Survey Says

Ok, so Kadie and I finally went and saw Twilight. We had a heck of a time getting our schedules to fit.

My verdict? I loved it!

Yes, it's a little corny. No, it isn't as good as the book. Yes, they left a ton out. But I definitely would see it again.

Dena, I highly recommend reading the book before you see the movie. There were a few times during the movie that you could tell who had read the book by the way they reacted to the scene. If you don't read the book, you will still enjoy the movie. But I think you'll like it better if you read the book first.

I was expecting it to be the stupidest movie ever, so I was pleasantly surprised. Like I said, I'd go see it again. In fact I probably will when it goes to the cheap theatre. Anyone want to come with me?

For those of you who have seen the movie, did anyone else notice the author, Stephenie Meyer's cameo appearance in the movie? She was in the diner the second time Bella and Charlie ate there. The scene opens with some random woman sitting at the bar or whatever. If you wondered why they did that, it's because she is the author:) Hey, if I ever have a book made into a movie, I want to be in the movie too! But first I guess I'll have to have a book published.

So. I loved Twilight the movie and I'm excited that they're making New Moon into a movie. (Haven't heard about that? Click here.) I'm not excited about New Moon per se, I'm just excited that the Twilight Movie franchise is going well because that means they'll probably make an Eclipse. New Moon is not my most favorite book ever, it's just sort of a speed bump. Something you have to go over to get to the other side: Eclipse.

PS. This is really weird, but I loved Bella's style in the movie. If I could go back to being a teenager, I'd dress just like her. :) Pin It

Fair warning

I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm excited to participate in NaNoWriMo (nan-oo-wree-moo or nan-oh-wree-mow). I got a few raised eyebrows and a few 'What the heck is that?'s.

I am a writer. Not published, but some day hopefully. NaNoWriMo is all about sitting down and writing. For the month of November, NaNoWriMo participants around the world will converge with the goal of writing a 175 page, 50,000-word, novel before midnight on November 30th.

Doesn't that sound fun? A little intense, sure. But fun.

Here is my author page. There is a little graph on there. You can "monitor" my progress with me, see if I'm reaching my goal or not.

Check out the NaNoWriMo page and find out a little more about it. If you feel like you have a story just bursting to get out, join up and see if you can meet the challenge. Don't give me the "Oh, I don't think I have time," excuse. My dad figured it out and said if you type 60 wpm, you would need to write for half an hour a day to reach your goal.

I can so totally do that. So could you if you really want to. :) We could even be writing buddies.

Anyway, I'm just giving you all fair warning that for the month of November I'm probably going to be pretty MIA. Not that I won't post anything at all. I've got a few stories and parables that I've been saving for when I won't have time to post anything else.

Cheers! Pin It

What's in a name?

I think I'm obsessed with names. When Tyler and I got married, I would always ask him, "What do you think of this name?" And he'd usually just shrug. But when I discovered I wouldn't be able to name kids any time soon, I turned to writing.

I love to write. One of my favorite parts about writing is that I get to use all those awesome names I fell in love with that Tyler just shrugs at. The difference in our opinion in names comes from our roots I think. You see it when we compare his family names to my family names. His: Bart, Sheila, Shawn, Toby, Heather, Tyler, Ryan. Mine: Orey, Marina, Maura, Deborah, Rebekah, Alexander, Marina (another one, not a typo) and Eric.

So you see how my family is not new to different names that people don't hear often. In all my years (and there's a lot) I've only met a handful of Debras. And probably only one other Deborah. Maybe two.

And now the search is on for my sister-in-law Kadie. Her baby is due in a month and she and her husband are having, shall we say, difficulties deciding on a name they both like. And of course trying to be the "helpful" sister-in-law (enter the mischievous laugh here), I give her names like Gemini and Jarvin. (If you know someone with those names or you named your own child one of those names, I'm sorry. I mean no offense.)Those usually get me a good laugh. But I have been scouring for names and every time I come up with one I like I share it with them. Usually Kadie tells me, "Ryan doesn't like that one." It's funny because there really hasn't been a time where I gave her a name and she said she didn't like it. So she and I kind of agree on names, and Ryan and Tyler don't agree with us. Hmmmmm....could it be roots?

But I digress. I love to write and I love to name. I also love to read. I'll go through two books a week, sometimes three or four. I love to read.

One thing that drives me nuts when I read is when I can't pronounce a name. That is the worst! Actually, the worst is when it's a main character, or one of the main characters.

