May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Yes. I love the Hunger Games.
Yes. I read the books. Twice.
Yes. I saw the movie...twice...so far.

I've waited to write about this so I wouldn't get too many complaints about spoiling the movie or the book. Which, BTW, the book is the spoiler for the movie.

Everywhere I turned The Hunger Games was in my face. I bought Marshall the first book for Christmas and read a few pages, so I picked myself up a copy also. I loved it! I couldn't put it down. Or Catching Fire. I read that one so fast that I had to hunt down a Barnes and Noble while I was in NY so I could read the conclusion! (Now a day that I will never forget due to a Carrie/Big scene that may have played out on that street corner...and I'm not talking one full of love and nice stuff.)

Leading up to the movie release I reread The Hunger Games so I would be able to make a fresh comparison. Yes, I'm a little intense, and yes, I did this will all of the Twilight movies.

Well, I took the liberty of marking all of my favorite parts of the book so I can share them with you! I'm totes the best, right?

• "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" pg 22
• "I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed."pg 32
• "A kind Peeta Mellark is far more dangerous to me than an unkind one." pg 49
• "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve."pg 52
• "I take a sip of the hot, sweet, creamy liquid and a shudder runs through me." pg 55
• "I'm glad now I have Peeta to clutch for balance, he is so steady, solid as a rock."pg 70
• "And them he gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me." p72
• When Peeta is talking about how good Katniss is at hunting. p89
• "She has no idea the effect she can have." p91"
• "I have kept track of the boy with the bread." pg 93
• "I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun." p121
• "Winning ...won't help in my case...Because...because...she came here with me." p130
• "Sick and disoriented, I'm able to form only one thought: Peeta Mellark just saved my life." p194
• "Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true/ Here is the place where I love you."p235
• "I press the three middle fingers of my left hand against my lips and hold them out in her direction." p237 (Where I think the rebellion really began)
• When district 11 sent Katniss bread. p238
• "Remember, we're madly in love, so it's ll right to kiss me anytime you feel like it." p263
• "I do not want to lose the boy with the bread." p297
• "This is the first kiss that makes me want another."p298
• "Because if he dies, I'll never go home, not really. I'll spend the rest of my life in this arena trying to think my way out." p343
• "Nice job, sweetheart." p352
• When Haymitch tells Katniss about the Capitol being furious with her. p 356-357
• "Maybe...because for the first time...there was a chance I could keep him." p368
• "I want to tell him how much I already miss him." p373

You.Are.Welcome.

About the movie...I loved it!

Yeah, there were a lot of changes: cutting our Madge, behind the Hunger Games scenes, Seneca and Snow, Haymitch's anguish (which I feel was setting us up for the explanation as to why he's the way he is and is drunk all the time...I hope they cover that in the following installments) and getting sponsors and talking to Seneca, and the commentary on the games.

A lot of the changes were good since they didn't want to do Katniss voice overs for the whole movie. As always, there are some things I wish they had done differently.

• At the parade there should have been more fire. That's all.
• More of the scenes about how Katniss is supposed to act like they are in love, but Peeta doesn't know she's acting.
• The last convo between Peeta and Katniss. They did it all kinds of wrong in the movie.
• Katniss' interview dress having flames on the bottom..just because they use that trick in one of the other books...and it's kind of a big deal.
• They should have explained the mocking jay...but surely they will eventually since the last book is called that so it's obviously important.
• Peeta kept his leg. Obviously good for Peeta, but I feel that is adds to the impact of things that happen to him over the next two books.

What did I love?

• Behind the scenes of the games
• Seneca talking to Snow.
• Haymich selling the whole "star crossed lovers" bit to Seneca, therefor changing the rules.
• The reaping.
• The hallucinations.
• Rue.
• The cornucopia scenes. Also sad, but nicely done.
• The sequence after the games are over when Haymitch is telling Katniss about how the capitol is upset with her and the victors are getting crowned.

Now I am even more excited for the next one than I was before! Bring on Catching Fire!

Oh, do you want more Hunger Games? Then check this out!

What did you think? Did you read the books? Did you see the movie? What did you like? What didn't you like? How pumped are you for Catching Fire?

Have You Seen Hunger Games Yet?

Me: Uhhhh...have you met me? I've already gone two times!
BriBri: It just opened on Friday.
Me: Yeah, I know.

One

Naturally I purchased my tickets for opening day well in advance. I skipped the midnight showing (never again!) and went to an 8pm Friday showing instead. Studio Movie Grill.Reserved Seat. Boom. Oh and Jessica made these awesome shirts, so I HAD to have one of those. Seriously, how awesome are these shirts!

