I logged in today to post my Movie Monday entry but decided that since it's so late in the week I'll just postpone it until next week. I know, I know, I'm only a week in and I'm already pushing it off. But, this allows me to post about another topic I wanted to write about today!
Classes started this week, which means that last week was my week-before-the-semester-cleaning-and-organizing-frenzy. Before the start of each new semester I put a TV show into the DVD player and clean/re-organize everything!
This time I put on season four of Charmed, which has my favorite storyline from the entire series. In my opinion, it's one of the best storylines, as well as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, battle the Charmed Ones had to face. Which storyline am I talking about? Phoebe marries the source and eventually tries to embrace her new destiny as the queen of all evil.
Since my attempt to be unproductive for a day over Thanksgiving break proved to be unsuccessful, I decided that I might have been setting my sights too high. A whole day? That's not exactly realistic. So, I decided to try for a smaller period of time. Friday night it began to snow. A lot. I think we're at fourteen or fifteen inches now. Before the snow hit my parents went to a Christmas party so I decided to take advantage of having the house to myself and I hooked my iPod up to the speakers upstairs, put Harry Connick Jr. on play, poured a glass of wine and sat. And I was able to make myself last an entire song. That's wrong, an entire song of doing nothing else but sitting and drinking a glass of wine. I'm also serious when I said I was able to make myself. Before the first song was over I started to stand up thinking, I need to do this, this and this, before realizing that the first song hadn't even finished. As soon as it was over, I jumped off the chair and ran around getting some things done.
One of those things was cooking. I turned this:
into these:
and these:
into these:
I got the idea from Kitchenist to shred brussels sprouts and stir them into a cream-based sauce, to serve with pasta. I decided to add some peppers to the mix as well since I had only eaten one other vegetable that day. While it isn't the best pasta dish I ever made, it was tasty and it's a quick, easy recipe for those busy days.
We had snow all day and our snow storm was quickly labeled a blizzard. I woke up this morning and pulled a loaf of bread from the cupboard to find that there was a slice left. Since we weren't planning to leave the house today, my mom decided to take advantage of the opportunity and bake a few loaves. I love homemade bread! I usually don't eat jam (lots of sugar and healthier ways to get the nutrients) but I decided that a freshly baked loaf of bread on a snowy day called for a spoonful of jam.
Towards the end of the snowfall I began taking pictures. This is the window in my (basement-level) room:
The little black dots by the street are mailboxes. You can also see the reflection of lights on the Christmas tree.
There are steps buried beneath the snow.
I've been watching Anthony Bourdain while working on my flashcards for geography. So far we've traveled to Shanghai, Malaysia, Sicily, Argentina, Uruguay, Romania, New Zealand and Washington DC. I should get back to that. Up next, Chicago. Let's see if he visits Billy Goats!
Where has the time gone? My family did a lot more on Thanksgiving than I thought we would. I didn't work on any homework that day, which is really unusual for me! I just finished up the second to last module in my geography course (one to go, yippee!) and thought I'd pop in for a few quick updates.
♥ TV: My dad expressed an interest in Bones so I pulled out my S1 DVD's. We watched the entire season in a weekend. No, I'm not kidding! We watched a few episodes each day, until the last day of the weekend. My mom was out of town, so my dad made one of his delicious homemade pizzas and we watched the rest of the season. I don't need to do that again for awhile, but it was a lot of fun!
♥ Cold: I was struck down by a bad cold. It hit Tuesday, I lost my voice on Wednesday, and now I'm finally starting to get better, but still feel like crap. I will feel better next week though, whether this cold wants to leave or not!
♥ Books: Being sick does have some perks. I focused on the homework that was most pressing (meaning, due this week), but the rest of the time, if I wasn't at work, school or sleeping, I was reading. I picked up This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. I borrowed it from a friend probably about a year ago (if not longer) and I wanted to read it since she'll be in town the next few weeks. Now I'm on a Sarah Dessen kick, so I reread This Listen. I love her stories! Even though she writes about teenagers in high school I feel like adults (especially adults in their 20's) can still relate because the situations that her characters face are situations that we can face.
♥ Holidays: The holiday season has arrived! I've already made my lists of books and movies to read and watch. And those who know me know that for me the holiday season doesn't start until I listen to Harry Connick Jr's Christmas music. So, the Friday after Thanksgiving I put in my first HCJ Christmas CD of the season. I thought I'd share some of his music with all of you today!
This is the first song that I listen to every year.
