this is my i-can't-think-of-a-title-post

Life really is interesting right now. School, work, and more work. Although, I am relieved to say that I am about to go from 3 jobs to 2 - It just got to be too much to handle. Stress isn't my friend in any way. (and) I did what I said I wouldn't do...I burnt myself out. Yippie. BUT, I am very thankful to have the jobs I do because there are some people who can't find work.

Onto some other news now... I've had some drama arise in my life. Let's just say that you learn who your friends are/who to trust when someone goes behind your back lying to your own dad about stuff about you... yeah - that happened to me. I'm trying very hard to be forgiving and not be angry... its a work in progress. :)

And now for some very exciting news!
My Grandpa is FINALLY retiring and moving back to NC! I only ever get to see him once a year, since he's so far away, but now I will be able to see him a lot more! :) I've missed him.

Here is a list of things I'm trying accomplish this month:

1. Get new tires for my Jeep/make the other repairs
2. Learn more about photography (as usual ;) ...)
3. Plan my trip to Ri's house for the first of next month
4. Read at least two books a week
5. Get my sister's Christmas present(s) (yes, I'm Christmas shopping already... Riah's gifts were the first to get done) :)
6. Bake Apple Dumplings (maybe Ri and I can make them at her house when I come!)
7. Master my mushroom sauce
8. Enter a Photography contest 

There are more things but that's all I can list for now!
I will try to do an upbeat post next time. :) Have a great night, y'all!

Hunger Games Cast?

Sometimes you just have to wonder if the people who are casting movies based off books have ever actually read the books! Now there are a few movies where I thought the casting was pretty good in: Star Trek(2009), Jane Eyre(2006), X-Men: First Class and such but the cast for Hunger Games? Not my favorite and all I can hope is that the actors prove to be good actors. I'll list the cast first, then I'll list who I might have cast instead.

Katniss Everdeen:

Meet Jennifer Lawrence.

In my opinion, Miss Lawrence is much, much too sophisticated looking to be Katness, plus it looks as though they are trying to make Katness seductive, which she most certainly IS NOT. And Jennifer is too old to be Katniss. But on the other hand I completely hate the idea of Emma Watson being Katniss, so I suppose Jennifer is the lesser of two evils (I can't stand Emma Watson). 

Gale Hawthorne:

Meet Liam Hemsworth.

By far the worst cast character in the entire movie. I admit, I don't like Jennifer for Katniss... I think the casting crew were trying too hard to make Katniss seductive and therefore lost Katniss in the midst of everything. But seriously, Mr. Hemsworth for Gale?! I couldn't stand Liam's acting job in The Last Song (and it wasn't just because Miley Cyrus was there). Plus, Liam doesn't look mean enough to be Gale.

I'm sorry, but I just really don't like the idea of Liam in the movie - at all!

Peeta Mellark:

Meet Josh Hutcherson.

At first I thought "NOOO"! I couldn't help it. I still see Mr. Hutcherson as the skinny, squeaky, little nephew in Journey to the Center of the Earth. But, I saw a picture of him taken during the filming of The Hunger Games movie, and he's not so skinny anymore. In fact, his build is similar to what I imagined Peeta's to be. So, overall I actually like this choice. May I just say I am very happy they didn't cast Alex Pettyfer? I am. Alex Pettyfer is very, very good looking and an amazing actor, but he is NOT Peeta.

President Snow:

Meet Donald Sutherland.

I didn't really think about who to cast for President Snow, but Mr. Sutherland doesn't look anything like my mental picture of him. I sorta pictured him short-ish, round-ish and sorta crazy. I really don't know how I would have cast him at all, but the minute I saw "Donald Sutherland" I shouted with pure joy. I absolutely LOVE Donald Sutherland... He is just great. Now I've changed my mental picture of President Snow to match Donald Sutherland.

Effie Trinket:

Meet Elizabeth Banks.

She'll do for Effie I guess. I haven't seen her in much, so I'm not sure. She played in the Spiderman movies, but I don't really remember her... Of course, I hated the Spiderman movies and have blocked most of that torture on film out of my mind.

