Aren't They Smashing?

Bill's pumpkin

My pumpkin

What d'ya think?

Eeeek!

I just saw this out of the corner of my eye on my msn homepage. It's the biggest chunk of a scene I've ever seen and I'm shaking a little. November 21st cannot get here fast enough. Sorry, I couldn't embed it. Just click the link.



'Twilight' Exclusive Clip: 'Your Theories'


Also, the tv promos have begun!! Check this one out: (I am lovin' the shot that's frozen on the screen.)



And this one, too.(If you watch closely, you get a glimpse of exactly how Hollywood takes everything and dirties it up. BELLA IN HER UNDERWEAR AS THEY'RE KISSING?! Don't recall that in the books.)

Come Out, Come Out Whoever You Are

So, you all didn't really think I'd let you off the hook that easy, did you? This game was never intended to keep you all anonymous. The idea was that you were anonymous just long enough for me to guess who you were, and then if I guessed right, great, if not, you told me who you were! The way I see it, you always knew there was a chance you would have to reveal your secret identity if random.org chose your comment. (After all, I can't send you cards if I don't know who you are! ) So you had to be at least a little willing to say who you were. Come on, are you seriously going to drive me to madness by never finding out who some of you are? And it will...it will drive me insane.

So not all of you have to step forward. I know most of you. Here are the ones I would LOVE to be filled in on:

#4
#16
#23
#30

There were a couple more that I guessed on that I still don't know if I was right, but like I said, unless you tell me otherwise I'll just assume I was.

So to the above four mystery people, I'd love to know who you are! If you are absolutely opposed to coming forward on my blog, feel free to email me. (Email addy on the sidebar) Come on, help a girl out.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

SPOILER-FREE

It's embarrassing how excited I was to see HSM3. I didn't even hide the fact that I wanted to go see it for me...oh, and my seven year old daughter could come too, if she wanted. (Actually I took both my kids--Payson loves the movies too--and saw it with Michelle and her kids, which was so much fun.)

HSM stuck to it's tried and true formula while making the transition to the big screen. I was curious if it would be different at all, being a "real movie" now. I am happy to report there was not much change. I loved the things about it that I always loved--the singing, dancing, romance, squeaky clean and incredibly trendy teenagers. I cringed at the parts I always cringed at--Gabriella's giggles, Troy's solo dances, and basically all the parts that tried so hard to be "cute." (I don't do cute.)

Zac Efron is better than ever as Troy. You can easily tell he is the only real actor in the bunch, which makes sense, since he is the only one who actually has a resume under his belt. The rest can sing and dance and smile real good, but Zac can act. I don't know how he does it, but even when he's popping and locking and doing his best impression of a boy band member, he doesn't make me squirm in my seat, embarrassed for him. He totally pulls it off, somehow. However, every rose has its thorn, and of course he had to have his angst-filled solo song and dance (remember the Bet On It scene in #2?. I gotta say this one beat that one out.)

Vanessa Hudgens is still the same sugar-coated, ultra sweet Gabriella. She's so beautiful it's sickening, with a body to die for, and she can definitely sing, but usually as I'm watching her I want to hit Troy in the head and say, "Really?" No one who giggles that much is a "freaky genius girl." Even Sharpay seems to have more inside her head than Gabriella. And I swear, if I had to hear her call Troy "Wildcat" one more time I was going to throw my diet Dr. Pepper at the screen.

The Sharpay bit wore a little thin for me the third time around, but I was pleased to see that despite the nose job, Ashley Tisdale still looked like Sharpay.

The music (which is the essence of the film, as we all know) was as good as always--catchy, fun, soon to be running incessantly through all our heads. A couple of songs were ruined for me by the dance numbers that accompanied them, but I know once I'm rocking out to the soundtrack in my minivan, I'll fall in love with them too.

Michelle and I had fun gawking at some of the wardrobe choices. You won't believe it until you see it, but Gabriella wears a dress that seriously--I kid you not--has sleeves that look something akin to these ones, only on a smaller scale:


It was a cute, flower-print dress, with total 80's sleeves. And some of Ryan's and Sharpay's ensembles were laughable. It was funny if they were going for laughs, but if not...ouch.

All in all, I walked away satisfied with the final installment of High School Musical. In fact, I almost teared up a little at the end, which really concentrated on the "finale" aspect. For starting out as someone who swore up and down they would NEVER watch such a cheesy, gag-inducing movie, I've come a long way to the not-ashamed-to-admit-it-HSM fan that I am. If you're a fan, you'll love it too.

