Friday, October 31, 2008

Stop blog mooching!

Bloggers like comments. They make us happy! They let us know you are reading and appreciating our efforts. So all of you blog moochers out there, stop reading without commenting!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

halloween costumes

Anakin will be going as a Jedi (aka himself)



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The weekend in review

I am a little reluctant to post my true feelings of how this weekend went. As a whole, it was awesome. There was a great move of the spirit at the retreat and many women were phenomenally moved and impressed upon. More than anything, these women came to a better realization of God's intention in creating each of them individually. The series was a lot about who we are in Christ, that we are uniquely designed and that God has great intentions for us. We talked a lot about the scripture "God knew you before he made you" and what that really means, not just that he knew you, but that he knew all your ways and all your goings and therefor placed you in this life, at this time, with these purposes. All of that was awesome.

I did struggle a lot with the other musician. We did well when we practiced on Thursday, but when we got up there, it just kind of fell apart. I don't know. She is not the kind of piano player you can lean on. I wish I had known that. In practice, I leaned on her for a few songs and she did fine, but when we got up there, she couldn't keep tempo, she played wrong notes. I give up. I was really frustrated and wanted Beba (the director) to let me choose my own team but I didn't want to say no to a willing spirit, you know? Oh well. If she asks me to lead again next year, I want to choose my own team and I will put my foot down about it. Also, the other musician had asked if I would play with her again in future and I now know my answer will be no for that. I just don't think I can work with her again. We are two different kinds of musicians and we just didn't work well together.

So, overall, the weekend went well. But it was a learning experience and now I know a lot more about working with a music team that I am in charge of instead of following other people--which is what I have don ein the past.

On a side note, Dennis and I are going to a big halloween party on Friday (after trick-or-treating) that's adults only. I picked out my costume earlier this week, I will be going as a sexy school girl. So today we went to party city to get Dennis's and we got him the priest outfit to match. Awesome. I will definitely take pictures of that!

Friday, October 24, 2008

  1. Finish the purses. Wait I forgot to mention that so that's not a recap. I made a few purses a while back and we have an auction at the retreat to raise money for the benevolance fund and so I said they could have my purses but honestly forgot there was so much work left to do on them!!
  2. Type out music details for team including schedule, keys, arrangements and notes
  3. Actually practice with the other vocalist (??!!)
  4. Get all the songs into powerpoint (this is the one I'm worried about)
  5. Get packed
  6. Find 90s stuff for some lame-o table I have to do. Like I have 90s stuff??! What defines 90s stuff?!
Okay lets do a checkoff.
#1: done. And actually, they look better than I anticipated. I'm sorry to see one of them go. I may end up bidding on it!
#2: done.
#3:will happen tonight. no big deal.
#4:done. and I'm very proud of myself here.
#5:about to do....
#6:I decided on a book of CDs that we have actually already burned over to MP3s so whatever.

OKay, I've made a lot of progress here. Who's proud of me?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

busy busy days gone by and many more ahead

So my life has been a lot more hectic with Dean around. Not that Dean has been making it hectic, because I really don't think he has, but my life just feels crazy right now. Last weekend we went to Summerville, SC to see Desi and Darren and the baby. I finished my quilt FINALLY, and we had a pretty good weekend. I knew this weekend would be rough with the Women's Retreat coming up but I have to say, it feels like more than I bargained for. I'm not complaining, there are so many other women doing so much more than me, but gosh am I tired!! I will be working with only one other musician (who is a semi-vocalist as well) and one other vocalist. Since the other musician and I obviously have the most work to do, it seemed right that she and I meet together first. Well she couldn't get together until Tuesday because she was singing at Emmaeus last weekend and wasn't worth anybody's time on Monday. So Tuesday night I went over to her GINORMOUS house (seriously... I was scared to touch the furniture) and we practiced for about 2 hours. Mostly that was just getting a basic roughdraft of the song list ready and talking about what keys we wanted to do it in. Wednesday night, we had a meeting with Beba, the director, at 6 and that was the presentation of the agenda so we could get the order of our songlist ready. Off on a little tangeant here, for those of you not usually involved in these types of things, it is not okay to give the music director of a retreat that starts on Friday, the agenda for the weekend on Wendesday. Seriously. Two days? Not cool. So anyway, as Karen would say, I digress. Today, I went to Chick-fil-a with a few other moms for a playdate and took along my newly received agenda, songlist, and music book and sat down while we chit chatted with coffee and chicken nuggets and made out a preliminary arrangement of the songs before Karen (different Karen) and I were scheduled to meet at 1 at the church. The practice went till 4, which is honestly not so bad. I had Anakin with me but he was great thanks to my awesome phone that not only has a TV on it, but has free episodes of Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to boot! We only had a few changes, including keys, my arrangement/order of songs, and the lyrics and we ended up scratching a few songs all together.

