Going Rogue One.

I have a confession to make. Karl and I went to see Rogue One on Saturday. Every review I've seen says it's just an amazing movie and such a good addition to the franchise. I think I need to watch it again. I'm not sure if was because we were sitting in the row right behind the vibrating chairs so were getting some residual soothing vibrations, the PBJ I ate right before we went, the housework I did that morning, being super pregnant, or just the fact that it's been wayyyy too many months since I've had coffee, but I almost fell asleep during it. I know. I KNOW. I'm a horrible human being.

I don't normally fall asleep during movies, but I like to knit at home while I watch TV to stay awake and focused. Theaters usually keep me engaged enough that I'm not at risk of distraction what with the giant screen and loud noises, but apparently Saturday was just not my day.

The movie was good. The ending was perfect and I'm so glad I stayed awake for it. There were a lot of extra little things that fans of the franchise will love. It just started kind of slow and I think that's when it lost me.

I'm sorry, Rogue One. It's not you, it's me. I'm just in a weird head space. I promise that next time I watch you (and there will be a next time) I'll be on the edge of my seat the entire time, fully engaged, and wide awake. Let's try this again. I really do think we're meant to be.

Day three.

I left work shortly after 10 a.m. on Wednesday and haven't been back since. I'm still hacking away. Last night was my worst night and we just decided that Karl would do best to just spend the whole night in the guest room instead of sticking it out for a couple hours like he did the night before. Can I just say that, even though he's incapable of opening the living room curtains without being told, I have a great husband. He got excited about the prospect of sleeping in the guest room and, even though I was the problem and he was going to work the next day, he still offered to go down there because "the humidifier's already on upstairs and there's no point moving it."

Clearly the novelty of not having to sleep on the couch hasn't worn off yet. All married couples should have a second bed, just in case.

In case you were wondering, I am an old woman, I do sleep with a humidifier when I'm sick, and no, it's not really helping. I just want to sleep with my face right over it and get all that good good whole wheat moisture in my dry throat. But that would be really uncomfortable and I'd wake up with grid marks on my face.

I have watched a record breaking amount of Netflix this week. Seriously, Netflix is going to need to start getting some new material soon.

What have a I watched? Good question. I started Z Nation. It's no Walking Dead, but it's entertaining. It's a bit more light-hearted which I can appreciate. I would take it over season two of The Walking Dead any day.

I caught up on The 100. It's one of my favourite shows right now and I'd highly recommend it.

Netflix has really been pushing Beautiful Creatures on me so I went with the recommendation. It was fine for a sick day, but was kind of like every other teenage romance since Twilight, except it had southern accents all the way through so it was more charming.

Yesterday I watched Rumors of War. It was kind of weird, didn't get a lot of stars on Netflix, and was the kind of thing Karl would hate. I like to watch poorly received post-apocalyptic movies in my spare time. I'm not sure if I just didn't pay enough attention (probably) or if it just didn't flow as well as it cold have (probably) but I didn't really get the whole thing. One thing I did like, though, was how it incorporated Christianity into it. I don't think it was a religious movie, but it was nice to see something post-apocalyptic that didn't make religion seem like the worst evil ever. (Side note, if the world is ending never ever trust a leader, religious or otherwise, that greases their hair and doesn't stop smiling.)

I fully planned on napping during Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist today but it didn't happen. Fifteen minutes in and I was in movie love. Talk about a great sick day movie. I love Michael Cera. You should probably watch this movie ASAP unless you already did when it came out seven years ago. I also really liked the soundtrack.

Aaaaand I also watched Murder on the Home Front. Three days is a long time to rest up and try to scare away a cough, okay? This is a British movie that is your typical crime show but it takes place during the London Blitz in WWII so it's totally historical and educational. Kind of. We all need a little more BBC in our lives.

I was planning on catching up on folding some laundry while watching all that TV but I've just been knitting. I finished a blanket, darned my ends in, washed it, and am contemplating blocking it (my least favourite thing ever). Curly ends are part of life, right? While I contemplate what to do there, I started another blanket. I'm hoping that by ignoring my problems they'll sort themselves out.

I've been reading, too. Since the next four months are the last I'm going to have to read without distraction ever again I figure I'd better make the most of it. I started The Wheel of Time series. It's one of those epic series that I've been meaning to try for a while. My dad gave me his used copies a couple years ago and I've been waiting for the right time to get into them. So far so good but I'm only a couple hundred pages into the first book. I've heard mixed reviews so we'll see how it goes.

Our church is encouraging us to read a chapter of the Bible a day in order to get through the New Testament and the Psalms this year. I started a couple weeks late, but I've been trying to catch up so that's been some of my reading, too. Look at me go.

I got a package from Old Navy yesterday morning that made my day. It was just some tank tops and yoga bottoms but with a little creative folding I now have my go-to bottoms for this pregnancy. And none of it was maternity so it wasn't super expensive and I didn't have to go to another store (Old Navy in Canada doesn't sell maternity wear online because they hate me). Apparently if you whine to the internet about your pants woes you sometimes get your way.

I'm going to take those new bottoms out for frozen yogurt tonight. You know what I need after three days of coughing? Some sorbet to soothe my poor old throat, time away from the television, and some female face-to-face socialisation. Even if I try not to get too face-to-face with the girls because of my germs.

Who knows? Maybe fro yo is the cure for what ails me. I recommend you have some tonight, too. Not only in solidarity, but to prevent any sickness on your part. It's okay, I'm giving you permission. It's Friday.

P.S. Who's excited for Valentine's Day? I'm going to be healthy by then and we're having a friend come over to replace our bathroom fan. I'm going to make banana bread cinnamon buns to show my gratitude. Talk about romance!

Did you see it?

I spent a lot of today on the couch trying not to puke on myself (you're welcome) after a 10 a.m. migraine. Because my brain was all, "You're going on holidays in five days? You've got a bunch of work and work-related deadlines to get done before then? Dang, girl. SABOTAGE."

But whatever. Today was kind of low on my list of things I needed to get done. The goal was to go to the gym and burn all the calories because I'm going to die spending approximately 22 hours travelling this weekend. I don't have restless leg syndrome yet but we haven't even left. And I already spent six hours in the car this weekend. Because including this past weekend I have four weekends of travelling in a row and that's a lot of muffin and Skittle consumption.

