. . . that just elude me:

What are my short term goals?

What are my long term goals?

I have no idea . . .

I just go with the flow and go where ever life takes me!

What are your short and long term goals?

A back log of movie reviews

Young Victoria
Beautifully made, well acted, a great love story. It's about Queen Victoria of England and her journey to the crown and the love story between her and Prince Albert. Loved it!
Stars Emily Blunt (who I'm liking more and more as an actress even though she is marrying my boyfriend Jim from The Office) and Rupert Friend (who is just hot!)

American Teen
A documentary of teenage life in middle America. The best part is that one of the teen's dad is a Elvis impersonator. The worst part was one of girl's parent tells her that she is isn't special. The girl's mom does have bipolar but still very sad.

An Education
Loved the time era of which it was set, the 1960's. Great acting. But what creeped me out was that she was 16 and he was somewhat a bit older. I guess at that time, things like that were o.k., the norm. But it just showed how he as really a manipulative guy.
Stars Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard

Auto Focus
A biopic about Bob Crane of Hogan's Hero's. Lived a sad life and was murdered but no one was ever convicted of his death. The movie was a bit slow at times and didn't hold my attention. Stars Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe

August Rush -
LOVED IT!!! That is all I can say. Great story, actors and a happy ending.
Stars Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (hot . . . I have a thing for English actors
and have you seen him in The Tudors . . . RAD!!!), and adorable Freddie Highmore.
Plus a great role by Robin Williams.

Mammoth
Sad movie, depressing. Love Gael Garcia Bernal in anything he does. It does have a great soundtrack featuring Lady Tron and Radiohead.
Also stars Michelle Williams

Easy Virtue
Great time era, Roaring 20's/30's. The soundtrack is great. Some modern songs but in the Jazz/Swing style, like a cover of Sexbomb and Car Wash. Random but very cool. Movie was o.k. The old standard
or mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflict.
Stars Mr. Darcy . . . oops! I mean Colin Firth and Jessica Beale

Old Joy
Two friends go camping for the night. They have not seen each other for a bit. One guy is married with a kid on the way, the other still a very free spirit "hippie". I end feeling sorry for him. I keep thinking that the "hippie" was going to kill his friend out in the woods but didn't. It was just weird. Not sure what the point was.

It May Get Loud
Three of the best or at least innovative guitarists come together and collaborate and learn from each other. Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin, Edge from U2, and Jack White of the White Stripes. I really want to learn how to play the guitar after watching this.

Moon
It's about this guy who lives on the Moon and is ready to go home after 3 years but it doesn't work out that way. Reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Instead of Hal 9000, you have Kevin Spacey as GERTY the Robot. I thought it was good thriller. Stars Sam Rockwell

Black Hawk Down
This movie was really hard for me to watch. Not a fan of war movies and unfortunately this movie is based on true events. But the actors that they got to play in this film are all hot. I loved the fact that most of them were English and Australian actors playing American Soldiers. Stars Eric Bana, Tom Hardy, Ewan McGregor and so many more.

Living in Southern California, we have been having a lot of earthquakes of late. Well more than we usually feel or I would like to feel. Indonesia, Haiti and Chili are just evident
that the Earth isn't done yet!

So for a long time earthquake and/or disaster preparedness has been on my mind? Can you really be prepared? I'm not about to build myself a shelter underground and stock pile it with guns/ammo and cans of beans for end times but I would like to have some sense of readiness and maybe some peace of mind.

Honestly, I don't think you can be prepared. If you do survive, what kind of shape will you be in? Will you be able to walk or climb out of your home or office or where ever you are?
One just does not know. It's the big question. But I have taken some steps to be eventually ready, still working on some areas but I feel I have the core ready.

I've packed bags . . . No I'm not leaving town! I've packed bags or survival kits. One for my home and one for my car. I found two inexpensive, small overnight/duffle bags at Kmart, perfect size and light enough so if you need to grab and go, it's easier then carrying a box. As I was making the bags what came up for me is like I was packing for camping and I love to camp so it was easy for me, also I thought I would want to be comfortable and feel safe in a time of uncertainty and upheaval.

I don't recommend spending a lot of money. Most of the items I found in my home. I think I spent $20 - $40 dollars on essentials. Some of the items I found at Target in the travel section where items are at least $1 each. Others I found at the 99 cents store.

Each bag has mostly the same items. Here is what they contain:
1 blanket each
A good pair of sturdy shoes
Flashlight/batteries
One bag carries a radio/batteries
Food/Water, enough for one week
First Aid
Candles/Matches
toilet paper
other personal items

In my car I already have some items, like a sleeping bag, first aid and shoes.