Now I am back from practice, thank you, Lord (I'm honestly Thanking God here) that Anakin wanted to take a nap when we got home, and now I am resting before continuing my work. See, since the retreat starts tomorrow, I really need to have everything done today. So I need to write out the agenda and email it to the two girls I'm working with, and I need to put everything on powerpoint. Again, I'm not complaining that the powerpoint ended up being my responsibility but why didn't anyone tell me?? Lame. So. Lame. Not to mention I still need to pack. Of course, that can be done tomorrow.

No worries here, I'm not in the least bit stressed. Of course that's because I have absolutely no energy left to BE stressed. Seriously. I told Dennis I look like a corpse with fingers that have a life of their own. Two little "things" disembodied at the end of each arm. Dennis is wonderful and offerend to bring home dinner. Which is good since we have no food in the house. He also said not to worry about grocery shopping, that he would make do until Monday. I immediately requested something incredibly unhealthy. With a side of mashed potatos and green beans please. Don't forget the biscuit. For all that is holy, don't forget the biscuit!!

Let's recap. Things left for Rachael to do:
  1. Finish the purses. Wait I forgot to mention that so that's not a recap. I made a few purses a while back and we have an auction at the retreat to raise money for the benevolance fund and so I said they could have my purses but honestly forgot there was so much work left to do on them!!
  2. Type out music details for team including schedule, keys, arrangements and notes
  3. Actually practice with the other vocalist (??!!)
  4. Get all the songs into powerpoint (this is the one I'm worried about)
  5. Get packed
  6. Find 90s stuff for some lame-o table I have to do. Like I have 90s stuff??! What defines 90s stuff?!
I think that's it. It doesn't look so bad when its on paper. Dennis always tells me to make lists so that I can sort things out in my head. It makes stressful situations easier to deal with. I just have to keep taking deep breaths and just work through this one thing at a time. What will be will be. I have no control over what happens outside of what I can do and how I react to things so that's what I have to focus on.

I'm going to ask Dennis if I can take the camera so hopefully I can post some pics on Monday.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Weekend in SC

I realize I am incredibly behind on my recipe blogging, and that's a shame because I made two really good meals that I have yet to post. I will get to them when I get back next week.

I made a mad dash to finish the quilt for Raileigh, my friend Desi's new baby and though I can hardly believe it myself, I finished it just in time. I literally sewed the binding on less than an hour before we left to make the 5 hour trip up here. Now we are here, and of course, Desi loved it. She even shed a few tears! :) So, here are a few pictures to hold you over.






Here are also a few pictures of us with the baby.




Monday, October 13, 2008

day 8

I realize Day 6 and 7 were non existent, but nonetheless, we are on day 8.

Today's Menu
Cashew Broccoli Chicken
* * * * *

Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed (I use 1/2 a lb for the 2 of us)
1 bushel fresh broccoli or one bag frozen
1-2 stalks celery (per your preference--if you like celery you can use more)
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1 T Honey
2 T Soy Sauce
1 dash red pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
EVOO

1. Mix broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey and red pepper for sauce and set aside. It will not be a smooth mix, don't worry about it. It won't matter, but you want to let it sit so the acid works into the peanut butter.
2. Heat oil in pan and cook chicken and garlic until chicken is no longer pink. Set meat aside and keep warm
3. In same pan, heat some more oil and cook broccoli and celery 2-3 minutes or until tender-crisp. Return chicken to pan and add sauce. Heat to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

The recipe also calls for two packs of cooked ramen noodles (without the seasoning) to serve with the chicken, which we will skip since we are doing no pasta. When you serve it, you are supposed to sprinkle it with cashews, but I just sprinkle it with regular peanuts. Also, I use water instead of broth because I don't use enough broth to keep it in the house. This is one of our favorite recipes and it is super easy to make. The combination sounds weird, but tastes wonderful.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Good news

So my shoulder is feeling a bit better. Not a lot better but the pain is tolerable today. I really need to go to a doctor. I'm so anti-doctor. I'm scared he will say I need surgery and I really don't want to do that.

