Saturday Six

Sorry this is so late, but with all the cleaning, Christmas decorating, and changing schedules, we've both been super busy.  Today my body told me to rest.  And rest I did.  I slept in an hour and a half late and even took two naps!  That's right, people.  TWO!  Finally after the second (45 minute) nap, I finally felt rested and ready to go.  Too bad that was at 7 PM!  Oh well, here's the Saturday Six after Saturday is over! Hahahaha!

1.  Cute Puppy Pic of the Week:
These were from our very long vacay but I thought they were good enough to share!

Lexi getting comfy with Papa George.

Yes, Lexi is actually sleeping like that.
I don't understand how that's comfortable,
but she stayed there for over an hour!

2.  November Julep Box Review
This month they offered suede nail polishes.  I only really liked one of the colors for the suede nail polish so I added it and a fast drying top coat as add-ons.  I received a really pretty blue creme color and a slightly sparkly purple (which is a color I needed) with their Pink Grapefruit Body Frosting.  I really like the smell of the pink grapefruit, but it's more of a morning scent.  It definitely wakes you up!  I haven't tried the polishes yet, but I will show you when I do.  I think (although I love Julep) December will be my last month of getting nail polishes.  I don't know if I'll actually cancel the membership or just defer to get things every month, but I need to start stocking up on baby goodies, not nail polishes.

3.  Baby Prep
We have slowly but steadily added, cleaned, organized, and built up our nursery.  We received the dresser/changing table this past week and after a full day of reading directions, we successfully assembled a well built and sturdy dresser.  I think it looks really good.  And I love that it's long enough to not only have the changing pad on top but to also have a diaper caddy.  Which we still need, but for right now this dollar tree basket is holding a few essentials.  Here are the before and after pics:

4.  Cooking Light Cravebox Review
So this is my first Cravebox experience and I have to say for the most part I am satisfied.  It cost me only $13 for all of this and I loved getting to try new items.  My only complaint about this box was that it had A LOT of coffee related products in it.  I'm sure that most of America would love this, but for non-coffee drinkers like myself and David, it is a complete waste.  Good thing Christmas is right around the corner and we know of several serious coffee drinkers who would benefit from these products more than we would!

5.  It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas
We have happily been unpacking Christmas boxes and slowly been adding Christmas decor to our house.  It's a slow process and every year I love unpacking the boxes.  For one of David's past days off, we put up our Christmas tree.  I love getting out the ornaments and having so many memories of each of them.  I can't wait to be able to add a "baby's first Christmas" ornament on there next year.  As far as this year is concerned, we still haven't decided what kind of ornament to buy to symbolize the crazy year we've had.  Any ideas?

6.  Halo 4 Review
So as many of you know David and I are huge video game nerds.  Most would be appalled to use that term about themselves, but when you're 5 months pregnant and instead of people chatting with you about your upcoming arrival, they are more interested in your opinion of a video game.  I think that qualifies you as a video game nerd.  A pregnant nerd, but a nerd nonetheless.
Anyway, after hearing a lot of hype and complaints about the campaign and game in general, I want to address my own point of view.  Not that they mean too much to any one person, but I want to stick up for the franchise, that in my opinion, changed the gaming industry forever.  I feel that while many are complaining that the campaign was too short, they are missing the subtle and yet significant changes to the game which is allowing the next two games of the Halo series to be not only longer but more emotionally in depth than all of the past Halo games.
This is the first game to really use motion capture technology to it's full potential.  It not only adds so much depth to the characters but it really amazed me that the graphics were so lifelike.  For a little while it was hard to tell if the opening sequence to the game was live action or graphics.  Yes, it was that good.  I loved that they also had the two main characters in the game, Master Chief and Cortana, reading their lines together.  Their voices were present in so many games, but this is first time the voice actors actually met.  And I think that the connection you got from them reading together really came through in the game.
The Halo franchise (since Halo 2) has mainly been about it's innovations in multiplayer.  That being said, its campaign has always been fun and mainly focused around kicking some serious butt.  The campaign has always lacked the emotional connection that you find in other games, but that was widely accepted because owning some Covenant was a lot of fun.  The franchise never tapped into an emotional connection until the very end of Halo three between the two main characters, Cortana and Master Chief.  But even that small connection was more about fighting through a ton of Flood to save the world more than Cortana and Master Chief's feelings for one another.
Also, this game is literally Act 1 in a series of three games that will explore Master Chief in a whole new light.  It wouldn't have been smart for the developers to plunge this massive booty-kicker-of-a-man into an emotional journey as soon as you start playing.  He, like the developers, has to transform from straight butt kicking to more of a human approach.  Many gamers would have jumped ship if Master Chief turned all soft and sensitive from the get go.  It needed to be gradual.
As far as the length of the game goes, yes it is short and you can fly threw it if you play it on normal difficulty.  But on Legendary it is anything but quick and easy.  You have to plan your moves, work together (if playing co-op), and conserve ammo.  A mission that took David and me 20 minutes to plow through on normal took me over an hour to get through on Legendary (solo).
Overall, I think that the developers did what Halo does best:  Focus on kicking some butt, use innovative technology to add to the game play, and make the multiplayer experience fun and fresh.  I really loved the game.  And while I didn't like the ending (I won't spoil it for those that haven't finished it yet), I understand that it was necessary to further the story and Master Chief's journey to humanity.

Limited edition photo from Gamestop.com