Friday, July 29, 2011

Food, Fit, & Fine Friday

Blog Request: What do I eat in a day/week?
Requested by: Carlee
So a girlfriend of mine asked that I type up something in regards to what I eat in a day or week and it dawned on me that I really have no idea, so I’m going to document for the week what I’m eating, up until Friday, which is Food, Fit & Fine Friday. The day I’ve chosen to post about what I’ve done to get down to the size and shape I am now and how fine I feel about it all!
I started writing down what I’m eating starting Tuesday, so it won’t be a full week, but I’m pretty sure you’ll get the gist of what I intake in a day/week.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Things I Love Thursday

I was going to write about my love for Lily Allen and her music, but I just got off the phone with two of the most amazing people in my life: my parents.

I probably have a set of the most awesome parents ever. I don't mind saying, my parents are better than your parents. Jus' sayin'. ;) 

I've been a bad duckling and haven't spoken to my parents since Father's Day (I told you, bad duckling) because I've been writing, writing, writing. Not a great excuse, but it's the one I have. Anyway, being the concerned parents they are, they reached out and gave me a call.

It's my mom (well, she's my stepmom, but I don't normally make that distinction, I do now only because it's likely I'll eventually talk about my birthmom and just refer to her as my 'mom' - confusion abound! though I usually refer to my stepmom as 'El', but you'll figure all this out if you're crafty and follow along) with her cheerful voice, "Hello Dawn!" and after a little bit my father comes in with his baritone, "Are you okay?!"  He's always concerned that I'm not okay. *lol*

So, we had a chat for about twenty minutes about many things that won't be rehashed here, but suffice it to say...my parents are stinkin' adorable. I may have convinced my father to get to Jamaica...that would be sweet. My dad in Jamaica. Ha! He said he'd only go if he could drive there. I said we'd knock him out and get him on a plane. It's only three and a half hours from New Jersey; he seemed strangely okay with this.

One thing that just thrills me these days, more so with my father, is the fact that I can joke around with them now. I could with El, but she's always been far more liberal than my father. My father is hilarious; very deadpan. So deadpan that often when he's messing with you, if you don't know him well, you might think he's serious and ready to throw out the door. I got this from him, I think, because in junior high I earned the nickname 'Stoneface' during the game "Baby, if you love me, smile." No one could ever get me to smile. 

Anyway, I didn't joke around much with my dad, not because he was averse to laughing or was uptight or anything like that (no really, I'd sit on his stomach 'tickling' him and he'd fake laugh for me just to humor his four-year-old as she would laugh maniacally because she's making her daddy laugh. we had fun, but joking with him the way I would a friend or my sister...no way), but he was very much my father. 

I love my father with all the love a daughter can have for her father and I have the utmost respect for him and I attribute that to the fact that he had his role and played it as a father should. At least how *I* believe a father should be with his children. I probably believe that because it's how I was raised...huuuurrrrrr. I had friends; I needed and had a father. I wouldn't want it any other way.

These days, I'll joke around and even tease my dad and mom about things I wouldn't have even dared to ten years ago. I'm funny, like my daddy! :D I can even get him to laugh, which makes me just smile.

Now, I must give credence to El for somewhat liberating my father. I can say that El had a time dealing with me. I was a pain in the ass and I recognize that now, I'm so lucky to have her as my mom.

You must understand that my father is from the South. We're talking born before the end of segregation was even an idea of an idea of an idea. It's crazy to think my father grew up in such an era where he couldn't use any water fountain he wanted. He married my mother, Virginia, in a time when it was still frowned upon for inter-racial couples to do so. So, he has a certain way of life and seeing the world ingrained in him. Also, his father was a Baptist preacher; just want you to get the picture that my dad is pretty conservative in his thinking.

Anyway, El has been incredibly helpful in liberating my father in many things in life which has honestly made my life and even my sister's life a little bit easier. Without getting into things too personal, let's just say, she's been very instrumental in my growth and in getting my father to see me as still his child, but also an adult at the same time. It's been a fun journey. :) I love her madly, too!

Today I dedicate Things I Love Thursday to my parents! I love you both!

xoxo
Dawn

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

What I Learned in Kindergarten Wednesday

Ha! I'm just realizing that I haven't posted anything for today. I'll do a little something since I have about an hour before it's Thursday. ;)

I titled today what I did because I'm coming across things that I feel I should have known how to do earlier in life, but for some reason I didn't.

