Ode to the Christmas Movie

I'm not quite sure what has compelled us to watch every Christmas movie we own in the past 48 hours, but it has indeed been a Christmas movie marathon at our house. It started out with the fact that K had never seen "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Steward and Donna Reed... can you imagine?
Then we moved on to "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "Miracle on 34th Street" (the newer one), "White Christmas", "Love Actually" (which some might protest as a Christmas movie... but it's set at Christmas time, so at our house it counts), and "Frosty the Snowman". We still have to conquer "The Christmas Story" which is one of my favorites, and "Muppet Christmas" which is not, but we don't own these, so it will have to wait (whew!).
It's been nice to have the extra days off work, but I'm getting cabin fever because I haven't left the house very much. I did some yard work and hurt my back. I forgot how heavy stuff gets when saturated with water and didn't lift like should have, so sure enough, I pulled something in my lower back and am moving like a turtle.
So, in my wonderful time off... I've made exhibit B in the shoe/polyvore collection :)
Back to work tomorrow... then SLC on Wednesday.... hooray!


Black & Blue by Lina Lou

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow, time is going by so fast. Thanksgiving was already 2 days ago and was a great time! I'm not big on the holidays and not really big on food either, but had fun at B.'s house and I didn't have to cook! what's not to like? My favorite part was when I called her up before coming over to see if she needed anything, and she reported that the turkey had caught on fire in the rotisserie!! hahaha. It actually turned out really great, cuz it sealed the juice in and was kind of crispy and well, burnt (but only a little) on the outside. Scrumptious! It was also her and K's birthday which was fun. I made a cake, but it turned out terrible, so we had baked pears and pumpkin pie. After dinner we cleaned up a little, sat around and chatted, opened presents, then played Taboo... ahhh fun with our "friends family" I got some great pictures, but can't find the cord again to download...

Here is a pic of the pre-Thanksgiving wild turkeys that have been coming and eating the birdseed that the birds spill out of the feeder and on to the deck... they look pretty healthy to me... and ugly.

I am so grateful and have a lot to be thankful for especially this year, so here goes... not necessarily in any order.

1. I am so thankful for the house we rent... it is just perfect for us, and we have wonderful friends for neighbors (that's 2 for 1).

2. I am contantly amazed and deeply grateful for my job and the wonderful people that I work with. I have never had a job that people are so caring and nice to each other and that makes it so worth it!!

3. So very thankful that D is winning her fight with cancer. It's been a rough patch but we'll keep praying for a full recovery.

4. Only 1 more term! Thankful that school has gone by quickly, we've lived through it and soon John will graduate with a bacchelor's degree... omg!!

5. So thankful that the car has held up, still gets good gas mileage, and hasn't needed any major repairs (knock,knock). Also thankful that I don't live somewhere with terrible traffic!

6. Thankful for a mild fall and for all the fantastically beautiful leaves this year!

7. For all the little things that I take for granted every day. Clean water that comes out of the tap on demand, a refrigerator, electricity all day long - unrationed, heat at the flick of a switch, paved roads, RECYCLING! clean air, nature. I'm sure there is much more...

8. Healthy family.

9. I am so thankful to my wonderful friends for all their love and support, thankful to the people who are becoming wonderful friends and opening their lives to us... so generous.

10. I am thankful for Eggnog and that it's only available once a year!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
(go ducks)

Day and Night

Day and Night by Lina Lou

Here is the 1st in the game of the shoes :) Yes, it all starts there.

Ooooo... it's a shoe, a what?, a shoe

a what? a shoe... ooohhhh a shoe. Remember that silly little word game. I think someone started it on a car trip when we were kids. Then promptly grew to regret it. (Tangent alert!)
AnywaySSS, had a nice quick trip up to PDX to hang out with my sweet friends. Thanks Karin for being a great hostess! I now officially have a new favorite place for my favorite breakfast... the Petite Provance at 48th (ish) and Division. Eggs Benedict with ham on a croissant with the sauce AND they gave me sour cream on my potato pancakes... what's not to like? The service was nice, the bakery was lovely. I wish I reeeeely wish I had my camera with me this trip. If I had, I would have taken pictures of...


