Where've You Been?!

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you might have wondered this to yourself sometime over the past couple of months. Most of my time was consumed by long term subbing, which was wonderful and I'll write a separate post about. Here are some other things we've been up to these past few weeks.

Taxes- One of the first weekends in February we spent doing our taxes. It took alllll day on a Saturday, but we got them done early!

Valentine's- We both spent the weekend before Valentine's Day sick, so we decided to celebrate the weekend after. It was quite eventful! We went to our favorite Asian restaurant (Antai in Lexington) and enjoyed a delicious meal. Then we got a surprise visit from Cin (& Court the next day) and took our first picture together since my wedding:

Jamie also upgraded to an IPhone 4S and while we were there, we switched to AT&T U-verse. We've been thinking about switching cable providers for a year, and finally made the plunge. So far, it's been pretty good. There have been a couple of little glitches, but it's much cheaper than Time Warner AND we get whole house DVR, which I've never had. And of course, this is just enabling my TV addiction even further ;-)

Celebrations- My mom came down at the end of February to stay with us and we took her out for a birthday dinner. For St. Patrick's Day this year, our friend Magan had a small get-together which was so fun. She set up a treasure hunt in her apartment, leading us with a series of clues, and Jamie and I won some yummy "gold nuggets" and "money mints." I also won Scattergories... I felt very lucky that day!

Speaking of good fortune, Easter is not yet upon us, but Shandon always does their modern worship event on Palm Sunday. This year, we were so blessed to have Kevin Olusola as a guest artist. Kevin is well known for two reasons: some know him as the "beatboxing cellist." Others (such as myself) know him as the vocal percussionist for the a cappella group Pentatonix, who just so happened to win a little show called "The Sing Off," which I'm more than a little obsessed with! If you want to see him with Pentatonix, you can go to one of my previous posts: Friday Four- February 11 
Here he is using the talent he bestowed on us Sunday:

Sad Times- One of the most important events of the past couple of months was the death of my maternal grandmother. She had Alzheimer's for the past few years and so it was inevitable I suppose. The State newspaper had just done an article about my grandparents last Valentine's Day, since they had been married for so long. It was so sweet then, and made bittersweet now that she's gone:
SC Man Loses his Loving Singing Partner 

My very first youth minister, Stan Stone, passed away recently from cancer. He introduced me to the sounds of Jars of Clay and DC Talk, and was such a kind man. He also looked kind of like my daddy! In addition to both of those deaths, one of my colleagues from my former school, Peggy Tiller, passed away after losing her fight with breast cancer. They always say death comes in threes, and this time was no different.

Randoms- We also went to our first baseball game of the season last month, which just happened to be the heartbreaker where we lost to Florida in the last inning. On a lighter note, Jamie almost had a star encounter a couple of weeks ago, as he delivered to the film crew of "Oprah's Next Chapter," who were in Orangeburg filming a show about Shaquan Duley. He didn't know it at the time, but after watching the show, we are pretty sure that Oprah was just inside the house that he delivered to!


Whew, I think that about rounds it up for now. I'm sure I left out something, but that's okay :-)

Pop Bytes

I love writing about pop culture, but sometimes I just have random thoughts that I want to put out there about certain things that don't warrant an entire post. That's where "Pop Bytes" comes in. I'll do this from time to time just to get some commentary out there, and I encourage you to chime in!

VH1 This channel has been rocking my socks off lately. It started with the return of Pop Up Video. I absolutely love this show, and have enjoyed reminiscing, as well as seeing current videos since no one seems to show them anymore. They also recently aired 100 Greatest Songs of the 00s which made me want to create a giant playlist and listen to it over and over (hello Spotify!). VH1 also has Tough Love Miami and The TO Show, which are two of my guilty pleasures. And if you get up early enough, they actually show MUSIC VIDEOS in the morning, imagine that!

Oprah's Lifeclass I've never really liked Oprah, but I tuned in to the first episode out of curiosity and boredom. I was hoping that she was using old episodes to reminisce and maybe catch up with old guests, which could be interesting (because of the guests, not her). Instead, it is Oprah using old episodes to "teach life lessons." I found it hilarious that the first episode was about ego! If she was really taking that advice, she wouldn't have this show. Oprah is no more qualified to guide someone through life than any other broadcaster. I found out that she would have been a social worker or teacher if she wasn't doing this. If she had actually studied to be either of those, maybe I would take her a bit more seriously.

Fox on Demand I'm glad that Fox has finally jumped on the bandwagon, so I can watch shows I've missed. However, they seem to be missing the point of "on demand." They have their shows available in their entirety, including commercials, without allowing fast forward. In contrast, other networks feature commercials, but they only have one or two per break, so it doesn't require as much time. Also, I've been using it to watch The X Factor, and they only have the episodes up for a couple of days before they take it off, which is kind of pointless. Hopefully they'll get it together for the second half of the season.

Blue Valentine I finally watched this movie. It had amazing reviews, great acting, and Ryan Gosling. Although I agreed with the acting, this movie was soooo depressing. Don't watch it if you're already in a bad mood! And Ryan looks totally grungy and trashy, yuck.

The Sing Off I said I wouldn't pick a favorite until the top ten, so I'm a little late, as they're now down to the top eight. Consistently, I have liked AfroBlue's performances. They have great song choices, and they always put their own spin to it to make it slightly different. I've also enjoyed all three male college groups, and can't really pick a favorite among them right now. I'm ready for The Collective to go, and anxious for Pentatonix going forward, as they finally impressed me this week!

Entertainment Weekly's Reunions Issue I mentioned this a few weeks ago talking about Home Improvement. That article was great, and I also enjoyed the reunion of Growing Pains. I wish they could have done a few more!

Alright, that's my two cents for now. What tv, music or movies has you going right now?