An Update on the 101 List

Still not a whole lot going with the 101 accomplishments, but I do have a few little check marks to add.

#33 - Go to a minimum 3 Sens games per year : I was worried that my first year of this vow would be a failure. Usually I get to at least three games per season, but due to a lacklustre year for the Sens, I haven't been all that interested in attending games. A few weeks ago, I realized I needed to take in one more game live to get my three games in for the year, so I floated the idea to a few family members that we should go to one more game before the year was over. Needless to say, they weren't exactly clamouring to fork over cash to go see a team that we've known wouldn't make the playoffs for months.

Thank goodness for my bro-in-law's 12-game pack. Because of it, my sister had laid claim to Saturday night's tickets, for the Tampa Bay game, and she invited me along. We had a great night, despite the fact that I chipped my tooth on a piece of nice, soft, not-even-close-to-tough pizza (seriously, who does that?!?), and I accidentally walked into the men's washroom (after seeing the row of urinals, I shouted, "Oh my God, I'm in the mens' washroom!", turned around and saw the guy behind me grinning and he said, "Yeah you are!").

Through the first two and a half periods, it was sort of a boring game, with nothing to cheer about as Tampa were the only ones getting on the scoreboard, notching 2 goals. But then the momentum swung in our favour, as the Sens scored two in the final ten minutes to tie things up, and then Jason Spezza potted the OT winner for a happy ending at the Bank!

Even though the Sens' playoff hopes died long ago, and most fans have actually been rooting for them to lose lately in hopes of staying in the NHL basement and increasing their chances of getting the top draft pick this year, I must say the atmosphere was great the other night. I expected attendence to be much lower than it was (managed to get 18,800 +!) The fans were pumped and cheered heartily all night long. They even had the wave going at one point. Most left quite happy at the end of night - except for the little Tampa Bay fan behind us who had been gloating for most of the game, laughing at his Sens fans parents. After the Sens came back to win in OT and we were jumping and cheering, we turned around to grab our coats on the way out and discovered him sobbing in his seat. Poor little guy!!

#69 - Donate to a food bank : Not sure why I didn't check this one off earlier, but I definitely gave a food donation at our White Gift service at church this past December, and all the food collected goes to a local food bank.

#70 - Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years: Again, I must have forgotten to blog about this one, because I wrote my letter on New Year's Day. It will be interesting to read what I wrote that morning, 10 years from now, on January 1, 2021...

#88 - Buy a laptop : I've always wanted one. On March 2, I finally bought one. I had just paid off my credit card, so of course I needed to load it right back up again. ;) I purchased my wonderful black Toshiba Satellite on the Best Buy website, after asking my brother a million questions about laptops (and got helpful answers like, "They can be black or silver or other colours, they come with chords and fancy battery packs, they range in size from 15" to 19" depending on how much you want to spend, hope this helps!!!) I now have all of my music and pictures transferred off my work computer onto it, and I love it! Having a computer at my side at all times will hopefully help me get back to writing, which I haven't done much of lately, other than blogging!

Slowly whittling away at the list...Now that spring has sprung, I will hopefully get back into the 101 swing of things!!

More Movies to Check Off for #30

I haven't been accomplishing much on my 101 List since Cuba. I got so much knocked off in one week that I sort of took a 101 break when I got home.

But the one thing I never take much of a break from? Watching movies.

So I have a my J & P movies to cross off for #30 - Watch 26 movies I've never seen before starting with each letter of the alphabet.

The "J" movie is embarrassing. But if you follow me over at Jill's World, you already know that I've been afflicted by Bieber Fever. I swore this would never happen to me, but I've fallen victim to the Bieb's charm. You can read about my sad decline into the ramblings of a 14-year-old girl here. And here. And here.

So yes, I saw the Bieber movie in theatres. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D. And yes, I know how pathetic that sounds, coming from an old lady like me. But just for the record, my twenty-something friend Lindsay came too. I'm not alone in this Old Lady Justin Bieber Fan Club. (Sorry for calling you an old lady, Linds. You know what I mean.)

