YouTubesday: A Very Potter Musical

This just makes me happier than a tornado in a trailer park. I love me some Harry Potter and I love musicals. This must have taken a lot of rehearsal hours, but it was well worth it. Check it out:

There's tons more where that came from so click on the video if you want to check the rest out. And now, if you haven't seen this wedding video yet, check it out:

My sister is getting married in December, and this video made us both laugh and then cry. And I think she should make us all learn a dance to perform at some point during her wedding. It's only fair-I made her read a poem at my wedding.
Meredith--for your consideration:

I think we could make it work.

Have a great day!
Love,

Elle Bunny

Emma Watson is Friday's Fun Fearless Female!

As I admitted yesterday, I'm late to the Harry Potter book phenomenon. But I've always loved the movies. And Emma Watson, aka Hermione, has always been my favorite. Something about that character has always reminded me of myself at that age. Anyway, I love Emma Watson. She is a good example of a child star who has grown up to be normal. In fact all of the Harry Potter kids are fairly down to earth compared with winners like Lindsay Lohan.

Just take a look at this interview she did with David Letterman:

So poised! And she totally owned David Letterman in that interview. If you didn't have a chance to watch, she talks about her plans to attend college in the states. She always has intelligent, witty things to say and you just can't help but like her.
Besides being level-headed, she's also quite beautiful and classy. She's a fave of Karl Lagerfield, and she always looks fashion forward without looking too trendy.

I love the pics of her from her recent photo shoot with Teen Vogue. Gorgeous!
Just look at these pictures from her with the cast at the recent rainy world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.The amount of awesome in this picture is killing me. I adore JK Rowling. And I love Emma's dress. Of course, right now she's getting a lot of attention for a wardrobe malfunction at the event. If you haven't seen the picture yet, here it is.Well, at least she's wearing underwear. This alone puts her heads and shoulders above most Hollywood starlets.
I can't wait for the next movie. I'm sure I won't be anywhere near starting that book in the series, but I always enjoy the movies anyway.
Let's celebrate Emma Watson, Friday's Fun Fearless Female.
Have a great day!
Love,

Elle Bunny

The dog days of summer

It is incredibly hot right now. In my neck of the woods we've had record-breaking temperatures 22 out of the last 26 days. Or something like that (I'm not a meteorologist). The heat brings out the cranky. And I know this doesn't just apply to me; everywhere I turn, there's somebody in a bad mood, whether it's on the phone at work, talking with someone in person, or just casually observing people in line at Subway. There has to be a solution to this epidemic. Here are some of my ideas:

1) Cute baby/animal/baby animal videos on YouTube. Here are two of my faves:

2) Ice Cream. If you're on a diet like me this can be a sore subject, but there's always the glorious Skinny Cow products.

3) Find things to laugh about. Even if they're not really that funny.

Today I laughed off and on for twenty minutes about something I overheard at work. Somebody got a caller who couldn't hear very well, and my coworker had to yell the letters of a word out so that the person on the phone could understand. This person works clear across the center from me, so I honestly have no idea who it was, but all of a sudden I hear someone yelling "No, P as in Papa, the Pope, or Potato." Makes me giggle right now just thinking about it (it might be one of those things you have to be there for. My coworker's delivery was pretty funny).

4) Find a new series and read it. I have finally started reading the Harry Potter books. I may be 10 years late to the party, but I'm finally there. I'm on the second book and enjoying every minute of it. I can't help but smile when I think about Hagrid.

So there are some ideas. If you have any suggestions of ways to get through the dog days of summer sanity intact please share them in the comments section. They are greatly appreciated.

Have a great day!

Love,

Elle Bunny

Life's Eternal Questions: The Baby-Sitters Club Edition

I have read every Baby-Sitters Club book at least once. There are some of them that have been read so many times that the covers are taped back on. There are some of them I would never care to read again (I'm talking to you, Kristy & Jessi). I literally have read all of them-I'm talking the regular series, the mysteries, the Super Specials, the Super Mysteries, the California Diaries and the Friends Forever. And I will admit that I still read them on occasion. What? Don't judge. At this point, there can't be any shame in my game-you already know I'm ridiculous when I analyze Twilight and "Beverly Hills, 90210" to the nth degree. The jig is up-I'm officially a nerd.

