Good Song

Hey all! I wasn't expecting such a response from the last post - I didn't figure we were that exciting, but it was fun reading all of your comments. Thanks for the love folks :)

I just wanted to quickly post a music video that I love! Have you heard this one yet? It's a remake of Michael Jackson's and Lionel Ritchie's "We are the World" from 1985. It is the 25th anniversary of the song and so they decided to remake it in hopes to raise money for Haiti. I am a fan of the original and was skeptical at first about the project, but I love it! Here, watch:



Gives me goosies! The two clips with Michael Jackson just broke my heart; I so wish he could have been apart of this, but I'm glad that they included him the way that they did. They did a great job of modernizing the song, but remaining true to it. I also loved the rap verse addition towards the end written by Will.I.Am. I liked how they included so many uniquely talented people - I think everyone that contributed brought their own unique voice to the song and whomever was responsible for putting all of the pieces together did an awesome job. Who would have thought that Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand would work together with Snoop Dogg and Lil' Wayne?! Definitely not me :) But it sounds great. What do you think?

Celebrating 50 Posts!

We made it to 50 posts without giving up on this thing! Granted, a good portion of them are book reviews, which don't really count...but we're celebrating anyway! To commemorate the occasion, here is post #51: I thought we'd post 50 random and little-known facts about us: 25 for me and 25 for Brandt. That way, you loyal readers (I know we got a few of you out there :) can get to know us better! Have fun!

Danielle's 25 Random Facts:

1. I flip through magazines backwards. I don't mean to, I just always seem to flip to the back and work my way forward.
2. Answering the phone makes me nervous.
3. I could have Jamba Juice and Subway every day and never get sick of it...YUM! In high school I was a "sandwich artist" at Subway and we got a free 6" every time we worked = best job EVER!
   
4. "One Tree Hill" is a weakness of mine. I know it's bad. Don't judge me.
5. I like rap music. I know it's bad. Don't judge me...again.
   
6. I hardly ever cry. Maybe two or three times a year. Usually when I do cry it's for stupid things like when dishes break (for some reason this really upsets me - even if they aren't my dishes), when I watch "Fox and the Hound" or other silly movies like that ("Up" was another one that did me in within 5 minutes), or watching "Biggest Loser."
7. The house has to be clean before Brandt and I leave anywhere overnight; I'm always afraid we'll get in an accident and die and people will come clean out our apartment and think we were pigs. It really shouldn't matter though...we'd be dead. But still, I would look down from heaven and cringe. (or up from hell...but I'm hopin' for heaven :)
8. I hate shopping for clothes. My favorite things to buy as far as clothing are socks. I LOVE new socks!
9. One of my regrets in life: I never got to go to a Michael Jackson concert. (Sigh...) Maybe he'll perform in the afterlife...though I'm not sure if you're allowed to grab your groin in heaven...
   
10. My confession: I am a registered dental hygienist...but I don't floss. I'll maybe pull the stuff out a couple of times a month, but that's it. Phew! Glad I got that off my chest :)
11. I was 9 lbs. 2 oz. when I was born. (Read Brandt's #11 below and you'll see why I'm nervous about having kids.)
12. I LOVE dogs and can't wait until we can get one. My problem is I usually want every dog I see - they're all cute...so I can't decide for sure what breed I would get - My favorites at the moment are Beagles, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (pictured at right), German Shepherds, and Mastiffs.
13. My favorite snack is popcorn. One of my favorite things for dinner is a bag of popcorn and Carnation Instant Breakfast (that way I get some good nutrition - right?)
    
14. I LOVE Disney classics - and by classics I mean the ones with music (it seems they don't make them like they used to) My favorites: Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.
    