Anyway, I'm sorry I don't have a recipe today. Dennis was such a sweetie and took me out to eat today so I didn't have to cook. (my honey is the best!) but what I was going to make today was a boring mushroom porkchop recipe anyway. Nothing exciting.

We had a little regression today with potty training but its no big deal. We bought Anakin this today as a treat if he does well potty training. We are going to have a little chart for him to fill up with stickers and I will put the toy on top of the fridge so he has a visual aid to do well with potty training. This was advice from another mommy-friend of mine and at this point, I am taking everyone's advice. I was thinking today, that this actually wasn't that painful (considering.) I mean, all in all, it could have been a lot worse. And even though I know we will have some set backs in the coming months, he is definitely potty-trained and that means I did it in about 3 weeks and I say thats pretty darn impressive. I hear moms who have been potty training for like a year and are still having problems with it. While I recognize that it all depends on the kid, I'm just thankful everyday that I have such an easy kid and that God blessed us with someone that fit us so well. He is such a goofball, and such a love bug, and an allround really fun kid to be around and I'm so thankful God has blessed us so immensley. And let me just add, that I can't believe this thankfulness has been brought on by the practice of peeing and pooping. haha

Tomorrow's menu is Cashew Brocolli Chicken which is a pampered chef recipe I got from a friend. I don't use cashews because they are too expensive so I need to think of a new name for it. But it is DELISH!

PS, Machelle, I do want the number to your Orthopedist.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

why am I up so late?

It is clearly too far into the wee hours for me to still be awake and yet... here I am. Taking a break from my SVU marathon on USA to poke around this great big world called interweb while Dennis is out getting me cookies. Why is dennis getting you cookies? This seems like an odd request for a perfectly normal-non-pregnant woman. (I'm not pregnant, promise) Well you see, with a pain so intense that it's creeping up my neck and right into my migraine prone head, comes a wicked case of nausea. And so I am not wanting to eat anything. Or drink anything. Or think about eating anything or drinking anything. But Dennis knows, no matter what, I will eat cookies. And a few cookies and a tall glass of milk is just enough substance to stabalize some ibuprofin in my (at the moment) incredibly unstable tummy.

So, about how the pain started. Dennis and I took a trip to Hilton Head at the end of June and while we were there, we decided to throw a football around. Well that day, it just happened to be really windy. So I ended up throwing the ball really hard--apparently too hard. I must have torn something because the front of my shoulder has been hurting ever since. I gave it about a month to heal, being careful not to use it too much and I took the liberty of making a few visits to a massage therapist to help work out the tension. It felt better for a little while but every day it just got a little worse and a little worse... Until yesterday when this sharp shooting pain started making its way up my shoulder into my neck. I thought it was a crick in my neck, but those go away and this definitely has NOT subsided. It feels better in the morning, and worse at night. Right now the pain is so bad, I can't even sleep (ergo dennis's late night trip to Kroger). So, should it subside tomorrow, all is well and I will schedule an appointment with a physical tharapist whenever (which means when this happens again.) Should it not subside, Monday morning, I will call my doctor, demand a reference to a PT and march my way into the PT's office and demand to be seen with my life-threatening injury. Ok. Maybe I won't be that dramatic. But considering how dramatic this pain is at the moment, I just may be.

OKay I am done rambling, I have to get off. Though no position aleviates the pain, sitting here typing is second only to playing video games (See what I mean about it being life threatening??!!) so I will ammuse you again tomorrow. Until then, my faithful blog-stalkers, I bid you happy evenings and good morrows!

ps i have no recipe for today, Dennis and I took a much needed break. I will give you one tomorrow... promise. ;)

Friday, October 10, 2008

day five

I am pre-writing my recipe for today because I already know it's awesome. We are having homemade chili. This is the recipe that my friend Crystal gave me and there is no secret. One pound beef (we use turkey of course), 2 cans tomatoes, one can red beans, one can black beans and one packet chili seasoning. Brown the meat, put everything in the crock pot and cook it on high for 4 hours or low for 8. Delish!

