Monday, February 23, 2009

Oscar Party 2009

I know I haven't written much lately, but I thought I'd post a couple of slide shows from Meag's Oscar party this past Sunday.






Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Inspirational Speech
My friend Kyle shared this with me...it was too funny not to pass on!


Friday, October 31, 2008

The Calm Before the Storm...

I have about 45 minutes before people start arriving up here at the church to get their booths ready for tonight. Also my parents are only about 2 hours away...I'm not sure if they're coming up to help me tonight or not. We'll see!!! Tonight should be fun! I'll have some pictures up on Facebook later if you are interested. Can't wait to see who comes...and what costumes we have!

Monday, October 20, 2008


Movie Recommendation


Hello! Once again I have neglected to blog for a couple of weeks. Right now I'm getting ready for Fall Festival and that is taking up a lot of my work time.

Last night I went to see City of Ember with Meag, Kyle, Jay and Joe. I had not heard anything about the movie before we saw it, so I went in with no expectations. I loved it! It's actually a children's/family movie, but one of those really good fantasy movies, so it was a genre I very much enjoy! It was completely clean (no bad language), and had only a couple of moments with a giant mole (it takes place underground) that would probably make it too scary for small children. It's based on a book, so now I have to track down a copy of the book to read. If it's even half as good as the movie, I'll enjoy it.

So if you like fantasy type movies, I would recommend you check this one out! There's a synopsis and trailor on the official web site.

Monday, September 29, 2008

One year!!

My roommate Meagan and I have lived together for a year now. It's been one of the best living situations that I've had...and one of the funniest! Meagan and I like to say that we share a brain and sometimes the sharing of that brain leads to some very ditzy moments!

This morning when I was about to leave for work, I noticed that Meag's dog D'Lanie was in the kitchen. We have a baby gate that we use to keep her in the kitchen when we can't have her running around the apartment. Meag usually does this in the morning while she is getting ready. I stepped over the baby gate, got my breakfast bar and a drink from the fridge and headed out the door. I noticed that Meag's car was not in the parking lot, so I just assumed that since D'Lanie sometimes has to be in her kennel longer than Meag likes, that maybe Meag was going to try leaving her in the kitchen when she needed to leave the apartment. When I got to the church, I noticed that Meag's car was in the parking lot (not unusual b/c she also works here), but didn't see her in the youth minister's office. I wondered, in passing, where she was, but didn't really worry about it.

A little before 10:30 my cell phone rang. When I answered, we had the following conversation:

"Nissa, the strangest thing just happened. I just stepped out of the apartment and my car isn't here."

"I know. It's in the church...OH MY GOSH! We drove straight home last night!"

The facts were these:
Last night after our church activities, we went out to dinner with a group of friends. Because the church would be on our way back home, Meag asked if she could just ride with me. As we were leaving, I did remember that I needed to go by the church, but then one of our friends stopped us again to talk and I completely forgot. Meagan said she had thought about it once, too, right before we left. We got home and neither of us noticed that Meag's car was not in the parking lot...until this morning!

Yeah...so...It's been a joy living with you Meag...definitely NOT boring!!!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Where are all the Superheroines?

As a dork, I found this article facinating!!! What do you think?? I liked the quotes from Joss Whedon that the author included. (And yes, I realize that this is from a liberal magazine, but I agreed with this article).

(Look...two blog entries in a week!! Woo hoo!)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Top 25 Most played

Well it's been almost a week and I am just now sitting down to write another post...but I am doing better than I did before!

One possession of mine that I really do love probably more than I should is my iPod. I listen to it all the time--at work, at home (I have a docking station with speakers both downstairs and upstairs), in the car. I have a lot of music on my iPod, but find myself going to some of the same songs over and over again depending on what I am doing. I looked at my top 25 most played list and got a kick out of what actually made up this list--There were definitely some surprises.

25. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog:
If you haven't seen this short musical by Joss Whedon, you can find it on iTunes. It's about 45 minutes long total and has 3 Acts. I have watched it so many times now, that it made it to my top 25. This silly story revolves around Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris), a villian who wants to join the Evil League of Evil. He thinks that the world is bad, so he wants to rule it so he can make it better. His arch nemesis is Captain Hammer (played by the delightful Nathan Fillion--Captain Mal to Firefly fans) a very strong but stupid hero. Dr. Horrible is in love with Penny (Felicia Day), who has fallen for Captain Hammer. Overall, just a lot of fun...but it does have a sad ending. Click here to see my favorite song on YouTube.

24. Toxic - Covered by Nickel Creek
Yes, this is a Britney Spears song, but Nickel Creek is so amazing that they can make this song actually sound good. I saw them on their Farewell for Now tour last year they did this song. It is hilarious!!

