HYPEED's Interview with me!

Today a new HYPEED magazine was published! It is an interview with me. I was really honored to be asked to be featured by them in a complete interview. Yes, I have been featured many times by HYPEED, but it is really nice of them to ask me questions and be interested in my wardrobe and such. To read it, please click here.  I will be putting it in my "press" page too.

Thanks everyone for all the support!!!!

Scavenger Hunt 2010

 Many of you may recall that I have mentioned being a youth leader at my church. We did a Scavenger Hunt two years ago which I had posted here (sorry the entry was deleted. . I used to delete entries often) and had another one a couple weeks ago.  I thought I'd share a few with you.

If you are wondering what in the world a Scavenger Hunt is, basically we are given lists of things to do. There are points for each thing, which all have to be photographed. My group won last time, but this year they didn't choose winners or add up points. It was really fun though. I had the smallest group and had a great time with them.

Running with Scissors on a track (and yes, I now have brown hair)

They had to feed each other gummi worms mama-bird style

They had to be under a bed (this is one of their sister's bed.)

We had to have a thought bubble saying something funny. This says "I think I'm laying in poo!"

We had to lose at arm wrestling a stranger (she was a little freaked out).

Although I took tons of other shots of the girls doing a bunch of things (these are pretty much the only ones with me in the shots), I thought I'd share some of the other groups' photos from what they did.

Drinking out of straws from a bird bath

New home owners

and another group climbing a fence

They had to have one person in a batting cage. 

Another group creating a work of art with sidewalk chalk

having a tea party with stuffed animals and dolls

And another group . . .the youth pastor with a brother of one of his team mates. . they had to take a photo shaking hands with a pirate

Hitchhiking to the North Pole

[outfit entry coming soon]

Movies & Music Suggestion Post #28

Ratings are on a scale of 1-5. Anything rated over 3 stars and is in bold, is totally worth seeing! - I rate pretty harshly.

Me and Orson Welles 2008 (w/ Christian McKay, Claire Danes, Zac Efron) - 3.25 stars - At times it was slightly boring, but at the same time I was fascinated by the film. It is about a young man who is finishing up high school while dreaming about becoming an actor.  He gets hired to be in an Orson Welles play and tries to become a man too soon.  There is some language in this movie. There is also talk of sexual things but the only thing shown is Claire Danes in a long v-neck nightgown (covering cleavage from what I noticed, it was a quick second). The acting was really enjoyable and the outfits....LOVED them!

Seventh Heaven 1927 (w/ Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell) - 3 stars - A girl is oppressed by her sister, who works her to the bone to supply for her alcoholism even though they haven't the money as it is.  When she attempts to end it all as things just get worse, she meets an angel. . well not really, she meets a hard working class man who saves her and pretty much pretends that she is his wife in order that she wouldn't go back to the old life she was forced into. This was a really sweet and romantic silent film. I really enjoyed it.

Salaam Bombay 1988 (Shafiq Syed, Chanda Sharma, Hansa Vithal) - 2 stars - I watched this because I have heard it said often about how it exposed a bit of the red light district and slave life in India. It certainly did. It was such a depressing movie. I often times couldn't handle some of what I saw, which they didn't actually show anything really at all, but just one shot they had especially sticks in my mind. They filmed driving through a red light district in Bombay and there were loads of young girls standing all throughout the buildings, all were probably forced there against their will, and believe me, they certainly brought in young girls in the film and focused on that life forced upon them into prostitution. The story mainly focuses on a young boy who is homeless. It was rather sad. There is language, sexual stuff, some violence, and drug use.

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry 2008 (w/ Janson Panetierre, Gavin MacLeod) - 2.75 stars - A boy who is just trying to make it through his life in 1970 with dealing with a crush and bullies ends up meeting an old guy who tries to tell him about God in ways he never really thought about. Perhaps through this old man he can have the abillity to get through things more easily. Cute movie, but kinda boring at times with some cheesiness thrown in.

Bikini Beach 1964 (w/ Frankie Avalon, Annette Funichello, Keenan Wynn) - 3.25 stars - The beach is a huge hangout for the young kids, but a man who is into the idea of making a retirement location and getting those kids out of there, does whatever he can to say how horrible they are.  There are a lot of girls in bikinis in this and some bums zoomed in on and a go-go dancer and girls in little babydoll lingerie. those parts were sad for me, but the whole culture of the time was interesting to see and the outfits in this were nice. I laughed a lot because Frankie Avalon plays two roles in this. Otherwise this movie is kinda cheesy but it is too cute too. I love 60s surf films.

Avalon 1990 (w/ Elijah Wood, Joan Plowright, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn) - 2.5 stars - I saw this movie before when it came out on VHS and I remember not enjoying it then, and nothing changed really. It was about various stories from one family and how they deal with the culture of their Jewish line while living in the U.S. I don't know why some films just tend to leave me so uninterested in a story while others suck me in so easily. This one I just couldn't wait to get over.

The Misfits 1961 (w/ Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift) - 2.75 stars - Most of this movie was just really sad to me. You have a woman who goes from ending a bad marriage and then being the goddess amongst a few men's lives that she comes across. Of course they all have this hidden lifestyle that surprises her and makes her so enranged. Again, I hate how she is always pretty much the same character in every movie, but at least she acted a bit better in this film and got to let off steam too.  Great acting, just sad movie. I will say, if you hate seeing animals mistreated, they do tie up some horses a bit in this film. Just warning.

