Amy J. Bennett

American Idol: Top 7

April 14, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

I was overall disappointed with this week. The show was rushed and you could hardly tell it was even Cinema week.

Allison – I don’t think Allison did enough with this song. I’m no music expert but it sounded too breathy, not enough umph and grit to it. Or something. Maybe holding back. It wasn’t BAD just not great.

Anoop – I LOVE Everything I Do. Love. it. One of my all time favorite love songs. I think this is just one of those songs that you can’t touch to me. Again, I don’t know if it was BAD, just didn’t blow me away.

Adam – Oh man, the manic Adam was back and I just do not care for that Adam.

Matt – This Bryan Adams song might be my OTHER all time favorite love songs. I remember having it on cassette tape and playing it over and over. Man, I love that song. But poor Matt. I think he had the right idea but he just didn’t deliver. Vocals were a mess.

Danny – Loved this. He did falter ona few notes at the beginning but about halfway through to the end, I loved it. Loved the falsetto notes. He had big notes but didn’t growl too much. And you just can’t top how he connects to a song.

Kris – Loved, loved, loved this. It wasn’t a perfect vocal but I LOVE that song and I think it was a perfect fit for Kris. Definitely back into the game.

Lil – No, no, no. I did not like what she did with that song.

Bottom two tonight were Lil and Matt hands down.

Kris and Danny were my favorites.

Easter Weekend 2009

April 13, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

This weekend was one of those weekends where we had so much going on that I needed to blog about that I didn’t have time to blog about it and now it’s so much I don’t want to blog about it. But alas, I do want to share what we did.

Friday’s visit with tv guy and his wife turned out to be a fun evening. They ended up staying until almost midnight just chatting. He is a former Marine and wanted to be an officer and he’s also a somewhat techy guy so you can imagine we all had a lot to talk about.
Saturday was a great Saturday. The girls got in bed with us and watched cartoons. We haven’t done that in forever.
We had to scramble though when I found out the church’s Easter egg hunt/pizza party started at 10. We’re going to have to work on strategy for next year. Lexi ran but she followed a crowd and Emma froze and would barely let go of me long enough to pick one up.
When we got done with that, we stopped at Lowe’s to get some flowers. It was a gorgeous day and I spent the next two hours planting flower pots. I have to say, I’m horrible at keeping plants alive but I LOVE to plant them. I get in some weird relaxed zone. I don’t check the time or worry about what else is going on.
We got cleaned up and headed to the mall. I needed to exchange some tennis shoes for Emma and pick up some Easter shoes for them. I ended up finding my white suit for Easter on sale at Penney’s for $50!
We called my family and had them meet us at Buca di Beppo. The restaurant has been there forever and everyone I talk to says it’s delicious but we have never made the leap and tried it. And wow, am I glad we did. We had Apple gorgonzola salad, fettucine, proschuitto chicken and their quattro dish. Seriously the best Italian we’ve ever had.
Emma developed a fever and headache during dinner so we stayed in the rest of the night while I ran around gathering up our last minute Easter presents. I tried to buy myself a cord to go from my Mac to the TV but they were out.
Sunday was a gorgeous day for Easter. Emma was really excited to get her bike and Lexi loved her movies. Since Emma had been sick all night we didn’t go to Sunday School so we spent the morning watching Tale of Despereaux.
After church was Easter dinner at IL’s. We took the girls’ bikes and ended up pulling some old bikes out of their building. Scott and I rode with the girls for a while after lunch. I hadn’t ridden a bike in years. It felt really good though and made me miss cycling class.
We spent the evening over at my parents. The girls played in their new sand box, we ate dinner and then did some biking over there. Emma had her first big bike fall. She started going down the hill pretty fast, started to break and then scared herself and went off the bike near the side of the road. She skinned her knee and hands and then refused to ride the rest of the day. She seemed comforted to know how many times I had fallen off my bike learning to ride and says she’ll ride, but not on Grandma’s street anymore! I have to admit, it’s a pretty big hill for a beginner.
Lexi was getting homesick by then and I have to admit the homebody in me was ready to crash at home. We put in Lexi’s other movie, Marley and Me until bedtime.

Whew. So yeah, busy weekend. And this week is Spring Break for us. The girls have been playing really well together this morning, although making a huge mess of the house.

Weekend Randomness

April 10, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’ve spent a lot of this week on “Vintage Amy”. Here’s some randomness from real life this week and upcoming weekend.

