And now I kinda want to see the movie...

So I am reading the Midnight Sun Commentary over at Occupation Girl (If you don't mind spoilers read it! It's great for inducing fits of "I'm glad I haven't had cofee yet this morning because I'm sure I'd snarf it all over my keyboard" laughter.) and while on her blog I came across this quote from Robert Pattinson about playing Edward Cullen.

"When you read the book," says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, "it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108-year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there."

Where the middle class ends

It's been in the news and the topic of more than one discussion with friends of late: how much do you have to make before you are no longer middle class? Slate author Daniel Gross weighs in here.

Last time I had this discussion I went so far as to say that I thought $100,000 is more than the average middle class salary. What I guess I meant is, while in places like D.C. or New York you might not be able to buy a home and send the kids to private school, in most places you could. Plus, your lifestyle is going to depend, not only on how much money you make, but also how you spend it. Even if you double that amount, you'd still have to make choices about how you spend. But I'm totally in agreement with the Slate article; just because you can't have everything doesn't mean you're not rich!

Back!

Maine was beautiful and relaxing. Good times were had with good friends and Emerson was given way more attention than he ever gets at home. The only mishap was on our last day there when we went out to breakfast and returned to find that Em had escaped the confines of the house. Luckily a neighbor found him dancing with the cars on the street and put him in the back of his truck to keep him safe. As Ginny, Josh and I scoured the neighborhood this guy happened to pass us in his truck. I've never seen Josh so relived. I thought he was going to have a heart attack! As promised, there are pictures up here.

Vacation!

Yay, we leave for Maine on Saturday. Initially, I was worried that Emerson was going to hate traveling but now that he'll be with Michelle for part of the way I know he'll be a happy puppy. How is it my dog loves everyone else more than his owners? We take pretty good care of him. We love him. But somehow his heart belongs to our friends.

I promise pictures when we get back. Wheee!

Spoiling Breaking Dawn

I just finished Breaking Dawn and I couldn't have predicted how much I hated it. I mean, I'm pretty sure that the whole time I was reading part of my mind was just repeating, gross gross gross gross gross....

I've copped to it before: I liked Twilight. I even kind of liked New Moon. Though the characters annoyed me and the writing grated on my nerves, I felt it was no more disturbing than your typical romance novel. And I can see why teenage girls are loving the escapist fantasy of it all. But for me Breaking Dawn took disturbing to a whole new level.

Ok. There's spoilers ahead. Stop reading if you don't want to know.




So the book begins with Bella and Edward's wedding. It's boring and perfect. Oh except for the part where Bella briefly gets manhandled by the two men who are supposedly in love with her. Way to show off your affection guys. Anyway, then they have a boringly perfect honeymoon. Oh except for the crazy Vampire /Human sex that leaves Bella battered. But then she doesn't care. Why should she care that she's being hurt? All that matters is that she's got her man. And so we learn the first lesson of Breaking Dawn, as long as your guy loves you, who cares if he beats the crap out of you! I mean, he didn't mean to and he's really really sorry. He swears it will never happen again.

At this point I had to put the book down for a bit. It was that or hurl it out the window. I should have hurled because it gets so much worse. You see, nobody thought about birth control on this perfect honeymoon and guess what...Bella's knocked up. Yup, Bella's got a blood sucking bun in the oven. If you want to walk away from this review now, do it. I think this was the point where I really should have just stopped reading. Because even though the little hybrid vampire fetus is killing her, Bella loves it and refuses to give it up. Let that be lesson number two, abortion is immoral. The better alternative is to let the fetus kill you. I mean how selfish is it for Edward to want to protect Bella's life over that of an unborn child. Oh but don't worry he comes around once he hears the kid's thoughts. You see people, this fetus has a soul! How could you even think about doing away with her? You are so going to hell!

And it gets so much worse. Bella gives the baby the most hideous name ever. Even the characters in the book refuse to call her by her given name. It's THAT bad. Oh and remember that Werewolves like to in fall in love with babies. So I'd watch the kid around Jacob. And then some political Vampire stuff happens, which is boring. And then they all live happily ever after. Now, I have no problem with happily ever after. I do have a problem with almost everything else in the book though. Wait, to be fair there was some interesting stuff going on with Jacob and his pack. True, Jacob is a whiny baby when it comes to Bella but for the most part the wolves were way more fun to read about. I guess I liked how they, you know, cared about people other than themselves.

I know that there are die hard fan of the series out there and that there are also the flip side of the coin, people who detest the whole series. I considered myself pretty neutral before. Though I guess this puts me firmly in one camp.

Now that I'm unemployed the crafty me emerges...

So I've already refinished a table. Now I need a new project. I've been thinking about getting a sewing machine but I wasn't sure I'd really use it. Then I came across this Eric Carle fabric over at Apartment Therapy and I'm inspired. I am so getting this!

Goodbye DC

We move tomorrow. I have to say I am doing rather well considering that when we came here I cried and wouldn't leave our apartment. And yes it helps that the Stella sprout is in Philly. Still, there's a lot I will miss about D.C. and there's a lot I just never got around to doing. So I'm making a list. My top ten reasons I'm going to miss D.C.

1. Living next to the zoo.
2. Living walking distance from almost all my New College friends.
3. Spending Sunday morning at the farmers market.
4. Friday happy hour with my librarian friends.
5. Free museums. I wish I spent more time in them.
6. Babysitting for Leon, because he's super funny and cute.
7. The story time crew.
8. Cherry trees in the spring.
9. Driving over Memorial Bridge. I do it every day and it's still pretty cool.
10. Rock Creek park.