May Favorites 2014

It's June! Does anyone else think the month of June sounds significant? To me, I don't feel like the year has really passed until I see the number 6 in front of the date on my clock. Then the rest of the year flies by way too fast.

Anyway, this post is a May Favorites post, not a treatise on the importance of June. I've tried to include a few more categories in the list this time, and I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts on each item.

Favorite Movie: The Amazing Spiderman 2. I actually didn't watch many movies last month, but this one still deserves first place. Not being a full-fledged Marvel Universe fangirl, I couldn't begin to talk about how close to the original story this movie is, but I've heard it's much closer than the last Spiderman trilogy. All I know is I liked it enough to go home and promptly enter a *ahem* philosophical discussion with my fourteen year old brother concerning whether or not Harry Osborne deserved as much sympathy as Electro.

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was that I found myself empathizing with Electro too much. Yes, it is due to stellar acting and scriptwriting, but it honestly upset me. My melancholic personality traits kicked in and made me angry on behalf of the poor guy...and I mean livid. I can't elaborate without needlessly spoiling the plot for others, but I have a love/hate relationship with that character.

Otherwise, I have nothing to say that hasn't already been covered on numerous sites. Spiderman and Gwen are amazing together. The action and graphics were incredible, and I can't wait for the next movie.

Now I need to watch the X-Men.

Favorite Book: The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine. The somewhat detailed yet spoiler free description of the book is that it is really about Princess Addie, the fearful sister. She has depended upon her fearless older sister, Meryl, for love, comfort, and protection her entire life, and their bond is a strong as it can be. The one fear that plagues Addie above all others is that one day Meryl will leave to embark on the adventures she constantly dreams about, leaving Addie alone.  

Then, Meryl is struck with the Grey Death, a terminal disease with no known cure. If someone does not find the an antidote soon, Addie will lose her beloved sister forever.

When I first started reading this book, I thought the plot was predictable. Classic princess story, right? Maybe there were a few little twists, but the romantic interest was apparent right away, and the reader knew the ending was going to be happy — kind of like Gail's earlier novel, Ella Enchanted.

WRONG!

Not that the ending was horrible. It just wasn't what I expected. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it left me feeling incredibly inspired.

Favorite Song. This is a song by Country music artist Garth Brooks. I recently rediscovered it on a CD I already own and remembered how good it was. It's called The Change. NOTE: I didn't know this until I found the video online, but it's a musical tribute to the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995. There are some images from the bombing in the background of this video that you may or may not find too graphic for little kids. For the sake of fair warning, I want to let you know in case there's a child looking over your shoulder.

Favorite Dance: Hambo. As long as I'm looking for more categories, why not include this one? The reason I'm listing the Hambo is because I recently learned it myself. It's a lot of fun — I just need to make sure I dance with a strong partner, because it makes me very dizzy very fast. That's saying a lot for me, because I can usually spin pretty hard and still keep my bearings. But nope...not with this one. There is too much world flying past behind my partner's face for me to stay balanced all by myself.

I guess that just means I need to practice more. Yay!

Favorite Drink: Cold Brew Lipton Ice Tea. I like the taste of cold brew better than regular tea. There isn't as much of a bitter aftertaste. Not to mention it only takes about ten minutes to make. I usually brew four bags in a gallon of cold tap water and sweeten with eight packets of Stevia. If you want sweet tea, then you may want to put ten to twelve packets in the mixture. Personally, I haven't noticed any bitter tang when using this particular sugar substitute.

Voila! A zero calorie summer drink with no artificial sweeteners that is actually good for you.

Well, that's it for this month. Thanks for reading.

Until next time...