The books are a comfort. For the same reasons I still love Twilight and "Beverly Hills, 90210". It's something safe and familiar, and in the case of Bev Hills, it reminds me of my childhood. There is something wonderful about the stagnant environment that is Stoneybrook, Connecticut. It is safe. They don't get the chance to grow older and so we never have to see them start dating guys with moustaches or come out of the closet in college (*cough*Kristy*cough*). I like that--to a point. But there are some eternal questions about the BSC that still annoy the ever-loving crap out of me.

1) Did a parent never need a sitter between 5:30-6:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday? If so, why the hell not? The parents in Stoneybrook got a babysitter every time they had to go poop.
2) What is the point of getting a sitter to come by and take care of your kid for an hour when you go to a meeting at the school? Bring the kids to the school with you and have them sit outside in the hallway and wait for you. You'll save money and the humiliation of having a 13 year old scold you for not telling them about your child's food allergy.

3) Why was a kid like Karen Brewer seen as "Precocious" (codeword for annoying little shit?) and "Cute" while Jenny Prezzioso is seen as "Prissy" and "Difficult"? Because Jenny likes nice clothes and felt wary of having a new baby sister? I think those are pretty average things for a little girl to do. Unlike, say, a 6 year old girl convincing everyone in your community that your elderly neighbor is a witch named Morbidda Destiny or going to the salon on a cruise boat and charging it to your room without telling your parents. Karen was a little shit and she was only 6 years old. Can you imagine what she would be like at 16? And don't get me started on them calling Jackie Rodowsky the "walking disaster." Those bitches.

4) Everyone goes on and on about Kristy's Great Idea. Which really is just like a Nanny agency, but with younger and less experienced employees. That's right, BSC, you've been had. Kristy stole her great idea.

5) Everyone always goes on and on about how Watson, Kristy's step-dad, is a millionaire. Yet these girls all live in Connecticut, Stacey's dad lives on the Upper West Side in NYC and Dawn's dad lives in a beach front community in Orange County, CA. I doubt Watson Brewer was the only Millionaire in the bunch. I would almost agree with those who say that the reason the club members go on and on about his being a millionaire is because they live in a mansion but I can't. Later on in the series, Abby joined the club and she lived in the same neighborhood in another large house. Nothing is ever said about her mom being a millionaire. You can't convince me Watson was the only millionaire amongst the BSC's parents.
6) What happens when somebody turns 11 that magically prepares them to be a baby-sitter? Because the kids who are one year younger than Mallory and Jessi seem to be pretty high maintenance. So I want to know why these girls are somehow capable of baby-sitting large numbers of kids when they are only a year older (I think I remember one specific instance in which Jessi was left alone overnight with her 9 year old sister Becca and 1 1/2 year old brother Squirt. Who in their right mind would do that?).
7) No one ever gets older. Seriously! It starts to go old after awhile. They just keep starting 8th grade over and over again. No wonder Mallory complained so much about how hard it was to be 11. She was that age for 20 years!
8) What was it that was so revolutionary about a side ponytail? I'm the biggest Claudia Kishi fan in the world, but everyone always go on and on about how "dibble" and "acute" Claudia's style is, but the covers always show her with a damn side pony. I want to see some of the intricate hairstyles they describe in the books.
9) Why don't these parents want to spend anytime with their kids? They seriously want baby-sitters all the time. Worse than that, the girls in the BSC take it upon themselves to give these parents advice about how to raise their children.

10) Don't some people commute from Connecticut to NYC everday for work? If so, then what was the point of the McGill's moving out to Stoneybrook when Ed's job transferred him to Stamford, then within the next year, moving back to NYC when he got transferred BACK and THEN moving back to 'da Brook when her parents went through the big "D" (and I don't mean Dallas or Diabetes). Isn't Stacey's life stressful enough, what with the Beetus? Does she really need to move back and forth three times within the course of a year?

I really do love these books, though. If you having any of the old BSC books laying around, you should try giving them a read, if only for the outfit descriptions. They tend to bring on the lols now, but at 10 years old, I would have given my right arm for Claudia's wardrobe.

Have a great day!

Love,
Elle Bunny

My review of Mommywood: Is Luke Perry "mad, bad and dangerous to know" in real life?

