look -- i cook!

It was all rainy yesterday, and I actually went to the grocery store (to stock up for Turkey Day at my house), so I also picked up all the ingredients to make my mom's awesome Italian tortellini soup. Yum! And I made so much, I think I will be eating it every night until Turkey Day :)

the reign of the boy wizard continues

'Harry Potter' leaps to $125.1M opening weekend, matches franchise's best ticket count - latimes.com

I contributed $13.50 to that $125.1 million, and will be contributing another $18 next Sunday when we go re-see it in IMAX ;)

I loved the film, but really don't want to wait till next July for Part 2. Part 1, which is essentially the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), (also known as Harry, Ron and Hermione go camping in really dark and spooky woods for a reeeeeeally loooong time), is dark and kinda slow, as it's leading up to the multiple battles and ultimate climax at the end of the series. And the place they chose to end Part 1 -- while it made sense as a cliffhanger -- was really depressing. The end of Part 2 is much better :) Plus Part 2 has (at least in the book.... it better be in the film!) my favorite line of the whole book, when sweet, calm, motherly Mrs. Weasley goes all psycho protective mama-bear on Bellatrix, after Bellatrix barely misses killing Ginny with a spell, and then fights her to the death. Goooooo Mrs. Weasley! :)

vote!

It's NHL All-Star voting time. If you need suggestions on who to vote for, might I suggest:

Forwards: Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth, Dustin Brown (write-in choice)
Defensemen: Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson (write-in choice)
Goalie: Jonathan Quick

Oh look, they're all members of the LA Kings. What a coincidence :)

starting to feel like the good old days :)

The LA Times hasn't given the Kings valuable sports section space for fun, profile-esque puff pieces like this -- Come along for a Kings joy ride -- since circa 1993. These are the kinds of articles that made me fall in love with hockey and the early '90s Kings back in the day. Hope they keep it up :)

i almost forgot to mention...

The Kings are kicking butt so far this season!! They are in first place in the whole NHL right this second and this article points out some very hopeful factoids about that fact. (Knocking on wood and crossing fingers!)

fun ideas

A friend posted this on FB and I wanted to share here: 50 All-Time Favorite New Uses for Old Things

I might need to subscribe to Real Simple once my In Style sub finally runs out. Does this mean I'm getting old?

this is halloween! this is halloween!

Happy Halloween!