A great video of HCJ singing with this daughter.
And one last song.
♥ Remind me to share one of my favorite photographers with you one day this week. He's absolutely fantastic and I'm sure you'll love him!
Today was my wasted day. I'm not sure how much I like the idea of spending days without being productive. I kept making lists of all that I need to do! So, what did I do? I started Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and continued reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. I found some new blogs that I'm excited to start reading and I introduced my dad to Bones. We watched the first two episodes and he said he'd keep watching the show with me! My dad isn't big on TV and movies but it's always fun to watch something with him. (Except for Year One. That was a bad choice and a really traumatic experience!) The last time my dad and I watched a TV show together was a long, long time ago! It was all the way back when Early Edition was still on TV.
Anyway, moving on. I also did some baking. I volunteered to make the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving tomorrow and I also made a few loaves of Apple Walnut Bread to take to my sister's as well. My parents and I tried both (I made two pies) and they were pretty good! Here are some making-of pictures:
We also got some snow today. The second picture was my attempt to take pictures of the snowflakes but they were teeny tiny!
So, last night the DWTS results came in and Jennifer and Derek won. I think this is the first season that my favorite couple actually took home the mirror ball trophy so I was excited! Although, if Kyle and Lacey or Bristol and Mark had won I would have been happy too. Kyle was so much fun to watch all season long because he really brought personality to the dances and Bristol is what the show is all about. Anyway, after watching all three couples on Good Morning America and The View I had to go back and find my favorite dance of the season, which was Jennifer and Derek's instant dance.
I'm sure I'll be online tomorrow! My family has pretty laid back holiday's, which is nice because I actually get a lot of homework done on that day. But if I'm not, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
I totally predicted the final three. Yes, even Bristol Palin. I thought she'd make it to the finals, but not because of a tea party/republican conspiracy. As I'm watching the final performance episode, I thought I'd lay out my thoughts as to why.
Jennifer/Derek. First off, if every girl out there is like me, they want to see Derek all the way till the end. But there's also Jennifer, who's gorgeous and perfect in her dancing when she does it well, and recently, she has been.
Kyle/Lacey. I love Kyle and I love seeing how he's improved throughout the season. His dancing has really become fantastic. Not only that, but I love the character he brings to the dance. He's a joy to watch!
Bristol/Mark. Bristol is what this show is about. She came in with no dance training--no performance training, even--and while she's not the best dancer on the show, she has really improved. A lot. She's doing so well for having danced only... what is it, nine weeks or something? She's doing really well! After last week's dances, I was excited to see her in the finals, because she did very well. Beyond her improvement, Mark keeps saying it, people can relate to her. She's the most "real" of the competitors and that's what makes people vote for her, I think.
I wasn't surprised when Brandy and Maks were voted off. I think the audience is tired of Maks's drama. He may be nice to look at but his looks don't make up for his mouth. I also think Brandy wanted to win too much. She was so focused on winning to make a statement on who she is and to rejuvenate her career. I think that was tiring for people too.
So, here we are with the final three. I have no guesses on who will take home the mirror ball trophy. May the person with the most votes win!
If there was a season that would be perfect for the tv show Charmed, it would be Fall. (Although Spring seems like a great season too, as it reminds me of house sitting for my sister, watching the show, and trying to get the perfect "red lips" look to match Rose McGowan.) A few weeks ago I was cleaning my room, when I found myself dusting off my Charmed DVDs (and thinking about how long it's been since I've watched them). I decided that it's about time to pull them out again. When I saw Holly Marie Combs mark the anniversary of the Charmed premiere, I finally grabbed the first season and watched the first episode.
As I made my way through the first season, I ran across an episode that I love, mostly because of the pairing that it plays with. Who is that pairing? Piper and Mark. I know that everyone and their dog loves Piper/Leo, and while I enjoyed watching their relationship grow they have never been my favorite. I've always had a special place in my heart for the possibilities that the Piper/Mark relationship presented. Of course, I never held out hope for the relationship, it was doomed from the start. Mark was a ghost when they met. But I liked the idea of what could have been.
Let's take a look at some of those special Piper/Mark moments:
Piper reads from the book Mark never got to finish.
Mark gives Piper recipes from his grandparents.
The touch.
The kiss.
Piper protects Mark from Yama.
The funeral.
The goodbye.
Mark leaves.
Another one of my favorite Piper pairings? Piper and Neighbor Dan, who also had a pretty doomed relationship from the start. What were your favorite pairings?
