* Drove 12 hours from the beach to Kentucky for Christmas
* Took down all the Christmas decorations and shoved them in the attic
* Marked as many things off my to-do list as I could
* Watched Avatar again, this time in 3-D, as well as DVDs of Push (confusing, not as good as I’d hoped) and Knocked Up (okay)

Speaking of movies, I keep a spreadsheet each year of all the movies I see and another of all the books I read. Yes, I’m odd. Anyway, here are my top 5 movies I saw and books I read in 2009:

Movies

Avatar
Star Trek
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Up
Gran Torino

Books

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Graceling by Kristin Cashor
As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason
Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

What were your faves of 2009?

We went for a walk (hubby for half an hour and me another half hour on top of that), and just chilled around the condo. But, hey, when you’ve got fun paintings like this on the wall, it’s a happy place to hang out.

I even did a little work. See, here’s proof. For all you RWA members out there, I was proofing the February issue of the RWR. Good stuff in there.

Hubby played some guitar, and later in the afternoon we headed to the movie theater in Destin to Avatar. Loved it! We both agreed it’s very re-watchable. I’d love to see it in its 3-D incarnation. Even without it, I enjoyed the story, the acting, the tremendous visual beauty. It made me want to be a blue Na’vi and live on Pandora. If you have not seen it, go.

Photo: 20th Century Fox

I tried to get the soundtrack after dinner, but Barnes & Noble was sold out. May check somewhere else tomorrow if I venture away from the condo for anything other than my walk.

After a casual morning, we hopped in the car again for the rest of the drive to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We made our usual stop at Florala State Park in Florala, Alabama, so we could add to our collection of goofy pictures of the hubby posing with Spanish moss in some fashion. Today it was crazy hair guy.

I posed for a quick picture in front of the park’s Lake Jackson. If I look cold, it’s because I was. The wind was blowing across the lake. Being that close to Florida, I stomped my foot and said, “I demand it be warm!” in my best queenly voice.

We rolled into Fort Walton Beach around 2:45, and I uttered my usual greeting of, “Hello, ocean!” Yes, I’m a dork. But the beach always makes me happy — the relaxed atmosphere, the sound of the waves, the bright colors you can get away with painting your home here. This is me posing on the balcony of the condo where we’re staying. I’m looking forward to one of the warmer days this week so I can sit out there and read a book.

And here was the first sunset of our stay here. Gorgeous, yes?

After appreciating the sunset, we went to Publix and stocked up on some groceries. Then when hubby discovered he had forgotten to bring a cable for his computer, we drove over to Destin and hit Target, Radio Shack and finally Best Buy before we found it. Then we came back and hubby made shrimp scampi, brown rice and mixed veggies for dinner. I love shrimp, so count this as something else that made me happy.

While eating dinner, we watched the Pixar movie, UP. Really good movie, though it made me cry a couple of times.

And now here we sit across the table from each other working on our respective computers. Guess that’s all for tonight. I’ll post again tomorrow.

I’ve started watching the original Star Trek in reruns back in the ’70s when I was a kid. I was also a devoted Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. I watched Deep Space Nine (my least favorite Trek spin-off), Voyager (hubby’s least favorite; he hates Chakotay) and Enterprise some, but the Star Trek franchise had waned in recent years. Well, Abrams has brought it back with some excellent casting and lots of fun, summer-popcorn movie boom.

I can’t say enough about the casting. I think all the actors have done a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the original characters but putting their own spin on what they would have been like when they were much younger. I particularly like Chris Pine as Captin Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and Karl Urban as Bones. I think Urban totally nailed Bones, and I think that’s because of how he watched Star Trek every Saturday when he was a kid. I loved his interplay with Pine’s Kirk. Very fun! And it was such fun to see Quinto playing a good guy, and not the disturbing (but excellently acted) Sylar on Heroes. By contrast, we saw Eric Bana (normally a good guy) playing a very bad Romulan, Nero. It’s a testament to the makeup people that they’ve rendered Eric (normally very nice to look at) not at all attractive. It’s hard to even tell at a glance that it’s him

There are fun shout-outs to the original: Leonard Nimoy’s “These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise” voiceover, the original theme music, Chekov’s thick Russian accent being incomprehensible to the ship’s computer, Bones’ “Damn it, Jim” moments, and others I’m sure I’m forgetting. And it was fun to see a bit part played by Paul McGillion from Stargate: Atlantis.

