i caved.

i'm one of those people that doesn't like to do something if everyone else is doing it. i'm stubborn that way, i guess. it took me forever to read harry potter and now i've joined the bandwagon on yet another series: the hunger games. still not jumping on the twilight train. gotta draw the line somewhere.

the great thing about joining late in the game is that you don't have to wait for the books to come out. i'm a genius, really. anyways, everyone and their mom has been telling me to read these books but i was convinced i wouldn't like a book where kids have to kill each other. i've been proven wrong. i'm now on the third book and have really enjoyed them so far. while i admit the subject matter is not very light and cheery, it makes for some seriously page-turning stuff! i'm trying to savor this last book and i'm very nervous about how it will all end. i don't want to be disappointed!

i started about a month ago so i knew about the movie and who was playing the main characters but i tried to forget about that and just read. the other day i was getting really curious who some of the other characters were going to be and stumbled upon this article from entertainment weekly [if you like tv, books, or movies at all you should subscribe to this magazine, i love it!]

they've released posters featuring the most prominent characters from the book. i thought i'd round them all up and give you a sneak peek! the article has the specific links for each picture. i couldn't find photo credit info for each picture, however.


































while i didn't really picture lenny kravitz being the kind of person to play a character from a young adult series, i feel pretty good about all of these actors. i think the movie is going to be great and i can't wait to see a preview!

what about you? have you read the books? are you excited for the movie?


i'll leave you with this awesome collage of the posters.


from ign.com

marcel the shell

do you remember this guy?




here's the link also because i've been having trouble with videos lately: http://youtu.be/VF9-sEbqDvU

marcel is a tiny little shell with the cutest voice: jenny slate from SNL. remember her doorbell sketch?



i miss her! anyways, this video made the rounds a while back and i just heard that marcel is going to be a children's book! read the full article here from entertainment weekly.

taylor swift!

my sisters and i have been big taylor fans since the beginning, but we'd never seen her live. she came to portland last year on her fearless tour but the tickets sold out way too fast. this time, i knew when the tickets went on sale and i was waiting patiently at the computer. they sold out in minutes. it was insane! i was only able to buy three tickets and it was a group of two and one single. i could only take two of my sisters and we couldn't sit together. our seats were really great though and it was such an amazing show. my two little sisters were in the first section off of stage left so most of the pictures are from them.

i was on the floor, but way in the back so i didn't have the best view. i did, however, get to see taylor when she walked around, greeting the audience.



she was within touching distance but i refrained. i thought that would have been weird. she sounded really great live and had so much energy. she had no less than 10 costume changes, all dresses. my favorite thing was her red lipstick. and she was so tiny!



towards the end of the show she came around the back and sang a few songs on this mini stage. it was great because i could actually see her. bad thing was that they put up ropes to prevent the crazies from storming the stage so i couldn't go grab my camera from my sisters. i was just left with my crummy cell phone camera. still kicking myself.



when she sang Love Story she flew around the room in this little balcony. she was right above my head when i took this.


for Back to December, confetti snow came down all over the audience.


the stage was incredible. each song had a specific theme and there were dancers and acrobats doing crazy stuff.



she made this face a lot, acting like she was surprised that the crowd was so loud and excited. hard to imagine that many people paying to see you sing.



i think this was her first dress. fun and flapper-ish, but was not a fan of the boots. she had another cute dress that was white, lacy, and sort of vintage-y that she wore with oxfords. wish i got a good picture of that.



for Speak Now, they staged a little wedding and had taylor and her back-up singers in 50s style dresses singing doo-wop style up above. so cute.

josh kelley was the first opening act and he sounded so great live. i loved his music before but was even more impressed by how good he was in person. and so cute!

needtobreathe was the other opening act and i really liked them. kind of a southern rock sound, and great performers.


i had so much fun and it was really exciting to see her in person. this music video is basically her concert edited down to 3 minutes, if you want an idea of what it was like. everything was exactly the same except there was no water. guess you can't make it rain in the rose garden. in oregon.