Happy Birthday Richard Gere!

If you read my blog at all you know I am totally obsessed with Richard Gere! Can you blame me...he is absolutely GORGEOUS! Yum! Anyway today is his 61st birthday! And seriously I think he is cuter than EVER! :)

I say it a million times...he just keeps getting better with age!
And seriously...hot...huh?! To me he is the sexiest man alive (second to my husband of course)!

I wanted to send RG a gift for his birthday, but apparently you cannot send yourself through the mail! That makes me sooo sad! :(

And plus I think it would take a little more than just three stamps to mail myself! ;) And a lot more bubble wrap! So I guess he'll have to come to my house if he wants his gift! ;)

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today is a double post day! For my movie review look at the post below. Today's Monday was very eventful. My oldest son Benjamin started Kindergarten today! He was very excited!

Here he is, trying to adjust to the sun, all decked out in his Star Wars gear! Star Wars shirt, Star Wars book bag, and Star Wars lunchbox! lol We are starting to live in a Star Wars house...it is everywhere! lol
Here's me and Ben before I dropped him off at school.
Daddy and Ben!
Ben getting ready to walk into school!
Posing for a picture...as he was walking into school he got a little nervous. You could just see it in his face.
My little boy is growing up sooo fast! He had a really great day today and he's looking forward to going back tomorrow!
Come back for tomorrow's post...it's Richard Gere's birthday! :)

Movie Monday- First Knight

Today's movie review is of the 1995 movie "First Knight."
Richard Gere plays the character "Lancelot," and Sean Connery plays the character of "King Arthur." To be very honest with you this is the second time I tried watching this movie, and it's sooo hard for me to pay attention! lol I don't like "knight" or "pirate" movies so I cannot concentrate while watching it! lol

To me it's like watching a foreign movie...without subtitles! lol But from what I have watched and understand...Lancelot (Richard Gere) rescues Guinevere from a runaway carriage. He quickly falls in love with her, but she is soon marrying King Arthur (Sean Connery).

Guinevere is kidnapped and Lancelot rescues her again and takes her back to King Arthur. King Arthur is impressed by Lancelot and gives him a space at his "Round Table" at his kingdom of Camelot. Guinevere, who is struggling with her feelings for Lancelot, gets upset when he decides to leave. They kiss goodbye passionately as King Arthur walks in and discovers them. Then this is where it becomes blurry to me lol....both Lancelot and King Arthur declare their love for Guinevere. Somehow they are both put on trial and a character of "Malagant" comes to Camelot and wages War.

It ends with King Arthur dying and telling Lancelot to take care of her (meaning Camelot and Guinevere).

I am so sorry for the confusing movie review, but I couldn't follow this movie easily. It's not the movies fault, it's just that it's not my kind of movie to watch! lol

I normally don't like the shaggy hair RG look! It's what I call his "Fraggle Rock" look, but for some reason in this movie it really works for him! I think it's his sword fighting skills or how he looks very dirty and unkept...but it sooo works! lol

I give him a 6 on the Richard Gere hotness scale! I love the fact that he knows how to use a sword & he rides and rescues her on a black horse!

Here is one of my favorite clips from the movie. You can watch it here.

I totally recommend this movie, if it's the type of movie you like. I just get lost when I hear words like "Round Table" and "Camelot" and things like that! lol

Make sure that you check out my post tomorrow...it's Richard Gere's 61 birthday! :) I have a funny post tomorrow for you to read! ;)

POTD: Fall Soccer Season

Ben's Fall soccer season has officially begun! He had his first practice on Friday night, and he is soo excited! He had the summer off from soccer, and he definitely missed it! And I missed it too! It's so fun watching the little ones play...they are sooo into it!
He is growing up so quickly! Tomorrow is his first day of Kindergarten! We are both sooo excited! I'll post photos from his first day- plus I'll try to do my "Movie Monday" as well! These weeks are just going by soo quickly! Before I know it he will be graduating from high school!

POTD-Tricycle & Summer Memories

Here is a photo of my youngest son Alexander...riding his tricycle on one of our camping trips! This photo was taken at my parent's camp, and my boys love going there every summer!

This is probably the last summer that they will have their camp. My parents are thinking of selling it. I am so thankful that my boys went their every summer so they have these wonderful memories as I did as a little girl. This was my thirty-second year of going there! It is such a wonderful relaxing place!

