My TGIF Laugh for the Day:

Who can tell me WHERE this movie clip came from?

It's my giggle provider on this crazy, hectic AM!

BB and our sing along adventure!

Once again, life continues (does it ever stop?) to be a continuous blur for our family. Of course, the time to take the pictures I've taken, upload them and blog about them is nil, so I'm quickly posting these.

Sunday, we had a fantastic day!

We found a zulily voucher for 1/2 off the Build-A-Bear experience, so both CJ and I purchased them for the girls' "Valentine's Gift"from mom and dad.

They were stoked, to say the least! LOTS of squeals and giggles and talk about "if you don't, you won't get to go to Build-a-Bear!"

So Sunday morning, we packed them up and hit the MOA.

We got to the shop and both girls wasted no time in picking out what they wanted to "stuff".

Then, they picked out a heart for the inside of their animal, and here they are, listening to the girl put them through the motions of "waking up" their hearts.

They had to rub them on their hearts, their eyes, their ears, jump up and down 3 times (to give them heart a heart beat, you know), etc. It was so fun to listen to them giggle.

They then stuffed their bears (and Keifer got a "cotton candy" smelly thing inside hers).

And we had 2 very happy girls, who haven't let go of their bear/rabbits YET!

Here, Kyla greets her stuffed bear, and names her Rosalina!

Keifer with Chelsey! She even picked out the spelling of her name!

 Afterwards, we met some friends of ours for the Frozen movie Sing A Long! OMG! Who was more excited, mom or the girls? Probably me. Yep. Here is S. and my girls, prior to the movie. Lots of debates at the theater about WHO was going to sit by who, with S.'s little brother not being happy he couldn't sit by Keifer! LOL. It was so much better for me the 2nd time around, and I sang along with all the songs, too! So magical and the true love between sisters? Well, I had tears when the entire theater (and the girls on either side of me) broke out in diva behavior with the singing, as it was so SWEET! And of course, tears at the end, when the sisters are embracing. HERE is a hilarious recap that I liken myself to!

He's making a wish, Checking it twice

The day after Thanksgiving is typically a busy day for shoppers. However, we found in the past that this isn't always so in Duluth at the Mall.

 

Two years ago, we walked right up to see Santa! However, Kyla had passed out, from a busy day and night! LOL

 

This year, we arrived around 1:30 to visit the big guy in Red, but he was out feeding the reindeer. We waited patiently (not) and were FIRST in line to greet him at 2:00 when he returned.

We heard the jingle of his bells and were SO excited! Kyla was literally bouncing on her toes!

 Ironically, Nana Dian had just told the girls all about the Elf Herman, who visits homes and peeks into windows to watch all the girls and boys, to see if they are behaving. He is Santa's biggest helper.

No, he's not an Elf on the Shelf. He's been around since I WAS little.

 

Santa told the girls he had heard reports from his helper Elf that overall, they had been pretty good this year! Keifer requested an Easy Bake oven from him, and he asked her if she would bake him some treats.

 

Kyla thought about it, and decided she wants a new American Girl Princess doll. Keifer had told her NOT to request another Barbie, which we have (seemingly) a thousand of.  Kyla was a bit off her game, after hearing that, and so she asked for a Princess. 

 

They were pretty quiet with Santa, which is very unusual!

 

Then, we posed for a picture, and it took about three attempts to get one where Kyla wasn't blinking. Our little one is always either 1) not looking at the camera or 2) blinks and has her eyes shut.  So this is the final product!

Our girls look so tall and old (sob).

 

Afterwards, we loaded up the van with Nana and Daddy and hit the movie, Frozen, which Mama loved, and the girls didn't have much to say (unusual again!).  I loved the theme and the music....the  music was great (I loved Idina Menzel).  Cousin Aubrie and Auntie Barb joined us there.

 

After the movie, we visited Bentleyville, a MUST SEE if you ever visit Duluth. Aubrie, Auntie and then Auntie Becky joined us there, as well.  This was the first year that we didn't freeze our tushies off during the walk-through!

Pics to come of that!

Meeting CARS!