I don't get too crazy with my dressing up, so I wore that and my Katniss braid...which I wear a lot anyway, but this time it was in tribute to her. Who did I go with? Myself. Is that weird? Maybe. I get a little intense and overexcited for movies like this, Twilight, and HP, so I may have gotten a few looks from the people on either side of me. I can't help it that my friends aren't into awesome stuff like this!



Two
The second time was impromotu date night with S+J. After pump Jes said she didn't feel like cooking so she wanted to go to go to SMG instead. I told her that if her+S went to something good then I would either invite myself along or just show up and sit a few seats down from them. After looking at the movie times the only thing that worked was Hunger Games. Lucky me!! I told her it was good, she hadn't read the book (gasp! I know.). I may have taken a few short naps because I can't handle late movie showings especially during the week. BUT I still loved it after the second time! Jes liked it too. I think Steven just thought it was alright. Whatevs. This was the first opportunity I had to discuss with someone who had watched it, so I was super hyped. I even went into the book info, which they were probably wishing I would stop, to explain some of the parts and continue to show them how amazing it was!

Three
I was supposed to go with Kyle and Croc on Thursday, but I was so tired I had to cancel. :( Sorry guys, but I was literally in bed by 9.
 

What can I say, when I like something I really commit to it! I'm like this in all areas of my life whether it's stuff like Harry Potter/Hunger Games/Twilight, hobbies (going to the gym, WW, PLT, baking), or relationships.

Baby I'm A Be Your Motivation

This weekend was so good....with the exception of the whole missing my 5k thing. Whatever. (Yeah, I'm obviously sometimes a little delayed with my posts.)

Friday night I stayed in and watched a little DVR.

After missing the race on Saturday, I got in a solid 5 miles then a really good BodyPump session followed up by some stationary bike with the Hunger Games. The afternoon was full of errands and napping.

Saturday night? Oh, you know, I got super crazy organizing my room and doing this:

I'm still rusty since I started reteaching myself from my 8 year hiatus, and I had been neglecting lately...Yeah, totes not like riding a bike.

Sunday. Oh, Sunday. It was almost the perfect day.

Since I stayed home Sat night I was able to get adequate sleep! I can't even remember the last time I slept in...and by slept in, I mean 8am. I got up, did some laundry, then hit the park. 

The weather was perfect. Mid 60s, low humidity. Perfection. I've been working my legs pretty hard lately between adding in more running and miles, and increasing weight in bodypump, so I didn't get in as many miles as I was planning. But it was so beautiful I wasn't even upset by it.

Then I made it to BodyFlow. I'm so glad my gym now has Sunday hours (seriously? Yes, seriously.)! I never make time to do flow during the week because it's offered too late and I'm ready to get home, so I'm psyched that I can work it into my Sundays! Then I did more of this:

I love that The Hunger Games is even better the second time through!

When I got home it was 80 and still low humidity. Houston, what is going on? So I enjoyed my first pool day of the Summer. Yes, I'm aware that it's technically winter. But in Houston it's practically Summer 10 months out of the year.

And we finished the weekend off with some of this:

 Kyle went to NOLA for work and brought us back masks and beads.

 Glasses?

Who needs em?

Not us!

Adam made a delicious seasoning and garlic butter sauce for the steak. I'm glad he willingly let us rope him into our lives. And Croc brought us homemade chocolate cake from his Mom's bday. AND she made it herself. OMG, I found my older self because I love making my own bday cake too. It's just that other people can't be trusted with such a precious task.

I'm also glad that Adam let us have surprise dance lessons, and Croc kinda got tricked into it. We worked on the pretzel because I still need some help. 

I also worked on it with Croc because I never know what's happening when he tried to pretzel me...I might have it down now, we'll see! And I let Croc flip me. It went surprisingly well. Maybe I'll even let him do that to me in public soon...maybe.

• "I've already run 5 miles this morning, and I'm about to head to the gym. Does that make you feel Lazy? No? Just think about what Mother Theresa would have accomplished already today. How about now?"
• "You are being 2011 B right now. Maybe 2012 B's role model should be Mother Theresa." WWMTD.
• "Yeah probably....not." Croc in response to me saying I'm sure we'll meet his mom someday. Geez, rude!
• Dessert Ninja
• "Do I have to show you my boobs for those? Because that's not going to happen." You can tell Kyle is comfortable around us because he doesn't even flinch at most of the things that I/we say anymore.
• To Brittany regarding the workout plan we made, "Don't let me down, but better yet? Don't let yourself down." Followed by "That totally sounded legit, right?"

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Why, thank you for sharing creepy mustache man!

