Movies 2012: Weeks 6-8

I tried to squeeze in a bunch of the Oscar nominees ahead of the awards show last week so you'll see that reflected. Almost caught up with this year's movies! Phew! I still need to watch more docs. I see a doc-filled week in my future.

Week 6: February 5-11, 2012
22) Happy, Happy. A Norwegian film about an absolutely delightful cheerful housewife (Agnes Kittlesen) in a loveless marriage to her high school sweetheart. Things go awry after an encounter with a new urban neighbor. The loose story line felt unfinished and odd toward the end. But I would love to see more from Kittlesen. She was like a Norwegian Audrey Tatou. 3.2 stars
23) Project Nim. A documentary about a chimpanzee raised like a human for a scientific experiment then abandoned. You could tell from the beginning how naive and self-indulgent his handlers were and that this could never work in the long term. A really difficult film to watch and I don't even consider myself an animal activist. I like animals and believe they should be treated ethically but I don't get too crazy about it. The humans were definitely the less sympathetic characters. I enjoyed the aesthetic of the film and the graphics worked very nicely. 3.8 stars
24) Tree of Life. Brad Pitt and Sean Penn star (I mean that loosely as they only sporadically appear) in this film about a man searching for the meaning of life by looking at the childhood of the brother he lost at a young age. Sigh. Indulgent is the best word to describe this. Many other reviewers like the word pretentious. Definitely an art house film. One that people will love to say they loved because of the look and the idea that there is a deep, underlying meaning. Beautifully shot, painfully slow, excruciatingly long. Mayhaps Tree of Death would have been more apt? Metaphorical to the exclusion of dialogue and inclusion of the beginning of time. Pass. I feel so indifferent to this film I don't even know what to rate it. 1.5 stars
25) Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. Zach Braff and Dean Cain make appearances in this independent film about a group of gay male friends commiserating on love. Amusing. There were even appearances by Andrew Keegan and Nia Long. It was amusing to continually recognize people. 3.5 stars

Week 7: February 12-18, 2012
26) Exporting Raymond. A documentary about the creator of the series "Everybody Loves Raymond" trying to export the hit show to Russia. Of course there are many moments where ideas and some humor are lost in translation. Some are funny, some are drawn out way, way, WAY too long. This entire film would have been much more interesting if it happened in 20 minutes instead of over 90. There wasn't enough new material to prevent it from becoming boring, repetitive and redundant. 2 stars
27) What's Your Number? Anna Farris stars as a woman who figures out the number of men she's slept with and decides she needs to cull her exes to find her husband. So she enlists the help of her cute, promiscuous neighbor. You know exactly where this movie's going before it even begins. That doesn't stop it from being enjoyable at turns. It's also rather unbelievable at times and Rashan found it a bit sexist. (He's great.) 3.3 stars
28) Colombiana. Zoe Saldana stars as an assassin determined to hunt down the men who killed her parents in front of her. Awesome thriller! Ignore the Brits making all kinds of American accent faux pas. Quite enjoyable! 4.5 stars

Week 8: February 19-24, 2012
29) I Don't Know How She Does It. Sarah Jessica Parker stars in this film about a married working mother struggling to juggle it all through a sea of sexism, somewhat inept childcare, judgmental mothers, etc. SJP's character was pretty useless. The best and more interesting characters (played by Olivia Munn and Busy Phillips) were ancillary to the story line. One reviewer mentioned the caricatures created of all of the women in this film. So, so true. And really to the detriment of watchability. Didn't enjoy this film.  2 stars
30) How to Die in Oregon. This documentary follows people considering and fighting for what they call "death with dignity": the ability to choose when you will die. Though it really only shows one side-- those who are wholeheartedly behind the idea of allowing the gravely ill to choose when they die-- it shows that side really powerfully. You see those who are angry, others at peace, sadness, joy. All of the emotions that come with any life-altering decision. Really, really moving film. 5 stars
31) The Loving Story. A documentary about the interracial Virginia couple who fought to remain legally married in their home state. A sweet story told mostly as a compilation of materials (audio/video recordings, photographs) culled from other sources. Because the Lovings were both deceased at the time of the film's creation, there was a distinctive past-tense feel. There were questions I'm sure the filmmaker had, some that were palpable, that will never be answered. There were a few present-day interviews from their daughter, a few friends and the attorneys who handled their case but there was still something missing. It didn't feel like we were getting any new information. 3 stars
32) Urbanized. This design documentary explores aspects of urban living worldwide through dozens of experts in the field. If you're a design or city planning or landscape architecture student, I'm certain you will see or should see this film. If  you're interested in those fields or any like it, you will probably like this film. I found it rather boring. It really seemed to lose its way when it came to Stuttgart, Germany. This bizarre segment was only tangentially related to the rest of the film. 2 stars
33) Another Earth. A teenager becomes obsessed with the idea of a second Earth, in many ways identical to the first. This obsession leads her to cause a fatal accident. She strikes up an unlikely relationship of sorts with the man whose family she killed in the crash. Weird. Rashan enjoyed it moderately. I did not. Things that should have been explained more were left out. Things that did not need further explanation were expounded upon. 2.4 stars
34) Moneyball. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill star in this Oscar-nominated film about the underdog Oakland A's baseball team. We follow the pair assembling a rag tag band of cheap players to take down some of the richest teams in baseball; teams that should statistically blow them out of the war. I didn't expect to like this movie but I really did! It was fun and dare I say it? Heartwarming. I just said it. 4 stars