I really like Tori Spelling. I know a lot of people don't, but I do. I think she's endearing and I like her family. The new season of her show just started and I still enjoy it. I read Stori Telling and loved it. With all that juicy gossip about what went on behind the scenes of Beverly Hills, 90210 how could I not enjoy it? Even so, when her new book came out, I was a little hesitant to pick up the book because it seemed to be all about the mommy stuff and I'm not a mommy so I didn't really think I would enjoy it as much as the first one. But I bought it anyway because it was on sale and the cover says something about an awkward encounter with a former co-star at a birthday party. It was only on the way home from the bookstore that I remembered that Loni Anderson had come to her son Liam's first birthday party and that was probably what she was referring to (Loni played her mom on the show So NorTorious). So I put off reading it because that was the main motivating factor. On the way home from San Antonio on Monday I picked it up (it's been on the floorboard of my car since April) and started reading (don't worry, Mr Bunny was driving). I finished it the next day. It was very entertaining and an easy read. Not something I would ever reread, but enjoyable. One of the reasons I love Tori-she's not afraid to admit her odd habits and idiosyncrasies. She discusses how she always turns all of her shampoo and conditioner bottles to face the front because if one isn't facing the same way, she worries it will feel bad about itself. I'm not above admitting that I do stupid stuff like this too. But I don't have OCD. I have a problem with assigning personalities and feelings to inanimate objects.
But anyway, here's the thing-the awkward encounter with a costar ended up not being Loni Anderson's appearance at her son's b-day party. I got through her entire description of Liam's first birthday party and not one mention was made of it. So I kept reading, wondering when the awkward encounter would take place. And ever since I read about it, I haven't been able to put it out of my mind. Here's what happened.
Her stepson Jack just recently moved to LA from Canada with his mom. He started going to school and would often talk about a friend in his class who was also named Jack and one day Dean picked him up from school and realized that it was Jack Perry. That's right, Luke Perry's son. So Tori's Jack invited Luke's Jack to his laser tag birthday party. When Tori showed up Luke was sitting there and she went up to hug him and he gave her the cold shoulder. He totally ignored her the entire time--oh, except for the time he asked her where the bathroom was and then rolled his eyes because she didn't know.
I wish I could express how absolutely horrified I am by this. The minute I started reading about the episode my jaw dropped and my mouth stayed wide open throughout the rest of the chapter. It's just not right. They were on a show together for a long time. Tori was so intimidated by him that she was afraid to ask what was wrong. Her friend Scout who was there with her at the party insisted that it must be because of the book (Stori Telling). But I read the book, and Tori and I were both puzzled as to why Luke would be pissed about the way he was portrayed. I finished that book with the feeling that Luke Perry was a bigger badass than Dylan McKay. He punched out Tori's douche bag boyfriend and called her Camel because of her long eyelashes. He was a freaking hero. But she explains that if she knows anything about Luke (and she should since she's known him for 20 years) he probably never read the book, but just kept getting asked about it and having people mention that she wrote about him punching her boyfriend at her parents' Christmas party. I can understand that he might be annoyed if that was all he knew, but he should have read the book.
I know it's silly, but I have always thought Dylan McKay was an extension of Luke Perry. And I mean really, isn't Dylan supposed to be well-read? He reads poetry by Lord Byron and looked for Balzac's house in Paris. He had already read all the books for AP Senior English before Brandon even started the class. He can't read Stori Telling and draw his own conclusions? Call me ridiculous, but I'm disillusioned. I just keep thinking about the time when Dylan dropped by the beach apartment on his way out of town for Christmas (another trip to Baja) and brought gifts for Donna for Christmas and her birthday (which fell on the same day). It seems there relationship has gone the way of the later seasons.

Ah, Drug Addict Dylan, how I love thee. Is that what Luke's problem is?

And I know this off-topic, but it's funny--I kind of hate Brandon Walsh, but once Jason Priestly left Bev Hills, the show went right down the toilet. It was pretty awful in the last few seasons.

Anyway, the book=not awful. A pretty good read. At times Tori gets a little whiny, but overall I'd give the book a B+. But if you are looking for Bev Hills gossip, this is not the book for you--if you haven't read Stori Telling yet, you must immediately.

Everyone have a great day! Make sure to tune in tomorrow, because not only will there be an awesome Friday's Fun Fearless Female (I mean it; she's pretty much the Patron Saint of PIMSC), it will also be my one year anniversary of blogging and my 200th blog.

Love,
Elle Bunny

Sorry for my sporadic posting...

I swear I'm trying to get back to 5 days a week, but yesterday I took a sick day. And last week I had time off from work for the holidays. Anyway, I'm thinking I'm going to get back on track now. And today I will be discussing what I got for Christmas (I would discuss what I gave everyone else, but then I couldn't go on and on about how much I love everything I got).

