Thursday, February 28, 2008

Across the Universe

I wasn't going to blog about this musical movie, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I am absolutely in love with it! You have to approach it with an open mind, otherwise you'll be completely disappointed. It's the story of Jude (Jim Sturgess) who leaves England to go to America to meet his biological father during the Vietnam War. While he's there, he meets Max (Joe Anderson), a student at Princeton. They fast become friends. Over Thanksgiving, Jude goes home with Max to celebrate. During this time, Jude meets Max's sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). While at home, Max decides to drop out of school then he and Jude move to New York. Because he's no longer in school, Max gets drafted into the army. Jude and Lucy have started dating. Things start to get complicated when Lucy starts going to anti-war rallies to protest the war, and Jude stays home to works on his art as his way of protesting. Throughout all of this is the amazing music of the Beatles (I hope you picked up on that from the names of the characters [Hey, Jude, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Maxwell's Silver Hammer]). The soundtrack is just incredible! All the leads have great voices plus smaller parts played by people who made it in the business by being singers. There's small bit roles played by the amazing Bono, Joe Cocker, Salma Hayek and Eddie Izzard.

But like I said, watch it with an open mind. The late 60s and 70s are known for being a bit out there and there are parts of this movie that are definitely out there. It's mostly the part with Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite while singing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." There's a line in the song about blue people and there are blue people in the movie. It reminded me a lot of a Tim Burton movie at the point (think Big Fish). But also be aware that it is rated PG-13 for good reason - there is nudity, language, sex, drugs, and of course the violence seen during the war scene.

On a different note, I really want to pick Paul McCartney's brain about this movie. My number one question: "Is that what John and you saw while writing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"?"

I now present...

My mom has been begging me for months to post pictures of my room. She visited me in October, just after I moved into the house. However, not long after that, I decided my room needed a makeover. So for under $100, my room looks brand new and I love it! The colors are black and white. I'm lucky that the walls in my room were already painted grey so everything fits together so nicely! :)
Here is a view of the bookshelf I bought at Big Lots. It was on sale for $25. It has more shelves than the bookshelf I had before so I can actually fit all my books on it and then some.







And here's my bed with the new bedding. I bought it at Ikea (love that store!) for $30. The comforter is actually just a quilt cover and for $40 more, I can buy the quilt that was made for it, but for now I'll stick to putting my old comforter in it instead. As for the curtains, I bought that fabric during Halloween so it's way cheap cotume fabric. For the fabric and the 2 curtain rods, I spend about $25. (Yes, mom, I do open the curtains to let in the sun light :) )

This dresser is new to me, but it actually belonged to one of my roommates. I hang up the majority of my clothes so I didn't really need the big dresser I had. As for my roommate, she has started using shelves on her bookshelf to keep her clothes. So, we traded dressers. It was actually a cream color that I painted white. The paint cost about $5 at Wal-Mart. And yes, my bedroom is right off the living room. The brown door seen in the pictures of the living room is the door to my room.


If I did my calculations right (which I probably didn't), I spent around $85 to give my room a makeover. And I think it's just perfect!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Stolen From My Sister...

Take the topic, type it into google image search and post the first picture that comes up!

Occupation (care giver)


Favorite Food (chicken and rice)

A hobby (singing)

Favorite Animal (tiger)


A Favorite Place (Ireland)


Where I Live (Salt Lake City, Utah)


Favorite Holiday (St. Patrick's Day)

College Major (Theater)


(History)


Age I'll Be Next Birthday (23)


Birthday Month (June - I'm leaving this one blank... the first page was all women in bikinis)


Place I Want to Visit (a movie set)


Sunday, February 17, 2008

Dear Frankie

Dear Frankie is such a great movie! I watched it a couple of days ago and was very impressed. For the females, there's Gerard Butler. For the males, there's Emily Mortimer. For everybody, the little kid who plays Frankie is adorable and does a fantastic job as a 9-year-old de(a)f boy (once you watch the movie, the parentheses will make sense). It's rated PG-13 for language. And by language, they mean brief strong language. Everything about this movie could appear on TV unedited except for the hostpital scene where the f-bomb is dropped. It was unnecessary to be said, but the scene is very important to understand the character of Lizzie. And there I go analyzing characters. Dang devoting my life to theater! I can't even recommend a movie without ripping it apart.

And that so reminds me... Friday night on CBS, Celine Dion had a concert. I watched it because I knew Josh Groban would be singing with her and I was so curious. For those of you who don't know, when Josh was just 17 and didn't even have a record contract yet, he replaced Andrea Bocelli at rehearsals for the Grammys. The song he sang was "The Prayer." Such a beautiful song. Anyway... Celine Dion recorded it with Andrea Bocelli. Josh Groban recorded it with Charlotte Church. I've always wanted to hear Celine and Josh sing it together and that opportunity came on Friday night. But did I get to enjoy it? No! At least not in a way that I should have. Why? Because of theater! Both of them were using their downstage hands to hold their microphones, blocking off their bodies. A huge no-no in theater. So as they're singing, that is the only thing I can focus on. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Good thing they did a studio recording that will be released so I can actually enjoy it the way I want to.

