Best of 2007

While I am certainly no movie critic, I consider myself to be a passionate movie-goer with an eye for great movies. What does "best picture" mean to me? Usually, that I walk out of the theater, and can't stop talking about it. Also, when the movie comes out on DVD, and I add it to my collection...that's a good sign. So, here are my "best pictures" from 2007 (in order):


5. The Bourne Ultimatum - I missed every single "three-quel" this summer except this one. But, it seems I picked the right one to spend 2.5 hours on. Action scenes were great, and the story was not too confusing. The franchise did a great job tying together all the loose ends and closing the door on the Bourne series. This one was almost as good as the original.



4. Juno - maybe a little unorthodox, and some of the dialogue is a little overdone. But, what a unique, quirky, and entertaining little film. You can't help but become attached to the characters and their story. You will certainly laugh, and maybe even cry (I did). And Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight K Schrute) makes a cameo appearance delivering one of the best one-liners of the whole movie. Acting is good, but the soundtrack is better (very Garden State-esque). I'd say it's this year's Little Miss Sunshine.



3. 3:10 to Yuma - I must preface this one...I love westerns!! And Christian Bale is definitely becoming one of my favorite actors. He never lets me down. I loved this one from beginning to end. The only thing I would have changed...the final shoot-out scene was a little unrealistic in comparison to the rest of the movie.



2. The Kite Runner - The movie was a good (not great) adaptation of the book. The cast of mostly no-name actors worked, and the scenery was beautifully shot. Heads-up...most of the movie is in subtitles, but I didn't find it distracting at all. It was moving, powerful, and had a storybook ending. Loved it!! But, read the book first.



1. No Country for Old Men - It's the Coen Brothers at their finest!!! Great story, great script (very little diaglogue), and superb acting. I love Tommy Lee Jones, and his small part in this one is still great. Josh Brolin should get nominated for Best Actor, and Javier Bardem should win Best Supporting Actor. He played one of the most scary, chilling bad guys that I've seen in recent years...flawless!! I repeat, it's the Coen Brothers (which I love for films like Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?), so don't expect the stereotypical ending. But, hands down, my Best Picture of the year.



Honorable Mention (in no order): Zodiac, The Kingdom, Ratatouille

Grreat in '08!!

O8's going to be great! .......I can just feel it.

No particular New Year's resolutions.. Just being a better me and having more fun, creating more margin in my life and investing more in my important relationships. That should do it.

Anyone want a free Aussie shep?


I'll even throw in free shipping...

Holiday Recap

Christmas Reynolds-style ~

So, for Christmas day, we all piled into Andrew's truck and headed to Abilene. And by "we", I mean...Andrew, myself, my brother Jon, and our two dogs Jett and Abby. It was too cold for the dogs to be in the truck bed, so we were all crammed into the truck cabin. That was an adventure, although it was just me and Abby in the back seat, and she is pretty tame. I think the boys had a tougher time in the front seat than we did.

5 hours later, we pulled into Abilene and checked into our hotel. My dad doesn't like the dogs at his house, so we stayed at a hotel. Fine by me, since it provides a nice retreat when being around family becomes too suffocating. And my Dad paid for the hotel stay. Here's a picture of what my dogs consider "roughing it". :) Geez, they are spoiled!




We all had a great time. My mom is the best cook ever!! My favorite meal of the year is her Christmas Day meal. Ham with scalloped potatoes, green beans w/ bacon, salad, and rolls. Sooo good!! And not to mention, she is quite the baker also, so throw in a homemade Apple and Pecan pie. You can't beat it.

I honestly expected more drama, but our three day stay proved to be very tame, thankfully. The highlight was playing Apples to Apples. It's really fun, and my Dad got really into it.

In fact, the only other excitement came when I slammed my fingers in Andrew's truck door. I was opening the third door of the truck, when the wind slammed the passenger door on my right hand. Picture this, the door did not merely bounce off my fingers, it shut completely flush with my hand inside. I think I may have said a few choice words, and the concrete at the Holiday Inn is permanently stained with blood. December has been quite an injury-prone month for me. I'm glad it's over.




Christmas Jean-style ~

We all went to Emily and Joel's house the Saturday after Christmas to celebrate with Andrew's family. Also, good times! Ella is our 2-year old neice, and she stole the show.

Last year for Christmas, she was more content with the wrapping paper and boxes. This year was a different story. She has mastered the art of opening presents. She picks out a gift bag, not necessarily assigned to her, pulls out the tissue paper and gives one of two responses: "Wow!" or my personal favorite "Goodness Gracious!" It was sooo cute! Her facial reactions are priceless!

The day also consisted of more great food, and another round of Apples to Apples. This time, I was the winner!!

New Year's ~

New Year's Eve has never really been that big of a deal to me. It's a struggle to stay up that late, but this year was a success, even for Andrew :) We bounced between two houses, and had a great time at both. We said GOODBYE to 2007, and are welcoming 2008 with smiles on our faces!!

Today, Andrew took me out to the local shooting range for some target practice. I haven't shot a gun since I was a little girl, and I want to make sure that I look serious if I ever have to encounter an intruder.

The shooting range was an experience. I'm not going to lie, I was a little uncomfortable. There are empty shell casings all over the ground, and it's really, really loud, even with hearing protection. The sound of some of those shotguns and rifles alone was enough to make me almost turn around and head back to the car. But, I was brave. Andrew picked out a bench for us and placed our targets at 50 yds out. He took me through a quick, basic refresher course on shooting, and away I went.

What gun was I shooting? Well, it turns out that the sounds and shoulder jerks of others shooting 30/30's and 12-guages allowed my bravery to go only so far. So, I shot Andrew's 22-rifle. That's right, a glorified BB gun. Hey, small steps, folks. Target practice went much better than Andrew expected. I probably shot about 25 rounds, and I hit the bulls-eye probably 10 of those rounds. And, that was shooting with open-sight (no scope). I was proud!! So, to all the small varmint in the world...look out!! To intruders...hopefully they won't know the difference between a 22 and a 30/30. Better yet, hopefully there will be NO intruders. :)

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!