First of all, I got a really awesome camera from my parents. It is called a Canon Rebel and it is an SLR. It's really high-tech and fancy (at least to a novice like me) and it is the perfect way for me to pursue my dream of becoming a half-way decent photographer. I'm thinking I will eventually incorporate my pictures into my blog, in the form of a Wordless Wednesday feature (which, if you know anything about me, is a joke; I'm sure there will be plenty of words underneath every picture describing what I did or where I took it or who is in the picture. They always said a picture is worth a thousand words, and I'm likely to spend 1001 describing one).

Mr. Bunny gave me an awesome iPod Touch. I cannot describe how much I love this thing. It's amazing. I think it was probably 4 years ago that I got my first iPod. I was the first person in my immediate family to get one and I was puzzle by this newfangled gadget. How do I get the songs on it? And how do I make it play them? It only took me a couple of days to become completely dependent on it and after three and a half lovely years with my iPod, it died. I don't honestly know what happened, but suddenly it just wouldn't play. It was a sad day in the life of Elle Bunny, and it was only when iPod numero uno died that I realized how absolutely necessary it was in my life. So I wanted to buy another (after I went to the Apple store and they told me that the warranty runs out after a year and there is no way to fix it that doesn't cost more than an iPod) but didn't have $250 just laying around to spend on whatever my heart desire, so I settled on the next best thing--an iPod Shuffle. Which is nice and really great for working out (which I need to do more of) but not the best when you just want to make a playlist and listen to it in perfect sequential order. When I opened the iPod touch on Christmas Eve, I literally got tears in my eyes. It is so beautiful and I'm going to take really good care of it (Mr. Bunny has it named on iTunes as Bunny Touch, which makes me giggle every time I see it). It has an awesome pink case.

I also got lots of wonderful books. I have already read Looking for Alaska and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, which were both awesomely entertaining gifts from my sister and Cam. Right now I'm reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, which is long but so far it is pretty good. I love reading!

I also got lots of fun clothes, a bunch of pajamas,accessories, jewelry, etc, etc. I love Christmas! And honestly, this year, I wasn't as sad to see the day pass as I usually am. I think it had something to do with looking forward to spending time with all the amazing people around me and with all of the wonderful gifts that they have given me.

Have a great day and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are having a Happy New Year!

Love,

Elle Bunny

A Sad Day for Mankind...Sooners rejoice

I don't mean to be a sore loser, but this sucks. Big Time. And the reason that it sucks so bad is that we didn't lose. We won 45-35 against the Sooners. Oh, and BTW, Sooners is just a fancy way of saying land-stealers. Nice thing to use as your school mascot, no? Appropriate for Oklahoma, though. Here is another Longhorn sharing his thoughts via the YouTube.

Thank you! MTE!

Anyway, in other news, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. It was too short, as always, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love cornbread dressing. Yum.

And I have also decided that from now on, I will be sharing something/s that I enjoy on Mondays. This could be a book, television show, movie, blog, YouTube Channel, or music. Or all of the above. It will be called My Favorite Things Mondays. We'll get things started today.

My Favorite Things:

BooksRight now I am reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, which was recommended to me by my friend Laura, and my other friend Bella Swan. You might have heard of her. It is about a girl named Elizabeth Bennett (her family calls her Lizzy) who is headstrong and fun. Her Dad loves her will and wit, while her mom is overly concerned with getting her and the rest of her sisters married off. Steph Meyer always talks about how Edward is partially based on Mr. Darcy, who so far, is kind of an ass in this book. I am thinking he might be the main love interest though. All the other guys are kind of boring. It is awesome, and after I get done reading it, I plan to watch the Kiera Knightly movie which I have also heard is made of awesome.I just started reading another book called An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. It is so funny and very well written. It is about a guy named Colin Singleton who was a child prodigy. He has just graduated from high school and his girlfriend dumped him on the same day. He has dated 19 girls in his lifetime--all of them named Katherine (not Kat or Katy or Catherine; just Katherine); and all of them have dumped him. He goes on a road trip with his friend Hassan. It is so funny, I have found myself laughing out loud several times. If you are interested, pick it up at Barnes and Noble, it's only $3.99 and highly entertaining.

MovieMy husband and I stayed up late on Saturday night and were flipping through the channels and came upon "Candy" a movie starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish. It is a very painful story about heroin addiction. It is a really beautiful and haunting movie. Heath was so talented, it breaks my heart every time I watch one of his movies. What a loss. Abbie was also really good. I will have to rent "Stoploss."

