Fun Literary Video

Two of my favorite books together at last!

This is the audio for the trailer for the newest version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice paired with images from the movie version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

-- Lisa

Game Night at Our House

Last night, Shawn and I had some of his brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews over for a rousing game of Family Feud. Here are some of the things we learned...

"Sandwhich" is not spelled with two H's. The video game will not accept this horrible answer (even though "sandwich" appears in the #4 slot). It will laugh at you.

However, if you are picking on someone who misspelled "sandwich," and accidentally add an H to end the word "actor," the game will accept it. Perhaps to make amends for its previous mockery.

If the question reads, "name a U.S. President whose face appears on money," don't laugh at the people who answer "Alexander Hamilton." This is the #3 answer, even though Mr. Hamilton was never, ever a U.S. President. You may, however, laugh at them when they repeatedly insist that he was in fact our 6th president for a short time before being killed in a duel by Aaron Burr. Sorry, John Quincy Adams.

And finally, always listen to the kids. Somehow, they all know the #1 answers.

-- Lisa

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent our Turkey Day, like we do every year, visiting with both our families. First, we stopped by my parents’ house and ate dinner with my mom, dad, and sister, Jennifer. It was just the five of us for a nice cozy dinner. So quiet, so calming.

Then we went over to Don and Melissa’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving with Shawn’s family. With around fifty kids and adults in the house, things tend to get a little rowdy (and also very fun). Here are some pictures. Shawn and me after enjoying our turkey dinner…

Shawn’s sister, Jeanette, with some of our younger nieces and nephews…

Shawn’s sisters, Jenny and Cheryl, who are going to give birth any day now…

Our nieces, Alex and Victoria…

Later, Jeanette challenges everyone to arm wrestling. This is her and her sister, Karen, battling it out…

Then the boys want in. Here’s Shawn and his brother, Dave (I’m pretty sure Dave wins this one, though it looks close in the picture)…

Another lovely Thanksgiving, and we certainly have lots of leftovers to show for it.

-- Lisa

What’s Been Going on Lately?

Shawn and I have had some very busy weeks lately. I’ve been volunteering on Tuesday nights and also attending class on Thursday nights. This is my final class towards my master’s degree in theology and I’m very excited to be done. Shawn has been bowling on Monday nights with my dad and also occasionally on Wednesday nights with his work friends. Between work and everything else we’re doing, I feel like we hardly see each other during the week anymore! After the holidays, though, our schedules will be opening up, so we’re both looking forward to that.

We have also been bonding on the weekends over the Browns. We watched the Pittsburgh and Baltimore games at my dad’s house the last two weeks. The Browns v. Steelers game was a heart breaker, but the Browns v. Ravens game made us all feel a whole lot better. Phil Dawson has always been my favorite player (he’s the kicker, so he scores the most points!), but he’s been faltering the last few weeks. I was coming close to giving up hope, when he made the craziest finishing kick in the history of the NFL (and then kicked another field goal in overtime to give the Browns a victory).

I’ve also been collecting some cute baby clothes so we can indoctrinate a future child to love all things Browns!

We’ve also been updating our décor. Here are some more pictures of the house. This is our living room...

I also purchased a piece of original artwork for the nursery. It's a vintage photograph with lettering on the glass (it says, "On the brink of putting a specific desire about the future into words. I stop and rejoice in having no idea.") Here it is hanging on the wall...

Here's the other piece of art that Shawn and I bought about a year ago...

I always put up our Christmas decorations the first weekend in December, so I will post our festive holiday photos after everything is up.

-- Lisa

Books, Books & More Books

Shawn and I are both starting to feel the strain of the writers' strike as some of our favorite TV shows have stopped producing new episodes. However, the good news is we’ve both been reading like crazy. I am on a Jane Austen kick. In the last few months I’ve read all six of her novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Once all those were completed, I moved onto some Jane Austen biographies and even some of her lesser-known works such as Sanditon (which is an uncompleted novel) and Lady Susan (which she wrote when she was twenty but never published).

I think everyone has recognized that I’ve gone Jane Austen crazy. Shawn’s sister, Jeanette, just bought me this awesome action figure (thanks, Jeanette!)...

I’m also in the process of collecting any and all movies having to with Jane Austen works. I already own the 1996 BBC mini-series version of Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, and Clueless (which is a modern adaptation of Emma – who knew?!). I’d also love to get my hands on the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennett and Sir Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy. Some others I’d love:

Becoming Jane
Bride and Prejudice
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Emma
Mansfield Park

Masterpiece Theatre will also be airing The Complete Jane Austen TV marathon in January with brand new adaptations of Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. I am swooning as we speak.

Shawn has been reading Artemis Fowl, a book series about wealthy criminal masterminds and the fairies that love them. I’m purposely being vague about the contents because I have yet to read the books and don’t want to spoil any of the details for myself.

We are also listening to Stephen Colbert’s new audio book (since The Colbert Report is one of the shows which has gone into hiatus during the strike). We have also found out that our library book borrowing ways are wrong. He says, “this book is for America's heroes. And who are the heroes? The people who bought this book. That bears repeating. People who borrow this book are not heroes. They are no better then welfare queens mooching off the system like card-carrying library card-carriers.” I wish I had known before I ordered our copy from the library. Oops!

-- Lisa

Yay, Me!

Just wanted to quickly write that I got a promotion at work! It’s not a job change; I just got a new title (I am now officially “Editor” instead of “Associate Editor”) and a raise. Not too shabby!

-- Lisa

Plays, Parties & Home Décor

This weekend, I went to see a great play at Cleveland Public Theater with my work-friend, Lisa (she was the one dressed as The Color Purple for Halloween). It was a wonderful show – very thought-provoking and interesting.

On Saturday, Shawn and I also enjoyed a house-warming party for another work-friend, Maggie (she was Twelfth Night). She has just purchased a new house, which has an eerily similar layout to ours. Both are 1960's split-levels though, so that would account for the overlap. In any case, her house looked great and we also enjoyed some lovely appetizers (especially these little Mexican wrap things that I must get my hands on for future snacking).

We've also been doing some work around our house. Hanging up pictures, draping curtains, and color-coordinating pillows. So I figured now would be a good time to post some pictures of the new and improved interior of our home...

Here’s the dining room with fresh new curtains and artwork (I still want to get a buffet to go under the pictures)…

And here’s the family room with all kinds of new pictures and accessories (you can also see part of our cat, Bruce, on the chair closest to the camera)…

I’ll post additional pictures as we get more stuff situated.

-- Lisa

The Halloween Edition

A few of us at work decided to dress up as a "library" for Halloween. Each of us chose a book and developed a costume around the book's title. I was Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care...

This costume was pretty easy and involved wearing clothes I already had along with some Vulcan ears I bought at a costume store and a Star Trek emblem I printed for my shirt. I picked up a stethoscope and made one of those circle mirror headbands out of aluminum foil to bring in the doctor part. I then borrowed two baby dolls from my nieces, Olivia and Sophia (thanks, girls!), to complete the look. I was torn as to whether or not I should get a short black wig since a) it's always fun to wear a wig, and b) I would look more Spock-like. But I concluded that the wig would be too bushy and cover my pointy ears, so I scrapped the idea.

Here's the rest of my fellow tomes...

From left to right: Carolyn is The Portrait of a Lady, Katie is A Farewell to Arms, I'm Dr. Spock, Maggie is Twelfth Night, and Lisa is The Color Purple.

Sadly, we didn't win the costume contest at work because so many people were dressed up in great outfits. All in all it was a very creative Halloween.

-- Lisa