Looks like I’m going to Indianapolis for work the first week in May. We’re doing a big system conversion in November and we’re doing a bunch of design stuff all week with the vendor. I’m just looking forward to the King size bed and free WIFI in my OWN ROOM. Lexi on the other hand is not so excited. I told the girls I’d be gone and she said, “No, Mommy, stay home.” She’s such a mommy’s girl. I know she’ll do fine though.
Scott signed us up for dinner guests tonight. Some guy my parents know is going to do something to our new TV to make it better. And that’s all I know. I’m just cooking the chicken fajitas.
The girls have an egg hunt tomorrow at church. Hopefully the weather will clear up and they can have fun with that. They are at a great age for that. I still remember my grandmother having one every year for all my cousins.
Sunday we’ll be going to church and then eating the rest of the day between our parents’ houses.
I got done with our youth group’s web site! Just need final approval and will put it out soon! Yay!
That new Southland show was crazy. I described it on Twitter like COPS on crack. Very gritty but there’s some sort of reality trainwreck quality to it that makes you keep watching. Ryan Atwood is good in it. He will keep me watching if nothing else.
I’m really liking the new Dollhouse show. I got caught up with it this week and really hope ratings improve so it will get another season.
We got XM Radio this week. Loving the online version. Waiting on some accessories to get the set hooked up in the car. To use the “built-in” features for Honda, it would cost $475 for the setup. No thanks.
Still working on my non-novel. I’m sitting at 41,540 words right now. I think I can hit 50,000. And for those of you who have read this far, here’s another excerpt. And for the record, it’s REALLY hard posting these. Partly because I haven’t gone back to edit it but mostly because I don’t want to give anything away!

“I’ve just made this worse. I shouldn’t have…” I got up and pulled away as he still was holding my arm. He let me go without saying anything else. I could see when I left he had one hand on his waist and the other was holding his head with his other hand. I was so selfish. I was torturing us both for no reason. I needed him to get over me and having him say that was unfair to both of us. Part of me was relieved. Relieved and happy that his feelings hadn’t changed. That they seemed as strong as ever. But part of me was even more heartbroken that they hadn’t. That mine hadn’t. That we were stuck in this situation. I stopped in at the lady’s room, let the door shut and leaned against the wall and squeezed my eyes shut, making a few more tears fall and catch on my shirt. I put my hands up at my chest and felt my own heart. Still a 180.

The Unknown Picture

April 10, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

I wish I could explain this picture. It makes me feel very old knowing that I was at some event that made me cry and I can not remember why. I only can tell you a few things about this picture.

This was either my sophomore or senior year. Based on the clothes, hair, braces, etc I’d say sophomore. I also had Mrs. Morgan (shown) for English AP my senior year so it could totally be then too. I told you, I’m old and don’t remember this picture.

I can tell you it looks like Mrs. Morgan was giving me some type of recognition. As I said, the only one related to writing was the Southern Sampler I posted yesterday but that was my senior year so maybe I got an award I don’t remember.

I can tell you this was my high school library.

Also, I can tell you my lips look like this

pic courtesy of Sass

There are some things it’s ok not to remember. That red lipstick is one of them.

Lover’s Leap: My First and Only

April 9, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

There is a cliff above some railroad tracks in Maryland called Lover’s Leap. Once upon a time, two Indians jumped together in a Romeo and Juliet kind of move from Lover’s Leap. When I was a Senior in high school, I wrote a short story about it. Our local university, the same one where I went to college, picked my story to be featured in their Southern Sampler book.

Heather has always made fun of this story because in it one of the girls is killed by a tree that was hit by lightning. I guess it sounds ridiculous to her because she belly laughs every time it is mentioned.

Lover’s Leap is the first and only time I’ve ever had any creative writing published. If you click on the bottom two pics, you can link to a large version of the file to read it. I won’t say it’s worth your time but I can say it was worth mine.

Check out Melissa’s post about, well, I don’t know what she wrote about except how she hated a high school English teacher. LOL

It’s always the little things

April 8, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

Scott spent yesterday putting out new mulch. Instead of spending the money on getting it delivered, he spent $10 and got a higher grade mulch. I couldn’t quit staring at it yesterday it made me so happy. The yard looks so much better and ready for some spring flowers!

A lot of technology on one little desk

April 7, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

Now I just need this!

American Idol Top 8

April 7, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

I love when my posts get shorter each week with one less contestant. My brain can keep up with all the contestants better. And I don’t have to type so much.

Danny -When he started out at the mic stand and it was a slow song, I got a little nervous. Sometimes he falls off notes when he’s singing slow and low. But he did well with it. I loved that he got out from behind the mic and gave it some soul during the chorus. And the ending was great. I think the mix of ballad and up tempo song worked for him. Definitely one of my favorites vocally in recent weeks.

Scott – I did not enjoy this. He was off in several parts and once again found myself bored.

Lil – Lil can sing, I’ll give her that. But so can most of the other contestants. Lil is really hurting right now by not showing she can make a song unique.

Kris – I was really starting to like Kris and think that he could potentially win or be Top 3 but another performance like that and he’ll be out sooner than Top 3. The song was weird and his vocals were not that great. I think he needs to stick to ballads.

Anoop – Anoop sang well but I felt like the song was a little too safe. Nothing American Idol-ish about that.

Matt – Loved tonight’s performance. I was nervous when they announced his song but I think all his runs and his soul vibe fit right in.

Allison – I absolutely love that Bonnie Raitt song so it would be hard for her to make me hate it but I thought she did a fantastic job.

Adam – I had to watch Adam sing twice but I have to say, that was awesome. Love that he had very little makeup on and he sat in a chair. When Adam tones himself down and actually shows us his voice instead of all that other weird stuff about him, he does great.

My favorites in order tonight were Adam, Danny and Matt

Those in trouble: Scott, Anoop, Lil

Who should go: Scott