Happy Mother’s Day! Tomorrow we celebrate Mom and everything that she has done for us. All our lives she has loved us unconditionally, hugged us tight and made everything better, told us we can do anything we set our minds to, and been there for us through thick and thin. Mom is the person who made us who we are today, and I think a day of celebration is definitely in order for this wonderful woman.

Everyone learned pretty much everything they needed to know from their mother, right? Her words of wisdom have echoed in our heads  when faced with tough decisions throughout our lives, and today I’d like to remind you all of some of those wise words. Don’t forget – Mom knows best!

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I received an email from a family member a few weeks ago with a poem that was said to be written by Audrey Hepburn. The poem was so beautiful and captivating that I wanted to share it with you all on my blog. To do so, I did a little digging and found out that it was actually not written by Audrey Hepburn but by writer Sam Levenson. Titled ”Time Tested Beauty Tips”, Levenson wrote it for his grandchild, and it just so happened to be one of Audrey’s favorite poems. It is said she read it to her children on her very last Christmas Eve.

Hepburn submitted this poem to a member of the media when asked to share her beauty secrets. Known for her beauty and charm, I think this poem gives us a clear picture of the type of person Audrey Hepburn really was. Please take a few minutes to read it and take to heart what it conveys – that the true beauty and grace of a woman is not seen with the eye, but felt with the heart. It is measured by the good deeds she does for others and by  random acts of kindness. Let’s all strive to be better!

Time Tested Beauty Tips

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,  reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.

Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the  figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

~ Sam Levenson 

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Everyone knows Paula Deen is famous for her amazing food, and most people tend to think her recipes are pretty unhealthy. Considering the amount of butter they call for, I can understand why people think this. But the Chicken & Rice Casserole isn’t that bad, and I like to substitute as many lighter items as I can when making it. This is a great weekend meal where you’ll have leftovers the next day. I usually make it on Sundays and we’ll eat the leftovers Monday night, then still have some leftover that I’ll take for lunch a day or two later. It’s a very economical meal! Granted, my husband doesn’t love it as much as I do (I think he has trouble getting past the water chestnut consistency) but he lets me make it every now and then.

This casserole is very easy to prepare and only takes 25 minutes in the oven! Here’s the recipe and directions:

Ingredients:

1   10 3/4 ounce can condensed cream of celery soup
1   4 ounce jar pimentos
1   8 ounce can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2   14 1/2 ounce cans green beans, drained and rinsed  (I use frozen green beans)
3 cup diced cooked chicken
1   medium onion, peeled and diced
2 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil  (I use olive oil)
1 cup mayonnaise  (I use lite mayo)
1   6 ounce box long-grain wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1   pinch salt

First, boil your chicken and transfer it to a plate, then dice it up and be sure to save your broth. Boil your green beans in the broth about 10 minutes, then drain them. Next, cook the box of rice as directed on the package. Sauté your onion over butter or olive oil. Then, in a large mixing bowl, combine the sautéed onions, pimentos, green beans, water chestnuts, can of Cream of Celery soup, and 1 cup of mayonnaise. Mix it well. Now add your diced chicken and the cheese and mix it up again.

Transfer to a greased 3-quart casserole dish and cook on 350 for 25 minutes.

You can add extra cheese to the top of the casserole during the last 5 minutes in the oven if you are a cheese freak (like my husband). Serve it up while it’s hot and enjoy! I love mine with a big glass of cold milk – mmm mmm! I might have to make this again soon.

What are some staple casseroles in your house?

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Since I love to both read and watch movies, I’m going to do another book vs. movie review! This time I chose a Young Adult novel that my best friend and I recently read, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Let’s begin with the book…

Our narrator is 16-year-old Ethan Wate, who lives in the small Southern town of Gatlin, South Carolina. Ethan is haunted by a recurring dream where he is desperately trying to save a girl, whose face he can not see. He doesn’t know who she is or why he’s dreaming this but he is so drawn to her and feels he would do anything for this beautiful stranger. Ethan’s mother died last year and his father has been cooped up in his study “writing” ever since, leaving Ethan to be looked after by their superstitious, grandmotherly housemaid, Amma.

The people of Gatlin’s favorite pastimes include attending church and participating in the annual re-enactment of the town’s historic Civil War battle, complete with Confederate soldier costumes and big antebellum dresses. (The authors goes on to paint the perfect picture of small-minded, Bible beating hypocrites for us.) At Jackson High School, where Ethan attends as a Junior, you are either on the inside or the outside with the popular group, and Ethan has recently broken up with his cheerleader girlfriend, thus leaving him dangerously close to being on the outside. But he doesn’t mind much as he longs for something more than a close-minded life in Gatlin. Ethan immerses himself in books that take him far away and applies to colleges anywhere and everywhere outside of Gatlin, which he sees as his ticket out of there.

