Five Things

1. Save Davis-Kidd Booksellers.

If you're a Memphian, you may or may not have heard about how the building which currently houses Davis-Kidd is up for auction. It's my understanding that the auction has already taken place but there is apparently some chance of keeping the bookstore at its current location according to the stores facebook page if the Laurelwood Shopping Center can help the stores owners.
Davis-Kidd is currently the only non-used bookstore left in Memphis proper after the closing of Bookstar in January. Write an email, help save a book store. 

2. It's Music Time in Memphis

Abandon all hope for non-frizzy hair and put on your rain boots because it's almost time for the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival. Or for the people who actually live here, it's almost Music Fest Weekend. I have a unique opportunity this year since I'm interning for one of the sponsoring radio stations, I shall essentially be living in Tom Lee Park next weekend. This is one of the most anticipated Music Fests since I've been old enough to go forth and hear music in the mud with thousands of Memphians. The full line-up is here and if you're going, stop by the Q tent!


3. Speaking of Internships...
I have no picture for this but in case we aren't facebook friends, I thought i'd whore my blog out to solicit for summer interns. if you're interested in radio and can get school credit, email me your resume at rmiranda@memphis.edu. 

4. Harry Potter Mania

I've been what some people refer to as a Potterhead since about the seventh grade. The first time I read each of the books, I finished them in one day. I even went to the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince with some girls that lived on my dorm floor. It seems fitting that leading up to the release of the final film chapter of the saga (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) I'd be knee deep in the books and films all over again. I'm writing a 15 page research paper on the books & films for my Children's Literature final. 
If there's a single person reading this blog that hasn't read Harry Potter, do it. If you live in Memphis, I will lend you the books. Asap.

5. The Chewbacca Dog

I'm quite certain that this is the only dog Adam would let me have and we would call him Chewie (of course). Life as a nerdy couple would nearly be complete, save for when we have millions of dollars and get a boat and name it The Millennium Falcon. 

It's Playtime in Memphis

I said in my last blog that playtime options are limited due to the winter weather here in Memphis. If you have checked the forecast, it will be warmer this coming week but spring is hardly here, despite what groundhogs and their shadows have said.
I believe the bulk of the blog readership is sans children but here's a little something for those that are parents. And to my kid-free friends, let me know if you'd like to join reed & I on any of these adventures :)

Here are some things you and your kiddos can do:

Children's Museum of Memphis.

The whole museum is a blast for kids toddlers-preteens but there is a new exhibit this month that Reed & I will undoubtedly be trying out. It's called Out On A Limb and it's open from now until May 15th for kids ages 10 and under. The Children's Museum website describes it as a "whimsical place for unstructured play" but really it's a bunch of indoor tree houses for kids to play in. Basically, it's awesome.

The Peabody Hotel Duck Procession
Okay, it sounds weird and I wouldn't drive all the way downtown just for this but if you're out and about in the west end of town, it's worth a stop-in. Every week day at 11am the ducks are processed downstairs to the Grand Lobby and then at 5pm the reverse is done as they are marched back up to the roof. If you have a toddler-aged child, such as reed, they are likely to be fascinated. Bonus- it's free!

Story Time at the Public Library's
depending on your neighborhood, they are on varying days but tend to be in the mid-late afternoon. Check the Memphis Library website for days and times in your neighborhood library. If you are a midtowner or an east memphis-er, definitely hit up the Main library on Poplar over the Highland or other branches; the kids area is much larger and they don't care if your child runs around in circles.

And to all Memphians, don't forget that Muddy's Bake Shop is open today for a special Valentine's Day treat. I always want Muddy's on Sundays & Mondays when they are traditionally closed so take advantage of the rare opportunity.

Happy Valentine's Day to all but to my love & husband Adam in particular. Thank you for asking me to be your wife one year ago today. I love you :)

who I'm going to be when I grow up

When you tell people you're in school for Journalism and Public Relations, the first question you get is usually "So what are you going to do with that?" Generally, I never have an answer for them and it's a really awkward few minutes of "Ummm well, there are a few things I could see myself doing...." But I now have an answer for those people: When I grow up, I want to be Chelsea Handler.

