Maribeth Barber Albritton

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Well, dudes and dudettes…I am officially a 28-year-old lady 😉

My birthday rolled around last Tuesday, and since my dad’s birthday also falls the day before mine, he and I basically enjoyed a week’s worth of partying (and all the sugar that such occasions entail). One grandmother made coconut pies, AKA my absolute favorite Southern dessert, while the other grandmother brought ’round a delicious bundt cake and ice cream!

Needless to say, I’m going on a strict sugar fast this week.

The funniest thing that happened on my birthday actually involved our dog, Cinnamon. We have this tradition where the Birthday Person sits in the middle of the living room to open their presents while the rest of the family snaps pictures. Last month we offered Cinnamon the same treatment for her birthday, wrapping her presents in a bag and then laughing hysterically while she tore at the tissue paper and retrieved two squeaky toys from the bottom of the bag.

Well…when it came time for me to open my presents last week, Cinnamon clearly thought, “MY TIME HAS COME.” She pranced in front of me, pulling her lips back to show her teeth as if she were smiling for the cameras, and buried her nose in my gift bag!

I fear she was a bit disappointed: my presents proved uninteresting to chubby doggies.

Not pictured here is the classy new computer bag my parents gave me–but as you can see, they also gave me Doctor Strange* (one of my favorite superhero movies, which I reviewed here) and the soundtrack for The Last Jedi* (which I also reviewed here)!

Oh, and speaking of Star Wars soundtracks…I also discovered this piece of music this week just in time for my birthday and am therefore compelled to share it with my fellow nerds:

John Williams’ transposition of Kylo Ren’s theme into a major key was one of the great gifts of The Rise of Skywalker–but it never made it onto the official soundtrack in its full glory. Samuel Kim, however, transformed it into this joyous, epic piece of music. I even bought the track on Amazon* and declared it an investment, because I need this playing in the background while I write my TROS fix-it stories. 

And speaking of writing (my transitions are all over the place today, haha), I’m delighted to say that my creativity is finally back on track! Every weekday is crammed with new articles, short stories, fanfics, and even the opening chapters of a new novel. This developing story is something completely different from anything I’ve undertaken before: it’s a quiet, simple tale, but I’m really excited about it and the intriguing new characters who are quickly taking shape in my imagination.

Let’s see, what else have I been up to and/or enjoying? I know this is an atypical post, but I had a crazy week and no time to compose any movie/book/TV reviews, so here are a few more snippets from my life instead…

• My parents and I are introducing Call the Midwife to one of my younger sisters; she was a bit nervous about it at first, but now she’s a hardcore fan of Dr. Turner and Sister Bernadette 😉
• I’m reading Becoming Mrs. Lewis* by Patti Callahan, the winner of last year’s Christy Award. I’m having some mixed feelings about it, but I’m trying to withhold my judgment until I finish it.
• I’ve really enjoyed listening to the Anselm Society’s new podcast series on “The Centric Genius”–absolutely rich and amazing stuff! Artists were never meant to live in eccentric isolation, but to instead be a functioning member of their own communities. You can read more about the series here; I highly recommend it!
• And last but not least, I learned how to use Canva! I’ve struggled with this blasted app for weeks, unable to figure out how to position my own photos in the templates. This weekend, however, I decided to sit down and just play with it. One hour (and four new wallpapers) later, I finally got the hang of it.

That’s all for now, but hopefully I’ll have something more scholarly (like a review of the new Midway film) next Monday. Hope y’all have a great week, friends!