It's 11:42pm on a Sunday night as I start this blog entry and the only thing that makes me a bigger loser about writing about vampires is that I waited all day for my daughter to go to bed so I can have the time to write about vampires. La-hoo-SER. Anyway, I'm over that and am embracing my inner vamplover and have decided to take an exploratory journey into why I love them so.

I think I have always loved vampires or at the very least been fascinated by them. And really, why not, they are mysterious, dangerous, sexy and smart. They are the creatures of the night, specializing in our dark fantasies and desires. We've also seen the evolution of the vampire, from the classic vamps like Bram Stoker's Dracula to unconventional vamps like Bill from True Blood. It seems like everywhere you look, there's a vampire there. So here I explore my personal love affair with the vampire. I don't cover them all, there's just too many, but the ones I do talk about are special to me and have been a huge part of my growing curiosity and fascination with these creatures of the night.

Vampire Love, the Early Years
My vampire fascination most assuredly began as a wee tot watching Sesame Street. Aside from Big Bird, I recall having an unhealthy fascination with The Count. Sure, there are the purists out there that will argue the fact that The Count is not really a vampire, he's just really into counting (um, mutually exclusive much?). From the creepy intro music to the lightning bolts and the bats, the argument that The Count is NOT a vamp holds no water. Dude, the boys got FANGS for heaven's sake! Even though he was the kiddo version of Ernest Borgnine's most famous role, he still was menacing in every way and it took me a long time to not go "Ha! Ha! Ha!" after counting something -- that seriously freaked the kids out at school not to mention some pretty interesting parent/teacher conference moments. Ah, good times, good times.



Teen Angst Vamps
So then came all those John Hughes movies about being pink and sixteen and having breakfast in detention in the 80's. Not that I didn't love them myself but teenagers are only SO interesting without any kind of paranormal powers. Then came the Lost Boys (cue swoon). *Sigh* Oh Keifer Sutherland, you must have been pushing 29 playing a 17 year old, how I loved thee. This was the movie that made me appreciate the seedy underworld that so many vamps seem to reside in. It was gritty and dark and bloody, the boys were rugged and tough (and if I must be completely honest, probably a little stinky). Oooh, bad boys are kinda hot, especially if they are bloodsucking creatures of the seedy underworld.



Vampires by Anne Rice: The Gold Standard
A true understanding of the vampire realm can be grasped through the texts of Anne Rice's novels. There in her great works of fiction she weaves a tale of these lovely damaged creatures. Readers not only were able to grasp her universe to see the powers and limitations of her vampires but they also were able to sympathize with the plight of Louis and to a larger extent, Lestat, Rice's most famous character. Oh sure he was smarmy and crass but that's why we loved him! He made no apologies for all the evils he committed and we loved how deliciously flawed he was. I call Rice's characters the gold standard in the vampverse because she covered it all and to anyone who wanted to write a "serious" book about vampires would only look so far as her collection of work to get a good handle on it (obviously not Stephenie Meyer). And how great was the movie version of Interview With a Vampire?



Jossverse Vamps
Two words to sum up: Angel and Spike. Holy dichotomy, Buffy, we don't blame you for never making a decision about these two. On the left we've got Angel. Beautiful, tortured, angsty, lovely Angel. A vampire with a heart of gold who loves the Slayer and who stop at nothing for her. Angel is a special kind of vampire, he has a soul and he loves as fiercely as he fights. And helloooo, David Boreanaz? Yeah, him. Then on the right there's nasty, rude, arrogant, and apparently British, Spike. He of the annoying bleach blonde hair and retro 80's black t-shirts and combat boots -- blech! But as is with the Jossverse nobody gets a happy ending and eventually, everyone leaves the show to go on another Joss show only to get canceled after one season. What? No, what a meant to say is, we ended up loving Spike and after season 7 it was like, Angel, who? Where was I going with this? Oh yea, HOT vampires are good and evil and it makes me happy. Ah, simplicity.



The Twilight Phenomenon
I was SO not a believer. After hearing the snippets of Stephenie Meyer's crimes against vampire canon (what do you mean they SPARKLE in the sun??!! They're supposed to BURN and DIE in the sun!!! What is she smoking??) I vowed never to pick up any of her books. But that was history (ok, that was about 5 blog entries ago) and you know what they say... Bygones, Stephenie. I still am not a believer in her awful writing, but her storytelling is top notch. To have written a love story about an ordinary girl and the vampire who desires her blood more than anything in the world and to make women from age puberty to menopause swoon at the sound of the name "Edward"is an extraordinary feat indeed. Bravo Stephenie Meyer, bravo. Aside from Edward there are the rest of the Cullens...who am I kidding? Nobody wants me to write a blog post about Jasper or Carlisle (although there are some veeery interesting things I can say about Carlisle...) it's all about Edward. *double swoon* Edward Cullen made me believe that Romeo and Juliet could have had a happy ending if only they weren't so self-involved. Edward is proof that hot, wealthy, deadly, self-sacrificing, amazing hair and romantic can be used to describe the same person. Edward made driving a Volvo sexy. Edward is the first character that has killed animals in a story where I don't feel bad for the animals. And finally Edward Cullen has given my husband material to tease me with for the next eternity or so. Thank you Smeyer.



The Twilight Phenomenon Part Deux
Has anyone watched Vampire Diaries? There are books too, published in the 80's. If you haven't watched or read don't bother. It's basically the Twilight story with an evil brother. Hot vampire, check. Brown haired ordinary girl hot vampire loves, check. Mysterious unexplained "animal attacks" in a small town, check. A pack of folks who know about the "cold ones" and set out to protect their town from them, check. Been there, done that. But...did  mention the hot vampire? How hot is Edward Stefan Salvatore? Yum-O. I'll keep watching (never read the books nor do I plan to).



