My favorites

You know, in my head, I write about 20 blogs every week! As I am driving down the road, I get some grand idea and I chew on it for awhile. I figure it could be good blog material, I mean, it fits all of the criteria. 1) it's something I have an opinion and 2) well, I guess 1 is all that really matters!

Yet somehow, as I sit here tonight, I find myself lacking opinions on anything. Well, at least on things I haven't already talked about. I mean, I could always talk about how I love going to the movies, how I hate Home Depot, how motherhood is challenging or how a grown man can look hip in a pink bunny costume, but then, if you wanted to read about all of that you could just look back through my blogs of days past.

So, with nothing to write about tonight, I will tell you a little bit about my favorites. Usually I tend to get stressed out when people ask me about my favorite "fill in the blank." My favorite book, song, food, etc. Because what if I forget a really good one and then realize what I told you really isn't my very favorite? How tragic! So, for my purpose tonight, I will tell you my first- favorites, that is, the things that immediately come to mind. So, with that disclaimer, here they are:

My favorite foods:
Mexican food, homemade noodles, green olives, brownies and cookie dough ice cream.

My favorite TV shows:
Reno 911, Scrubs, Greys Anatomy, Little People Big World, The Office, Deadliest Catch, The Real Deal, Dirt, Nip/Tuck

My favorite movies:
The Notebook, All of the Harry Potters, The Never Ending Story, the Princess Bride, Titanic (OK, somehow that sounds lame now, but it really was a GOOD movie!)

My favorite places:
Home, my grandma's house on a lake in Minnesota, Greece

My favorite pastimes:
spending time with my family, reading, watching movies at the theatre, exercising
boating, playing cards

My favorite books:
Anything by Dean Koontz, all the Harry Potters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Red Tent, The Poisonwood Bible

My favorite actors:
Clive Owen +++, Ewan McGregor, Edward Norton, 1980's Kirk Cameron (even though I was like 12)

My happiest moments: (watching my loved ones do great things makes me immensely happy and I could fill up my whole list with just those happy moments. But for this purpose, I will focus on my own moments)
The birth of my daughter, playing tennis with my husband when we met, beating one of my top rivals in tennis my senior year in college, playing high school basketball, playing doubles tennis with my brother at the Iowa Games, shopping with my mom, numerous misc times from my job at Simpson

Hmmm, if you think of any other "favorites" I should add, let me know!

Disappearing act

Merlin's Beard, it was another busy weekend!!! I will admit, that I totally nerded out and went to see Order of the Phoenix this weekend. (That's HARRY POTTER and the Order of the Phoenix, for you non-Potter'ites!) My goodness what a cross section of people there are, willing to pay $7 to watch a near-sighted wizard battle evil. Excitable 8-year olds, groups of giggling "tweenage" girls, the occasional teenage loner- perhaps a Potter wannabe, and of course, the "mom," who feels a little embarrassed that she is there sans kids! (Yep, that's me)

Now, that is one franchise that has mastered a brand! In fact, there are websites devoted to the science of marketing movies. One blog I enjoy reading breaks down the magic behind driving Potter fans to the big screen, and it's an interesting read!! Promotional partnerships, websites and posters are just the tip of the iceberg! As for the movie itself, from the opening scene, they pull you into the world of witches an wizards with the same grand, eery...magical (for lack of a better word?) music that they've used in previous installments. That music alone conjures up images of dark, dreary, cobwebbed castles. And I LOVE it!! Like every freckle-faced kid in the UK, I want to be attending Hogwarts, I want to be buying wands, potions and owls and I want to be riding a broom (no commentary from my husband on that one please!)

Speaking of magic, I know I pulled a disappearing act the last few weeks. I had about convinced myself to quit blogging altogether. Between family life, work, homework, laundry (ok, and the occasional Potter movie) I just felt really swamped and my days slipped away. Someone once told me that if you can't blog at least twice a week then you shouldn't blog at all. I think for a lot of bloggers that is true, I mean, the point of a blog is that it is an ongoing web interaction and you return frequently to read about new happenings. But since I am not business blogging, and since I have no real incentive, other than just to do it, I guess we'll all just have to live with the fact that sometimes I may disappear for a short while. But ABRACADABRA! I am back! Thanks for being patient and returning to my little blog, despite my absence!