I'm not kidding, with the exception of the aversion to seeing a pregnancy through and the affinity for midgets, I'd like to be her. If you live under a rock or across the river in Arkansas with no cable and no bookstores, I'll familiarize you with my dear Chelsea.

She started as a stand-up comedian, has a nightly talk show on E! and is a published author (My Horizontal Life, Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang)

BEST BOOK COVER EVER. 

She gets to write, travel the country on stand-up tours, have tons of gay boyfriends and earn buckets & buckets of money for being ridiculous (and i think sometimes drunk) on E! every night. And gets lots of twitter-infused press about a possible affair with 50 Cent. I could totally have an alleged affair with a rapper....Adam wouldn't mind, right?
Added bonus of the Chelsea Handler path to success? I would stop worrying about the family alcoholism trait and just embrace my Catholic upbringing, being a full-on lush and make lots of money writing about my vodka-induced shenanigans. 

Essentially, her life and career is amazing and I want it.

If you have the E! channel, go watch the Chelsea's Big Interview Special that inspired this blog. She interviewed Gwyneth Paltrow (who I'm now obsessed with since she did Glee last week), Anne Hathaway and Christina Aguilera.

Now comment with ideas on how to convince Adam & Reed to move to New York or LA so I can start gathering material for my first book about (drunken) southern mommy in a big city, fish out of water situations.

things I've been doing instead of blogging

I've been a terrible blogger of late.
As always, Adam is partially to blame for stealing the computer unless I've commandeered it specifically for schoolwork but that excuse is about to go the way of unsliced bread because Adam's desktop computer is finished being rebuilt. Thanks Tim! And, as the post title suggests, i've also been doing other things aside from blogging:

Reading
the Shopaholic books. Ellie called me Monday morning cracking up laughing about Mini-Shopaholic, the latest installment, so of course I had to start reading them. Please don't judge them by the movie (Sorry, Isla Fisher, I do love you). If you're a fan of hilarious chick-lit, these books are great. However, if you're a frugal lady like me, as I was warned by Robyn, you will get stressed out by her inordinate spending habits. it's okay, it all works out.

Watching

1. The usual suspects: Glee, 16 & Pregnant, The Office, Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice.
2. RED. The Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren & John Malkovich movie about retired CIA operatives. It was hilarious, I actually liked it more than Adam did (who still liked it) which is crazy, since it's based off of a graphic novel. If you need a non-chick flick date night movie, I highly recommend it. 

movie date night with my wonderful husband :)

3. General Hospital. Don't judge me. No really, please don't. It's for my Television & Culture class, I've had to watch like five episodes to finish my assignment. It's beyond terrible, James Franco isn't on the show anymore. 

Seeing
I've gotten to see a lot of my friends this week, albeit the separate visits with the Haire sisters were both too short.

 (Ahem. Picture Edit).

I popped in on my dearest Robyn (& Jesse) to get the first two Shopaholic books. And of course she further took care of me by feeding me pumpkin bread & hot chocolate :)

Ronni & I went to see the TOMS shoe guy (Blake Mycoski) talk at school
and then the next day we were joined by Reed & Molly at Muddy's for some cupcakes and cookies that were muy delicioso. Ronni & Reed became great chums as reed repeatedly asked her "get a bite of cupcake?" and Ronni obliged and handed over her Frankly Scarlet.

I didn't see these ladies together, but come on, this is a great picture of both of them.
I finally saw Mrs. Sarah Harr for the first time since either one of us became married ladies. It was great to have coffee and catch up :)
As far as my dear Elspeth goes, we happened to bump into each other on campus resulting in a 20 minute chat and me being late for my Mass Comm Law class. It was lovely, and of course, too short.

and last but not least, Reed & I had a Target trip, backyard picnic and lots of playtime on Friday with Heather, Buck & Theodore Pennel. Aside from thinking I lost my car keys for a few hours only to discover Buck was sleeping on them and Reed getting pecked at by a chicken, we had lots of fun.


this isn't from last week but it's fairly recent. it's blurry because they were running around crazy. And yes, those legs poking out at Reed belong to Buck.