So there you have it, my exploration of the Vampires I have loved. I'm sure I have much more to say about them (especially about Edward) but I think it's been said before and by a lot better articulated writers. I just wanted a space to swoon and squee...good times indeed.

Teaser for next blog post: I explore my growth in the appreciation of athletics or as I like to call it, the evolution of a sports wife.

*completely mortified*

Yeah...so a while ago I had this blog and the blog was good. It was up to date, it had pretty pictures, I visited it often, we were tight. And then I decided to reproduce and honesty, it wasn't that I forgot about the blog because the blog was always there, an ever present loyal companion. I just got sidetracked. Then came Facebook. And all of sudden the blog had competition! Before the blog got my undivided attention and all of sudden it was expected to compete not only with my flesh and blood child, but with *cue ominous music* social networking.

Just when I thought me and the blog could get back together and rekindle our relationship I met and fell madly in love with...Twitter.

The competition was just too great for my poor blog to bear and so here I am now, doing some cleanup of my long forgotten and forsaken first love. Blog, you have been good to me and although I will not abandon you completely (because I am a selfish fool) I will finally come clean with you: It's not you, it's me. I have no other words that will temper your disappointment in me and I refuse to make empty promises to you that will make up for lost time and missed events. I can only say that you have been with me through it all and I will hang in there with you. You are my first and you will always hold a near dear place in my heart.

*sigh*

Don't worry, I'm not going to start off with a bunch of excuses why I haven't blogged in so long. So there. Let's just catch up from where we left off.

So far, the nursery is still in a state of undone, but that's because we are waiting for crib parts. We pretty much have everything we need, but it's kind of like having the pieces and waiting for the glue to arrive. I'm not panicking yet, though, I supposedly still have 5 weeks until my due date. Which, if you've had a baby or known of anyone who's had one or have been one yourself, you know that means almost nothing in the big scheme of things. Here are some latest pics of the nursery in quesiton:



See what I mean? Can I just tell you that this girl has EVERYTHING and she's not even born yet? She's got more clothes than me. I have to share a room and closets with someone else and she has her own and they are filled to the brim. Looks like she's starting off on the right foot. Surrounded by lots of love and lovely outfits. What more could a girl ask for? Designer shoes come later.

I am about a week away from my last day at work for a long time. I'm off until mid-April and I can tell you that this is the one thing I've been looking forward to for a long time. Don't get me wrong, I really love my work and I adore my coworkers, but in my current condition, It's just really hard to do it all (yes, I'm admitting defeat, but don't worry, kiddies, I'll be back). So here I am at 35 weeks and feeling fine:



The baby is almost 5 lbs now and she is a squiggly one. I'm hoping the doctors can get a good hold of her when she comes out because the way she is inside my belly, you would think that I'm not carrying a baby so much as a bag of eels. My doctor assured me that she would be "itty bitty" and would be easier to birth -- lets hope so. Then again, look at me, I'm not one to have a 10 pound baby. I was a small baby and so was my husband, this bodes well for my labor and delivery process.  And in case your wondering, hell yes, I'm having an epidural. I'd start it right now if I could.

So as an aside to my pregnancy, there's also been the subject of my husband's own nesting instincts. He has successfully transplanted our cats to the patio and living room areas and they seem happy about it. Well, maybe not Kessie, but she's hard to please anyway. They have their potty boxes outside and when we are home they have open and free access to the fresh air. It's been a seamless transition, the hardest part was keeping their curiosity at bay to what was happening to their old room. They seem pretty content now.



So aside from the baby madness which has swept me up in a hurricane, I did manage to celebrate my 35th Birthday with little fanfare -- exactly what I wanted. My husband got me a brand new cute camera and my girlfriends lavished over me with another designer handbag ("you really shouldn't have...but I'm glad you did") and nestled in my box with my handbag was the latest obsession that will probably be my ultimate undoing: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer:



First of all, this is a book written for teenagers by a Mormon mother of 3 who admittedly did very little to no research on the subject of this book: vampires. Now I'm a long time Anne Rice fan, I've read each one of her novels and have pretty much decided that her depiction of Lestat and the other bloodsuckers in her universe are the gold standard. I am also a fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer which follows much the same conventions of Ms. Rice's work. Arguably, these are the two most revered sources for all things vampire. Even if you are not a fan of their work you probably already know a lot more about vampires than you originally thought. Well, Meyer's novel bucks a lot of these "standard characteristics" and at first I honestly couldn't get over that.  But as I read on there was definitely something very very alluring about her universe. This isn't Harry Potter, mind you. No, it's something a lot more alluring. Where Harry was geeky and admirable for his bravery and smarts, the characters in Meyer's book are not as multi-faceted. You actually find yourself saying "what's the point?" to a lot of the characters. You find Meyer's descriptions of the characters over the top and you constantly question their motives. But that's secondary to what truly draws you in. The story is compelling, the Montagues and the Capulests of the vampire and human world trying to be normal teens in a dangerous world. Ultimately it is the love story between Bella and Edward that draw you in and keep you riveted. And for an easy read (remember, this book was written with teen girls in mind) and a mindless escape, this novel and the others that follow are the perfect mental vacation.

I'm already on the second book.

I am a lover of cheesy pop songs, over-produced music videos, gorgeous men and ANYTHING by John Barrowman. That's all I have to say about this:


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