But what I was trying to say was that even though there's a lot to get done this week before we head west for two weeks today's goals were only to go to the gym and make dinner. Migraine trumps exercise 100% of the time but I still ended up making stir fry for dinner. It was essential because no stir fry dinner means no stir fry lunch and I might just live for stir fry lunches. Also, stir fry is excellent post-migraine hangover food. Except I don't really have a hangover yet, I just feel yuck. And I was all, "If it's not a bad one I'll come back this afternoon because work to do." I'm funny. I spent a lot of the afternoon in a semi-vegetative state. 

But the point isn't that my body hates me. That's ooooold news. The point is, our cable company is accidentally giving us free movie channels even though I cancelled them. I don't even feel bad because we had a bunch of movies recorded from when we were paying for them (Game of Thrones is in the movie package but stop judging me because the books are less pornographic) but when we moved they ALL got erased. So this is kind of fairness. And when we add AMC in October to get our zombie fix we'll lose them anyway.

But that's not the point then, either. I mean, it kind of is, but what I really want to talk about is the fact that I spent a good chunk of the day watching movies. Two movies to be exact.

The first movie I watched was About Time. All I'm going to say about it is that you should probably go watch it. It was kind of like Love Actually meets The Time Travellers Wife but not as pukey. It even had Bill Nighy and Rachel McAdams so the comparison works even better. I might just be thinking Love Actually because it's British but whatever. That said, I think Karl would have really liked it, too, and you should probably go watch it now. And, yes, the red headed main character was a Weasley. I looked it up. 

But seriously, it might be my new favourite movie. I didn't even delete it off the PVR because Mom's coming for Thanksgiving and we'll probably need to watch it again then. Unless I buy it. Because I believe in buying things you like. Like Jars of Clay CDs. That's why I have a bunch of burned copies of their CDs from my friends when we were teenagers and consolidated our CD collections but then I went out and bought all their physical CDs. Except for their greatest hits, but those weren't new recordings and I bought the only new song off iTunes, okay? 

I digress.

I liked the movie so much that I paused it to have a nap. I didn't even do the normal sick day thing and sleep through it like I did with Dredd last time I had a migraine. For the record, Dredd was neither here nor there.

The second movie I watched was Anna Karenina. I got the audiobook from the library last year, but only half of it downloaded and once that part was done I figured it was boring me to death on the elliptical so I called it a day. I want to be cultured, though, and at least be able to talk about cultural things because of course I know the story of Anna Karenina. Then everyone will think I've read Tolstoy instead of just watching Keira Knightly in it. 

Well, after watching the movie, I'm pretty sure I didn't take much away from it. Except, SPOILER ALERT, Anna Karenina was a bit of a cold hard lady dog and killed herself, which I think I kind of knew anyway. But I remember in the book not despising her, whereas Keira Knightly just reminded me of Helena Bonham Carter in Harry Potter. Bellatrix, anyone?

I'm done with the Potter references, I swear. Although I was hoping to put Harry Potter on afterwards and nap through it but it's not on Netflix anymore. 

It was like they were trying to make classing Russian literature funny. And I didn't really get that from the book. It also looked like a play. I had a hard time following it. Except the red headed guy from About Time was also in it and he had a happy ending so that was nice. But I don't think he cared that Anna Karenina jumped in the middle of a moving train which, for the record, seemed a little risky to me. What if you just bounced off and got a bloody lip or something? That would be awkward. I'd throw myself in front of the train.

And now that we're on the topic of death and suicide, I'm just going to completely change direction. It'll read awkward and unnatural but it's exactly where my brain rolled to. So just roll with it.

Today was a bad news day. A life lost no matter how distant or far removed from us is still a tragedy. So love each other. Hug each other. Pray for each other.

One thing I really struggle with is not being a grumpy bag. I'm not sure why, but negativity  comes so naturally to me and sometimes I have to try really hard to remember to love others. Because I believe that God calls us to love each other no matter who we are, what we've done or, sometimes even harder to remember, what we're doing. From the petty to the big. And we just don't know, do we? We just don't know what kind of affect we're going to have on others. We can think we don't matter and that no one cares, but I think we can all agree that the tiniest interactions can have huge day altering consequences. Like the person who gives you the finger in the parking lot when you've done nothing wrong. Or getting a glib comment from a co-worker. I'm a feeler so I know I'm not the only one. We all need to feel loved and appreciated in everything we do.

And that goes both ways. Negative and positive. 

So go. Love others. Know that I really, truly appreciate you coming here. And watch About Time because it's awesome. 

I'm famous.

A couple a weeks ago my friend Cesar invited me to be an extra in a music video with him. It was a Friday night, I was tired, I really just wanted to watch Stargate and knit, but I said yes. What are friends for?

So, I agreed to meet him just before 8 and dress appropriately. The dress code called for "house party" without any overwhelming white. There went my toga idea. I've been to my share of house parties before, but they were all in my living room and I just wore pajamas to them and usually involved people named Stiffler. You picking up what I'm putting down?

There is nothing more stressful than having to dress "house party" (which apparently amounts to slightly more casual than business casual) and not having a clue. Or clean laundry. And preparing to be immortalized on film in the process. All I could think was, The camera adds ten pounds. I really hope I don't see anyone from high school.

It ended up being a fun evening, although I felt awkward to the max. That's nothing new in social situations where I don't know everyone and everyone knows each other at least in passing. I didn't even get a whole lot of "why are you here?" looks because everyone was really nice. I might not have even got one. And, bonus, I didn't know anyone! (I like to think everyone from high school has moved away and actually lives in Montreal or something.)

If you've never been to a video shoot, it's basically a bunch of hip and attractive people in their 20s and 30s hanging out, showing some chest hair, eating popcorn, and playing a communal trumpet. At least that's if this one's any indication of there. I don't think I've ever seen so much chest hair in one place. I even awkward side hugged some of it.

Anyway, the band is Towers and Trees and they're local. (Not to brag, but I come from a land of good local music and a lot of it.) I'd heard their song Montreal on the radio before and liked it so I was hoping I'd like the song they were filming. Turns out it was Montreal so I was in luck. (I still like the song, even though it was in my head all. night. and all. day. I even dreamt about it.)

This video has gotten me so much recognition that strangers (one coworker) stop me on the street (near my desk) and ask if I'm in it, telling me how much they love the song. Which has nothing to do with me anyway, but I am ever gracious because a compliment's a compliment.



Although, to be totally honest, I'm a little disappointed they weren't into the gangster rap. How fun would that have been?

You Belong Here.

It's been a while, eh?