The best example I can think of is blow drying my hair. I've been doing it for years, but only recently have I learned how to do it with a round brush as opposed to my traditional air pick. The air pick did its job, but did not make my hair feel as nice as using a round brush does. I really had no idea how much of a difference it really makes.

I'm working on a chronology of my hair, in which I hope to include photos of me and my sad 'hairstyles' over the last three decades of my life, that will be posted probably on either Tangent Tuesday or perhaps Simmer Down Sunday.

I'm also learning the importance of a trim. I've never regularly had my hair trimmed since the 'incident' circa '81. By 'incident' I mean I gave myself a mini haircut, which started out very minor and inconspicuous and blew into very major and conspicuous. Awesome. That's what I get for having a grandmother who's business was a drapery shop run out of her house. But I digress...

My neighbor happens to be a hairdresser and she was kind enough to cut my hair today at no charge. She's awesome! Yay for nice neighbors with awesome skills and wonderful dispositions! I'm going to make sure I get my hair trimmed at least once a month now, since she's literally next door and doesn't mind.

I'm going to learn how to make some homemade doggy treats for her Pugs (she has two, they're hyper, but cute little things) as a thank you for the haircut. My hair feels SO much nicer! I also hope it will help with the length, I'd love to have longer hair, but I'm also just now learning the proper combinations of products to really keep my hair 'healthy' (I quote that because one's hair is actually just dead protein cells hanging off one's head, it isn't even alive. I promise, look it up), so maybe I'll get the longer hair that I want. We'll see.

All right, it wasn't much, but I warned you. ;) I'm getting sleepy anyway. *yawn* G'night!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tangent Tuesday

So it's looking more and more likely that I won't get a post up for Movie Review today for yesterday, so I'm not going to kid myself into thinking I will.

What I am going to do is post something from YouTube because it's what I'm looking at and in awe with at the moment. Shockingly, no, it has nothing to do with Ed Quinn. Can you even believe that? *lol*

So, anyway, last night I started to giggle to myself just thinking about an old Animaniacs cartoon where Yakko, Wakko, and Dot all enter a room with Wakko entering last and shaking hands with someone via his knee. I mentioned this to my husband, who was curious as to what the hell I was laughing at and he informed me that it's in fact a Marx Brothers thing. Makes sense that I'd have no idea because I didn't watch them. Princess Stephanie did, but I didn't. Hubbs thought it was Groucho who did that, but when he said Marx Brothers, I knew it had to be Harpo. I enlisted the help of Princess Stephanie and she informed me I was correct.

I've been laughing about it all day, so I went to YouTube to find a video of Harpo actually doing aforementioned action and while I haven't found one, yet, I did find a clip that's just as awesome.


This clip really has it all. Classic music, classic comedy, classic instrument. It makes me crave my cello. <3

Monday, July 25, 2011

A couple of things...

Firstly, Day One out of the gate for 'Structure' and I don't get a movie review posted. I have two or three started, but none of them are finished. Go figure! I'll be working on them and maybe I'll be diligent and back post when I don't post on the day I'm supposed to for at least Movie Review Monday.

Secondly, I notice I have a follower! Yay! Thank you, Will, whomever you are. :) I hope you enjoy my ramblings! Very exciting!. :)

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Structure

So, I'm thinking of coming up with some sort of structure for my blog. I can't just have it languishing here like I let everything else languish, so I figure some kind of structure is in order.
Tentatively, I have the following for my days: (Marcos, that 'tentative is for you, buddy)

Monday – Movie Review Monday
Tuesday – Tangent Tuesday
Wednesday – What I Learned In Kindergarten Wednesday
Thursday – Things That I Love Thursday
Friday – Food, Fit, & Fine Friday
Saturday – Sexy Thoughts/Stories Saturday
Sunday – Simmer Down Sunday

Right now, I’m sort of all over the place. Like, I just shut down a few other things to reboot my laptop, but saw that I’ve not yet finished this, so here I am typing out that I’m fabulously short of attention.
Hang on, my blog, my email, my everything online is acting up. I really need a damn reboot. Back in five!
Okay, one more pit stop; I need to prepare dinner for later. Give me another maybe ten to fifteen. ;)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Movie Review: Blood Out


