whew!

I hope everyone had a great holiday.

My father's side of the family invaded and I have to say everything turned out well.  Except one batch of dinner rolls.

For whatever reason my internal body clock is all messed up and I've been waking up at 3:30am since daylight savings time.  I made this recipe No Knead Dinner Rolls Wed afternoon.  Baked some for lasagna night.  Added butter, garlic, and Italian seasoning and boy where they good.  I added some cheese for cheesy bread.

3:30am the next day I spent cutting up sweet potatoes.  I made the mash potatoes using another recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  Then I went on making French Toast Casserole for breakfast and my dad started prepping the turkey.  My aunt joined us and brewed the coffee.

Then it was a party.  Gotta love some good coffee.

My grandma taught me how to make candied yams, even tho they were sweet potatoes.  But no one seems to know they aren't the same.

Oh yes the pumpkin and pecan pies.  I made three pies.  pumpkin, pecan, and pumpkin-pecan pie.  I think next year I'll make the chocolate bourbon pecan pie.  Why not die in bliss with each bite?

Redskins beat the Cowboys.

Having a lot of tequila in the house I made tequila sunrises.

My little cousins danced to Gangnam Style.  Fun times.  I think one of my fav Thanksgivings yet!

I have a bit of a migraine right now so hopefully this post isn't too blah.  Because I definitely feel blah.

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everybody! 

Silly Mare, Silly Family, Silly Me

Lilly decided that the barn person was going to slow, so she'd zoom around her paddock like crazy.  Well apparently she clipped her front right heel pretty good.  My friends called me and said it was bleeding a lot.  The barn owner is the vet, so she was actually coming home.  So she took care of it and wrapped.  Then I got the bill.  >.<

Luckily she told me it's not bad.  She told me it'll be a lengthy healing time.  She's fine to work though.  I just haven't had much time to ride.

But today Melinda is going to show me how to reenforce the bandage so I can ride.  Lilly mare is going to wear bell boots from now on during turnout.  Because apparently she likes to do the gallop thing daily before being brought in.
Silly horses.

Silly Family
I am a crazy planner.  It makes me happy.  I have 2013 planned out.  Well the major events.  I'll probably post it soon.
My family on the other hand, isn't obsessive like I am.  So I had plans to work at the Museum on Thanksgiving in the morning and head to meet my mother's friends (because she said so), then go to my best friends for Thanksgiving.  Aunt called needed to speak to dad.  Gave her the home number.  Called mom to make sure everything was okay.
They're coming.  My father's side.  Korean side never comes to the USA.
So I was writing this blog, then I got sidetracked for an hour, because I decided to clean out the pantry and figure out what I need to get.  I'm really OCD about things like presentation and food.  So I'm really crazy right now.  I really would like to plan events and such.  But not much money in that industry, plus I don't think I have the right qualifications.

Silly Me

My good friend came into town.  She works for GM.  She gets to get a car for their ambassador program.  So she lucked out on the draw and got a Chevy Corvette.  She let me drive it.

We were in the Wegman's parking lot, so I didn't get to drive it all fast.  But I have to say if I ever had 78k laying around, I probably wouldn't buy one.  Too low to the ground.  But hey it's a thrill.

I've been working out again, like I posted earlier.  I was gong to do a 5 days straight and then a break.  But the workout I did on Thursday made my muscles so sore that I finally was able to walk without my thighs yelling at me today.  So I did a workout today.  Sort of mixed and matched things to target the legs and lower abs.  I did push ups as well.

Just in time Deb emails me and sends me a measurement chart.  She's going to start working on my Star Wars Imperial Officer uniform in Dec.  YAY!!!

101 Books to Read Before I Die...

So I had posted this in my old old old livejournal account.  I revisted it when a few of my FB friends were talking about good books/bad books.  Of course reading is a purely personal thing.  I read an old comment on the livejournal.  This chick was like HOW COULD YOU NOT LIKE GREAT GATSBY.  I don't know.  I didn't.  I should probably re-read it, because sometimes revisiting things when you are a different age you might appreciate things differently.  I hated cranberries when I was in high school, now I love them. 

Crossed out means I've already read it. 