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 132

1) I watch way too much tv. The fact that I have what feels like billions of shows drives me batty. I can't add another one until I drop at least one. Maybe 2 or 3.*
2) I've started a list of food-related things I want to do. Some are big, some small, all awesome!
3) When we hit 6 months of marriage, I told Rashan every time he gave me a kiss, he had to give me at least 6. Then 7 kisses for 7 months. (I know. We're disgustingly in love.) Now that we're heading into 8 months (on Thursday!), neither of us knows how this ends... or even transitions to something else. Like at 9 months, do we just do a kiss for every 3 months? At a year for every quarter? #newlywedproblems LOL
4) "Walking Dead" is Ambien for Rashan. (The show does nothing for me.) Every time he watches, he gets instantly sleepy. This also happens when he watches true crime shows. What a psycho.
5) I love watching the Oscars! It's a great excuse to get all fancy! :) I'd show you a picture but blogger hasn't let me upload anything in weeks. Next year we'll be hosting our own party. It shall be marvelous!
6) I tasted star fruit for the first time last night. It was fine. Not bad, not good. I had meatless meatballs, too. Never ever again. I was right when I said I don't believe in stuff like that. Completely right.
7) I'm addicted to running. I think about it all the time. Addicted is maybe the wrong word seeing as I can control myself and manage to run no more than two days in a row... but I love running! I'm doing 7 miles for the first time on Tuesday!! But also thinking of waiting until Wednesday so I can run on Leap Day. I have a strange fascination with Leap Day.
8) Maya Rudolph is funnier to me every time I see her! I love that woman!!
9) I didn't write any goals this month... or get enough accomplished... Back with a vengeance in March!
10) Yo son! The conference room scene on "The Office" last week? One of the BEST scenes in the entire world! HILARIOUS!!! Dot dot dot dot DOT. Tell me you saw it!!!!
11) No grown man should wear boot cut pants or pants with pleats. There is your fashion tip for the day.
12) Last week on twitter I was talking about the snobby palate I had as a child. I hate canned tomato soup. I think it is one of the most disgusting things known to man. I haven't even tried it since I was a 8 or something. Back when I hated all non-ketchup, non-pasta-related tomatoes. I'm going to try to make some fresh tomato soup one of these days and see if I finally like it. I love gazpacho with fresh tomatoes. Let's see how tomato soup fares.
13) "The Sandwich King" is better in season 2. He's more comfortable. But the SET. It makes a huge difference. I know you were wondering. You're welcome. (Let's also hope fewer of his sandwiches take LITERALLY hours. I wish I didn't mean literally. But I do. Made the first season unwatchable.)

*You're more assured of number one after reading this, aren't you? You should be. I justify my food shows by cooking... and writing a syllabus for a food writing class. TYVM.

Movies 2012: Weeks 2-5

I realized I've documented every film I've watched for more than 3 years. More than 1250 films. I calculated. GOOD GRIEF!! No wonder I'm tired!!! So that's where these movie posts have been. I've still been keeping track but even that extra step of posting them has worn me out! I'll be catching up over the next few Sundays. Thanks for reading and commenting! I do so love our conversations about film!

