Black Swan

Today, I was engaged in two hours of excellence. 

This came from watching Black Swan starring Natalie Portman.  This was a great movie which was able to create a balance of good and evil, purity and temptation, and strength and weakness centered around the classic ballet tale of Swan's Lake.  I am not a ballet connoisseur in anyway, but the story kept me mesmerized every second.  I am comfortable with and confident some will disagree with my review of this movie.  I just found it to be really amazing and so has the Screen Actors Guild providing it 12 Golden Globe Nominations.  Just saying!!

Now, keep in mind this movie had what some would consider controversial scenes and was "dark" in nature.  Do not go to this movie expecting a upbeat and/or postive beginning, middle, or end.  A young lady left the theatre telling her mom, "I didn't really understand what was going on half of the time."  This movie does require some level of abstract intellect I am afraid.  So, consider yourself warned.



2011 RESOLUTION

I am not a big believer in resolutions because it generally has to do with something I can't seem to stick with like lose weight or exercise. 

BORING!!

For 2011, however, I have created a resolution which forces me to have some me time.  I am going to commit to going to the movies once per month by myself.  I am a bit strange to really enjoy this process.  I am able to sit wherever I want, have popcorn all to myself, and form my own opinion on a movie I want to see.  I will do my best in providing monthly reviews of what I see on this blog.  This way, I am holding myself accountable to at least blogging once per month, right!

Feel free to send any movie suggestions my way.

Happy New Year!!  Welcome 2011!

Holiday Break Field Trip

Juan and I are still off for Holiday Break this week.  We thought we would use one of our days to go to Universal Studios.  However, there was a 100% chance of rain, so we went with Plan B.  We went to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  Before that, however, we spent the night at Brandi's.  Here is a synopsis of our evening and day at Getty.

First, we stopped in Burbank to watch Luke play basketball with his Simi Valley High School team.  Go Pioneers!  I haven't seen him play in a while, so it was fun to see him again.  Except this time he is 6'2"...what happen to our little Lukey "Captain Underpants"?

Later in the day we went and picked up Brandi from work and then headed to the Town Center for a bite to eat and shopping.

Brandi and I LOVE Anthropologie!! We had the most fun in this store.  Here is what is sounded like.
Brandi:  I love this.  Isn't it cute.
Emily:  Oh, that is cute...I love this...what do you think?
Brandi:  Love it!  We really should stop saying how much we love things, because I love everything.
Emily:  Right.  Me too!  But this is so cute.
Brandi:  AWWW...I love it!

Most of the conversations continued in this manner, no matter how many times we told each other to stop saying how much we loved something.  But the store is so stinkin' cute.

Here is a particular item we are both fond of in the event any of my blog readers are interested in purchasing a special gift for a special someone in California. 

Measuring cups...We would be fine with either collection.

Simply click on the picture above  for a direct link to the webpage - MOM!!

Once we got home it was 9 p.m., so DUH...it was time to go to bed.

Juan and I woke up the next morning to find rain, just as predicted.  We are glad we went with Plan B.  We drove up to the Getty and saw some great paintings, sculptures, decorative art, etc.  It really is a great museum.  What I enjoyed the most was watching Juan enjoy the art.

This is what I thought he was going to look like:

But instead he was interested, excited, and impressed.  He looked like this for the majority of the day:

Here are a few of our favorite pieces (Juan wanted to take a picture of just about every piece, but I tried to select just a sampling):

 Yes, it the real LILLIES by Van Gough

 Renoir

 Thought to be the first African-American bust

 In case you were confused, Juan is on the right.

 Watched a short film on how the artist might have made this piece---so AWESOME

So now we are home just taking in the last few days of Holiday break.  I hope everyone has a GREAT New Year.  May 2011 continue with many joys and memories.

2010 Highlights

As we conclude another year we should all take time to reflect on the special memories made during 2010. There are many for the Devor family, however, meeting the Nelson family was WITHOUT A DOUBT, my #1 highlight.

Who are the Nelson’s?

Toni Nelson is my cousin (father’s niece). She is about 15 years older than me (but still only 29 years young), but I always remember spending time with her and her family as a child. Once we moved to Kansas we lost all contact with the Rawlings (Toni’s mom and dad, my aunt and uncle-Joanne and Danny). Recently, Brandi was able to find Toni and her family living in Anaheim Hills, California.

Toni is married to James and has two daughters, Amanda and Hannah. We met on December 11th at my house to catch up on old times. We met again tonight (December 26th) with all the families together (Rawlings, Nelson, Leinen, Gettys, Devor). It was such a great night.

It is amazing to see how we are all so crazy and similar. I love the Nelson family and can’t wait to spend more time together to catch up on all the years we missed.

Here are a few pictures of our crazy, fun evening.

Dad and his sister, my Aunt Joanne

How adorable are we...Hannah, Brandi, Emily, and Amanda

Again ladies, why did we all feel the need to bend over to take this pic?

Amanda and her fiance, Andrew. Their wedding date is August 12th, 2011.

Congrats to the both of you.

The whole gang, minus significant others (someone had to take the picture)

Good Night Christmas!

We now conclude a quiet Christmas day at the Devor household. We had a great day of eating, opening presents, watching movies at home, and just keeping things low key. So, now we say Good Night Christmas 2010! See you next year!

Photo technique copied from No Biggie.

Christmas 2010

Okay, so I haven't posted since August. Blogging is really more difficult for me than I thought it would be.

