this, that, and the other

So I actually enjoyed Twilight quite a bit. The book wasn't really all that great on the descriptive side of things so instead of going to the movie and saying "Yes! That's exactly how I pictured Bella and Edward!" I was more or less going "Ah...yeah, that's about what I pictured they'd look like." The movie followed the book for the most part but since I'd just finished reading the book the night before we saw the movie I kept whispering to The Monkey "That so is not how it happened in the book." whenever something went way off track. I am sure I got on his nerves once or twice, but oh well. :-P

After reading the first two books, I will admit to being completely hooked. It was more or less the compulsive desire to hear the rest of the story. I finished New Moon late Sunday evening and went to Wal-Mart Monday morning to get the third book, Eclipse. Wouldn't you know it, after the movie came out people flocked to Wal-Mart and bought all the books from the series! Wal-Mart was completely cleaened out. I was so anxious to read the following two installments that I drug my sister to Dothan to go to Barnes & Noble at 5:30 in the evening. It was nice to take a trip out without The Monkey breathing down my neck. Barnes & Noble is adjacent to Ulta. My last two trips to Dothan were with The Monkey and he absolutely WILL NOT allow me to enter that store. (For the record, he has good reason. Ulta quickly became a big vice for me last Christmas. [meep!]) So Michelle and I, after my gleeful purchase at B&N, walked next door and oogled all the girlie goodies in Ulta. I wound up buying Urban Decay's Brow Box in Brown Sugar. I had my eyebrows waxed about two weeks ago and the girl that did them was a little over-zealous with the plucking. (I knew I should've waited for the girl that did them last time as she did a phenomenal job. Live and learn, I suppose.) At any rate, my right brow was marginally shorter and thinner than my left. The brow kit I bought not only solved that problem but also made me take notice of how much difference enhancing your eyebrows can make! At least my manic spending spree wasn't severely over the top. :-P

Thanksgiving was a nice change of pace this year. We had less guests than last year so it wasn't as busy. I helped my mom prepare a lot of the more time consuming dishes on Wednesday as well as finishing up the baking. So Thursday was pretty leisurely as far as holiday madness goes. Dinner was, as expected, fantastic. I ate WAY too much for my own good, I'm sure. My Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Pie was to die for as was my aunt's pumpkin pie (made with fresh pumpkin) and my sister's Pumpkin Dump Cake. I'm sure I gained a solid five pounds in two days. I'm staying off the scale, though. I read quite a bit while everyone mulled around in the garage. I became quite engrossed in Breaking Dawn and it was difficult to put it down long enough to socialize with the family. So now the countdown 'til Christmas begins. I'm still feeling uneasy about the holidays this year. I'm fully expecting to fall into a rapid downward spiral. Post-holiday blues. Then again, I should be on meds by then so who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky.

My niece turned a year old this past Tuesday. We haven't celebrated with cake and singing Happy Birthday yet because she's been sick. She started running a fever on Friday and when it hadn't let up by Monday my sister took her to the pediatrician. She was diagnosed with a double ear infection and given a course of antibiotics. The poor thing hasn't been herself at all. She's been up at night wanting to nurse (even though she doesn't nurse much at all these days) mostly for comfort. She's not the smiley, happy baby that we're all accustomed to. And she's been napping almost constantly! On Tuesday she woke up around 9:00 and was back out by 10:00 and slept until 1:00-ish. Poor baby! So Michelle is planning on baking her a cake and doing the 'birthday thing' sometime this week. She did enjoy her first Thanksgiving, though! :-)

Speaking of birthdays, mine is right around the corner. I'm not sure what we're doing (if we do anything at all, that is). I was contemplating drinking myself into oblivion. One last hurrah before I'm back on meds and have to stay away from alcohol indefinitely. One year closer to the big three-oh. Sometimes I don't feel as old as I am. Other times (like when we went to see Twilight and I was surrounded by people at least 10 years younger than me) I really, really feel it.

reading between the lines

Monday when we went to Dothan I was hell bent on picking up some books. Enterprise doesn't have a proper book store. Our only option is the piddly section they have at Wal-Mart. It's pitiful. I love book stores. I love the smell of fresh print intermingled with espresso. It's intoxicating! If I had any business sense whatsoever, I would open a book store in Enterprise. But, I digress.

We stopped at Barnes & Noble so I could search a book I've been interested in reading. (That, and I was positively feigning for a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte.) After reading Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher, I decided that I wanted to read her first memoir, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. Her writing style seems much more advanced than her years (she wrote Wasted at 23). It was a pretty good book and delved deeply into the horrors of life with an eating disorder. Still, I think I enjoyed Madness a bit more.

I'm mostly a non-fiction reader, aside from my Harry Potter obsession. I can't remember the last time I cracked a fictional book, honestly. On a whim, I decided to pick up Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I've heard some mixed reviews on the series but I figured what the hell? I've been needing to bury my mind into the realm of the fantastic for a while now. I have to say, the book wasn't all that impressive. J.K. Rowling definitely paints a more vivid picture with her story telling. (And so do Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder in their Gatekeeper Trilogy, for that matter.) Still, it kept me interested, none the less. After finishing the book I've decided that I want to go to the movies tonight to see the film. I think this may actually be one of those rare cases where the film is better than the book. We'll see. I know it's probably going to be over run with teenagers. I'm trying not to let that deter me from a nice evening out. We shall see.