Hilarious little "caption me" ~ 11.20.09

I was sitting at my friend Dara's house when this guy appeared at the bottom of the steps. We could not stop laughing.... hysterical seeing this little body with a humungous helmet on top of it! And watching him try to navigate around the room... oh for goodness sake- could not stop laughing!

So... what caption would you put with this one?

Any guess as to which twin is doubling as a storm trooper? Or is this a clone trooper? Max tells me it's a clone trooper.

okay... play along!

Quickie ~ 11.18.09

Crickets people. where is the sisterhood? A day behind? A week? I most certainly understand.

I was on the phone during the entire show, with Comcast, trying to work out the reason I had NO VOLUME. One cannot watch SYTYCD without volume, NO I CANNOT! It is resolved, thankfully.

So I didn't take a stitch of notes tonight, too much to do. I will say that I loved the opening. spectacular! What did you think of the costumes? Are the ones who hate the stage/lighting/etc coming around yet? I'm still a fan. Is there a group for that on facebook? I'd click "I'm a fan of the stage, lighting, camera angles. I do not necessarily like the blinking lights while Cat is talking. A little distracting.

WOW, speaking of distracting, how about that tangent.

Loved the Bollywood number.... I'm thinking I need to sign up for dance classes in that! What a workout! SO joyful, fun, colorful. Just love it all!

So we have our bottom 3 couples and I was a bit shocked to see them send Channing home! I liked her. Thought she was a bit more accessible to the audience than Karen. More down to earth. Her solo tonight was a bit of a 'let me see how much I can throw into this solo' kinda mess. Maybe that's what sealed the deal.

And I felt that Kevin was the one to go last night... and I was right on that one. Nathan's solo rocked! WOW. I need to give that kid a break. I think he just needs to work on his reactions on camera. Doesn't seem real and humble to me. I like real. I like humble.

Tonight's recap was brought to you by the letter W and the word, WOW.

I'm going to be brief b/c the comments from the previous post were... um, so brief that they're not even there!

SYTYCD recap! ~ 11.18.09

Sooooo Sorry to keep you all waiting!

Now, here we are, TOP 7 CouPLes! We are in control! Voting for the top 10... let's review last night's show.

First things first, CAT= HOTTIE. Yow! Loved the sparkly dress and so glad there were no cockroaches being worn this week. (umm, is this some new trend, BTW, to wear bugs? Kyle on Glee was wearing one, too!) Also, loved the black nails. Go Cat Deeley!

Best quote of the night comes from the Shankman: "If he's an admiral, I know a lot of people who'd sign up for THAT navy!"   --- Did he really say that? YES, HE DID!

Onto the reviews....

Ashleigh & Jakob

Dance: hip hop with NappyTabs

Music; Whatcha Say, Jason Derulo

-I watched Ashleigh the whole time, I was mesmerized. What has happened here? I've witnessed a metamorphosis in the GMP! Although I loved her dancing, I was highly annoyed by her facial expressions. Anyone with me there?
Overall, great routine- you can so tell a NapTab routine. Their fingerprints are all over it.
Judges were LOVIN' Jakob, predicitions abounded that he'll be in the TOP TEN.

[as an aside, my Mom just called and I found out she's a fellow SISTA! Go MOM]

Karen & Kevin
Dance: Broadway with new kid, Spencer Liff
Music: If My Friends Could See Me Now, Sweet Charity performed by Christina Applegate

costumes = blah, poor Kevin, he looked so out of place! cornrows and suspenders are a fashion no-no in my book
I was totally underwhelmed by this one and the judges agree with ME! There was just no WOW factor happenin' in this Broadway routine.

Noelle & Russell
Dance: Foxtrot (again), Eddie Simon (?)
Music: Baby (You've Got What it Takes), Michael Buble - sigh.....

Noelle's dress was red and fabulous, but can we just stop a moment and say WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND DID THAT GIRL'S HAIR? I cannot believe someone would send that PYT out on that stage with old lady hair. Foxtrot or not, it was a disgrace.
Oh, the dance, lovely and JOY-filled!

Channing & Viktor
Dance: Jazz, Tyce Diorio
Music: Blackbird, Bobby McFerrin

Really interesting, thought they executed it well. I really like Channnig and thought the judges were laudatory and constructive, especially Nigel. I like how they're really trying to help these kids grow and develop as dancers. Also noted that they looked really light on their feet- liked that a lot.

Kathryn & Legacy
Dance: Paso Doble, Tony Meredith
Music: Pursuit, Ka (circque de soleil)

Here is when Adam made his infamous quote that I mentioned above. Thought they did this well. The judges were LOVIN' on both of them but especially Kathryn- she "destroyed", "killed it" was just "fabulous".

My favorite dance of the night is coming up.... right after a VERY long commercial for the D.F.F (just trying to help keep those looking for the actual foundation off my blog).