In a few years, once I start my career, I am hoping to get my own cabin so we have a place to go to and make our very own summer memories! :)

Movie Monday: Mr. Jones

This week's movie review is of the 1993 movie "Mr. Jones."
Richard Gere plays the character known as "Mr. Jones" a man who is manic depressive. Mr. Jones is a very charming man full of energy at one moment and totally depressed and suicidal the next.

Mr. Jones is hospitalized when he first meets the beautiful psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth 'Libbie' Bowen (played by Lena Olin). Mr. Jones has a habit of not taking his medication and his life begins to unravel. He does a bunch of crazy things and that puts him into mandatory hospitalization.

Dr. Bowen is his doctor and the two of them begin to form a relationship which eventually jeopardizes Dr. Bowen's career. Will she lose her career for Mr. Jones?

After one of his crazy behaviors this is Mr. Jones strapped down to a table ready to be medicated. It is ironic though...this is probably the same photo that I would take with my camera if RG was at my house! lol ;) HA HA!

Favorite quote of the movie:

Dr. Bowen: "Mr. Jones, you have a disease. Manic-depressive disorder. Its like having diabetes."

Mr. Jones: "No sh**! And here I thought I was just having a bad day!"

Sorry for the short review. This was just an ok movie in my opinion. Definitely worth watching, but not one of my favorites.

I give it a Richard Gere hotness rating of a 5. Yeah I know...a low rating...what is wrong with me?! lol But in the early 90's he had that long shaggy hair that made him look like one of the muppets on Fraggle Rock! lol And that is not attractive to me. His hair was gray, which is a plus so maybe I'll bump the hotness rating to a 5.5! :)

Other than that it was just an average RG movie...not great and not bad either.

Back To School Tree-Mini Tutorial

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over! My oldest son Ben starts Kindergarten this year and we're very excited! I wanted to celebrate this event, so I decorated a pencil tree in a "back to school" theme!
This will be my first mini tutorial. I guess it's not really a tutorial, but just some helpful tips to help you decorate your own back to school tree on a budget.

Here are some basic supplies. I forgot to take a photo of my ribbon. I used about two spools of ribbon. One that had polka dots, and the other, which is my favorite ribbon, looks like a ruler! Very cute for a back to school themed tree! :)

Besides ribbon, you'll need a box of chalk (12 count), 2 bags of mini chalkboard ornaments (found at Joann's), 2 rulers, and a white gel pen for writing on the mini chalkboards. You could also use white acrylic paint, but I found the gel pens are much easier to write with.

In the above photo notice the pink marks on the ruler. That is where my husband cut the ruler in three places. He cut right above the three ring binder holes. We cut it this way so we could skip the step of drilling a hole in the ruler to hang it from. This way is quicker and your ornament is ready to string with ribbon immediately!

In the photo below is the cut rulers, but really you only need about two. Each ruler makes three ornaments, and I found that six was enough to decorate the tree adequately. The rulers were $.50 a piece at Walmart. Just a little tip.... before you cut the ruler, use pliers to remove the metal strip that is along the long edge of the ruler.

I also made salt dough pencil ornaments to decorate the tree. A great recipe for salt dough ornaments can be found here. It's amazing what salt, flour and water can make!

This recipe was enough for about 10 ornaments. Plus I actually made two cupcake ornaments as well in the batch. So you can get about 12 small ornaments out of the batch. They were fairly easy to make. I just rolled a ball of dough into a log and pinched and rolled the end of it to make a pencil point. I then took a butter knife and made the groves of the pencil and stuck a wire in for hanging. They baked in the oven, came out cooled and then I painted them in about an hour! Easy peasy! :) Before I painted them my husband said: "They don't look like pencils!" I kind of agreed, but I had a vision in my head, and I'm sooo glad that I didn't abandon the craft! I love how they turned out! Very stubby and cute!

I painted them with several coats of acrylic paint and left them to dry. After they were completely dry I rubbed on a stain and then sprayed them with a clear coat of varnish. When they were completely dry (front and back) I tied on a ribbon to complete the look. I just love how they turned out!

I topped the tree with a faux apple that I got at Joann's, but you could also use the kind from the Dollar Tree. They are cheaper at the Dollar Tree and in my opinion the same quality. To get it to sit on the top of the tree, I hollowed out the apple with a pair of scissors. You could also use a knife, but be very careful. They are usually made of foam, so they are rather easy to hollow out. You don't need to make a very big hole, just keep trying it out and see what fits on your particular tree.

