Category Archives: Blogging

My First Twilight Premiere

In late October, I received an invitation. It was from Erin, who is somewhat spazzy like me. We are a good fit. But she is quite obsessed with something that I’ve never really gotten into, Twilight. Erin was having a premiere party for the new Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn. Erin goes all out for her parties. Of course, I was going to attend. But I had to do some research first. In order to attend this premiere, movie, etc. I finally had to break down and read the books, yes books, like all of them.

Project 365 305/365: Starting from the beginning...because of an upcoming wedding! Do you see this @bringingupburns?

So I might have read all four of the books in a week.  I then had to watch all of the previous movies.  All of my research was done prior to Erin’s party. I still wasn’t sure if I was into all of this Twilight hype. I did make the decision that I was Team Jacob. Because Taylor Lautner is hot. So what if he was born when I was a junior in high school, does that make me a cougar?

The week before the party, Erin was running around trying to finish her last minute projects. Actually, Erin had been working on her crafts/ideas/projects for quite some time. She likes to really carry out her theme.  I wanted to help somehow.  So I offered to make a treat for the party. My contribution was Vampire Kibble.  I had to package it right away because it was so tempting in my house.

Making Werewolf Kibble.  cc: @bringingupburns #BreakingDawn
Werewolf Kibble and Vampire Bites-Treats for Breaking Dawn Party
I arrived at Erin’s house a little early that night to take some pictures of her decor. I wanted to get pictures before everyone had attacked the food and snacks.

Of course, not only did she have food and drinks but she also had trivia games. She had a “Name That Vampire” game with photographs of various vampires from different movies, and also a “Twilight Trivia Powerpoint” via her outdoor movie screen also known as “The Tree Screen” since they have it hanging from a tree in their front yard.

Name That Vampire Game
Name That Vampire
Breaking Dawn Trivia on Tree Screen And now the food and the rest of the decor. She totally went with the Twilight theme.

Breaking Dawn-Bella Quote

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen-Breaking Dawn Wedding Invitation
Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Food
Breaking Dawn-Twilight-Party Food
Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Candle Decoration
Volturi Wine
Breaking Dawn-Twilight-Water Bottle Labels
Syringe Blood Shots-Twilight Party
Erin and I also have a bit of a tradition anytime we have cupcake pictures. We call this this Twilight cupcake pose. The cupcakes were port wine and chocolate cherry flavored. Deliciousness!

Twilight-Breaking Dawn Cupcake

And then there was swag, YES, she even made Swag bags.…it was like a celebrity movie premiere, without having to buy a really expensive dress.

From Erin’s blog:

The bags were black canvas that I labeled with “Keep Calm and Break Dawn” on the outside. Inside, guests found a 35mm film strip bookmark (I just cut the film into 10 frame pieces and laminated,) gummy fangs, a fang ring, a bag of candy blood (type V for Vegetarian prescribed by Dr. Carlisle Cullen, of course) feathers, a CD I made with songs from all 4 movie soundtracks (printed the CD sleeves on red card stock and then sewed up the sides with black thread. LOVED how they turned out!) Apple mittens, and a handwritten card thanking everyone for indulging me in my crazy!

Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Swag Bag

Before we left to go to the movie theater, I got a group picture of everyone wearing their mittens that Erin had placed in her swag bag. And believe me, we wore them while waiting outside the movie theater, it was cold.

Twilight Apple Gloves

After another very large Dr. Pepper, I arrived at the theater. I had been up since 5am that morning. It was an extremely long day but so worth it. I had seen all of the Twilight movies, but I had never gone to the midnight premiere.

Breaking Dawn at Big Newport
I was very happy that I had read all of the books, before I saw the movie. It would have been very confusing to me. This movie and even the book had a ton of major events happen. It is hard to keep track of everything. The computer graphics aka CGI were insane. I think they have gotten so much better since the first movie. Snaps to them for the awesome quality.

I won’t go into all of the details of the movie, but I got to see Jacob aka Taylor Lautner without his shirt a few times, which is always a good thing. I’m not sure if I’m a diehard TwiHard but I did enjoy the books and movie. I’m not obsessed with them like some people, cough cough Erin….but they were all good.

I also got to meet Denise while I was at the party too. She had flown out for Erin’s party and of course, the movie premiere. She is a big fan.

You are probably wondering what Erin’s NEXT big huge MOVIE PREMIERE party is, right? Well I think I’m going to coordinate with Erin for The Hunger Games!!! We are both super excited. I already have a Pinterest board started with ideas. We are both a little obsessed. I had to get a photo of the movie advertisement. Coincidently, this photo was taken before Breaking Dawn started. Amazing, that I didn’t look dead tired.

A bit excited about The Hunger Games.
Please see Erin’s post “Keep Calm and Break Dawn” which is her recap post. She goes into more detail about the decor, food, beverages, games, etc. for her party. I was just the photographer, and of course, guest.

Million Moms Challenge, Being Prepared

As a mother, I have all sorts of advice to give.  Whether it be good or bad.  I have being participating in the Million Moms Challenge for the past three months as a contributor.  This month’s topic is about “Tips For Raising A Healthy Baby”.

I wrote about my son, Angry Kid, having several febrile seizures starting at sixteen months old.  As parents, Angry Husband and I learned to be prepared for the worst, and being keen observants of our son’s behaviors.

Hospital Visit

Please join me in the conversation and my story over at the Million Moms Challenge Site: Prevention and Being Prepared Is My Mantra.

Show your support for the Million Moms Challenge by liking MMC on Facebook.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine.

Obstructed Views

I was invited to Disneyland on Saturday for event celebrating the Holidays at the Disneyland Parks.  I big puffy heart everything about Disneyland. It is truly magical.  But things like parades and fireworks at the parks, give me a little road rage. That is the only way that I can describe it. I am not a tall person by any means, 5’4″. So it can become difficult when I’m attempting to take photographs.

We were dead center on Main St. USA at Disneyland for the “Believe… in Holiday Magic” Fireworks Show, which should have been perfect viewing, except for the fact that a man standing about six feet in front of me, was like seven foot tall, I am not exaggerating ok maybe a little.  I pushed my way up to the front of our area, but I have a lot of internal cursing (ok so I might have said a few obscene words outloud) going on during the show. I love viewing the fireworks, and photographing them is a HUGE bonus. I was completely spoiled during HalloweenTime at Disneyland. We had the perfect view of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle for the Fireworks show. I took some AMAZING photographs.

I had to edit a few photographs, to show the head, I mean obstruction.

Tall people obstructing fireworks

Sleeping Beauty's Castle and Fireworks
Fireworks at DisneylandAlthough, I had SEVERAL, ok hundreds of photographs with obstructed views, or mainly, a LARGE HEAD in my photographs, I think this photograph really captured the moment. Everyone looking towards the castle, as the fireworks are ending, and “snow” is slowly starting to fall. Because really, Disneyland is MAGICAL.

JAD_7322

Disclosure: I was provided tickets and a fancy dinner via Disneyland for my family.  I will have a much more detailed and awesome post about their Holiday Events later this week. I promise. All opinions are mine.