Today I took a vacation day.

There were no real house projects (I re-stained part of a bench). I didn’t do any homework. Spouse and I drove into Frisco for the BBQ Challenge – Big Hoss had the best sauce, fyi. I started to rain as we were leaving, so we came home and couched watching movies.

The Wrestler was good, as predicted. I think the creepiest part about it is that Mickey Roarke’s own career has to feel very much like the character, making it less like acting and more like voyeurism. We also caught most of the latest X-files movie on cable. It was… strange. Good strange but not really what I was expecting. Spouse likened it to a much longer X-files episode. Pretty accurate and ultimately satisfying. One can never have too much Scully.

I was unsuccesful seeing The Proposal. In fact, I completely forgot about it until we were halfway over the mountain. I think the plan is to make it part of Spouse’s vacation week.

Tomorrow, life returns to normal. Work, then homework. Rinse and repeat for Monday.

End of the week roundup

The inside upstairs paint projects are DONE. That includes touch ups where we changed lighting fixtures. There’s a guy outside right now hanging a gutter on the back of the house because they old owners didn’t have one. Gutters are the last home improvement for (at a minimum) the next year, if not more.

In terms of current home improvements, I painted the front deck post and have started painting the front deck bench. The benches were a gift from my in-laws for our wedding. When they’re pushed together and the backs are flattened, they become a picnic table. Very cool, but also makes restaining a challenge. I’m going to do it in two parts.

All that remains is the railing on the back deck and the back deck bench. I’m very happy at the prospect of being DONE for a while.

In related news, I got an 83 on my exam which I’m pretty happy about. First exams suck because you’re never quite sure what the test is going to look like. I’m excited about class time in July.

With any luck, our plans today will include a trip to Frisco for BBQ and maybe seeing The Proposal.

I watched the Watchmen, that’s who!

Spouse and I went to the movies tonight. It requires a bit of planning on our part, as the closest theater is about 40 miles away. We stopped at the Himalayan restaurant for dinner (my mint sauce is better) which was delish and then exchanged some ski pants for Spouse. Piper got a nice walk along the river before the movie.

Dude. The movie was awesome. I don’t know how it could have been better translated to film. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was FANTASTIC as The Comedian. Rorshach was, predictably, the best part. Pretty much I loved the whole thing. It didn’t feel anywhere CLOSE to being a three hour movie and the soundtrack was bad ass. Love, love, more love.

In other mad love news, the Wolverine movie looks like it’s going to kick more ass every time I see a preview. I was also surprisingly drawn in by the Star Trek trailer. New Terminator comes out around the same time. Looks like May will be our month to hit the cinema.

Tomorrow is Pi Day! We’ll be celebrating by not doing much, I suspect. Possibly constructing a dresser. Spouse has pie remaining from his birthday gift. I’m going to take a break from applying for jobs and try to get this dresser thing under control.

Have recovered from post- Fat Tuesday disappointment

I have to take a trip down to BV today so I’ve got useless lemery first and photos later:

How many of these best-picture Oscar nominated movies have you seen? Bold the ones you’ve seen, regardless of whether you saw them in the cinema, on TV/video, or on a plane years after they came out.

1980.  Ordinary People, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess
1981.  Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982.  Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict
1983.  Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies
1984.  Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier’s Story
1985.  Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor, Witness
1986.   Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View
1987.   The Last Emperor, Broadcast News,Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck
1988.   Rain Man, The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl
1989.   Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot
1990.   Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III, Goodfellas
1991.   The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides
1992.   Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman
1993.   Schindler’s List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day
1994.   Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption
1995.   Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility
1996.   The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine
1997.   Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential
1998.   Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
1999.   American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense
2000.   Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic
2001.   A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge!
2002.   Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist
2003.   The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit
2004.    Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways
2005.   Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
2006.   The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
2007.   No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood
2008.   Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader

This proves nothing I didn’t already know – I spend too much time watching movies. I feel marginally better that I have an enormous library of books.

What would possibly make this meme more interesting would be to bold the ones you think were actually the best film of that year. Or do a bracket battle to see which of the nominees is ultimately the Best Picture Evar.

Lazy (ish) weekend

Spouse flew out on Saturday – left here Saturday morning – and I spent the afternoon in Frisco getting my hair cut. Terah is amazing – the red tones are finally out of my hair and in a way that looks natural (and flattering). Love her, love her work. Then I returned some sunglasses and made a trip to Target. I picked up the tax software so that, as soon as the office is squared away, I can get the taxes done.

Last night I did laundry, watched Prom Night and No Country for Old Men, and relaxed on the couch. This morning I cleared all the dishes out of the basement and put in a frozen quiche for my breakfast. Piper’s outside and I’m watching the NCIS marathon on USA. It’s far less blood-pressure threatening than any of the Sunday news shows. 

My huge goals for the day are to 1. eat breakfast, 2. load dishwasher, 3. go to work, 4. give Piper a bath. Huge. Impressive. I know.

I took a picture of the office after my first attack. I’m clearly nowhere near done.

Note also: hideous curtains.

The Godfather can suck it.