I also used this method with the small faux pumpkins that you can find around Halloween. They make a cute topper for a Fall themed tree!

The little chalkboards that I mentioned came from Joann's craft store. They are very inexpensive and come in a package of three for $1.49. They are 2"x3" in size and you can do soo much with these! I used six on my tree and wrote things like "1 +1=2" and "CAT" and the boy's names. The added bonus is that these are already ornaments and are ready to hang instantly! I love when I can accomplish something quickly!

Like I mentioned above I used a white gel pen to write on the chalk boards. I'm sure if you had one of those cool chalk pens you could probably do the same thing, but wipe it right off instead! I am sooo drooling over those chalk pens, I hope to buy some someday! I have used white acrylic paint in the past on the chalkboards, but it's a lot harder to write nicely with a paint brush! The plus side to using gel pens is that if you mess up you can quickly wipe it off with a damp papertowel!

Here is a look of the chalkboard ornament hanging on the tree.

I also mentioned that I used a box of 12 count white chalk. Yes this is real chalk. It's inexpensive and looks super cute hanging on the tree! A 12 count pack of chalk from Walmart is $.74! I just used ribbon to tie on it and make into an ornament! You could probably cut the chalk in half and get 24 ornaments out of the box, but I found 12 was sufficient enough for my tree. Here is the chalk and ruler ornaments.
Here is a photo of one of my salt dough pencil ornaments.
I put my pencil tree in a basket, covered the base with yellow fleece fabric, and threw in some faux apples to complete the look of my back to school tree! I think it would look super cute filled to the max with apples, but that would be quite expensive since each apple costs $1.00. These apples are from the Dollar Tree. I hope they also come back out with the tiny apple ornaments that they had last Christmas. Those would be a cute addition to the back to school themed tree!

Joann's had a box of mini apples that would have been cute as ornaments, but at $5.00 a box I thought I'll wait until the ones from the Dollar Tree comes out and save them for next year! I suppose that I could have used my 40% off coupon, but I left it at home! :(

And here is a look at the completed "Back to School"themed tree, lit up, and made on a budget! :)
School starts here on August 30th. Stay tuned for my "Back to School" themed dinner that I have planned for Ben! I have a lot of cute ideas!

I am linking up with some cool blog parties. Check out many awesome projects at House of Hepworths, Strut Your Stuff Thursdays at Somewhat Simple, Craft-O-Maniac Mondays, and Skip to My Lou.

Movie Monday-The Buddha

This weeks movie review is sort of different. Instead an actual movie that Richard Gere stars in, I'm going to review a movie that he narrated. This movie is called "The Buddha."
This movie is a PBS movie that aired on April 7, 2010 and was directed by David Grubin.
Basically this movie is about the life and death of the man known as The Buddha. This movie really simplifies the Buddhist religion and is a very interesting movie to watch whether you follow the religion or not.

I actually started getting interested in Buddhism several years ago before I even liked Richard Gere. I'll blog about that journey in a few days. But my husband, who is Catholic, got caught up in this movie today because the story telling is awesome and so is the artwork and animation.

As I said Richard Gere narrates this movie, and I could just listen to his voice FOREVER! So certainly that helped with my ratings! lol Besides being narrated by RG, there are many interviews with many scholars. And even some thoughts from the Dalai Lama.

The movie is two hours long and right now it's an Instant Movie download on Netflix for those who are interested. I totally recommend watching the movie, it's a great story and RG's voice is an added plus! ;)

As I was blogging about this tonight my son asked me why I kept staring at this statue of the Buddha! lol It has been on my screen as I was typing my blog post. He asked me to tell him about the Buddha, because he is use to seeing the image around our house, but wasn't sure of the story about him. So tonight I told him as basic as I could about Buddha. And he wanted to know even more! Does anyone recommend any good books for children regarding Buddhism?

I looked on Amazon and they have a ton of books, I just don't know which to choose!

I better get going, tomorrow is a really busy day for me! We have Kindergarten orientation and dental appointments for both boys! I need to get some sleep! Have a great week!

POTD- Goat

I haven't done a "Photo of the Day" in such a long time! I hope to start doing them more often now since summer is coming to an end. It seems that we have so much going on in the summer and I'm always running to and from somewhere!

