Kidado

My posts may be few and far between until I get the computer fixed, or get a new one, hint…hint.

In most cases, first grade handwriting needs to be translated…

My son’s odd wish list reads:

1. Dinosaur floss
2. that skate board fix
3. A really hard puzzle
4. A toothbrush
5. A little stocking (to go inside the big stocking, he says)
6. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…
7. Plus sign
8. A ball that has your signature (don’t flatter yourself Hazel, he means Santa’s signature)

the t-shirt that'll get ya wristbands

Jennaphr Frederick, a Philadelphia Fox News personality, seemed to be out of the loop with the whole Twilight, Robert Pattinson obsession when she covered the mob of fans at King of Prussia Mall early this morning. She was wondering…did anybody else know?

YES! I have known who Robert Pattinson is for quite some time now. This is all due to my two daughters who have been reading and re-reading the Twilight series over the past few months. And if you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that we’ve been trying to keep up with the news.

I’ve pre-purchased five tickets to the movie for next Saturday’s 8 pm show here at a local Regal Theater. Since I started reading the first book, I’ve got to say I am getting excited about seeing the movie too.

Wish we could’ve camped out all night at the mall like the hundreds of other fans. My husband almost made a mad dash over there until he saw Fox coverage of the mob. If it wasn’t for my girls I think I would’ve been clueless as well!

Here are some pics of the Philly Fox coverage:

the mob

the mob up close

lucky fan making the purchase

The much anticipated release of new music from one of the most talented bands I’ve ever heard is about to be unleashed. BEIRUT’s mastermind, Zach Condon, and his mega-multi-member band took a break early 2008 canceling a European tour over the summer. But all for good. We’ll be hearing the new stuff in the coming months. Did I mention it’s a double EP, March of the Zapotec/Holland? Yessssssssss.

Until then, enjoy this…

Beirut, A Sunday Smile

and fall in love with this…

Beirut, Prenzlauerberg

According to Zach, Beirut will be playing a few surprise shows in smaller venues in New York. If anyone out there gets word of when and where please let us know.

Visit Beirut, read the news.

As the season of giving approaches, the hum of holiday music becomes a temporary backdrop of our daily lives, thanks to my 80s obsessed daughter who, like clockwork, dusts off the Elf soundtrack, Christmas With the Rat Pack, Barbara Streisand/A Christmas Album, Nat King Cole/The Christmas Song and Elvis Presley/ If Every Day Was Like Christmas, and places it conveniently next to our table top stereo where it will sit for the good of the next few months and be played over and over and over again as she dances sprightly, spinning recklessly across our slippery hardwood floors.

For many, this may cause grief, enough so to make one puke. I sit here having just watched a full Ben 10 movie and not a minute had passed when my daughter slipped our good ‘ole ‘Christmas in Santa Fe’ cd in the player and started dancing away. With We Three Kings rearing at high volume in classical Spanish guitar, I look out the window to see my son’s pathetic green pumpkin imploding on the front stoop and I think this just isn’t right. We’re barely in the month of November.

Then I think about the leaves that have fallen already and the trees that are almost bare and get a little melancholy regretting having not paid much attention to the changing foliage during this season that I love so much. I tried to take a picture of a tree that stands fifteen feet out our front door in all its blazing red color and just as I snapped the shot the low battery light flashed across the screen before it turned completely black.

I am missing the best part of the season and realize it is speedily passing by me. But it doesn’t take long for my daughter’s joyous spirit and odd two-stepping to contaminate the entire household, especially when Elvis finds his way into the cd player. My son joins his sister on the family room dance floor. My husband is making a hearty lentil soup and curry meatloaf in the kitchen. The smells couldn’t make this moment any better. It is picture perfect.

But momentary it is. My other daughter pulls out her nintendo ds, the other two begin to argue about who spilled the popcorn on the floor, my husband finishes his bowl of soup and annoyed by the banter of the children heads on upstairs and I sit glued to this computer finishing this story, half-heartedly disciplining the two squabblers after the word idiot makes its way out my daughter’s mouth.

The holiday spirit takes form in beautiful ways at our house. But as quickly as it sneaks up on us, it can just as soon disappear. Sibling rivalry, petulant parents, or simple disregard can do the trick. So I should thank my kids for reminding me of the changing seasons by the effortless way in which they bring it into our house. But let’s face it, we’re a real family with typical six member family chaotic moments that we need to deal with every day. Not to say, that I couldn’t be a little more mindful and attentive in handling some of these moments especially with this computer at bay.

This is the time when I need to log off wordpress and shut down the laptop, gather the family back together in somewhat better terms and begin our double feature “movie night”: for the kids, Jack Frost; for the big kids, Transsiberian.

Good night.