23. Prayer of St. Francis - Sarah McLachlan

22. Love You 'till the End by The Pogues - "P.S. I Love You" Soundtrack

21. The Nearness of You as sung by Norah Jones

20. One Moment More by Mindy Smith

19. It's All Wrong, but it's all right sung by Michael Johns (American Idol)

18. Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash) sung by Joaquin Phoenix - "Walk the Line" Soundtrack
This is a song at one time I played a lot when I went to visit my family and would dance with Aubrey and Brendon while it was playing.

17. No Good Deed sung by Idina Menzel - "Wicked" Soundtrack
This one surprised me, because I thought Defying Gravity would be on the list instead. But when I saw Wicked in Dallas a year and a half ago, the girl who played Elphaba did such an amazing job on this song, that I guess I must have started to listen to it a lot more!

16. Hello as sung by David Cook

15. I am a Man of Constant Sorrow by The Soggy Bottom Boys - "O Brother Where Art Thou" Soundtrack
Okay...this is a bit odd, because I own this soundtrack, but I've not seen the movie all the way through yet. The band that actually plays the music for The Soggy Bottom boys are the guys from Alison Krauss and Union Station, so I was already a big fan of the music and had to get the soundtrack. In their Live DVD, Dan Tyminski, who does the main vocals joked that his wife liked hearing his voice come out of George Clooney's mouth.

14. Walk through the Fire from "Once More With Feeling" Buffy musical episode
Another Joss Whedon great!

13. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall
This song is one that I LOVE to listen to in the car...it gets me tapping and moving.

12. So Close by Jon McLaughlin - "Enchanted" Soundtrack
This was another surprise...I thought if something from Enchanted made it on here, it would be That's How You know? I know that this song comes up a lot when I am in my car and I always love to hear it. It's a really pretty song that is actually pretty sad!!

11. Neverland - Piano Variation in Blue by Jane A. P. Kacmarek - "Finding Neverland" Soundtrack
When I saw this movie, I loved the music so much that I immediately had to get the Soundtrack. This song quickly became my favorite.

10. Out of the Rain by The Duhks
I can't remember who told me about The Duhks (maybe Adam S.?) Or maybe after I started listening to a lot of Nickel Creek, they were recommended on Amazon. Like Nickel Creek, they have so many talented musicians in their group. They have a different girl on lead vocals now, but this song is still my favorite of theirs.

9. Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) sung by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
What do you get when you pair up my favorite singer (Alison Krauss) with the lead singer for my friend Jay's favorite rock band Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant)? You get an amazing folk CD!! This song is another one that has me bouncing no matter what I am doing.

8. You Don't Have to Move that Mountain by Nickel Creek
My friend Lisa introduced me to Nickel Creek and I am forever grateful! They are such amazing musicians, and I was actually able to see them live last fall before they stopped playing together. This song is on their collection CD, and is a lot of fun! I also like a lot of their instrumental stuff.

7. August's Rhapsody - "August Rush" Soundtrack

6. Dueling Guitars played by Doug Smith & Heitor Pereira - "August Rush" soundtrack

This is another soundtrack I bought before I saw the movie. Both of these songs are just amazing!!! (and yes I know it's not really the actors playing in Dueling Guitars).

5. Whispering Pines by Dar Williams with Alison Krauss, Chris Botti, Cliff Eberhardt, & Stefan Lessard
Dar Williams is a recent discovery, but obviously I love this song of hers!! It doesn't hurt that my favorite female vocalist is also in this song!

4. Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "Once" Soundtrack
Jay gave me a copy of this soundtrack before I saw the movie (I'm noticing a pattern!), and I liked it, but once I saw how the songs fit into the movie, I LOVED the music! The movie is very simple, but is really good. (Meagan's sister thought it was boring, though, so it's not for everyone). This song won the Oscar for best original song, but one other song in the movie became my favorite (and is my number one song by a lot!)

3. The Music of the Night sung by David Cook
Meag and I were not expecting this on the Andrew Lloyd Webber night from our favorite rocker.
2. Over the Rainbow sung by Jason Castro
I was so excited that he sang this when he performed at the American Idol concert that Meag and I went to last month. I'm glad I have the studio version on my iPod, though. (cuz it's longer!)

1. If You Want Me by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "Once" Soundtrack
In this part of the movie, the girl (they are actually just named girl and guy in the cast list...no names) is listening to a demo that the guy recorded and is trying to write lyrics for the song. She runs to the store to get batteries for her walkman and sings while she is walking. I listen to it over and over if it comes up on shuffle.