But the peace in Gatlin is disturbed when Macon Ravenwood’s (the town’s alleged “Boo Radley”) niece, Lena, comes to live with him. As all of the town’s people consider Macon and his kin to be Satanists (told you these people are small-minded), when Lena Duchannes shows up at Jackson High…it ain’t pretty, y’all. She is quickly outcast and everyone’s fears are fueled by a strange incident that occurs at school – suddenly all of the windows are blown out in the classroom while Lena is being publicly ridiculed by the other students – causing mass chaos in their quiet little town.

On his way home from school that day in a severe thunderstorm, Ethan almost runs someone over in the road only to find out it is Lena Duchannes. He offers her a ride home and quickly learns she isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. The two begin to spend more and more time together and Ethan soon finds out that Lena and her family are more different than he could have ever imagined. They are “Casters” and all have special powers – kind of like witches. Ethan and Lena fall in love and he realizes Lena is the girl from his strange, recurring dream. This is when it starts to get real good.

Her 16 th birthday is rapidly approaching, and we find out Lena is in grave danger as she nears her “claiming”, where every Caster female is claimed as either a Light or a Dark Caster on her 16 th birthday, regardless of what they wish to choose. (Obvs a Light Caster is good and a Dark one is evil.) Since all of the females in Lena’s family have been claimed Dark, she fears she will follow in their footsteps and become a monster who will no longer recognize or care for Ethan, and could possibly even hurt him.

There are so many other little interesting elements to this story that I will briefly summarize: there is an underground Caster Library where Ethan finds out his mother worked as a “Keeper” of Caster records; Ethan’s maid and grandmotherly figure Amma turns out to have supernatural powers of her own and can communicate with spirits; Ethan and Lena find a locket that when they touch transports them to the Civil War where they observe Lena’s ancestor bring her dead lover back to life (whose name also happens to be Ethan Wate…mmm hmmm) with a powerful Dark cast, thus cursing all future females in her family to be claimed as Dark Casters. And then there’s Lena’s evil, estranged mother, Sarafine, who is so desperate to have Lena join her on the Dark side that she is willing to harm Ethan in the process.

All in all the book was very intriguing and had a climactic, exciting ending that left me eager to read the second book, which I am currently reading. There are four books in the “Caster Chronicles” and I am looking forward to reading each one.

Beautiful Creatures book review – 7/10

When I heard there was a movie based on the book I was excited to see it as I obviously love reading a book and then watching it’s characters come to life before me on the big screen. As we all know though, not every movie adaptation turns out as well as fans of the book would hope. Unfortunately, this was the case for me with the movie Beautiful Creatures. Here’s my review of the movie…

The movie starts out with Ethan’s dream so I’m thinking, “ok this is good, they’re following the book already!” but I soon realized that was one of the few things that would be exactly like the book in this film. Ethan, played by Alden Ehrenreich, definitely lets the audience know the film is set in the South with an overwhelmingly Southern accent. (Side-note –  It makes me absolutely sick how the media portrays ALL Southerners as having this insanely twangy country accent in any movie set in the Southeast. Hello! We’re not all rednecks! Ok I’m done now.) Amma is introduced, played by Viola Davis, a much younger version of the grandmotherly figure we get from the book, and Lena is played by Alice Englert, who perfectly captures what I imagined Lena would be like in my mind while reading Beautiful Creatures (I love it when that happens). Uncle Macon is also spot on and played by the great Jeremy Irons, and I honestly can’t picture anyone else in the role.

Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert as Ethan & Lena

Things in the movie get tricky as we jump around from scene to scene, and plot twists from the book are revealed to us in a somewhat distorted way. I found myself confused and saying “that’s not what happens in the book!” a lot throughout the film. For example, Lena’s family in the movie are not at all what we have come to know in the book. In the film they are almost comical and do not come across at all as they do in the book – like supernatural beings who you do not want to mess with. Take the character of Ridley (Lena’s cousin who is a Dark Caster) for example. She is supposed to have a hot pink streak in her hair, wear extremely short school-girl skirts and is constantly sucking on a lollipop (which drives all of the men wild) but she’s quite the opposite in the movie. Yes she is seductive, but played by Emmy Rossum, Ridley in the movie is dark, regal and sophisticated – nowhere near Valley-Girl-evil enough! And then there’s Larkin, Lena’s other cousin, who plays a very big role in the book with a huge twist at the ending. In the movie he is just an afterthought with only two scenes and plays no significant role to the plot.