Oh and the most exciting part of my blogging adventure- I had a new follower when I logged in and it wasn't someone I see on a weekly basis or whose blog I follow! Thanks Fallon :)

What It's Like to be a Wife: Day 17

My blog is sad, so I am sad.
I haven't had a lot to post about; most of the stuff in my life right now is either too boring or too personal to put on a blog. And so my blog is sad.

But we are changing that tonight.

1. I need a new book to read. Suggestions from readers?

2. My dear friends Jesse & Robyn (read her blog, it's fab) are throwing a Halloween party.
In honor of my new wife status, I've decided to actually dress up this year.

I'm going to be a retro housewife. Pictures of the real deal will be forthcoming.

3. I lied before, I'm definitely blogging about the wedding one more time. I got all the pictures in and they are up on my facebook. But honestly, it was just too big of an event for me to not give the joy of it a blog post, especially since i went on and on about the stress.

4. Speaking of housewifely duties, I've been trying to cook for Adam more consistently. A lot of my friends, particularly the married ones, plan out their meals for the week so this week I'm trying it out.

Tonight
Veggie Burritos with Spanish Rice

Thursday
Buttermilk-Brined Fried Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes & Asparagus

Friday
Four Cheese Homemade Pizza with Garlic & Veggies

Saturday

Spaghetti with marinara sauce, parmesan & romano cheese
(cheap dinner night)

Sunday

Cornish Game Hens with Greek Rice

Hopefully, HusbandAdam will be pleased with the effort. I don't have that much experience cooking meat so I'm relying heavily on cook books, cooking shows and the internet.

My blog is happier and so am I.
Don't forget those book recommendations :)

my first movie review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I know it's a few weeks after the release but to me, that's just less pressure. I know now that no one is going to google Eclipse reviews and stumble across my little blog expecting Roger Ebert. But alas, the review.

I saw Eclipse opening night at the 12:04 a.m. showing with my dear friend Molly, along with tons of Paradiso Prostitots in Team Edward & Team Jacob shirts and lots of Twilight Moms. I had a calmer experience this afternoon at the earliest showing at the Malco Forest Hill with my favorite sister-in-law, Dara, and feel like I can adequately review the movie.

(As a note, while the movie has been out for a while and anyone who watches the movies has read the books, I'm still going to attempt to make this a spoiler-free review).

For those who don't know, Eclipse is the third installment of the Twilight Saga (based off the books by Stephanie Meyer) and it jumps right in with our heroine and the heaviest breathing girl in Forks, Washington, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), in an attempt to break the record for most marriage proposals in under 10 minutes. 

Edward & Bella.

The plot thickens when it's revealed that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella's werewolf former best friend who happens to be in love with her, is still upset that Bella chose to be with Edward and wants to be a vampire too. And further when previous vampire villain Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) returns, building an army of uber strong vampire newborns to take Bella down.

 

My official opinion: I loved it. And not just because Pattinson's Edward Cullen makes me weak in the knees. 

While I don't think even the hardest of Twi-hards (a label i refuse to wear myself) is laboring under any delusions that any of the Twilight Saga films are being reviewed by the Academy, Eclipse definitely blew past the expectations that Twilight and New Moon had inspired.

But it wasn't perfect.

I know it's explained in the book, but I'm with Edward on this one: "Doesn't he own a shirt?" Aside from the lack of clothing, Lautner's Jacob had one too many one-liners for me. But the fourteen year olds loved it, so what do i know?

Ok, this one I want to preface with I love Anna Kendrick. I do, really. And I always want her role increased in these movies. However, the way screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg went about this is giving her the valedictorian speech. May I just say that if Jessica (Kendrick) is the best and brightest that Forks High School has to offer, the town should be worried.

I LOVED the casting change of Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria.

Brilliant casting aside, I have a note for director David Slade. The camera doesn't actually already have to be moving all the time. The fight scene was nearly perfect but it would've been a lot better if I wasn't reaching for the Dramamine. 

the main attraction and source of most conflict (Team Edward vs. Team Jacob anyone?) throughout the film is the werewolf-human-vampire love triangle. without revealing everything, in this scenario, neither of the gentle-monsters are bad guys and Bella is beyond ridiculous. The final Bella & Edward scene almost makes up for her being so ridiculous though :)

Official Movie Grade: B+