Like Twilight, for example. I love the books, I'll just get that out of the way right now. Carlisle. I had more than one person ask me, "How do you say his name? Carl-lissle?" I don't know how I knew it was Carl-lyle, but I did. In fact, I had a certain sister who didn't believe me, but I won't name her name because she's younger than me, but not my youngest sister, and I don't want to embarrass her;) She really didn't believe me until a few weeks later when someone else said his name and I was validated. But what about Carlisle's wife? Esme. How on earth do you say that name? I always said Ehz-mee. I've seen trailers for the movie and they said Ehz-may. Hmm. How am I to know? They don't come with a pronunciation guide.

Actually, if you've ever read Eragon or Eldest, you could just kiss Christopher Paolini for adding a pronunciation guide at the end of his book and including names. But of course you shouldn't kiss him because he's probably still a minor.

I wrote a sci-fi kind of romance. I'm not sure what to call it, but that's the closest I could think of because there's a porthole type thing that allows instantaneous travel between two planets. Anyway. My main character named herself (as you find sometimes when you write. Your characters do things you didn't mean for them to do and you have to get frustrated but just let them do it). Her name is Dasah. And I tried to somehow help the reader understand that her name is Dah-suh. The other main character is Kjel. I LOVE that name. But how would you pronounce it? It's Kell. But would you have read it Kay-gel? Gosh I hope not. What a tragic way to pronounce such a wonderful name. You can probably see why Tyler just shrugs when I give him names to consider:)

But enough about me and my quirks. I've written this post for a reason, and if you hang with me long enough, I'll get to it.

I just read a book last week (that I won't even name because it's not worth recommending. There are others in the series and I won't read them) and I was irritated from the start to see that the name was one I couldn't pronounce. I read the entire book unsure of how to say it. The main character!

In fact, I had to make do, so I read her name exactly how I saw it. So it came out Shooler. What a tragic name. Shooler. You hear a name like that and you wonder if A) it is a family name or B) the parents hated them. Ok, I'm not that cruel, but come on. Shooler? I even showed the name to Tyler and said, "How do you say that?"

He sort of scrunched up is face and turned his head a few times as if the change in angle would give him better insight in how to say the name. Finally he curled his lip in disgust and said, "Shooler?" I laughed and told him that's what I read too.

Then 3/4ths of the way through, they author made a reference to a nickname that condensed the name to only the first syllable. It took me a minute to figure out who they were talking about because the nickname was not Shoe. I thought, who the heck is that? Then it hit me and I had to go back to the full length name and sound it out. Sure enough.

The name is Schuyler. How would you read that?

Go ahead. I'll give you a minute.

If you already know, no fair. If you don't know, sound it out. And now can you see why I read most of the book as Shooler? I thought the 'c' gave it kind of a Sean Connery accent. (Try it. Shooler with a Sean Connery accent. That'll give you a good laugh.) And even after I learned how to pronounce her name (yes, it was a her), I still read it Shooler because I just couldn't believe it.

Ok, I'll give you a hint. The nickname was Sky.

Schuyler = Skyler.

Makes sense, doesn't it? Sch (as in school) = sk. Uy (as in guy) = y. Ler (as in ler) = ler. Schuyler.

I still read it as Shooler. Pin It

A league of its own

There are some questions I just cannot answer. How much do you weigh? for example. I don't know. Really, I don't know. But mostly I find the questions I can't answer have to do with favorites.

What's your favorite book? What's your favorite movie? Favorite color? Favorite food?

And I say "I don't know!"

There are too many to choose from, and they aren't comparable.

Movies. There are way to many movies for me to pick a favorite. And I'll quote one of the good ones, "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the Heavens." I'll give you a dollar if you can name that movie.

I can't tell you what my favorite movie is. But if you give me to similar movies and ask me which I like better, I can do that.

For instance. Magician movies: The Prestige or The Illusionist? The Illusionist. Definitely. Don't get me wrong, I love Scarlett Johansson, but the Illusionist is just a better movie. You could say it's my "favorite" of the two.

Thief movies: Ocean's 11 or The Italian Job? Ooh. Now this is a tough one. In the end I prefer The Italian Job, however, I love the Ocean's movies and I think they're incredibly clever and funny.

Super Hero movies: Superman, Spiderman, Batman or X-Men? (What's up with all these men anyway? The Incredibles had it right.) X-Men. Definitely X-Men. Two words: Hugh Jackman - hello! Then Superman, then Batman, then Wonderwoman and then Spiderman. Sorry Tobey Maguire, I'm just not a Spidey fan...nothing personal. (That's why Wonderwoman ranked higher and she wasn't even on the list).

