Page to Screen: Gone Girl

I recently went to see the movie Gone Girl which was on my list of 7 movies adapted from books that I wanted to see this year.

If you're unfamiliar with the story, here's the book synopsis and here's the movie trailer.

*These reviews may contain spoilers.*

Book Thoughts:
I read this book 2 years ago, so I can't remember very many specifics. I do, however, remember my overall feelings. Gillian Flynn's dual narrative style makes her books hard to put down. This one was no exception. The chapters alternate between Nick's point of view in the present when he discovers his wife is missing and Amy's point of view on their marriage told through her diary. I started off the book not liking Nick which I believe is the intention. I didn't entirely believe he killed her because that was too obvious. Then, midway through the book we're thrown a complete curve ball. I continued to have a hard time putting the book down because I wanted to know how it would all end. While reading the second half of the book, I grew to hate Amy. The ending turned out to be a total disappointment. I don't have a problem with books that don't end "happily ever after." My problem was that I didn't even find the end logical. What was wrong with these people?!?

I gave the book 3 out of 5 stars.

Movie Thoughts:
Despite the disappointing end, I was looking forward to the movie. I thought it had a lot of potential to be a great thriller. I was disappointed overall. The movie didn't capture that "hard to put down" feeling I'd enjoyed about the book. I thought the plot moved kind of slow. I also feel like in the book there was more to Amy's anniversary scavenger hunt which made me sympathize more with Nick and dislike her more. The scavenger hunt was very short in the movie and I know some things have to be cut out for time, but I don't think that should have been one of them. I would have liked more to have been told about the relationship between Desi and Amy. I didn't remember a lot of that from the book and don't feel like the movie explained it very well. Overall, considering some things have to change for movie adaptations, this movie plot follows the book pretty closely.

I also give the movie 3 out of 5 stars.

Have you read the book or seen the movie or both? What are your thoughts?

How I'm Preparing for Football Season

***I actually wrote this post at the beginning of September, but never published it because I needed to take a picture of my car sticker to include. I just got around to doing that in mid October. I thought I'd publish it now with some edits for information that may have changed.***

I love fall! It's my favorite season. I love the colors. I love the weather. I love the festivals. Most of all, I love football that comes with fall.

Football season is always one of the hardest times to live away from home. Watching football games on Saturdays was always something fun to do with family and friends. This year, due to work, Lee's not even around to watch football games with me.

However, that hasn't stopped me from doing some little things to welcome football season into my life.

Due to being pregnant and in the 3rd trimester, I don't have a shirt to wear to support my favorite team this year. I'm too big to wear any of the shirts I already own and there's nowhere nearby to just pick up a cheap larger one. (Maybe I'll buy one when I go home for a visit soon). *I actually did buy one when I went back to Alabama to visit my family.*

Even though my husband is not a BAMA fan, he's been a good sport and taken me to two games and both times he's sported a BAMA shirt.

As soon as it turned September, I put out our football wreath. I'm not a fan of the "house divided" stuff, so I revamped this wreath that was given to us a little bit. The football said "house divided", so I turned it over and cut out the words to show support for our two teams instead. I wish I'd taken a before and after picture to show you the difference, but I didn't...

 

Most recently, I decided that I needed a sticker for my car to show support for my team. On the first Saturday of college football, I got out my Silhouette and among other things made myself this sticker for my car. 

How do you show support for your favorite team?

Semi Charmed Winter Book Challenge 2014 Preliminary List

Even though Baby Hall is coming in November, I'm going to attempt to complete the Winter Book Challenge. This is my preliminary list and I may change my mind about what I'm reading as the months go on. I also want to see what other people are reading to get ideas.

Semi Charmed Winter Book Challenge
For complete rules and categories, visit Semi-Charmed Kind of Life's post. 

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that fits the general rules.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman

10 points: Read a book written by an author who has published at least 10 books.
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

10 points: Read a book of short stories.
The Best Short Stories of O. Henry by O. Henry

10 points: Read a book with a food in the title.
All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St. Amant

15 points: Read the first book in a series that is new to you.
The Selection by Kiera Cass

15 points: Read a book that was originally written in a language that is not your native language.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

15 points: Read a book written by a local author (either an author from your state if you live in the United States, or from your country if you live somewhere else).
Undecided- I'll probably reread a Nicholas Sparks' book that I haven't read in a while.

