January...so long!

Heading into work yesterday, Ron and I drove through several patches of varying degrees of fog. It occurred to me that the entire month of January has been like that for me.

When I was younger, I didn’t care for January because it was such a letdown after all the excitement of the holidays. Now that I am older and wiser, the month has become a much welcomed return to sanity and relief from all decorating, shopping, cooking, parties and Christmas music. This is the first time I can remember getting annoyed at the sound of “Jingle Bells.” January is the beginning of a new year and a chance for a fresh start. It’s supposed to be like the first day of a new school year with freshly sharpened pencils and clean blank pages in your brand new notebook.

Not this year. 2011 has been disappointing in almost every way I can think of so far. Work has been challenging on many levels - nothing insurmountable, but challenging nonetheless. Several friends are experiencing personal crises with health, lost family members, and tragedy. I ache for them. And then, the shooting in Tucson…such tragedy – such sadness.

Personally, I have been fighting a cold/flu for over 3 weeks now. I ‘lost’ a week of work lying in bed and I missed a trip to Texas to see family and meet the new baby. Antibiotics, Mucinex D and nasal spray have restored my daily functioning and sleep has given me some energy, but my house is a mess. Christmas decorations have been pushed into two rooms of the house, but there are ornaments to box and trees to take apart and store. This requires garage cleaning and reorganizing – something I have not had the energy to handle.

And if all that hasn’t been enough, I haven’t gotten to see my Wild Thing since New Year’s. He’s probably another inch taller! I have really missed him.

After I post this entry, I am going to see what I can to do ‘get my house in order’ because Wild Thing is coming over tonight. There’s nothing like the energy of a 4 year old to brighten the day! Looking outside I see clouds and it looks cold. I’m going to do my best not to let that slow me down today. The extended forecast says that it’s going to be sunny all next week. That will be a great way to start a new month. Almost smells like freshly sharpened pencils….

So, good-bye, January! Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

Relapse is just a sneeze away...

I'm so tired of being sick...I still have no energy. What gives? I guess part of it has to do with the fact that I'm not 16 anymore. The older you get, the slower you heal, right? Wish there was a magic pill.

Somewhere - Last Friday, Ron and I took Beckie to see a movie that she really wanted to see. It's a small film directed by Sophia Coppola. It's about an actor who has lost himself somewhere along the way. The best part of the film was watching the relationship between the main character and his 11 year old daughter. Otherwise, it seemed pretty self indulgent. The first 15 minutes or so of the movie shows the monotony of the guy's life - I was bored and just waiting for something BIG to happen...waiting...waiting...didn't happen. Beckie really enjoyed the movie, but Ron and I not so much. Ron says, "The window into the life of this actor was exactly as I expected it to be, so I learned nothing from this film." We all agree that Elle Fanning was the best part of the movie.

Ok, that's it for now. Hope to feel well enough to see a movie next weekend. Strike that! Hope I have the energy to spend some time with Viliamu. I miss that little monster!

Sick Time Over!

Unbelievably after 3 days home from work - I AM STILL SICK!! I really babied myself, drank hot tea, ate soup and crackers and napped as often as I could. What gives?! I HAVE TO GO TO WORK TOMORROW - no ifs, ands or buts - really. So I will stay in my office as much as possible and catch up on all my paperwork. No choice.

So I finished watching the Firefly series by watching "Serenity." Loved it! Have renewed my interest in all things Joss Whedon so, next up was the "Dollhouse" series. Made it through 5 episodes of season 1. When I finish that series I think I will go back to Buffy and start at the beginning.

It will be nice to get back to work - I do feel like I was becoming fused to my mattress. Wish me luck!

Sick Time

I should start by saying that I am writing this while under the influence of cold medicine, so, yes, I am feeling a bit loopy. This is my second sick day from work - I had no choice - no energy, coughing, sore throat, runny nose. I can't decide what's worse - the cold or the medicine.

I don't like taking sick days; well, I don't like being sick and then being forced to stay home from work. You never know what will happen at work when you're home and who knows what kind of mess there will be to clean up when you get back. I shouldn't worry about that, though. I have a great team at work. I do feel incredibly guilty about staying home, so much so that it's hard to really rest.

I've been distracting myself with movies and old tv shows. So far I have watched one documentary called "Exit Through the Gift Shop," three movies and 10 episodes of "Firefly." During the previous weekend, Ron and I went to a couple movies as well. Here is a quick rundown...


True Grit - the remake of the old John Wayne movie. Jeff Bridges was very good, Matt Damon was very good and the girl who played Mattie Ross was just excellent. The cinematography was beautiful. It's been awhile since I saw the original, but I have to say that John Wayne was the first and the best Rooster.


Blue Valentine - Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in a very sad and realistic story of a couple through their courtship, marriage and breakup. The acting was good, but the movie was too real, too sad, too depressing.

Chaos Theory - Ryan Reynolds in a small film about a man who loses everything that's important to him. I really enjoy Ryan Reynolds and he did a good job, but I'm not surprised that I'd never heard of it before.

Exit Through the Gift Shop - a very interesting documentary about Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash, a street artist. It includes footage of Banksy, and Invader and Shepard Fairey - all amazing street artists. Shepard Fairey is the artist credited with the Obama poster... I really enjoyed this movie.

Breakfast with Scot - a small Canadian film about a gay couple who inherit an orphaned 11 year old boy with flamboyant tendencies. It was a sweet little film, but nothing really memorable.

Firefly - The Series - There are only 14 episodes of this tv show. I had heard about it for years and I used the sick time and Netflix to find out what it's all about. The verdict is that I like it. I'm about 11 episodes in and I'm really sorry that this show didn't catch on. After I finish watching the rest of the episodes, I will watch "Serenity."