If you’re as big fan of Twilight as my daughters are then you don’t need me to tell you that the stars of Twilight (yes, “Edward” included) will be touring in select cities across the US pretty darn soon. Here are the dates:

11/10 – San Francisco, CA at Stonestown Galleria with Robert Pattinson “Edward”

11/10 – Seattle, WA at Southcenter Mall with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent” & Rachelle Lefevre “Victoria”

11/11 – Dallas, TX at Dallas Galleria with Robert Pattinson “Edward”

11/11 – Denver, CO at Park Meadows Mall with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent” & Rachelle Lefevre “Victoria”
11/12 – Chicago, IL at Orland Square Mall with Robert Pattinson “Edward”

11/12 – Scottsdale, AZ at Fashion Square Mall with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent” & Rachelle Lefevre “Victoria”

11/13 – Philadelphia, PA at Plaza at King of Prussia with Robert Pattinson “Edward”

11/13 – Houston, TX (Location TBA) with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent” & Rachelle Lefevre “Victoria”

11/13 – Fairfax, VA at Fair Oaks Mall with Kristen Stewart “Bella”

11/14 – Boston MA at Square One Mall with Robert Pattinson “Edward”

11/14 – Minneapolis, MN at Mall of America with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent” & Rachelle Lefevre “Victoria”

11/14 – Paramus, NJ at Garden State Plaza with Kristen Stewart “Bella”

11/15 – Miami, FL at Shops at Sunset with Taylor Lautner “Jacob,” Edi Gathegi “Laurent”

But you can’t just show up and expect an autograph. You must be one of the first 500 to have purchased an official Twilight shirt from a Hot Topic store at the specific mall on the day of the show. Then you’ll get a wrist band allowing you access to see the stars and get an autograph. There’s a two wristband per person maximum.

I’ve already told my girls that I will not be able to take the day off from work to wrestle with a million crazed Edward fans only to be turned away. I imagine die hard fans will be camping out and stuff. I don’t get the obsession with it yet, although I’ve finally decided to begin reading the first book. I must say, just 20 pages in and I’m hooked. Good luck!

Visit Hot Topic for more info.

Obama celebrates with family at Grant Park

History has been made, the first African American was elected president this evening, November 4, 2008. Senator Barack Obama supporters filled Grant Park in Chicago, New York City’s TImes Square and Obama headquarters across the US. Whether you voted for him or not, it is hard not to feel proud to be part of one of the most monumental and historic events of US history.

My husband and I celebrate with a toast as we keep our eyes on the tv. My eldest daughter smiles a congratulatory smile feeling proud to be one of thousands of canvassers that scoured the streets this past weekend reminding swing and undecided voters to go out and vote. Indeed, every vote counts.

Congressman John Lewis speaks. He is taken back at the enormous win and what it says about our country. Only in this country will we see her citizens line up in droves, millions of voters waiting up to seven hours in some polling stations, to vote for our next president and bring a victory to Barack Obama, an African American whose candidacy just a few years ago was a longshot and some decades ago an impossibility.

And congrats to John McCain who gave what I thought was his best performance of the election, a heartfelt and genuine concession speech.

In the words of Obama,

…this is our moment this is our time….

and a historic one at that.

I could not let this historic election day pass without saying,

Pa polls just closed. Hope you voted or are waiting in line!

jacobblackslilwolfgirl @ flickr

Two daughters. Both hooked on the Twilight series. Both begging me to reserve tickets for the movie due to come out mid November. Utter the name Edward and their minds cartwheel to another dimension only die hard Twilight fans can relate to. Both are on their third round of reading the series, one round totaling well over two thousand five hundred pages.

Are they on their way to complete satisfaction or utter disappointment? Will the big screen transport them to the Forks, WA they know so well? They can’t get enough of Paramore’s Decode, a song off the movie’s soundtrack. They can never get their fill of fansite photo montages of Edward and Bella, not to mention, all the dark, foreboding wallpaper that creeps across their desktop. Only time will tell.

How about that HSM3. A world apart from Twilight. Did it live up to my daughters’ expectations? My second has seen it. Apparently, Zac Efron was as cute as ever, but the singing, she said, was too much. She wanted more dialogue. She suggested that just when the conversations got meaty they broke into song. Well, it is a musical isn’t it?

Her final word on HSM3: “Now that I think about it, it was pretty annoying.”

My eldest daughter is watching the movie as I write this post. Will she regret having spent eight of her own dollars? Will sneaking in a handful of Halloween treats be more momentous than the movie itself? I have a feeling this is a chapter in their lives they’ll be sweeping under the rug. HSM fan turned Twilight fan. Tween turned teen. That’s what it is. And it’s only the beginning.

As a mom on the brink of parenting two teens, I cherish this post. I am delighted that Edward is just a character in a book and that Zac doesn’t live next door and that hunky vampires don’t really exist and that my daughters don’t truly believe they’ll fall in love with one for real. I think back to when I was fourten, fifteen and the all the good and bad choices I had at my fingertips and the same choices that my girls will be toying with soon and, OMG, I’m glad our arguments at the moment concern what movie, when, where, with who and how good.

Stay tuned for a true Twilight fan opinion on the long awaited Twilight movie.

Somber posts lately.  How ’bout I lighten things up a bit with this video featuring Republic Tigers with Buildings and Mountains, one of my new favorite songs.

Okay, not so light.