Now I could go on and on about casting choices I hate (see Lenny Kravitz for Cinna and the fact they completely left Venia out of the movie)... But I'll move on to choices I would have made.

Katniss Everdeen: 

Meet Haileee Steinfeld.

Sure, Miss Stenfeld is pretty, but her features are nearly identical to how Katniss is described in the book. Plus you can make her look plainer (see True Grit). I think she would be an amazing Katniss.

Gale Hawthorne:

Meet Chace Crawford (thanks Stephanie for bringing him to my attention).

I think he would make a rather good Gale. I've never actually seen Mr. Crawford act, but if he is a good actor, then I think he would be a great choice. Well, except his eyes are blue :)

Effie Trinket:

Meet Judy Greer.

I think she would have been perfect! I love her parts in movies (see The Wedding Planner and 27 Dresses) and she would be amazing...

As for President Snow and Peeta, I am happy. I wont go into the nitty gritty of how everyone on the movie should have been cast, that would just be boring. Oh, I like who they cast as Haymitch Abernathy... at least, I think I do.

Your Opinionated,

Oh, I can't do shopping!

I absolutely hate it when I need new clothes. I like new clothes, don't get me wrong (who doesn't?)... It's the shopping for new clothes I don't like. Why can't I have a magic wand to wave over my closet so a whole new wardrobe will appear without me having to shop for it? That's all I'm asking, really.
Yesterday we had to go clothes shopping for all five of us. Thankfully Bree and I share a wardrobe and we just shop together. All together (all five of us), we bought 37 pieces of clothing. Bree and I got a slate blue ruffled blouse, a cream, braided neck shirt, a v-necked black shirt, a orange and tan striped t-shirt hoddie, one cream lace tank, one grey ribbed tank with blue and orange bubble thingies and a blue patterned tank dress for church.
Ok, right now a little T. Lynn person is fussing at me about my handwriting. Excuse me while I go strangle her... **elevator music**
Alright, I'm back. She is soooooooo sassy! I am in charge of giving them their school today since our dear Marmee (as T. Lynn has started calling her) is at the hair dresser's getting her hair permed and cut. I wrote out a quote for T. to copy for her handwriting exercise. Apparently she thinks it's my handwriting exercise since she is sitting here poking fun at and criticizing my little "t's", "s's", "k's", "a's", "d's", "i's" and "w's". Apparently I'm not doing them just so. I've done threatened to hurt her about six times. Her only response is "You love me!". Yeah, she is a total twerp.
Back to what I was saying - I hate shopping and right now, little sisters are on up on my list too!
Now, onto other random things...
I still haven't charged my camera battery.
I have a appointment at the optometrist's next Tuesday - yay, more glasses (sarcasm).
I am started a college (type) course in photography next month.
I'll be getting a car, soon-ish.
I ordered thirty prints from Shutterfly the other day and only paid $2.66 since I got thirty free prints for opening a account there. I thought that paying just the shipping wasn't so bad for thirty free pictures. I'm super excited for them to come in.
I got the cutest Vogue pattern today at JoAnn Fabric store. It's a vintage style dress I'm dying to try and sew.. But I have 8 skirts still to sew, plus I want to make some crop jackets. My old one is looking ratty.
I need to email Amber!!!!!
I got Torrent by Lisa T. Bergren yesterday (the day it came out). The only thing that is a total bummer is that Marmee is reading it first... It's totally unfair. I like those books every bit as much as she does and she has got to read every one of them first so far.
And I think that's about it for this random post!