Now, let me talk about a few other things of note. Today, I took Anakin to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Stop laughing at me. Ok seriously. Stop laughing. Anyway, the movie was not good. It was interminably long but I have to be honest, the story was... ok. Not that bad. But not good either. For a kids movie, it was ok but had way too much dialogue and not enough action in it. It was a lot like Milo and Otis from when I was a kid and I hated that movie.

But, on a positive note, I took Anakin in big boy pants, and he did great! He told me he had to potty when he needed to, and he totally went on the big potty! I'm so happy! Also, yesterday, he went twice with big boy pants on by himself! He pulled, them down, went potty and then pulled them back up before he ever even told me he had to go. This is awesome! This is huge progress! The trick was, I bought him some Thomas and Spider Man underwear. Now, on my mom's behalf, she told me to do this all along. My issue was that they are too big. Sesame Street was the only brand I could find in 18 months (even though my kid is 2 and a half!) but I figured, pants that are too big that make him go are better than me cleaning pee off my carpet! So, it worked!

Anyway, thats whats going on in this journey somewhat familiar! See you guys tomorrow!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

day four

Three posts in one day?? What is this world coming to?? IT'S INSANITY!!!

Today's Menu
Polynesian Pork
with Blackeye Peas
and Green Beans
* * * *
Ingredients:
1 lb Pork chops
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 can pineapple chunks
1 medium sized onion minced
1 T honey
3 T soy sauce
garlic powder
EVOO

1. Heat oil in medium-high skillet and season pork chops with garlic
2. Cook porkchops in skillet until golden brown on both sides.
3. Add onions and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes or until onions are soft. (you could add minced garlic cloves here too if you like garlic that much)
4. Add soup, pineapple(with juice), honey and soy sauce. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

We honestly would have given this 5 stars if it had been chicken. It was soooo good but we never eat porkchops. I made it with pork because I thought we would need a break from chicken, but to be honest, we ended up just wanting it to be chicken. We did, however, have bush's blackeyed peas and let me just say they were DELICIOUS. Seriously, I don't even like blackeyed pease but those were sooooo good. Anyway, if you like pork, this could be a new favorite in your home. If you are like us, throw a few hearty chicken breasts on the skillet instead.

day three.

Let me first apologize that this is late. I have been running a fever for a few days and have not been up for blogging.

Today's Menu
Kielbasa and Veggies
* * * * *

Ingredients:
1 pk Kielbasa
1 zuchinni
1 squash
1/2-1 bundle asparagus
minced onion
ground pepper
ground oregano
EVOO

Slice Kielbasa and veggies and mix in shallow baking dish. Drizzle or brush with EVOO and sprinkle with onion, oregano, and black pepper. Back at 400 for 45 minutes or until veggies are brown around the edges.

This is one of our favorites, and super easy to make.

I'm a bad mother

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

carbless chapter day 2

Everyone be proud of me for drinking lots of water and giving up my sweet tea. *waits patiently for applause* thank you.

Now that that's out of the way...
Today's Menu
Skewer Chicken Spirals
and Corn on the Cob
* * * * (out of 5)

Ingredients:
Skinless, boneless chicken breast (one per person)
Bacon (we use turkey bacon)
1 small can tomato paste
Basil leaves (I used minced)
Garlic Powder
EVOO for brushing

Lay chicken breasts out on saran wrap and cover. Beat lightly with rolling pin to flatten. (I use wax paper because it's less messy)
Once all chicken is flatten, lay out and form a layer over rough side of chicken with tomato paste. I use a spoon to spread it on like cream cheese. Sprinkle with garlic then lay bacon on top of chicken. I use 1-2 slices per piece of chicken. You want the bacon to totally cover the chicken with no overlapping and no excess, so you may need to cut some.
Sprinkle basil leaves on top of bacon.
<--This is what it should look like right before you start to roll it.


Rolling is not easy. You want it to be firm so you get as much chicken "in" the spiral as possible but the tomato paste doesn't squish out form the sides.

