A couple friends and I went this past Friday to see the new vampire flick “Daybreakers” with Ethan Hawke. If you are a fan of ‘real’ vamps and not the Cullen-type vamps this movie is definitely for you!

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

I’ve been really jumpy lately – so I got started and shrieked like a little girl a few times.

I really thought it was neat how the city was structured around the fact that the majority of the population are vampires. The underground walkway, the black out windows and the “day light driving” cars that are completely enclosed and give the driver a view via cameras attached to the outside of the car. Keep your eye out for a SWEET vintage Trans-Am suitable for “daylight driving.”

One repeat in this story was there is a vampire (Ethan Hawke) who doesn’t want to feed on humans. Viewers learn that if a vampire doesn’t feed on human blood – after awhile they will morph into a snarly, nasty critter that will attack anyone and anything in order to survive. The “sub-siders” as they are called even feed off themselves if needed.

The awfully sad part of the movie was when the sub-siders are ordered to be put to death due to ever increasing attacks from them on the “normal” vampires. This is a pretty pivotal part of the movie though.

The climax of the movie includes a HUGE feeding frenzy which is incredibly gross but sorta awesome too. The gore in the movie is more of the outlandish “comic book” type and less like the “realistic” gore as seen in movies like the remakes of “Dawn of the Dead” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – both of which screwed with my head for years afterwards.

The Cast:

• Ethan Hawke as Edward Dalton
• Willem Dafoe as Lionel “Elvis” Cormac
• Claudia Karvan as Audrey Bennett
• Sam Neill as Charles Bromley
• Michael Dorman as Frankie Dalton
• Isabel Lucas as Alison Bromley
• Vince Colosimo as Christopher Caruso

In its opening weekend in the United States, Daybreakers opened at #4 behind Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with $15,146,692 totaling $26,544,952. In its second week it dropped to #11 making another 5,185,554 dollars. In its third week it dropped to #14, making another $1,600,000. [from Wikipedia].

My friends and I (three girls including me and a boy) liked the movie a lot. Go see it if you like good vampy horror films!

Does your child instinctively want to draw, color, or doodle on everything? Instead of investing in cleaners to fix up the “Oh, no” moments, you may want to be proactive. Create large areas where your kids can explore new tools and express themselves. One easy way to do this is with IdeaPaint. This paint allows you to protect walls, desktops, etc. with a dry erase board finish, while giving the kids (and adults) a safe place to doodle or write notes.

Whether you need to protect your walls and furniture from obsessive doodlers or want to create a family communication board, you might want to give IdeaPaint a try. You don’t have to buy the paint to try it out, you can request a free sample swatch here. Just scroll to the bottom to submit your request.

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Moms are the ultimate managers. They often manage everyone and everything in their homes, from planning the kids’ lunches to keeping track of the family’s money. It’s not always easy to keep things running smoothly. That’s why many moms need a little help now and then. If you find that you need something to help you organize, you may want to download these printables.

I personally LOVE the budget one! It is actually an Excel spreadsheet (.xls format) and it breaks down items that you would normally budget for so you just have to pop in your usual amounts spent (or saved). Just enter your planned and actual expenses and it will automatically calculate how well you’re doing. It makes budgeting a real snap since I am completely budget-stupid.

There is also an awesome printable calendar page specifically for busy moms. Unlike most planners, this design leaves just as much room for your weekend as the rest of the week. See all of your appointments, reminders and entire To Do list, all on one page. Fits any standard 8½ x 11″ binder. This is definitely on my To-Print list!

What are you using to stay organized?

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Affiliate Summit West ( #asw10 ) – THE affiliate marketing conference – is taking place this weekend in Vegas. The panel that is bound to be extremely popular features several “mommy bloggers” and is called MommyBloggers: Changing the Face of Affiliate Marketing.