On our last camping trip we visited a restaurant/petting zoo called "Farmer's Inn." I've been going to this place ever since I was a baby and I enjoy going every year! I think it's great that my boys can enjoy the same place I enjoyed as a child!

Here is one of the cute little goats! They are always super friendly because they know that you are going to feed them! lol I just wish I could take this little guy home with me! He's a little too big though to fit in my purse! ;)
Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Tomorrow's Movie Monday! YAY! My favorite day of the week! ;)

Soccer Camp

This past week Ben participated in "Challenger British Soccer Camp." He went to the local football field and learned a lot of new skills from 9 am until 10:30 every morning this week! I thought that it would be nice and cool in the mornings, but I was wrong. It was near the 90's that early and it was miserable! There was actually one day that the weather was really nice, and that's about it. It has been one of those weeks where you don't bother to do your hair because it's frizzy after being outside for a couple hours! lol

Here is Ben and his soccer coach Craig. Craig is from Scotland and he talked with a very thick Scottish accent! It was really funny because during some of the drills he would have kids repeat what he was saying. The kids ended up repeating in a Scottish accent! lol It was really cute!
Ben and his soccer coach playing a fun game. That was one awesome thing that I loved about this camp. They were so creative with their drills and even included songs and it really made it fun for the kids!

Here they are listening contently to their coach.

Another fun little drill.

Today was the last day of soccer camp. Ben participated in several mini games. Here he is during one of his games. He happened to be the youngest player at camp this year! He sure does have a lot to learn! These kids were really good!

Today was crazy Friday at camp. I ended up getting spray in color for the boy's hair and I face painted a soccer ball on their cheek. Here's a photo of Alex, and he wanted to have pink hair! He claims that it's his favorite color, but I think he says that because he knows it's my favorite!

I am sooo looking forward to Fall! This hot weather is just crazy! I can't remember it being this hot in such a long time! I'm already on a Halloween kick, and I am so anxious to start making some Halloween crafts! Tomorrow is exciting because I am going to a flea market! Hopefully I'll find some goodies, and I'll be sure to share them with you! Have a fabulous weekend!

My Baby is FIVE!

My oldest Ben turned five-years-old a week and a half ago! It's hard to believe that he will be starting Kindergarten in a few weeks! Here are some photos from the last five years! Wow, time flies when you're having fun! :)

Here we are in the hosptial shortly after he was born. He was sooo tiny!
This next photo I took about two weeks after he was born. This has always been one of my favorites! It's Ben and his daddy's hands! We compared their hands again tonight and Ben's nearly covers his daddy's hand! He is growing up soo quickly!

Here is a photo of Ben at two months old. This was his first trip to the local Fall Festival!

Here he is as a cute little Santa for his first Christmas!

And his first Easter with Allie!

This is his second Halloween!

He was sick and missed his school photos at daycare, so I took this one at home when he was better! Here he is this past Spring at his soccer game.

And here is the birthday boy this year as he turned five! Happy Birthday Ben we love you sooo much!

Jump for Joy!

Today is a double post. So if you're coming to my blog for the movie review, look for the post below this one. I had soo much on my mind today that I am blogging twice! ;)

I am finally starting to feel somewhat better! I have been sick for over a week, and yesterday was the first day that I didn't have a fever! :) So far I have been on two different antibiotics, an inhaler, and now steroids! lol

But that is not why I am jumping up and down in this photo! lol Last night in bed I had an "Aha" moment or an epiphany of sorts!

Last night someone told me that I am no longer the fun person that I use to be. I was also told that I am miserable and anti-social! lol I am laughing so hard now because that is so far from the truth, so unwarranted, so random, and totally out of left field!

Laying in bed last night I was self-reflecting when I had this epiphany moment and I instantly wanted to jump up and down on my bed with joy! I actually wanted to start jumping up and down singing the song: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, YEAH, down in my heart to stay!" LOL Obviously I couldn't jump up in down last night because Chris was sleeping next to me. I did however want to capture this moment in a self portrait. I've always wanted to do a jumping photo, so here is my first try! I had such a permanent smile on my face today!

I am so thankful that I was confronted by this person! I know it seems odd to be thankful for someone who is being negative, but it really made me look deep within myself! I have always had low self-esteem in the past, so normally something like this would really upset me. But this totally had the opposite effect on me!