Thank Goodness I've started listening to Talk Radio these days! Yesterday, on my drive to get my hair freshly colored, I heard that the characters from "Cars" and the upcoming "Cars 2" would be posing for a meet and greet at our beloved MOA for one day only!
EEKS! I thought! Keifer adores watching the movie cars, and would LOVE to meet Lightening, up close and personal!
So, after I had my hair colored and trimmed up (love it, fresh red and copper), I picked up the girls, and raced over to the MOA. Luckily, the lines weren't so bad,and we waited about 20 minutes to "meet" the new character Finn, Lightening, and our favorite, Tow Mater.

No, we didn't really "MEET" them, per say. They were just regular size cars that started up, but didn't talk. LOL. But I had Keifer all excited to meet them. She was really excited to see them, but her excitement pretty much waned after waiting in line. She posed for the free pictures, and as you can see, Kyla really could've cared less, as well! But it was a fun experience, anyways.

After the posing, I told Keifer if she continued to behave, we'd go eat dinner together (as daddy was stuck at a computer programming workshop), and then we'd walk around the Park (aka amusement park), and look at all the ride. We enjoyed a highly overpriced Mexican dinner together, at a restaurant that overlooked the park - it kept Keifer entertained throughout the dinner (watching roller coasters through the large glass window next to our booth), and we did then enjoy a stroll through the Park. Both girls held a hand of mine, and they both giggled and swooned over the loud and noisy rides. Kyla even started talking to the Dora statue!
I told Keifer she did such an excellent job of behaving for me this time, that perhaps me and her daddy would take the girls after daycare on Friday for a "rides" visit! Let's hope the good behavior continues!

The big REVEAL: 2 Truths and 1 Lie

Ok, I'm a day late, and always a dollar short, but here is my BIG REVEAL in the 2 Truths and 1 Lie blog carnival!! Did you play along? Did you guess RIGHTLY SO?? :)

~ I once played the violin on live TV in Duluth, and the show's creator was Duluth's current Mayor's father.

This is TRUE!!! I was in 6th grade, and it was my first year taking Violin lessons. The small group of us from my school played on an afternoon variety type live show that an entertainer named Don Ness, Sr. televised and hosted. His son, Don(ny) Ness and brother also appeared in skits on that same show. I later attended Junior High with Donny, and he's now the Mayor of Duluth, which is amazing!

~ I appeared in Peter Frampton's home movies, as I was mistaken by his young daughter as their nanny aboard a snorkeling charter boat in the Keys.

This is also TRUE! In 2000, over Easter break (long weekend) I took a trip with a then boyfriend to the Florida Keys. We stayed in Islamorado, but snuck into the Cheeca Lodge, and went out on a snorkeling excursion with a group. The leader of the group informed us that Peter Frampton and his family would also be on the boat, and they were. While coming onto the boat after being in the water, Peter's then 3 year old daughter Mia ran up to me, and mistook me for the Nanny. You see, the Nanny and I resembled each other very much so, and we both had on black bikinis! The girl asked me why I had a tattoo on my back, and when did I get that, while laughing. During the whole time, Peter was actually using his video camera to record this, and then came up and introduced himself to me, and apologized for his daughter. Of course, that was fine with me, but the daughter was upset that she got confused and he had to comfort her! Come to find out now, she is apparently an actress! :) My little brush with fame in the "real world".

~ I also appeared as an extra in the movie Iron Will, that was filmed in Duluth in 1994.

FALSE. LIE. I, in fact, did NOT appear as an extra for the movie, but knew several people that supposedly did show up to be in some group scenes. During that time, I was attending college and would've loved to be in some of the movie! A friend of mine - her back yard can be seen in one racing scene in the woods, though! :)

TGIF: Matt Damon Does Matthew McConaughey -

I came across this video clip after watching a clip of Matt Damon on Letterman the other night.

Me, being a lover of Matthew McHottee, decided it was funny enough to share with you!

:)

Enjoy!

Crazy

The weekend was crazy, as Daddy was gone with Uncle, whooping it up downtown St. Paul at the college hockey tournies. Mama stayed home with K1 and K2, and Papa and Nana came down to help out. It was a fun weekend, but very busy! Mama also got her hair colored and cut, and we spent the rest of Saturday at the MOA playing with our family friends, which you'll see soon in pictures.

Yesterday, when Daddy got home, mama escaped for some "down time" and saw Crazy Heart. Very well done movie, and although it's not a pick-me-up type of movie, I really enjoyed it. I also (surprisingly to myself) really loved the soundtrack.