I want to tell you all about the movies I've watched and the books I've read but I'm not even sure I can remember. Instead of giving you a play by play I'm going to keep it short, simple, out of order, and probably woefully incomplete. By keeping it short I can get onto the meatier life happenings from the past couple weeks. This next section is too short for its own post.

Movies

• The Hobbit - In IMAX. Fantastic.
• The Princess Diaries - I was home sick. Good movie to drool on the couch to.
• X-2 - Same deal.
• Rio - Wednesday night Financial Peace alternate. Now that we're at peace we can relax a little.
• Madagascar - Samezies.

Books

• Penelope - Chick lit through and through. Entertaining and mind-numbing but not the best the genre has to offer.
• Lord of the Isles - Last year I went on a mission to add to my collection of well recommended fantasy books. This one was on the list. It wasn't bad, but could have been better. It could have been spread into more books and the author could have gone into more depth on what was going on. All in all, not bad, but not on my favourite list. I don't even know if it has a sequel. It feels like it should, but somehow I doubt it.

Last weekend I went to a naturopath upon the recommendation of my chiropractor, in an effort to put a halt to my migraines. I am fully aware that I sound like an 80 year old. Anyway, it was recommended that I go off of dairy. I was a snotty kid that snored and got a lot of ear infections. All symptoms of a dairy intolerance, but with the removal of my adenoids I outgrew the symptoms. Sounds legit.

As a result, I'm off dairy for the next month. Being dairy-free is actually not as challenging as I expected, and way easier than going off gluten, for instance. I'm chronicling my dairy-free month on the Twitter with my own hashtag, #mydairyfreemonth. Because having my own hashtag makes me feel so much more culturally relevant, even if its purpose is to mostly help people understand why I'm mourning the loss of cheese in my life.

So far I'm only on day eight, but according to my two week intervals (or less) between migraines I'm three days overdue. It's never been clockwork, but if I make it through the next week without one you'll find me doing a happy dance on dairy's grave. The nice thing is that if it turns out dairy has been ruining my life I only have an intolerance. If I have a deep dark need for cake at, say, the wedding I'm in a month from now, I can do it, being ready for the consequences if there are any. It's not like I'll turn into a hivey blimp, or have my lips swell up like Angelina Jolie when I wear chapstick. I can live without dairy if it means freedom from brain explosions and dependence on ridiculously expensive drugs.

I might be getting ahead of myself, but optimism is kind of my thing.

Speaking of positive things like optimism, I got an excellent text message today from a dear friend that moved away a year and a half ago. It was a video of her receiving an ultrasound and a baby's heartbeat. It was an excellent way to have the news shared, even though I was sceptical at first due to today's unfortunate date. I hate April Fool's Day because I want to believe that people are telling me the truth all the time so I fall for things. Nope, not a joke. There was much squealing and giddiness on my end. I'm going to have to head into knitting overdrive to produce for the now three people due in August and September. Not to mention a family friend's girlfriend is expecting in November and even though we aren't close, something handmade is in order.

Thursday marked my last day in Human Resources. I'm still with the same organization, but will be moving into a new position starting tomorrow. It's only for a couple months, then I'll be moving into an Accounts Clerk role, but starting tomorrow I am no longer a Recruitment Assistant, I'm an Executive Coordinator. Basically, as my former HR boss informed me, I'm the assistant to the assistant of the CEO. Kind of like Dwight, except I'm not actually doing crummy assistant jobs. I'm basically doing event essential jobs and helping my new boss with her heavy workload. She even told me that if there's anything I want experience at to let her know and I can do it. She's not greedy with the work. Um, hello experience!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I feel so blessed to be where I am in life right now. When I finished school a year and a half ago Karl asked me what my goal was with my education. Well, where I'm working now is what I said my goal was. Not that there's any guarantee I'll be here after September, but the three different roles I'll have completed come then are really huge resume boosters. HR, Exec, and accounting experience? Um, yes please.

But? I was informed that, with my amazing work ethic and attention to detail, as well as common sense (which, I was also informed, is not actually very common) there will likely be a position for me much longer. It's hard though, due to the nature of the organization, having major events every four years, but there is always something going on in the "low seasons" if you will.

It's weird to feel like you may have plateaued at the ripe old age of 24. It's also exciting to realize that you might also be spring-boarding into your dream career. 24 may be the crappiest year of my life health-wise but it's been great otherwise.

Next weekend I'm heading out to a bachellorette mini vacation. It's been three years since I was more involved in a wedding than simply attending, and it feels so foreign. I'm excited, though, and can't wait to share a bit more about my history with the bride in coming posts. Yes, I've planned that far ahead. So, sometime before the beginning of May, you can expect at least one more post coming your way.

It'll even have pictures. Promise.

And, to finish off, I want to tell you about what I've been listening to lately. Karl and I have been teaching Sunday school for the past five weeks and I really miss sitting in the services, but especially the worship music. Matt Maher has been doing a fairly decent job of filling that void. Seriously. I've been listening to him pretty much non-stop since I first saw him live when we went to see Jars of Clay in Seattle at the Rock and Worship Roadshow. Not only is he worshipy, he's also really good. I know some worship music is a little... sappy... but Matt Maher has this rock and country feel to him that makes me want to sing along and dance awkwardly. Also, American friends, he has a song about the US that my Kansas-born sister in law adores, but husband despises. I loves it. He's also a Canadian, so I figure it's okay to listen to him be patriotic to the US.

The Gaslight Anthem have also been getting some pretty heavy play while I clean the house (which I used my four day Easter weekend to do). They are so good, and not worshipy at all. That's because they aren't a Christian band. I mean, who knows, they might be spiritual, but they don't sing like it. Am I even making sense? Either way, they're good, rocky music. They are also fun to sing along to. I like to think I sound like a rocker, too, when I sing along. If my current career path doesn't work out, I'll be joining a rock band and singing like the singer of this band. 

Okay, I think we're all caught up.

Much love. (Yes, I stole this from Meg Cabot's blog, but I haven't read it in ages and maybe she doesn't say it anymore. You also probably wouldn't have known that if I didn't say anything, but I really feel like when I don't know how to end a post that's what I'll do. Because it's how I feel, okay? Mucho loveo.)

I heard, I saw, I commented.

I said I was going to be awesome and keep track of my books and movies in 2013. Well, I'm caught up with the reading aspect of that list. I finished one book this year so far, and it's one I started in 2012. Last year's 28 books is going to be a little hard to beat.

