Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed

I love Legally Blonde. Always have, always will. And while I know it's not quite the deepest of movies, I don't care. It's one of my favorite feel-good things to watch. My Mom and I are always quoting it to each other randomly, like "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't shoot their husbands. They just don't!" and "I'm takin' the dog, dumbass!"

So when I found out a couple years ago that Legally Blonde the Musical was coming out, I was thrilled. Though I never got to see it on Broadway, I was hooked to last summer's MTV Show "The Search for the Next Elle Woods" to replace Laura Bell Bundy. Now that was definitely quality TV. 

And then I learned that they were putting together a national tour and some of my favorites from the show  (Rhiannon and Lauren) were in it. I watched the tour schedule for months, hoping they'd come to Chicago. Good news! They were coming here for 3 1/2 weeks. As soon as dates were announced, I made it my goal to get tickets.

So after months of waiting, Legally Blonde finally set up shop in Chicago and I went to see it last night. I LOVED it. It's pink, sparkly, hilarious, cute, energetic and romantic. What's not to love? And when you throw in the sexy UPS guy and  two adorable dogs, you've got perfection. Plus, some of the lyrics are hysterical, like:

Gay or European?
So stylish and relaxed.
Is he gay or European?
I think his chest is waxed.

Probably one of the funniest songs ever. Plus, there is a whole song about Ireland. I'm really not sure where the heck the Ireland spin came from, but I don't mind. A musical with lots of pink, catchy songs and Irish love? It's my heaven.

Wow. I am such a girl.

But anyway, if you're in Chicago or on one of the tour stops, go see it!  

In other news, prom is tomorrow. I just got a call from J, who is out with his fellow teachers drinking the night away, and he informed me that I get to set up the women's bathroom at the hotel. Translation: I have to arrange a huge box of tampons in a "pretty" way for the girls. A pretty way? Really? I think I love this job already. 

Also, I was recently given a very exciting award from Ali at The Way I See It. Thank you so much! I promise to write more about it and spread the love when I have more than 2 minutes to write. These last couple weeks have been insane!

Ok off to paint my tootsies hot pink. Have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Any thoughts on the Grey's finale last night? Oh.My.Gosh. I was SHOCKED. I literally sat here with my mouth hanging open for about 5 minutes. So sad.

"It's like I have ESPN or something"

Ah yes, Mean Girls. So many amazing lines to quote from that movie. Everything from "Boo, you whore" and "Oh my God, Danny Devito! I love your work!" to "I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy..." and "On Wednesdays, we were pink" (which I recently said to my boyfriend...he looked at me like I was nuts.)

But the one that popped into my head after I had a very weird incident at work last Friday was Karen's brilliant line, "It's like I have ESPN or something." It just seemed to fit. 

First, a quick back story: My Mac laptop at work is older than dirt. It takes about an hour to start up, it gets temperamental when it doesn't get enough sleep, and it lives on a couple second delay...meaning, when I type a letter on the keyboard, it shows up on the screen 2 seconds later. So annoying. It can barely load my Gmail, let alone play videos. And since I work in an office where Youtube and Hulu are all the rage, I feel a little left out. 

So Friday afternoon, I was sitting in the kitchen at work filling out the RedEye crossword and eating lunch with my coworker. She mentioned some YouTube video I should watch when I got back to my desk. Bummer. So of course, I complained and said, "I can't watch anything on my computer. I hate it. I wish it would just give up and die already. I keep waiting for it to shut off and never turn on again."

[dun dun dun]

A few minutes later, I finished my lunch and went back to my desk. My laptop was sleeping, so I hit the mouse to revive it. But something was very wrong. My normal desktop popped up, but it was completely frozen. Even the clock was frozen on 12:59pm. Almost exactly the time I sent my computer a death wish.

[cue Twilight Zone theme song]

I had to manually shut it down and stood waiting for it to reboot. A gray screen appeared...and then it started clicking really, really loudly. It was coming from inside the computer. The screen went black again, but the clicking continued. Loudly. 

I ran to get the IT guy and after only a few short minutes, he called it. Time of death: 1:28pm. Cause of death: The tiny laser reader arm thingy (technical term of course) fell out of whack. So essentially, the computer was unfixable. And very much dead.

Creepy, huh? Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Because the "new" computer I now have is another Mac laptop that has already died multiple times, can't play videos and has keys that can't be used without the help of an external keyboard. Womp womp. 

I lost everything on my other computer. Luckily, the only project that wasn't backed up was one I had recently started, so I didn't miss much. Thank goodness. 

Oh! And Erin tagged me in the Surprise Picture Post! 

Here are the rules:

•Take a picture of yourself right now.

•No primping or preparing.

•Just snap a picture.

•Load the picture onto your blog.

•Tag some people to play along.

Yep, that's me and my frizzy hair (thank you, rain). Oh look! There's even some Christmas wrapping paper, a photo album and my drying rack thrown in to add some interest. Very exciting, I know.

I think I'll tag just a couple people:

RachieAnn.Com

Zenfully Me

"That is so fetch." 

Goodnight everyone!

I love a good movie

And Slumdog Millionaire is definitely one of those. I just got back from seeing it and I loved it! If you haven't seen it yet, you need to go. It's so good.

I think you guys may be right. I think I might have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder since I only ever feel this way during the long, cold, dark, grey, icy winter months. Ick. Bring on the sunlight! I'll read up on it for sure. And thanks for the kind words everyone, you definitely put some pep in my step today.

So tomorrow is finally Friday. Thank goodness. I'm really excited about this weekend. 

