Twi...WHAT???

Do I love Twilight?  Yes.  Am I slightly obsessed?  Yes.  Did I go at midnight to buy Breaking Dawn?  Yes.  Did I stand in line at Borders will all the crazy twilighters?  No.

There was a time when I thought I should have gone and been a part of all the craziness.  Then there was last Tuesday night.  I had my first experience with the real true "Twihard" fandome.  Can I say....never again?  The actors that play Victoria, Laurent and Jacob were at my mall on Tuesday night.  All the crazies gathered outside my store about 2 hours before the actors even got there. It was a very eventful evening as I listened to them scream and chant "Jacob" for approximately 4 hours.  The funniest thing I saw all night was a girl sobbing while her mother comforted her.  Why you ask?  She met Jacob...oh JACOB...JACOB!!!!  AHHHHH...JACOB!  

One of my sales associates was a part of all this madness.  She is way more obsessed with the series than anybody I know.  She even came back from the signing and said it was totally crazy.  Especially with all the little teenagers high-pitched screaming all night long!  She stood in line all night long to get a poster of Victoria, James and Laurent signed.  But, umm....is there someone missing?  Jacob wasn't even on the poster.  WHAT?  

Aside from all my friends I have not met any grown ups that are Twilight fans.  Then the other night in my store I overheard, said sales associate, talking about Twilight to one of our clients.  I looked up because I was wondering why in the world she was doing this.  When she saw that I was paying attention to her she said, "she likes Twilight too!"  I was so excited to finally meet a fellow grown up Twilighter, one would have assumed I was one of those crazy fans standing out in the cold!

So, will I go see the movie?  Yes.  Will I go for the midnight showing?  Most definitely not!  Will I go sometime opening weekend when there is more likely going to be more adults that rabid teenage fans?  Most absolutely yes!

Race for Second Base 2008

Today my friend, Kathy, and I did the Race for the Cure 5k run/walk.  It was so inspirational to see people from all walks of life there to support such a worthy cause!  Last I heard, more than 62,000 people had registered for the race.  We were supposed to meet up with some people from my work , but there were so many people there...that never happened!  Go, Team Ann Cares!!!

We saw some very interesting people, but this poor man was the most interesting by far.  So many people were stopping him and asking to take his picture. Way to go for supporting a cause!

Thank you to Ann  Taylor for supporting their employees.   Thanks to Kathy for a wonderful day!  I look forward to many more races in the years to come. 

***thanks to "Team Save Second Base" for my title.  Kathy and I laughed about it all day!***

Olympic Craziness!

The Olympics is always an exciting time in our house.   This year, well, with the late nights and the amazing triumphs it has been one of the most exciting ever.  Cassidy is just the right age to really start enjoying it.  She has begged and begged to stay up and watch the diving and the gymnastics.  Which brings up my next question...Do you think we have been watching a little too much Olympics?  Look at her!  The other night while watching the Women's Floor Exercise she tried to do a front flip (that was until I realized what she was doing and quickly stopped her.)   She asks me everyday when she will start going to gymnastics.  That is not going to happen any time soon, so in the meantime I am trying to teach her the much safer headstands, back bends, splits and back walkovers.  What can I say?  Gymnastics must run in her blood!

Breaking Dawn Disappointment?

Let me start by saying that everybody is entitled to their own opinion.  The beautiful thing about reading is that each and every one of us can create our own imaginary world through the words of an author.  

As with the rest of the Twilight universe, Breaking Dawn has been much anticipated in my house.  Lucky for me I started reading the novels in April, so the only wait I had between the first three books was the time it took me to walk to the bookshelf and pick up the next one.  After Eclipse I thought my world had ended, as I didn't have any way, other than rereading them over and over again, to drown myself in the world Stephenie Meyer had created for me.  I was only too excited to find out that there was a fourth book coming in 4 short (long) months! 

The day came and I went.  I purchased my book at midnight and started reading as soon as I got home.  I read Breaking Dawn in 2 days.  I would read, then  stop for a while to digest all the info, and then start reading again.  Maybe that helped me come to the conclusion that I came to.  So you ask the question.  Was it a disappointment?

Absolutely not!

There were a lot of ways this book could have gone, which is the real reason behind the hype.  Who will she choose...Edward or Jacob, will she become a vampire, will she get married, will they have sex, you get it....

Stephenie Meyer took this book to places that I don't think most of her audience thought she was going.  This book had so many expectations and you can't make everyone truly happy.  We all wanted a happy ending...we got it.  So what if certain things didn't happen exactly as you would have written them.  After all, we need to remember that this is a work of FICTION.   

( Fiction (n) :  prose literature, especially novels, describing imaginary events and people. )

Fiction people!  This book was not meant to teach life lessons to our daughters.  Girls already get married at 18 and have babies shortly there after.  Girls these days see and hear many worse things through the media and at school.  For those moms out there that are so worried about the lessons this is teaching your daughter, are you really teaching her what she needs to know?  This is your job, not an authors.  Don't forget all the good lessons this taught.  I don't think I need to really list all of them.  I can promise you that teenage girls reading this book are taking it exactly for what it is...entertainment!!!  However, I do think the content of this book was more mature than the others.  I for a fact, won't let my daughter read any of these books until after she turns 16...maybe 17!  

The things I loved about the book:

• Jake's point of view.  It was very interesting, and necessary, to see things from the mind of a wolf.  I think it was very interesting to see the perspective of the pack on many of these issues.  Seth and Leah made an interesting addition to the story.  I am not "Team Jacob" but book 2 helped me get to know him better and actually like him for the first time.  Really, how exciting would it have been to hear Bella talk about being pregnant?  Seriously, we all know how that feels!  
• The wedding....of course!  And the honeymoon. 
• Bella's new vampire experience.  The experience of the change, how she took in all her new surroundings.  It was wonderfully written!
• I loved seeing Edward and Bella as equals.  This helped see a new side of him that you didn't see in the other 3 books.  He could be the real Edward, and that was very gratifying!
• The characters!  Emmett is awesome as always.  Rosalie was annoying, but I do understand why she is the way she is.  Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper...all of them.  I so love the Cullens!  
• I actually really appreciated that Jacob imprinted on Nessie.  It is not perverted or sick.  Stephenie Meyer built up to this in Eclipse when Quil imprinted.  Jacob was bound to become a member of the family in one way or another, so I think it quite appropriate with whom he imprinted.  

I think what would have made this book a disappointment is if we had to hear for 700+ pages about whether or not she should become a vampire or who she should choose.  I think 3 books of that topic was more than enough.  Sure there were some things I didn't like.  Don't even get me started on the name Renesmee.  UGH!!!   I thought Carlie was totally cute!  I think maybe it could have been 2 books.  But all in all is was a very rewarding experience.  I laughed, I cried, I had closure.  After Eclipse I couldn't wait for more.  After Breaking Dawn, it has all come to an end.  More books would be awesome but not necessary.  

I will continue to love the series.  I cannot wait to share it with Cassidy when she is the appropriate age.  Now I will focus all my energy on the upcoming movie and Midnight Sun.  I can only hope that these books will continue to inspire both young and old.  I look forward too all other works written by Stephenie Meyer.  Thank you to her for inspiring me to read again.  

AND...thank you to Tobi for forcing the books upon me!

And the journey begins.....

It is with much persuasion, and hesitation, that I join this world of blogging.  I want to say thank you (or no thank you) to Tobi for convincing me that this is a necessary form of communication! Ah yes, there is a lot of improvement needed, just stick around for a little while and I promise those improvements will be made.  Give me time... it will happen!