Amy J. Bennett

The Bachelorette Episode 4

June 8, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

I think Chris was right in a tweet this week that said the game started this week. And for me, it did. Tonight I felt like I really got to know everyone. I think we’re down to the point where you have a good idea of who’s who and what’s going on.

I’m going to start off with Kiptyn partly because that’s how the episode started and partly because I LOVE KIPTYN. If you’ve been paying attention, you know I’ve called Kiptyn since the first night. He’s cute, humble, down-to-earth, affectionate and charming. What’s not to love? Just when you think Jillian’s going to have to pull a friend card on him in the middle of the grocery store, he comes up behind her cooking dinner and kisses her neck or tells her her eyes are beautiful out of nowhere. OMG. Loved that. He gives her so much attention and affection and really listens to her yet when it’s his turn to talk, he seems to lay it on the line for her. Ahh…if he doesn’t make it to the finals, something is WRONG.

A few of the guys grew on me this week.

One is Mike. The guy is hilarious. Him talking about going to spend time with Jillian where there was NO CURLING was so cute. I especially liked his “blue blob of nothingness” comment. He’s just so cute and funny. I think it’d be fun to be friends with him. I don’t necessarily see anything long-term between him and Jillian but him admitting he has a crush on Jillian makes me want him around longer. And if next week’s clips are any hint, he steps up his game.

I thought I had written about this last week, but I love Reid. Really, really love Reid. I noticed him more last week but I really like him. He’s got the cutest little grin and expressions. He’s down to earth and seems patient and kind. I think he has some ground to make up compared to the others but I like him.

Jesse went all out for Jillian tonight but I have to comment about that little victory dance he did. So cute.

As for the things that didn’t go so well tonight.

Jake I think slipped a little tonight. I think he might get handed the friend card eventually. Who knows though she does seem to like him and that date they had still stands out.

Dave makes an awful drunk. I think he might be a decent guy if he’d just lay off the alcohol. Seriously. All the talk about how good she looked and him pulling up her shirt and the kiss was just disgusting. Add in the angry hate from last week and I’m SO GLAD Dave is gone.

As for the Mark/Mike date, I honestly thought Jillian wouldn’t give a rose to either of them. That’s what she should have done. Mike came on too strong and poor Mark just looked lost the whole time. Definitely don’t see him keeping up with Jillian.

Not sure why Jillian didn’t keep Juan around. We didn’t see a lot of him this week. Maybe that was the problem.

For some reason I keep grouping Ed and Robby together. In fact, until this week, I couldn’t tell them apart much. But in the few clips we got to see of Ed, I like him a lot. I think he could come on strong later on. I think at this point Robby is just slipping through the cracks. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and she has no reason not to keep him.

As for Tanner. Tanner is weird. Not sure what to do with him. I do appreciate that he brought up the girlfriend thing to Jillian but hate that he didn’t bring up names. Also really hate that he wouldn’t speak up and say something in front of the guys. He needed to man up if you ask me.

And finally Wes. I think Jillian is getting ready to get her heart broken next week. Poor girl.

Overall I’m happy with who went home. I could have traded Juan for Wes but in the end, does it matter? I think the front runners are safely, uh, safe. And to finish up…Kiptyn FTW!

The New Office, Novel Style

June 7, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

Somehow with all the new furniture and decorating around the house, my office has been last. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense since I spend at least 30 hours a week in it working and I would suspect a good 10 more for personal stuff.

Ever since IKEA has landed in Charlotte, we’ve made a few great purchases at regular intervals and for some reason Scott was itching to go this past week. So Saturday we got up and he says let’s go get your office furniture today. Um, ok?!

Here are a few before pictures. They’re really good before pictures. And by that I mean they’re really awful and anything I do to the room surely will make it look like an outstanding renovation.

You can see the kids’ art thing to the left was exploding with paper, crayons and yarn. My work area was exploding with paper, electronic devices and wires. And yes, even a Twilight poster back there.

Nothing about the room but the desk felt much like an office. Three or four years ago it did seem like an office seeing that I was working on the playroom floor, living room couch, dining room table, kitchen counter. ANYWHERE to get my work done with two very small kids. Honest to goodness, I remember taking it to the bathroom one time.

Now with the kids a bit older, I can sit in one place most of the day and they can come to me when they need something. And there’s a good reason their art stuff is in the same room. It’s their “office” too and they tend to congregate with me in the same room.

I have no idea why I went into all that except to say it was once again time for an upgrade to my home office.