15. One of my nicknames as a kid was Grinielle given to me by my Uncle Parley- I guess because I smiled a lot?
16. Thanks to my Great-Uncle George, I can say my ABC's backwards - when we were kids he would give you $1 (a lot of money to me back then!) if you could do it.
17. I hardly ever text - it just takes me too long, so you should feel privileged if you've ever gotten one from me.
18. I hate scary movies.
19. I am somewhat of a perfectionist - but I kind of like that about myself, though sometimes it can be a bad thing. But I think that's partially why I have a good memory - because it's important to me to remember details of what people tell me. It frustrates me when I can't remember something that I know I should remember.
20. I worry way too much about what other people think, although I have gotten a lot better over the years. But after talking to someone I find myself analyzing everything I said and wondering if I was an idiot. If I could go back in time to high school, that would be one of the first things I'd change.
21. My favorite time of day is BEDTIME!
22. I don't eat a lot of sweets - as a kid my Halloween and Easter candy would sit for months and eventually I threw a lot of it away. Brandt is the complete opposite of me, so it is really annoying to me when I am craving chocolate, going into the pantry where the day before I knew there was a bunch of candy, and realizing that Brandt ate it all - so sometimes I hide candy around the house so I can have it whenever I want!
23. I love looking up random things/places/people on the internet and learning about them. I can do this for hours. Thus, I love Wikipedia!
    
24. I hate being in the car; whether I'm the driver or not, I just want to get there as fast as I can and get out. Maybe it's because I'm claustrophobic and it's restricting? Or maybe because our car has a loose bearing and a bad strut so it shakes at high speeds and makes me nervous? I don't know.
    
25. FRIENDS is the best TV show ever!

Brandt's 25 Random Facts:

1. Rihanna is one of my favorite singers. Don't deny it, you can't help but dance when "SOS" comes on.
2. I watch Martha Stewart and like it, but only the cool stuff such as baking and holiday decorating.
3. I love to play sports, but hate watching them. I get bored watching them, all it does is make me want to play again.
   
4. Shuffling cards is not one of my talents. Not even close so don't ask, just hand the cards to Dani.
5. I love root beer and I love vanilla ice cream, but put the two together in a root beer float... bad idea. The combination gives me a wicked headache, almost a motion-sickness type of headache.
6. Skittles make me sweat. Also, true of Starbursts. Can't help it and don't know why, I think it is the tartness.
7. I am dangerously clumsy. I constantly run into stuff, stub my toes, and hit my wife. All accidental I assure you.
   
8. Ice in drinks is annoying. Only if I'm given a straw do I want ice in my drinks, otherwise it just gets in the way. You have to sip your drink, I want to gulp, not sip.
   
9. Rarely will I ever take pain medicine; I like to think it makes me tough, and on the rare occasion that I do it has a much more profound effect.
10. I want to own a ranch someday and breed bulls for rodeos so that I can give them cool names like Bodacious and HotDamn! (Dani wants to name one Bubbles) I already have the motto: If you can't ride 'em...breed 'em!
11. I was over 10 lbs. when I was born. Yes, Dani may be in trouble.
12. I love PBS; Outdoor Idaho is one of my favorite shows, why I didn't realize I wanted to work in land management sooner is beyond me.
13. I have insanely inflexible ankles. No joke, it is sad. You are supposed to only use your flippers when you snorkel or SCUBA dive, I have to use my arms or go nowhere. Partially because of this, I didn't learn how to swim, at least well, until I was almost a teenager. I finally learned you don't have to take a breath every stroke, strange and simple, but this made all the difference.
14. Ditto to Dani's #12. My top pick: Beagle
15. In high school my thing was pirates and Lord of the Rings, I was truly obsessed and occasionally indulge the old habit. I even have a Nazgul cloak that my mom made and I still want a sword.
16. In 9th grade, I purposely failed a reading level exam so that I wouldn't have to read as many books in order to get a good grade. In prior years, my reading level was 13+ (college level). By failing the test, it brought my reading level down to 3rd grade! Thus, I only had to read two Hank, the Cowdog books to reach my goal. My teacher caught me reading The Hunt for Red October and she gave me a quizzical look and asked "isn't that book a little difficult for you?" and I had to lie and say "I'm struggling my way through it." She definitely thought I was a dumb jock. Obviously not! I learned how to beat the system!
    
17. I want to learn how to fly helicopters; every time I see one I stop and stare; I would use one on my ranch.
18. Sharks fascinate me. It is on my life list to cage dive with Great White's off the coast of South Africa in an area aptly named "Shark Alley."
19. My dream car is an Aston Martin. Though even if I could ever afford one I don't know that I would actually buy it, we will have to wait and see.
20. I have a strong "I can build that" attitude if I truly want to. I don't think I could build a car or a house, at least not now. But, if I wanted to I could learn and do so.
    