Movie Review: Blood Out
Released: April 2011
Directed by: Jason Hewitt
Written by: Jason Hewitt, John A O’Connell
Parental Rating: R, so you can expect language within from me as well.
Spoiler Alert: Most likely, but really it won’t spoil anything. I yap so much, I don't even care about inevitable errors. Deal with it.
Confessions 33 Rating: Gerard Butler
I need to preface this review by stating the only reason I put this movie in my Netflix queue and then proceeded to watch it is because of Ed Quinn. He is honestly the only redeeming thing about this movie because if he weren’t in it, I wouldn’t have bothered. But seriously, I don’t care about anyone in this movie other than Ed. That being said…on to my review!
Highlights:
Ed Quinn as Anthony
It was filmed in Louisiana
Soundtrack is pretty kickin’

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Tangents, Procrastination, and…Oooh, Shiny!

Every morning for the last three days I’ve woken up deciding to watch Blood Out to do a proper review of it and every day for the last three days…I’ve found something else to watch or do.
I really need to work on my follow through because I’m sort of terrible at it. Like right now I should be watching Blood Out, but what am I doing instead? Watching BASEketball. I don’t know why, it’s utterly ridiculous and Ed Quinn is nowhere to be seen.
I’m a terrible procrastinator. Like right there, I went to BMW with my husband maybe three hours ago leaving this to wallow in…something.
Anyway, I was going to watch Blood Out today and give it a proper review because when I do watch it (by watch I mean I fast forward to the parts Ed is in and when he’s gone, I fast forward until he shows up again until he’s no longer in the movie) all I do is rip on the thing because of its terrible holes and other silliness.
It’s one of those movies that I sort of love to hate on because my boy’s in it and he’s honestly just really adorable in it, but it’s really just a bad movie with a great premise, but no proper closure.
Also, partially why I’ve not watched it today (or use as a lame excuse anyway, as is my prerogative. mwaHA) is because Hubbs is home due to car issues and he had to take it in, drop it off, and pick up a rental. For some reason I opted to go with him rather than stay home and take that opportunity to watch my movie. Crazy, I actually like spending time with my husband, even if it is in the lobby of BMW.
We’ve been home for a good chunk of the day, but I try not to shove Ed down Hubbs’ throat, so I opted to not put it in, but now I’m sort of wishing I had because Hubbs has said he’d watch it with me at least once just to see if I’m being irrationally hard on Ed’s ridiculous Louisianan accent because: a) I’m sort of in love with him and b) because my father’s from Louisiana and he sounds nothing like that (believe me folks, you can take the man out of Louisiana, but you cannot take the Louisiana out of the man) OR if his attempt is really just that bad.
I can’t tell. I’m not objective and I’ll be the first to tell you that. If Ed does it, don’t care, those little stupid pink hearts start floating above my head and I squeal/grin like an idiot. It’s been like this for almost a year now and it hasn’t dissipated like it usually does with me and my men. It’s okay though, I don’t mind him lingering. He got a script out of me! I’m creative like never before, so I’m happy to hang onto my muse.
Hey! Look at that tangent! Can you tell I adore Ed Quinn? *lol*
Okay, so for sure tomorrow I am going to watch Blood Out (properly, from beginning to end and suffer through non-Ed parts), take notes, and tell you why this movie had its potential, but blew it; in my opinion, of course!
Ta for now!
xoxo
Dawn

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The New Kids on the Block Name Change: Aged Men in the Suburbs