Giveaway Results

Here are your random numbers:

7

Timestamp: 2008-10-25 21:26:44 UTC

And commenter #7 said, "Superfudge!" leaving no doubt in my mind that it was my cousin, Michelle. Yay, Michelle! Email me what kind of cards you want, being as specific as possible (theme, colors, etc.) and I will mail them to you asap.

Thanks to everyone for playing! I cannot tell you how much fun I had guessing everyone. I felt like a detective, using every clue possible to figure some of these out. So here are my guesses: (Please, correct me if I'm wrong!! If I don't hear otherwise, I'll assume I'm right.) WARNING: LONG!

#1 said, "Ahh, the long awaited 21st of November. If I win I promise to shield the butter from your beautiful face. I love free stuff, especially stuff from you. With love, Adnerb"
Adnerb spelled backwards is Brenda, and I'm not totally sure, but I'm guessing Brenda D.

#2 (caught on tape) said, "Shoot. I didn't want to be the first to comment because random.org never picks the number 1! Oh well. I'll still enter and my hint is this...why pay $4 when you can pay $52? Too easy, I know. I'll take my Thank-You cards in Twilight's color scheme, thank you very much!"
After a long time of being completely stumped on this one, I FINALLY figured out it was Kim. She always says "shoot" like that, and she's referring to our clueless moment on our Forks trip when we shot past a toll booth on a Seattle bridge without paying. What would have cost us $4 quickly turned into $52 after our law-breaking was caught on tape.

#3 said, "Horray for Twilight. Here's my hint: You wrote to Bill before you met him on my computer while I slept. Maybe that was too easy."
Okay, Melissa, I'll admit, this one was easy. I was staying at my cousins' house in Utah the week I "met" Bill online. Melissa got to sleep through my clickety-clicks all night long as we chatted. Thanks, Liss! My kids thank you.

#4 said, "I'm sure you will be wondering who I am for ages! One of my fondest memories is spending the night at your house and playing in the basement. (Hmm I can't remember what grade we were in) Anyhow, I loved your laugh it was Way better than mine and I spent the whole night trying to make my laugh sound just like yours. I never did by the way. I think it may have been the only time I stayed over... I wouldn't have invited an hysterical (on purpose no less) friend back either so no hard feelings ;)"
This one had me so stumped I went to my sister for help and she (oddly enough) reminded me of a slumber party I hosted ten years ago for the primary class of ten year old girls I taught. Which led me to guess one of the Vaughn twins--Rachel?

#5 said, "Big, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, That Thing You Do!"
This has to be Lisa S., Tom Hanks' self-proclaimed biggest fan!

#6 said, "Happy One Month Til Twilight Movie Day to you too! Can't wait. Stuart"
I confess I never did figure this one out. I wracked my brain for three days straight for what "Stuart" could possibly mean, and came up empty. Finally Jodi confessed it was her, and I couldn't believe I forgot what she and I named the mouse we set free after catching it in Kim's family room: Stuart, as in Little, of course.

#7 said, "Superfudge!"
Like I said, I knew immediately this was Michelle. One of my fondest childhood memories was sitting in my living room in the "bed" we had made out of blankets for a sleepover and taking turns reading Superfudge, back and forth, back and forth. I'm so glad you remember it too, Michelle!

#8 said, "Hmmmm.... a comment or a memory? Maybe the time I sat by MYSELF at Shari's cuz I'm too retarded to look around the restaurant for you. That was awesome. -girl who played tetris on her cell phone while friends talked in the "sunroom" at Shari's."
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess Heather B. I'm not sure, it was a tough one, but like I said, I used any clue I could get and her name and picture make me think it might be her.

#9 was Danyelle, who said, "I'm an idiot because I didn't remember to click "anonymous" with that last one. I'll try again later...you know, to keep up the anonymity." Silly Danyelle.

#10 said, "Wow, I've never been anonymous before. I have 4 kids and I teach piano and clarinet lessons. And 2 1/2 years ago, you were holding my baby while we were playing games, and you refered to his onesie as a very "yummy" color of blue. Which I agree, by the way. I'm sure you totally remember that, and I'm not 100% sure why I remember that. Maybe because 2 1/2 years later, my new baby gets to wear it..."
This is Amy M., who remembered way more details about a fun game night than I did. (Although I do remember holding your baby that night.)