20 points: Read a "bookish book" (in which books play an important role, e.g. the setting involves a bookstore or library, a major character is an author, or a book that celebrates reading and books.
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

20 points: Read a book with a direction in the title (e.g. north, south, east, west or any combination of those).
East of Eden by John Steinbeck 

25 points: Read a book from a genre you don't usually read.
Carrie by Stephen King

25 points: Read a book with a song lyric in the title. Be sure to tell us the song name and artist as well! 
Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark (song of the same title by Mark Schultz)

30 points: Read two books with a different meal in each title (e.g. breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, brunch).
Thirteen at Dinner by Agatha Christie and Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson

Do you have any recommendations for any of these categories? I'm not set on this list. 

No Ornaments for Adoption in 2014

I am sad to say that I will not be doing Ornaments for Adoption this year. It has been one of my favorite things to do on my blog for the past 2 years. I expanded my blog in order to have opportunities to help others. So, I was so excited when the idea for Ornaments for Adoption came to me and even more excited when it was successful.

*Crafting on a Saturday*

I struggled with the decision of whether or not to do it this year with a baby coming in November. My first reaction was no, it'll be too much. Then, I saw the ornaments in Michael's and I remembered how much I loved it and I started thinking about how I could still do OFA this year. I even worked one weekend on updating the website and making some ornament samples. I was going to try doing pre-orders for cheaper to encourage people to get their orders in early. However, after working that weekend, I remembered how much work goes into OFA. Then several weeks flew by when we were very busy. So, I decided that it just wouldn't be a smart decision for me to take on too much.

I would like to give a brief update on past OFA families.

 

The Brocks from 2012 adopted a beautiful baby girl in April of this year.  She's about 6 months old now. I enjoyed attending a shower for the Brocks before the baby arrived and it's so good to see them almost every Sunday in church.

The Thigpens from 2013 are officially on a waiting list and at last update were number 32 on that list. This means there are 31 families ahead of them waiting for referrals. I would imagine this time has to be one of the hardest in the process, so I'm sure they'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

If you missed Ornaments for Adoption over the last 2 years, I'd encourage you to make up for there being no OFA this year by going back and reading the OFA posts from the last 2 years. There are many encouraging stories from adoptive families, people who were adopted, and people who advocate for adoption.

I hope to be back next year with Ornaments for Adoption being bigger and better than ever!

Baby Showers

I didn't mean to disappear for a month. I was tracked out of school for the last 3 weeks of September, but we were very busy. We spent a week visiting family; I organized baby stuff; I cleaned our apartment; I planned my entire 2nd quarter in preparation for Baby Hall's arrival; and we took a quick trip. Then, I've been back to work a week so I've been too tired to do much of anything.

I imagine my posts will be few and far between over the next few weeks and then I don't know when I'll be back to blogging after Baby Hall's arrival in November. We'll have to see how life goes, so I'm just warning you.

Along with everything else going on, I've had 4 baby showers in the last month. I had one in my hometown with my family and friends. I had one in Lee's hometown with his family and family friends. I had one with my coworkers and one with people from church. I enjoyed them all and appreciate everyone's generosity.

Today, I thought I'd share some pictures from those showers.

 These were from my hometown:

 These were 4 of my best friends growing up.

 My talented aunt made us this quilt after I found it and fell in love with it on Pinterest.

 I have to make sure she grows up knowing how to say, "Roll Tide."

 I love these adorable pink converses from another aunt.

These were from the shower in Lee's hometown:

 Me with the excited grandmothers

 Girl clothes are so much fun.

 A onesie Lee can appreciate

These are from my shower with my coworkers:

 One of my crafty coworkers made this adorable mobile.

These are from my shower with friends from church:

 Some of the girls in my growth group who helped make the shower possible.

It can be a bit overwhelming to experience the generosity of people. We are so blessed to have so many great family and friends in our lives. 

If I can get myself together, I'd love to share a post showing you what I am able to get done on the nursery and how I'm organizing things. 

However, on my to do list this week is to pack a hospital bag and to get the carseat installed. Do you have any suggestions of what I must have in my hospital bag? 

Linking up at Mommy Moments