I sit here giggling as Hubbs plays Aqualung on Rock Band 3 and I upload some photos to Facebook because the New Kids on the Block caught my eye in some ad -- oh, another friend of mine happens to ‘Like’ them that's what it was. So I click on their page and look around a little bit, tempted to hit ‘Like’ as well, but I don’t because I’m trying to cut back on my ‘Like’s (ridiculous, I know), and I start to think about how old these guys actually are.
Not a single one of them can claim that they are a ‘kid’ save for maybe in their minds, but let’s face it, they are men. Whether they like it or not. Seriously, Joey is gonna turn 39 this year, so, sorry guys, you are no longer ‘kids’, just like I am no longer a ‘girl’. You are ‘men’ in the same way I am a ‘woman’, deal with it.
In dealing with it, I’d like to suggest a name change. It isn’t quite as catchy as ‘New Kids on the Block’, but it suits you much better and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to take you seriously again. Okay, that’s doubtful, but I’ll get to that later (*cough* choreography *cough*).
As a semi-faithful fan (okay, not! But I do still giggle like an idiot when I hear them and their songs are still damn catchy; seriously, I love ‘Grown Man’ and somehow now I’d rather bang Donnie than Jordan, but that’s another conversation altogether…hmmm, perhaps I am a semi-faithful fan…I digress!), I, dutifully, suggest Aged Men in the Suburbs.
Here’s why:
Most of you have your own children (honestly, I know at least three of them have kids, I can’t be arsed to check on the other two), long time SO’s (breakups included), and probably property out the wazoo. Maybe even a li’l sumthin’, sumthin’, in – you guessed it – the Suburbs. Note that I did not say ‘Old Men’ (though it did cross my mind, but I don’t perceive late thirties/early forties as old because it ain’t) because age is what a good wine does, right? Puts a positive spin on things.
Many things that are enjoyed thoroughly are aged. Including, but not limited to steak, wine, and cheeses are all items that can be aged and some of these things, when aged are worth much more, yes?
Just a little something to think about. And does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Jonathan is the Knight brother that turned out to be gay when Jordan was the one accused all the fucking time back in the day? Now Jordan’s kind of a perv. Ha ha-ha. Sorry, J, but I saw a few episodes of that VH1 show you were on before NKOTB managed to become relevant again and yeah…perv.
Yay! A short one!
xoxo
Dawn

Monday, July 11, 2011

Movie Review Rating System

I’ve never sat down and actually reviewed a movie before. I mean, of course, I’ve seen movies and of course, I’ve ‘reviewed’ them verbally with friends, family, co-workers, etc, but I’ve never actually written one. I need the practice, so hell maybe I’ll start doing one of these for movies every now and again.
I’ll need to think up a clever rating system. I don’t want to do ‘stars’, I want to come up with my own thing still on a scale of 1 – 5, but not stars. It’ll probably have to do with men and their beauty as I see them. Ah, I know, I’ll come up with five of actors, rate them from least to most attractive and use them as a rating scale.
Obviously, five on my scale will be represented by Ed Quinn, as being a movie that embodies all things I find make the perfect movie because to me, he embodies all things I find make the perfect man.
One on my scale, hmm, my first instinct is to say Matt Damon, so I should probably just stick with that because he, to me, embodies all that is wrong with a man. However…
Okay, so after some thought here’s what I came up with as my rating system:

Sunday, July 10, 2011

So, You Said You Lost Some Weight, Right?

I sure did! I didn’t do it quickly, either. Because I’m lazy and a huge procrastinator, it took me approximately a year to do when it should have only taken me perhaps four to six months. Oh, my diet didn’t/doesn’t help. It’s better now, but still could use improvement.
Anyway, around March of 2010, I started going to the gym regularly; three times a week doing the circuit training. Hubbs was also able to convince me to start doing protein shakes and by protein shakes, I don’t mean those Special K shakes. While those taste really yummy, they have more sugar in them than protein which is counter active.
No, I found a powder that I really liked that had something like 32 grams of protein per scoop and maybe 2 grams of sugar. Found it at my local NutriShop, it’s called Pro5 and it’s by Nu-Tek: I got the one for women, obviously.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Script Registered

        Today, I registered my very first script/screenplay. I’m pretty damn excited about it, too. I’m not one to start something and finish it; ridiculous, right? Meh, I start a lot of things and never finish them. I have a hard drive FULL of stories I’ve begun and maybe three of them have actual endings. Not including my script, I can think of two off the top of my head.
What usually happens is, I’ll be on fire writing whatever it is I’m writing (it’s usually self-serving, which is why I’m not a published author – that thing in high school, barely counts) and then I’ll get to a point where I’ve either run out of ideas or I’m bored with the story.

Obligatory Introductions

            Hello! Let’s just get the introductions out of the way. I’m Dawn, I’m just this side of 30 (okay, I’m 33, and I’m not really sure how I feel about that!), and I’m literally just now figuring out how to do all the shit I should’ve known how to do since at least junior high.