1. The glorious sunset on Friday evening


2. The picture perfect scene of the green fields dotted with sheep with the beautiful hills in the background and the thin layer of fog that hung just above the ground making everything look like a fairy tale or the Shire

3.The big fat orange harvest moon in all it's fullness

4. The long snaking line of traffic, red tail light sitting on the I-205 freeway at a dead stop, and the man who peed on the side of the road in front of God and everyone.

5. My sweet friends whom I love.


6. Kimberly in her percacet induced hilarity.


7. The 4 amigas at our table in PP (mentioned above)

8. The cream puff shaped like a swan!!

9. The funny coasters at that cool store across the street
AND

10. The super cool shoes that I came dangerously close to purchasing because they were SUPER cute and cheap, but ultimately put back because as much as I really wanted them, they weren't comfortable and didn't really fit right... rats! Did I mention they were super DUPER cool. Yes, I definitely would have taken a picture of them. So in tribute to fab shoes... here is another visit to polyvore and the magic land of shoe heaven. mmmmmmm...
Cheers

Marching on by Lina Lou

Leafy Fireworks

The fall colors this year have been more spectacular than I can remember in a long time. Last year it rained fast and hard and the leaves all came off quickly. But this year the season has been unusually warm for this time of the year and truly awe inspiring. A few weekends ago I drove around town (with the lower gas prices being what they are, funny what I now think of as "low")and took pictures of the gorgeous colors. Here's a peak although it just doesn't translate... it was far more beautiful in person. Glad I got a few shots though. Natures Fireworks!!

I'm obsessed... somebody stop me!

Bohemian Rhapsody by Lina Lou

This one's for you Janice

My best shot at dressing like an apostle thru polyvore... hahaha



Angels & Apostles by Lina Lou

This is a repost of my new favorite site... thanks for the comments. I'm trying to figure out how to post this like "diVinci"... once again techno challenged.


Shades of Fall by Lina Lou

The Secret Life of Bees

Well tonight ended up being a nice little treat. After coming home and grumbling about getting ready for a party, I quickly swept the floor, vacuumed, shoved all the papers that collect everywhere under the bed and zipped out the door as the first college boy arrived. I was going to go to the Cuban art exhibit, but found myself drawn to the cinema instead to see the film version of one of my favorite books "The Secret Life of Bees"... it did NOT disappoint. Queen Latifa IS the queen and I loved her in this movie (I love her in most all of her movies). Everyone did an outstanding job and it stayed right on track with the book. This story is so messy... it is terrible and beautiful, tragic and heroic, so full of imagery and realism. I felt the same way coming out of the theater as I did after finishing the book... not a feeling I really have words for but something like satified... inspired... moved.
I also recommend taking a kleenex... or 2.

The experiment

Am I allowed to post more than once in one day? Is there a blogger's rule about that? Well, here is a little collage experiment I have been working on... I was testing out a few techniques and also seeing how my stamps would turn out... I think I like it, which is kind of unusual for my perfectionist self. There's hope after all :)

Dia de los muertos & stuff

I know I'm a little late... but I wanted to go on record as saying Halloween this year was pretty cool. Wearing my feathered witchy hat at work and then dressing up and getting ready was actually more fun than the actual party we went to, but it was all very liberating and a way to let off steam in the tense political climate that was brewing (no witchy pun intended). I grew up in a very strict conservative household that held the view that anything having to do with halloween was evil, wicked, satanic, and not even to be acknowledged. But early on, when it was still okay to look like a ghost, I have such great memories of coming home with a bag full of candy and sitting in the dark with my grandma and watching out the window as kids dressed as all sorts of things came to the door, then watching my dad scare the pants off the bigger kids... it was so great!! Then we became "enlightened" (which might be code for uptight) and all of halloween was evil, but better yet, we didn't stop celebrating we just called it a "harvest party" instead of halloween, and dressed up like the apostles or angels... hahaha isn't that what religion has always done?
Which is why I was sooooo elated and liberated to have stumbled upon the experience of dia de los muertos (day of the dead). The real dia de los muertos celebrates and honors ancestors that have passed on in the circle of life to death, and the grinning skeletons are a way to demystify death and say "see it's not so scarey and bad, it happens to everyone and it's okay". It made my dressing up like scarey stuff okay again, and a way to let loose and have some good old fashioned fun.
Truth be told I did feel a little like I was treading on someones grave, or at any moment going to get a healthy tongue lashing about the dangers of the satanic world... sorry dad, I hope you're not reading my blog today.