New Life Video **REVISED**

Here's the music video Justin and I made for his song "New Life". You see it first. We made some adjustments and added some more stuff...Check it out!

American Idol Review...and a Bradford Update

I am no Simon Cowell, but I thought that after last night's show I had some comments to make, critiques to give, and apologies to hand out. First of all, I think Ramiele was crazy for singing that Heart song, after Carly Smithson sang it earlier in the competition. Most of the song choices were just strange, I didn't even know what half the songs were. My favorite song choice of the night was by my LEAST favorite Kristy Lee Cook...and by "favorite" I mean, "my aren't you clever". As soon as she started singing, Justin said "Oh, now she's gonna play THAT card!" and it was true! Even the judges commented on it. She didn't do that bad, I just think there were better singers than her that were voted off...leaving her standing, with her strange fingernails. David Archuleta...what can I say? I am over it. And can someone please give the boy some chapstick?! It drives me batty to watch him lick his lips between every line. Justin never noticed it, but now every time he sings, I act like I'm a frog catching bugs...and well, it makes him laugh. Carly Smithson, who I love, didn't do the greatest but we still know she is a better singer than most. Brooke White...I like her, I liked the song alright. The others, whoever they are were, I don't have much to say about...Except for David Cook--who I humbly owe an apology to. I don't know why but I couldn't stand to look at him before. I thought his hair was really weird. Like he was bald and grew his hair really long and combed it forward as bangs. (I understand this more now that I saw his huge forehead on the clips from his childhood, haha). His hair looked better, as if he got it cut or something. And hello, he's the only stinking contestant that comes out every week and does his thing, in his own unique way. They used to say he knows he's good...Well, we know he's good too now. I loved his rendition of Billie Jean. And I'm proud to say that possibly for the first time, I called in and voted :) One vote for Carly, one vote for David Cook. So now I have the official right to complain if either of them is in the bottom three tonight...We shall see!


On a more serious note...One of much more value anyway...My friend, Felicia, is doing well. They have put her on complete bed rest, and she is not going home until she has the baby. The umbilical cord is not wrapped tightly around little Macie's neck, so as long as her vitals remain good they are gonna keep her in there...The doctors told them they want her to "bake as long as she can". Felicia will be at 32 weeks on Sunday. They would like to put off the delivery until at least 34 weeks if at all possible. This will give her time to develop as much as possible. Please continue to pray for the Bradfords, because we know nothing is impossible for God! Chris has to go back to work tomorrow (that's the Navy for ya), but Felicia's parents are here for now. I'm planning on going up there later today...I'm gonna take her some magazines, books...something to keep her entertained for the next while. Thanks again for the prayers!

Say A Little Prayer

I regrettably have to post a serious blog...one having nothing to do with tv shows or the like. Our good friends Chris and Felicia Bradford need your prayers! They are due to have a baby on May 26th. I got a call yesterday from Chris saying that when they went for their scheduled ultrasound, the doctor immediately admitted Felicia into the hospital. After a lot of not knowing what was going on, they finally explained to them that the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck twice. For now, it's not "tight", but they expect to deliver the baby by Friday. They are administering a medication to help develop the baby's lungs...you have to realize the due date is still over 2 months away! Please keep their family in your prayers. These are some of our closest friends here in Virginia...As soon as Justin gets home from work today, we are going to go visit them. I will update when possible! Thanks in advance for the prayers sent up. I know they appreciate it, as do I.

Happy Easter!

First and foremost, Happy Easter! This has been an extremely busy (but fun) weekend! My mom flew into Norfolk on Friday...It's always nice to have her here, but this time it's even more special because it's Easter AND we celebrated her 50th birthday (a little early). Anyways, Alana had her show-and-tell dance class on Saturday, which is basically a regular class, but the parents get to sit inside the class instead of looking in through the two-way mirror. We ventured out to find a place to get REAL, FRESH, GOOD seafood last night. We do live on the water after all. We found a place, and we will go back :) We came home and colored eggs. Then this morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had taken one of Alana's eggs (the one she marked with an X) and left her surprises in its place. Justin made up this elaborate story last night about the Easter Bunny, telling Alana that the Easter Bunny comes and takes one egg and leaves something for her...and then we realized at 11:30 p.m. that we didn't plan for that story...Thank you, Walmart for being open until midnight! The Easter Bunny took the smelly egg and left a DVD, a bunny, some Twizzlers, Starbursts, M&Ms (Alana's favorite)...Justin and I decided we are gonna leave baskets out next year :) So we went to church today, and then Crack-Up Barrel...We hunted the eggs this afternoon...about a half a dozen times. I don't even want to think about all the candy that we have in our house right now...I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from the weekend instead...Enjoy!