And also for the record? It's really good. Call him a floopy-haired little fruit if you want, but I swear, if you see the movie, you'd give the kid a little more respect. It's because of the movie that I've become a Bieber fan. His story is truly remarkable, and say what you will, the boy's got talent.

Okay. Enough. I've been pimpin' the Biebs out on my blogs too much lately. I know this. I'll stop now.

As for my "P" movie, you can also head to my other blog and read all about my afternoon date with Paranormal Activity 2 here. Any movie that has a baby being stalked by an invisible demon is not cool with me. Wasn't as scary as the first, but still gave me the shivers.

The sequel is actually more of a prequel to the original, in which happy couple Micah and Katie are torn apart by an evil entity that is haunting their home and eventually enters Katie's body and kills Micah. With this flick, we go back a few month's before Katie & Micah's horror story, and are introduced to Katie's sister Kristi and her family: husband Daniel, step-daughter Ali, and new baby Hunter. They begin experiencing similar paranormal activity that we originally saw with Katie & Micah. But this time, it's centreing around Baby Hunter.

Through security cameras stationed throughout their home, we are able to see Baby Hunter staring into space in the middle of the night while the family dog acts very strangely, and other odd occurrences take place: the baby's mobile moving, lights flickering, pots and pans falling off their hooks in the kitchen, the rocking chair moving on it's own, the creepy crawler in the pool jumping out by itself every night, the TV acting strangely, odd bumps and footsteps, and so on.

When Kristi asks Katie to help her remember what happened when odd paranormal activity happened to them as children, Katie orders her sister to stop talking about it, because she believes whatever is haunting them thrives on the attention, and will go away if ignored.

Oh, Katie. If only you knew...

So yeah. It's totally silly and the two stories don't entirely match up and I think this "prequel" sort of ruins the spooky magic of the original.

That being said, demons and evil entities freak me out, so yes, I am still sleeping with the hall light on at night.

But that's nothing new for me.

Third Book of the Year - Done!

For #19 - Read 10 Books in 1 Year, I finished my third of 2011 last night. I'm realizing now that this isn't much of a challenge, as I'm pretty sure I average at least a book a month, and that makes 12 in one year. Oh well!

For my third book of the year, I read Grecian Holiday by Kate Cann. Sharon let me borrow the book to take South with me, but I didn't end up getting to it while on the beach in Cuba. Upon returning home, I read The Kite Runner, and following that, I definitely needed a light, fluffy read, which Sharon had guaranteed me this fit that bill.

Oddly enough, it took me longer to get through the chick lit than The Kite Runner. Go figure.

Grecian Holiday tells the light, fluffy story of a young British woman named Kelly who opts to spend her summer holidaying in Greece with her friends instead of back-packing it across Europe with her new boyfriend, Mike.

Kelly and her friends Jade and Sarah are living their dream vacation, staying in a gorgeous old farmhouse, spending their days at the beach, and their evenings clubbing and hosting lavish parties. Then, one day Mike and his mates turn up, and Kelly must decide whether she wants to continue on for the rest of the summer with her friends or take off with Mike instead. On one hand, she'll have some ticked off friends. On the other, she could lose her boyfriend. Oh the dilemma!

Light & fluffy. Through & through. I think my favourite parts of the book were the descriptions of Greece - the beach, the ocean, the villages, the architecture, the people, the food, the wine... I've never thought of Greece as a place I'd like to go when dreaming of overseas vacations, but it seriously shot up the list after this book! It sounds heavenly!!

Another Movie Checked Off for #30

I was a little surprised that I didn't already have a 'C' movie checked off for #30 - Watch 26 movies starting with each letter of the alphabet. But I'm very pleased to count Country Strong towards that task! I now have 13 of the 26 movies knocked off the list. Woo!

I really really loved Country Strong. Totally my kind of flick. I went with my friend Sharon last Friday night to see it in theatre, and when we left, my mind was spinning with thoughts of the bittersweet tale, my new celeb crush, and a soundtrack that I can't wait to get my hands on.