Great Expectations 1946 (w/ Anthony Wagner, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt, John Mills, Alec Guinness) - 3 stars - Lovely movie. I thought some of the way the scenes were filmed were just so pretty photographically. It is really just about a boy that goes from a pretty hard life and growing up around the girl of his dreams, then he becomes this different changed man because someone rich helps provide him to become a bit successful. He finds the girl of his dreams when he is grown up and is still crazy about her. I always have such issues with Estella's character though.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale 2009 (w/ Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Jason Alexander) - 3.25 stars - What a very sweet story. We need more rated G movies like this. A great movie without all the extra distractions of language or sex and such. I choked up a little bit. It is about a professor who finds a puppy at a train station.  The man and the dog grow attached to each other, and it is just a really beautiful story. It does have some slow parts to it though. Really it is a story based upon a bit of truth, yet I doubt the characters are anything alike. A statue in Japan at Shibuya Station was made after Hachiko died. I knew about the statue for years, but it was nice to know a little bit of a back story, even if it may not really be the same story.

Music I've been listening to:

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of ADZ album - favourite tracks: "The Age of ADZ", "Bad Communication", "I Want To Be Well", "Impossible Soul"
My Epic - Yet album - favourite tracks: "Author", "Rich", "Patience & Silence"Random Task - Dividing Line album - favourite tracks: all. 
For Today - Breaker album - favourite tracks: "White Flag"
Mattie Montgomery - When the Sons Become Fathers - favourite tracks: it is a spoken word album and all are really good
Saves the Day - Can't Slow Down album - favourite tracks: "Always Ten Feet Tall", "Three Miles Down", "Obsolete", "The Choke", "Collision", "Nebraska Bricks", "Jodie"

Circa Survive - On Letting Go album - favourite tracks: "In the Morning and Amazing. . .", "Kicking Your Crosses Down", "Carry Us Away"

Ascend the Hill - Take the World, but Give Me Jesus album - favourite tracks: "How Great Thou Art", "Take the World, but Give Me Jesus", "I Surrender All"

Abandon Kansas - We're All Going Somewhere album - favourite tracks: "The Harder They Fall", "Make Believe", "Close Your Eyes"

As Tall As Lions - Lafcadio album, Into the Flood EP - favourite tracks: Don't really listen to it enough to have any even though I've had these albums for a long time

Circa Survive's "Get Out"

A Swing Swingin' Dress

my husband Rob took these of me while we were hanging out with our friends in Maine.

This is Emilee's bike. . . needs tires and some work but it's pretty!

I fell in love with the sleeves most of all

Vintage 40s/50s Hat: Stephaniepress
Vintage 50s Dress: Dear Golden

Belt: came with an outfit I don't have anymore

Shoes: c/o Payless (thanks to winning a chictopia shoe contest)

Maine Trip #2

These are all in random order.

This is from our second day in Maine. Me and Emilee with our kiddies.

all the boys (and the men drinking their root beer)

We also were having fun petting and looking at the pretty frog in the grass.

Micah in a bit of a daze

maybe he was thinking about Jubilee kissing him....which did happen, I just snapped it at the wrong time

Rob hanging out

Leto was really having a lot of fun

Josephine sang to him and they danced together . .

and to answer some of your thoughts, yes we used to talk about our kids getting married as a joke, but it is interesting how they each get along so well with one another. They were doing these things without us telling them to at alllll.

Emilee's grandparents run a museum with loads of different old collected items. They had a whole doll collection room.

This one was probably my favourite

They had TONS of old musical instruments. Emilee was playing this player piano

look how pretty

Leto was having fun

Really old stoves were everywhere. This was probably their youngest in the collection.

The guys had fun with air motors

I love hurdy gurdies

Of course some very old automobiles too were there.

Poor Micah doesn't want to say goodbye. We left Maine the following morning.

Maine Trip #1

One of my best friends lives in Maine.
I have missed her so much and am so very thankful for our close friendship regardless of the distance between us in location. It had been nearly 3.5 years since we visited them (Leto was 4 months old) - far too long, so we quickly made plans and headed up there. The ride was very easy considering all the hours of sitting in the car with two kids. They were very well behaved, which allowed for us to get there in good time.

It was pretty windy and cold the afternoon we arrived. We went for a little walk together.
Leto and Josephine were holding hands, which was so cute. They did that on their own.

all our kids (they have two daughters, we have two sons)

Jubilee

Christian was showing us his kite, since it was so windy outside

It was so cute to me how all the kids seemed to get along so well.

Leto on the swing

Josephine and Leto with the kite

my friend Emilee and sweet sad Jubilee

The next day we went to the park together. We weren't there for too long though. Micah had fun on this dinosaur

Leto and Rob, they had just been playing in the sand there.

Micah and Jubilee

Silly sisters

Leto and Emilee with the rabbit

Jubilee hidden away

Christian and Rob talking about who knows what. Probably music the way those two are.

Christian and Emilee

Me and Emilee.

More photos from our time there and an outfit post coming throughout the week!