Hmm

I'm getting really bad at blogging regularly. Bad Lindsey. I really have to work on that. I guess I just don't have much to blog about lately.

Here are the highlights of my past week.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Yes, I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I loved the books and the movies, and I finally saw the last movie with a friend Friday night. I loved the movie! I saw it in 3D (my first 3D movie!), and it was fantastic. Made me want to read the books all over again.

Catching Fire

Alright, you've probably figured out by now that I'm a fan of young adult fic, but sometimes a girl just needs something a little lighter to read and a bit of an escape. Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series is definitely an escape from reality (if not quite light reading). I started the second book in the series, Catching Fire, today, and I can hardly put it down. I went ahead and ordered the third and final book, Mockingjay, this morning so I can read that too. If you're looking for an excellent series to read, I highly recommend picking this one up.

And that's about it. There was work, work, and more work. Hopefully this upcoming week goes a little more smoothly, but for now, I'm going back to reading and vegging on the couch.

Better

Friday was the first day at work that I felt in control of things and like I actually knew what I was doing. Yay! I know not every day will be like that and that I just have to give this transition time, but I finally feel like I'm moving in the right direction. I know there will be frustrating moments/events/people, but that's life, right?

This weekend I watched the movie Convicted starring Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, Kelly Preston, and Tim Daly.

The movie is about Charlotte Cory (Nielsen), a convicted murderer/kidnapper on death row in Oklahoma. Frank (Quinn) is a disbarred, criminal defense attorney who has taken the habit of writing various death row inmates, befriending them, and selling their letters to newspapers upon their deaths. Frank and Charlotte have been writing one another (Frank posing as an old friend of her father's and not telling her the real reason behind his writing), and Frank ends up going to Oklahoma to visit Charlotte the week of her execution. While there, Frank (along with her defense attorney played by Preston) realizes things are not as they seem, and an innocent woman might have been convicted.

The movie is fantastic. It's not one of those death row-political agenda movies. It's just a simple 'did she or didn't she' kind of movie. The twists are extremely interesting and numerous, and the movie's never dull. I give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

I also finished reading Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton this weekend. I'd heard of the book but didn't know much about it (okay - I didn't know anything about it) when I picked up on a whim at the library last week.

This is one book I would LOVE to see made into a movie. The characters and storylines are just that good. The book is about a young woman (Willie) searching for herself in her hometown after a disastrous affair with her college professor. Willie arrives home at the same time that a 'monster' is found dead in the town's lake. While the scientific community tries to sort out what the 'monster' is, Willie searches through her own family's past to discover who her biological father is after her mother reveals that her real father is a current resident of the town. The book goes back and forth between the current day with Willie and chapters told from the perspective of Willie's ancestors, giving us insight into what research Willie actually finds. It's a very original book full of scandal and endearing characters. I suggest you pick it up for a weekend read.

Frustration kicking in...

Frustration is just a part of life, right? I know we all deal with it, and you just have to keep going but today was just one of those days where you feel like you take one step forward and three steps back. I keep trying though. That's all I can do. The transition from defense attorney back to briefing attorney has been much harder than I expected, but I'm sticking with it. I'm determined to make this career move work for me.

On a lighter note, Twenties Girl was an excellent read. The book is about a young woman named Lara (who is also facing plenty of frustration of her own) who is haunted by her recently deceased, great-aunt Sadie. Sadie passed away at the age of 105, but she went back to her 23 year old self, a crazy, free-spirited, 1920s girl.

Sadie has one last request before she moves on, for Lara to locate Sadie's beloved dragonfly necklace. The request turns out to be anything but simple. The book is full of humor and life lessons and will having you smiling throughout. I highly recommend it.

Here's hoping the rest of the week lightens up for me. You might hear me yelling if it doesn't. =)

Been Away...

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. What can I say? Life's been crazy. It's been tough adjusting to my new job. I definitely like it, but it's just been a big change. I've been practicing only criminal law so I've been having to switch mindsets working with criminal, civil, and family cases now. But I'm getting there.

I finally bought some bookshelves for my apartment but not enough. Perhaps I have too many books, but is that really possible?

I've been reading Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl.

I've always liked Kinsella's books, but I haven't heard very good things about this one. Despite the reviews I've read, I'm loving the book so far. I'll have a full review when I finish.

Well, just wanted to check in and let you all know that I'm still alive. =)