For Sharon's take on the flick, check it out here. If you want to read my schoolgirl ramblings on how dreamy Garrett Hedlund is, carry on:

The story centres on Hedlund's character, Beau Hutton, an up-and-coming country singer, who gets his big break opening for superstar Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) after he befriends her at the rehab centre where he works and she is a patient. Canter's husband/manager James (Tim McGraw) also sees potential in Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester), so he brings her along for the ride too. Kelly mounts her comeback while opening doors for two new bright stars-in-the-making, offering them advice while unknowingly giving them a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how fame can tear a person apart.

There's also a lot of mixed-up romance going on. Kelly adores Beau, but she also depends and leans on her husband, striving for his approval and hoping to make up the mistakes she's made in their marriage. Meanwhile, she's jealous of Chiles, who has caught James' eye. And once Beau and Chiles, old-time frenemies, are put in close confines, they start falling for each other too. At times, it's hard to keep up with the love...square?

But the soundtrack was the shining star of this movie. Gwyneth Paltrow was excellent as Kelly Canter, and from the concert scenes, you'd swear she spent her life on stage, doing just that. Leighton Meester, who James calls "the next Carrie Underwood", also perfectly portrays a young country starlet.

And Garrett Hedlund...Ohhhh, yum. His voice is like sand paper and warm hot chocolate. He reminded me of one my new country singing faves, Jamey Johnson. From Beau's first performance in the movie, when he sang a cover of Merle's "Silver Wings", I was in love. Definitely, definitely, my new celebrity crush. Sharon said she thought he looked like he needed to be thrown in a shower and scrubbed down. Quite personally, I was a big fan of his scruffy, shaggy cowboy appearance. But if we had to throw him in a shower and scrub him down, I volunteer...

Whoops. Just drooled a little on my desk, there.

Anyways, I was also fully impressed by the fact that all the stars in the movie sang their own songs. And thought it was pretty funny that the only actual country star in the cast, McGraw, didn't even have a singing role. In any case, it ups the cred of the movie that they all did their own vocals (and were quite good at it, too), much like Jeff Bridges and Colin Ferrell in Crazy Heart. Anyone of them could release a country CD right now and I'm sure it would hit the charts. Highlights are Hedlund's "Chances Are" and "Timing is Everything", Meester's take on one of my Jessica Andrews favourites, "Summer Girl", and her duet with Hedlund, "Give in to Me", as well as Paltrow's performances of "Shake That Thing", "Coming Home", and of course, "Country Strong".

It was a tragic movie about fame, love, and loss. I enjoyed every minute of it. If you like country music - or just scruffy, shaggy cowboys - I highly recommend it!

Another Book & Movie to Cross Off

Yesterday, when re-capping all that I'd crossed off the 101 List in 2011, I forgot a movie for #30 - Watch 26 movies starting with each letter of the alphabet. Not sure how I forgot it, since I'd been dying to see it and loved every second of it once I saw it on Saturday afternoon. It's my "D" movie - Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. For obvious reasons, I'd been wanting to see it since I returned from Cuba.

(I promise, I'm going to stop talking about Cuba some day soon!)

It's no original Dirty Dancing. To even try to compare it would be unfair. Not even a cameo by Patrick Swayze as the dance instructor at the hotel in Cuba could bring it the magic of the original.

But the music was hot. The dancing was fun. The story had a touch of history, as it took place on the eve of the Revolution. And it was pretty cool to pick out landmarks and places I remembered from our trip into Havana.

And it also made me wonder why I never found any Cuban boys quite as sweet & charming as Javier. ;)

I also have my second book to cross off for the year for #19 - Read 10 books in one year. The book club I'm in had selected The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for our first book of 2011, and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to read it, so I wanted to get it started well before the end-of-February meeting date.

As it turned out, a whirlwind week of being completely enthralled by the story, and I was done it. I don't think I've read a book so quickly since Twilight! But it wasn't a feel-good story. In fact, it was quite a sad one. I expected this, as I read Hosseini's other acclaimed novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was prepared for the gut-wrenching horror, the sadness, the fear, and that sick feeling in my stomach as I thought to myself, This stuff really happens. These kids in Afghanistan really go through this.

It's an eye-opener. It's easy to forget about the terror in war-torn countries like Afghanistan, because they are just so far away. I sometimes find it easier to just turn a blind eye.