Ellenore & Ryan
Dance: Contemp, Travis Wall
Music: Your Ex-Lover's Dead, Stars (didn't expect to like that one as much!)

I was RIVETED. I am a big Ellenore fan, have been since her super creative and whimsical Vegas audition. This just continued to 'seal the deal' for me and I really hope she makes it to the top 10. Judges told them it was PERFECTION. Nigel mentioned it was his favorite of the night. I concur. I've really grown to love contemporary dance since first watching SYTYCD way back when. I look forward to those numbers each week.

Last but not least.... "the dream team is back" (as coined by Ms. Murphy)
Mollee & Nathan
Dance: pop jazz, Laurieann Gibson
Music: Bad Romance, Lady Gaga

"intense" was one word that came to my mind while I watched this. Mary said, "was it really good tonight? it was..." and then she SCREAMED!
Thought The Shankman and Nigel were constructive for the pair of them, especially Nathan. Shankman hit the nail on the head when he referred back to N's video clip and how N mentioned that he's always had everything handed to him. He reminded Nathan that if he really wants to compete, he needs to work at it on the show. Good for them!
I feel they were extremely lucky to get Ms Gibson this week. I, too, would not want to meet up with her in a dark alley. Those 2 little kids needed someone to kick them into shape and demand the best. I thought they did a great job.

Still, fave of the night: Ryan & Ellenore, followed by Ashleigh and Jakob, then Kathryn and Legacy.

My bottom three: Karen and Kevin are in serious troubles, IMO. The other two I'm shady on... maybe Channing & Viktor and Noelle & Russell? I really see K & K being the ones to get the boot.

Only a few more hours and we'll all know for sure! Come back later on and we'll recap tonight's show!

Happy 5th! ~ 11.10.09

Max with his Star Wars cake- the lava planet (?) where Darth and Anakin fight. We took a few creative licenses with this one... hope none of my readers call me out on this.

We'll be going to movie night at the library tonight to see UP! It comes out today on DVD and I need to squeeze a trip in to go and pick our copy of it up at Giant Eagle. Such a great movie. Did you see it? I bawled.

For Max's birthday treat I made Chocolate Chip Marshmallow squares. Oh yum. I got the recipe here.
sooooo yummy, especially if you undercook them just a wee bit. I cooked mine the whole 25 minutes this time though.

We're up for a busy day... I still need to post pictures of Gabriel's birthday! Just remembered that!

They told me to ~ 11.5.09

These three ASKED me to take their picture the other night. Told me they'd wait while I ran and got the camera.... they waited! So I obliged. What sweeties are they? And mostly looking at the camera to boot!

Thanks, Max, for the idea and for looking. He's almost 5 you know. I'm stuck on a creative drought after making my Godson's birthday cake last weekend.

It was great fun to make a pumpkin cake! I think I'll make one just for the fun of it next year.

In the meantime though, Max wants a Star Wars type cake.... with lava. I've looked and have some ideas, but we will see. Thinking Bruesters Ice Cream cake would be AWESOME! ha!

See you next week....

Finishing well ~ 11.2.09

Here's a round up of the last week's of my layout a day challenge that I did with 107 other amazing scrapbookers around the globe! I'm looking forward to February when we'll do it all over again! yeah!

and with that, I'm done scrapbooking for awhile... okay, just until Saturday when I participate in a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at our school. Can't wait!

And here's the gal who inspires it all, Lain , check out her very cool new blog, Five Things. Perfect for list lovers everywhere!

Still at it and Big Hair memories ~ 10.24.09

Yup, still working hard on that layout a day project.

Nursing our sick little family back to health (why oh why do we get sick at the SAME TIME every year?)

Anyway, here's the rest of this week's pages. Be nice about the Senior Picture, will ya? Fess up if YOU had big hair back then, too.

Wordful Wednesday ~ 10.20.09

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand.

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

~George Cooper

from the archives... these photos were from way back in '06! I added that lovely October quote to the pages just yesterday. Had the pages 1/2 done and added a few more pictures.

These pictures are a good reminder to me to stop and play. I get caught up in the 'laundry list' of things that need to be accomplished on any given day. I do try and prioritize what needs to be done now and what can wait until nap or bedtime. But I fail, daily.

Wednesday I'll have a chance to just play as we're headed on a field trip with Max's class to the pumpkin patch. Good times to be had by all and the weather seems like it's going to adjust itself and bring us a little "Indian Summer" after all! Hooray!

Let me encourage you (and myself once again) with this gem of a quote (or two) from Fred Rogers. From his book, The World According to Mr. Rogers, Important Things to Remember:

Some days, doing "the best we can" may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn't perfect- on any front- and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else.

How many times have you noticed that it's the little quiet momentsin the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?

well said, Mr. Rogers, well said.

For more wordful Wednesday posts, head over here.