^_^ =Love It
:)  =Good
-_- =okay
*x*=Brain hemmorage

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien    ^_^
2. The Kite-Runner - Khaled Hosseini  :)  It was good but not awe inspiring like everone makes it. 
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen  *X*  I know I'm going to hell, I can't read this book.  All I read is blah blah blah.4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee   *x*
5. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling    ^_^
6. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver   *x* Couldn't get through the first damn chapter.  augh.
7. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
8. LIfe of Pi - Yann Martel
9. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
10. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
11. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
12. Spud - John van de Ruit
13. The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay  ^_^
14. The Hobbit -J.R.R. Tolkien    ^_^
15. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
16. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
17. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte   Read it in college, but don't remember it.
18. The Catcer in the Rye - J.D. Salinger      *x*
19. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte    ^_^
20. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
21. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22. Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee
23. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult ^_^  This book was good but had me sobbing.  It's been a long time since I've cried this much over a book.   The ending wasn't what I expected, but it was good.  24. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
25. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
26. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
27. The Pillars of the EArth - Ken Follett
28. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell  ^_^29. Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
30. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald    *x*
31. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
32. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon
33. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
34. Atonement - Ian McEwan ^_^Very good.  Sad. 
35. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
36. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
37. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
38. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy  next library run
39. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
40. Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
41. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
42. I Know This Much is True - Wally Lamb
43. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
44. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
45. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
46. The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel  *x*  Couldn't get into the book.  She couldn't convince me that the characters were real, which is hard since I read sci fi and fantasy normally.  Just an odd book.
47. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
48. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery  I'm not sure... 
49. The Secret History - Donna Tartt  Boring if I don't get what's going on by the 6th chapter eh. 
50. Possession - A.S. Byatt *x*  couldn't finish.  Just blah. 
51. Perfume - Patrick Suskind
52. The House of Spirits - Isabel Allende
53. Chocolat - Joanne Harris
54. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
55. Q & A - Vikas Swarup
56. Dune - Frank Herbert    ^_^
57. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
58. Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
59. River God - Wilbur Smith     ^_^
60. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
61. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
62. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis   ^_^
63. Mort - Terry Pratchett   ^_-  I'm indifferent about it.  Some parts good, but it was really hard to follow.  I think he has a very chaotic writing style. 
64. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky  reading now
65. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
66. East of Eden - John Steinbeck ^_^  Really Good Book. 
67. The Name of Rose - Umberto Eco
68. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
69. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
70. The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy
71. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
72. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
73. The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
74. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
75. Animal Farm - George Orwell    -_-
76. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
77. Watership Down - Richard Adams  ^_^  good book. 
78. Magician - Raymond E. Feist
79. Middlemarch - George Eliot
80. The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth
81. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
82. The Magus - John Fowles
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Agaat - Marlene van Niekerk
85. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
86. The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher
87. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
88. The Beach House - James Patterson
89. Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
90. Kringe in 'n Bos - Dalene Matthee
91. The World According to Garp - John Irving
92. Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman
93. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
94. Shades - Marguerite Poland
95. Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer
96. Fiela se kind - Dalene Matthee
97. Story of an African Farm - Olive Schreiner
98. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl  next library run
99. The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
100. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe  ^_^  Defintely not a pick me upper.  Good book, always hated imperialism and how "whiteism" is better. 
101. Winnie the Pool - A.A. Milne  ^_^ 

Operation Size 8

The doctor told me a few months ago that I need to lose weight.  I have arthritis in the last 3 vertebrate in my spine.  I love horses, but they are hard on the body.   It’s one of my many injuries, but probably the most severe.  I wanted to start running and get fit so I can join the Reserve.  Wasn’t sure which Reserve but I wanted to join one of them.

But doctor said “no running”.  She wasn’t even pleased about the horse back riding.  She told me yoga, low impact cardio, and swimming.  I’m not a fan of any of those.  When I was working out I was doing BodyRock.TV before the whole thing went crazy.  Zuzana is back and doing her workouts on her own. Zuzana Workout of the Week I really like that style of workout.  It’s challenging, fun, and I really felt my body was strengthening, except my back.  I stopped doing it because my hips felt out of kilter.  But I'm just going to try and do the workouts and modify the more crazier moves like the burpees to something I can handle.

She told me to drop down to 143.  I’m around 185.  I just looked at her like she was crazy.  25 is a nicer weight.  Size 8 is fine to me.  I don’t really want to be that skinny and I’m not even sure how I’d get that small.  I know I probably could.  But 143 is a harder number to wrap my brain around.  But 160 is easier. 

I’m not sure which ZWOW I left off at a month ago.  But I plan to do my workouts each morning.  Mixing in ZWOWs and BodyRock.TV.  If I can afford to join a class I'd like to take pilates, but who has the time or the money, not this chick.  Clean up my diet a bit (tough around the holidays) and see where I am in three months. 

