin: The Challenge

Up until this point in my life I have never sat down to watch the Star Wars movies. Not really. I remember the originals being re-released somewhere around the time I was in middle school, and I went to see one of them at the movies (but it was really just to go to the movies) and I sat and gossiped with my friends for 2 hours. So I can't say that I really knew the story but I am a big enough pop culture nerd to know the main characters and the references of "the force", "Luke, I am your father", Princess Leia in the bikini, and Yoda...all that jazz.

My husband, though, he loves these movies, so when The Force Awakens came out last year he convinced me that I didn't need to watch the other movies to get into it. He was right! It was a great movie, and I think I knew enough to follow along. If I'm being honest, it sweetened the deal for me knowing that Adam Driver was going to be in the movie. Because I love him. I knew he was going to be a bad guy but I didn't know he was going to be THE bad guy. I felt like I needed to state that for my friends who may read this and call me out on it. :)

After we went and saw the new movie, my husband started bugging me to watch the originals. I held strong for awhile there until I saw a random article online written by some super fan who was trying to guess the origins of Rey. "Origins of Rey?" I thought..."What do you meeeaaannnn?". I had no idea how interconnected everyone was (besides knowing Vader is Luke's father...spoiler alert) and kind of completely missed the weight of seeing Luke at the end of The Force Awakens.

And just like that, I gave in and loaded our Netflix queue with the Star Wars series, determined to figure out my own theory of Rey's origins! I've decided to drag you all on the journey with me. I'll be watching the movies in their three part series and then doing a round up of my thoughts and many many questions.

Let me just state right now that I am in no way hatin' on the Star Wars movies. I do not intend to personally offend anyone if there are comments I make that you may not agree with. I fangirl with the best of them when it comes to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter so I do not judge superfans! These are just my opinions from an outsider looking in, so to speak.

I've been told that I must watch them as Lucas intended starting with Star Wars IV: A New Hope and so forth and then watching the prequels. I have already started the first batch of movies and I'm almost finished with Return of the Jedi. I'll do my wrap up after I've finished it but I just wanted to introduce you to my naivety going into this challenge.

Here is what I knew/thought I knew going into this:

• Vader is Luke's Father
• Princess Leia is the damsel in distress that Luke and Han Solo will fight over
• Luke is the badass army-type-guy
• Vader = bad
• There's a round robot that beeps and people know what he's saying. But only a select few, like me with my dog. 
• Its lightSABER not lifeSAVER
• Han Solo is the leader of the good guys! He saves the princess and Luke wants to be like him!
• There are soldiers in white
• There will be epic lightSABER fights

I hope you follow along with me while I watch these movies but please don't ruin anything for me! Like I said, I think I know enough but not everything. I'm excited, I love a good series.

xoxo

What I Read: June 2016

I've been on a definite reading slump lately. I'm not sure what it was. A month ago I finished "The Invention of Wings" and I loved it. Finished it in two weeks. But after that, it took me a while to get into a book. I tried to read a couple of books but just never finished them. So finally for the last couple of weeks, I've gotten in to some good books. And I thought I'd share them with you!

Title: Me Before You

Author: Jojo Moyes

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Synopsis: Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life. Big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

Thoughts:  This book really surprised me! I had heard that this was  a good book but the movie previews made it look kind of just like a cheesy love story. But there really was more to it than that. I liked the character development between Will and Louisa and how their relationship evolved into a friendship and then into more than that. I wasn't emotionally prepared for how sad it was going to be but it was sort of a happy sad...depending on how you look at the circumstances. 

Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Author: Mark Twain

Rating: Classic

Synopsis: You know the story but I'll tell you anyways. Huck is living with the Widow Douglass in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. His miserable, drunk, and abusive father comes into town because he heard Huck has come into some money (re: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) and wants to get his hands on it. He ends up kidnapping Huck and long story short, Huck fakes his death and runs away. He ends up running into the Widow's slave, Jim, who has runaway due to his fears of being sold further south. They hear through rumors that Jim is being accused of Huck's death. 

Thoughts: This book is a classic and I don't think I've read it in maybe 15 years. It was interesting to read it as an adult because I forgot about the obvious parallels between Jim and Huck, who are nothing alike. But they both yearn from their freedom from a government does nothing to help them. The town judge failed Huck in allowing the Widow Douglass to adopt him since his father is still alive, even though he does nothing but use and abuse him. And the government of course is just a failed system when it comes to slavery. Great book, read it again as an adult. I loved laughing at the childlike perspective of Huck although he has a good outlook on his life. 

Title: The Kitchen House

Author: Kathleen Grissom

Rating: 3 of 5

Synopsis:.When 7-year-old Irish orphan Lavinia is transported to Virginia to work in the kitchen of a wealthy plantation owner, she is absorbed into the life of the kitchen house and becomes part of the family of black slaves whose fates are tied to the plantation. But Lavinia's skin will always set her apart, whether she wishes it or not. And as she grows older, she will be torn between the life that awaits her as a white woman and the people she knows as her family.

Thoughts: I really didn't know how to rate this book. On the one hand I flew through it. It was so easy to read and to get caught up in the story with Lavinia and her new family. The author is also a beautiful writer, she really captured me right away. I believe that the author did her research about plantation life in Virginia in 1791 because the descriptions and the way she talks, I can just picture it. I also like that this was a book not just about slavery but about women at that time period, too. We see over and over that not only the slaves are taken advantage of and given no life of their own, but grown women are as well. What I didn't like was the narration. It switches back and forth between Lavinia and Belle (the slave who takes care of her) but its kind of odd since Belle's chapters are so short. I thought at first that maybe it was because Lavinia starts out as a child and Belle was there to give us, as the reader, a fuller perspective of their life and the events that unfold. But it sort of stays the same as Lavinia gets older but just kind of lets us in on other things that she doesn't see first hand. I also had a huge frustration with Lavinia as the main character and I can't figure out if it was written that way on purpose. After shes grown up and goes through a whole mess of experiences, she is still so blind by her life as a white woman. Even though I understand that she was raised by this family of slaves and can never think of them as property, she sort of has a childlike approach to the fact that her closeness with them could get them in trouble. She's an adult with the mind of a child. And I can't tell if that was on purpose. Also, Lavinia is a strong willed, smart little girl and she grows into being a weak woman and I just wanted more from her. Anyways, I could talk about this forever. Haha. I will say it was a good book and keeps your attention. I thought the ending felt rushed but it all tried to come together.

