dear kiki...

A Sneak Peek...

arg, I've been sick and not feeling creative but here is a sneak Peek of the Digital Memories Magazine
March/April free kit Sweet Renewal.  It's beautiful and free with your purchase of the March/April issue which is going to be amazing!!!  It will be out very soon!  This page is a scraplift of a layout by Candice Stringham in the April Issue of Creating Keepsakes.  Since I'm sick, couldn't really get my own mojo going so I used her lovely layout.  Enjoy!  Ciao!

Sigh... Swoon...

Mmmmmmm Jake Gyllenhaal's ass in all it's glory, twice...sigh...Wow this movie was really good, really, really, really good and I'm not usually into military films, but I can make an exception for such a superb film, Jarhead.  Plus it was interesting as a former San Diegan had a bit of experience with the Camp Pendelton crew.  Hee hee, rented it this Sunday in a movie fest with my bestest friend Z, we thoroughly enjoyed it!  I think I have to buy it!  I first fell for Jake in Donnie Darko, one of my all time favorite movies!  I recommend the Director's Cut of course!  Anyway, total blog slacker, I was busy having fun, enjoying my short but sweet time with Z and then recovering a bit before this coming weekend's chaos begins.  The other movie that came out this Tuesday is the new David Cronenberg movie that I'm dying to see A History of Violence.  I can't wait to see that, been waiting a long time!  LOVE Cronenberg!!  Though they are not for the faint of heart, which is just the way I like my movies!

YaY!!  I spent several days having a great time with my girls and took absolutely NO photos!!!  I can't believe it!!  Not even one!!  Yeah my bad, but I had a blast!  I even took my camera dancing with us but I was too busy busti'n a move on the dance floor to be bothered to take any photos!  Oopsy!!  Man it was great though, Saturday night we got DOWN!!!  We were serious about it!  There was no messing around and man was I sore for the next two days!!  It was GREAT!  On the stage, all over the place, we were in our own little dancing world and it was AWESOME!!!  I love dancing, let's never stop dancing!!!!!  Ciao!

Remember how I said I was missing my Girls???

WELL.... It's GIRL TIME BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAY!!!!!  Z is in town on her spring break and I'm getting down with the GIRLS tonight and tomorrow and Sunday, Monday will be a rough one!!!  I am sooooo PUMPED!!!!  I can't wait for some quality girliness!!  Perfect timing!  Now I just have to decide where we will go tonight!  Hmmmm decisions, decisions, so many fun bars, so little time ;)  Hope everyone has as much fun as I will have this weekend!!  Ciao!

Entertainment Weekly The Tenth Circle Review!!

Here is a link to the Entertainment Weekly Book review of The Tenth Circle, yeah very cool!  A Rave Review!!!  Here is another link to another Book review by The Boston Globe in which Dustin Weaver was interviewed and quoted!  Soooo exciting!!!!

The Tenth Circle a Bestseller Already!

Books Music Movies All

That picture on the cover sure looks sweet: A quaint seaside cottage in the afternoon sun, a towel flung carelessly over two comfy beach chairs, and the only thing sweatin' it is a glass of lemonade. Somehow, you just know it's a weekday. David Bach can help get you there with his new book, The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner. Why Homeowners Get Rich & Renters Stay Poor Essay by David Bach More Books by David Bach More New Books Norah Jones trades piano jazz for pedal steel with friends Richard Julian, Lee Alexander, and others on The Little Willies, a reeling, old-time album of songs inspired and composed by the likes of Hank Williams and Willie Nelson. BORDERS REWARDS EXCLUSIVE COUPON: The Little Willies Just $12.99 for Borders Rewards Members Audio Hear Our Little Willies Jukebox Audio The Borders Playlist (Samples from Barry Manilow, Beth Orton & More) More New Music

As if Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup, learning of the Unforgivable Curses, and finding a date for the Yule Ball weren't bad enough, Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts gets even dicier when he's inexplicably entered in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. New director Mike Newell brings a darker vision and a crisp pace to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, available as both a single-disc and a 2-disc special edition. Video Trailer & DVD Preview Video Selected Scenes & Special Features Harry Potter Books, CDs & DVDs If You Like Harry Potter… Crash & Other Oscar Notables on DVD Carmela is back with Tony, Christopher has pledged his allegiance, Junior's facing a retrial (and the possibility of a retirement home), and somebody—without a doubt—is going to die. The sixth season of The Sopranos starts March 12, and there's still time to catch up with last season before things get cooking. Of course, you can always whet your appetite with the range of entrees from Carmela's recipe box to be found in Entertaining with the Sopranos. The Sopranos on DVD Recipe The Sopranos' Neapolitan Crostini More TV on DVD

What's that up there??? Dustin Weaver's ART!  This is a National Borders ad.  The Tenth Circle was the #1 bestseller at Barnes & Noble on Tuesday March 10th, it's debut day.  We will find out more on the spots on the bestseller's lists in the next couple days, so stay tuned.  I also have a book review from Entertainment Weekly I have to post as well!  Very exciting!!!

