Travel, New Job, New Year, Movies and Smoothies

Much delayed, much delayed, but here I am! After a really lovely New Years featuring an insane amount of sleep, a Euchre tournament, reading and lots of loafing, I started the transition from my old job to my new one by traveling to California for training.

I love how hotels have made the move to offer some in-room creature comforts. A cup of tea in a hotel room goes a long way towards making this homebody feel cozy.

Picked up some of the best cheese in the world. I haven't opened it up to eat since it spent the night at the Des Moines airport while I was stranded in Chicago, so I hope its okay.

Can't we talk about smoothies? I don't really like them, but I do like Naked Juice. Couldn't I just puree all these things in our blender (its powerful) and let is drain through cheesecloth? I don't want to buy any more gadgets, plus I've heard juicers are a nightmare to clean. 

That said, I did make this smoothie a few weeks ago. It was really good.

Last but not least, movies. I'm so disappointed by the movies that are out right now and in the running for awards season. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we saw the Muppet Movie (loved it, Ma Nah Ma Nah), Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (very good) and The Descendants (excellent). It just seems like there should be a crush of movies to see and there's not much of anything. 

We did see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy this past weekend. It was pretty good, very old school. I found my new alias, Benedict Cumberbatch. Isn't that the best name ever?

Random Things, New Books, Pictures, etc.

One of the most compelling This American Life stories I can remember is being made into a movie with Paul Rudd. Mistakes Were Made is a tale about cryogenics gone wrong. Its both creepy and totally engaging. I can totally see him being able to fan out and further the delusion of the main character in the story.

I've been digging on yogadownload.com lately. They have free 20 minute sessions you can download onto your phone or iPod, plus full length ones you can pay for. I find 20 minutes of yoga is a nice complement to a long walk or cardio of some type on the days I'm not doing a formal class or personal training.

I've taken quite a few yoga classes, so I know the poses, etc., but the site is also great for beginners with guides and other helpful tools.

My love for Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes knows no bounds, so I was especially excited to learn the authors have a new book coming out in October about Artisan Pizza and Flatbread.

 Next three book club picks: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Room and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

This Weekend

Grief is a powerful motivator. I've never been one of those people who has to flit around and do stuff to keep from actually thinking and feeling about their life. That said, the incredibly long and ever present to-do list for our house and yard was a welcome distraction this weekend.

In addition to vacuuming, doing dishes, cleaning out the fridge and picking up, I also:

• Fixed a picture that has been broken for 1 1/2 years and rehung it
• Did a load of wash that has been stanking up our basement for months
• Threw away shoes that smelled liked the inside of a glue factory
• Crazy glued the battery hatch on our hand drill
• Sharpened knives
• Put random crap in the basement
• Tried to hang a basket in the stairwell to the basement to hold shoes and sunscreen, only to be stymied by a brick wall
• Composted
• Hit the grocery store, Target, J Crew, Ann Taylor Loft and Forever 21 (what up, retail therapy?)
• Bought a bunch of glazed pots and scouted at Earl May

But, the piece de resistance is a chore 4 1/2 years in the making. This may not seem like much to the untrained eye, but I weeded the hell out of our yard, including this patch of perennials which grows into a jungle faster than you can say your name. Every year I say I'm going to tame it, but this year it is mine. I own this.

With any new project comes an insane amount of research. I'm planning on moving some of my herbs over to take advantage of the kick ass sunlight this area gets. Which means planter box on a stand googling.

Top, bottom. Neither of these are quite what I want, I really need to do some antique shop perusing to find what I'm looking for.

Sweet William! So pretty!. From here.

I also went on a Real Housewives of NYC bender, watching 4 episodes in succession. I also caught up on Oprah (these final shows have been kind of boring, especially the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts one. Boring. Nobody wants to see Oprah laugh hysterically at things that aren't that funny or revel in inside jokes.) Saturday night we went to see Bridesmaids.

It was just what I needed. It was funny and heartfelt. No thinking, just enjoying. Plus, if you were the person who had a lot of friends get married before you or had a lot of pals with long-terms beaus while you were the single lady, then you will feel this movie. I liked it.

Yay for The Help

Can't wait!

The King's Speech

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Its not often you go to a film and it is:

• Funny
• Educational
• Gripping
• Thoughtful
• An honest reflection of devoted marriage (in a way that doesn't dog either partner and make them seem less than for their devotion)

I adored everything about it it: the actors and acting, the story, the set design and the way it made me feel. Truly a film anyone could, and should, see.