Why is it so hard?
1. I really wonder...Is my life all that interesting that people may actually want to read about it. I think not.
2. We're just a bit of a crazy house around here, I don't know how much of the craziness I want to make public.
3. I am so busy when I am not on break. I try really hard to get home at a reasonable time to treasure my time with the family. So, by the time I get home, eat dinner, and just chill...it is time to go to bed and start over again the next day.
4. There are such cool blogs out there my just doesn't even compete.
5. Added after I started uploading pictures...Why the hell am I having so many technical problems with this damn Blogger. My pictures are uploading sideways at random, the spacing is complete f*-!%# up (sorry mama). Help me blog sphere...how do you fix this??

So, there are all my excuses. Let us begin my quarterly blog.

Why I am blogging today...I love the Christmas season and our silly little traditions. I don't promise they are all that exciting, but it is what we do.

BE WARNED...there are several photos. Enjoy!!

The season begins with the fun prepping!! Notice no 16 year old involved in the prepping part of the season. He did (a very little) just got snappy when the camera came out.

Even Jayme was enjoying the Christmas spirit.

December 11th was our annual California Christmas dinner at my place. This had the usual antics of too much food, endless laughs, Dirty Bingo, and presents (oh, and my mommy was in town-AWESOME!---love you Mama!).

This was also Grandma's Birthday. I love that we were able to spend another year with her. I love her so very much!

Brandi loves herself some Harry and David balls!

The boys representing Emporia State University...GO HORNETS. Thank you Grandma Kansas! Weight bench from Papa Leinen.
One of the best moments of this day was later in the evening when Toni, James, and Hannah Nelson came to visit. Toni is my cousin (daughter of dad's sister) who Brandi and I haven't seen in close to 20 years. They live in Anaheim Hills and Brandi was able to re-connect with her through Facebook. Thank you Mark Zuckerberg. It was SO great to see/meet them and we look forward to creating new memories for lost time.

One of our annual traditions has become to go see the "Light House" in Murrieta. We love going to see the new lights and decorations this house adds each year. I can never believe the commitment of this family. The entire family begins decorating in September. The retired couple who own the home are outside every evening for several weeks prior to Christmas to greet the thousands of people who come to see his "Light House." They are also the nicest people...what great Christmas spirit.

I wasn't happy with any still shots of the house, so I will include one of the many bundles of cords strategically placed around the perimeter of the house.

Our annual Christmas picture in front of the light house.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Wild Animal Park. Fri st of all, let me say for the record I am VERY upset with the Wild Animal Park. They have officially changed their name to the SAFARI PARK. What the hell! What was so wrong with the Wild Animal Park for the last 50 years, that they had to change the name. I will NEVER call it the SAFARI PARK...ever ever EVER!! Here are a few shots of our day.

And Christmas Eve now comes to an end as we wait for Santa's arrival.

Merry Christmas to all!

What happened to the DEVOR's??

Yes, we are still alive. Vacation ended in July and work started hard and fast. So, here are a few things we have been up to:

Juan had soccer camp
Juan had football camp
Brad went back to work
Emily went back to work
Juan started his sophomore year at school (YIKES!!!)
Emily started a new school year with 630 students and 20 teachers (do the math people!)

Okay, so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Why haven't I posted.

I'm tired, I'm pooped, I'm busy!! I sure appreciate my vacation time and so glad we took advantage of it this year. I look forward to another one SOON!!!!

I will try to do a better job with posts.

Colorado Summer 2010

Click here to view these pictures larger

Colorado Update

Here is our Colorado Update:

Monday we went to Peak 8 Breckenridge Fun Park. This was a fun day, except for the sun burn. You forget how much closer you are to the sun, until you get the sunburn which burns for days. At the fun park we went alpine sliding; gem hunting; ran a maze; played miniature gold; jumped on a bungee trampoline; and rock climbing.

Tuesday was filled with a train ride from Leadville. We went up about 1,000 feet. It was about a 2 hour ride and was filled with beautiful mountain scenery.

Still having a great time. More updates to come.

PS Sorry pictures are having a difficult time uploading. You will just have to trust me. It was a fun couple of days.

Califoria to Colorado

We have officially made it to Breckenridge, Colorado. We are already having a GREAT time, but really enjoyed our trip out here. It usually takes about 15 hours (straight through) to get here, but we decided to leave on Thursday and make some stops on the way. Here is a summary of our trip:

We stopped in Winslow, Arizona to look at a Meteor Crater. It was huge and unimaginable how a big rock from space landed there millions of years ago. What do you know?

Our next tourist stop was the Four Corners. This picture says it all.

We then went to the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, Colorado. This is really a beautiful site to see.

Lastly, we went to the Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge. We were able to take an incline railway down to the river, ride an aerial tram across, and walk and drive across the bridge. This was a fun experience.


So, now we are in Breckenridge (by the way-the house is everything we thought it would be...thank you Jerel and Nieta), and our days will be filled with more fun. Updates to come.

Summer Vacation Number 2, 2010

We are lucky this year to enjoy two summer vacations...Kansas and Colorado.

(Don't be jealous you Hawaii and Caribbean island vacationers)

Next week, we will be leaving to meet the Devor Family in Breckenridge, Colorado. This vacation will include some amusement park fun, white water rafting, train ride, and alpine sliding. We are all looking forward to the trip and spending time with the family. But my shallow side must come out, I am really looking forward to the house. It is beautiful! Jerel and Nieta found this house, and I can't wait to see it in person. Here is a preview!

So, if I don't return in a couple of weeks you will know where to find me. I will be in the wing back, leather chair next to the floor to ceiling picture windows reading a book and drinking wine. Please knock before entering! Happy SUMMER VACATIOIN everyone!