Life is Sweet

New hair, new shoes, new office!

I spent a fun-filled weekend in San Francisco last weekend with Janine. Not only did I find some adorable new Franco Sartos, but I got my hair chopped off at a trendy little salon on Haight street. Additional photos below include a few shots of my newly painted and remodeled office. The light was streaming in really bright, making it a little difficult to get good photos. But you can see a little bit of it!

New hair! In the new office with Buddy

The new office

The new office, continued

New shoes and Buddy

Buddy loves my new shoes!

Ah, c’mon now, Buddy!

More new hair pics, Buddy just can’t sit still, he is so excited!

The back of the new hair, it’s an inverted bob. Wow! Short!

Movies!

It was a movie marathon weekend. Three of the four were on The Seattle Times Top 10 Movies of the Year

The Lives of Others (German with English subtitles): Before I saw it on the Top 10 list, a friend highly recommended this film. It takes place in 1984 Eastern Germany, before the Berlin wall came down. A local playwright becomes the subject of surveillance. It is an engrossing story that went on and on and on. While I appreciated the ending, the tale itself seemed to last forever. But perhaps I just wanted to get back to my knitting (which I could not do while reading subtitles).

Eastern Promises (English and Russian, with English subtitles): Oh, Naomi Watts. She is so watchable. But Viggo Mortensen stole the show with his Russian accent and sexy, tattoed body. You even get a 5+ minute scene in which his naked bod (penis included!) steals the show. It is an attempted murder scene, though, so not as much fun as it sounds. I was looking forward to this movie, but frankly, it was a bummer. The acting was brilliant, but the story was tragic and slow. But I did get some knitting done!

Ratatouille: Probably my favorite movie of the weekend. Another great film from Pixar. Since it is a Disney film, there is no mother. (What the hell is it with Disney and mothers?) Little Remy, the rat with a gourmet palate and a keen sense of adventure, made me almost love rodents. (If only they COULD cook!) This movie was fun from beginning to end, and really made me want to work in the kitchen.

Waitress: Not on the top 10 movies of the year list, but it was well worth the price of admission. I’m not a fan of pie, but this movie made me drool with all of the yummy pies being poured, sprinkled, mashed and baked. The characters had such a crisp appeal, just shy of realistic. I was delighted, and slightly disappointed, at the the main character’s reaction to her baby’s birth. No spoilers. But I would say this is a slightly sad story with more depth than your average chick flick. I loved it.

Crazy Aunt Purl

Better late than never … Crazy Aunt Purl was in Seattle in October for her big book tour, and I have proof! We were just late enough to miss her reading, but just in time to stand at the back of the line for a book signing. She is sweet as pie, just as you would expect. I very much wanted to give her wine and drink it with her, but alas, she was being rushed off to her next signing in Portland. Perhaps next time!

More pictures coming!

Merry Christmas to me — I got a new camera this year! I’m excited to say that, once I learn how to use it, I’ll be adding lots of new photos to my blog. I just finished all of the knitting on the Alpine Lace sweater. Just have to block and seam. I’ve also finished a baby sweater, a hat for my husband, and have started a new baby bolero. Soon I will be able to share all of the exciting details in pictures!

Bad hair

I remember an old co-worker/friend commenting that she had inherited her “bad hair” from her Mom. I didn’t think she had bad hair. As a matter of fact, she and I had very similar hair. Fast forward five years, I’m starting to get it. I have bad hair. I don’t know that I inherited it, but well, it’s just bad. It doesn’t do what I want it to. No matter how much product I use on it, it still gets all fly-away and won’t stay down. It’s limp. It has almost no body of its own. I kind of hate my hair.

So why a post about my hair? I know, and I don’t even include pictures. It’s stupid. But I just feel like bitching about it right now. I’m seeing my hair therapist tonight. I hope she can do some good. But frankly, she’s no miracle worker. She can only do so much. I want to get it chopped off. But then last night, my husband, who never says a word about my hair, started in about how he loves the length and don’t get it cut off. What? I had finally made up my mind. I was thinking Jodie Foster in “The Brave One.” Pretty damned short. Now, Mr. Silent on the Subject pipes up? I’m so confused now. I don’t know what to do.

Normally I would say, you know, don’t let anyone tell you what to do with your hair. But I tell him what to do with his hair all the time. Mostly it goes like this, “Jesus Christ, Rob! Go get your hair cut!” And he says, “Never!” And it goes on and on like that, until one day I come home and his hair is gone. Like a true defiant one, he never gets his hair trimmed, he gets it gone. He hates the process so much that he figures he might as well as lose as much of it as possible in one shot and not have to return to the chair for six months to a year.

Now why can’t I take that approach?

Ramsay is back

Chef Ramsay is back with Kitchen Nightmares. The show seems less dramatic; the only character you get to know is Ramsay. Since he moves to a different restaurant each week, you don’t get to know the people he is “helping.”

Nevertheless, like a bad train wreck, I can’t seem to look away. Last week’s episode, where he transformed “Dillons” in New York, made me wonder if I could ever eat in a restaurant that so recently was infested with cockroaches and rats. It made me sick to watch people eat at Dillons, even after the steam bath cleaning and new cutie-pie chef.

It is fun to see the restaurant staff’s reactions to Gordon. Almost makes me want to open a restaurant, run it into the ground, and beg for his help.

Last Pitch for Sweet Stitch

A really nice article appeared in the Kitsap Sun last Sunday that talks about the knitting meet-ups that have formed in the Kitsap County area, and about Sweet Stitch. The women who formed the knitting meet-ups were customers at the shop. Though I know there was some misquoting in the story, I still thought it was a nice tribute. Thanks

Visitors!

We recently had three visitors from the great state of Illinois. Last time we had seen Kreg and Amanda, they were still shorter than me. I taught then 9-year old Amanda to knit. It was summer and everyone was tan and cooking in the Chicago heat.

Fast forward to two weeks ago (back to the future? I’m confused). Both Kreg and Amanda are now taller than me. It’s summer again, but they are not as brown as I expected. But they are still as active as ever. Within ten minutes of being at our house, Amanda fell while skateboarding and broke her collar bone. Kreg is taller than Rob. Very strange. They are officially teenagers, and boy howdy, what a flashback. I’m sorry, Mom and Dad, for everything I put you through!

Despite the early injury, it was a very fun time. There was kayaking, hiking, a trip to the beach (Abby’s favorite part of the week!), shopping, lots and lots of seafood eaten, visiting, late-nights of Scene-it games, wine consumed (over 21 only, of course), basketball in bare feet, sleeping with the spiders, constant MySpace updates, and an unprecedented South Park marathon.

No wonder I’m so tired!

Life with Abby

Evan the Terrible

Two Thumbs Down :: No big surprise, as all of the “real” critics agree, this movie was a huge waste of time and money. I am a self-professed Steve Carell nut, and I have to say, I felt embarrassed for him as I watched him flail and scream through this total lack of creative effort.

It started rough. But I was willing to suspend disbelief for awhile – I mean, a newly-elected congressman making so much money he could buy a million dollar house and a hummer. Okay, this is a movie where the suspension of disbelief is key to getting through the plot. But it just gets unbearable.

I don’t want to include spoilers here so I won’t go into further details. All I can say is, save your money. If you must, wait for the DVD. Even that will be too much to pay for this humorless joke of a film.