Week 2: January 8-14, 2012
9) Freakonomics. A documentary of vignettes by famous directors based on a best-selling economics/causality book explaining elements of culture including crime, parenting and cheating. It blew my mind in the first 3 minutes with the most basic concept explained- real estate agent incentives. The second segment made me uncomfortable as it was about names, more specifically, black names. Side eye. Overall, I enjoyed that this film took basic concepts and made them even more basic. You got to see an economist showing his work in a way that could make sense for even the most economically-challenged person. I speak from experience. Have I ever told you economics was one of two classes I ever struggled in? I excelled in AP English I & II, History, Statistics (not Physics) but I couldn't get basic, entry level economic concepts to make sense. This was film was also helped along by a multitude of likable people. There have been complaints that no concept was fully explained. How much could really be explained in six separate stories in one movie? Would you watch a movie that strove to fully explain economics? I wouldn't. 4.4 stars
10) Leon: The Professional. A little girl takes lessons from her friendly neighborhood hitman after a drug lord wipes out her family. Amazing film (editing, directing, cinematography) that would have been even better without the hypersexualization of a pre-teen Natalie Portman. The characters really came alive. 4 stars
11) Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Werner Herzog does another beautifully shot but meandering documentary. This time about the stunning and truly riveting Chavet's Cave in France. Discovered in 1994, the caves were immediately sealed from the public and have only been seen by scientists and artists who will verify their worth. The paintings look fresh but have been carbon dated to 32,000 years old. WHAT!?! SO amazing. But 14 minutes in I couldn't figure out why this film was 90 minutes. The cave was amazing, I liked hearing from people who've studied there for years but at the end, I still didn't know why the film was so long. 2.4 stars
12) Rise of the Planet of the Apes. James Franco and Frieda Pinto star in this prequel to Planet of the Apes. Set in modern San Francisco, testing on apes turns into a revolt against humans. Most of the CGI is very good but I wonder what we'll think in 20 years. Can you imagine how awesome it will be then?? Good plot for the most part. Some things invoked my skepticism but not enough to make this film unwatchable. 3.9 stars

Week 3: January 15-21
13) Animal Kingdom. An Australian thriller about a teenager caught between his criminal family and the police. There were so many awesome and unexpected turns in this film that you couldn't ever completely get a handle on what was going to happen. So cool. A great watch. 4.3 stars
14) The First Grader. An 84-year-old Kenyan man who fought for the country's freedom faces stiff opposition when he tries to enroll in primary school. This film based on a true story was really cute at some points and infuriating or annoying in others. I wonder how much was lost in translation and what are the details of the actual story. 3.6 stars
15) The Ides of March. Ryan Gosling stars as the staffer on a presidential campaign who finds himself cleaning up a massive mess by the candidate (George Clooney) and almost simultaneously double-crossed. The mess was were things really started to get interesting. They unraveled so quickly that I was reeling at the end and wondering why it was the end. My goodness! Rashan and I both really enjoyed it. 4 stars

Week 4: January 22-28
16) 50/50. Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as a 27-year-old diagnosed with a rare cancer, his treatment and his best friend (Jonah Hill). An emotional roller coaster. Extremely funny, really sad but well-written, well-acted and well-directed. A truly enjoyable film. 4.4 stars
17) Another Happy Day. Ellen Barkin is a divorcée on the outs when she attends her estranged son's wedding. Demi Moore plays the groom's tarty step mom. A ton of tension created was squandered in the conclusion. Essentially the film had a plot but didn't capitalize on it. 2.5 stars
18) Our Family Wedding. Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia find themselves at odds when their children announce their engagement. As they plan a quick wedding, all sorts of things go wrong. Cute enough, predictable film with America Ferrera as the bride. 3.4 stars
19) Dive!: Living Off America's Waste. A documentary centered around man feeding his family well from dumpster diving. It was pretty repetitive even in the first 10 minutes. Like the first time I read about dumpster diving as a kid, it did make me want to go find some free fancy stuff. (But I'm squeamish.) It was only 52 minutes but I still wanted it to be shorter. 27? 20? I got the gist of the story quite early. What was the point of having shots of "starving" African and Haitian children and Haitian mud cakes? That's not even really the point of this particular story. Way, WAY too many stereotypical black and minority faces of poverty. Terrible. There were also waaaaaay too many stats. From reading the reviews, I see a lot of people learned there are poor, hungry children in America. (Seriously.) So I guess the film did some good. I just wonder when we'll reach our saturation point with food documentaries telling us the same thing. 2.4 stars
20) Hell and Back Again. This 2012 Academy Award nominee for best documentary follows the readjustment period for a wounded Marine who finds himself lost and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he's back in the states. Difficult to watch, the director and editor skillfully weaves the Marine's time in Afghanistan with his time in recovery and the effect of those disparate and interconnected experiences on him and his wife. He was a frustrating, sympathetic and irritating character in one, not terribly likable though still watchable. It did confirm my feelings about war in general as an unnecessary evil that ruins lives but that was not new. 3.7 stars

Week 5: January 29- February 4, 2012
21) Crisis. Cary Grant stars as a surgeon forced to operate on a dictator's brain tumor during a brewing uprising. The film started off decently then got quite sloppy and completely and irrevocably deteriorated in Act III. If you, like myself, are a Cary Grant fan, maybe you should watch it. Otherwise, you're not missing much. 2.9 stars

I'm A Smoker

I'm not really a smoker but apparently I play one in my home. Remember when I first moved into this apartment a year and a half ago and constantly complained about the smell of smoke? SOMEBODY (I really don't even remember for certain who it was) acted like it was no big deal. So I never really talked about it again. But today I'm going to reclaim my blog to talk about whatever the HECK I want. Yeah. I said HECK.