Meanwhile, at home, Daddy was not lucky, as K1 refused to nap, but he was a trooper so mama could go enjoy a movie and do some errands.

If you haven't seen Crazy Heart, try it. Jeff Bridges did an amazing job, and his Oscar win was well-deserved.

Sundance: a mommy-cation

"Mama, I not happy. I was so sad when you was going to the airport"

This is what I heard from my angel girl after I took a much-needed Mommy vacation away to Park City, Utah last month. Did I feel some guilt when Keifer said this to me? Yep. Did I feel like my heart would break when I left her and her baby sister that morning of my departure, knowing I wouldn't see them for another 3 days? Yep. But we all survived and it was a very joyous reunion when I got home.

What an amazing time I had, visiting my friend Michelle and her family. It was a month ago, the first weekend of the Sundance film festival. I originally visited Michelle and the festival 5 years ago -which seems like a blink of an eye ago. At that time, I was still trying for a baby with CJ, and we had miles to go before we'd have our two angel girls. Michelle had just had her baby, Mia, and now Mia is 5 years old, and a big sister to Lila, age 3! My, how times have changed.

I left on a Thursday afternoon, and came home on a Sunday. The festival opened the weekend I visited, and Michelle had a hard time getting tickets to many of the movies we wanted to see. She did, however, manage to get some tickets to a Shorts premiere, and on Friday morning, we were lucky enough to watch a Documentary called The Fence by Rory Kennedy, and observe her do a Question and Answer session after the premiere. She was really a cool chick, and I highly recommend her movie, which will be out this summer on HBO. Watch it! It is a must see!

It was a shorts documentary that was shown in conjunction with a Spike Jonze short, called I'm Here, about Robot Love. That one was a hard one to explain, other than it has to do with giving yourself to the person you love until you are nothing but a shell of yourself. There were two other, um, odd shorts, that were also shown, called LogoRama and Seeds of the Fall.

Rory Kennedy answering questions after her documentary The Fence was shown

Michelle and I were so excited to see the Spike Jonze short, but alas, he didn't show for the Question and Answer session after. Poop. Oh well, it was fun just to get out at a film premiere at SUNDANCE! and be in the company of a beautiful friend that I rarely get to see.

We picked up Mia from school, and then I spent the afternoon lazing around: reading and napping. Heaven. My favorite things: sleeping and reading. Michelle and I went out for a nice dinner that night at a really cool place, and then hit a nearby bar, hoping to see some celebrities. Again, we didn't see anyone, but it would've been pretty difficult to see anyone while traipsing along the sidewalks in downtown Park City. The snow was falling heavily, it was dark out and literally everyone was covered from head to toe in warm winter gear. We *think* we may have seen Charlotte Gainsbourg, who may have been playing guitar and singing inside an art shop that had been converted into a private party. We received a free CD of hers outside the said art shop, which makes it more likely it could've been her (we could see inside the windows). Michelle and I enjoyed our drinks together at the bar, talking and giggling away. What a fun night. We cabbed it home in the white out snow conditions, and I slept like a baby that night.

Saturday morning. Michelle had booked massages for us to enjoy. We did so, ahhhh heavenly, and then we putzed around a local TJ Maxx and grabbed a Starbux (chai tea for me!). We hung out with her girls in the afternoon, and then we traveled back over to the Eccles Theater,w here we had seen the shorts movies the day before. We went to pick up some insanely overpriced Sundance merchandise (I got my standard hat which I buy on every vacation, and I also picked up a long sleeve Tshirt). I later read, in People magazine, that we literally had just missed Bradley Cooper arriving at the same theater we had just been at, for a movie that he was starring in. Oh MY! Had I seen Bradley Cooper, I probably would've keeled over in shock! LOL.

Michelle and I then picked up some Chinese food to bring home for dinner. Afterwards, Michelle and boogied our bodies with her girls to the many songs of Laurie Berkner and laughed until our stomachs hurt. This was good times.

Lila & Mia dancing to I know a Chicken (and laying their eggs!)

Me, Michelle, Lila, Mia and their doggie, Lucy. A sad note: poor Lucy had a something wrong with her leg while I was there, and ended up having some serious medical complications that week. Only 3 days after I left, poor Lucy, 7 years old, passed away at their vets. I was devastated to hear the news, and I feel so bad for Michelle and her family! Hugs- RIP, Lucylulu- the sweetest Bull Terrier around! :(

Me loving on those beautiful girls! (and Lucy!)