I had almost no clue what I wanted. So I popped up the IKEA web site and got to work. A few fights later, Scott and I had something to work with (don’t worry, we’re ok. really). We took IL’s and kids with us and made it an entire afternoon trip. The kids did the playground thing, we ate meatballs and browsed the showroom. And I had a list about 20 items long by the end of it. The basics of what we were getting was a sideboard cabinet to go under the window to hold my printers and then two large bookcases/cabinets for either side of the window. We really wanted a cabinet for above the window to make it a full wall cabinet but none of the sizes would work.

By the time we get home and Scott had the first cabinet put together, we realize that we got the wrong large cabinets. Now, at this point it’s 8:26 pm. It’s the kids’ bedtime and we have church the next day, Scott is leaving for the youth missions trip the next day and he hadn’t packed a single thing and IKEA closed at 9pm. And it’s a good 25 minute drive. Also at this point? I have removed everything from my office and all that junk is in the dining room. I can’t work like that all week while he’s gone and I’m surely not putting it all back. So we hop into the truck (as much as you can “hop into the truck” with two small kids) and *quickly* make it to IKEA with 10 minutes to spare. I’ll let you do the math on that.

Our plan of attack was for me to return the cabinets while he raced to the self-serve aisle to get what we needed. And if you know IKEA, you know it’s not really a quick in and out thing. That place is HUGE. But we are packed in the car at 9:10. The kids fall asleep on the way home.

Scott worked really fast and hard to get it all put together. We realize though that the two smaller cabinets we bought to go on top of the big ones in order to make it a floor to ceiling cabinet would just be overwhelming. So we decide to put them side by side and create another sideboard cabinet to store the kids’ art stuff and we’d get rid of that plastic drawer set. He had to get up early to get those cabinets put together and I didn’t reorganize all that until late this evening.

I still have A LOT of cabinet room and I still have some organizational things to buy for it but it’s a really great start. So without further adieu (Kudos if you actually read all this. I certainly didn’t mean to type all that), here is my new office.

Now, the only downside is that it’s all BEHIND me when I’m at my desk and I don’t get to stare at it all day.

I have to be honest and say I’m pretty disappointed with the quality of the pieces. There are nicks in the shelves and the doors/shelving don’t quite match up. But there’s no way we could have afforded to get a custom set like this from anywhere else so I won’t complain too much.

I want to mention the glass/white doors are actually set up so you can put pictures or fabric in there and I plan to do that. Scott said he saw one showroom place where they had blown up b&w photos of the kids which I think would be cool since this is one of the first things you see walking into the house.

OK, so I had no idea I could talk about my office for so long, but there ya go. Oh wait. If you want to spend even MORE time on this post, see if you can spot my Twilight book set on my bookcases. You know it couldn’t be *my* office without some Twilight in it. Now…where should I hang that Twilight poster??

Tea Party Birthday

June 5, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

The girls attended a tea party birthday party last week. It’s the latest birthday trend for little girls in the area. It’s run by a local lady who used to do it from her house but has since bought an older house that is entirely devoted to parties (Red Hat, birthday, bridal, baby).

The party consisted of a craft, dress up and the “tea party”.

The craft was a foam wand with their initial and jewels on it. It was simple but the kids had fun with it.

Next, the girls were ushered into what used to be a bedroom that was turned entirely into a dress up room. Racks of dresses, rows of shoes, shelves of hats. They loved it to say the least. The next dress up room was all for accessories and hair. I think their favorite part was the platform to take pictures on.

Lastly the girls sat around the dining room table again. Each girl was given lemonade in a tea cup and then a plate of sandwiches, strawberries, grapes, pretzels and itty bitty cookies. The girls LOVED that and both ate well.

The birthday girl was then sung to and each girl was given a cupcake. During the food, the mothers that were there were ushered into an entirely different room and given “big girl” sandwiches and tea or soda. It actually was a nice touch.

Overall a great birthday for little girls! And guess where MY girls want their birthday this year now?

Emma Graduates Kindergarten

June 5, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

She did it! Although I feel like I should say I did it! Although a lot of times I *didn’t* do it. If you’ve been reading since last August, you know Emma had a hard time at first. Lots and lots of tears. I think it was 3 weeks before she quit crying.

Yesterday I picked her up from school and she was walking with a little girl. The girl pushed her playfully and Emma pushed her back. The safety patrol says, “Please stay on the right side of the yellow line”. Emma gets in the van and yells back at the girl “Later”. The girl does the same. She tells me it’s a girl from another Kindergarten class.