Use a sharp knife (as sharp as you can find) to slice each breast into 4 slices. Again, try not to saw the chicken or the paste will come out of the sides. A sharp knife should cut right into the flesh of the chicken. Don't be afraid to make a mess... you will.

Place each spiral on a kabob skewer, one skewer per breast, so 4 pieces per skewer. Brush with olive oil and place under high heat of a broiler or grill for 5-7 minutes on each side, brushing with olive oil again at each turn.

As a side note, I like mine a little blackened. The picture here (which is not mine) also shows the edges of the bacon burnt which just adds a really good flavor. If you can grill these, that is the best way to do it because the smokey flavor is great. We serve them with corn on the cob because the sweetness of the corn offsets the sour in the tomato paste.

All in all we gave this a 4 out of 5 because it is just delicious but it is a pain in the butt! You make an absolute mess when slicing them. I used a sheet of wax paper for each skewer because the tomato gets everywhere and I didn't want to have to clean it every time.

Monday, October 6, 2008

a carbless chapter in my life

Dennis has been doing great with his dieting. He's lost 13 pounds in 5 weeks (awesome!) by working out and watching what he eats. For the record, in those same 5 weeks, I've lost 2. So lame. So to kind of kick-start us back into losing weight, we are doing two weeks of no carbs and no sugars. We did this a year ago for 21 days and I lost 8 pounds! Certainly I gained it back because I stopped caring about what I was eating, but the idea this time is to continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle with less carbs but not none at all. Anyway, to prepare for this I made a 2 week menu and my budget was $200. I made the menu including sides and all and I only spent $176 at walmart and that included lunch items for the boys. So, everyday, for the next two weeks, I would like to post what I made, how I made it and how we liked it.

Today's Menu
Healthy Request Chicken Parmesian
"Grilled" veggies
**** (out of 5)

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (one per person)
One can of Tomato Soup
Oregano to taste
Garlic Powder to taste
Shredded Mozarella cheese
1 zuchinni
1 squash
minced onion
ground black pepper
EVOO

1. Mix soup, oregano (I used about 3 shakes), garlic powder (maybe 1 T) and spoon over chicken in shallow bakind dish.
2. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
3. Top with mozzarella cheese

For Veggies:
Slice zuchinni and squash and place in shallow baking dish. Spread pieces evenly and drizzle with EVOO. Sprinkle with minced onion and black pepper. Bake same time as chicken or until veggies are light brown on edges.


Seriously, that's it. It took me about 5 minutes to prepare and about 30 minutes to bake. We gave this 4 out of 5 stars. The chicken was super moist, had plenty of flavor and the veggies were oh so delicious. For extra kick, you can add oregano to the veggies or use asparagus as well. You can also use potatoes, but if you do, they have to be cooked longer
.



Sunday, October 5, 2008

I'm sure you missed me

Sorry I have not been up for blogging lately. To be perfectly honest, I find blogging a little difficult but incredibly necessary for my personal sanity. It's difficult because although most of those who read this know I am outgoing, I keep most of my personal feelings and thoughts to myself. I'm one of those people that is hard to break past the shell. So when I've had a week (or two) that have effected me personally, I tend to close myself in and retreat to my own musings. Although I'm not really ready to come out of my current emotional hibernation, I don't want my seven loyal readers to lose interest in my stories, so I will grace you with a few updates from the past two weeks.

potty training - my mom says it's going well and considering her level of experience, I have to take her word for it. But I'm honestly ready to quit. Don't worry, no need to lecture. I will remain steadfast and my efforts will surely prevail but I feel like if I clean pee off the carpet 30 seconds after I took Anakin to go potty one more time, I might surely perish. I will sop the waste from my berber and just cease to exist. Dramatic? Maybe. You come do it for awhile and then we can talk drama.

quilting - My 9 square quilt is almost done. This is good considering I need to deliver it to the recipient in less than two weeks and I haven't even started on the hand stitching yet! Did I mention I have no idea what I am doing?! I did make my way up to the fabric/craft extravaganza that is Hobby Lobby and get myself one of those big hoop thingies (I'm sure they have a real name) for $5 so I can begin the tedious part. I will embroider the 'R' in the middle square tomorrow and then work on the first part of sewing the top to bottom (which I'm doing with a machine stitch first before beginning my hand-work). I will post pictures as soon as Dennis manages to get the battery charger for our camera back from the friend's house where he left it.