As you can see, if you give me similar movies and ask me to pick my favorite, I can do that. And there are some movies you just can't put into a category. Like Pride and Prejudice, or Second Hand Lions. And those are some of my favorites simply because they're good movies.


But watch out! Because here comes a movie that is slowly working it's way to the number one spot of my favorite movie of all time!




It is completely in a league of its own, so I have nothing to compare it with. It's the totally adorable story of a girl...what am I doing? I'm telling you the movie that's what I'm doing! No. You've got to go watch it for yourself.

Trust me. It's a feel good movie that teaches you...I can't tell you that part either or I will RUIN the ending, and I am so not ok with that.

I can tell you it's a very good movie, very bohemian, very clean. It's got James McAvoy (ranks right up there with Hugh Jackman in my book) and Christina Ricci (who's way adorable). It's made by Summit Entertainment, who are the same people making Twilight. So. Rent it, borrow it, steal it, beg, lie, cheat - do whatever you have to do to see this movie...except the stealing, lying and cheating part. Don't do that.



I love this movie so much that I even bought the sound track on iTunes last night. I can't stop listening to it. I even brought it to work on my iPod. Hey, if I'm trapped here, I'm gonna make the best of it!

If you've already seen Penelope, see it again. Usually I don't like to recommend movies because I worry someone else won't like something that I've given raving review. But in this case, I don't care. It's worth seeing at least once, but go for twice if you can.


Take Nike's advice and Just Do It. Pin It

A very special thank you.

I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank Amazon.com for refusing to ship my copy of Breaking Dawn until sometime mid-September.

Of course this news was quite distressing when I first discovered it Wednesday morning. Fortunately for me though, I found out early enough that I was able to do something about it.

So I showered, brushed my hair and teeth, and jumped in my car. I drove down to our local book store and pre-purchased my copy of Breaking Dawn.

It's true I had to spend a few extra dollars. But to me it's worth it. Why is it worth it? And why am I thanking Amazon.com when I should be cursing them?

Well, first of all, I was not about to wait two months for the book when I could have it in a matter of days. Hours is more like it now. Nine hours and forty-seven minutes to be exact, but who's counting. So it was worth it to me to spend the extra money to have my copy now rather than have to wait for it.

I believe Amazon.com deserves my gratitude because if they had shipped and promised to deliver my book tomorrow, I wouldn't have the opportunity to go to a Breaking Dawn party tonight. I would never dream of it. What's the point? I'll feel like a dork. I'm 24 and going to a Breaking Dawn party? I'll look like an idiot (besides the fact that I can pass off as a teenager so no one would give me a second glance).

But now since I can get my book right at midnight, you can rest assured I will be there at midnight. Standing in line. Tapping my foot. Waiting anxiously until I have the book in my hands. And since I'm going to be there anyway, shouldn't I at least go a little earlier and enjoy the festivities? Seriously, there is going to be an Edward-Jacob debate and everything.

Luckily for me my sister-in-law is back in town, other wise I would have had to drag hubby down to the party, and you can imagine how much fun that would have been. I'll give the guy credit. He said he'd go with me if my SIL couldn't, but he really preferred not to. What a trooper!

My SIL and I agreed though, we will not dress up. At first I couldn't think of any way to dress up like a character since they all look normal. But now that my noggin has been plunking away at it, I've come up with a few ideas. But I won't tell you my ideas to save myself the embarrassment. They're not as cool as my sister's idea to spray herself with glitter to look like a vampire in the sun.

Anyway. We're gonna have an awesome time tonight! It wouldn't have been possible without my special friend. Thanks again, Amazon. You're the best! Pin It

Oh the joy of the written word

I love books. I love them love them. I love to read them, write them, color them...wait. Just kidding, I like to color. I'm not ashamed. I'm a 24-year-old doodler. Anyway. I love books in all shapes and sizes. So when DeAnn called me Wednesday and told me the library was having a book sale, I pulled my hair back and ran over. I didn't literally run, though I probably could have.

The door had only been open for ten minutes or so when I got there. You have to understand, it's a small town. We have a small library. But we love it all the same. So when I got there, there were three banquet tables of fiction, one table of non-fiction, and two tables of kids' books.

Right off the bat I found an Orson Scott Card book called Enchantment. It's one of my absolute favorites (I'm a big fan of his). But be warned, don't take that as a recommendation. I'm not responsible for anything you might read if you decide to check it out. Anyway, I love the book so much I bought it for myself for Christmas and had Tyler wrap it. You can do that when your an adult, right?:) Well, I found it at the library for $2, which is really good. But I already have it. So I put it down and walked away.