Today she walked across stage and got her certificate. Then sang a song and helped with a poem in class.

When it was time to go, I asked her if she wanted us to sign her out and go with us. She chose to stay and play with her friends.

We get pictures with the teachers and I thank them for helping so much with Emma. I mention the crying. The teacher mentions all her talking.

Why yes, she’s come a long way.

It seems such an understatement to say I’m proud of her. But I am.

The Last Shall be First

June 4, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

I really try to be a good mom. I take literally 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So when the girls started fighting over who got what first over EVERYTHING…who got to go outside first, who got in the car first, who got a drink first, etc. I figured I would try out Matthew 20:16 the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. I knew they might not grasp the full meaning of the verse but I thought it might instill a bit of unselfishness.

But the other day? The four of us went to the mall and we’re parking. The girls are unbuckling in the back, arguing about getting out the door.

Lexi: “I want to be last!”

Emma: “No I want to be last!”

Lexi: “Mommy said the last will be first so *I* want to be last!”

I’m trying, people. Really.

The Bachelorette – Episode 3

June 2, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

So yeah, three weeks in and I’m still watching. But it’s the only TV I”m watching ALL week. So very proud of myself. Reactions from last night.

Sasha and his unicorns needed to go.

I liked Ed ok. I could see him in the finale but no overwhelming chemistry from my side of the screen but whatever. She seemed into him.

I really liked Robby. He actually seems to be a natural actor and their kiss was so cute. (Unlike that super cool dude. That. Was Awkward.)

Tanner P. is so very weird yet so entertaining. I can’t believe Jillian hasn’t booted him just for his foot fetish.

I have a feeling Wes is there for his music. I also have a feeling Jillian is falling for it.

Something is weird about Juan. In some ways he seems sincere and nice but after the whole shot thing and walking away from Dave, I had to pull his man card. I was disappointed he stayed.

Dave should have gone home. And while I appreciate his attempts to be manly, man, he’s coming across as a playground bully. Go home, Dave.

Almost no word from the pilot this week. I think Jillian likes him and is a fan favorite but I’m not a big fan.

I think if given time, Reid could come on strong but Kiptyn is still my favorite.

The rest are just eh.

In fact the whole season so far is just eh even with the breakdancing and bullying. The best thing so far is Jillian’s wardrobe. I need her stylist to hook me up! Scott actually made me rewind it twice to see her in that little blue short jumpsuit thing last night. She’s so cute!

New Moon. Because I can’t help myself.

June 2, 2009 by Amy 11 Comments

So I couldn’t NOT post about the New Moon trailer. I tried but I can’t. And in case you missed it or want to see it for the 1,032nd time, here you go.

My reaction was pretty close to their reaction. All the things I love:

She says I love you
They kiss
Edward’s suit. He’s got his swagger on finally. He actually looks like he could be an old rich man. And I don’t mean old really. If you read the book, I hope you get what I’m saying. He looked like Edward!
That it actually looks like a real movie not a documentary.
Rosalie’s wig is better
Jasper doesn’t look quite as constipated
Edward knocks Jasper across the room. He deserved it just for looking so constipated in Twilight. And of course because he was getting ready to kill Bella.
Rob plays the tortured Edward much better. Much more Edward of him.
The birthday set is gorgeous.
Jac0b is shirtless and will be for a lot of the movie. I have to remind myself that he is 17 and yes, I’m married.
Jac0b turns into a wolf!

That last one is huge. Seriously. After Twilight, everyone was really scared about the special effects and wow, wow, wow, I can not quit watching that part. Seriously, seriously amazing. If you compare that to say, the tree climbing in Twilight, it’s kind of laughable. You can even see his clothes shredding, just like in the book. And if you’d like to watch THAT a few hundred times, here you go.

New Moon the Movie and Eclipse Movie

Now, the actual reason I wanted to post…these pics of Taylor were taken in Vancouver where they shot those scenes last month. I can’t help but think Taylor was practicing to be Jac0b. Which makes me giggle a little. Can’t help it and I don’t know why.

She Dribbles, She Shoots, She Scores!

May 30, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

OK, that’s about as close to any sports talk you’ll get on this blog and I’m not even sure I said it right. And what I mean to say is I hit 50,000 words on my book! It feels GOOD to see 50,435 on my word count! Things are starting to wrap up in the book. Just a few scenes left and I ended on a good note tonight. So for now, I’m all smiles.