I am, however, almost done my fourth audiobook. Walking to and from work and going to the gym is making that number climb higher and higher.

I've recently finished The Road to Gandolfo and How to Knit a Love Story. The first one is written by Robert Ludlum, the man behind the Bourne books, and was supposed to be a comedy. It was okay, but not nearly enough awkward situations or sword fights for me. How to Knit a Love Story was something entirely different.

How to Knit a Love Story caught my eye because a) it was a available online from the library and b) I knit. I mean, who doesn't love a little chick lit for the walk to work? Sign me up, please. It ended up being a bit more of a romance than I had anticipated which threw me a little. Since it was a romance, though, it ended up with a truly cliched and happy ending. I'm going to give you the rundown/recap so if you plan on reading it, skip ahead a few paragraphs.

The story is basically that this woman inherits a cottage from a dead friend where a sexy cowboy lives in a big old house. He's the dead friend's nephew and resentful of the intrusion in his life.

The girl is running from a freaky ex-boyfriend stalker that tried to kill her/be a terrible person but doesn't tell anyone. She starts up a knitting business in the cottage left to her by the friend/aunt who was a knitting celebrity, just like the girl is. The guy doesn't like the knitting business because it means disrupting his peaceful ranch life.

The girl has to stay in the big house with the guy until her place is set up. Some awkward and some sexy encounters occur. There are many mixed emotions. The business is a raging success.

Strange things happen around the property. Animals get out, there's a fire, a sheep dies. One day the ex-boyfriend/stalker shows up and menaces her while she's driving. They end up on a bridge that a separate incident causes to collapse while there on it with a few other cars and an oil tanker.

The cowboy shows up in time to see the almost tragedy, finds the girl at the hospital, sees her stalker has died in the accident, and proposes to her. Flash forward to a year later and they're married, so are their best friends, and she tells him she's pregnant.

I guess the sex helped them write that love story since they never really had time to get to know each other with their words. I might be a prude, but those kinds of love stories never seem to make much sense to me.

It had ever. single. cheesy element you could expect. There was even a fiery explosion! Two, for that matter.  I don't really recommend the book but I don't regret it. It was my first romance. Ever. At least it had explosions to make up for the lack of chick lit inspired humour.

As for keeping track of movies we've seen, this may be next to impossible. We watch a lot of movies.

Last weekend we watched The Green Hornet. You know, the one with Seth Rogen. It was long, and I fell asleep for the last thirty minutes. I think that was a blessing.

Thursday night Karl and I had a mini date night that included burgers at a pub then Score: A Hockey Musical at home on the PVR. Yep, a hockey musical. I highly recommend it. I'm not saying it was the best movie ever, but I really think other sports movies could learn something from it. If there was more singing and dancing in sports movies, way more people would enjoy them. I mean, Karl and I both liked it, and while our tastes don't differ too much, he's not as into musicals as I am. He's never even seen The Sound of Music or High School Musical after all.

Score was good, though, because it was funny and sincere all at once. Is he going to get the girl? OF COURSE, he's singing to her, after all. More relationships would work out if more singing happened in them. Romantic singing, not sad singing. One of the last scenes involved a choreographed dance on the ice at a hockey game. Don't tell me that isn't quality entertainment. If you could see my face you'd see how sincere I am right now. Maybe How to Knit a Love Story would have been better if they'd replaced the sex scenes with singing. Of course it would have.

Walter Gretzky even had a couple scenes. (You may or may not have heard of his son.) Nelly Furtado had a very small role that confused me and, if that isn't enough for you, Olivia Newton John was in it. It was basically a Canadian version of Grease. Except with less Pink Ladies and more goons.

Seriously, I recommend watching that movie ASAP. If you're Canadian maybe you'll be like me and recognize the lead character as being on YTV while you were growing up, and if you're American you need to understand my country better.That thing that they're drinking at the end? It's called Tim Hortons and you're welcome.

I'm sure I've missed a few movies in there since my last update, but they'll come to me eventually. Next time I do an update like this, I should be able to add The Hobbit to the list. I was waiting for it to come out in IMAX.

So, in short, don't listen to any audio books I did, don't watch The Green Hornet, and go watch Score: A Hockey Musical. Go in peace.

A smattering.

Today marks the province of BC's first ever Family Day. All I can is, YES PLEASE!

I haven't had a long weekend since Remembrance Day way back at the beginning of November, so this is terribly exciting. It also made being productive on Saturday much easier.

Now, full disclaimer, I love my friends and I love their children. Read on.

Saturday morning I got up at 8 in the am to make some two-ingredient cookies for breakfast with some lady friends. It was made justifiable by today's new-found stat holiday. Anyway, the friend that hosted has a two year old. She was actually the first friend of mine, in my general age group, to have a baby where I was there from before knocked-upedness to attending subsequent birthday parties. I reconsidered ever having children after Saturday's breakfast. The kid that once threw up on me at a wedding and I didn't care was running around like a fiend, turning the TV on, crawling on the table, shooting webs like Spider man (why not?), and being a generally whiny two year old. His mom naturally stopped the "naughty" things, and I know it's called the terrible twos for a reason, but man, it really made me reconsider any possibility of having my own. Why do people set themselves up for years of stress, exhaustion, and temper tantrums? Not to mention the boogers and poop. Children are a lot of work, and they don't seem very snuggly once they start walking and talking.

Just saying.

I went to the chiropractor later in the morning, and got some good news. Apparently I'm much more aligned (or something) than before. After the cracking and head wrenching, I even think my angry neck bone is starting to become less pronounced. And? Two days later and I'm still migraine free. Mmhmm...

After that I had a friend over for tea. It was lovely. I also cleaned our hovel before hand. Can I just say? I love me a clean living space. It makes my heart happy.

On that note, I'm going to stop recapping my life because I didn't do anything incredibly amazing. Other than today, as I watched last night's episode of Downton Abbey with Mom, I found out I'd won a pair of Hush Puppies boots. You might say I'm super lucky since this is the second time they've picked me to win something from them. Last year I got sandals and Karl got studly slip ons. I'm not really one to blog about my clothes, but I probably will when I get my boots. It's kind of the least I can do, eh?

In other news, this happened Monday and today respectively.

Haircuts for everyone!

In case you didn't know what Karl looked like yesterday:

Another favourite photo of Karl. They just keep coming!

