Tatiana Caldwell » 13 Thursdays http://tatianacaldwell.com Romance Author Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:20:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 13 Things Distracting Me http://tatianacaldwell.com/2012/01/13-things-distracting-me/ http://tatianacaldwell.com/2012/01/13-things-distracting-me/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:42:13 +0000 ** Tatiana Caldwell ** http://tatianacaldwell.com/?p=4691

So I’m only now realizing that it’s almost 20 days into the new year, and I haven’t posted a single thing. *laughs* I mean sure, I did take a week off for vacation and got caught up in some other things, but man – I could have sworn I’d posted something like already.

Here are 13 things that have me starting off the year so distracted:

  1. Skyrim. What an addictive game! This isn’t the first RPG I’ve played and enjoyed in this series or by Bethesda Game Studios, but it just may be the first one I actually complete. It’s that good. Bethesda  is well known for making HUGE fantasy worlds players can openly explore for hundreds of hundreds, and where you can pretty much play it any way you want. 
  2. My hormones. Not sure what’s been up with me lately, but sex has been on my mind an awful lot. Okay, by awful lot I mean WAY more than is usual. For me.
  3. My husband. Due directly to distraction #2. The poor man isn’t sure if he’s one lucky bastard or an unfortunate victim of marital sexual assault these days. I say the former (and its not like husbands get the right to say no anyway :-P )
  4. The job. I just deployed a new time and resource management software system to a new part of the business this week, and have been working overtime to get prepare before we went live and afterwards to support the kinks.
  5. Dance Central 2. Finding the motivation to get my daily cardio in has never been easier. This game is for the Xbox Kinect, which means you there is no holding any controllers or cheating by only moving your arms when you play – you are really, truly, dancing. And burning mad calories and breaking a sweat. All the while working to improve your score and top your friends’ scores or challenge them to dance battle. It even has 2-player mode, which make my husband and I the life of the party with we bust out the game and show off our couple-coordinated grooves. Love this game! 
  6. The bills. Let’s just say that somewhere between Halloween and New Year’s we spent way too much. Both the hubby and I have been working out a new budget plan for 2012 that will hopefully not have us in this same situation by the end of this year.
  7. My children. They’re at an age where they’re soaking up everything and craving interaction and attention, and there’s so much to show them, teach them and engage them in. I love how being a parent continuously challenges me to re-evaluate my outlook on and appreciation of almost everything on life, from the child’s perspective.
  8. The family. My family tree is more like a forest, and I swear that all of them were ready to party this holiday season. Every single weekend since like Thanksgiving there’s been a party, dinner or some other invite that I was harassed into attending.
  9. YouTube. Seriously, who needs to subscribe to cable television these days? There’s some seriously funny stuff out there (both unintentionally and brilliantly done) that I wish wasn’t so easy to watch over and over. And to add insult to injury the site has the nerve to recommend similar videos.
  10. The fiction writing. These stories are begging to get finished, and are complaining that it’s taking too long!
  11. Glee. It takes a special kind of teen show to not only hold my attention, but have me laughing or yelling at the screen and constantly craving more. This show is one of them.  Not sure why I avoided it for so long, but I am now several episodes into the first season and I’m absolutely loving it! 
  12. The news. Between grown men opening fire on teenagers, mothers sexually abusing their daughters and debates about the SOPA bill, 2012 has started off with some seriously hot topics. I try not to pay them too much attention, but it’s hard not to get sucked in.
  13. … I’m way too distracted to come up with a 13th one.
]]> http://tatianacaldwell.com/2012/01/13-things-distracting-me/feed/ 73 13 Rom Coms I Watched in 2011 http://tatianacaldwell.com/2011/12/13-rom-coms-i-watched-in-2011/ http://tatianacaldwell.com/2011/12/13-rom-coms-i-watched-in-2011/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:55:17 +0000 ** Tatiana Caldwell ** http://tatianacaldwell.com/?p=4667

Okay, so truth be told I watched way more than just 13 romantic comedies this year, but I randomly picked just 13 of them to list and share my brief thoughts on.

