Year In Review: 2013...

♥ Moving in with Justin

♥ Going to press screenings for Beautiful Creatures, Despicable Me 2, The House That Jack Built & 47 Ronin

♥ Vacationing in Cancun with Erin, Day & Chas

♥ Attending B&C and M&W's weddings

♥ Learning that I love Brussels sprouts

♥ Spending time with my family

♥ Attending LatinTRENDS 100th issue party

♥ Finally getting back to work after Hurricane Sandy

♥ Going on Phil's annual rafting trip

♥ Forming relationships that I wish I would have made earlier, better late than never

♥ Throwing my first party at my apartment

♥ Attending Lucky FABB & meeting Niki, Paulette, Emily, Jen, Charlotte, Sarah & Alicia

♥ Spending Labor Day weekend in Ocean City, MD with Erin, Day, Toni, Nick, etc.

♥ Celebrating 10 years dating Justin

♥ Discovering that I love wearing my hair down and curly

♥ Having the best friends that anyone could ever ask for

♥ Lazy days at the beach

♥ Making our apartment my own

♥ Daytripping in Atlantic City with my sister, Erin and their work peoples

♥ Having the opportunity to partner with amazing companies

♥ Seeing Stephen Lynch in concert

♥ Discovering how amazing it is having a waterproof camera

♥ Surviving knowing that I graduated high school ten years ago

♥ Scoring awesome thrift store finds

♥ Going on random day dates with Justin

♥ Having amazing readers

JANUARY (There aren't many posts because I cut my finger, had stitches & couldn't type)

♥ Chock Full o'Birthdays Weekend

♥ Overdue Archives: New Year's Eve In Instagram

♥ Twenty-Five Things That Make Me Happy

♥ Sweet Little Day

♥ Catching Up With Friends

FEBRUARY

♥ Birthday Dinners & Possible Broken Toes

♥ Getting My Craft On

♥ Nemo Found Us

♥ Beautiful Creatures Press Screening & Review

♥ Getting Ready To Go Out Playlist

♥ Bachelorette Parties & The Day After

♥ Birthday Wishlist

♥ Crap My Coworkers Actually Said

MARCH

♥ Hair Dye Makes You Nauseous

♥ Everlong

♥ Birthday Party Fail

♥ No Regrets 2013-2014 Edition

♥ Going Away Disaster

♥ Pantone Color Of The Year Wishlist

♥ Mini Rant: Driving Around The Airport

♥ Photoshoot With Erin's Cats

♥ Finally Open To The Public

♥ Update On Being Open To The Public

♥ Easter Dinner With Both Families

APRIL

♥ Day In NYC & Tickets To The Daily Show

♥ Party People In Instagram & Vine

♥ Flat Stanley & Amy

♥ Strawberry Banana Spinach Smoothie

♥ Help Me Pick Out A Dress

♥ Take Me Out To The Ball Game

♥ I Need To Stay Away From The Public Restroom

♥ Adventures In Apartment Hunting

♥ New Apartment Wishlist: Living Room

♥ Dancing By Myself

♥ Little Apartment Update

MAY

♥ Why I've Been M.I.A.

♥ Pretending To Be A Mom

♥ Cookin' Librarian: Apple & Cheese Sandwich

♥ Doctors Tending Bar For Boobies

♥ Review: Mo's Nose Series

♥ Summer Wishlist

♥ "Julia" Is Driving Me Crazy

♥ Product Review: Card From Cardstore.com

♥ B & C's Wedding In Instagram

JUNE

♥ Hospital Visits, Weddings, Birthdays, Sick People, Et Cetera

♥ Arrested Development & Frozen Bananas

♥ Talking About Horror Movies On The Radio

♥ Mini Rant: How Easy It Is To Break Victoria's Secret PINK Water Bottles

♥ Leaky Ceilings, Power Outages & Flooded Streets

♥ Bulk Air Fresheners For Litter Boxes

♥ Bilingual Story Time

♥ Best Friend Movie Date

♥ Just A Random Wishlist

♥ 50 Random Facts About Me

♥ Attempting To Interlibrary Loan A Book

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Atlantic City In Instagram

♥ The Conjuring

♥ Cookin' Librarian: Quinoa Salad

♥ Despicable Me 2

JULY

♥ Craft Demo: Painted Flower Pot

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Fourth Of July Fire Island Style In Instagram