21. I find an interest in just about everything. At least to some extent, this leads to a pursuit of many hobbies.
    
22. I love holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas, someday I want to open a Mini-golf course and theme it around the various holidays/seasons of the year and decorate like Martha.
23. I swallowed a Lego once. I was old enough to know better but still too young to care.
    
24. Anything with pumpkin is delicious. Cakes, candies, cookies, pies, ice-creams, you name it. I love fall when all this starts coming around again. Mm-mm tasty.
25. I am trying to write a book. There, I said it. Maybe now I will find better motivation to actually write and not just dream and think up ideas.
    

So there you have it! Now you know us a bit better. Was there anything you were surprised by? Or anything we have in common? Hopefully we aren't the only quirky people out there. And here's to 50 more posts!

Book Review: Ford County

Ford County
By John Grisham

If you are a John Grisham fan, then you'll like this one. It is a collection of seven short stories that the author has written over the past several years and collected into one volume. Each story takes place in Ford County and can be read in about an hour, which is kind of fun. I haven't read very many short stories so this was kind of new to me, but I really enjoyed being able to complete a story in one sitting. Definitely recommend this one if you are a Grisham fan.

Next Project: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
AND any recommendations for a good audiobook?

Book Review: The Shack

The Shack
By William P. Young
(audiobook)

Not exactly sure how I feel about this book. It definitely wasn't one of my favorites. I had heard how popular this book is and it was hard to find a negative review on iTunes, so I figured it must be pretty good. However, I didn't think it was that great; the story part of it was interesting enough (I liked how the ending tied everything up), but the deep spiritual parts of the book didn't hold my attention very well (is that bad? :). For people who are already religious and have a deep belief system already in place, it isn't as "aha" or "eye-opening" as all the reviews make this book out to be. I didn't agree with all of the doctrine it talks about, but there were some instances when it did help me see certain things in a new light.

I find it kind of sad that so many people felt that this book was, in a way, their new bible - that for the first time in their lives they understood the things of God more clearly. But at the same time, I think it's great that this book brought so many people closer to God and left them pondering their own relationships with Him. But for me personally, I didn't find the book "spiritually uplifting" in that sense, rather a somewhat interesting work of fiction. I most likely won't ever read it again and wouldn't necessarily recommend it - but it wasn't awful (how's that for a compliment?!); as an audiobook it was difficult to hold my interest.

It's a good thing...

...that Brandt got work-out stuff for his birthday.

I guess the cupcake wasn't good enough with frosting on just one side -
he had to tip it upside down and put extra frosting on the bottom.
Oh dear...

You can see why I only make German Chocolate Cake once a year.
Like I said, it's a good thing he works out. :)

24

24 is...
*A popular TV show on Fox (that we've never seen)
*The number of hours there are in a day
*2 dozen
*The number of cupcakes I made today

*How many minutes it took my finger to stop bleeding after cutting it while making aforementioned cupcakes (grrrr)

*The number of candles on the cupcakes
*How many different ways you can use the Gold's Gym Circuit Training System
*How many sets of push ups, chin ups, and crunches Brandt will need to do everyday for the next month to make up for all the crap he will consume due to leftover birthday treats and his request for me to double the recipe for the German Chocolate Cake Frosting
*The age at which Brandt and I officially feel "old"
*My hubby's birthday number today!

Happy 24th Brandt!

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown

I Absolutely LOVED this book! It's been awhile since I've read a book that I just couldn't put down and was this excited about. This was one of my Christmas presents and I was so excited to start reading it. However, I had to wait a few days because when I was at work one day, Brandt got bored and started reading it, and even he couldn't put it down.

This is Brown's third book using symbologist Robert Langdon; this time it's through the streets of Washington D.C. with tons of masonic legend and history to go along. There is a huge twister in the plot that left my head spinning - I never saw it coming (Brandt did, but he's a smarty pants). How does Dan Brown come up with this stuff?! What an amazing storyteller - definitely one of the best. Usually Brandt and I aren't in to the same books, so it was fun after I got done reading it to discuss it with him; this book definitely gives you a lot to ponder. I wouldn't say the book is perfect (I don't know if there is such a thing), there were definitely some things when I got done reading that didn't quite add up, but nonetheless a great story. I give it five stars and a MUST read!

Next Projects: Ford County by John Grisham (another Christmas present - Thanks Jill!)
and The Shack by William P. Young (audiobook)