NMMC Banquet & Volunteer Appreciation

I'm a volunteer docent at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  I started the program in late May and "graduated" in Julyish.  I have to say it's been a very rewarding experience.  There is an Iwo Jima vet there named Frank Matthews and his stories are pure amazing.

Volunteers get free tickets for themselves and a guest.  I asked one of my good friends if she wanted to attend.  I figure it would be a fun event and it was.  Guests got free beer/wine and dinner.  The food was good.  Their chef made some incredible potatoes.  I love me some potatoes.  :)  Chicken was pretty good.

For those who aren't familiar with the Marine Corps.  The Marines were formed on 10 Nov 1775.  They have a very long and illustrious history.  Marines are very proud and they have every right to be.  There is an adage "Once a Marine.  Always a Marine."

When they cut the cake they always recognize the oldest Marine and the youngest Marine in attendance that night.  Last night the oldest Marine was born in 1916!

I brought my good friend Star as my date.  I figure we don't get to see each other very often since she got laid off and she's always up for a good night of fun.  She was the perfect date.  We started dancing once the music got a little more exciting.  AT first they catered to the older folks.

The Museum has a large population of retired Marines.  A lot of the retirees volunteer their time.  There are younger volunteers, high school, college aged kids, but I think I'm one of the few late 20 year olds.  I think there is another chick and maybe a few guys in other departments.

A lot of them were recognized for their hours they have donated.  Some folks logged in as much as 2,500 hours.  Frank Matthews the Iwo vet I think they said logged over 900 hours in one year.

Cake cutting ceremony.

Then we started dancing.  The gentleman pictured was dancing all night long.  He wore out his guests.  His wife came up to us later and said I'm so glad you two were dancing with him.  I asked her does he ever run out of energy?  She was like no, not really.  He definitely was having a blast.  He was a retired Marine.  He asked the DJ to play MC Hammer.  Fun times.

DJ of coursed played Gangnam Style.  I figured more people would be dancing, but apparently we were like only 4 girls dancing to it.  I knew it kind of, and my friend learned all the dance moves.  She was like there were people video taping us.  I'm like oh no!  Oh well!

Happy Veterans Day!

Thank you to all our veterans.

Here's my favorite veteran, my dad.  20yrs in the USAF.

Semper Fi

Happy Birthday Marines.

I'll be attending the Marine Corps Ball @ the National Museum of the Marine Corps tonight.  I'm a volunteer docent there and I have free tickets.  It's fun to get all dolled up and have fun celebrating our US Armed Forces.  I'm not a Marine brat, but the Marine Corps entered into my family when I started boarding at the Quantico Marine Corps Base stables for several years.  I met some great men and women who represent our country.

I went to two balls before, one with my best friend and another with my ex.  They were both fun, but it's going to be really neat to see how the Museum does thing.

NaNoWriMo

I'm an awful writer.

But it's fun!

Bob & Willie

Bob & Willie @ SW Celebration  hotel room

In addition to the horse, these will be my buddies in the nerdism journey.  Willie and I first met at Otakon 2010.  I wanted his blue brother, but alas when I returned at the artist booth, his blue brother was gone.  Willie hasn’t been on very many adventures in the past two years.  He like I have been working.  Willie made people smile for two years in the Security Office whenever people took their badge photos.  Now he’s retired from that job.  They had a lousy 401k, and he’s enjoying his retirement and going on adventures with his new buddy Bob.

Willie & Bob, Inky & Cthulhu @ Air & Scare

Willie, Rancor, Bob @ SW Celebration

                Stormtrooper Bob is well an Imperial Stormtrooper.  He’s quite popular with the ladies and the gentlemen as well.  He’s always ready for trouble with his blaster in hand.  But so far he hasn’t had to use it on anyone.  Currently he’s protecting my desk from an intruders.  But whenever I come to my desk more work seems to be there, so I think he’s slacking on his duties. 

Lilly tries to figure out if Bob is edible.

Zombie Walk Adventures

I'm not huge into the zombie craze.  Nothing really sexy about zombies to me.  I love the movie Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, but that's about it.

But I have a few friends who are all about some Zombies.  And when I got a Facebook event add to the Zombie Walk in Fredericksburg, VA I let them know.  I decided to be a social person and head to the event.

Pre-Event Planning
If you watch the movie Zombieland Woody Harrelson's character Tallahassee is searching for an illusive box of unexpired Twinkies.
I had no idea that it would take me FOUR stores to find a box of Twinkies.  Kind of humorous in a way.