MusicRay LaMontagne's Gossip in the Grain is just so amazing. I just bought the full cd and I adore him. His voice has so much soul. He sounds like he came straight out of the 1970's and he looks like it, too. He's all about the music, and very talented. If you haven't heard him, listen and learn.

Television

The Tyra Banks Show

Because it is ridiculous. Because the moments between Tyra and Rob exceeded my expectations. It was awesomely bad.

Blog

What Claudia Wore is amazing. This girl goes through the BSC books and discusses what Claudia and all the other character's wore. She also sometimes goes off on random fashion tangents. I enjoy every bit of it.

YouTube

Recently, I have been thoroughly enjoying the YouTube stylings of nikmarie64. She does hilarious song parodies about Twilight related goodness. She also plays the part of Rob in the Hot Hobo Love video. She is too funny. Here is one of my favorite Nik videos:

I hope you enjoy at least one of the things I recommended! Maybe they will help to ease our pain as we question why the BCS sucks so bad.

Have a great day!

Love,

Elle Bunny

Every woman in the world can be classified as a member of the BSC.

Alternatively titled: Everything I need to know, I learned in Stoneybrook.

Second Alternative Title: I'm a Dork.
Growing up, I was obsessed with these books. I have every single book from the series, including my recently acquired collection of California Diaries and the Friends Forever Series. As an adolescent, I wanted to be Claudia (didn't we all?), but was really more of a Mary-Anne/Stacey hybrid with a dash of Dawn thrown in.
How, you might ask (or maybe not), can a series of books for little girls change the way you look at the world? How could it not? After reading every single book in a series, you are bound to be influenced in some way, especially as a child/adolescent. I have been heavily influenced by Twilight, and not only am I an adult now, but I have only be reading those books for the last few months. The BSC books were a part of my life for so long, I knew the characters better than some of my friends and family.
My sister and I used to share a room (not by necessity, but by choice. I know...we were weird) and I remember begging her to read out loud to me from her Baby-Sitters books (I think this was either before I could read or before my parents thought I was grown up enough to read BSC). I also remember that she preferred to read to me from her Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark books. Needless to say, I didn't always sleep very well when I shared a room with my sister, and eventually we grew tired of the arrangement and I moved back into my old room.
The first chapter book I ever read was Karen's Roller Skates. And while in later years I found Karen to be incredibly annoying, I will always have a soft place in my heart for that book-especially when I think of the surge of pride I felt when I ran in to my parent's room to tell them I had just finished reading my first chapter book all by myself (sounds like I was having a Karen moment myself).
I first started reading the BSC books myself during their heyday. Every girl was reading them and I felt like I was part of the "in" crowd. As I grew up, they waned in popularity, but I remained loyal. My friends and I kept reading. I finally dropped off around the Friends Forever series. The last book I remember reading was The Fire at Mary-Anne's House. I remember reading one California Diary when I was young and I didn't like it--especially the handwriting throughout the whole book. They seemed so much more grown up than the BSC--and I think that scared me. So I never explored those two series until many years later.

I have to thank my parents, who first of all, took me to the book store every month so that I could pick up the latest copies. My mom was the one who made me keep buying them towards the end--she kept saying "Don't you want a complete set?" They also never made me get rid of my books. From what I understand, having your parents insist on getting rid of your BSC books is a pretty common, and very traumatic occurrence in BSC fandom.

And yes, there is a BSC fandom. There are a lot of people out there who enjoy re-reading these books. For me, they are like a warm blanket of that I can curl up in. I know what's going to happen, and I'm okay with that. Is it Hemingway? No. But I think we all enjoy reading books because of the way they take us away to a different place and tell us a story different from our own. Who's to say that place has to be unfamiliar, or that you can't revisit a character's story?
Even though it is kind of ridiculous that the girls are frozen at age 13 in the eighth grade, there is also something comforting about the fact that the girls never grow up. We can imagine what they might have become, but it's not in the BSC canon; therefore we never have to learn about the BSC breaking up, or one of the Baby-Sitters becoming Homecoming Queen while another becomes a nerd. And it would have been unnatural if they had grown up and continued with the club, because that's not how high school works (not that the BSC has ever been noted for it's realistic nature).