Of course, the entire time I was there, I was phoning home and CJ was phoning me, about our girls. We were able to Skype each other on Friday afternoon, so Keifer could see me. She had a difficult time with Mommy not being home, and was so confused that I was gone. She kept talking about me and how I was visiting my friend's house, and CJ told me she even made my friend a "present" (essentially wrapping pair in a ball!). The first night I was gone, when CJ arrived home with the girls, and Keifer saw my car in the garage, she asked him, "did mommy walk to the airport?". Because really, how else did I get there? Makes sense to me. The whole weekend, every time they saw an airplane, Keifer thought I might be on it, and she also told her Daddy that she too, could fly up in the air on a plane, and that she would "hold on tight" up in the air.

I departed for home on Sunday morning, sad to leave a mommy vacation, sad to leave my good friends, but excited beyond belief to be reunited with my love bug girls and my CJ. And my fur kids, of course! I traveled safely through 2 plane rides, and even arrived on time back in my city of residence! It was a wonderful weekend,and one I hope to share again in the future with my family even! The dads and kids can ski, while the moms hang out and enjoy movies!! Or, me and bloggy buddy, Kir, have agreed that someday, we will be visiting Sundance together- soaking up the atmosphere :)

I also have to add, having an IPod touch was so perfect for me! I was able to watch 2 movies on it while traveling, as well as play my beloved games (I have to say I'm addicted to Uno these days!). (*and this was a product endorsement entirely on my own- I have not been paid to say this. I LOVE this thing!!*)

Random holiday viewing from the past 2 weeks

There's no place like HOME for the holidays.......Ahhh. Yes. Home. For the first time in *possibly?* our marriage, CJ and I stayed home for Christmas this year. We want to start some new traditions with our nuclear family, as our girls are getting older, and Keifer is now at the age for the FUN Christmas traditions to begin. We wanted to be able to have her wake up in our house, to see what Santa had dropped off for her in the middle of the night......

I was lucky enough to have the full 2 weeks off at Christmas this year. It varies year to year for me, depending on my school district calendar. Last year, we worked up until the 22 of December. This year, we got the full 2 weeks. Well, we will now work into mid-June, something I'm not too happy about....however, it was good to be home with my girls........

Some random shots of pictures from the past weeks, and a Christmas entry will be next for your viewing pleasure.......

not the best picture, but our tree partially decorated. Keifer and I had so much fun decorating it, listening to satellite radio on the dish (TV), and dancing together in our jammies to the Christmas songs Keifer helping me with dishes....and mama is so excited that our girl fits into JEANS! Up until now, she has had the Buddha belly that did not allow jeans on her body. Now, she can wear them! YAHOO!

so if I'm going to riff about my cute girl's bum in her jeans, of course I'll post a picture of it, right? *cute bum alert*

Someone is finally eating solids consistently and is LOVING her "mixed vegetables" - here she is, trying to talk to us - which means she is sticking out her tongue and making her "mom" sounds! *joy*

Doesn't she just look so TINY in the high chair? *sigh*

but not as tiny as Keifer's baby Kyla- she is really tiny (*K1 insists upon putting HER baby Kyla in all of the real baby Kyla's apparatus*)
Someone is really enjoying nibbling on her toes (or Robeez!)...and really, who doesn't love nekkid baby pics? *sigh again*

Keifer had her favorite babysitter, Lindsey, stay with her all day one day (and Kyla, too) so mom and dad could 1) see a movie (*yay*), 2) finish shopping, and 3) have a dinner date (*Yum*)

Auntie Katie visited-she was home from her current state of Illinois -Keifer enjoyed her visit

Kyla decided that Keifer's bum looked like she wanted Kyla to attempt to take a nibble out of it (ahh, we are so silly, aren't we?)

and Keifer instructed Daddy to take her picture behind her jumping bean of a sister! :)

Yes, our older girl prefers to be practically naked at home!

