Friday Movie List

I want this weekend to be a lazy one! I want to sleep in and do nothing {even though I should do laundry... and vacuum... and clean out my car..}

There are lots of good movies out right now and I wouldn't mind seeing one or two this weekend. Maybe one of these:

 Maybe I should just head to the theatre Saturday afternoon and have a movie marathon!! Because I also wouldn't mind seeing Source Code and Hop!! 

Or maybe I will stay home and finally watch this:

Quote Wall Monday

An Easter Message

The Empty Egg

          Eight year old Steven was mentally retarded. His problem seemed to be getting worse day by day, and was becoming more apparent to his school teacher and also to his classmates. The teacher was becoming worried about how the other students would treat him. She wondered if they would continue to identify with him, love him, and include him in their games and activities as they became aware of his differences.

          In April, the teacher asked the class to each put together one plastic Easter egg filled with a small object that represented new life in the spring.

          Thinking that Steven did not catch on, and not wanting to embarrass him, the teacher had the children place the plastic eggs on her desk so that she could open them.  The first egg contained a tiny wildflower.  The teacher acknowledged that the flower was truly an indication of new life.  The little girl that brought the flower was overjoyed and told the class that it was her egg.  Next came a rock.  The teacher thought that this egg must be Steven’s since rocks don’t symbolize new life or growth.  But as she opened the egg with the rock in it, a little boy shouted out from the back of the room that the rock had moss on it and that is new life.  The teacher agreed.  A butterfly flew out of the next egg, and the little girl that brought it bragged that the butterfly was the best indication thus far.  The fourth egg was empty!  The teacher thought that this had to be Steven’s egg, so she nervously passed it by, and quickly moved on to the next egg.  But Steven announced that the empty egg was his.  Hesitating, the teacher replied, “But it’s empty”. “That’s right,” said little Steven, “just like Jesus’ tomb, and that means new life for everyone”.

Later that same summer, Steven’s condition worsened and he died.  At the funeral, on his casket, the children had nestled plastic Easter eggs among the flowers.  Some people that did not know the story were puzzled; but no floral spray, no matter how beautiful, could ever convey the wonderful message those empty plastic eggs told.  An empty tomb some two thousand years earlier gave Steven the hope of a new life.

"The Easter egg is hollow, just like they found the tomb; For it is meant to represent, Christ has risen for me and you!"

"And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why see ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day ride again. And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. {Luke 24: 2-9}

For The Beauty Of The Earth

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!

Friday Cast List

They have announced the three main characters in the Hunger Games movie cast!!
Meet Katniss:

{Jennifer Lawrence}

And Gale

{Liam Hemsworth}

and last but not least, Peeta

{Josh Hutcherson}

I'm not going to lie.... I was kind of bummed about the cast, well mostly about Peeta!! I have a fictional character crush on Peeta, and Josh Hutcherson is nothing like the Peeta I had pictured in my head!! Maybe the two guys could switch parts.... I think I'd be a little more okay with Liam as Peeta! Or maybe Josh can find a different movie to do and they can cast this guy instead:

And if you haven't read the Hungry Games series, well.... You need to get on that... this weekend!! You will want to read all three before Monday rolls around, I promise!!

Book #7

I'm a big Jane Austen fan and Pride and Prejudice will forever be one of my favorite novel!! I don't remember who first told me about this book, but I knew that I wanted to read it! I have some friends that are part of a book club and the book for April was this:

"Emma Douglas has always done everying just the way her minister father said she should-a respectable marriage, a teaching job, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly all her romatic notaions a la Austen are exposed for just foolish dreams.

Dnied tenure in the wake of the scandal, Emma goes to Englad to find the missing letters of Jane Austen. A reclusive widow claims to have the author's correspondence, but she allows Emma to see the letters only if she promised never to tell anyone about them. Emma reluctantly agrees and sets off across Auten's England on a series of tasks that bring her closer and closer to the secrets Jane Austen hoped to bury.