#11 said, "DANG! I DO love free stuff! I like to hear all about peoples excitement for goooood movies! Hurrah! Okay, here is my memory: "Ohhhhhh I took a lick off my peppermint stick (bounce bounce) and I thought it tasted yummy (bounce bounce) oh it used to be on my Christmas tree (bounce bounce) but now it's yummy in my tummy (bounce bounce) YUM! YUM! HEE HEE HEE Good times!"
This is my cousin Aubrey, referring to a song we always sang together as kids. The "bounce bounce" parts will remain our little secret, won't they Aub?

#12 said, "Midnight walks in the snow (why can't the world still be that safe?)and running down the street in our swimsuits and towel capes, cackling like witches. Maybe you don't remember that."
Ah, Mary Ann, I can't believe you would even question me remembering this! I remember everything we did, even the cackling witches. But the midnight walks in the snow in our giant white Nikes were always the best.

#13 said, "It's the naked truth that my husband gave you a nickname when you were younger."
Yes, this would be my sister, Amy. Yes, I accidentally saw her husband naked. Yes, he used to call me Pooter. Yes, it's all things I'd rather forget.

#14 said, "Everytime we stepped into your white Escort, Amy Grant would serenade us from the radio. Today I think of it as "our" song."
Danyelle, you always talk about my iron-clad memory, and yet you remembered this and I didn't (until you mentioned it)! But now I remember how that blasted song used to come on every single time we got in my car, even though the song was six years old. Good times, good times.

#15 said, "A German, some must-have Mariah, some crazy Russians, and a road trip."
This memory made me laugh, thanks cousin Jen. All I remember about this road trip is those crazy Russian boys trying to run us off the road and the fact that we were with two people we have not and most likely will never see again (including the German).

#16 said, "humanitarian, 3 kids, a deep love for twilight, and a blogger who blogs about every 3 months."
I'm gonna guess this is Eden. (For some reason I can't open her blog to link to it.) She is the humanitarian person in our ward, she has three kids, and she doesn't blog very often. I didn't know about her love for Twilight, but she's the only person I can think of that fits this description.

#17 said, "Haven't known you long enough to have any "good ole times" stories, but I can say that I really admire you and thing you are very "cool" I knew I wanted to be your friend before I really knew you and and so glad that we are friends now. (I know it sounds cheesy, but when else can you be cheesy and nice and have no one know it's you!) -that one friend"
I obviously don't have much to go off of on this one, but I'm going to guess Brenda M. If it's not, I'm dying to know who it is!

#18 said, "i remember the "mariah" days, the "danny p" days, and i have a cute brother. too hard?"
This has to be Marisa, since she knew me well back in the day of Mariah and...ahem...ex-boyfriends. Seeing as I dated her brother, it's safe to assume I thought he was cute.

#19 said, "You like me becuase I keep you young. I think you've got the right stuff, so step by step we are becoming better friends."
Ha ha, I know exactly who this is. Andrea is my youngest friend (by about six years) who also happens to be a die-hard New Kids on the Block fan. Which is so funny to me, because I don't think she was even born yet when they were around.

#20 said, "coming to your house on a greyhound and having the feeling of 102 degrees hit me like a brick wall as i stepped off the urine soaked bus to jump in your moms BMW - how cool! i always slept in your room (thanks!) and dreampt that your mom would take me in for good 'cause she was the closest thing to my mom i knew."
This is my cousin Noelle, who often left her moss-covered, rain-soaked home to come visit us in the summer. I idolized her, and HATED the fact that she liked my brother better than me.

#21 (Rusty Shackelford) said, "The time I saw you and your hubby out ring shopping back in 2000. It was the first day you two had ever seen each other. Or playing basketball with about 20of us in front of your house about 17 years ago. So what is this Twilight business anyway? Is it going to be better than HSM 3? I doubt it."
Is this The Don? I remember the first memory I have of you was you playing b-ball with all the cousins in my front yard. I thought you were a new guy to hit on until I learned you were my cousin. I have no memory of running into you while ring shopping, but since we were engaged at the same time, maybe you were looking at rings too. Oh, and btw, it was like, the second day we had seen each other. (Who is Rusty Shackelford?)

#22 said, "I like free stuff. I remember sitting on your couch with my fiancee meeting you for the first time. You were chatting I was laughing my guts out!"
I'm thinking this is Nan. Although I don't remember this, it would make sense that you were on my couch with your fiancee, and "guts" seems like a word you would use. Also, I'm pretty sure you like free stuff.