The Tenth Circle is OUT!!!

Jodi Picoult's newest book The Tenth Circle came out Tuesday March 7th (yesterday) in Book Stores Everywhere.  This is my favorite of Jodi's so far, I devoured this book whilst riding the BART to and from work and then every spare moment at home!  In case you missed the first post about this book, this novel is about a Comic Artist and his relationship with his daughter.  And within the covers of this novel is an illustrated comic book, a FIRST!!!!  The merging of TWO genres, comic books, and the novel!  What does this have to do with my advance copy??  Well it just so happens that my sweetie Dustin Weaver did the illustrations for the Comic Book portion of the book!!!  He is actually going on the west coast leg of the book tour as well.  Those dates are posted on Jodi Picoult's website, so check it out and if you are in the area, stop in and say hi!  If you have not read any of Jodi's work yet, you HAVE to pick this up and give it a try, she is AMAZING!  An incredible talent, fabulous person and her last two books Vanishing Acts and My Sister's Keeper are BEST SELLERS!!!  You must check out her ENTIRE body of work, I have not been able to read all of them as of yet but I intend to!  This is really a groundbreaking release, the first of it's kind and it will hopefully raise awareness of the Comic Book Industry as both a legitimate art form and literary genre.  SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!!

Also I was featured on the Self Portrait Tuesday blog again with the end of the February theme.  Coolness ;)  Also 3 AWESOME DVD releases yesterday, yes Tuesday is new DVD day!  First up of course is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Whooooo hooooo!!!!  SO EXCITED!!!  I am a HUGE HP fan and this book kicked so much arse and seeing it in film is GREAT!!!  Another favorite scrapbooking movie!!!  I can't wait to see the deleted scenes!!!  Of course now I have to try and exchange my disk purchased yesterday because the LOSER at Blockbuster sold us the wrong one and I opened it without really paying attention, he gave us the widescreen one not the special edition.  They were not out but behind the counter, I'm sure they didn't have enough locks for the stock.  @#@%$#@!!  Seriously, this kind of thing really irritates me because I am a serious devoted movie dork, life without commentary just isn't life...

Also the LOOOOOONG related release of My Neighbor Totoro Special 2 Disc Edition  I'm excited because you can buy this one and Howl's Moving Castle together on Amazon.  I had My Neighbor Totoro on VHS because at the time it had not yet been released in the U.S. on DVD.  However one of my few friends with children borrowed it and it disappeared (not you coach/Alice if you are reading).  Then I just put it off because I've seen it hmmm approximately 25 times...But now I have to pick it up, even with the new slightly annoying dub, it could be worse, the Neon Genesis dub is HORRIBLE!!!  It's not that bad, since the other version I saw was also a dub, I've never seen the original Japanese version.  The critical part here is that it is WIDE SCREEN, it was previously only the full screen pan and scan version.  SO THAT IS A BIG DEAL!!!!  If you have never seen this film or if you have any children and they have not been exposed to the magic and absolute perfection of Miyazaki's world then you MUST buy this film.  There is nothing out there in the world like a Miyazaki film!  These are fantastic, wonderful, breathtaking, non-patronizing films!  Miyazaki's nails the child's heart, fears, fantasy world like no other film maker alive!  Anytime I showed Totoro to a child they were hypnotized and it immediately became their new favorite film!  Some are too scary for children like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away not for really young children because it can be a little scary.  Spirited Away is FREAKING AMAZING!!  My favorite Miyazaki film although I haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle yet.  Which also came out yesterday! I'm going to just buy it without seeing because it is a Miyazaki and I know I will LOVE It!!  It is his newest movie, I am soooo excited!!  I don't think anything can top Spirted Away for me but I can't wait to see Miyazaki's newest creation.  Although it should be interesting because it is an adaptation from a book and I think other than Kiki's Delivery Service (another favorite of mine (gee I wonder why)  and kid friendly) all of his movies have been his stories, so this is a rare occurrence.  So if I have just introduced you to the world of Miyazaki at least go rent one of his movies I say just buy it because it's worth it!  Go buy Tenth Circle and your weekend will be complete!  Ciao!

Self Portrait Tuesday...

