courtney the critic.

Okay... I'm certainly not a movie critic, but I thought since my sweet husband and I have wore out the Red Box I'd share my humble opinion (plus I think this would be a fun scrapbook page). So here goes:

New in Town (Top Critics 13%) - My review, well it was horrible. This was one of those movies I rented while Chase was out of town. There was one, yes one funny moment. The only redeeming quality... Harry Connick. Don't waste your time. I completely agree with the critics, but I think they were to nice. I'll give it a 10%.

The Secret Life of Bees (Top Critics rating 68%) - Usually when movies make me cry I don't like them, but this is certainly the exception. First of all I just love Queen Latifah. I do, I just can't help it. Dakota Fanning continues to be my favorite teen actress. Be warned it is sad, but terrific. 75%

Benji (Top Critics rating 33%) - We rented this while my almost four year old nephew stayed the night. Now, I will say we haven't seen a good kids movie in awhile, and this one followed suit. Chase and I were out, and while that may be normal for some people I NEVER fall asleep during movies. However, I will give this movie some props because Brayden stayed awake the entire movie. 20%

Taken (Top Critics rating 42%) - I loved Taken. Normally this won't be a movie I wouldn't rent, but after hearing so many good things, Chase and I got it. I was on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE movie. I wouldn't say that the acting is great, but the action is. 55%

He's Just Not That Into You (Top Critics Rating 31%) - Don't tell my husband, but I have a crush on Justin Long. I've heard from some of my friends that didn't like this movie, but I liked it. It reminded me a lot of an American Love Actually (except I didn't like Love Actually). It just had some of my favorite actors in it, but I do have to share one of my favorite quotes from one of the critics:

"Then there's the matter of casting. Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck. Right. You start lining up people like that you and you might want to think about changing the title to, "Just About Everyone's Into You." - Richard Roeper

So true. As realistic as some of these relationships are, I'm pretty sure none of these women had trouble getting a guy, just saying. 40%

Grand Torino (Top Critics rating 71%)- Again, another movie I never would have rented without some prompting. The language is pretty rough, but the acting and story line are fantistic. And Clint Eastwood's character has some of the best one-liners. He's character is completely cynical, but there is something extremely loveable about him. And the racial issues involved with this movie are extremely eye opening! 80%

Second Chance Harvey (Top Critics rating 71%) - Chase and I hated this movie. I don't know what's wrong with us, but we completely disagree with the critics. The only movies I disliked as much were New In Town and Benji. Oh and maybe Benjamin Button.

Bride Wars (Top Critics 7%)- Wow, these two girls, they just really don't make good friends. I can't imagine doing some of the things they did to one another in his movie. It was cute, but there just wasn't much to. You can judge this one by the cover. What you see is what you get. 30%

Marley and Me (Top Critics 50%)- I'm never getting a dog. It's official. I cried as much in this movie as I did when my childhood dog died. It was so sad. Plus, Chase always knows when I'm going to cry, so he always keeps himself from crying by laughing at my quivering chin. I will never watch this movie again, but it was worth it to watch once. 45%

Transformers II (Top Critics 18%)- This is the only movie we went to see in the theathers. Parts of it were pretty excied, but over all it was pretty crude. Chase and I always agreed that we could never tell who was winning the fights. It just looked like a bunch of jumble. I don't think I would see it again. 10%

So, I can't believe anyone would still be reading, but if you are, I hope you were able to add some movies to your must-see list. I'd love to hear what you have seen, so leave a comment. Has anyone seen The Proposal?

Hopefully the movie of the summer will come in two weeks with Harry Potter on IMAX. I can't wait!

a graduation card...sort of.

My sweet mom was kind enough to water our grass when we were in Florida a few weeks ago. When we got back I had a note on my desk requesting some graduation cards. Unfortunately, she won't be able to use these until next year, but I started working on some tonight.

When I sat down to get started, I realized I don't have any graduation stamps, so I had to improvise. Most of the kids that we attend graduation go to Wilson Central so they used their colors. Here's what I came up with:
Stamps: Damask, Life
Paper: Almost Navy, So Saffron
Ink: White Craft, Yellow Colorbox


And here's a funny story. So I get flowers from my mom pretty frequently. A few weeks ago a dug up some of her baby hydrangea bushes. I planted both. One is alive, but not growing that fast. The other that I planned took off. I was so excited. Then one day I really took a good luck at it, and I realized it's not a hydrangea bush. Somehow my mom had a tiny little Sunflower growing under her bush. No wonder it took off! It grows so fast. Here is now:

learning a new skill.