So, as I was saying, every woman I have ever met fell into at least one of the following categories: Kristy, Claudia, Mary-Anne, Stacey, Dawn, Mallory or Jessi. They may not fit all of the characteristics, but I can't tell you how many times I have met somebody and thought "She is such a Jessi" or thought something somebody did was "such a Mallory thing to do." The more I get to know someone, it is likely that they will become a hybrid of two or even three Baby-Sitters. So here is a list of some of my friends and even some famous people who fit each category perfectly.

Kristy-Tomboy, take charge/bossy egomaniac.

Famous Kristys: Hillary Clinton, Rosie O'Donnell

Claudia-Fashion Forward, Hospitable Host, messy, junk-food lover, creative, not the best speller.

My Best Friend Meredith is SUCH a Claudia. She always wears the best clothes and puts together the most amazing outfits--however, I would look ridiculous in the same outfit. Over the years, my friend Rachel and I have always joked about how it was time to go over to "Claudia's house" because her home became like our headquarters. I'm not really sure why, but that is where we always wound up. Meredith has also taken to making jewelry lately. She is most definitely the Claudia Kishi to my Stacey McGill.

Mary-Anne-Sensitive, sweet, doormat, has a temper, cries at the drop of a hat, crushes on male actors, loves cats!
I'm a bit of a Mary-Anne myself--I am quite sensitive, get crushes on male actors and can sometimes be a doormat. I also like kittens!

Famous Mary-Annes: Ann M Martin,

Katie HolmesStacey-Boy-crazy, Fashion-conscious, has diabetes (but really any life threatening disease works), good with numbers, and a teensy bit spoiled and selfish. I would say that I am mostly a Stacey because I would consider myself to be fashion-conscious, a little boy crazy, and I've had a life threatening disease. I would never claim to be good with numbers, though, and I don't think I'm too spoiled.

Famous Staceys: Stacey is such a character that all I can think about is characters in other books and movies that remind me of her. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde comes to mind, along with Shelby from Steel Magnolias ("Drink your juice!") and Rosalie from Twilight.

Dawn-Individualistic, opinionated, California Casual, environmentalist. I hate myself for the fact that in some situations, I act like Dawn--i.e., get stuck on my soap box and won't get off of it until someone agrees with me or at least understands my point.

Famous Dawns:

Al Gore,
Elisabeth Hasselbeck,
Sheryl Crow

Mallory-bookworm, likes horses, nerdy, lots of siblings, frizzy red hair.

Famous Mallorys (take into consideration that Mallory had a lot of growing up to do since she was only 11): Sarah Jessica Parker, Julianne Moore, Cynthia Nixon

Jessi-Obsessed with dance, likes horses, knows sign language, from New Jersey, Black (I'm not racist, but unfortunately they never developed Jessi's character enough..this actually became one of the only traits people could name about Jessi).

Famous Jessis: I have no doubt that Jessi could have grown up to be someone like Beyonce or Brandy.

Maybe we all have a different frame of reference, but I bet everyone has their own version of the "Baby-Sitters Club" that helps them to understand people. I'm glad that I had these books growing up. I am glad that I can still read them and return to a simpler time, when I could go to the book store, pick up a new book, and escape to a new adventure in Stoneybrook.

Happy Reading!

Love,

Elle Bunny

I was blogging like Boy-Crazy Stacey last week

What is with all the blogs about cute boys last week? I promise you, I am a happily married woman. I honestly have no excuse, I guess I'm just shameless.

So, enough about that. It's time to talk about Breaking Dawn, which I have been reading fairly quickly (I have about a 150 pages to go) but nowhere near as quick as most of the bloggers I read, who have all finished it. I'm going to talk about what I have read so far so I'm going to put a spoiler bar followed by a picture and if you don't want to know anything, DO NOT READ BELOW IT!

**********BREAKING DAWN SPOILER ALERT!******* BREAKING DAWN SPOILER ALERT********

First of all, Holy Crow, there is a lot of stuff going on in this book! A lot of the plot points that I thought would happen at the end as a resolution to the story wound up happening in the first 200 pages. During this part, Bella and Edward get married and go on their honeymoon. They also make the sex, which we read NO DESCRIPTION OF except the before and after. I guess that's what I get for getting into a vampire romance series written by a sweet Mormon lady for teenage girls.