We all met at my friend's parents house in Fred'burg.  She made fabulous cupcakes and we got prepped and ready for the event.

Nicola had a great idea to show up as Zombie Hunters.  Which I liked that idea better.  I wasn't really keen on the idea of fake blood and looking like a zombie.  I sure walked like one because somehow I injured my left ankle.

I based my look on Wichita from the movie.  Eating the Twinkie after eating a cupcake made me a little sugar crazed.

Eric Tank

The event was a charity event of course.  They were doing a canned food drive and I brought like 5 cans of goods.  There were so many great zombie costumes.  My favorite was the dad who dressed his baby as a pretty flower and he was a zombie.  If you play Plants vs. Zombies you would get this.  It was too cute.  There were a few other Zombies from the game.


I met up with Lori and her husband Eric Tank who are in the 501st.  I can't escape Star Wars even for a day.  :)

Lori & Eric

At first we followed the group of zombies, but Nicola's husband was like eh this is boring let's go hunt zombies.  So we ran around in alleys in Fredericksburg popping on zombies.

The zombies loved this.  A few folks really played their zombies well.  All in all it was a fun time.  Mid-way through the stretch though we all saw Capital Ale House and figured it was a good day of zombie hunting and we all shuffled in for some food and ale.

FYI: All the photos except cupcake one (mine) are taken by Alan Nguyen.

Plant vs. Zombie 

Air & Scare 2012

Every year the Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, VA hosts the Air & Scare.  It's a trick or treating event held for the kids.  This was my second year going to the event as a "squire" for the 501st.

Now what is the 501st you ask?

501st is a costuming group of Star Wars villains.  http://www.501st.com/  They go around helping non-profit and charity events, go to kids hospitals, and do good in the universe.  I heard about this in high school.  Ever since then I wanted to join.  Now my costume was ordered last Sept and I'm still waiting on it.  The lady I commissioned from apparently had a huge back order.  I'm patient, but I really hope to join soon.

But it was so fun to squire.  I got there at 2 and I immediately was sent to help the group of stormtroopers that was wandering around the facility.  The funniest moment came when a little boy dressed as Hawkeye looked at me and one of the Stormtroopers and shot his 3 arrows at us.  I saw later they took them away from him.

I also helped with the Tatooine set up.  It's really funny seeing not only the children's reaction but the adults.  Not everyone loves Star Wars, but it's amazing how much a simple movie can affect someone's life.

After the event we all crowd into Red Robins for dinner.  It was very tasty.  A very good troop.  I can't wait to actually start trooping.  Fingers crossed she'll have it done soon.    

The Shot that was Heard Around the World

I'm a huge Star Wars fan. 

Hurricane Sandy had largely bypassed Northern Virginia, so Tuesday I had a free day to work on the novel.  I was plucking away when I check facebook and see "Disney Buys Lucasfilm" posts going crazy.  First I'm thinking this is a prank.

Then slowly I realize it's not.  George Lucas sold to Disney for $4 billion dollars.  Which you figure if Disney releases one movie they'll probably make a good chunk of that back in movie revenues alone. 

Another thing that started going around was that there will be a new Star Wars movie in 2015.  Of course my fangirl self was going GRAND AMDIRAL THRAWN BABY!!!!

Then of course those hopes were dashed immediately.  Disney said no, we're not going to do any of the books for SW 7. 

For those Star Wars fans who haven't read the books, Heir to the Empire featured three books written by Timothy Zahn.  Zahn is an amazing sci-fi author.  He created a villian that you kind of routed for and he also created the stunning Mara Jade.  She's tough like Princess Leia, but she's a bad girl.  Plus I mean red heads are awesome. 

I think Disney really should consider creating Zahn's books into movies.  The amount of fans that love these books and these characters is evident in how Timothy Zahn's facebook page blew up after the news. 

If I were a casting director I'd cast Michael Fassbender as Thrawn.  I love that man and seeing him in blue makeup and red glowing eyes, woooo.  Wow that'd be hot.  As for Mara Jade.  I don't know.  Someone joked and said Scarlett Johansen and I nearly gagged.  Maybe Emma Stone, but nah I don't like that either.  Or that chick from Hunger Games. 

I'm happy there will be more Star Wars movies.  I just hope the movies don't kill some of the better novels.  I could live without the Youghan Vahn plotline. I hated it.  I hate it so much I'm not going to google the correct spelling.  That's what killed my reading desire was those books. 

::dreams of Thrawn live action::