This person is right, I have changed. I got married, had kids and I grew up! I use to be a miserable person. I was a very jealous person, and that all equaled to living an unhappy life at that time. I made fun of people at their expense, and I didn't think about anyone but myself. But that has all changed and they are right, I'm not that way anymore. I am not proud of who I am, but I am very proud of who I've become!

I told this person that I am abundantly blessed! And I am very lucky to live the life that I have! My life dramatically changed once I met my husband. He and I are such a perfect fit and he is my total support and we really balance each other! After we were married I became more spiritual and have discovered that life is too short to worry about the little petty things.

I focused on my family and helping others, and that alone truly transformed my life! I am the type of person who would go without just to help someone in need. And seeing the bigger picture of life has made me truly happy in my heart! :)

Anyway I have come to the conclusion that if someone has the opportunity to be my friend and passes on that chance, it's their loss! I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm one cool chick! :) lol

Some great quotes of wisdom from the Dalai Lama:

"It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance."

"I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life."

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."

Side note: Ben saw this photo tonight as I was blogging and when Chris came home he said: "Daddy, mommy was jumping on your bed today!" lol Apparently he thinks that because he can't jump on the bed, I guess I can't either! lol

Movie Monday-Shall We Dance

This week's movie review is of the movie "Shall We Dance" from 2004. This movie is about an estate lawyer named John Clark (Richard Gere). Every night on his way home he sees a beautiful woman, played by Jennifer Lopez, gazing out of the window of a dance studio. One evening he acts out of impulse and jumps off his train and rushes into the dance studio. He reluctantly signs up for classes only to find out that Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) isn't teaching the classes!

Paulina seems to think that John is only taking classes to try to win her over. She tells John not to come back if it's because of her and not because of dancing. John soon discovers a love for dancing and is entered in a big dance competition.

Because his personality is changing and because of his absence at home after work; John's wife Beverly, played by Susan Sarandon, becomes suspicious and hires a private investigator. She soon finds out that he is in love with dancing, and not another woman. Will it change their relationship?

I will have to admit, this is not one of my favorite Richard Gere movies. It's sort of in the bottom middle of my RG movie list. I don't know why I feel this way? Maybe it's because this is more of a comedy than a romance. And you all know how I love RG romance movies! lol

Here are the things that I loved about the movie. As I said above, John is entered in a big dance competition. Paulina is the one who ends up teaching him because she used to be a professional dancer. The chemistry between the two of them in this movie is unbelievable! Here is a clip from the movie of their dance together! Just remember to turn off my music player on the right so you can hear the clip!

I also love the scene in the movie where John is dancing with his wife Beverly in the kitchen! Soo very sexy! lol However, I do not like the match of Susan Sarandon with Richard Gere. For some reason the two just don't make a match in my opinion. Maybe it's because she is a few years older, I don't know. Or maybe it's because it isn't me?! lol ;)

The one scene that brings tears to my eyes is towards the ending. It's the scene that is pictured below where John comes up the elevator into the store where Beverly is working. And the following dialogue takes place and it always makes me cry!

Beverly: "Why aren’t you at the party?"

John: "Oh, it’s a dance…to dance you need a partner. My partner is right here."

John: "Beverly, dance with me."

Beverly: "I don’t know how."

John: "Yeah, you do. You’ve been dancing with me for nineteen years."

Beverly: "I don’t know the steps."

John: "I’ll teach you."

Beverly: "Here?"

John: "Right now."

I remember one time my husband was watching this movie and I was upstairs and heard the music to it, so I came down to watch the ending. I sat on the couch and said to my husband I think I am desensitized to this ending because it doesn't make me cry anymore. Well wouldn't you know it...RG comes up the escalator and tears just start streaming down my face! lol

Favorite Quotes:

Paulina: "The rumba is the vertical expression of a horizontal wish. You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living. Let her go, like your heart's being ripped from your chest. Throw her back, like you're going to have your way with her right here on the dance floor. And then finish, like she's ruined you for life."

John: "The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life, is that you're happy with me. If I couldn't, if I couldn't tell you that I was unhappy sometimes, is because I didn't want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most. I'm so sorry."

John: "We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet..... I mean, what does any one life mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things..... all of it, all the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness."

I give this a Richard Gere hotness rating of about an 8. I like a man who knows how to dance! ;)

And a man in a tie is always sexy too! ;)