It's a Rocky world out there

I had never seen any of the Rocky movies before.  I might have known that Sylvester Stallone was the star, but there is a much better chance that I didn't even know that. 

So Eric, of course, decided that he should remedy the situation by putting all 5 (6?) Rocky movies, in order, on our Netflix queue (random tangent -- congratulations*, Netflix, for putting BBV out of business!!), and having me watch each and every bloody one of them.  Let me tell you how thrilled I was when the first one showed up in our mailbox.

Better yet, let me tell you how thrilled I was to know how awesome these movies are!  Trust me, I was very (VERY) surprised.  I don't really like boxing all that much, and Stallone has never been a favorite actor of mine.  He's Rambo, right?  Yeah, I can do without that.  I basically intended to watch the first movie just to hear him say "ADRIENNE!!" and to hear the Gonna Fly Now theme, since those are the only two things I ever knew about the movie, and thought it would be pretty cool to hear them for myself.  I didn't think I'd actually end up liking the Rocky character, and caring about what happened to him.  I certainly didn't expect to cheer.  The last movie that made me jump up and cheer was Grindhouse. -- I did expect to cry some, since I usually do at movies, but I didn't.

Now we've watched movies 1-4, and I've eagerly awaited each one.  I've thoroughly enjoyed 1-3, and found 4 to be a bit cheesy what with the big Russian guy and all.  Maybe I just don't care much for big, muscley, Russian men named 'Dolf.'  Oh, and that robot.  That robot just put it OVER THE TOP (haha?).  Anyway, we should get the 5th but not final Rocky movie today or tomorrow.  If we get it today, Netflix is amazingly awesome.  If we get it tomorrow, Netflix is pretty cool.  I'll be sure to let you know how that turns out.












*Congratulations:  I learned to spell this word by watching Full House when I was a kid.  There is an episode where Uncle Joey is supposed to audition for some TV show (I think the surfing kangaroo one).  So Uncle Jesse goes out and gets him a cake that says "Congrats Joey."  But Danny Tanner asks, "well, we don't know if he got the part.  What if he doesn't get it?"  And Jesse says "Oh.  Well, we'll just fix it to say 'rats Joey.'  As a kid I thought it was brilliantly hysterical.  As an adult, I'm happy to know how to correctly spell congratulations, and can't stand the graduation pun 'congraduations.'  Really?  Improper spelling AND a lisp?  Surely you jest. 





Oh wait, you do.  It's a pun.  I know.  I get it.  It's just not funny.

Cool People Get This

If you don't get it, it doesn't mean you're not cool.  But you are cooler now for having seen it.

Corral the Chorales

I miss singing with a group a LOT, so I started searching for a group to join.  I discovered that different counties or cities have their own chorales.

I looked at Reston Chorale, which consisted of fairly expensive membership dues, plus you have to buy all the music, the robe, and all this other stuff . . . not to mention you have to audition and all that jazz.

So I figure, let's check out Loudoun Chorale.  Here I find the dues are not even 1/4 as expensive, open membership (no audition), rehearsals are on the weekend, not a weekday.  This is much more my style -- it doesn't seem nearly as pretentious.

So, we'll see how it goes -- I'm going to go on Sunday to see what's up.

8 Months!

Cassy turned 8 months old yesterday!  We receive a newsletter called 'First Steps' from a lady from our church who works with children, and the newsletter details out what to expect from an 8 month old, what kinds of toys/how to play with an 8 month old, etc. etc. -- and just nice parenting tips.  For the first time, I think everything in that newsletter was already accomplished by Cassy during her 7th month.  So, I'm probably going to just read the 9 month newsletter to see what she really has in store for her.

I can't believe this kid.  In the same week she went from crawling to pulling herself up into a standing position.  She's actually really good at lowering herself back down again into a seated position.  She feeds herself little Gerber puffs, but I'm still wary of trying chunkier foods because she has just the two bottom teeth.  So we've been playing a lot with fresh bananas, which she can still mash pretty easily, but are also chunkier. 

Cassy loooooves the outdoors.  A neighbor recently gave us one of those turtle sandboxes, so Eric went out and got some play sand.  Cassy will happily sit and run her fingers through the sand, and squeals with delight if you bury her feet so she can wiggle them out again.  She enjoys her walks around the neighborhood, or just lounging in the hammock with Eric and me, watching the breeze blow the trees.

Cassy is still just all smiles.  She started saying 'Mamamama' just last Friday (success!!), so we've got the D, M, L, and B sounds down.  And the vowel sounds, of course.

* * *

Lots to do over the next few weeks:

Get together this weekend
Family camping trip + apple picking the following weekend
Amanda and Cary's 5k in Leesburg the weekend after that
Dylan's 21st BIRTHDAY!!!!  and Fireball Open The weekend after that
Philly Oct 22-24
Maddy's 3rd birthday + our 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! on Oct 30
Cassy's first halloween (yes, I ordered her costume!) on Oct 31

Courtney, when is the chili party?  I need to get that down, too :-)

AGT FINALE TONIGHT!