1. “27 Dresses”

 I didn’t think I was going to like this movie due to subject matter (weddings, wedding dresses and Katherine Heigl). Turns out that I rather like Heigl when she’s not in Grey’s Anatomy, and I found myself entertained. LIKED IT


2. Just Wright

The storyline was alright, but mostly this movie was worth watching just for Queen Latifah and Common. LIKED IT


3. Bridesmaids

Technically this is more of a screwball comedy than rom com. The romantic elements were pretty weak but I did laugh a few times. I probably enjoyed this movie mostly because I was watching it with friends and wine.  LIKED IT


4. “The Ugly Truth”

This movie solidified my like of Katherine Heigl. I loved that it was a little grittier than most rom coms, and that Gerard Butler’s character had a dirty mouth. I watched this movie 3 times back to back – 2 of those times with my husband who also loved the movie. LOVED IT

5. Gray Matters

I watched this movie purely because the description said it was about a brother and sister falling in love with the same woman, and I HAD to see what that was all about. It was okay, but I didn’t find it particularly romantic nor funny. JUST OK

6. “Pillow Talk”

This is one of those classic movies that I only just got around to this year. It made me laugh out loud, and I screamed at Rock Hudson for being such a jerk! For being a jerk and still making me swoon at him!  LOVED IT

7. The Prince & Me

This was a cute movie, but I never could get into the Prince’s character so it didn’t really move me.  JUST OK

8. The Other Sister

There’s not enough movies out there where those with disabilities get to find love. Funny, charming movie. LOVED IT

9. Barefoot In The Park

Another classic that I just got around to watching.  I’m starting to love older movies because they are simple and focus on great characters with lots of personality in order to entertain.  LOVED IT

10. “The Accidental Husband”

I have this huge crush on Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and so that made this movie entertaining for me. But because I have a hard time watching Uma Thurman and the implausibility of this plot, this movie fell a little flat for me.  JUST OK

11. “Beauty and the Briefcase” (Hated It)

I rented this movie because my husband thinks Duff is hot, and so I knew that’d get him to watch it with me. But my gawd, this movie was not funny, or romantic, nor even interesting.  HATED IT

12.  ”Premium”

I like Zoe Saldana, and so I wanted to really like this movie. I have mixed feelings about this movie. I felt like the acting was uneven and it suffered from poor quality production all around, but wasn’t completely without merit.  JUST OK

13. “The Proposal”

Another movie I didn’t think I was going to like, but I was highly entertained (and so was my husband). I didn’t know Sandra Bullock actually had personality (seems like she developed some just for this movie), and Ryan Reynolds did comedy with amazing subtlety. LIKED IT

]]> http://tatianacaldwell.com/2011/12/13-rom-coms-i-watched-in-2011/feed/ 655 13 Life Lessons – 2011 Brithday Edition http://tatianacaldwell.com/2011/08/13-life-lessons-2011-brithday-edition/ http://tatianacaldwell.com/2011/08/13-life-lessons-2011-brithday-edition/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:53:58 +0000 ** Tatiana Caldwell ** http://tatianacaldwell.com/?p=4505

Two days ago, I  just celebrated my birthday.  Another year lived.  Another year of lessons learned.  As part of my annual birthday blogging ritual, I’d like to take a moment to share a few of the ones I’ve learned this year (go here to see my previous ones):

  1. Do have a plan.
  2. Do have a backup plan in case the first plan fails.
  3. Don’t overplan. Be careful – it is possible to do so much planning, that you don’t leave any time for actual doing.
  4. Avoiding and ignoring are not the same thing. Avoiding is the prevention of something from happening. Ignoring is pretending that what already happened, didn’t.
  5. Avoid unnecessary drama and your life will be much less stressful.
  6. But not all drama is unnecessary … there are some things worth fighting over, worth getting upset and loud about, worth defending. Learn to tell the difference between what’s petty and what’s hefty.
  7. Sometimes, it’s not what you do that’s the problem. It’s who you’re doing it for and with, and why.
  8. The way you present or position something will drastically affect how it is perceived. Little girls dancing with a horizontal pole? It’s called Ballet and is widely praised. Little girls dancing with a vertical pole? It’s called Obscene and widely detested.
  9. There are some absolutely brilliant, amazing women in this world. Don’t underestimate the female persuasion.
  10. Rebooting fixes way more than just computers.
  11. It’s easy to be your own worst enemy. Stop fighting with yourself and become your biggest champion, your most generous supporter.
  12. Doesn’t matter what you look like – you will find it hard to see the pretty on the outside if you feel shitty on the inside.
  13. The better you understand something, the greater your potential to love it. This goes for works of art, skills, spouses, children, and yourself.

What are some of the lessons you learned this year?

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