But Hosseini brings the reality of present-day Afghanistan closer to home. He puts a spotlight on their plight. In this novel, he does so by telling the story of Amir, a young Afghan boy who treats his servant boy, Hassan, quite badly, and feels guilt for it for years, knowing how Hassan always stuck up for him, but he turned his back on him in his hour of need.

As Amir grows into a man and moves to America with his father when political upheaval tears their homeland apart, he can never forget Hassan, the servant boy who was his only true friend. It isn't until Amir is married and his father long gone that he begins to find out secrets that his father kept from him, and he returns to Afghanistan to try to right the wrongs he committed against Hassan.

It's a moving novel, and Hosseini is a brilliant story-teller. I literally couldn't put it down, and when I finally forced myself to bed, I'd have trouble sleeping because I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was a heavy read, and I'm a little relieved it's over now.

I can't wait to see how everyone else feels about it at Book Club in a few weeks!

Check times... a LOT!

So, it's been awhile since I updated the 101 List. Since before Christmas.

I can't believe January's over already! And I've already accomplished so much off my 101 List in 2011! Here's the run-down:

#4 - Go Down South - Taking a trip south has always been a dream of mine, and it finally became reality on January 14th, when a group of us arrived at the Breezes Jibacoa resort in Cuba. It was a wonderful week of fun in the sun, and we also celebrated the marriage of Jeff and Kerry. I looooooooooooved Cuba!!

#13 - Dabble my toes in the ocean - Also accomplished January 14th - in fact, it was one of the first things I did in Cuba. We quickly changed into shorts and sandals and raced down to the beach, where the wind had kicked up white caps that kept crashing into the shoreline. Standing there, with the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean washing over my feet as I literally squealed with excitement...one of my favourite memories!!

#17 - Go a whole week without signing into Facebook. Ryan tells me it's cheating since Internet access was slow in Cuba and we had to pay to use it, and also because there were a million other things to do, but I happen to know lots of our fellow travellers who checked into their Facebooks while we were down there. I, proudly, did not! From about 11:30 PM on January 13, 2011 to about 9:00 PM on January 21, 2011, I not only avoided Facebook, but I also had left my Blackberry at home, turned off. No technology for a week, other than a few quick emails home. Impressive, no?

#19 - Read 10 books in one year - I can check off the first book of 2011, as I read The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah while in Cuba. It was a light read, perfect for the beach - about a young girl whose mother abandons her, but fortunately she befriends a woman who is in the midst of divorce and was never able to have her own children. The two are a match made in heaven, and the girl finds out what it's like to be in a real family, while the woman finally gets to try her hand at mothering. A great, quick read! I have to admit, I was highly optimistic that I'd get more reading done, as I brought two other books with me, but I guess I must have been busy with other things, because I didn't finish The Things We Do For Love until we were almost back in Ottawa!

#21 - Try a food I've never eaten before. Again, I accomplished this in Cuba. My plan was to try lobster at some point, but I missed out on the lobster night because we had booked an a la carte restaurant for seafood night at the buffet. So instead, I tried a bite of rabbit off Brenda's plate one day at lunch. And it's true what they say - tastes just like chicken!

#22 - Pull an all-nighter - It wasn't exactly what I had planned when I put this on the list, but because our bus picked us up at 2 AM the morning of January 14th to take us to the airport, there was pretty much no sleep to be had that night. I was just toooooo excited to get to Cuba! I had a quick "nap" at Mom & Dad's that evening (but I don't think I actually slept), then showered and arrived at Wayne's by 12:30 AM. By the time we got on the bus, I was starting to feel pretty zonked, and then I tried napping on the plane, but it didn't work either. By the time we arrived in Veradero, I hadn't really slept for over 30 hours!!