I cast (casted?) my vote(s) for Fighting Gravity last night.  I hope they take the spot.

Even though I figured he would be 3rd despite him being my second favorite act, Prince Poppycock put in a very poor showing last night.  He has a good voice, yes, but he is a showman!  And last night was only song.  And it was boring song.  Hhhmmm.  Michael Grimm, on the other hand, performed a fantastic rendition of 'when a man loves a woman' -- which I thought was a brilliant song choice.  I mean, who hasn't heard that song?  And he sang it *so well* that people would easily be able to tell how well he did, just because of how well-known that song is.  I think (think, mind you) -- that Grimm might actually find himself in third place, behind FG and Jackie Evancho. 

The Fall of the House of Hokie (?)

We're simply not stepping it up this season, so far.  Already a week into the season, and we're sporting a not-so-nifty 0-2 record, with losses to Boise St. (note:  Boise is NOT A STATE!) and JMU.

I didn't so much mind the loss to the Broncos.  They were ranked higher and all that, and we made it a game.  In our fashion, we lost the game in the last few minutes after holding a lead through the entire second half.  So, yeah, none of that is surprising.  I think Eric quoted some stat to me where Tech hasn't beaten a top ten school in however many years.  So, Magic 8 Ball, will the Hokies lose to Boise?  All signs point to YES.

JMU though, that was a killer.  When a school is better known for their marching band than for their football team, they have no reason to beat an initially ranked top 10 school.

Or do they?

A friend and JMU grad supposed maybe it's not that Tech isn't as good as everyone thinks this year, but that JMU is actually better than everyone thought.  That made me feel a little more at ease -- because it's not like it's impossible that JMU could never have a decent football team.  If that's the case, best of luck to them!  It would be nice to have a ranked school closer to NoVA than Blacksburg and UVA to get to to support those Hokies.

However, on the flip side, it's not like it's impossible that VA Tech could lose it's grasp on football.  Certainly the Hokies have ruled with an iron fist for the past decade.  Maybe not winning championships, but always succeeding at getting to bowl games.  Always being ranked.  Always being talked about.  That definitely shows for something.  But what if that momentum is slowly declining?  The coaching staff seems to be stagnating.  The fresh talent we bring to the team never seems to be 'the' talked about super star.  Magic 8 ball, Was losing to JMU a wake up call for the season, or could this very well be the start to the fall of the house of Hokie?  . . . Ask Again Later.

Kickoff in the Capital!

After knowing each other for nearly 10 years . . . being married for nearly six of them! . . . Eric and I FINALLY made it to our first Hokies football game together!

First, we tailgated with Team Silverthorn

Then, watched some crazy H-O-K-I-E-S HOKIES! action

And although the Hokies lost, we had an AWESOME time!

(not to mention, it was pretty cool attending the game as an alumna :-))

AGT Picks

AGT top four prediction, in order:

1st - Fighting Gravity
2nd - Jackie Evancho
3rd - Prince Poppycock
4th - Grasso (my dark horse pick)

Honestly, I'd like Jackie to be out of the running simply because of her age.  I don't think having a Vegas headline act is suitable for someone so young.  I really don't like the child acts at all, for the same reason (sorry Anna and Patrick).  If I could rewrite the regulations for AGT, I'd split it into two categories:  America's got Vegas for adults, and America's got Talented Kids for anyone under 18.  But, that's not how it is, and Jackie is obviously  the most vocally talented and captivating person out there.  So, I'm sure she'll be in the running -- just, behind Fighting Gravity (GO TECH GO!) :-)

Bird is the Word

Cassy's current favorite animal is a bird -- be it goose, grouse, turkey, or chicken. 

Introduction to Mash Ups

I love puns.  LOVE them.  I actually consider them a mark of intelligence.  So naturally I would take two things that I love and mash them up into what my brother-in-law termed "Mash Ups."  Illustrated puns, if you will.  I'll post them from time to time, basically whenever someone mentions a concept I draw it out.  Sometimes they're not true puns, just funny drawings . . . like the time I drew a unicorn biting the head off of a leprechaun.  It sounds morbid, but the sun was smiling so that made everything ok.  Anyway, here's a Mash Up to start us off:
                                         

Enjoy!

And, here I am

I joined the ranks of blogspot bloggers because I was tired of having to log in to LiveJournal, then visit C's and E's pages separately.  Then K joined blogspot.  Plus, I think it will be easier to keep up with Google-enforced blogdom.  Sorry LJ, you're something like a dinosaur now . . . which is sad, because I really like dinosaurs.