♥ My Friend Guest Hosting On Tech Feed

♥ Sick Days

♥ All-Star Futures Game In Instagram

♥ Morning Full Of Stupidity

♥ Rafting Trip Weekend In Instagram

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Wall Art For The Renter, For Real™

AUGUST

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Breakfast Drama

♥ Photo An Hour: Stuck At Work Edition

♥ Crazy Ladies & Reading Comprehension

♥ N'SYNC Reunion? Yes Please

♥ Tech Feed News Featuring My Girl Chas

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Review: Confessions Of A Hater

♥ LatinTRENDS 100th Issue Event

SEPTEMBER

♥ Ocean City Labor Day Weekend Trip In Instagram

♥ I'm Going To Lucky FABB

♥ Taping Of Bethenny

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Did I Leave My Flat Iron On

♥ M & W's Wedding In Instagram

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Texts From Wrong Numbers

♥ New York Maker Faire

♥ 50 Random Facts About Me

OCTOBER

♥ Girls Trip To Cancun, Mexico

♥ 'The House That Jack Built' New York Premiere

♥ New York Comic Con 2013: Day One

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Stephen Lynch At The Space At Westbury

♥ If You See Something, Say Something

♥ Overdue: Rise Of The Jack O'Lanterns

♥ Overdue: Wandering Around The Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park

♥ I Haven't Even Been At Work An Hour

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Lucky FABB Conference

♥ Overdue: Sunday At Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve

♥ Kate Spade Wishlist

♥ 100% Confident To Be Awesome

♥ Halloween Beauty Look From COVERGIRL & Vidal Sassoon: Gatsby

♥ Halloween Beauty Look From COVERGIRL & Vidal Sassoon: Warrior Princess

NOVEMBER

♥ Halloween 2013 Recap

♥ Coca-Cola & HSF 'Share Possibilities' Scholarship For Hispanic Students

♥ If You Have Nothing To Say, Post Pictures Of Nella

♥ Drinkin' Librarian: Mojitos (Because I'm Cuban)

♥ Weekend Recap: Partying In NYC, Fake Thanksgiving & More

♥ Despicable Me 2 Giveaway

♥ Photo-An-Hour: Saturday, November 23rd

♥ Thanksgiving In Instagram

♥ LASIK Consultation

DECEMBER

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Dinner Date

♥ Saturday In Photos

♥ Book Review: Knock Knock My Dad's Dream For Me

♥ My Newest Coping Mechanism

♥ 47 Ronin Press Screening & An Evening In NYC

♥ 47 Ronin

♥ A Misfit For Every Season: 2013

♥ LASIK Pre-Op

• #GonnaGetCrabs • #NoDeadHookersHere • #NoHayProstitutasMuertasAquí •

• #TwerkTeamDoesCancun • #CancunLovesBadBitches • #TequilaHooker • 

• #HolaMeLlamoMcMoose • #BadBitchesLoveNYE • #TwerkTeamNYE •

• #Nella • #CubanChristmas • #ButleRiveRun •

2013 has been an interesting year to say the least. I've had all the wonderful things I've mentioned above happen, as well as some pretty shitty things. But you have to take the good with the bad and here's hoping 2014 is just as good or better than 2013.

Stay safe today and enjoy your New Year's Eve! I'll talk to you in 2014.

Week In Instagram: February 10th-16th...

Friday's Letters...

Dear Macklemore: Thank you for the song "Thrift Shop" and the video for it. I love love love it!


Dear Individual Who Pissed Me Off At Work: Just because I'm playing nice doesn't mean I forgive you or will forget what you said to me.

Dear Erin: Thank you for not flaking out on Valentine's Day like another one of our friends.