He is also very Canadian. The beard was supposed to live longer, but accidents happen. I didn't cry, but I thought about it. I didn't think it was possible to love someone's beard so much. Doesn't that just fly in the face of all wifely logic? It was very red. Any potential future children that have survived the encounter with the terrible twos of Saturday will hopefully have hair like his beard. If not, they'll be growing cute little ginger children beards ASAP. Even the girls. You know, like dwarves.

Since I have kind of moved in the realm of movies (Lord of the Rings, fools), let's go there. Karl and I saw Jaws on Wednesday night. I'd seen it once before, but Karl never had. I didn't really remember it either. Karl actually hates old movies, but ended up really enjoying it. I did, too. The quality was really good, for something from 1975, and the storyline was good, too. I was totally surprised when (spoiler alert) the captain got eaten by the shark in the end. I mean, how mean is that? Surviving one epic shark attack only to gruesomely get eaten years later? That's low, Spielberg/whoever wrote Jaws, real low.

I feel like I've watched another movie recently, but can't remember. I might fail miserably at keeping track of the movies I see in 2013. I guess time will tell.

On that final note, I finally cracked my own password code and broke into my iTunes account. I bought the latest efforts from Leagues and, since I was there, The Gaslight Anthem. No regrets aside from budgetary ones. I'm just going to say that there has not been a single song on the The Gaslight Anthem's "Handwritten" that I haven't loved. Leagues is pretty rocking, too.

And, finally, speaking of music? My mom is in love with the first track off of the Of Monsters and Men CD. She's quoting it and everything like it's real life. She's basically a hipster.

Correcting the misinformation.

So. Apparently I don't know anything. I was so sure that I forgot to record the eBooks I read in 2012 on my epic list of my 2012 reading recap. Apparently I didn't give my list enough credit because I did actually include my eBook reading. Go figure.

Let's talk about things I'm also keeping track of, shall we? I'd hate to screw up my 2013 list already. Well, I saw Les Misérables a week and a half ago. Let's talk about that.

Now, I'd seen Les Misérables years ago. A little internet searcharoo has informed me that the version I was familiar with was from 1998. It also had Liam Neeson in it so I'm thinking I should probably watch it again. For the record, I was ten in 1998 and I'm pretty sure I saw it when it was fairly new. Needless to say, I didn't remember much, other than it being long and certainly not a musical.

My father in law is a fan of the musical version. If you know anything about the latest movie, you know it's the musical version on film with more famous people than it knows what to do with. I mean, some of them even die. That's how many famous people are in it: so many they can kill them off. Not even kidding.

Okay, okay, I hope that you're not mad at me for spoiling anything there. It's not called The Happies so I hope you weren't anticipating a happy romantic ending. That's all I'm going to say about that.

So anyway, it's a musical. Now, I've seen musicals before. Remember High School Musical? I enjoyed the first one until Glee came out showed teenagers as a heck of a lot funnier. At least for a while, it did. I've also seen The Sound of Music, among others. And, hello, Disney movies. I'm all sorts of educated about musicals. Until I saw Les Misérables, that is.

Les Misérables is one of those musicals that is 95% singing, 4% talking, and 1% straight up wailing. Since I've seen a good chunk of the stage musical on TV with Karl's dad, I recognized way more of the songs than I thought. I must have spent more time sitting there than I imagined. Either way, I knew there was a lot of singing; I just wasn't prepared for how much. While I didn't mind it, I feel it hard to get excited about singing I can't along to. There's just something less magical about asking someone to pass the salt while you're singing it than just saying it. Scratch that, it's more magical, just weirder. I may need to give it a try.

I also couldn't talk about the singing without talking about Anne Hathaway. Seriously. "I Dreamed a Dream" was so... powerful. Did I anyone else know it was song that stemmed from (spoiler!) being a diseased prostitute? I had shivers, I tell you. I didn't cry, but I probably would have had I not been in a busy theatre. I also watched whatever the award show was before the SAGs and she won an award for it. Totally deserved. When she mentioned how far she'd come from being the princess of Genovia I knew she was speaking straight to me. I've always felt like Anne and I have a special bond, having come so far together, and it was nice of her to shout it out back to our roots. It's hard not to feel that way about someone whose first film I ended up wearing out the VHS to. It's cool, though, I've got it on DVD now.

The movie was also really long. I'd talked Karl into seeing it on a double date, but instead ended up making a girls' outing of it. Way better choice. It was two and a half hours of singing (but no dancing) that felt longer (twenty some odd years were spanned, after all) and I just knew that at the one hours mark he would have gotten up and left. I'm glad neither of us had to go through that.

So, in summary, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't go back to see it in theatres, but wouldn't mind watching the 1998 version now. I also wouldn't mind reading the book, but not because I think it will be like the movie. I know there won't be any singing there, and it's a classic, long, French piece of literature. Basically I just want to feel smart. I saw it at Costco this weekend and wondered how many people took it home to be horrified by the 1400 pages of heavy reading. I'm assuming it's heavy, it's old and French.

I know you've seen Les Misérables, or at least know about it. What did you think? Did you think Susan Boyle should have been cast instead of Anne Hathaway? Have you read the book? Is it actually a really easy bathroom reader or harder to understand than Plato? I need to know!

Aaaaand... We're back!

It may not look like it, but it's actually been almost two weeks since I last revisited the blog, with the minor exception of my mini post earlier this week. There's nothing like a long absence to make you intimidated by the return. I mean, do I catch the world up on the happenings of the past couple weeks? Do I jump in with just funny observations on life? So much pressure!

Just kidding. I do what feels right. But I still wasn't sure what to start with.

So, I've been going to the chiropractor in an effort to deal with what ails me. Mr Chiropractor warned me that treatment might trigger more migraines. He was not joking around. At last week's appointment he noticed I had a bone out of place in my neck. He tossed around the words kind of a big deal and the idea of xrays. Basically my bone thing (because I am not an anatomy genius) sticks out to the left, I always thought it was just a knot, and there's nothing sticking out on the right side. He figures once that gets worked back into place I should be feeling a-okay, assuming my migraines aren't chemical related.

To say I'm optimistic would an understatement. I want to go to the chiropractor every day now, just to move on with my life.

As a result of my Saturday morning appointment, and other factors I'm sure, last weekend was just terrible. I wasn't feeling well, I was grumpy, and so, so tired. It wasn't until Thursday that I finally started feeling human again, and Friday I felt great. You know how you feel after having a cold or the flu when things finally start looking up? That was totally me at the end of the week. Is there a better feeling, really?