Aliens is probably my favorite sequel of all time. It also contains one of my least favorite lines of dialogue (“Stay away from her, you bitch!”) though not the absolute worst (“I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy…”*gack*). It also has Michael Biehn and you can never, ever go wrong with Michael Biehn.

I have pictures from yesterday but the camera battery died before I could upload them. We’re also supposed to be getting some snow today but I haven’t checked outside yet. It was cold yesterday – negative 4 when I got home – but the sun was still out and the sky was blue. I’ll take it.

Today I’ve got to run to the bank and I’m thinking about Mexican food for lunch. Wildly exciting, I know.

Edited to add:
I’m not really sure how “Zooey Deschanel, aka Anal Girl” could POSSIBLY be related to this post. Thanks wordpress.com.

Post-Christmas lack of ambition

Today we accomplished important task #1: putting me on  Spouse’s local bank account. That is pretty much all we did. We rented some movies, but have only watched one. Burn After Reading is an interesting and slightly bizarre film and totally worth watching just for Brad Pitt. I never thought I’d say that, but he’s just hilarious.

Up next: Hancock and Baby Mama.

Tomorrow: drive to Frisco and get my new driver’s license, as well as change over registration on vehicles and obtain Colorado plates.

When Mom and A left, they took the cold weather with them. Today was sunny and warm – 35 degrees. The snow on the roads has all melted, though it wasn’t enough to thaw all the rest of it. If you’ve looked at any of the photos, you’ll understand. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as sunny, though less warm. I’m very glad that I invested in good sunglasses.

I sent Mom home with an eclectic mix of music for her iPod. I’m interested to see how she’ll like it. Highlights included John Legend, Fergie, Adele, Rare Earth, The Eagles, The Beatles, Vampire Weekend, Gnarls Barkley, Sarah Harmer, and the Indigo Girls. There was a lot more, but I don’t recall everything.

My dad’s been on my mind a lot lately and it’s entirely possible that I’ll write about it tomorrow, but no promises.

I am looking forward to the house finally reaching ORDER and life returning to some semblance of a routine. As predicted, I’m a bit at a loss without my teaching schedule. Not only that, I’ve slacked on my own yoga practice for the last couple of weeks because of the acclimation. Someone sent me a yoga kick in the ass for Christmas, though, so I’m about to get back on the horse.

Accomplishments, albeit dubious

I packed two additional boxes of food (no, I’m not done). I created my WTF H$lidays mix. I also ripped 3 mix CDs for my cross-country drive. Luckily my CR-V has a tape player and I’m armed with mix tapes from college. Fie on thee, bad radio reception!

Crippling my packing effort has been the usa network. Yesterday it was Bring it On and today, Stick It. I love those movies with most of my heart and, yes, I’m easily distracted.

Today Cheryl is coming over to pick up a spare bedroom set. In retrospect it was possibly a bad idea to get rid of it, what with (yanno) the spare bedrooms. On the other hand, we don’t have to move it and it’s not like we get that many overnight visitors anyhow.

I’m in the laundry proces, will pack the last of all clothing materials except what I need for the next four days, pack the food and bathroom necessities. I’ll tape up the remaining boxes and I think Shane is coming over to help me do a trial run on packing the car. With any luck, I’ll get to a yoga class tonight.

Speaking of yoga, I was doing side plank in a class the other night and noticed that my shoulders and arms are looking pretty ripped. Nice. I don’t generally notice my body from an aethetic standpoint (I’m more of a ‘function’ kind of girl) so it usually takes a pretty dramatic change/visual to grab my attention, but it was kind of cool. I don’t think my arms have gotten dramatically bigger/stronger, I just haven’t had occasion to look at myself in side plank for a while.

Best of: Thanksgiving

1. Macy’s Rickroll.

Love Comedy Central. They are full of epic win.

2. Home for the Holidays. Best holiday film ever. It’s hilarious no matter how many times I see it. The turkey part is particularly fabulous.

3. Me and mom hanging out, cooking OUR turkey and stuffing. Delicious and mellow. Loved it.

Twilight. Meh.

I did not love the book. I did not like the movie. If you loved the book, you will probably love the movie. I found it to be kind of stilted and too chock full of high school female angst, pregnant pauses, and swelling musical interludes. I liked the second book much better but I don’t think I’ll bother seeing the movie when it comes out. The only thing I DID like about the movie was Bella’s mittens. I clearly need some.

My main issue with Stephanie Meyer’s vampire mythology is the cold skin thing. Who wants to make out with a corpse? Ew. Also, SLEEPING with a corpse. I’m not one of those people who gives off heat in my sleep (see: Spouse) but I sure as heck would absorb the cold and it would wake me up. Also, CORPSE. EW.

More packing for me tonight. On the TV front, still loving The Mentalist. They did a masterful job of bringing in his old family tragedy this week. Loved it. Grey’s has taken a turn for the crazy but I still adore Kevin McKidd. His chemistry with Sandra Oh will keep me tuning in. Loves them. I thought the True Blood finale was going to be this past Sunday but I was wrong. I actually felt terrible for Jason in the episode, which is a testament to how great the actor is. And last but not least, I am LOVING The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I am positively EXCITED for the reunion special, which promises to be a trashy napalm trainwreck. I can’t wait.