Tomorrow night I'm going to my Grandma's house for a sleepover party with my brother and sister. My Grandma has never had an "official" sleepover before (even though we used to stay over all the time), so for Christmas, that's what we gave her. We're heading over to her house right after work and making her a big spaghetti dinner and then we're going to get into our pajamas, cuddle up on the couch and watch the movies of her choice. She was so excited about it that she even went out and bought new afghans so we can each have maximum coziness. It sounds so relaxing...I can't even wait.

Then Saturday morning I'm getting up bright and early and heading up to Milwaukee for the Marquette vs. Georgetown game with my two friends. So that will be fun...and I finally get to see my boyfriend again after 3 long weeks. Hooray!

And Sunday I'm heading to my parent's house to see them since they just got back from Barbados and we'll hang out and watch the Super Bowl. I really only care about the commercials. For a total advertising nerd like me, this is one of my favorite nights of the year. I could care less about the actual game (confession: I don't even know who is playing in it this year), I just love the fun ads.

Oh and sidenote, I am SO excited that they ousted Governor Blagojevich. What an embarassment to Illinois. I mean seriously, how the hell did he actually get in office? He's crazy. I certainly didn't vote for him, I can tell you that much...yikes.

Son of a nutcracker!

Since I love Christmas so much, it's only fitting that I write about some of my favorite things. 

So I now present to you my top five favorite Christmas movies:

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

1. Elf. No surprise here. I could watch this movie all day, every day the whole year and I still wouldn't get tired of it. I love it. It always makes me laugh. My brother and I constantly quote this via text message, everything from "Good news, I saw a dog today" to "Francisco...frannnciscooo" And "I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite" is my favorite movie quote ever. Love it.

We invite you to ask yourself this one simple question: 

Do you believe in Santa Claus?

2. Miracle on 34th Street. Ok confession, I've never actually seen the original version, though I own it. But I LOVE the new version (own that, too). There's something so magical about this movie and yes, I'm proud to admit that I do believe in Santa Claus.

Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.

 

3. It's A Wonderful Life. I cry every time I watch this movie. The classic Christmas movies are some of the very best ones. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And that George Bailey is such a good man...

If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion 

love actually is all around.

4. Love Actually. How could you not love this movie? It's cute and funny and I love it. My favorite couple? Jamie and Aurelia, of course. And I love how all the characters are connected. The first time I saw this movie I remember being amazed by it all. Such great stories.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

5. A Christmas Story. The Christmas Eve staple. I like this one based solely on tradition. Every year TBS plays 24 hours of A Christmas Story, and every year I get sucked in. After Christmas Eve Mass, after my Grandma's house, while I'm drifting off to sleep, the next day after we open gifts, while we eat breakfast...I can't get enough of it. And that's the only day of the year I actually watch that movie. 

Honorable Mentions: Home Alone ("Look what you did you little jerk") and How the Grinch Stole Christmas—the animated version, NOT the Jim Carrey version ("I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole")

So there you have it. Now I'm going to pop in the original Miracle on 34th Street for the first time and hop into bed. 

...and to all a good night. 

I need sleep

I'm exhausted.

I went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night, and didn't get home until about 2:30. I was still giddy from the movie, so I had to settle down a bit before I could fall asleep. The last time I checked the clock was about 3:20.

After awhile, I had a very vivid dream in which Edward Cullen was standing in my room, watching me sleep. I opened my eyes and saw his shadow out of the corner of my eye, standing off to the right side...and I literally jumped up and flew out of bed. I really thought he was in my room and it was really scary and really exciting at the same time. Naturally, it took me a few minutes to get my heart to stop racing so I could fall back to sleep...

And then my alarm went off. I got 3 measly hours of sleep. And boy, was I tired all day long. Thank goodness for my Starbucks Gingersnap Latte, that's all I can say. Oh, and the barista didn't call me Jessica today. She didn't call me anything, actually. I think the dreadful bags under my eyes must have scared her away.

So anyway, I'm off to bed. I left my cousin's birthday party early because I could barely stay awake. I'm not going to post my thoughts on Twilight until next week, after most people have seen it. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

I'll just leave you with the images that have been running through my mind all day...

Amazing.

Love the book AND the movie

Last night I went to see The Secret Life of Bees with my Mom. We both loved the book (so much so that I've read it 3 times), so we were excited to see the movie version.

I was a little bit nervous about seeing it, though. I hate it when you love the book and then they make it into a movie and totally butcher the plot, the characters, etc. It's always such a let down. To me, the Harry Potter movies (excluding the 5th) are a bit like that. They're never as good as the books. Not even close. The third book was my absolute favorite. The third movie? A total disappointment.I hated it. So I was hoping The Secret Life of Bees wouldn't follow in those footsteps.

Luckily, it didn't. The movie was absolutely amazing. It was almost exactly like the book. There were a few minor changes, but nothing that changed the plot or characters. And it was wonderfully cast. Dakota Fanning was perfect at Lily Owens. Her acting was outstanding. It's amazing to me that at 14-years-old, she is that great of an actress. She brought the character to life...I laughed with her and cried with her...and then cried some more with her. I love Dakota Fanning now.

The Boatwright women were also perfectly cast. Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okeonedo were amazing in their roles. They were EXACTLY like I pictured August, June and May when I read the book. And Jennifer Hudson did a wonderful job as Rosaleen. I think the other women outshone her a bit, but she still did an excellent job.

It was a fabulous movie. Definitely go see it. It's not some mindless chick flick (though I love those)...it's a beautiful, heart-wrenching coming of age story. And I loved every minute. I just hope Shopaholic (one of my other favorites) is just as good as a movie as The Secret Life of Bees was. I guess we'll see soon...

Ok seriously, I have to go read more of the Twilight series now...it's like a drug. And I am so addicted.