And that's my ranting and raving and recommendations for the day. :)

Ode to Maxine

For those of you who don't know, Maxine is a cartoon that tells us like it is. For example, the cartoon for the day on my calendar is a picture of her in her car with a quote that says, "I can't use a cell phone in the car. I have to keep my hands free for making gestures." Well, Maxine made my day the other day (it was Valentine's Day...). For the 21st time in my life, I was alone without a valentine on Valentine's Day. But Maxine made that a-okay. Why? The cartoon for the day said, "It's Valentine's Day for all of you romantics. For me, it's the day before chocolate goes on sale." Amen, Maxine!

To find out more about my favorite cartoon, you can visit her at maxine.com.

The Three Minute Miracle

It actually works! So what am I talking about? Let me tell you!

I have dry hair. When I moved to Utah, it got even drier. And with the winter months lacking any humidity whatsoever, there is absolutely no moisture in my hair. I'm always on the look out for deep conditioning treatments that don't require me to go to a salon and spend 20 bucks. So, the other day (and by the other day, I mean about 2 weeks ago) I was at Wal-Mart looking to see if there was anything new to try. And that is when I found Aussie 3 Minute Miracle. I have never been so impressed with my hair. It was so soft and pretty! And it really only took 3 minutes to work. The best part? It was only about $4. Plus, it's not just for one treatment. I'll probably get about 10 treatments out of the bottle. It all depends on how much hair you have.


And this is my three minute miracle moment :)

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

I can't sleep...

I'm usually in bed by now. I work at 6 in the morning and I like to get as much sleep as possible. But for some reason, the past few nights, sleep has been impossible to come by. I toss and turn. I read. I play games on my phone. Then I toss and turn some mose. Then when I finally get to that deep sleep where you get to dream, my alarm goes off. I just don't get it. Nothing has changed dramatically in my life. School is the same. Work is the same. Family is the same. Friends are the same. Not to say that my life is the same day after day. But nothing extremely unusual has happened. Maybe it's the piano. That's been the only big change in my life. But shouldn't that be for the better? I like to play when I'm stressed or I need a break from homework. So I doubt it's the piano. And it can't be the flat tire I got yesterday. The lack of sleeping thing started before that. Oh yeah. The flat tire thing. Things were going too well in my life (besides the whole sleep thing). Something like a flat tire had to happen, right? And what good is AAA when they can't come change your flat for 3 hours! For the record, I know how to change a tire. My daddy taught me well. But this particular tire had been flat before and I'm pretty sure that when it was fixed, the mechanics used an air gun, or whatever it is called, to put the lug nuts back on. I could not get those things to budge! Luckily, I'm in a totally fabulous ward and a guy from it came to change my tire for me . :) Anyway, back to not sleeping... if anyone knows of any secrets that will help me get to sleep so I'm not wishing every minute of everyday that I'm not at home that I could be so I could just fall into my bed, let me know. Thanks. And good night! :)

Saturday, February 2, 2008

I'm procrastinating. Can't you tell?

How well do you know me?

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I've been told that my mom got the name Caitlin from the A Team. And Rebecca is from the Bible, even if it isn't spelled right
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I teared up while listening to "Teardrops on my Guitar" by Taylor Swift today. But the last time I really cried was a while ago
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? sometimes
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? turkey
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? nope but I hope to some day
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? uh, yeah. I'm pretty dang cool!
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? never!
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? sure do. I think that's the one thing I've never had problems with...
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? sure would
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? honey bunches of oats
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? no, that's a waste of time
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? sometimes but not really
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? mint cookies and cream
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? clothes
15. RED OR PINK? definitely pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? the scar up the back of my neck. it's not entered... it makes me feel lopsided.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? right now there's someone that I can't stop thinking about and I really miss him... but I always miss my family. They're all way too far away.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? sure
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? pink pajama pants and pink slippers with hearts
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? italian chicken and rice
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Kristin Chenoweth "My New Philosophy" from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? cerlean
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? lilac and vanilla
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? I just got off the phone with Chemaine
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? no one sent it to me. I got it from my cousin's blog. of course I like her! in fact, I love her!
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Braves Baseball!!!!!!!!!!
27. HAIR COLOR? red
28. EYE COLOR? blue
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? yes, much better than glasses
30. FAVORITE FOOD? chicken... yummy!
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? both... scary movies make me laugh and happy endings make me smile so both are good :)
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Speak, though I watched bits and pieces of Practical Magic this afternoon
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? blue
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? fall
35. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? maybe my sister...
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Kmost everyone who reads my blog
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Vampire Diaries... If you've read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, you'll also like this. Very, very good.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? a beach scene
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T. V. LAST NIGHT? don't really watch tv
42. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOUND? Josh Groban singing and children laughing
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? definitely the Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Ireland
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I love to sing! and play the piano and act on stage
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Portland, Maine
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? everyone who responds :)

Side note on atheists...

I posted a blog about atheists a few weeks ago. My friend told me to listen to a comedian's take on atheists. His response to the majority of my questions... "Uh, when you die, nothing happens..." At least that's what they believe. They're in for a big surprise :)




The kitchen! I'm so in love with it! It's just so beautiful and sleek!












And here's my baby! We fell in love yesterday. I played for almost 2 hours straight! It was so wonderful and stress relieving. I should have bought him before. Mom, I'll be calling to get you to send some music from home :)