Lego, Arrow, and Avoidance....

I promise I'm not the jerk that you
think I am...

Well...

I should probably start with an apology of sorts...

I hadn't originally planned on going almost two weeks between posts...but, every time I sat down and tried to start a post, I couldn't come up with anything worth posting...

After a few days, started a post wound up becoming quite the daunting task...kind of like when you've waited beyond the proper social conventions for responding to a friend or associate in a timely manner...it's not that you truly meant to take weeks to get around to calling/emailing/texting them back...but here you are...weeks later...attempting to respond to a now ancient message...and desperately attempting to construct said response in a way that sounds the least like an inconsiderate a-hole...

Yep...it's like that. [Do people without social anxiety issues have this same problem?]

Now that my awkward metaphorical tap dancing is out of the way, I can post about far more entertaining things!

Legos....Legos everywhere...

This past weekend, Birmingham hosted the Brick Fair...the Lego Convention has been around since 2008, but it's only been stopping in Alabama since 2012.

I'd decided to take the kiddo...and the crowd was much, much larger than I'd anticipated. I'd timed our arrival to be within 10 minutes of the start time...and we still had to wait in line a good 10-15 minutes before we had reached the table to buy tickets. I guess more people like Lego than I'd thought!

There were lots of vendors and lots or pretty awesome displays...if you are [or know] a Lego fan, I definitely recommend paying the Brick Fair a visit next year...

What else.../ponders...

Oh, yes...I've finally returned to watching Arrow...[and it feels like I'm cheating on Supernatural]

Now that I've started watching it again, I can't really remember why I'd put off watching the 2nd season for so long...the 2nd season is pretty amazing!

In the 2nd season, a lot of 'new' characters are introduced [though, some are not entirely new...some are just new to the pertinent story line]...and I would say that it's in this season, more so than the 1st, that you'll see more of the connections between the characters. I consider myself as fairly well-versed in the world of comic books...enough to have realized who some of the characters are before their 'big reveals'....and I am loving how the story has developed thus far [and certainly curious to see what they plan on doing in the future...there are so many possibilities!].

I suppose I've got a slight advantage...playing catch-up removes the agony of having to wait for weeks and weeks to see the next episode. [Having to wait for new episodes of Supernatural is killing me!] And I've programmed my DVR to record season 3 of Arrow...so I'll be all caught up soon enough...

But, yeah. Arrow. Awesome. Watch it.

Lastly...

WTF is going on with our government?

As I'm sure you know, our 'State of the Union' address took place last night. From what I heard, it was more of the same...nothing different form the straight manure that we've been thrown over the last 6 years. I elected to play Disney Infinity with the kiddo rather than subject myself to that bowlful of crazy.

Don't get me wrong...I am very concerned about the state of our nation. But I am adamant that the majority of this country's leaders are not in the same boat. Not by a long shot. Soooo yeah. There's that. It's crap.

There it is....got the awkward 'return post' out of the way...back to blog posting regularly! [That's the plan anyway!]

More Arrow Please!

I completely forgot to add what I'd found out about Arrow yesterday...

I found out that the second season of Arrow isn't available on Netflix. There are few episodes available on Hulu, but they're mid-season episodes and there are only half a dozen or so that you can watch in their entirety. Also checked the CW website, and it's pretty much the same as Hulu. 

This makes me seriously sad, guys. How can Netflix enable binge-watching of shows and not provide all of the completely aired seasons?!? 

/Swoon

Stephen Amell is just too stinkin' adorable! I did find out the the second season will be available on BluRay and DVD in September. I will be purchasing it...assuming that I'll have the funds to do so...Adding an unexpected car payment on top of already tight finances will certainly put a hindrance on buying things for entertainment. 

And, just because...

He's ab-solutely right...someone please give him my contact info! ;)

Kindergarten And The Green Arrow...

Hey Guys! Hope you're having a good morning so far...

Just dropped my kiddo off for his first day of "big kid school" not too long ago. Everything went just as smoothly as I hoped it would, no complaints about the actual drop-off at all! The parents were told several times that we are not to accompany our children into the school, and I was a bit worried that my kiddo would freak out about having to walk into the relatively unknown building all by himself, but he did great! I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and listen to all the stories that he's going to have about his first day!

I did one of the overly-sentimental mom things and made a chalkboard sign for his first day of kindergarten.

Not actual photo of my child! 

It's got today's date on it, says his "first day of kindergarten," and then lists some of the his favorite things right now, what he wants to be when he grows up, and stuff that I'll want to remember such as his height and weight. I plan on making a similar sign on the last day of the school year, I think it will be fun to see how much he changes during the year!

As some of you may have read, yesterday was my birthday. I survived another year! Woohoo! I intended to write a post summarizing the past year with some witty humor and profound wisdom sprinkled in, and then I managed to wreck my car...so, yeah. I will still write the post, but probably not until later on tonight. 

However, I do want to mention that I finally finished watching the first season of Arrow! I started watching the show (based on the DC comics character the Green Arrow) about a month or so ago at the suggestion of one of my buddies, and I'm helplessly hooked on the show.

The show has an amazing cast!

The first season of the show chronicles Oliver Queen's return from being stranded on an uncharted island for 5 years. His family had thought both he and his father to be dead for the years Oliver was missing, and unfortunately Oliver's father does not make the return trip home with his son.

The first couple episodes of the show were a bit hard to get through, but I think that's pretty common with most shows. It takes a while to get truly interested in the story line and the development of the characters. I'll be the first to admit that I had written off Oliver Queen's character as a Bruce Wayne knock-off, but I'll happily admit that I was wrong and that the Oliver Queen/Green Arrow story line should definitely be given a chance.

 Stephen Amell stars as the show's Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow aka the Hood. In my opinion, he does an excelled job bringing the character to life and portraying the mind-boggling amount of growth that is experienced by Oliver at different points in the story arc.

Plus, you've got to admit he's certainly easy on the eyes...not saying that him being devastatingly handsome is the only reason to watch the show, but it certainly doesn't hurt!

As far as eye candy goes, I'm also a fan of Oliver's best friend, Tommy Merlyn, as well as the actor who plays him, Colin Donnell. Tommy holds his own as Oliver's best friend, most of the time is equally funny, charming, and witty. And he's got the whole dark hair/blue eyes combo going on...gets me every time.

Another character that I have come to love is Felicty Smoak played by Emily Bett Rickards. Felicity has a very minor role at first, she works in the IT department of Queen Enterprises, and both Oliver and his step-father, Walter, approach Felicity for help on various tasks. I absolutely love Felicity's character! She's brilliant (at some point in the show you learn that she's a MIT graduate), she's funny, and painfully awkward. Some of the interactions between Felicity and Oliver are so awkward, you'll literally cringe...for example:

Yikes...

No worries, Felicity...I'm right there with you. 

So, if you haven't checked out Arrow yet, I suggest that you do! The complete first season can be found on Netflix, and I know that some of the second season can be found on Hulu...I'm going to see if I can find the complete second season online somewhere. 

I'll leave you guys with this small montage of ridiculously adorable pictures of Oliver and Tommy (Stephen and Collin) hanging out together. Seriously, I love these two! Add them to the list of celebrities that I need to meet in real life...