Yesterday was great day. I slept in, went for a less than impressive run (I'm getting lazy and bored), and had my lovely friend Caity over for tea. We weren't exactly planning her future baby showers, and the topic of conversation was about as heavy as it ever gets, but it was still nice to spend time together. We even hit up Costco with my mom and we liked it. I always feel like trips to Costco are like adventures. I had about a dozen life and death encounters with fellow shoppers and their carts yesterday. Being 24 is basically the most fun age ever.

Then, because we're finally at a stage in our lives where spontaneity works again, Karl and I had Caity and her husband Derek over for dinner. Butter chicken. Amazing, if I do say so myself. The food and the company. There's something so wonderful about spending time with your oldest friends.

After they left, the door just kept on revolving and my brother in law Christopher and his wife Natalie came over to watch Taken 2. They're in town for the boys' Oma's funeral on Tuesday. It may not be the happiest of circumstances but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a treat.

Basically I got to hang out with some of my favourite people yesterday and I liked it.

Have you seen Taken 2? Liam Neeson? Wonderful. It was just under 90 minutes (rip off) but was still really good. I had the best witty commentary going throughout it. Everyone laughed, me especially. As much as that makes me sound annoying, I'm pretty sure everyone loved it. I'm like that guy that narrates Rocky Horror except I only did it occasionally. Plus we were at home, so that helped.

And now, alas, I have to get ready to teach Sunday school. I have so much more to tell you! Like our Friday night? Karl got cultured! I've watched other movies, listened to other audiobooks, and discovered omissions from my 2012 reading recap (Yes, I'm actually a more impressive reader than I gave myself credit for!). I've also had some pretty deep thoughts about my hair. With family in town it's getting harder and harder to find spare moments, but that's just a preview of what you can look forward to on the blog coming up. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't want to read about my hair?

Books and feminism (but only a little).

Let's talk about books for a second and, while we're at it, let's touch on feminism.

Before I rant, though, I'll tell you that I finished Welcome to Bordertown and watched Being Jane last night. 

I wasn't sure until the last twenty minutes, but I have definitely seen Being Jane before. It wasn't bad, but nothing terribly exciting happened, which explains why I couldn't remember it. I mean, Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy run around looking attractive (until the end, because old James McAvoy is kind of depressing looking) and there's a bunch of pretty dresses and fancy talk. There's no real drama, and certainly no gun fights or zombies, but I didn't mind it. My favourite part was during a scene where everyone was dancing a fancy dance that they all seem to know (like a British line dance) and all of a sudden the two characters have stopped hating each other and he gives her a friendly little knowing smirk. Um, swoon. Why don't men smirk at me like that? Someone go tell my husband to work on that.

As for Welcome to Bordertown it didn't really live up to all of my own hype. It wasn't bad and, because it's a collection of short stories, there were parts that I really enjoyed and some that I was impartial about. Call me a prude, but there was a lot of sex in it. I get it, teenagers hardcore enough to run away from home have sex, but I feel like it's not necessary to mention it in every story. I dunno, I guess that's part of my transition to 65 year old. I really enjoyed the last story, though, and the character that helped me fall in love with the series made a couple guest appearances so I was happy. They did a really good job of making the transition from a series started before I was thought of. I mean, Bordertown's been around for 26 years. All in all, I'm glad I didn't miss it, but it's not going down as the best Borderland work of all time. I still recommend the series, though.

I've been listening to Robert Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil for a week or so. I was excited about it because he's a pretty well known Science Fiction author, and I was going to be cultured. Plus, the book involves a brain transplant in a post-apocalyptic world. What's not to get excited about?

Well, apparently this book written in the '70s is a product of its time. Let's just assume for a minute that I'm an expert on everything I talk about and carry on. By the way, I don't recommend this book to you so I'm going to tell you what happens. Or doesn't happen.

I made it halfway through this incredibly lengthy audiobook before deciding that I really couldn't take any more. The kicker was when I was knitting today over my lunch break and listening to it. I realized that if anyone listened in on it I would be absolutely humiliated for bothering with such garbage. True story.

The premise of the book is that a 95 year old obscenely rich man wants to live forever and figures that a brain transplant is the only logical way to get it done. Long story short, he ends up getting his brain put into the body of his super babelicious secretary when she dies. It's very tragic and emotional. A man's brain in a woman's body? So much potential! The problem is, the story loses itself there as far as I'm concerned. Sure, he can communicate with the ghost/spirit/voice(?) of the woman whose body he's in and they're soul mates in a sense, but instead of being remotely interesting he just takes on her life. Kind of.

He tries to, essentially, be here. I gave up right before he impregnated his new body with his old body's frozen baby juice. It was just too much. I guess it was supposed to be a beautiful moment when the two of them decide to have a baby together, but it was too much. If I was a man transplanted into a woman's body, I wouldn't try to seduce the people she had seduced (my old man friends, for the record), and I wouldn't flaunt my sexuality like it was all that. I'd be freaking right out! I'd be adapting to my new body like it was the weirdest thing ever. I would be having an identity crisis like no other, and sex would certainly not be the first thing on my mind.

Most of the book was dialogue, too, which got tedious. There was a lot of "dears" and kissing everyone, but, you know, "innocently," like that's totally normal for women everywhere. People don't just kiss people because. It's not like that. I would also not be running around naked in my gorgeous new body, especially if I'd known the person it belonged to. I'd be trying to take care of it, but modestly.

So here comes the feminism. This book was SO obviously written by a man in a time of change in the world. Homosexuality is a really big topic in this book. It's understandable, considering, but instead of making it a real crisis of identity Heinlein just makes everyone so over-sexed (without, for the record, any actual sex happening) that there are no clearly defined sexual orientations anymore. Personally, if I were brain transplanted into someone else's body I would take a good long time before I addressed those basic human desires. I'd be too busy trying to figure out how to pee.

Also, I would not be immediately attracted to my best friend. Call me old fashioned, but I think relationships take a long time to develop, as do feelings, and as much as loving someone is a choice, I'm pretty sure that our taught emotions and practices don't just break over night, regardless of what sex the body we're currently inhabiting is.

That said, it's all very hypothetical, I know. But seriously. After going through a freaking brain transplant finding a future spouse would not really be a priority.

But, apparently, everyone is just really eager to get with each other, or at least they were in the '70s, and don't have time to worry about the interesting stuff. Instead I basically read a gender confused romance novel in which women wore painted on clothing to work. Because that's a thing.