#23 (eavesdropper) said, "eavesdropping."
Okay, obviously I have no way of knowing who this is, but using my detective skills, I sort of cheated and looked at my stat counter. It only ever shows two blogs other than my own, and this one just happened to show one at the same time this comment was left--so...I'm gonna guess Amy O.?

#24 said, "BUNCO gone wild!!!! I like to add random points to my recent score sheet!"
This has to be Kristen H., who almost won our last Bunco game by adding 100 extra points (unknowingly) to her score sheet. Luckily, none of us believed her and made her check, and the error was quickly fixed. But we got a good laugh. She's a good sport.

#25 (Newborn) said, "You are my resident Twilight expert and...you owe me a movie :)"
She could have just put "Newborn" and I would have known it was Marilyn. The newest Twilight addict, we have been having in-depth discussions about Twilight via email. Oh, and I still haven't taken her to the movie she won on my birthday giveaway. I can't believe I just admitted that.

#26 said, "Haven't known you as long as some of the rest, But our chats are always among the best. Movie watching keeps us both super happy, though I'm a crier and you're just not that sappy. Email is our preferred choice of communication, an endless back-and-forth (who's next?) conversation. I'd take credit for your total Twilight obsession, but apparently I rank low on your book recommendations. So silly and fun and real and true, Thanks for the friendship...is that enough clues?"
This has to be Shayla, my fellow emailer, movie addict, Twilight fanatic, book worm, etc. But why do you think you rank low on my book recommendations? This was SUCH a great poem I LOVED it.

#27 said, "We were in a competition together and we both wanted to win. You and I were the fiercest competetors by far. I didn't win."
Kristen G., are you still bitter? We sure did rock that giveaway of Kim's, didn't we? But I can't remember, who actually won it? Oh, yeah, I DID! Were you comment #28, too?

#29 said, "Happy One Month till Twilight! I can't believe it's only a month away. Maybe I will see you again at midnight for the Twilight movie, like the night Breaking Dawn was released! Only this time I'm leaving my makeup and dress behind..."
This could only be Ashley H., someone who just may out-rank me when it comes to Twilight Superfan, even dressing up at the Breaking Dawn release party.

#30 said, "When Lishy was at the Water Park, she went on all the rides. She swam in all the swimming pools and slid down all the slides. She ran around and shouted out, “This place is really cool!” But Lishy turned red when someone said, “Your suit is in the pool!”
Alright, the one person who has me completely stumped. Will the unknown poet please come forward? This has to be someone who knew me as a SMALL child because not only do they know my childhood nickname, but they remember something that I have no memory of. If this happened any time after I was, say, 8, I'm sure I would have remembered it. Like, say, scarred for life. So my only guesses are Tami M.? Rachel H.?

Whew! That took forever and a day. Again, thank you SO MUCH for playing. I had a blast. I seriously recommend doing this on your blog, it's so much fun. Plus, I want to play next time.

Don't Forget

Don't forget to comment on my giveaway post if you haven't already. The deadline is tonight at midnight, I'll be posting the winner tomorrow, along with my guesses at all the anonymous commenters! I can't wait. Some of these have me so stumped it's been making me crazy, but I think I've figured most of them out. Check back tomorrow!

THIS WEEK IN HOLLYWOOD

I can't believe it! Celebrities read my blog! And not only do they read it, but they obviously take what I say to heart. The proof is in the pictures:

Katie Holmes and Suri

Look at those newly trimmed bangs! She can actually tell it's
a cupcake she's eating. Although now she'll also be able to see
the scary guy following them. (Let's hope it's a bodyguard.)

Shia LaBeouf

Aw, now I feel bad. I've obviously given
him a complex about his spittle-covered lower
lip and now he tucks it in in embarrassment.
It's okay, Shia, you let that shiny lip out, I won't
say anything else about it, I promise.

Matthew McConaughey

I made a plea for no more pictures of Matthew shirtless,
playing some kind of sport. My wish was granted, and
instead we were all blessed with this shot of Matthew
wearing a shirt (j.k. livin', of course) cleaning out the
crap hose of his RV. Thanks for this gem, guys.



These celebrities obviously don't read my blog:


Portia de Rossi and Ellen Degeneres

Portia--apparently you didn't get my memo--
I'm seeing way too much of the red country plaid.


Mischa Barton

She has the nerve to launch a new line of these
rockin' headbands. Seriously, does her stylist
hate her? Somewhere Nicole Richie is celebrating
that her heinous trend is catching on.

Minnie Driver

Minnie, despite what Mary Kate
thinks, pants are a good thing.