Mama likes:

I loved movies this summer. Kyla accompanied me to Harry and The Proposal, but Daddy and I got a date night with they hysterical The Hangover. Loved it. I also was able to enjoy Julie & Julia with my childhood friend, Jess, in Duluth (delightful!), and last weekend, The Time Traveler's Wife with Courtney and her friends. I knew The Time Traveler's Wife was iffy- as I loved this book. Usually, I read books and love them, and the movie always feels so distant and shallow, due to the lack of emotions that you feel while reading a book. This was the case for this movie- I felt like I was observing it abut not really enjoying it, if that makes any sense. In any case, if you hadn't read the book, I felt it was a pretty good movie, but again, the book was 100% better in my "book".
I think the best part about coming home from 2 of these movies listed above was Keifer meeting me at the door upon my arrival home, taking my face in her hands, and asking me, "mama, you have fun? You have fun with your friends?". Ahh, yes, baby, I did have fun! Yep, our girl is very into "did you have fun" or "I had fun today, mama!" when we've had a play date that day. My heart sings with joy when she does this! She is too cute.

I'm excited for All About Steve, and hope that is as good as it looks (aka funny), as I now have a huge crush on Bradley Cooper (blush).

I fell in love with cheesy Lifetime movies this summer; many a day, Kyla and I sat together and watched, and this was also true with Live with Regis and Kelly. Huge blushing going on here.

I am almost complete with my 50 book challenge thanks to wonderful, engrossing mysteries by Tess Gerritsen, Karin Slaughter, and other great recommendations from magazines aplenty. I just finished The Help and highly recommend that book to anyone. I find time to read when CJ is driving us somewhere, when I'm in the bathroom (even brushing my teeth!), and before bed, once the girls are settled down.

I was able to finally shop a Trader Joe's here in St Paul- it's on our route home from Baby Ballroom (which K1 and I still attend on Monday nights). Keifer and I fell in love with their mild fresh salsa - the best store bought salsa ever, in my opinion. I also love their honey wheat pretzel sticks and Keifer loves their mango apricot yogurt! Yum.

I've been trying very hard to get back on the workout bandwagon this summer, after finally healing from my Csection. I'm getting back into some good work out routines, and the weight is finally budging, thank goodness. I'm still in that battle of hating the scale, but trying to remember I just had a baby and my body/hips have changed (for the better! I had a baby! Two , in fact!). I met with a personal trainer again last week - a friend of my coworker's - whom I met with last summer and last Fall for a regimen. I love Heather. She evaluated me and came up with some finding that were very interesting about my lower body, and set up a workout routine that builds strength into my body and helps budge that weight.

Apparently, my knees (which have always been awful thanks to Dance line in high school- those knee drops were killers!), are not "tracking' when I do squats like they are supposed to. Not surprisingly, I often have knee pain. Heather also discovered my right side glute is "weak"- it doesn't give my body any support, so when I try to do things with just my right leg, I get all tippy/wobbly and fall over.

Heather came up with an intense strength building workout that also tones muscles, and works on my core and arms. I love her. With this workout alone, I am burning tons of calories and feel like I'm actually doing something to my body for the better. If you are able to meet even one time with a personal trainer (especially on with a degree in it) I recommend it. The best $50 I have ever spent on myself this summer! So, I'm hoping to get back into the size 10 jeans I was wearing pre-PG with Kyla last Fall!

And sadly, I return to the work force tomorrow. I had thought I was OK with it, knowing that Kyla will be in wonderful hands with Elaine, and having big sissy there to watch over her and report about her day. However, I'm once again feeling so sick to my stomach. I had the same feelings when Keifer started daycare. All my love goes into these girls and not being to be with them every day all day is going to be so hard. I just hope I don't throw up in my mouth like I did the day I dropped Keifer off for the first time. Uggg. Work is a good thing- I enjoy my job and helping children and families improve on their skills, etc., but really, the real work is at home, right? *sigh*. Already I'm excited for NEXT summer, when we can really have a great time and do more fun things as a family!

Movies, movies, movies: ahh, for the love of MOVIES

Movies. I love 'em, as you all know. I've even dragged my almost 3 month old to them and plan to do so one more time this summer.

On Friday night, I took my mom to a movie for her birthday - I treated her because I have no idea what else to get the woman who has everything! So, time with her daughter out it was. We saw 500 Days of Summer- a really delightful spin on 500 days of a relationship, shown in no particular order of days. It was enjoyable, and we both gave it a thumbs up. I never realized 1)how attractive Joseph Gordon-Levitt has grown up to be, or 2) how gorgeous blue-eyed Zooey Deschanel is! Who knew the girl from Elf and the guest judge on Top Chef Masters this summer would impress me so much?