Much love,
Riah Chelle <3

I'm back

HI! I'm home. I got back yesterday. I got home, unpacked my things out of the car, took them upstairs (some of the books and a few other things still remain in my bag), talked to Mom and Grandma, searched wildly for my notebook which I found later in my bag, came back down stairs and talked some more then I just read, embroidered and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest until I went to bed. In case any of you are wondering, the first Pirates movie is better than the second.
Today I got a slight bit frustrated. My wrist has been bothering me worse and worse lately. I guess it got a bit lazy not writing, typing or embroidering for several days, because I had a bit of a time yesterday trying to embroider and today I couldn't get the scissors to hold steady. I swear, if I had been alone on I might have started crying from sheer frustration. Ugh, please ignore my ranting. I'm just a bit upset right now since even now my hand is tired.

Before I go look at these:

These are my new flats! Way adorable, right?

Aren't these the cutest?

Please ignore the scars and scratches on my feet... I'm a bit hard on them.

I'm going to go get a small slice of thin crust pizza, ice tea and settle in with my book Cascade until I go to sleep.



Goodnight,

Ri

I just can't!

There are a few things I can't handle... Blood used to be one of them, but I grew out of that - thankfully! Really noisy things, such as  whole bunches of people talking at once, fireworks and storms used to be some of them as well. Ok, so I still don't like those things, but I can't handle it better :) Some of the things I can't handle now are (in no particular order):

1. Tomato horn worms. I just can't do it. I had one on my skirt one time and I thought I was going to go into panic attack. I really hate those things.

2. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Ok, so these aren't as bad as horn worms, but I don't like the way they feel. I can touch them (I prefer them to be wet when I do though) but I don't like it.

And I have a new one that I found out yesterday:

3. FISH SCALES. Ok, I know you are thinking I'm crazy. Fish scales will not hurt me in anyway, but I just can't do it. Mom was teaching me and my dear fiance how to clean fish yesterday and I could have passed out. It was awful! The gutting part didn't bother me in the least. Cutting the head off and cooking didn't bother me either, but the scales! Ugh! Just seeing the scales on the counter made me feel sick to my stomach. I started stuttering! I don't stutter! I couldn't form a coherent sentence besides "no, never, I just can't do it" and even that was mixed with stuttering! I just can't handle those things. Right now I'm living in a state of mortal fear that I'll come across one of those things while I'm cleaning the kitchen. I know it's utterly ridiculous, I tried talking myself out of it and that usually works. I'm trying to use logical thinking, but for some reason logic is being over-ruled by panic, completely unreasonable panic.

Ok, I have to go before I work myself up again! I'm going to go read and listen to Michael Buble, excuse me.

huuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmm....

We have a plague of periodical Cicada's right now that have been huuuuuuuummmmming for a week so far - we have about another week left (or so they say). It is a high pitch hum that never changes its tone or takes a break. They hum (more like scream) from the time the sun comes up, until it goes down at night. We can hear it in our house - even in our basement. Yay us. There must be a million of the Cicada's here.
Even though it's annoying enough to make anyone feel like going crazy, it's kinda neat since this doesn't happen all the time - I think it only comes around this bad every 17 years or so. But it doesn't change the fact that I'd really like some quiet... :) lol
I took some pictures of their exoskeletons and one of the live bugs - I will post them after I upload them later.

Highway robbery and shrimp fest!

What is the world coming to when you call Honda to ask how much a key to a van will cost and they tell you it's going to cost $150?! How utterly ridiculous is that? I wanted to key to the van so Mom and I wouldn't have to switch off all the time. Once I told Dad how much it was going to cost, he just gave me his key. He doesn't drive the van anyway. I still can't believe that! $150! Ok, moving on...