While at WWW (Wild West Wednesday) the boys all left to get another drink, so B and I held down the table. Mustache man saw this as the perfect opportunity to put the moves on B.

MM: Hey, you should come boot scootn boogie.
B: I'm not going to because I'm watching the table.
MM: What? Is it going to explode?
me:  Actually our guys are grabbing us another drink, so were holding our table.
MM: (decides to put his arm around B and caress her back) We'll you've had something old, so you should try something new. Variety is the spice of life.
me: (as B looks scared and we notice his friend creepin in the wings to get the ok to come over) Uh, we are here with 4 guys and we keep them on rotation, if you know what I mean.

His face? priceless. You could tell he was trying to decided if I was serious or not. Luckily Adam and Kyle came back at that time, so mustache man fled the scene.

Kyle, April, Adam

Carlyle/Croc/Twilight/Carlilly/whateverwemakeupnext & Kyle

Me & B 

Other notables from the week:

• When Bri came over on Friday: "So, where are we going to put the bunk beds?"
• "Hi, Have you met me? No? My name is Momma Bear and I will claw your eyes out." - B
• Croc's response to why I'm running the Woodlands 5k and not half marathon, "You do know that you need to train for that, right?" I know it's shocking that I actually have hobbies and do stuff like, uh, run. I am more than just heart hands you know.
• "I can feel you resisting" - Kyle on my ability to follow...I swear I'm working on it.
• Leap day came and went and I managed to not propose to anyone. How did I let this glorious opportunity slip by?
• Your butt was out.
• "Are you a good dancer? Can you pretzel?" Well, tonight I have a 50% success rate. Yeah, this lead to a major fail on my part...I absolutely can not pretzel if you don't start it off by holding both of my hands. The second you break lose and expect me to find it behind your back is the second shi gets cray.
• This is the last season of OTH (yes, it's still on). And it has been rocking my world! with the Clay thing, at first I was like "OMG. Clay gave his baby up for adoption and never told his OTH friends." Then I was like "OMOTH! Clay had a baby, blocked that info our of his memory from the trauma of his wife dying, and it turns out it's that super cute kid he's been flying airplanes with?!?"
• OTH again - Dan has earned my redemption. I love him when he's in crime solving mode. Julian, "what's next?" Dan - "I'm going back to prison." He's so hard core! After all, he did kill his own brother. That's an OG fo sho. And I'm surprised that they haven't even brought that up this season! They usually throw the Keith card around any chance they get. (this was obvs written before last weeks ep).
• OTH - last one - The ep preview where it's all, "and now the only person they can always count on is back" and they are talking about Lucas...Hold the meffing phone. He can be counted on to 1. cheating on his gf, 2. never putting the needs of the girl he is with first, 3.leaving the show because he wants more money, and then not really doing much since then, 4. looking like a hobo. Lucas Scott, you were not missed!
• BPBrian was having a rough time on the shoulders track since he had worked them out already that day, so I gave him a "You can do it Brian!" He said, "Thank you. I really need that sometimes." And that? is why Jes and I are front row status!

Hot Chocolate Trafficking

My grandma makes the best hot chocolate...ever. No really, EVER!

When I went home for Christmas (yeah, I know, I thought I had already shared this...but I hadn't) she shared the recipe and mixed up a batch. We filled up two gallon zip lock bags so I could stuff them into my carry-on (I didn't check anything this trip) and get it back to Houston.

Grandma said it looked a little suspicious, so I put the recipe face up in one of the bags so they would see it was hot chocolate. Yeah, because that's convincing? I also tried to reassure her by the fact that I look way to young and innocent to do something like that. But then I realized that may be exactly why I would be a smuggler, because no one would expect it. Crap.

I get to the airport, and as my bag is going through the security scanner, I notice that they stop the conveyor and the security guy calls someone else over there to take a look. I know it's my bag because I'm the only one in the area, so I volunteer the info about how it's hot chocolate mix.

They basically look at me like I'm crazy, which I obviously must be if I'm smuggling hot coco across Texas.

They moved my bag to another area so they could open it up and have a look at the goods. I wish I had a picture, because yeah, my bag did look a little suspicious. But surely people are more sneaky when trying to transport drugs, like they probably don't put it in their carry on. I told him that if he flipped it over he would see the recipe and it's so delicious that I'm trying to take it home. He sniffs the bag and sends it back through the scanner. While he's over there I over hear him tell his security friend that it does smell pretty good and he should write down the recipe. haha.

In the end I made it home with my stash hot chocolate and basically enjoyed it at least twice a day for the next month.

Want the recipe? Check it out here.