Black Swan

Yes, it was creepy, but I liked it. And my post-movie googling made me a smarter lady: Black Swan Theory.

Movie Weekend

A typical year for us goes like this: Jan-April/May, home quite a bit with some travel here and there. May-November, travel a lot. December, less travel but making up for seven months worth of being gone for at least part of each weekend. This was my third weekend at home in a row and Anthony's second. Big sigh of relief.

Saturday was one of those cold and sunny winter days. Personally, I love days like that. Micky and I went to the school at the end of our street to play fetch. We do this quite a bit, but hadn't since it had snowed. I tried my hardest to get a shot of both of us.

But he was way too focused on the ball I had in my hand. I wanted a picture of the snow face he gets when he plays fetch outside. His eyebrows get covered, as well as his whiskers and nose.

The light was perfect-o.

I was jammin', man.

Besides doing some baking and last minute shopping (ugh, Target was the absolute worst on Saturday afternoon. Seriously people, do you think about Christmas shopping at all during the rest of the month? Why do you have to shop in groups of four? I realize you think walking slowly and contemplating everything is a delightful way to shop, but I actually had stuff to do), we watched a few good movies.

I watched The Kids Are All Right by myself. I liked it. Well done.

I loved Pirate Radio for many reasons: British humor, excellent music, fun premise and it is essentially a campy cousin to one of my favorite movies, Almost Famous.

Lastly, we went to the see The Fighter with friends on Saturday night. I didn't have any expectations and if anything, I thought it would be more sad/heartbreaking than it was. It was really good. Much more about family dynamics than the actual boxing. Also, the sisters (see above) are a riot. A truer Beantown depiction than many movies made recently.

Pictures from here.

Water for Elephants Movie Trailer

I loved the book, now I can't wait for the movie after seeing this.

This Week in Yays

Lots of goodies, especially since some are super chill zen inspired things I starred while on vacation.

Things Organized Neatly!!!!!! Be still my heart. Finding this website made my day, week, month and year. Looking at these pictures quiets everything in my head and make me so happy. I AM OBSESSED WITH THINGS ORGANIZED NEATLY. Found via AT.

Good words and articles found via Abbey Goes Design Scouting.

Living in Big via Design*Sponge. I watched this recently (I think its been on HBO lately) and it was such a blast from my childhood past.

Pressed flower madonnas via Pure Style Home. Never heard of them before, but reminded me of when I used to press flowers between sheets of wax paper with an iron and give them as gifts. Read the sweet post for summer nostalgia. Wouldn't take much to make one: flowers, leaves and some glass ready for the recycling bin.

Getting out of a rut via Marta Writes How to Series. I say go on vacation, but this post had some other encouraging ideas.

Last but not least, a yay and nay wrapped up into one. I think this stowaway tub is great for organization purposes, but I wouldn't love being able to see the handles and drawers. What thinks you? Found via AT.

Art, Food, Movie, Audiobook Yays

Yay for:

DILL. We love dill. Our dill plant is no more, so I had to buy some at the grocery store. YUM!

Caitlin McGauley Illustrations. Found via DesignMom. I love them all. Is there anything better than watercolor?

Devil in the White City audiobook. Got this for our road trip. I've long wanted to read the book and I've heard it is very gripping, so I hope it was a good choice. Also need to find some podcast options beyond This American Life and Sports Guy. Any thoughts on that?

Inception. How good was Inception? We saw it a few nights ago and I thought it was great. Smart, thoughtful, well cast and didn't pander like the audience is dumb. Ellen Page surprised me, probably since I mostly think of her as Juno McGruff. Photo from here.

This Week in Yays

Surprisingly, by putting out to the world how cranky I am, I feel better. So just yays.

Glue advice from the This to That (found via How About Orange). How to glue stuff to other stuff. Image from here.

I just love this. Nothing more, nothing less. Obviously, its the pillow that ties it all together for me. And that mirror with the shelves reminds me just ever so slightly of my freshman year dorm room. From AT.

Yay for reusing stuff. Yay to cute reused stuff. From Design*Sponge.

One of my favorite books, The Pillars of the Earth, is going to be a miniseries on Starz, starting July 23. Being a favorite stems from the fact that I read it on trains through the Italian and Swiss countryside, but you don't have to read it to enjoy this sweeping drama. So excited.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Lately I've been feeling like this.

So I've been trying to do this.



Which always makes me laugh.