Onto Shrimp Fest. Now I'm sure it doesn't make any sense that I'm talking about a special at Red Lobster, but it will in a minute. Just hang with me for a second.
So when I was 16 I had clam chowder for the first time in years. I didn't like it when I was little and I never ate it, but we went to this restaurant that Dad said had amazing clam chowder, so I tried it and found that I really liked it. That same night Mom had me try some of her oyster stew (which is gross, by the way). Well halfway into the meal I started coughing uncontrollably. I tried going outside for fresh air, but it didn't work. Later, after we had left I had a funny spasm feeling in my chest, but I didn't think anything of it.  Mom and I talked it over and thought that maybe I had an allergic reaction. We tested it again later, I ate some clam chowder and waited to see what would happen. I could feel my throat closing... so Dad had me eat something spicy. Well, we decided that since I had eaten lobster, crab and shrimp my entire life, that I must be allergic to bivalves (aka: clams, oysters, mussels). So, I continued on with my life, staying far away from bivalves and happily eating other shelfish. But, this story has far from a happy ending. My mom, dad, fiance (then boyfriend) and I went out to eat at a nice Japanese restaurant. (I hadn't eating any shelfish in several months, but my bivalves allergy had gotten worse, cross contamination would set it off.) So I start eating the food that the chef put on my plate and my throat closes up. Long story short, my reaction grew to include all shelfish! Now I can't eat any at all! It's really quite depressing! I can't eat anything cross contaminated with shelfish either. It is so sooo sad! So, what has this to do with Red Lobster? Well just think about it... its a restaurant devoted to a food type I can't eat! And recently it's been playing commercials for their Shrimp Fest! How unfair is that?! I think I'm going to go contact the guy who owns Red Lobster and complain now.

P.S. I forgot! I took second place in Jocee's photo challenge.  I am honored! Oh, and surprised! It certainly wasn't my best picture ever!

It's been lovely, but I'm going to go scream now...

 CAN I EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW ANNOYING IT IS TO HEAR ABOUT THAT WEDDING OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN? Ok, I'm better now. It's just that I have heard about on tv, on the radio, on the news (which I guess is tv) and all over the web... agh! I do no like weddings, never have, most likely never will (odd for a girl who is engaged, no?). What's worse is that this is a foreign Prince's wedding and we're hearing more about it then we heard about the American government possibly shutting down. Yeah... and that was our GOVERNMENT! Forgive me for being touchy about the whole thing (and I apologize if I offend anyone with this post... trust me, I don't mean too - I'm just soooo "grrr" about it).

Ok, thank you for allowing the rant. I'm going to go eat a Peep and edit photos.

'DWTS' judges

We watch Dancing With The Stars. Don't ask me how we started or why, but we do. I like the competition. I like seeing the best get to the top. I espcially like it if there are several good couples instead of one and I can't pick my favorite. There is one thing I don't like though.... The judges. Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. Why don't I like them? They're completely wrong - generally speaking that is. Sometimes they make a good call... sometimes. The horrible thing is they don't judge based on the stars ability; they judge on sob-stories, "hot-ness", choreography, and props. Here is a break-down.

Carrie Ann Inaba: Cry a few times and she'll pat your hand, tell you you're a good girl and give you a seven. Be a "hot" guy and she'll smile, flirt and stand up yelling about how you "blew her away with the performance".

Len Goodman: Ok, so he HATES props. Period! If you want a good score you had better not use a prop or your dance should be REALLY good so he forgets the "horrible" props. Also, he is a stickler for choreography. I personaly don't think you should judge the stars on the choreography. They don't decide the steps, the dancers do.

Bruno Tonioli: first let me say that he is my favorite.. Alright, I don't have a lot of bones to pick with his judging. I don't always agree with him, but I agree with him more than the other two, although he too will pick a hot guy over a good dancer. (btw: I do not condone homosexuality in any way, but his opinion is the one I tend to agree with the most and I wont lie about that just because I disagree with his life style).

Alright, now you probably want to know who my favorite couples are. Here:

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (I don't actually really like Maks - he is full of himself -I like Kirstie)

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff

In no particular order. The only one I've voted for so far is Chelsea because I personally think the judges are playing favorites with Kendra since she is this sad, "feel-sorry-for-me" little character and they just love to pick favorites. The more the person plays "oh, poor, pitiful me" the more they fall for it and give the star a better score. It doesn't matter if they are good or not and there is no way Kendra was better than Chelsea.. Kendra looked like a mannequin.

Sorry about my rant! I just get so annoyed with the judges and their complete inability to actually judge according to talent. Ooops! I started fussing again... my bad.

Riah!