Live from Command Center 526

Um…yeah…so April and I spent the last hour holed up in my bathroom (which is teeny tiny), with Holiday (our cousin dog) in our laps, and glasses of wine in hand. A mango scented candle sat in my shower, in prep for the power to blow (thankfully it didn’t). But the lightening and thunder continues to shake our brownstone as if two giant hands were swatting around trees, cars, and dumpsters outside.

SCARY!!!

It all began around 7:30p.m.

I walked home from the office today, and as I cruised west along Grand, I noticed that from a distance, some dark clouds appeared to be creeping slowly into Chicago. I hustled into a speed walk, hoping that I wouldn’t get caught in a rain shower. As soon as I walked into my place, I grabbed my car keys, and hopped into my car, cruising to the local Dominics as I was about 2.5 seconds away from forcing down unpopped popcorn kernels and Jose Cuervo Classico for dinner (that’s all that was left in my kitchen cabinets).

Fortunately, I made it home without getting caught in the rain. However, as soon as I was indoors, I noticed how eerily still it was outdoors- the trees didn’t budge an inch- no wind, totally humid temperature, and the sky was lit up in streaks of pale pink/lavender color that waved along the horizon. It could only mean one thing- a storm was in the works!

Almost immediately, the sky groaned and ripples of thunder and lightening pealed out in strong waves of sound. In the words of Scooby Doo: Zoinks!!! The news on Channel 5 (you know you love Andy Avalos) indicated a tornado warning…in Cook County moving through Lakeview, Logan Square, Navy Pier…um…WTF??!?!!!! NAVY PIER???!!! HOLY #$%&!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never have I heard of a tornado getting that close to downtown! April and I stared at each other, grabbed the dog, and threw ourselves into my bathroom, locking the door. But not before grabbing a libation first, naturally. If I was gonna go out, I was going out in style with a smile on my face.

April then thoughtfully suggested that I should have brought my laptop into the bathroom so that we could both assemble my last and final blog (a tribute to my life and well being), because this storm was surely to seal my fate. I shrugged and in doing so, accidentally spilled a little wine, knowing that the booze was doing far more than the laptop would have.

Thank goodness, we are safe. But what a helluva storm.

For today…just love

the meaning behind it all

Found via Flickr here

Breaking Dawn Playlist

It’s a well known fact that Stephenie Meyer creates playlists to coincide with her books. However, I just got a look at her playlists for ‘Breaking Dawn’ and I wanted to barf. I’m sorry, but I cannot correlate a Beach Boys song to a vampire love story, it just doesn’t fit. So what do I do?

Make my own playlist…check it.

1. ‘Power of Goodbye’ (Madonna)
2. ‘Starlight’ (Muse: a favorite band of Meyer’s in which Breaking Dawn was dedicated to)
3. ‘Bright as Yellow’ (The Innocence Mission)
4. ‘You know I’m no good’ (Amy Winehouse)
5. ‘Wandering Star’ (Portishead)
6. ‘Bleed it Out’ (Linkin Park)
7. ‘Nine in the Afternoon’ (Panic! At the Disco- do you blame me? The damn song won’t leave my ears!!!)
8. ‘In my place’ (Coldplay)
9. ‘Anxiety’ (Black Eyed Peas)
10. ‘Teach you a lesson’ (Robin Thicke)
11. ‘No Air’ (Jordin Sparks, Chris Brown)
12. ‘I’m Yours’ (Jason Mraz)
13. ‘Outta my head’ (Ashlee Simpson)
14. ‘Rip her to shreds’ (Boomkat)
15. ‘Hung Up’ (Madonna)
16. ‘Amazing’ (Seal)

NO SPOILERS AHEAD

Just as an FYI, I’m come to find out that a portion of my blog readers are Twilight fans…no worries Twilighters! I’m holding off on my crazy detailed review until most fans have finished “Breaking Dawn.” There are NO spoilers in the entry below, as I would not want to be the one to ruin the fabulous story.

Yay!

All is right in the world…

Last Friday I stood in line at Borders on Michigan Ave., at midnight, to purchase a copy of “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer. If this is your first time reading this blog, just know that this book release has reverted my actions to that of giddy child, as I eagerly anticipated this book as if it were Christmas Eve and Santa was slated to read it to me himself while Mrs. Claus served me cookies.

Mission accomplished! Okay, maybe I wore a hat, didn’t talk to anyone, and kept a low profile- do you want to be one of the few adults spotted amongst a throng of screaming teen-aged girls?! When I saw a press photographer running around, I was ready to pounce on him and steal his film should one iota of my frame show up in his pictures. The last thing I needed was my face on the cover of the RedEye reading “Kelly: A Nerd Revealed.”

Fortunately, that didn’t happen. HOWEVER…I bought the book (and a 2009 calendar- don’t be hatin’) and proceeded to stay up until 3:45a.m. reading until my eyes gave out. Then I awoke at 9a.m. to continue reading, until I finished about 1p.m. The book is over 750 pages…yes you read that correctly. I can pretty much read at ludicrous speed. The problem is that I can read sooo fast, that sometimes the details get a tad muddled. So I spent last night re-reading certain parts and coming to the decision that…I really loved the book.

I’m actually surprised I feel that way because after my first super-fast read, I hated it. HATED it. I was already reviewing the scathing letters I would write to Stephenie Meyer in my head- fortunately, that will not have to happen. It wasn’t until I re-read that I truly understood the JOURNEY of her characters, the lessons in sacrifice, and the sweet culmination of the love story. It was quite moving actually. It was also frighteningly violent with many suspenseful twists and shocking plot lines- in other words, Stephenie Meyer knocked it out of the park with this massive read.

I won’t divulge much else because I’m sure many out there haven’t finished the story. In retrospect, as I laid the final book in the series in a gentle stack on my book shelf, alongside the three others, I smiled to myself, thinking about how brilliant the books made me feel, and how grateful I am to have a love story of my own. The exhilarating Twilight series may have come to an end, by my story is just beginning.