So tonight I decided I wanted to break out some of my copics. As much as I love to color, I just still feel like I can't master these things. I need a class! I took forever to color these flowers, but I'm really happy with the outcome. I used some clear cardstock and some white ink to make polka dot overlay. I used buttons on the very top layer to hide my glue dots I used to hold the clear cardstock to the white cardstock:
Here's what I used:
Stamps: Friends Til' The End, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Black VersaMagic, White Craft
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink White Satin
Paper: White PTI, Pure Poppy, Lemon

In other news I gave my bed a little makeover. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got duvet clips and bedskirt pins. For about five bucks, my duvet is now staying in the perfect place.
And the little pins are holding my bedskirt in the perfect place. I really didn't think it would make a huge difference but it did!
Plus, my sweet husband, took my favorite sheet set pillow case to camp with him, and well it was so gross when he got back. So I got these great costal sheets. I love how they peek out now:

a quick book.

Whew. I went straight outside today when I got home today. As much as I love my flowers it really is work. When I finally got done I realized I was covered in dirt. Granted, I decided it was my mission of the day to try to dig up some of the rocks in our yard! Does anyone else have a million rocks in their back yard?

I did take a moment to take some pictures of my growing plants:
And my mom gave these flowers. They are really dramatic and tall, but I've unfortunately already forgotten their name! Mom... little help here...After I finished my Chicago scrapbook I decided to tackle my other to-do project sitting on my work space. My sweet husband Chase was ordained last month, and it was truly a special moment for both of us. We do have video from the ceremony, but I really wanted something to remember the occasion by. Thankfully, I had kept all of the sweet cards and letters Chase received that day and made this little book:It's really nothing fancy, but it's a great way to organize and keep your cards, programs etc. I know this will be something he goes back and reads from time to time.

traveler's inspiraton challenge.

It has been raining here like crazy. It is great for our grass, but we didn't have any fireworks last night because of the rain/storms. It was a pretty big bummer. We are hoping they will shoot them tonight, but we'll see at 9 if that pans out.

So today, Chase and I finished a project and I participated in traveler's inspiration challenge. Check out the picture:
I had this butterfly left over from Dawn's challenge and it seemed to work well for this challenge.
I love all the colors. So fun! Here's what I used:

Stamps: Garden Galore (Inkadinkado)
Ink: Black Stazon
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Raspberry Fizz, Taken with Teal

And here's what Chase and I worked on (we just did this in our master a few weeks ago here). Here is the before:
We simply cut the trim and applied it with glue. Make sure you get epoxy! It really will make a difference. We used some other kind of glue in the master and it took SO MUCH LONGER. And here is the finished look:
I also got this great fern and pot for our master bathroom. I'm crazy about the pot!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #11

Happy 4th! Chase and I are taking it easy today. I was able to get everything cleaned yesterday so it's been a pretty relaxing day so far. I was able to do Dawn's challenge, and wow, it really was a challenge. I'm still not sure how I feel about this card, but I worked on it so long I have to post it.

Here's the colors:
Here's what I used:

Stamps: Friends 'Til the End (PTI), Garden Delight (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Basic Grey, Raspberry Fizz, Always Artichoke, Real Red
Ink: Black Stazon
Ribbon: True Black (PTI)
Buttons: Basic Grey

let's try this again...chicago scrapbook.

Chase got back from camp today, and I was able to take pictures of my finished scrapbook. I would say these last two pages were really inspired by Elise Blaha's blog. I love the way her mini books are 'true' scrapbooks. She is always adding things from stores, restaurants, etc.

So check it out:
These pages are my favorite. I think if I ever have this out of display these will be my choice.
And here is the finished look:
I did come up with one little trip while I was making this. On each day, I made a little "day __" tab. I didn't have any clear cardstock, so I just took one of PTI clear boxes that they ship their stamps in, and it worked great!

I think I'm about to go wake up my sleeping husband. He's been out for about 4 hours now! I think he was exhausted.