"work" - oh the leisurely life of a stay at home mom. I miss it so. I started keeping another little boy this week. It was last minute. Be assured, all my faithful friends, that I have not kept this oh so pertinent information from you. A friend of mine approached me the week before she had to start school full time because the day care on campus had run out of spots for her age group. It's honestly going really well. Dean is 20 months old, so he is honestly pretty far behind Anakin developmentally but he is getting there and he is certainly at an age now where I can at least do lesson plans with them. The hardest part is that he has not been raised as strictly as Anakin, so I am having to establish boundaries all over again. It has nothing to do with his parents not being great at what they do, it's just a different parenting style. Since I have both boys together, I have to be consistent. Since I have to be consistent, I'm obviously going to use the more strict method for both of them. He will learn his boundaries soon. All in all, it's been great to have them together because 90% of the time, they just entertain each other with little need for me. They make a mess of Anakin's room, playing with this foldable basketball hoop my mom got him and a pop-up tent he got for Christmas last year, and when we go downstairs, cars are scattered throughout endless boundaries of the house, but it can all be cleaned up while they are napping and so it's no big deal.

other happenings in my life - I took Anakin to the zoo on Friday with Courtney, my room mate from college. It was nice to see her again. Afterward, we went to this hole in the wall restaurant that served random food, ie tacos, burgers, salads and whatnot and I had a scrumptious veggie burrito with mozerella cheese. It was a little spicy but had super fresh spinach in it and I enjoyed it immensely. My mom also came to see us this weekend. We went to the Kani House for dinner on Friday and then went to the mall and she bought me a few super cute outfits on clearance at Old Navy. On Saturday we went and had our nails done, got massages, and ate at My Friend's Place (thats the name of it, I swear) and then took a fun trip to Sam's Club. Saturday night, we did a Mary Kay party for my friend Crystal and I won a watch and $50 worth of product (rock on!)

So I leave you with the four movies I've seen recently and how I rated them (out of 4 stars).
  • The Women - * - Starring Meg Ryan (playing Meg Ryan), Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Debra Messing. Also featuring other famous women that are in it only for the sake of saying they were part of something that could have been a lot better than it was. The storyline was interesting enough but the character development was lacking and the direction SUCKED. Honestly, I appreciate that there were no men in the movie, even extras, but given that fact, maybe a 15 second scene of walking down a crowded new york street shouldn't be included. Can you really expect people to believe at any given time there are no men walking on this strip of road? We were hoping for something like First Wives Club--you know something that made you feel good about being a woman and getting revenge on the men that hurt us. But really, it just sucked.
  • Burn After Reading - *** - Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and John Malkovich. This movie was HILARIOUS! It only receives 3 stars out of 4 given the fact that the storyline was incredibly unbelievable and the characters were unrealistic--but that was absolutely the point. It was pretty graphic ( I didn't know there was violence in it before hand) but it's not bad. Just be warned, it's rated R for graphic violence and language and it certainly had both. If you are not one for abstract dark comedies, wait for video but it's definitely worth seeing.
  • Blindness - - Starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. I didn't leave the section where I put the stars blank on accident. Seriously. Don't see this. Don't think about seeing this. If friends of yours reccomend this, think about it like that time you were in middle school and a friend offered you drugs or cigaretts for the first time. What would your mother tell you to do? To walk away. That if anyone of your friends offered you drugs, they weren't really your friend in the first place. Yeah. This is just like that. We left and got our money back. It was that bad.
  • Eagle Eye - *** - Starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson. What? Don't recognize any of those names except Shia LaBeouf? Me neither. But this movie was super sweet. The only reason it gets 3 out of 4 stars instead of 4 is because the end-secret plot twist has been done before. Have no fear, the action, character development and overall awesomeness totally made up for the lack of inginuity in story line "twist." Seriously. I loved this. If you just want to see a feel-good shoot em up, this is it. It was a lot of fun and totally worth my $10 and once in a bluemoon child free night.
That's it for now my faithful blog followers! Have a good night! May the morning find you well rested and ready for the exciting experience that is a new day.