20 Degrees = Warmer?!?

I just have to share that it's been an icebox here in Denver for the past few days. Single to low double digit highs, the kind of cold where you walk outside and it literally takes your breath away. In fact, it tried to snow yesterday and it couldn't even do that properly...too cold!

I heard on NPR this morning, as they were giving the weather report:

"The Denver area will have sunshine and warmer temperatures - a high of 20."

That's right - it's been so cold that 12 degrees below freezing is still considered a "warm-up"! Looking at my Weather Bug on my computer, it just reached 0 degrees this morning.

Ok - enough about that...time for some more hot coffee!

New Moon

Yup, that's right...we finally went to go see New Moon last Wednesday, and it was all I hoped for and more. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect out of the movie since I thought Twilight was terrible, but I was more than satisfied with the way they handled the second installment of the saga.

Let me say right off the bat - this was the best girls night we've had in a while, only because the running commentary during the movie was hilarious. Two of us who were team Edward were seated between two hard-core team Jacob fans, and so I was lucky enough to get the stereo effect of the comments (mostly about Jacob and his fantastic shirtlessness):

For instance, in the film, Jacob is teaching Bella to loosen up and ride a motercycle. Bella falls off, hits her head, and all of us who have read the book know that Jacob uses his shirt to bind her wound. This is the first scene where we get to see the new-and-improved Jacob, and here's what I hear from two of my friends:

"Ooo, here it comes!"
"Wait for it, wait for it..."
"5,4,3,2,1..." shirt comes off, followed by much giggling and squealing from all of us.

Another great moment, toward the end...Edward is driving Bella home, and shirtless Jacob leaps in front of the car forcing it to a stop. The quote this time?

"Well ya, I'd stop for that too!"

Finally, last share. The movie closes with Edward asking Bella to marry him, screen goes black. One of the 7 other people in the theatre, behind us and to the left sighs just loudly enough for us all to hear, causing the whole theatre to laugh.

This was one of those few movies where I actually think it was better because the theatre was empty...it let us all watch the movie almost as a single group. And the funniest part? I don't think any of us were teenagers.

Generally speaking, the writing was miles better, the storyline more consistent with the book, and the overall development of the characters was stronger. The holes that I noticed were understandable, based on the transition from page to movie. If you're into the Twilight saga, this movie is far more worth seeing than the original...and that gives me a lot of hope for Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, which in my opinion will need to be produced in just the right way for it to be excellent.

So, after all that - who wants to go again? :)

It's December Already!

It's so funny, I have thought of so many things to blog about over the last several weeks but haven't had a spare second to actually hop on here and expand on those thoughts. I'm sure everyone can identify, since the holidays always bring a certain amount of holy-geez-so-much-to-do-not-sure-how-to-do-it!

First, let me say I love love LOVE Thanksgiving and the weeks that follow leading up to Christmas. This Thanksgiving was different than in years past, since it was just my parents and me...my brother and his family was visiting the in-laws this year. While it didn't completely feel like Thanksgiving (I guess I've learned to need more chaos!), it was still wonderful to take it easy - start the turkey after 12 noon, drink wine before noon and still in pajamas, and play Wii and dominoes until we dropped. For the record, Mexican Train is an awesome way to kill a few hours!

I was also lucky enough to spend the remainder of the weekend in Fort Collins with Lande and his family. The time was much too short, but I'll take whatever I can get since this long-distance relationship doesn't allow for nearly as much together time as I would like! We had time to spend with our good friends Aaron and Colyn, to shop, to catch a movie and to catch up with each other before his 8:30am flight on Sunday. I have never been the first person in Starbucks before, but we hit them just as they were opening the doors on the way out of town. And...I didn't believe it, but it really is an hour and a half to DIA from Ft. Collins!

Let it suffice to say that for the rest of the day on Sunday, much sleeping ensued :).

And now, here it is, December again and already! My little nephew just turned 1 last Thursday and we had a family celebration on Saturday. My personal goal was to find a gift for him that would make noise - I'm on the offensive, since my brother would do the same given the opportunity. I chose an xylophone/keyboard, which turned out to be perfect. Andrew didn't really know what to do with it at first, but once I showed him how to use his whole hand (he's big on the one-finger thing right now) he completely got it. Beethoven's got nothing on my nephew, and I'm a proud auntie! I'll post photos as soon as I have two seconds to be at home...

And finally - my friend Niki nominated me for a blog award! Thanks, Niki, for keeping up with all of my stream of thought posts and random wanderings...it's wonderful encouragement for me to keep writing knowing at least a few people are reading! Love ya, mwa!