Really, the whole book felt kind of like reading someone's fantasy about idealized gender roles. I mean, a man in a woman's body was fitting right in with what an ideal woman should be. Sexy, rich, and liable to get spanked if she doesn't behave. Give me a break.

And, uh, for the record, I'm not a crazy feminist, I just like living in a world where women have the vote.

In case I didn't already say it, I abandoned this book. According to Wikipedia nothing else interesting even happens. 

Yeah, I'm showing the world how much I care for women's rights. Go me.

Of movies.

Instead of combining this post and the last one I decided to keep it simple and separate so as not to venture into the realm of painfully long posts that not even I can skim over.

On Saturday night I saw The Amazing Spider-Man in IMAX. Having seen the other Spider-Man movies I was expecting very little although I wanted to see the movie in theaters for two reasons. The first reason was that I enjoy watching movies. Period. With our museum IMAX passes we can watch feature films in IMAX for only $4 each. It's a really good deal.

The second reason I wanted to see the movie is that I just love superheroes. I've never read comic books about them or anything (my tastes were strictly Riverdale-related growing up) but I loved the shows as a kid. I watched the original Batman show as well as the cartoon and all the movies. I watched the original Spider-Man cartoon along with the newer versions that followed. I watched X-Men cartoons sometimes, too, and love the movies; I have them all except for the latest one. I never saw The Green Lantern or the latest incarnation of The Hulk but I always watch the ones with the heroes I grew up with. I even tried to watch the latest Superman movie but I don't think I could handle it. I really liked Lois and Clark growing up but for some reason that didn't translate well into watching recent Superman movies (I watched the old ones when I was younger) but maybe I should give it a try.

My point is, I love superheroes and wanted to see what they thought they could do with Spider-Man a few short years after subjecting us all to the pain that was the last Spider-Man trilogy. Clearly they thought they had something special going on. Okay, I'll admit that I also really like Emma Stone so I wanted to see her in it.

I was so pleasantly surprised with what I saw on Saturday night. The Amazing Spider-Man was actually really good. It had some genuinely funny moments where I laughed louder than is strictly movie theater appropriate (I think it's an aging thing) and some excellent awkward moments that will probably go down in history as the most awkward yet successful encounter between two people on screen. Not only that, there was a really and truly beautiful moment towards the end where (miniature spoiler alert here) the crane operators of New York got together to help Spider-Man succeed. If I hadn't been silently laughing so hard I might have cried.

All I could think after the movie was, "Tobey who?" because Andrew Garfield did such a good job. Now all I can think of is, "Why would you spell Toby with an e?" after reading that last sentence. I highly recommend you watch The Amazing Spider-Man even if it is a little cheesy because it will redeem Spider-Man movies for you in the long run. And after rereading that last sentence all I can think is, "Why is Spider-Man hyphenated when no other superhero's name is?" Deep thoughts are happening, let me tell you.

Now, the IMAX is also going to be showing The Dark Knight Rises pretty soon so there was, naturally, a preview for it before Spider-Man. I decided that I'd rewatch the other two movies in the trilogy because I honestly don't remember much. Initially I'd found Batman Begins to be a little too dark for my tastes and not really enjoyed it. I don't remember thinking anything at all after The Dark Knight aside from how shocked I was that the joker was actually played by Heath Ledger. Makeup is incredible.

Last night I took the superhero dive and rewatched Batman Begins. I enjoyed it more this time for sure, but I'm still not seeing all the hype. I'd rather watch Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield be awkward around each other again. I guess I'm just a sucker for happier endings. Either way, if I can find the time I'm planning on watching The Dark Knight sometime this week to be fully caught up. There could definitely be worse themes in my movie choices this week than superheroes. 

Zucchini loaf and Baldwin brothers. It's recap time.

First, a little update on my adventures with zucchini loaf. I'm officially calling my zucchini loaf a flop. I tried the second loaf today, the one I did the toothpick test on, and it, too, is too moist in the middle. It's not as bad as the other loaf but it's still not very nice. It's also lacking a bit in the flavour field, but that might be due to the weirdness of its texture that's turning me off. I'll still eat it because it isn't bad but I wouldn't bring it to a housewarming, that's for sure. Not that I've ever really brought anything to a house warming before...

Last night I tried  a new yoga class. Instead of doing the usual beginner yoga I went with my dear friend Stephanie to Yin Yoga. It's quite different than what I'm used to because instead of going through lots of movements and sun salutations you simply hold a pose for a few minutes. When the time is up you do a little bit of movement and then hold another pose. As far as relaxation goes, it was pretty much the epitome. While I didn't feel like it was the same workout I would get in other classes, some of which feel like yoga boot camp, I did enjoy it. It was very mellowing. I'm not sure if it was my favourite type of yoga but I'll certainly give it another try. It is definitely the kind of yoga you'd want after a crazy day.

When I got home I made myself an iron enriched smoothie (we're giving blood tonight) and watched a movie. C'est la vie. I have a soft spot for really terrible science fiction movies. I like them even more if they have actors I recognize. Not too long ago I watched Doomsday Prophecy with Jewel Staite in it. Cheese fest. Even though it was made in 2011 it still had really terrible graphics and a pretty weird story line. Fantastic. Made for TV scifi movies are just television gold. Really bad science fiction movies are just really good. I love post apocalyptic themes, too, and Karl and I watched The Road just last week. It's not remotely the same genre but the post apocalyptic theme was there and I really enjoyed it. Man's journey of self discovery is always better when the world is falling apart. Not that The Road was strictly about that. Moving on...

Last night I was torn between a movie about a deadly virus and its survivors or one about the earth being in trouble and an explosives expert being the only one who could save it. I love having a PVR. Naturally, I chose the film that made the least sense. How is a demolition expert going to save earth from some sort of space problem? Enter Earthstorm and Stephen Baldwin with terrible hair.

I always knew there were Baldwin brothers but it blows my mind how much they all look alike, even in a movie from 1996. Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the Baldwin brothers Wikipedia told me, looks so much like Alec Baldwin, the oldest, in a movie from twelve years ago that it was blowing my mind. Ha. No pun intended. The whole plot was ridiculously entertaining. Spoiler alert! The moon was hit by an asteroid, got a giant crack as a result, and chunks of it were flying towards earth, eventually destroying Mexico. Bye bye, Mexico. It was also wreaking havoc on the planet's weather.

I'll admit that I was looking up restaurants to eat at for my birthday in the yellow pages (I actually found somewhere, too) and wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on in the movie. What I did catch, though, was that Mr Demolition man (Baldwin) ended up going into space and they used nukes to reseal the iron core of the moon. More or less. In case you're wondering, he got the moderately attractive scientist girl with equally unfortunate hair in the end and saved planet earth. Not in that order.