If you’ve seen it, tell me what you thought. If not, put it on your weekend agenda. I think even people who were never really into Trek and don’t know much beyond the names Kirk and Spock will enjoy it. Until you see it, enjoy this awesome trailer:

1. Hugh Jackman — I mean, seriously, what’s not to like? He’s so easy to look at, and he plays the cigar-chomping Wolverine with intensity. Here he is pictured with, from left, Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson/Deadpool), Taylor Kitsch (Remy LeBeau/Gambit), Liev Schreiber (Victor Creed/Sabretooth) and Lynn Collins (Kayla Silverfox).

2. Liev Schreiber was an excellent Sabretooth. I now wish he’d been Sabretooth in the X-Men trilogy.

3. Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. I want me some more Gambit! I hope they make an Origins movie about him too.

4. The boom and fighting factors. What can I say? I’m a girl who likes action movies.

May always seems to have a lot of great movies, the beginning of the summer movie season. I’m already planning an outing to see the new Star Trek this Friday. Geek girl strikes again! I think this trailer looks awesome.

Back on the topic of crazy weather, I did indeed see a brief squall of snow today. So weird when I’ve already mown the lawn and flowers are blooming in the flowerbeds.

After a log day of work, I couldn’t face the computer anymore and instead watched a movie tonight. Has anyone else seen Amazing Grace with Ioan Gruffudd? It’s such an inspiring story, about William Wilberforce, a member of the House of Commons back in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He was the champion of the abolition of slave trade in the British Empire for years until its eventual passage in 1807. He continued to fight for the complete abolition of slavery.

Finally, I’m blogging over at Romance Novel TV today about the wonderful world of young adult novels. Swing by and say, “Hi.”

While I like the original two movies better, I enjoyed this prequel/origin story. We got to see way more of Lucian (Michael Sheen) and more of his backstory that led to the Lycan/Vampire war. And we got to see more of the love story between him and Sonja, vampire elder Viktor’s daughter. Their story and how it played into the start of the war was covered in a few bits in Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, but here we see it as it’s happening. Have to say I enjoyed Kate Beckinsale’s Selene more than Rhona Mitra as Sonja, but I think part of that was because Rise of the Lycans is much more Lucian’s story and thus the focus is more on him and his actions. Oh, and Michael Sheen is a very fine actor. His emotions rang more true than hers. Just by looking, you’d never guess this is the same guy who played Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon, but the acting ability shows in both types of movies.

For fans of the first two Underworld movies, you’ll see some familiar characters other than Lucian and Viktor, and the ending has a nice shoutout to what’s to come chronologically but what we’ve already seen in the screen.

For your viewing pleasure, the preview:

Today, MJ Fredrick is talking about the current and upcoming movies starring the Winchester men (aka Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

So if you’re a fan of the Winchester boys, check us out at the Supernatural Sisters blog.

Q. You write romantic adventure. I know two other writers who write stories in this sub-genre as well, and yet it doesn’t seem to be a huge market despite the popularity of these types of movies. Do you think there is a big untapped romantic adventure market out there?

A. I think the romantic adventure market is extremely untapped. So many people have been e-mailing me – even before STOLEN FURY was out – telling me how much they were looking forward to the novel. The blurb and cover really sparked interest in the sub-genre as a whole. And with the success of movies like National Treasure, Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone (which I hear they’re remaking now), I think the potential for romantic adventure novels to really take off is enormous.

Q. If you were going to be stranded on an island for a year and were able to only eat one type of meat, one type of vegetable and one type of dessert during that time, what would they be?

A. Oooh. Hard question. Let’s see…

Meat: Salami. Okay, don’t read anything into that one! I just like hard salami (Oh, boy. I’m totally stopping there). (Insert Trish falling out of her chair laughing here.)

Vegetable: Green peas. Fresh off the vine. Do they grow on deserted islands?

Dessert: Coconut cream pie. MaryAnn was always making them on Gilligan’s Island, so I’m pretty sure I can get one on my island. I LOVE coconut cream pie.

Q. What was the last movie that made you cry?

A. The Lazarus Project. There’s a scene early on in the movie where the hero, played by Paul Walker, is sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t plan but found himself wrapped up in. He’s in prison, sitting at a table with his wife and daughter, trying to explain to his daughter that he won’t be coming home, ever, as he’s being executed the next day. I had tears running down my face when I watched that scene. It was heartwrenching.

Elisabeth’s debut novel, Stolen Fury, is out now from Dorchester Love Spell.

To unearth a centuries-old secret, an archaeologist must team up with the rakish thief who’s stolen both an ancient relic and her heart…

“A rock-solid Debut” — Publisher’s Weekly

Now it’s your turn. What would you like to ask Elisabeth about her book? About the romantic adventure sub-genre? About, um…, her food choices?