Emmy Rossum as Ridley. Where is your lollipop, Rid?!

There were other disappointments as far as plot changes including a character being completely left out of the movie, the lack of Kelting – a special and very rare ability Lena and Ethan share that enables them to communicate with each other without speaking (I felt that leaving this out made it harder for the audience to understand just how close their relationship is), and the ending was totally different than the book ending.

Alden Ehrenreich and Viola Davis as Ethan & Amma

Jeremy Irons as Macon Ravenwood

Alice Englert and Kyle Gallner as Lena & Larkin

Overall, the movie was entertaining and did feature some pretty cool special effects, but if they hadn’t read the book I don’t think the viewer would fully appreciate this bewitching and intriguing Caster world. I do not think they will be making a sequel or carrying on with four movies to match the books, as the estimated overall budget of the movie was $60 million and it only brought in $19 million in theaters (source). It will be released on DVD May 21, and may have more success as a rental.

Beautiful Creatures movie review – 5/10

If you have read Beautiful Creatures and/or seen the movie, leave me a comment with your thoughts! I would love to hear how others thought the movie compared to the book, or just what you thought of either one in general!

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This is an indie band from California and I absolutely love their vintage, old-fashioned aura. “Home” brings to mind a June and Johnny Cash timeless love story so sweet it puts a smile on your face. I would love to see them live, or maybe be a groupie in their band. How fun would that be?? Hope you enjoy this one and it puts you in a lovestruck mood!

Alright, ladies. I’ve got a bone to pick with y’all. A new advertising campaign from Dove called “Real Beauty Sketches” demonstrates how we often think less of ourselves in terms of natural beauty and self-image than what complete strangers think of us when they first meet us. Have you seen this commercial yet? If not, please take a few minutes to watch it below.

Pretty powerful, right? The sad thing is, I think that all of us can sympathize with the women in this ad because we all feel this way about ourselves in one way or another. Who doesn’t wish there was something they could change about their features, their face or body? And what woman doesn’t have a makeup bag full of synthetic material that will easily cover up any trace of her natural beauty? Whether big or small, we all suffer small self consciousnesses.  I think that just as the women in the commercial were taken aback to find out that complete strangers thought more highly of them then they did of their own selves, this Dove campaign will catch female viewers by surprise in the same way when they realize they are guilty of this, too!

So why do we do this to ourselves? Sure we can take the easy way out and blame it on the media and fashion magazines who have conditioned us to think we all need to look like supermodels to lead happy lives. But that doesn’t fix the problem. I think what we need to do is take a step back from all of our criticism and negativity, and focus on the positive things about ourselves. Make a list of things that you like about your face and body, and once a day when you look in the mirror pick one to focus on. Be thankful for your natural beauty.

And since we are all in this together we should make it a point to tell other women in our lives that they are beautiful.  Compliment them on something specific that they may take for granted about themselves – you never know when someone may need it.  I think you’ll find many women will be surprised and grateful to hear someone compliment them on a specific feature, and it will definitely boost their confidence. And who doesn’t need a confidence boost every now and then?!

All in all, I think Dove was right on with this advertising campaign, and I’d like to thank them for reminding me (and countless other women) of our natural beauty.

When I first saw Paramore on the 2008 MTV New Year’s Eve show performing “Crush Crush Crush” my initial thoughts were: 1) who is this adorable, amazing, energetic, orange-haired singer?? 2) I must hear more of their music, NOW! and 3) Oh my gosh I LOVE PARAMORE!! And I have ever since then.

Originally made up of four kids living in Franklin, TN (where I was born, y’all!) the band has had it’s share of band mate departures and additions over the years, and now they are down to three members – lead singer Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York. Last Tuesday saw the highly anticipated release of their first album since two founding members walked out on the band over a year ago, and the self titled album, Paramore, is set to take the Number 1 spot on the Billboard charts this week. Paramore outsold Justin Timberlake’s latest album, The 20/20 Experience, which held the Number 1 spot for three weeks by nearly three copies to one.

At the Paramore concert in New Orleans, 2010. They were ah-mazing!

The first two singles released on the new album are “Now” and “Still Into You”. I really love both of these new songs and can’t wait to check out the whole album (which obviously is spectacular). Below is the new video for “Still Into You”. This song puts Paramore’s signature characteristics on full display – Hayley’s ridiculously good vocals, pop/punk catchy beats and the band’s infectious energy. If you aren’t a Paramore fan yet get ready to become one!

