Happy New Year!!!!

Purple Pop Art New Year's Card

Shop hundreds of holiday photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Have a wonderful and safe new year!!

The Help

The Help is an amazing book written by Kathryn Stockett.  I love this book!

There are so many reasons why.  It is a book about women in Mississippi in the early 1960's.  Specifically, it is about white women and the black women that keep their homes and raise their children. 

I must be honest and say that I did not "read" this book, but listened to the audiobook.  What made the audiobook so special is that each character of the book was read by a different actor.  Therefore, you got to know each character more intimately, because you associate the woman with her voice (rate of speech, inflections, accents, etc.).

Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character.  I love when authors do that.  I get more immersed in the book, because I get to know each character intimately.

The movie is being filmed (or already filmed) and will come out on the big screen in 2011.  The IMDB database lists the cast and a few pictures.  If it is even half as good as the book, I will love it!

If you haven't read the book, I highly suggest it.

Happy Anniversary to Lucy Liu!!

Top Left:  Our first day home Dec. 2008; Top Right: Valentine's Day 2009
Bottom Left: dog rescue event 2010; Bottom Right: Sept. 2010

Two years ago today, I brought home my first puppy, Lucy Liu.  I had been looking for a dog to adopt, but just couldn't pull the trigger.  I went to my Dad's for Christmas and went to the local pet supply store.  The owner owned Shih Tzu's as pets and had a little shih tzu puppy in a pen with two little chihuahua puppies. 

The little puppy was very quiet and when I picked her up, she put her head on my shoulder (like in the picture above) and it was all over.  I had to adopt her.  I wanted to think about it overnight, so I put a $20 deposit (no kidding) down to "hold" her. 

That night, I was torturing my sister with what to name her.  I wanted her name to have a Chinese reference.  After MUCH deliberation, I decided to name her Lucy Liu.  Why?  Because, let's face it, Lucy Liu is Chinese-American (like my shih-tzu) and a Bad Ass.  The next day, I picked up Lucy Liu and brought her home to Houston.

She is the greatest dog in the world.  I love that she is:

• very adaptable;
• easy-going, but at times, stubborn;
• has great confidence;
• loves to play;
• barks at ALL animals, cartoons (including the Mucinex phlegm-guy) and any kind of caveman (Capital One guys) on TV;
• loves little kids and any one else that wants to pet her
• PURE JOY