Getting away from it all

This is my busy time of year at work. Of course, that leads me to daydreaming about doing something else with my life. I've been browsing a website of Edmonton Apartments wondering what it would be like to pick up and move somewhere completely different. When I was in my early 20s, I quit my job and moved 500 miles away to North Carolina on a whim. Granted, it was the worst financial decision I ever made. It took me quite a few years to dig myself out of the hole I was in. However, it was an awesome experience. I spent my lunch hour on the beach. I watched the sun set over the ocean on the weekends. (I don't get up early enough for sunrises.) Edmonton is probably too far north for me. I'd freeze my behind off. But it would be nice to live somewhere else for awhile. Life is way too stressful around here.

Has anyone else made a 'rash' decision to just up and move someplace else? Not just down the street or something like that. A whole new state or at least a city more than a few hours away. Was it good or did you have an awful time?

TV Review: Grimm

Last week, I talked about ABC's fantasy drama Once Upon A Time. Now I'd like to talk about NBC's fantasy drama Grimm. The two shows are similar yet so different. Both shows revolve around fairy tale characters in the real world. However, where Time is a pretty straight forward drama, Grimm is a gritty police drama.

Nick Burkhardt (David Guintoli) is a homicide detective who recently finds out that he is a descendent of the famous Grimm brothers. However, the Grimm brothers were more than just fairy tale writers. They were part of a group of hunters that fight supernatural creatures. Now that Burkhardt's powers have been activated, it is up to him to protect humanity from the evil creatures in the world.

I am always very excited when fairy tale series come to television. Even though I know in my heart that they could be very disappointing, I always set aside time to tune in. Unfortunately, Grimm is not a very good show. Despite wanting desperately to enjoy it, I found it severely lacking. Instead of focusing on the fantastical creatures, we are relegated to watching Burkhardt try to solve a crime without letting anyone, including his partner Hank (Russell Hornsby), know that the responsible party is an animalistic creature masquerading as a human. It is painful to watch Burkhardt trying to figure out what is going on. Even though his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) left him a trailer full of information about the various creatures, he barely touches any of it. Sure, there are a few scenes of him slowly paging through a book but that isn't anything like real research. If the show wanted to focus on the police aspect, they should stop being so half-hearted about it. There are plenty of good cop shows to show them how to do it.

It's not always a good idea to compare shows. However, since Once Upon A Time and Grimm both debuted around the same time and contain the same underlying plot, it's difficult not to compare them. Time is a great fantasy drama that drops hints about the true identity of each character. Grimm, on the other hand, is muddled and doesn't seem to know what it is. I am going to give Grimm a few more episodes to redeem itself. I'm just not going to hold my breath waiting for redemption.

TV review: Once Upon A Time

It has been quite some time since I've seen a MUST SEE television show. Once Upon A Time fits the bill. Airing on Sunday nights at 8:00PM (Eastern) on ABC, the show takes the classic fairy tale characters and throws them into the real world. While that isn't a new plot (see: The Charmings from the late 80s), this does have a bit of a different take on it.

The series revolves around the fight between Snow White and the Evil Queen. Snow White married her Prince Charming. At the wedding, the Evil Queen storms in and threatens to destroy Snow's happy ending. Fast forwarding a few months, a troubled Snow White is pregnant. She turns to Rumpelstiltskin, who can see the future. He informs the princess that the queen will banish everyone to a realm with no happy endings and that her unborn child will be their savior. The queen unleashes her curse, not only transporting everyone into our world but also wiping all of their memories.

I think what I find most interesting about the show is trying to figure out what the fantasy world counterparts are for the real world people we meet. The heroine, Emma, is, of course, Snow White's daughter. Ten years before the first episode, she gave up a son for adoption. This boy, Henry, is the glue that holds everything together. He brings Emma to Storybook, Maine to help the town regain their memories and restart time. As of the second episode, the only explanation for Henry knowing about the fantasy world is that he believes a fairy tale book that his teacher, who is Snow White, gave him is fact.

Both my husband and I highly recommend this show to everyone. As a matter of fact, he turned it on for our 9-year old daughter this morning. There is nothing really scary in it (yet anyway) so the kids are likely to enjoy it. And the plot is good enough to keep the adults interested as well. It is definitely a show that is good for all.

It's November?!

I meant to write a Happy Halloween post yesterday but I got too busy to actually write it. The end of a month is always hectic at work. On top of that, I had to leave work a little early so I could rush home to help my daughter get into her costume. As I said before, she dressed as 13-year old Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. Only a few people recognized her. Luckily, a group of young teens went crazy over her costume. That pretty much made the entire night worth it. Now it's November. My birthday is in November but it also means the beginning of the busiest time of year at work. I'm hoping that things will go well. I'm not holding my breath though. Winter always makes me sigh heavily.

The other side of the storm

We made it through the freak October storm. There were a few power outages but it came back on fairly quickly. Luckily, the sun has come out so a lot of snow on the roads and sidewalks has melted. I still need to dig my car out though. I keep getting sidetracked by websites talking about eyelash growth products that work. I don't have eyelash problems. I'm just curious about why people are so concerned about how long their eyelashes are. It's weird. Anyway, I'm out to see what needs to be shoveled. Wish me luck!

October snow?

I know I don't usually update on weekends but this is a little crazy. For the past few days, there was snow in the forecast for today. It varied anywhere from 2 to 10 inches. (Yay weathermen.) I can confidently say that most people figured this as a minor snow event. We would have some but not tons. Instead, we got tons. It is a really heavy wet snow that has been falling since about 9AM. My sister and I went to a master class for Hip Hop Hustle and it took us about an hour to get home. (It takes a half hour to get from my sister's to the location.) I even stuck it out at her house for awhile to see if the roads would get any better. They didn't but I managed to make it home in one piece without crashing my car.

Now I am going to get warm and waste some time looking at expensive, yet gorgeous, Sherri Hill prom dresses. I don't know anyone of prom age but I still like looking at the dresses.

Stay safe everyone!

Baby hats

One of my sister's friends had a baby fairly recently. As a result, my sister has gone on a bit of a baby shopping spree. Of course, that means a new knit baby hat for the winter months. There are some really cute ones out there. I think my daughter had a baby beanie hat when she was little. Then again, I'm not particularly fond of winter so we probably didn't spend a whole lot of time outside. (I try my best to hibernate.) I really wish I knew how to knit though. I think I like some of the patterns I've found better than the actual hats. Maybe I'll teach myself how to knit properly. Then I can make tons of hats to sell. That might be fun!