Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Make It Or Break It

Heather and I finally watched this on instant Netflix after hearing about it for a while. We immediately got hooked on it and then unintentionally got our mom hooked on it. We had finished up the first two seasons and then one night our mom was like, “Could we watch that gymnastics shows?” We ended up starting it again and are almost done with it for the second time. I’m just hoping that it’ll be back for season 3!

The Joneses

This was a Netflix recommendation that I ended up putting in our queue. It was very different than anything I expected. It’s a very bizarre story, but was really interesting.

The Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal is an Army helicopter pilot who tries to understand how he got to his current mission, which is trying to find the bomber of a commuter train. He’s in something called “The Source Code” which allows the user to experience the last eight minutes of a person’s life within an alternate timeline. This is one of those crazy movies where you’re not exactly sure what happened. It’s really interesting and makes you want watch it again.

Unknown

Liam Neeson is a badass. This is a great action/thriller movie. Liam plays doctor who goes to a work conference in Germany with his wife, but ends up in an accident. When he wakes up his wife doesn’t recognize him and neither does anyone else. While he’s trying to uncover his identity he must escape from assassins who are out to get him.

Living Proof

I think this was a Lifetime original movie that I had seen previously. I’m pretty sure my mom had put it in our Netflix queue. This time I wasn’t actually able to watch it, but rather just listened to it while I was doing some other things. It’s based on a true story and was really inspiring.

Blue Valentine

Wow. This was heart wrenching. I don’t even know how else to explain it. The young Ryan Gosling is hot. Um, that’s all.

Sorority Wars

The story was a little familiar, á la Sydney White, but definitely more serious. My school didn’t have sororities, so the concept of pledging, etc. is a little foreign to me. It was a pretty good movie, fun for a Friday night in with the sister.

Heard It

I’ve been listening to a lot of good music lately. I’ve included some videos with each of these for you to check out. Amazing.

Rayland Baxter: The Miscalculation of Song [EP]

Carlos Whittaker: Ragamuffin Soul

Brian Wurzell: Grace Ocean

Laura Jansen: Bells

Mat Kearney: Young Love

Matt Nathanson: Modern Love

Read It

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

This book was a little hard to get into. It always takes me a while to get use to her writing style after I’ve been reading other authors. It was a good story, but also hard to read given some of the circumstances and relationships in the book.

Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God by Sheila Walsh

This is one of those books that have been half-read and sitting on my shelf for a couple months. I tend to do that with books that have some tough stuff to swallow.
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God!”
Proverbs 3:5-7 MSG

Quitter by Jon Acuff

MUST. READ. BOOK. Not only is Jon Acuff the funniest guy ever, but also this is such an insightful book. It digs into closing the gap between your day job and your dream job.

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Tangled

My family finally got around to watching this after my dad got home from Texas. He loves animated movies, let's face it, I like them too. It was super cute and definitely would be one to own!

Pretty Wild

I had a sick day last week, or the week before, and I ended up in bed all day watching this. It's just one of those good, but bad reality tv, trash shows. It kept me entertained and helped keep my mind off not feeling well. Side note: after watching the show I googled Alexis and Tess and ended up finding Alexis' Youtube channel. She recently started doing video blogs about how much her life has changed since she's been in rehab. It's pretty inspiring and really awesome to see how much she's grown.

Country Strong

This was one we watched right before dad got home, because we weren't sure if he'd like it or not. It was such a great movie and definitely nothing like I expected [in a good way]. I like how the music was incorporated into the movie, there was a great balance between the music and the story.

Just Go With It

I had a free rental from Redbox and this is what I ended up getting. I had fairly low expectations, but since I like Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler [occasionally] I figured I'd give it a shot. Heather, my mom and I laughed through the whole thing! I really want to get it again so my dad can see it because I'm sure he'd love it. I think it's probably worth owning.

How Do You Know

I kind of regret watching this. I'd definitely call it a dud. The story just didn't seem to flow and during parts of it I would ask myself "what is going on?" and "why is this happening?". I was pretty bummed and will [hopefully] never watch it again.

What If...

The cute Debby Ryan tweeted a month or so ago that this movie she was in was on instant Netflix. I looked it up and after reading the brief description I immediately added it to our queue. It's a sweet story about the "What if..." in this man's life. It has a lot to do with faith and spirituality, but does so in a way that doesn't portray Christians as outrageous or crazy. I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.

Heard It

Brett Dennen: Loverboy

I'm still mourning the fact I missed seeing Brett when he was in Boise at the beginning of June.

Lenka: Two

I was thrilled to finally get Lenka's new album. Remember that one time I met her? Oh yeah, that was awesome.

Steve Martin: The Crow

I can't wait to see him on Saturday night! I'm trying to convince him via twitter that he needs to give Heather and me backstage passes as a birthday present.

Death Cab For Cutie: Codes and Keys

I don't know if I could really say that I've truly listened to this. I've had it playing in the car since about Friday because I've been driving all over the place lately. I guess if I play it long enough it might stick in my head.

Spotify

On Friday I opened an account with Spotify because I have a Klout account. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing with it. Maybe I should read/watch the tutorial, ha! I think it'll be cool once I figure it out.

Read It

When Joy Came To Stay by Karen Kingsbury

This was the second to last stand-alone book by Karen that I had left to read. It was difficult to read because of the spiral of despair that one of the characters is experiencing. I love that Karen is not afraid to approach tough subjects, such as depression and faith. I appreciate that her stance in this book is that Christians do experience depression and just because they do it doesn't make them any less of a believer.

Where Yesterday Lives by Karen Kingsbury

This book seemed a little bit different than some of Karen's other books, maybe because it was one of her first ones. It's a story of a woman going home after her father passes away. She looks for solace while dealing with arguments with her siblings and distance from her husband.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

When we went to Whistler last summer [ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE] Janelle was reading this book. I've had it written down on a sticky note so I'd remember to read it when I found time. Heather read it last fall and wrote THIS POST about it. I absolutely loved it!

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

I decided to take a little break from reading through all of Karen Kingsbury's books, so I started at the beginning of Jodi Picoult's books. It was definitely a different pace than Karen's books, so it took me a while to get into it and find a rhythm. It's told through 5 different voices, some in the past and some in the present. I found it really interesting and, at times, heartbreaking. I'm starting another book by her today.