Saturday, my parents agreed to watch our girls while CJ and I had a day/night away - sort of a "staycation" if you remember it took place within 10 miles of our home! We went to finally see The Hangover, at the only theater I could find still playing it. OH my goodness, did I giggle and laugh hard at this movie. It was pretty raunchy, especially in the final few minutes, but man was it hilarious! I still giggle out loud when I watch the trailer online. Hee hee.

Then, we enjoyed some yummy margaritas (yum, drinks!) at Outback and I redeemed the free coupon for a free meal there that we had recently received in the mail. Afterwards, we trekked over to a Holiday Inn, where we lounged and caught up on Season 5 of Entourage - we whipped through the majority of the season in no time at all. Yes, this was bliss for the Soupy couple. The final icing on the cake of the evening for me was being able to sleep - pure, uninterrupted sleep for a solid 10 hours straight!! Ahhh, sleep, how I miss thee!

Harry

Kyla, being so small at 2 months, has done remarkably well on all my shopping jaunts and travels to play dates with Keifer. Me being my movie-buff self, I decided to take another chance and take her to another movie in the theater: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Oh, how I enjoyed the Harry books and this one was one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the movie- it was very well done- and Kyla did OK at it. She was extremely fussy about half way through, so I spent half the time swaying her in my arms while standing on the side of the theater, where you enter (so no one could see me, but I could see the screen). Luckily it was a 10AM movie, and only 4 other people were there, in the giant theater.

Of course, dumb mommy realized, my girl had her shots the previous day, so no wonder she was fussy! Doh!

Anyhoo, I've been very lucky to have been able to still enjoy my favorite past time with my girl in my arms!

Kyla's First Movie

Yesterday, mama took Kyla to her favorite place: the movie theater! Yep, I figured, she sleeps through racket all the time, and what better place to enjoy lying on mama's chest, sleeping away while Mama enjoys a new movie she wants to see? Kyla did great! She only squawked a few times at first, but then slept through the whole movie- The Proposal. And, the movie was great! A great romantic comedy, that was hilarious. Betty White and Oscar Nunez (from The Office) were total scene stealers. YAY! Maybe Kyla will have a love of movie theaters some day, too? Perhaps?

Tomorrow, You're only a day away....

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Movie day & more

This weekend, Daddy was gone from Friday AM to Sunday around noon. It was the WCHA -college hockey play offs and his beloved Sioux were playing. A ton of his buddies from his hometown were in St Paul, so he had a lot of fun catching up, carousing and watching hockey. If you asked Keifer where daddy was, she'd tell you, "hockey game".

We had a great weekend, just me and my girl- she helped me with laundry (she loves to give out hangers), playing "row your boat" in the laundry baskets, watching clips of DVRed "Dancing with the Stars", and shopping (oh yes, her "whoo hoo, shopping!") at Target and Cub Foods. Auntie Jill brought pizza and K's cousins Abby & Mason over on Saturday night, and it was heartwarming to watch Keifer beam in the shadow of her beloved cousins.

We even showered together yesterday AM and I braved church alone with her -she did excellent and stayed in the nursery for almost 45 minutes with NO TEARS *yay*.
We got home and K screeched with excitement as her main man was home! Daddy raced pretty darn fast to get his precious angel girl out of my backseat!

Therefore, mama ran (not walked, ran! LOL) to the movie theater, my home away from home. I wanted to see something 'lighter', not so heavy (after Oscar season), and chose He's Just Not That Into You. I loved it! So funny and well, true, in the dating sense in many ways. I even teared up a little at different parts, sentimental geek that I am.

Then, I hit the nearby mall and found some more maternity short sleeve shirts. I have 2 or so months left, and barely any short sleeve/ springy/summer clothes that fit my RAPIDLY expanding belly. It killed me to even pay the $40 for 3 shirts that I did find at JCPenney- I refuse to pay $20 for a shirt that I'll only wear for 2 more months. *sigh*.

Anyhoo, after my last movie being Revolutionary Road - a major heavy drama at that- this movie was a great change of pace, and a relaxing and fun way to unwind after an action-packed weekend as single mommy.

The Sun'll come out, tomorrow

When I was little, one of my favorite movies was Annie. I went to the actual movie in a theater a few times,and remember it vividly. I had the soundtrack, a record, of course, and can remember skipping around my basement coffee table, singing along to all the songs.