Yeah, almost...  Well it's March and it's a new Challenge theme on Self Portrait Tuesday this month it's TIME.  There are some really cool projects referenced on the blog and we have to take a min of 7 pictures.  Well I already messed up and forgot that I would need to take a picture on Tuesday, so I am one short this week.  Oh well.  I didn't have too much time to think about this before executing.  My idea was for this first week to just take a picture when I remembered out and about mostly.  Capture my life in a snapshot Mon-Sun.  I really want to visit a photo booth and have done searches for them, and I wish I had an old Polaroid camera but I made my own facsimile digitally.  This has been a really fun exercise, even though I forgot one day, almost forgot other days and really, really wasn't in the mood to take a self portrait on even other days.  Masking tape by Katie Pertiet  from Designer Digitals.  Now I am stressed out trying to come up with another idea for this next week, not much time, just a few hours, I can't wait to see everyone else's.  I LOVE SPT, what a bright spot in a sometimes draining work week! 

What I'm reading & What you should read...

Jodi Picoult's newest book The Tenth Circle comes out Tuesday March 7th in Book Stores Everywhere.  This is my favorite of Jodi's so far, I devoured this book whilst riding the BART to and from work and then every spare moment at home!  How Katie, how have you read a book that has not yet been released you may be asking yourselves???   Well I received advanced copies because this novel is about a Comic Artist and his relationship with his daughter.  And within the covers of this novel is an illustrated comic book, a FIRST!!!!  The merging of TWO genres, comic books, and the novel!  What does this have to do with my advance copy??  Well it just so happens that my sweetie Dustin Weaver did the illustrations for the Comic Book portion of the book!!!  He is actually going on the west coast leg of the book tour as well.  Those dates are posted on Jodi Picoult's website, so check it out and if you are in the area, stop in and say hi!  If you have not read any of Jodi's work yet, you HAVE to pick this up and give it a try, she is AMAZING!  An incredible talent, fabulous person and her last two books Vanishing Acts and My Sister's Keeper are BEST SELLERS!!!  You must check out her ENTIRE body of work, I have not been able to read all of them as of yet but I intend to!  This is really a groundbreaking release, the first of it's kind and it will hopefully raise awareness of the Comic Book Industry as both a legitimate art form and literary genre.  Of course I am a tad bit bias and extremely proud!  Anyway I will post of this again on Tuesday the release date but am VERY excited to walk into a Barnes & Noble or Borders and see a big display of The Tenth Circle, see Dustin's name, open it and see his artwork.  Very cool and a very BIG deal!

In my own slightly less grandiose news...

Yes it is true Simple Scrapbooks Celebrations 2  is out!  It is not only up to order at the website but as of last night it is in the newsstands at Barnes & Noble and Borders.  Yes I saw a BIG row of them and picked one up!  My layout turned out great, sent my sister out to pick one up as well.  There are now 2 publications in the newsstands right now that contain a layout of mine with a picture of her!  She is famous!!  Very exciting for moi!  CH CH CH CH CHECK IT OUT!! In other news, it is FRIDAY!!!!  TGIF!  Seriously, hectic week!  Unfortunately one of my new co-workers is leaving for 6 months maybe never to return to travel (lucky her).  Alas, she is one of the few I got to know a bit and is super cool so off to Happy Hour and cocktails with a large number of co-workers after work today and tomorrow going to spend some time with the big D that is for Dennise, also cocktails to follow ;)  Have a great weekend, Ciao Bellas!

YAY it's Thursday!

Wow, I don't know what to say!  I was featured on the Self Portrait Tuesday Blog again yesterday, link here and I just can't explain how cool that is!  The theme this month or last month now rather was sooooo tough and I really struggled with it!  The new theme this month for March is REALLY cool, I can't wait to share next week!  Then all of these amazing SPT people left me sweet, encouraging and just plain lovely comments!  It really made my week.  It's just so great to get feedback like that from fellow artist's!  It was such a self esteem booster, with people telling me I'm pretty, aaaawwww thanks everyone, that made me smile and blush a little because just like everyone else I don't think of myself that way and certainly not about that picture!  It has been a VERY busy week at work but good, some exciting things are happening for the company and I have worked out 2x's so far this week, inspired to get by butt back in gear by Rhonna Farrer  and her 21 day challenge on her blog!  I let starting my new job hijack my workout schedule but she inspired me to get it together again!  Rhonna is running 5 miles, yeah I'm sooo not there but I ran for 10 minutes straight without stopping which is really good for me, baby steps ;)  I am working on planning some girly getaway's and thus missing my girls, so here is a picture of some of us!  Thanks everyone for your comments and for checking out my stuff!  It's almost the weekend, almost time for some fun and hanging out with Dennise!  Miss my girly girls, Ciao!