Dear Microwavable Dipping Chocolate: Why can't I microwave you more than once without you getting thick and gross? My chocolate covered strawberries looked gross after a while.

Dear Snow: Please don't stop by tomorrow. I have plans.

Dear People Who Entered My Beautiful Creatures Giveaway:  Good luck!!

Dear Followers: Thank you for being awesome!

Join up with the Friday Letters link-up over at The Sweet Season.

Beautiful Creatures Press Screening & Review...

Last night I got to attend the press screening of Beautiful Creatures (2013) in New York City at the AMC Lincoln Square. They were nice enough to let me have a plus one, so obviously I brought Erin with me because she was so awesome and patient while I attended the press conference at New York Comic Con back in October (You can read all about that here if you'd like).
 
The screening was scheduled to start around 7:00pm, so we got there a bit early to pick up our tickets, get decent seats and some popcorn to munch on during the movie. I'm glad we did because the place pretty much filled up and I don't know about you guys, but I hate sitting too close to the screen.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect since I had never done anything like this before. But it was like going to a normal movie minus the fifty million trailers before the film actually started and men in black suits with night vision equipment to make sure no one was trying to make a bootleg of the movie since it doesn't actually open in theaters until Thursday, February 14th.

So some popcorn, a large cherry Coke and 124 minutes later the movie was over and I was dying to talk to Erin about what we just watched, but she made a beeline to the restroom leaving me trailing behind. Because of this these two chicks ended up between us, and they spent the whole time on line complaining about the fact that Ethan wore "hipster" glasses and how could he have them if he was from such a small town in the south. There was at least five full minutes of "hipster" glasses commentary. I had to stop myself from interjecting and making a snarky comment about how even in Gatlin, South Carolina I'm sure they have internet access, so they can order stuff off of Amazon. Instead I kept quiet and waited to talk to Erin about the movie and mock the girls between us until we were about to walk out of the movie theater.

The verdict, both Erin and I really enjoyed the movie. I don't know if it was because we both love witchy things or what, but we agreed that it was an interesting and fun movie. Erin actually enjoyed it so much she decided that she wanted to read the 'Caster' series (I let her borrow my copy of the first book and I'm sure as you're reading this, she is reading the book). Also we are looking forward to seeing the sequels, press screening or not.
Okay, now that you kinda-sorta know about my press screening experience here is my official official review...

First I'd like to start off by noting that I'm not going to pretend like I analyzed the movie while watching it. I'm not a movie reviewer, so I wasn't watching it nitpicking or anything. I just went into it with the following in mind...

1. It's a movie based off of a young adult book series, thus it is about and geared towards teens.
2. Movies based off of books aren't always the same and to make sure to think of the movie as a separate entity.

That all being said, I absolutely adored this movie (Which I'm sure you totally didn't get from my ramblings above about the screening). It was funny, there was just the right amount of teenage angst, I cared about Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) and Lena's (Alice Englert) relationship, I love love loved cousin Ridley (Emmy Rossum) and the biggest bonus of all, there were no sparkling vampires! So, if you enjoy a little witch craft and teenage romance, I say go for it and if you do lemme know what you thought about it!

Week In Instagram: February 3rd-9th...

Beautiful Creatures Giveaway... CLOSED

Back in October I got to attend a press conference for the upcoming Warner Bros. movie Beautiful Creatures while I was at New York Comic Con and since the movie is coming out in a few weeks (February 14th to be exact) I've been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to do a Beautiful Creatures giveaway thanks to Warner Bros. and the wonderful Jennifer who found my blog and gave me the chance to do a bunch of wonderful things. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So, I'm really excited to be able to do this giveaway for you guys for Beautiful Creatures because since attending New York Comic Con I've read all four books in the series and I'm can't wait to go see the movie. But I'm sure unlike myself not all of you are familiar with the books or the upcoming movie so here is a mini synopsis and a promo for you to watch so you can get an idea about it...

Beautiful Creatures (Based on the novels by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl) tells the story of two star-crossed lovers; Ethan, a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena, a mysterious new arrival. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, history and town. As the tie between them strengthens, they become tangled in a dangerous web of spells and secrets from which there may be no escape.