DeAnn showed up and started perusing with me. She picked up the book. I had to tell her how much I liked it, but I almost panicked when she put it in her little basket. Like I said, I don't want to be responsible. Luckily, Shawn called and talked her out of it. So she put it back.

I turned my attention back to the table in front of me. All those books, it was making my hands itch. I had to run my finger along the spine, just so I could get out some of the anticipation. While running my finger along spines, what do I happen upon? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hard back, perfect condition. That's mine. I picked it up protectively. The girl standing next to me and gives me the Napoleon Dynamite, "Lucky," look.

I showed DeAnn, and she was excited for me. Somehow, she pulls the other six hardbacks off the tables in a matter of minutes. I don't know how she found them among the same books I'd already ran my finger along, but she did it. I didn't need book 1,2, or 4, so we put those back.

Soon I had my arms so full of books, I had to get a basket. I felt like a Goofy cartoon where the books are stacked so high you think he'll fall over, but he amazingly doesn't. Anyway, that was me. I'd found another Orson Scott Card book (two actually, but one I'm borrowing from my Aunt, so I didn't need it), a big huge fat fantasy book. It looks kind of Lord of the Rings style. I count my books and estimate that I'll have to pay about $18 for everything. The adult hardbacks were $2 each. Not bad. I don't mind supporting my local library.

I check my watch, it's 9:45, and I have to go to a girls' camp meeting at 10:00. So I waddled over to the checkout table. The girl counted my books out.

"$8.50." She gives me a cute little smile.

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline.

"$8.50? Are you sure?" I have to be honest in my dealings with my fellow men.

She counts them again. Yep, $8.50 for all of them. Turns out Harry Potter is actually a children's book, so they were only a dollar a piece. Sweet!

The girl puts my books in two plastic bags and looks at them with a furrowed brow.

"Do you have far to walk? Because I don't think they're gonna hold."

I had to laugh.

"No, I'm just walking to my car."

I ran over to DeAnn and told her about my excellent deal. She gave me the same Napoleon "Lucky," look.

Hey, she got Eragon and Eldest (both hardback) for $.50 a piece because they were children's books and the binding was broken so badly they gave her a deal.

Anyway, I'm still troubled by the fact that I had to leave behind Enchantment. I hurried home to my camp meeting.

At 12:15 I'm home from the meeting and taking out my books one by one just to look at them. I don't have time to read them, but it's like Christmas in April. The Orson Scott Card book grabs my attention. I read through it and realize it's the third in a series. He's notorious for having books in a series that is not clearly marked that it belongs with other books. Anyway, I soon find out that I have book one from the series. I bought it at DI years ago. I run to my office and pull the fat book off my shelf. I flip through the pages. Holy cow, books one and two are here and I've read them. Somehow I found book three and wasn't even looking for it. In the words of Hannah Montana and Toad on Mario Party, "Sweet niblets and fluffy biscuits!"

But I'm still feeling icky inside for having to leave that book. I've got to go back for it. Hey, I let Kadie borrow my copy once. I think she liked it. I'll just get it for her for her birthday (that's not until August). In the Andreasen family, we do DI (thrift store) presents for birthdays. Hey, you can't beat a $2 book from the library! (don't worry Kadie, I'm not ruining your birthday present surprise)

So after Tyler came home for lunch, I packed up in the car and went back to the library. I debated hiding my face as I walked in, but there was a shift change and the girls weren't at the desk anymore.

I knew exactly where that book was. I walked right to it. I picked it up and nearly stumbled when it was the wrong book.

Where is it? Where did it go?

I searched those tables for half an hour. It was gone. In the space of four hours, someone had bought the one book I wanted. Figures. Well, I couldn't leave empty handed, now could I? :) I soon had another pile of books, this time a little smaller. A few more paperbacks. I took them to the desk. The kid counted my books and told me the amount. I think it was $6.50. I don't carry cash, and they didn't take a card, so I wrote a check. In the course of writing the check I forgot how much he said. So I asked him. He counted again.

"$3.50."

My eyebrows did the thing again. And I asked him to check again because I was sure he'd said six fifty before (I have to be honest in my dealings with my fellow men:D). So he counted again.

"$6.00"

I'll take it. I'm sure he cut me a fifty-cent deal, but I feel pretty good about it anyway. A lady standing next to me laughed and said she would have taken the other deal. Oh well.

Hey, you can't beat two dozen books, mostly hardback, for less than fifteen dollars.

Oh, the joy of a library sale. Next year, I'm going to be standing at the door saying, "Open, open, open." Pin It