That's all I have for now! It's book sale season so I'm hoping I keep on a steady streak of good books to share with you! Let me know if you've read any of these books and what your thoughts are. What are you reading lately?

xoxo

I Got Streaked: #RWRunStreak Wrap Up

Thirty six days ago, I had just come home from an amazing Memorial Day run. I had pushed myself harder than I had in months and it was great weather. I had some coffee and scrolled through Twitter where folks were mentioning this Runner's World Run Streak. I had never heard of it before but it explained that it was 36 consecutive days of running from Memorial Day to the 4th of July. 

Still on my runner's high, I said "I'll do it!" to no one in the room. And off I set on my first ever #RWRunStreak adventure, vowing to run at least a mile every day. I rationalized to my husband that I walk at least that far with the dog pretty much every morning, so I'll just throw on my running shoes and make it a run. Every time I mentioned what I was doing to people they said "why? I mean...whats it for?" and my answer was always "for me!" Look, I don't run to impress anyone, I just do it for me. And despite the very long time it took me to get back into running after the half marathon, those days during training I felt unstoppable and strong. Its hard to explain how running feels to me when I'm really into it and I did miss it for a while. I knew this was going to be just what a I needed!

If you've been following along with me, you know I've had my tough days and good days. But all in all, it really pushed me to keep going even on the days that I really wanted to skip. Any runner knows that going beyond that mental fight is half the battle. 

The last time I posted an update was on Friday, so here's how I did on the last 3 days of the streak.

Saturday, July 2

Day 34/36: 1.02 miles

It seems as though the tides are shifting in my house on the weekends because I've been able to sleep in a little while my husband wakes up with the kids. Its been really nice! However, this morning I had breakfast plans with my mom and woke up about an hour before I needed to leave the house. I almost used this as an excuse to skip the run completely but I thought, I've come this far, I need to squeeze one in. So we laced up and did our loop around the college. It was nice, great weather. I didn't have time for strength training afterwards but the run made up for the sticky buns my mom and I had. :)

Sunday, July 3

Day 35/36: 2.5 miles

I was pleasantly surprised with myself this morning! I hung out to watch fireworks the night before with my sister and her fiance and of course we grilled cheeseburgers, corn on the cobb, chips, pasta salad..the works. I had a heavy stomach going to bed and I thought for sure I would be sluggish again the next morning. But, once again, I was able to sleep in a bit. I woke up about 8 a.m. and once I had my orange juice, we were on our way. It was a nice easy run and I felt well enough to head back out without my buddy. I went for my longer distance AND and I'm finally getting my momentum up for not stopping at all during my runs. YES! I finished up with some strength training exercises. I felt great.

Monday, July 4

Day 36/36: 1.02 miles

Well, I had all of these visions for how this last day would go. I pictured myself like Rocky when he runs up all those museum steps and throws his fists in the air and is bouncing around in glory. Buuut, no. I got my period during the night and just woke up with crazy cramps. WAAAHHH. We made it out but barely. I was very disappointed with how this ended and I was texting my friend about it and she said "You just ran 36 days in a row!". Well, why didn't I look at it that way? I was so hard on myself for not feeling good, which is something I didn't even have control over, that I couldn't even feel accomplished afterwards. But she's right! I did it! It's so done!

How It Helped

Overall, this is just what I needed to get back into a running schedule. There was a point a couple of months ago that I thought I would never run again. I know that sounds dramatic but I had nothing in me after the half marathon. And then once you've been off from running for a while it sucks when you're getting back into it. I felt like I knew what I wanted to do but I just needed to mentally get there and this challenge was something I could focus on. It made me bring back running as part of my morning routine. There's no better accomplishment, to me, than knocking out a workout first thing in the morning. I'm really happy to be where I am with running.

It also made me focus on other things besides running. It really helps me make sure I'm eating better and that was something I was lacking as well. I also started to want to tone my arms and abs a little better and have tried out different ways to incorporate those moves onto the end of my runs. 

So Now What?

I'm back, baby. Back into craving going for a run and needing to be on a workout schedule. However, I'm definitely not going to be running everyday. For now, I've decided on a little schedule that works for me and I'll adjust accordingly as I try and up my miles. 

Monday: Rest day/ walk with Remus

Tuesday: Easy run with Remus & strength train

Wednesday: Walk with Remus & strength train

Thursday: Easy run with Remus & strength train

Friday: Rest day/walk with Remus

Saturday: Long run & strength train (for now, until the runs gets longer)

Sunday: Walk with Remus & Bike ride with my husband

That's what I'm looking at for my weeks! I want to be able to run 6 miles for my long runs by the end of the summer which I think is an attainable goal. I've been up to 2.5 miles lately and now that I'm not running everyday, I can easily up that a little each week. I think Remus will be happy with this as well. 

There is a holiday running streak from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day that I may try at the end of the year. But I don't know, its harder for me to run with the days being so short in the winter and I haaaattteee treadmills. So we'll see. I'll definitely be doing this next summer, though!

Thanks for your encouragement and support! 

Til next time

xoxo