With the food, I have packed water, of course, small juice containers, trail mixes and protein/power bars, granola bars. I have written down their best buy dates and will need to refresh them out every 6 months or so.

There are other suggestions that I have come upon in my research:

- Money - recommended to carry at least $20. Enough cash for basic needs. Food/Gas
- a emergency contact list
- Turbo charger for the phone - battery operated phone charger
- ICE - In case of emergency. Put ICE as a contact. The contact is your "In Case of Emergency" number, like a relative, close friend. So if someone finds your phone, they know who to call.
- Stockpile on meds, especially if you are diabetic.
- Keep a extra pair of eyeglasses.
- Learn First Aid/CPR.
- Keep a flashlight/wrench/shoes under your bed, for easy access, to turn off your gas. Learn how to turn off your gas.
- For your furry ones, keep id tags current and pet food/water.
- If you have a relative that does not live in your area (like out of state . . . since you know California will be in the ocean . . .), have them become the designated contact for all family members. Also send them personal papers for them to keep safe.
- If you are sentimental, scan old photos and place on disk. Send them to your out of town family member.
- Keep a regular backup of your hard drive. Send a copy to your out of town family member.
- Practice an evacuation with your family. Have a meeting place.

What are you doing for emergency preparedness? If you are ready, what have you done to prepare? Do you care?

A good resource, as always, is the American Red Cross

Last month I got to experience Unique LA Spring 2010 event in Downtown LA at the California Market Center, thanks to Sandra of Debutante Clothing and Stylesmith.

Found many talented artists and designers and chef's too. Here are my highlights:

Sandra and I came upon the Burlesque Bakery! Mini, delectable, sultry cupcakes named after 1950's pin up queens, starlettes and divas!
We both treated ourselves to the "Four Play" 1 Little Box, 4 Little Sins Cupcakes! Featuring (description taken from their take home menu):
Bettie Page - Chocolate cake, Marshmellow fluff filling, Bourbon buttercream, garnished with potato chip crunch
Eartha Kitt- Chocolate cake, peanutbutter filing, peanutbutter buttercream, garnished with dried banana chips. DANGEROUS-ly GOOD!!!
Kim Novak- Pink vanilla cake, vanilla pudding filling, Rosewater buttercream, garnished with edible flowers although this one wasn't. . .
And my favorite of the four; Brigitte Bardot - Vanilla cake, Lemon pudding filling, citrus Vodka buttercream, garnished with Belgian peal sugar!

Not recommended to eat in all in one sitting . . . only if you want to!

Really loved the clothing by Eva Franco. Did not buy but was very tempted. It's very vintage inspired but modern! Very cute prints and quality material.

Three Apparel.com- Loved the characters that they have come up with. Bought two screen print bags!

Was inspired by the graphics from rock scissor paper! Such whimsy and cute illustrations!

Effie's Heart had really cute clothing. Bought a knit cap!

Loved the illustrations by Dan Bob Thompson

Got a lovely new feather headband by Stylesmith because feathers are the new cherries!

I think I came with $40 on me and spent and extra $25. I was able to get most of the items plus lunch with that $40. So there were a lot of great deals. I think there will be one for the holidays so schedule me there!!!

On April 17th, it was Record Store Day. If you don't know what Record Store Day is, it's held once a year to acknowledge the Record Store, what I believe is to be one of the last American icons that actually exist. Basically it's hard to sell records/CDs these days. MP3 have taken on and I have participated. But there is nothing like going to the record store. It's fills me with joy and yet apprehension since there is so much to find. I try to have a list with me but it rarely gets followed.
When a band puts out a record I feel it's they are telling a story with the songs but I also feel that they are telling a story with the art/packaging as well.
Some of the records companies, that are left, put out special editions for that day or the record store will give out freebies. Some will have local and/or popular bands/artists do in-store appearances.

So I shuttled off to Fingerprints in Long Beach this year. Here are my purchases:
To complete my Beastie Boys collection to CD, I took home Ill Communication (USED). The same for Rancid, I found their second self titled on CD (USED).
I get to see Merle Haggard at the upcoming Ink and Iron show in Long Beach, June 11, 12, and 13th. And I realized that I did not have Merle in my collections, so I got HAG, The Best of Merle Haggard.
I also found a Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions (USED) and realized that I did not have him in my collection so I took him home too!
I got the last (well really not the last) recordings that Johnny Cash did for American Recordings . . . American VI: Ain't No Grave. Which came with a free lithograph!
I did get some other freebies. . . A Select O Hits compilation and Throwing Caution to the Wind compilation! Oh and some free stickers, too.