As Emma incovers the legendary author's innermost thoughts, she beings to understand the reason for her idol's secrecy and Austen's own struggle as a woman of faith. Laced with excerpts from the mising letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who convers the true meaning of loyaly."

 I decided to read it this month so that I could be part of the discussion that was held yesterday! It was my first book club meeting ever and it was very interesting! It was a very mixed bag when it came to peoples opinions on the book! Some people loved it and others really hated it!! I'm sure it's that way with every book though!!

I, for one, really liked the book, probably because I loved reading about London and Bath and all of the places Jane Austen lived and went! I did a lot of Google image searches too for the places the character visits, like:

{Kenwood House. The characters go here for a picnic on that beautiful lawn!!}

{The Bath Assembly Rooms! I can just picture the Recency Era dances going on in this room!}

{The Lyme Regis! Wouldnt it be great to walk to the end of The Cobb and read Persuasion for a few hours?!}

{Chawton House! One of Jane Austen's final homes!!}

A lot of the story is about our quest for a happily ever after! My favorite quote from the book was this:

"The thing about obsessing about a happy ending, Emma, is that you forget to enjoy the journey along the way. Your forget to appreciate the people alongside you."

I admit it... I am VERY guilty of this! I somehow need to get better about enjoying the here and now and not worrying about what may lie ahead!!

I should probably warn you, in case you plan to read this book, it is a very simple read! There is not a lot of character development and hardly any physical descriptions for any of the characters! BUT, one of the girls did describe it as Jane Austen meets The Da Vinci Code!! Haha! I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but it is a good mystery story!

Quote Wall Monday

Friday Shopping List

Thank goodness today is payday!! I need to stop at a few stores on my way home from work tonight to pick up a few things:

{Don't worry, I'm not planning on using these 4 food items at the same time... except for maybe the bread and bananas! Mmmm, almond butter and banana sandwiches!!}

These things are also on my list:

But most importantly I need to pick up this:

And this:

Wonderful Wednesday

I love spending time with my sister-in-law Hayley!! She is the best!! Last night we went to one of my most favorite places ever...

Mmmm! I love this place! We got delicious dinner {which we probably could have shared!! Their portions are huge!! Sorry Hayley! I should have thought of that last nigh!!} and of course ended the night with cheesecake!!

Picking which yummy treat to eat is always the hardest part!! Chocolate or vanilla? Sweet or fruity?                                            I almost always go with something chocolaty {shocker huh?}. I was very tempted by the lemon raspberry creme cheesecake though!! It sounded so sweet and tart!! But, my chocoholic side won over and I got the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake! Best of both worlds right, chocolate cake AND cheesecake!! But..... it was just okay! Don't get me wrong, it tasted wonderful... but you couldn't really taste the cheesecake part of it! Good to know for next time!

I was very jealous of Hayley's cheesecake! She chose the Dulce de Leche Carmel Cheesecake!! It was fantastic!!!                                  THANKS for spending your Wednesday night with me Hayley!! And for letting me steal a bite your cheesecake!!!

Quote Wall Monday

Friday Playlist

I'm just trying to make it through this Friday!! There is something weird going on with my back {I really want someone to punch me between the shoulder blades} and the hours are dragging on. I still have 3.75 hours left until my weekend officially starts!

Because I have my basement office all to myself, I can pretty much listen to whatever I want!! So I am using my Pandora app to listen to some awesome music! Today's station: Wicked (Original Broadway Recordings)

So these are just some of the great things I am listening to this afternoon:

In case you didn't know, all the songs in the Mama Mia musical are Abba songs. And if you have ever used Pandora you know that if you give a song a thumbs up it will find similar music. Well, because I liked the songs Dancing Queen and Money, Money, Money it has started playing this:

I have gone from listening to good old Broadway show tunes to disco music such as this:

It just finished playing Funkytown and started playing Superstitious by Stevie Wonder.

Every so often it throws in some of this:

I wish it would play the new, original songs though {Get It Right & Loser Like Me}!! Both are fantastic!!

Happy Friday! I hope you are listening to something awesome!