#30 - Watch 26 movies I've never before starting with each letter of the alphabet - I have a whole bunch to add to this list:

• G - Grownups - One of Adam Sandler's latest offerings, and it was just "meh" for me. A bunch of old friends getting together, talking about the old days, and trying to teach their kids to have fun the way they used to. But it wasn't very funny...Not one of my favourite Sandler movies.
• H - How Do You Know - Saw this one in theatres with Lindsay and Sharon. It starred Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson - three of my faves. While I found the movie a little slow-moving at times, and I truly expected more from the Jack Nicholson scenes, it was a sweet movie with a happy ending, and a great night out with friends!
• O - Orphan - There's a reason why I don't watch scary movies. Orphan is one of the scariest I've seen in a while. (Maybe it's because I don't usually watch them, as my imagination runs wild afterwards and I have to sleep with the lights on. For months.) Yep, this one creeped me out. And there's a pretty cool twist at the end which really helps to explain why "There's something wrong with Esther..."
• S - The Switch - Just rented this one last night with Luke and Amanda, and what a pleasant surprise it was! Starring Jennifer Anniston and Jason Bateman, it tells the story of a woman, Cassie, who decides to have a baby on her own after selecting a sperm donor, but then her best friend Wally gets drunk and switches the "goods" for his own. Seven years later, Wally meets his son, Sebastian. And the kid is the spitting image of him. But Cassie still has no idea that Wally is her son's father... Well worth the rental fee, and the kid who plays Sebastian is ADORABLE!!
• V - The Vanishing - Oy. Luke picked this one up out of a cheap bin somewhere, and it piqued his curiosity because it starred such big names as Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, and Sandra Bullock. But it was released a long time ago, long before any of them were big names in Hollywood. You can tell by the clothes and hair styles. It was dated, to say the least. And also scary. Awesome.

#31 - Take a plan ride for the first time - January 14, 2011, holding Brittany's hand, I flew for the first time on Sunwing flight # 694. I was nervous. I worried that every little bump and noise meant there was something wrong. But we made it. And now I'd never hesitate to fly again!

On the plane before take-off - a little excited!

#42 - Spend an entire day at the beach. I crossed this one off on January 19, 2011. We spent lots of time on the beach in Cuba, but on this day, I was there from 9:30 in the morning til sunset, around 5:30 PM. I lounged. I read. I listened to my iPod. We took a paddle boat out. I snorkeled. But I never strayed far from the sand or the ocean. It was the perfect day.

This is the sun setting on my full day on the beach!

#98 - Wear a bathing suit in public without shorts. Again, not what I had planned when I put this on my list. I had hoped to lose a pile of weight and then finally not be embarrassed to go in public without cover-up. It was supposed to be an empowering moment. But it actually went down in Cuba, while still very uncomfortable with my size and weight, yet I couldn't imagine getting into the jacuzzi with the girls with my shorts on. So I took 'em off. And I did so all week long. But there is no photo evidence, because it wasn't pretty, people!

There we have it! All of my check marks since Christmas til now. Sorry I haven't kept up with the postings, but I'll try to be better from now on! It's been so rewarding to cross off so much on the list - and much of it all in one week!

Killed Two Birds With One Stone

So, by finally watching It's a Wonderful Life, I was able to accomplish two of my list items at once.

Not only was I able to cross of my "I" movie for #30 - Watch a movie I've never seen before starting with each letter of the alphabet, but I also counted it towards #72 - Watch a classic movie I've never seen before.

Cheating? Maybe. But I don't think it is.

It's a classic movie. It even says so on the back. It premiered in 1946, and it was listed as the #1 most inspirational movie of all time by the American Film Institute. And, as I promised, I watched it in black and white instead of the colourized version which my DVD also provided. Everyone knows a movie isn't really a classic unless it's in black and white!

It truly is a heart-warming story. And a perfect reminder at Christmas to be grateful for what we have and enjoy every moment rather than grumbling and feeling down on our luck.

I'll admit it: I cried. I saw a little of myself in George Bailey, especially this year. It's been a difficult year, and I've spent a lot of time wondering what I've done to deserve this hard luck. No, I've never been so woe-is-me as to find myself on a bridge contemplating jumping (but if I were, I'd hope my guardian angel sent to save me was an adorable old man like Clarence Odbody!) However, it is sometimes easier to be brought down by the bad instead of focusing on the good.

Loving family. Great friends. A roof over one's head. The strength to endure the bad days. A job. Food on the table.

And knowing there are people who would be lost without you.

It was a nice reminder at this time of year. And one that I think I needed.

Merry Christmas to everyone :) Looking forward to crossing more off the list over the holidays and in 2011!!