I'm feeling a little better, so I may go back to work tomorrow. Or I may stay home and make sure that I'm really well...and watch a few more movies....

A Moment of Silence

Instead of another post about movies or any of my trivial observations, I want to use this space to send my condolences and healing thoughts to the people in Arizona and everyone who lost a loved one in the senseless tragedy in Tucson yesterday.

It's always a rude awakening to be reminded how scary and brutal a place the world can be...

My wish for 2011...peace...

My Year at the Movies - 2010's Best and Not so Great

It’s time again for my summary for the year in film – 2010. I know that I missed quite a few movies this year, so my lists are based only on what I saw. I really hate that so many studios release movies at the very last minute of the year so they will be considered during award season. I have several movies to see before the nominations come out, so I will possibly revise my lists once I’ve seen them.

Laura’s Top 10 FAVORITES
These are the ones that I definitely recommend – most of them I would watch again - some of them I have seen several times already (Toy Story 3)!

10. The Fighter
9. Kick Ass
8. Black Swan
7. Harry Potter
6. The King’s Speech
5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Inception
3. The Kids are All Right
2. Social Network
1. Toy Story 3

My least favorite movies (in no particular order)
some of these were so disappointing because they had great trailers or great special effects and great actors in them whose acting just wasn’t so great- bleh…

Extraordinary Measures
Morning Glory
How Do You Know
The Last Song
Sex and the City 2
The Last Airbender
Valentine’s Day
The Bounty Hunter
Eat Pray Love
Iron Man 2

Guilty Pleasures
Won’t great any real awards, but were fun or really satisfying to watch

Easy A
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Eclipse
Red
Salt
Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Lightning Thief
Dear John
Letters to Juliet
She’s Out of my League
How to Train Your Dragon

There were a lot of movies that didn't make any of my lists and I'm sorry about that. Also, I feel like I missed a lot of movies last year. I promise to do my best to see the important movies in 2011. Now that Branden is becoming part of the movie industry, I will try to do more to educate myself about movies and I will definitely try to see more documentaries and independent films. Remember, these lists are based on my opinion - and when it comes down to it, just who the hell am I?

A Fresh Start

January 1st is like the first day of a new school year - brand new notebooks with clean pages and freshly sharpened pencils - endless possibilities ahead. Some would say that it's a day for resolutions...and what do you know about that?

I just went back to what I wrote on January 1st, 2010. I'm still laughing at myself. What's funny is that when I was thinking about what to write here today, a couple of the resolutions that I made last year (and didn't quite keep) were on my list again today. So this year, I think I will review what I wrote last year and see how I did. Here goes...

"IN 2010, I RESOLVE....
1. ...to be more mindful of the things I eat - less junk and red meat - and to cook more and eat out less - in general, to take better care of myself - which also means being less sedentary at home on the weekends - using the walking path by my house once each weekend if it's not raining. This goes for me AND Ron!"

Wow. Really failed miserably on this one. In the interest of real self-improvement I will try this one again.

"2. ...to be more organized at work and at home - this means keeping my desk clean at work and keeping chores from piling up at home. This includes downsizing by cleaning out my craft room and garage."

OK. This is not looking good. My organization has not improved much at work and to be honest, my intentions are good at home, but it hasn't happened yet. I guess I'd better keep this one on the list.

"3. ...to keep in contact more frequently with family and friends."

Thanks to facebook, this one has been much easier to keep, but there is still room for improvement.

"4. ...to read more and to write here at least once a week."

Nope. Didn't do this either.

"5. ...to be true to myself - no more hair color...really. What you see is who I am."

OK - so I didn't keep any of my resolutions from last year. Absolute and total failure. I am hopeful, though. Maybe this will be the year that I start taking better care of myself and get more organized. I will get some book recommendations and carve out some time for reading and writing something other than work-related material. I don't know about the hair color thing, though. I'm coming up on my 49th birthday in April. Sometimes a girl needs all the help she can get!

Happy New Year!

Still in the process of finalizing my resolutions for this year. In the meantime I will tell you what I thought of the movies I saw in the last couple days.

The King's Speech - I love period films and historical dramas. This completely lived up to my expectations. Colin Firth gave an excellent portrayal of King George VI - will be disappointed if he is not nominated for an Oscar. I gained some interesting insight on the royal family from watching this. I recommend this movie highly if you like historical dramas.

Black Swan - Wow! I was expecting something intense and different and I wasn't disappointed. Natalie Portman was very convincing as the high strung perfectionist ballerina with a few serious psychiatric issues. Very interesting - I have to say that I liked it - I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but if you are tired of the same old movie routine - this is very different. I do want to say that the only thing that really bothered me was Barbara Hershey's plastic surgery. I am so tired of seeing talented actresses who have ruined their natural beauty because they are afraid of their wrinkles. Makes me sad.

The Fighter - Based on a true story - love these movies. All the actors were authentic - very good! Not a fan of boxing, so the scenes where the guys are getting punched in the face and spraying the canvas with blood and sweat are hard for me to watch. But the relationships were complicated and real. I think there will be 2 supporting actor award nominations for this movie - Christian Bale for playing Dick Eklund the crackhead brother and for Melissa Leo for playing the mother. Good stuff. Definitely go see this movie.

How Do You Know - So, how do you know when a movie with actors you like by a director you usually like is going to be crappy? Unfortunately, you have to sit through it. I didn't seek out reviews on this one before we went. I soooo wanted to like this movie. Love Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and thought they might be the next Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan - boy, was I disappointed. There are a few funny lines and the characters are mostly likeable, but it didn't really go anywhere. The only reason I'm not more upset about the quality of this movie is that we only paid matinee price. My advice - don't bother even when it comes out on DVD.