Entry tags:

babies, movies, restaurants

I Believe, I Believe, It's Silly, But I Believe.
I love Miracle on 34th Street. LOVE IT! I think it the most perfect Christmas movie in the world. I cannot explain why I don't own it. It was on this afternoon. AMC showed it twice--once colorized, once classic.

Also, watched a REALLY amazing movie today called "Something the Lord Made." It stars Alan Rickman and Mos Def as a pioneering surgeon and his assistant. They were the first people to perform surgery on the heart. Prior to this time, it was considered taboo to cut into the heart--a violation of the hippocratic oath, as it was believed it could only be harmful (nolitangere - do not touch). But they created a surgery that would help with a congenital heart defect that caused "blue baby syndrome"--where the baby turns cyanotic (blue) because the artery between the heart & lungs isn't working properly so there's not enough oxygen getting to the body. Poor little blue babies! It was such a good movie that it made me want to go out and see if I can find a biography of Vivien Thomas (Mos Def's character).

So I haven't posted in about a week. THAT'S why you have to pace yourself!

On Monday, Jen & I were enjoying the fact that neither of us had to work (ha ha, suckers!), so we met up for lunch and a movie. We decided "Flushed Away" looked pretty cute--and it was! Hugh Jackman is the voice of "Roddy" and as a little joke, one of the outfits in Roddy's closet is a Wolverine costume. (He doffs that in favor of an Elvis jumpsuit.) It was a cute movie. While chock-a-block full of pop culture references, they are primarily window dressing and do not exist at the expense of the plot. What's amazing is that they still managed to get the tactility of the previous Aardman movies that were done with clay puppets, in a completely CGI environment.

Tuesday was a Melting Pot night out with the girls. We had a really good waitress, definitely tried to make sure we got the most out of our evening, so we were very good tippers. I told my fondue fork to the uvula story while she was at the table, and she was semi-horrified. I just said, "hey, it's a good way to get kids to stop screwing around with the fondue forks." She agreed and said she'd have to tell the rest of the staff.

This weekend was Gavin's birthday party. Michelle was sweet enough to give me a ride. She picked me up after her shopping trip and we went to back to their house. Skylar was pointing out the stockings over the fireplace to me: "M name (Mike), m name (Michelle), m name (Mckenna), and ME!" That's right. Because you're special. S for special. Until she gets her new little sister, Reece (or Reece's Pieces Princess Barbie Mermaidia Twelve Dancing Princesses, depending on who you ask). Then in the car, upon seeing my Sleeping Beauty purse (which she insisted upon holding during the ride--and very sweetly, just held it on her lap looking at the picture), I had to give a command performance of princess stories. First Sleeping Beauty, then Cinderella, then Belle... Then Hayley's favorite song (Fergalicious) came on and we had to turn that up, so they were distracted before Jasmine.

Gavin got the scariest birthday present I've ever seen--a 50cc dirtbike that can go 35 mph. Kirsten said not to worry, they'll get all the pads in the world before he's allowed to ride it. Plus, little kids + pinata + inside space = HORRIFYING! They have this incredible lack of awareness of their backswing, and you can hear the whole room gasp when they suddenly swing a little too close to somebody's head. They're just so focused on the target. And all the other kids are staring at the pinata too, so they're not paying much more attention than the kid swinging.

Mini Cooper is getting big! He's still got that shocked look to him. I like it. I think he's trying to take everything in. Like if he opens his eyes further he'll see more.