I'd say the only better than a good science fiction movie is a bad science fiction movie, but that's just not fair. Good science fiction movies are great but there will always be a place in my heart for the bad ones, too. You don't need big budget special effects to be entertained, you just need a plot that involves total destruction. Happy endings are optional. Even with zucchini loaf, it turns out.

My long weekend: A long narrative.

It's official, I love long weekends. You're probably thinking I'm a crazy person for not having come out and said it sooner, but I'd like to make it officially official.

Normally I can appreciate a long weekend as much as the next person but by the end of it I'm fine with going back to work, making a little more money, and not feeling obligated to clean my house. Well! Let me tell you, this weekend was everything I could have hoped it would be and more. Minus, of course, the fact that it never got hotter than 17° outside.

Friday night I went to body destroying yoga. It was so hardcore that I was still stiff from it yesterday. Even though it felt kind of like boot camp, I was glad I did it and was ready to greet the weekend with the ability to touch my toes. Friday night was also a big night for me as I finally achieved one of my long term goals. Okay, that's a little dramatic, but I finally suckered Karl into watching Firefly with me. I knew that if he just gave it a chance he'd be okay. We'd tried once before and only made it into the first ten minutes of the pilot before he gave up like a grumpy two year old. Well not this time!

Saturday was lovely because it involved breakfast with girls and their children. The real successes came later and spilled into Sunday, though, when I organized like a crazy person. The thing is, our place is rather small. Our bedroom is child sized with a queen bed, I hadn't mopped the floor in an indecent amount of time (we're talking months and months here), I had dishes starting to smell a little funky, and stuff was just... everywhere Before you start thinking horrible nasty things about my housekeeping skills I may be a little dramatic here. Our bedroom really is a disaster and always has been but it's so small that we don't spend any non-essential time in it so if we close the door it's easy to ignore. I wish we had a dishwasher but we don't and only have one sink to boot so the yoghurt container I'd rinsed out a couple days earlier was starting to make everything a little funky. But I fixed it! And, yes, we didn't really have many nights at home together last week so there was a serious lack of cooking going on so, horribly I know, there were dishes a week old sitting on the table.

Can I just say, I'm not actually a slob. I hate disgusting messes but I enjoy my free time even more. I don't actually mind making my home more livable, but it's an ongoing process already two years in the making. It's a journey of self discovery that involves storage and organizational woes. It is my latest Everest and always will be. It also involves less swearing and rage than my last Everest, so that's nice. It's hard to make a housecleaning mistake when you think about it. Organization is a tricky foe but it's not unconquerable. That I'm learning.

Back in February we bought an Expedit to replace our dinky little Jysk desk that was collecting garbage. It took us a month or two get the thing put together and organized (we're such go-getters!) but ever since it's been amazing. Actually amazing. If it's possible to be in love with a piece of furniture I might be in love with our Expedit. It wasn't very expensive and has a desk attachment we can buy if, in future, we need another desk. Plus it's really pretty and has some cute baskets. Okay, I'll stop gushing over furniture now.

So I woke up with Karl on Saturday around 7:30, a good hour earlier than planned, popped in my Harry Potter ebook (I'm now on The Half Blood Prince) and decided that it was a good day to work towards organization. I informed Karl that I was going to make some storage oriented purchases and that it was worth putting a little bit of money out there to save us from marital distress because when Karl and I fight it's usually about housework. Fact.

So I headed out armed with a positive outlook and a lovely friend to Home Sense. I was looking for something kind of like this but with a proper lid. I ended up finding a long, ottoman type folding box with a polka dot lid. And it was $20. It fit our towels and extra bed stuff perfectly. Score! To give you some perspective, I bought a couple boxes roughly half the ottoman's size that were $14.99 each at Zellers afterwards. You can only have so much long storage before it gets ridiculous. I did decided to take the plunge and get another ottoman style box, though, because we have an under the stairs space that is in serious need of loving. And a lot of rogue pillows.

So after some serious organizing on Saturday Karl and I went and finally saw The Avengers. It's been out for almost two months and was only playing at one theater so I wasn't expecting it to be packed. It was, though, and we got some of the last decent seats. Poor Karl was sitting beside a rather large man, though, and had to give up his arm space. I had a lot of thoughts and feelings about the movie. Since I hated Thor but enjoyed Iron Man I wasn't really sure what to expect. In the end, there were parts and characters I liked and those that I didn't. I didn't like the villain or Thor or the weird space aliens that were from across the universe. Not that I don't like space aliens from across the universe because I really do. I just don't like them mixed with demigods that talk like they're from a Jane Austen novel. It was good, though, and I guess I don't have as much to say about it as I thought I did. Huh.

Sunday was my most productive day ever. Ever. I ended up cleaning the house properly, sorting through some old stuff, cleaning the bathroom, and mopping the floor. It was a solid three hours of domesticity that in retrospect makes me think it must have been in serious disarray to have taken so long to deal with. I also did some picture shuffling and redecorated our minimal wall space by moving some photos and replacing them with some art of Karl and I on our wedding day. I say art because it's big and on canvas, but really it's just a blown up black and white photo of us looking attractive, windswept, and in love. My hair is also really awesome.

It's amazing what adding some art can do to a place. Because it's black and white the picture contrasts nicely with our green walls and opens it up a bit. I think. As much as you can open up a long wall in a converted garage.

My domesticity was followed by more Firefly (success!) and then twenty or so people coming over to celebrate Canada's 145th in style. And hoodies. It was the easiest BBQ we've ever had. Actually, it was the easiest gathering of people we've ever had. At the end of the night it took about ten minutes to get everything squared away and the house looking like it had a few hours earlier.

And Monday? Well, Monday we rested and it was good. I went down to the used bookstore and picked up four books, two of which were on my list, one that wasn't but I was still looking for, and one that I got because I was intrigued. It was an interesting mixture of mystery, chick lit, fantasy, and horror. Since I've only got one more Harry Potter book after this one I plan on spending an absurd amount of time reading my many used book store and book sale books over the next few months. If I like every series I bought the first books of I'm easily good to go for reading material until next summer. I may need to look into finding new book storage options too. Whoops.

Alright, I think that's enough updating.

In case you're wondering just how dismal the weather is here today, the post man was wearing shorts and his winter jacket. Lovely.