One more year until we pop open the champagne!

Or, the title could be 27 on the 28th.

Yeah, did you know that a champagne birthday, or golden birthday, is when you turn the age that matches your day of birth? I found this out because I couldn't think of any milestone I reached today at 27, and I did a google search on birthdays. How original am I?

Yeah, apparently, this woman - Joan Bramsch - made the idea up.

According to her website, "For over half a century the Bramsch family has celebrated each member's unique, once in a lifetime Golden Birthday. It began with our own five children, but the idea soon spread to our extended family and the families of all our friends."

Um, isn't every birthday a once in a lifetime event? I mean personally, I might stay 27 for the next five years, but factually, each birthday really is a unique 'event', right?

And now she has a book out about birthday plan ideas for this 'special' birthday. (Here is the link in case anyone wants to begin planning for my birthday party next year - ha!). What a great way to capitalize on a non-event event (yes, you read that correctly)! And this idea really kind of sucks for people born on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd, doesn't it? I mean, they don't remember it at all.

Damn. That was a lot of talk about a stupid subject. But it is my birthday, and that is the one day that I am allowed to say whatever I want and people have to tell me I'm brilliant. Or is that only on a specific birthday? I shall dub the 30th birthday the "Bow Down to me Because I'm Brilliant Birthday." Maybe I should write a book about all the things you could do on that day. Any publishing houses out there reading? Any takers?

**And for the record my BFF Kari will always be four days older and four days wiser. Make sure you wish her a belated birthday if you haven't already sent love and happiness her way. I love you, K!

Happy Hump Day 2!

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have not become shallow, though my posts make me appear otherwise. I have just realized that laughter is the only thing that keeps me sane right now. And each laugh to me is a small victory. I hope you have a lot to laugh about.

Power Outage in Atlanta

So, while taking a shower by candlelight was very romantic for a Tuesday morning, I'm just glad the worst thing I've had to do so far is blow dry my hair at work. And according to my boss, the wet hair look is very in right now.

Read Atlanta Journal Constitution article here.



*And in much less serious news, Starbucks is closing... for three hours. Ahhhh!

*I am not a huge fan of Starbucks coffee. It is a bit too bitter for my taste, though their breakfast blend is quite nice.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Have you ever seen the film, Fried Green Tomatoes? Well, I haven't. And believe me, last week I took some flack for it when I went on a business trip that involved a stop for dinner and shopping in Juliette, Georgia.


A shot of Juliette.

Yep. The same Juliette where the movie was filmed. And The Whistle Stop Cafe? Where they eat the fried green tomaotes? Yep. I ate there. They opened the cafe up for our group and had a special dinner prepared.


Me and my friend Sally in The Whistle Stop Cafe.

The whole town was wonderful. I highly recommend visiting for the shopping and for the delicious food at The Whistle Stop Cafe. And oh.my.goodness. The fried green tomatoes? They were AMAZING. Now all I have to do is see the film.

Prom 2008

Well, I didn't really go to prom, but doesn't this photo look like I did?



My friend Joel, the morning radio host on WGKA 920 AM, was the MC for Edu-Pack's Valentine's Day Gala, and I accompanied him to the event. Edu-Pack is an organization that distributes free school supplies to poor children in the USA and developing countries.

Things have been really difficult around these parts lately, so attending a nice event was a wonderful way for me to get my mind off everything and to spend Valentine's Day. And for me, dressing up is always a real treat. I can throw off the business suits and really let my hair down. And it really is a formal event if I take off my glasses. Because we all know that sacrificing the ability to see all night is just the first step on the road to high fashion.

Help

Can anyone help me with an all important question? Do squirrels eat mice? I need to know if I was hallucinating before my first cup of coffee. Many, many thanks.


This would have definitely been a hallucination.

Valentine's Day

I figured today's commercialized day of love would be a good time to list some of the things I am loving. And these are in no particular order.

1 - Good Reads - It's like crack. Soooo addicting.