Sometimes I wish that Steph would let her inner Judy Blume out. I'm not asking for porn, but we have waited through 1500+ pages of Bella and Edward making out. I would just like to hear a few details, such as why Edward bit through a pillow or how exactly they broke the bed. I know, I know, young readers, but shouldn't they be kind of grown up by now? As I mentioned earlier, Judy Blume got into some skanky details in her books and those were in my elementary school library. I'm not kidding--I think that America has either gotten way more puritanical since I was young or the adults just aren't quite as oblivious anymore. So, not to sound like I'm Boy-Crazy Stacey, but WTF?

Anyway, just to add to the Don't Have Sex message, Bella gets pregnant. With a half breed.

At this point I was rolling my eyes. Again, WTF, SM? Then I started to see how this could happen. Who would think they could get preggers by having sex with their 108 year old Hubby? Even if he looks like a hot 17 year old, I wouldn't think it was something that could happen. I mean, his heart doesn't beat. He has no blood pumping through his veins. Who would think about birth control? I would be more worried about keeping him from killing me. Yes, yes I know it is a stretch of the imagination to think that Edward could get Bella pregnant, but when it comes down to it, it kind of isn't. She is still a functioning human female and he is a vampire male who is stuck in his sexual prime. Bella points out in the book that she had heard that Charlie Chaplin had babies into his 70s. So, I guess it isn't too crazy. These books are all about stretching your imagination. I think what bothered me more than the fact that she got pregnant the first time she had sex was that this has got to be the most overused Twilight Fan-Fiction plot of all time. But in Breaking Dawn, the way it was written was very believable and absolutely readable.

First of all, Bella gets super sick. The baby is growing rapidly and she can't keep anything she eats down. This is a really hard part to read, and I think Steph realized that it would be beyond depressing written from Bella's perspective, so she writes from Jacob's perspective. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm Team Edward all the way, but I love Jacob. He is really likable and his chapters are really funny (especially the chapter titles). So, Jacob is the one who comes up with the idea of having Bella drink blood because the baby is a little (half) vamp.And she gets better.

But then, she has the baby (after a month of pregnancy) and Edward and Jacob have to deliver it, which includes Edward biting through the hard shell (a la vampire skin) to get the baby out (this is part of what made her so sick and immobile during the whole thing). Then Bella asks to hold her baby girl, Renesmee (kind of not sure how I feel about that name) and the baby bites her neck and Bella's heart stops beating. So Edward uses his vampire venom to heal her and then before you know it it is book three.

Vampire Bella is pretty cool. I love the part about her seeing herself in the mirror for the first time and then going on her first hunt with Edward. I love their little cottage in the woods. And I think that Renesmee's ability to show people what she sees is the perfect talent and she sounds like a cute little girl. (this was the only picture I was able to find that looked anything like she is described. She has brown eyes and curly golden locks and has a healthy glow--and she grows at an incredible rate.) I don't know how I feel about Jacob imprinting on Renesmee, which is what happens as soon as he sees her in Rosalie's arms after realizing that Bella is not the one for him after watching the birth and her death. The whole imprinting thing is kind of creepy. I think it is nice that Jacob found someone he loves more than Bella, and it is fitting that she gave birth to her.

Now the Volturi is coming for Renesmee, having been alerted by Irina, the jilted Denali girlfriend of Laurent, who the Cullen coven and Co. killed just recently. It is against vampire law to have a vampire child because they are crazy and have no self control. All vampire children have to be destroyed--but they don't know that Renesmee is a half breedand therefore has a beating heart and can grow--but also a taste for blood. And Alice and Jasper has left the family, because she knows that her talent is what Aro is truly after. Bella is honing her skills as a shield, which means she has the ability to block other's abilities on herself, but she is now trying to extend the shield to protect those around her. This will help against the Volturi.

So things I like: Jacob as a narrator, Vampire Bella, Hot Vampire love between Edward and Bella, Bella's talent.

Things I don't like and/or feel lukewarm about: Lack of story for Alice and Jasper (this may get better), Rosalie's selfishness, lack of details about the wedding night, Bella getting pregnant, The grossness of Edward biting through the vampire womb, Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee, the name Renesmee.

So overall, I'm impressed but somewhat shocked by the story. Like I said, there is a lot going on, and I love some of it, but some of it is taking some time to adjust to. I will probably mention my feelings after I finish it in a future post, but will probably not devote a whole other post to it.

Let me just say though, Thank God for Stephenie Meyer for bring me hours of happiness and helping me to escape the misery that my work environment can sometimes be!

Have a great day!

Love,

Elle Bunny