Now on the the good stuff! I'll be giving away TWO (2) sets of prizes to TWO (2) lucky winners.

The First Winner Chosen Will Receive:
♥ 4x6 Paperback of Beautiful Creatures
♥ 1 Messenger Bag
♥ 1 T-Shirt
♥ 1 Bookmark
♥ 1 Poster
♥ 1 Lip Balm
♥ 1 Tattoo

The Second Winner Chosen Will Receive:
♥ 4x6 Paperback of Beautiful Creatures
♥ 1 Zip Jacket
♥ 1 Poster
♥ 1 Tattoo
♥ 1 Bookmark

Like all of my other giveaways this one will be your standard Rafflecopter type giveaway. Being a Google Friend Connect follower to this blog and leaving a comment below about the book and/or movie (i.e. - If you've read the series and liked it, if you're excited to see the movie, favorite character for those of you who've read the books, etc.) are mandatory and gain you two entries. If you wanna do everything else specified in box below you will get more chances to win! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dark Secrets Will Come To Light 

Valentine's Day 2013

••••••••••••••••• CONTEST ENDS FEBRUARY 17TH AT MIDNIGHT •••••••••••••••••

This giveaway was sponsored and all prizes were sent to me by Warner Bros. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post, just some of the same goodies the winners will receive.

Beautiful Creatures...

As I mentioned in my overview post of my second day attending New York Comic Con I had the amazing opportunity to attend the press conference for the upcoming Warner Bros. film Beautiful Creatures which is slated to open nation wide February 13th, 2013.

The film is an adaptation of Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl's southern supernatural romance series baring the same title (I haven't actually read any of the books in the series as of yet, but I have honestly heard nothing but great things about it). The movie focuses on the relationship between Gatlin, South Carolina's newest resident, outsider Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) and Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) a member of one of the small town's oldest families. There are strange powers, dark histories, etc. -- Basically all of the things that make up a great young adult supernatural romance and c'mon you know there is always room for a good supernatural romance in theaters.

Here is the official information from the one-pager I was sent before the conference...

A supernatural love story set in the South, “Beautiful Creatures” tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl.  Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

Oscar® nominee Richard LaGravenese (“The Fisher King,”“P.S. I Love You”) directs from his adaptation of the first novel in the best-selling series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  The film stars Alden Ehrenreich (“Tetro”), newcomer Alice Englert, Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons (“Reversal of Fortune”) Oscar® nominee Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Doubt”), Emmy Rossum (TV’s “Shameless”), Thomas Mann (“Project X”) and Academy Award® winner Emma Thompson (“Howard’s End,” “Sense and Sensibility”).

Erwin Stoff (“Water for Elephants”) is producing with Academy Award® nominees Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson (“The Blind Side”), Molly Mickler Smith (“Something Borrowed”) and Oscar® nominee David Valdes (“The Green Mile”). Yolanda Cochran and Steven P. Wegner are co-producing.

The behind-the-scenes team includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Philippe Rousselot (“A River Runs Through It”), production designer Richard Sherman (“Gods and Monsters”), editor David Moritz (“Jerry Maguire”) and Oscar® -nominated costume designer Jeffrey Kurland (“Bullets Over Broadway”).  Music is by THENEWNO2.

Alcon Entertainment presents a 3 Arts Entertainment/Belle Pictures Production, “Beautiful Creatures.”  Opening February 13, 2013, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

How could you not want to see a movie with a cast like that? Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and a bunch of pretty people? I don't know about you, but I'm down with it.

 

So, during the conference I got a great audio clip of the cast talking about their characters and here it is for your listening pleasure...




Here is the first official trailer for the film...

After having a chance to listen to the cast talk about the movie I honestly can't wait to see it. For now I guess I'll just have to put copies of the books on hold and gorge myself on the series once they are available.

For anyone interested in reading the series before the film comes out here are current the titles...

• Beautiful Creatures
• Beautiful Darkness
• Beautiful Chaos
• Beautiful Redemption ← This title will be released October 23rd, 2012