P.S. Alana got the most amazing gift from Grammy...It's a real tent--with a sleeping bag, backpack, flashlight, and water bottle...I think she is going to move into it permanently!

Say What?!?!?!?

The first thing wrong with American Idol this week...they performed Beatles songs again. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan but this was overkill. Secondly, Carly Smithson was in the bottom 3 this week. What in the world? Just last week Simon compared her to Kelly Clarkson...I shouldn't complain, because I don't actually phone in votes. I always say that if I don't vote, I can't whine about people not making it through. Which brings me to the last (but certainly not least) issue that I have with American Idol...or America for that matter. Kristy Lee Cook! She's there because why? I'm going to reach here and say it's because she's the only "country" singer...or maybe that she is cute (but really, not so much in my eyes). I will say this--if they had a line you could call in to cast votes for people to get kicked off, I would spend hours dialing and redialing...whatever it took. I feel like this is Sanjaya all over again. Come on, people! COME ON! That's really all I have to say about that for now. On a much brighter note, my mom is coming to visit tomorrow. There's something to sing about!

Oh, and I'm SO voting next week.

Pop Fiction

So I know what ya'll are thinking...All this chick blogs about is television shows. Well, this is my life :) Just kidding, I DO have a life in the realms of reality, but I find tv watching as my favorite guilty pleasure. Alana took a 3 hour nap today, so I decided to do a little catching up on my DVR recordings. I think I set a record and did not watch a single show on tv for 3 days. I watched a couple of shows, (It's amazing how time efficient watching them on a DVR is)...and then I stumbled upon my Pop Fiction recordings. I have previously admitted my secret obsession with reading pop culture or celeblogs. I READ them, but I believe about 2% of what I read. So I think that this show is absolutely hilarous. For those of you who aren't aware, Ashton made a show that is basically "punking" the paparazzi. He and the other producers get together with a celebrity and decide what they are going to get the paparazzi to believe they are snapping pictures of...By the time their fake setup is over with, there are already pictures on every tabloid website with their very own, very made up story to go with them. It's so easy...Hook, Line, and sinker. I love this show. I probably won't even watch it much, but just knowing it exists makes me smile. And while we are on the topic of tv, any thoughts on what's going to happen on American Idol this week? Please America, for the love of Allison...Vote off Kristy Lee Cook. I don't know how much more I can take. She should have been gone two weeks ago, and Asiah Epperson should still be there...Just my humble opinion. Chikezie redeemed himself in the Portas household last week. He made me want to get up and dance...well, almost. My favorite is Carly Smithson. Justin likes Carly Simon, I mean, Brooke White. He also likes David Archuleta, but I am over that after last week...Dinner is home, I mean, Justin is home...So good tv watching to you all!!!

A Portas Family First

I feel like shouting from the rooftops! Today was a first in the Portas family...We ALL three went to (and sat through) an entire movie together! We took Alana to see "Horton Hears a Who" after her dance class today. We were reluctant, after Justin's first attempt to take her to a movie (albeit a while ago) went horribly awry. She is much more mature now, however, (as mature as a 3 1/2 year old can be) and sat in her seat the entire hour and 28 minutes like a champ! Justin said it was the best day of his life :) After Horton, we went to the Bradford's house to have a mini-birthday celebration for Felicia. It was a busy kinda day...MUCH better than yesterday! I have to wake up bright and early to drive Justin to the ghetto town of Portsmouth...He has duty, and we need the car to go to church. The sacrifices we must make...So I shall close with the stand-out highlights of my day:
1) Alana saying her favorite part of the movie was "when the kangaroo came nice"...and the "feck" (speck) that the Whos lived on.
2) The cheesecake that Bradford paid $9 for...It was worth every penny.
3) The sunshine and 70 degree weather.
It's the little things in life...
A person's a person, no matter how small!