Naturally the first place I turned for Spring wreath inspiration was Pinterest! I’m a hydrangea lover, so when I came across the one below, I was sold!

I also really loved the fact that it looked very simple to create myself. So, I set off to my local Hobby Lobby with my Pinterest app ready to roll on my phone for reference. It wasn’t hard to find the materials for my creation and I only spent around $35. (Have you seen how much already-made wreaths are at the crafts stores?? Like $80. That’s ridonk.) My husband and I are big fans of the color blue so I decided to use blue flowers instead of purple.

Here’s what you’ll need to create this beautiful Spring wreath:

Wicker Wreath – $6
Cream Hydrangea Silk Flowers – $8 each
Blue Hydrangea Flower bundle – $7
Wooden Craft Letter – $2
Floral Wire – $2.50
Roll of Burlap – $8 (optional – I wrapped some around the top of mine to hang it)
Paint (not pictured – I used some leftover sample paint from Lowe’s that cost $5)

As far as tools, you’ll need wire cutters, scissors and a glue gun.

First, cut the stems off of your flowers, but be sure to leave a little bit of the stem so you can stick it in the wicker wreath.  Arrange them on the wreath how you like them.  Next, cut off  some floral wire and use it to secure the flower to the wreath.  Do this by wrapping the wire around the wreath and through the flower several times.

Once your flowers are in place it’s time to paint your letter and attach it. Yay, you’re halfway done already! Told you this was easy. In a well ventilated area and on a paint-proof surface paint your letter and allow it to completely dry.

When your letter is dry, attach it to the wreath using your glue gun.  Position the letter and spread glue on some of the larger twigs that touch the letter.  Let it dry for a few hours.

Finally, wrap the burlap around the top of the wreath twice and then tie it in a knot, leaving some length on the ends to dangle.

All done!! Now go hang it on your front door and get ready for your neighbors to come ask you where you got your lovely wreath!

What Spring crafts will you be making this year? 

Other Pinterest Projects To Check Out:

• Natural Homemade Laundry Detergent
• Lasagna Roll Ups
• T-Shirt Scarf

Catwoman originally appeared in 1940 in the first issue of DC Comics’ Batman as “The Cat”, the alter ego of Selina Kyle, a whip carrying burglar (get it, The Cat…cat burglar, see what they did there?). A popular villain, she and Batman have exhibited a love/hate relationship over the decades, and she is one of the most widely recognized female comic characters. Her costume has evolved over time from just a mask to a dress with a hood and ears, and eventually to a full-on sexy catsuit.

The original Catwoman, circa 1940′s

Our more modern Catwoman appearing in comics from 1993-present

Catwoman hasn’t just appeared in comics, though. She appeared in the television series Batman from 1966-1968, and reappeared in 1992 in Tim Burton’s classic, Batman Returns. In 2004 the movie Catwoman introduced a new character named Patience who is killed and brought back to life by an Egyptian cat, after which she develops strange, cat-like qualities. This movie was more of a spin-off of the Catwoman character, and was not directly associated with DC Comics. Finally, our most recent Catwoman came in the form of Anne Hathaway in Christopher Nolan’s brilliant film The Dark Knight Rises, just last year.

1) Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) 2) Halle Berry in Catwoman (2004) 3) Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (1992)

For this post I want to focus on the film costumes for Catwoman, like the ones above – dark, sexy and lots of leather. I think these are all things most people associate with Catwoman’s style. Here’s what I would choose for a daytime outing and a fancy dinner affair if I were Selina Kyle.

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I decided to switch my (mostly) weekly music posts to Mondays. I like “Music Monday” better and Mondays are always kinda rough, anyway. A good song will help us get through the day!

This week I want to feature a band that I am obsessed with right now. Anytime I hear a song on the radio by Imagine Dragons a “Ooohhh I love this song!” is usually not too far behind. First it was “It’s Time”, then “Radioactive” and now I’m crushing on their new song “Demons”. Straight out of Las Vegas, Nevada, Imagine Dragons formed in 2008 and released their debut album, Night Visions, last year. Their first single, “It’s Time“, holds the record for the longest run on the 2012 Alternative Top 10 charts. Not bad, y’all!

So here’s “Radioactive”. I love the electronic sound in this song, and the video cracks me up (even though it is border-line creepy). Every time I hear this it gets cranked up and I do a little dance. How can you not?? Hope you guys like it as much me.