In 3rd grade, I told my mom one day that I was going to put on a play in our basement, and she was to invite family over to watch and make some coffee and cake to serve. Mom then found me an old wig of hers and died it red. I had received the Annie locket (from Avon!), so wearing that, a red dress, and my newly dyed wig, me and my friend from down the road put on a play. My friend was "Molly". Then, we finished our short play by stepping up onto the ledge of our fireplace, and singing along to "Tomorrow". Ahh, memories.

I, of course, own the movie (on DVD) and over Christmas break, introduced Keifer to it one day as we were playing. She must have liked it, because a few days ago, out of the blue, she said, "watch Annie", which blew me away. She remembered this movie! Was she going to be a fellow Annie fan, just like mama?

So, we trekked down to the downstairs TV and I put it on. K prefers to watch the scenes that have songs and dancing in them, and she quickly has caught on to the fact that "the doggie" is named 'Sandy'. So cute. Just another reason to gush over my girl.

Benjamin and his curious case

CJ and I had an opportunity to see a movie together today, so we chose The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, as I had wanted to see this, and he seemed interested. Our SIL Jill babysat Keifer, so off we went. I definitely liked the movie more than CJ - but he admitted it was a good story. Just a tad too long for his tastes. Although it did seem long (dragging on) I enjoyed the story itself and thought the cinematography and acting were wonderful. It was so amazing to watch how the had Brad Pitt age backwards, and Cate Blanchett is truly one of the most gifted and beautiful actresses of our time. Although I wasn't as enthralled with it as Slumdog Millionaire, I did like it. And I did find myself bawling through the ending, which I knew I would, but still. Hormones don't help!

A movie night for Mama

Tonight, I used a Secret Santa gift to go and see a movie (my respite!): there are many I want to see right now, being it's almost Oscar season. I decided on Slumdog Millionaire, which sounded interesting and not as heart wrenching as a few others.

I'm so glad I decided to see this: if you can get to it, GO! It's a wonderful movie, wonderfully told. It was nominated for some Golden Globes: best picture, best director, best screenplay, and best original score. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was a story of love, honesty, family and fate.

Mommy had a movie day

Mommy had an afternoon matinee day yesterday. I was able to go and see Burn After Reading, which I've been itching to see ever since it came out. Lately, I haven't had the urge to see ANY of the movies that are out right now. I'm not sure if it's my taste in movies changing or if it's the fact that Hollywood seems to be releasing a bunch of crap, but I hadn't been to a theater since CJ and I had a date at the end of August. Back then, we saw Tropic Thunder, and other than the wonderful performance by Robert Downey Jr., we were greatly disappointed. I was so happy that I was not disappointed by this movie.

CJ suggested I go yesterday, after a busy weekend of friends, parties, and family. I gladly agreed. It has been far too long since I've had my "respite". I enjoyed this movie, and found myself chuckling out loud many times at this dark comedy. It's a hard one to describe, but if you have the chance to see it, and enjoy the Coen Brothers, I think you might like it. I especially enjoyed Frances McDormand as a body image obsessed singleton looking for love. Hee hee.

The Dark Knight: we finally saw it!

Finally (as if it's been out forever, instead of 3 weeks! LOL). We saw The Dark Knight last night (for date night!). We tried to get into our local IMAX theater, but it was sold out and the line was unbelievable to get in. So we had to take it down a notch and see it in a 'regular" theater, which I was a bit displeased about (movie theater snob? Maybe?).

CJ and I both loved it, but we agreed that it could've been a tich shorter (and maybe a subplot or two less?). It seemed like so many stories were thrown into one movie.

Heath was amazing. Just amazing. You forget he's Heath. I kept trying to remember him as Ennis in BrokeBack Mountain, one of my favorite movies, but it was impossible. He really did embody the character "the Joker". He was scary, plain and simple, and he made it seem effortless to be the villain. It made me feel so incredibly sad that he is now gone, and I made CJ stay through the credits just to see the dedication to him at the end.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how well Aaron Eckhart did as Harvey Dent. His twist in the end of the movie was unexpected for me, and I admired his acting chops as well. It reminded me that I really enjoyed him in Erin Brockovich as her boyfriend who was so manly, yet nurturing.

Now, if we can see this movie again in the full IMAX glory, I'll be a happy camper....but I do need to get to Mamma Mia before the summer ends.