2 - My family. After returning to the US from a 14-month stint in England, I still become almost giddy with every visit.

3 - Living with Kole. This is the best living situation I have ever had with a non-family member. And since she's one of my best friends it's like a perpetual slumber party.

4 - My morning coffee.

5 - Having time to read non-school related books!

6 - Having not one, but two pregnant sisters.

7 - My knit night ladies.

8 - My students in English School.

9 - My friends, especially those who stay in contact even though we are on different continents.

10 - Mexican food. Oh, pork enchiladas how I love thee.

Simple and short, but these things mean so much to me.

What are you loving on this Valentine's Day?

Because it feels like a Monday

From Ghostbusters (1984):

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.


We're doomed.

Weekend highlights

Hanging out with my older sis and her husband. Here she is hiding her pregnant belly.


Seeing how in love my sister and her husband are.


Talking to my bro-in-law about how excited he is to be a daddy.


Having my sister cook for me all weekend.


Her first-ever attempt at waffles was wonderful!

Also, not pictured, was seeing my entire family, including my visiting Great Aunt and Uncle, and shopping with both my sisters. I have a wonderful family and am so glad we live close enough to each other to visit on the weekends. I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine.

AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies

So, last night at knit night (hi ladies!) the topic of AFI's Top 100 movies list came up. Apparently this is THE list for best movies of all time. And when Katey began listing the movies I realized that I had seen hardly any of the ones she said. Katey assured me that I have probably seen at least 50 of them, so I decided to investigate.

According to the American Film Institute's website, "Each year, AFI presents another episode in its widely acclaimed series of CBS television specials - AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - which launched AFI's on-going celebration of the cinema centennial. Each special honors a different aspect of excellence in American film. In 2007, we celebrated AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition."

Sounds good to me. I had to sign up to the website to get an email that included a link to download the list of movies. Phew! All this to waste time seeing if I have seen THE 100 GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME. And this list is from 2007, and the 2008 list comes out in June, so I had to get crackin'.

And because I LOVE lists (please see The Best Movies from the 80s or The 108 in 2008 as examples) I decided to paste the list below, cross off the ones I have seen and tell you if I enjoyed it using a star system. 1 star being the worst and four stars being the best.

And I do this all for you.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972) ****
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone With the Wind (1939) ****
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's List (1993) ****
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) ****
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)
16. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) ****
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) ****
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974) ****
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) ****
35. Annie Hall (1977) ****
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) ****
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound of Music (1965) ****
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) ****
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976) ****
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975) ****
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981) ****
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998) ****
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ****
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ****
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994) ****
77. All the President's Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997) ***
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night At The Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999) ****
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994) ****
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995) ****
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

Um, so. Wow. I watch a lot of movies, but obviously they are the wrong movies. I have seen just 23 of the AFI's top 100 movies. I was happy to see my favorite movie of all time, 'The Shawshank Redemption', made the list but Titanic? Seriously? Maybe one of the most expensive movies of all time, but definitely not one of the best.

So, of the 77 movies I haven't seen are there any that you think I should definitely see? How many have you seen? And who is up for a movie night?

Happy Hump Day!

I have the best boss. No. Seriously.

For instance, today I have been silently craving Thai food all day. Silently, mind you. And just a moment ago my boss buzzed my office and told me to come into his office.

He said, and I quote, "You know what I am really craving today? Thai food. Does that sound good to you?"

I mean, how many bosses can read your mind?

**Check back sometime later this week for one of my 'infamous' restaurant reviews. We are trying a new place today!

Vote

I did. Did you?

My life in photos

Everybody's doing it. You should, too.

1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)
3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post. (click on the picture and copy the HTML code)

1. The age I'll be on my next birthday (which is coming WAY too quickly!)



2. A place I’d like to travel



3. Favorite place



4. Favorite object



5. Favorite food



6. Favorite animal



7. Favorite color



8. Where I was born



9. The town in which I live



10. Favorite band



11. First name



12. Last name



13. Favorite Store



14. Your favorite song



15. Favorite Movie