Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I love when they make movies out of books I want to read - because it really speeds up my reading. That's what happened with The Hunger Games - and I loved the book. Now I just discovered that Tim Burton is going to be making a movie from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter -- and I know I'm going to have to move that book up my list too. Sounds like this will be a good year for my type of movie!

Here's the Vampire Hunter trailer - enjoy.

Around Town: Week of Feb. 26

Tonight are the Oscars - so if you happen to be watching with a group - maybe you should print out these Oscar bingo cards and ballots. Any movies you're cheering for? Midnight in Paris and The Help are the only ones up for anything that I've really even seen. I really enjoyed them both.

If you are looking for something else to do in Sacramento this week - its still beer week so check out the calendar for interesting events. The Sacramento City College Theatre is presenting Little Red Ridinghood now thru March 18.

If you are a Phantom of the Opera fan - the sequel "Love Never Dies" will be playing on Feb. 28th at the Century 14 Theatre in Sacramento. Although, I can't figure out how to purchase tickets. Also Feb. 28 the Auto Museum is hosting a Camera 101, which might be interesting.

Any one have any Oscar predictions?

Drinkify!

I love stumbling across great time wasters! You know when you need a break and just want to find a good website to browse through. Awkward Family Photos is one of those and so is Damn You Auto Correct.

Here's another one I found over at How About Orange (They have a whole bunch of time waster posts!) This one is called Drinkify. Put in the name of the musical artist you are listening to and it shoots you out a drink.

I put in Imogen Heap - and I got back this: 2 oz. Vodka, 2 oz. Grapefruit Juice and 1 bottle half and half. Garnish with a cucumber. Gross. I put in Goldfrapp and got Gin - neat.

Ah. I could spend all day on this site. Here's some Goldfrapp for you.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

I may have mentioned this before - but I am a big Gilmore Girl fan. The quick witted dialogue is a huge part of why. I've always seen on various blogs the "Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge" - because if you've ever watched a few episodes - she reads. A lot. So I dumped the whole list (as found here) on to a page - and started marking off ones that I've read.

The ones that are in red - I have read at one point in my life -- but not recently. The ones that are red and have a strikethrough - are ones that I've read recently. I'll be updating this list periodically - as I'll be trying to keep one book on this list in my current reading rotation.

First book on the list I'm going to read is Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac (downloaded for free on my Kindle)

Around Town: February 19

The big news for this week is that Beer Week starts on Friday, Feb. 24! An easy way to participate if you work downtown is at Dive Bar's "Dive for Beer" event. They'll be featuring a different draft every day and have reps on hand to discuss. That's easy enough.

On Feb. 25th at the Capitol Garage you can attend their Stouts & Chocolates Tasting - $15 for 4 stouts paired with 4 chocolates. Sounds yummy! There are events planned thru March 4 - so get planning!

This isn't this week -- but if you want to plan ahead a bit - the California Musical Theatre announced its 2012 Music Circus line up for this summer. It includes Grease and The Little Mermaid. Good line up for the whole family! If you need something musical now - maybe check out the Forbidden Broadway at the Cosmo Cabaret. It looks like a really fun musical spoof - and the intimate setting of the Cabaret is always fun. It's running through March 18.

Roald Dahl Love in the U.K.

I'm a huge Roald Dahl fan - so when I saw this post on A Cup of Jo - I had to share it here too. The Royal Mail has released a set of stamps to honor his great books. My favorite book of Dahl's is The Witches with The BFG in a close second place.

The stamps are lovely -- I think The Witches one is my favorite with her hair popping off like that!

Anyone else a huge Dahl fan? Share your favorite book?

Love is All You Need

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you like The Beatles - and haven't seen the movie Across the Universe - watch it. Tonight.

Around Town: Feb. 12

Hopefully, everyone already has Valentine's Day planned - if that's your thing. I made red velvet cupcakes with strawberry frosting (as pictured.) Easy peasy.

If you are looking for something to do still, you could wait and celebrate on the 18th and go to the 2012 Pour Your Heart Out Event at the Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. $50 in advance and $55 at the door (if its not sold out.) I love events at The Old Sugar Mill so if you haven't been before - I encourage you to check it out!

If you (or your sweetie) likes classical music - you could check out the Sacramento Loves Beethoven! event on Feb 18th, part of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra. Pre-concert talk at 7pm with the concert at 8pm.

On the 14th - Revolution Wines is doing a Valentine Dinner, four course meal (with wine pairings of course). I've never been to Revoltion Wines -- any readers have any feedback on it?

Anyways, happy Valentine's Day/Week to all of you!

Friday Fixation: Shourouk

My latest fixation has the potential to do some damage to my pocket book. I reeeeaaaaallllllly want a piece of Shourouk jewelry. Really. The one that first caught my attention was the Feather crystal and bead bib necklace on Net-A-Porter.com (pictured on the right.)

I love the combo of the bright colors with the beads -- but the price tag of $1,155 is not in my price range. So, I'll just pin it on Pinterest - and stare at it.


Then I got an email from Charm & Chain featuring their Shourouk stuff. They did add in a 15%-20% off coupon code ... which only brought my second favorite piece, this Funky Art Deco Necklace (on the left), down to $600.. closer to affordable.

For now I'll keep pinning and staring... but maybe some day.... After a big win at the Casino or something...

Valentine's Day Crafts

If there is one thing that Pinterest has really inspired in me is decorating for holidays and DIY stuff. I have a holiday board (for Xmas) a Halloween board (of course!) and even created a Valentine's one.

Its so fun to see all the crafty things people think of and it inspires me, well at least to try the easy stuff. Like heart bacon. It's cute but not difficult, which is key to any project I try. One thing I found over at Country Living is this pdf to make these Paper Airplane Love Notes!

I did a post a few weeks ago on Valentine's Cards -- and if you didn't get a card yet -- maybe this is an option. It's free and pretty original. Just write, fold and send it soaring!

Around Town: Febuary 5

Cinderella is one of my favorite ballets - and its perfect timing with Valentine's Day to check out the Sacramento Ballet's performances. The dates are the 9th thru the 12th (the 12th is a 2pm show and the rest are evening - 7:30p.)

If you have never checked out the Il Fornaio regional tasting menu's - now might be a good time. For February they are featuring the Lazio region and the menu looks yummy! They serve off this menu from Feb. 6 thru the 19th - and if you ask for a passport you can get a free bag of pasta e fagioli to make later. The salmon and the saltimbocca both sound delish!

There are some movies that I actually want to see out right now - two over at The Crest. The first is Albert Nobbs (Academy Award Nominee.) Glenn Close is always amazing - and I really like Mia Wasikowska too.

The second movie I'd like to see at The Crest is The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher? It will have to be amazing, right? This is another Academy Award Nominee too.

Has anyone seen either of these movies yet? Or have any others they'd like to recommend?

Take a Virtual Vacation

It's mid week for most people (although its more like "Sunday" for my husband) and I thought we might all enjoy a little virtual vacation. So here you go. Enjoy some beautiful footage of Yosemite. I can't wait to get back there myself.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Just remember, Friday is only a few days away!