The panel features:

• Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Twitter @loxly) (Moderator)
• Wendy Limauge, Blogger, Sweeties Swag, Mom Blog Network, (Twitter @sweetiesswag)
• Carrie Rocha, President, Pocket Your Dollars (Twitter @dollarspocket)
• Kim Rowley, President, Key Internet Marketing, Inc. (Twitter @kimarketing)
• Heather Sokol, Proprietor, Inexpensively (Twitter @justheather)

Affiliate marketing and mom bloggers is not a new topic to those of us already doing it, but for some of those in affiliate marketing, we need more acknowledgment. Remember that Mom Bloggers are professionals, are working to earn money, are getting respect from advertisers and are here to stay.

Mom bloggers are a top niche in blogging and companies like Walmart, Lifetime Channel, Frito Lay are utilizing their skills – the affiliate world needs to take notice too. I’ve personally been successful at monetizing my blog using paid postings and paid reviews. I’m only beginning to delve into real affiliate marketing with my new military wedding planning in Hampton Roads blog/website!

I will not be attending Affiliate Summit West this year – although I would like to attend in the coming years. I will, however, be following the tweets about #asw10 on Twitter and “living vicariously” though friends who are attending like Heather (who will be the Blogger Lounge Mistress) and Murray (a successful affiliate marketing blogger who has been featured in the official Affiliate Summit magazine – FeedFront with article “How to Build Your Message with Twitter”).

Hopefully there is a lot of information posted – because there are a ton of amazing panelists and speakers attending!

Oh and THANKS to Connie for providing some of the information about the mommy blogger panel!

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There are a lot of big name and big budget movies playing right now. Here is the Top Ten along with a short review if I saw the movie.

1. Avatar ………………………………………… $50.3M
   Of course Avatar is number one – this movie was absolutely breathtaking and amazing! Yes the story is a little “recycled” (I’ve heard it compared to “Dances with Wolves”) but it’s still a good one. It’s got something for both women and men – it’s a love story, but it’s also a human-interest story that shows how nasty (and greedy) humans can be (with some guns and high-tech gear of course). I saw it with two friends in IMAX 3-D and I wouldn’t see it any other way. It’s so worth the money and I honestly hope I can see it at least once more before it leaves the movies.
2. Sherlock Holmes ……………………………  $16.5M
   I haven’t seen this one – but it’s on my “to-do” list! Robert Downy Jr. looks pretty yummy!
3. Alvin & Chipmunks 2 ……………………….  $16.5M
   I’ve heard nothing but good things about this movie from my friends who have taken their kids to see it! It’s on Xander’s “to-do” list!
4. Daybreakers…………………………………. $15.1M
   This movie looks awesome! On my “to-do” list! Saw it! Read my Daybreakers review!
5. It’s Complicated …………………………….  $11.0M
   This movie was absolutely laugh-out-loud fabulous! Meryl Streep is always awesome (”I like a lot of semen …“), Alec Baldwin is hilarious and I just ADORE Steve Martin (”Not the best time to be feeling groovy“). Be on the lookout for toking-old people and Alec Baldwin’s ass! LOL!
6. Leap Year……………………………………… $9.2M
   Looks cute but I probably won’t see it in the movies.
7. The Blind Side ……………………………….  $7.5M
   Eh … this one doesn’t interest me.
8. Up in the Air…………………………………. $7.1M
   This is supposed to be a really great movie! I really like George Clooney and the girl who play’s Jessica Stanley in the Twilight Saga movies (Anna Kendrick) is really funny. It’s on my “to-do” list.
9. Youth in Revolt……………………………… $6.8M
   I’ve no idea what this movie is about! Oh, this is the one with Michael Cera. This is a maybe.
10. Princess and the Frog ……………………..  $4.6M
    This movie was great!! It’s about time Disney came up with a smart and sassy female role-model! My son loved this movie! It had a few maybe-scary parts (it’s set in New Orleans and has a lot of voodoo references) but it was really a cool movie. I definitely recommend it!

Have you seen any of them? Please share what you thought!

Need to purchase movie tickets? Buy one movie ticket on Fandango and receive a second ticket to the same show free (while supplies last)! (Why yes – that IS an affiliate link!)

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