I have a Netflix account and right now I have the subscription where I get three movies at a time. Also this is a set up for my new category to this blog: movies. I love movies. I love watching movies. I watch a lot of movies. Yes, my queue is alphabetized to a point but at the same time random. Sometimes the movies end up with the some similarities to each other; it could be a story line to the same actors. So to start, I just finished the "L's" recently and here is the first review in "It Comes In Three's . . . Movie Reviews". And there is a rating system. 0 through 3 yawns. 0 is that is was a great movie and I didn't fall asleep to 3 yawns is where I fall asleep through the movie more than one time. I think that says a lot.

Lucky Number Slevin
I give this one yawn. I thought the beginning of it was slow and just too confusing. But when I really payed attention to it, I thought it was a great who done it. It's about . . . not sure how to put it . . . getting even?! What you leave behind may come back to you in a bad way. It stars Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnett also with a cast of other great actors.

The Lucky Ones
I give this 0 yawns. It was a really great movie. It's about 3 soldiers home from the war in Iraq. One has retired after 2 years away from home and is so excited to get back to his family and life. The other two are on 30 day leave recovering from injuries, etc. They come together because their connection flights were all delayed and they all decide to get a rental and drive to the retired guy's home in St. Louis and of course along the way things don't go has planned . . . It shows how soldiers are treated when they come home. Mostly people treated them well, but it shows the other side too, unfortunately. Stars Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Micheal Pena.

Lucky You
I give it 0 yawns but it was a o.k. movie. It's about this guy who gambles for a living. So he has to learn some hard lessons and hit the bottom before he realizes that he does have a problem. At times it went into Poker lingo a bit too much, so If you like to play Poker this movie is for you. I always felt that Drew Barrymore is a good actress but it she was weirdly off in this film. Stars Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall.

Two of the movies The Lucky Ones and Lucky You had a similarity. Each had a character(s) with the last name of Cheaver although one was spelled Cheever but still similar.

Is there a type of person who just does not have the personality to blog? I question that because I want to blog at least once a day. I love the idea of blogs. I have written in journals for years and I would rather go write in a journal than login, start typing, spell check, add pics if needed, add links if needed, then publish. How simple is that? But I feel it's like a chore. So does that mean I'm unblogible? Is that a word?

I thought of sharing my journals. Do I want to go that personal? What do I want to use my blog for? What do I want to communicate? It's a constant struggle. I know that there are blog challenges out there that you can participate in but I notice that those who participate struggle with what to post with. Even when I went live again with this blog, I blogged the things that I wanted to blog about but most of the time, I don't want to blog about those things.

Sure I like taking photos. So which one to post? Sure I would like to talk about my family but I know that I have to keep it light and not too personal for the fear and wrath of my family. Some bloggers can do that but I can't. I know my family. My family does not understand the concepts of blogging, twitting, facebooking, and/or myspacing, et al. TOO much personal information out there they say. I have been job searching for over a year but I don't want to talk about that for well I want to get a job hence why I have not relinked this blog to my website.

For me it does not make sense. I'm a graphic designer, I like all things web. I like scrapbooking and having a blog is somewhat like that. I have written for other blogs. So what makes blogging on my own different?

Am I too busy to blog? No, because I took the time to blog about how I don't blog. . .

I guess what I'm asking is, can blogging be for everyone? Tell me what gets you motivated to blog at least once a day or even once a week? Do you need to have a niche or main interest to have a blog because I like and don't like a lot of things. What do you blog about? What will you not blog about? Suggestions welcomed.

A good friend of mine, Julie, introduced me to this website called One Little Word. It seems that Ali Edwards is all things scrapping and came up with a concept to take a word for the year and make it your own, i.e., scrap it, photo it, etc. Use it in all areas of your life not just in some art form, is what I guess is the concept. Here is an example!

So Julie asked a few of us what our One Little Word for 2010 may be and my choice is: Accomplish(ed, ing). I have tons of to do's/get to's/ life lists and for 2010, I really want to check as many things off my list(s)! Day 5, so far so good!

So what is your One Little Word?

Hi!

ha ha . . . giggles!

Wow! I really feel accomplished. Getting this going again has really made me want to write and tell you all about what's been going on in my life since the blog went on hiatus in 2007ish.

Here are some points of interests that I will be sharing with you:

• My Get To List (aka the ever popular life list) - check this blog off the list!

• Arts and Crafts - I love buying the stuff . . . haven't really made anything . . . hence the Get To List!

• Being in my mid thirties, not married (yet) and no child(s) (yet). Good or Bad . . . not sure (yet)

• The Graphic and Music Biz

* All things Design

• My year long job search saga and this crazy push and pull to be self employed vs. employed. Can I have both?

• Family

• Friends

• Exercise

• Music and Movie Reviews

• Travel

• Bowling

• Swing Dancing