I walked out of our bedroom this morning and was slapped in the face with the smell of SOMEONE ELSE'S SMOKE. Can you imagine what it's like to have your HOME to smell through no fault of your own??? I HAAAAATE cigarettes. I will tolerate people who smoke just about anything else (minus crack) but cigarettes??? Hate 'em. I live in an former single-family home comprised of three apartments. We all have separate entrances and share no facilities. But we share walls. When I first moved in, I discovered BOTH of my immediate neighbors are smokers. I discovered this at the same time I discovered different brands of cigarettes have different scents. Something I never wanted to know... Anyway a few months ago, one of the neighbors moved out. Woohoo! Can we please get a non-smoking neighbor????

HAHAHAHAHA!! This is the city that RJ Reynolds built. It is called Winston-Salem after TWO BRANDS OF CIGARETTES.

I LITERALLY LIVE IN CIGARETTE CITY.

So if you haven't guessed, new neighbors smoke, too. Wonderful. And it smells like a third brand. There are many nuisances to living next to these people. The greatest nuisance is obviously the smell. There are days when the scent is so fresh that it smells like someone is smoking a cigarette in my living room. I'm not kidding. I WISH I WAS KIDDING. We have to leave the windows open all year long. It's wonderful that utilities are included because our energy bill would be sky high. The smell of cigarettes lingers. Apparently for all eternity when there are constant refreshers to the odor. I don't really notice it on my clothing until I go somewhere cigarette-free for a few days. I always sniff around when I leave like what is that smell??? It's ME!!! All of my clothes have eau de cigarette. It doesn't smell like I smoke per se. It just smells like I live with someone who smokes in the house. WHY DON'T I JUST START SMOKING??? At least then it will be my own fault! And returning home after the windows have been closed for several days??? DISGUSTING!!!! I hate this place. Right now I have both windows and the front door open trying to air it out. I look forward to the day God delivers us from this den of iniquity. I know it's coming.

Safe! And Stream of Consciousness...

We made it through Valentine's Day just fine! And it was even better because we had some free Krispy Kreme via his job. What what?! In case you forgot, Dunkin Donuts, bad. Krispy Kreme, AWESOME!! To live in the birthplace of the best doughnuts, there are surprisingly (and disappointingly) few KKs here.

Do two doughnuts the night before a run count toward carb loading? Because they should. And if they do, then I'm ready to run 6 miles later today! Woohoo! I need some LMFAO on my running playlist! Crunk music gets me moving! Team Jameil have a great run!!

Did you see Lady Gaga's face mesh at the Grammy's Sunday? I LOVED IT! I want some. It's not that far from veils on a hat and we all know I love me some veils! So I'm definitely gonna need some face mesh for the Oscar party I better be invited to next month.

I went to a documentary lecture yesterday and it was such a breath of fresh air. MAN I need to be using my brain more. I'm so bored at home. Reading, cooking and watching movies isn't enough for me.

On Demand has some of the most horrible Black History Month programming I have ever seen in my life. Since when does being black automatically qualify you as a black history moment? Raunchy comedy show performances? Black chefs cooking? BHM fail, On Demand. Please go back and research the intent behind the month. UPLIFT and AWARENESS of our contributions to society.

Did you see Mariah Carey on the BET Honors? I LOVE HER!! She is theeeee best! I sure do listen to her Christmas music out of season. And so what? LOL

I was supposed to make Valentine's day cards from scratch this year. Oops. Didn't quite make it.

Why am I awake all night again? Tyler no likey.

A Season of Loss

I will never meet my father-in-law. Ricky died of a drug overdose in 1995. 13 years before I would meet his son. The man who became my husband. But Ricky's February 14th birth is the reason Rashan and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day in February. I love all holidays. Real and imaginary. But it's the one day of the year that most reminds him of his father. I tried to force it for a couple of years until Rashan blogged about it. I felt awful. So last year we moved the day. And for the first time in years, Rashan was fine on Valentine's Day.

But this year... this year Whitney Houston died. After years of a very public battle with drugs. We both get this very stricken look when people die after struggling with addiction. I'm pained in part because I know it pains him. But also because the last two very public deaths hit me so hard in my limited musical adoration. I used to consider myself a person who loved music until I met people who REALLY loved music-- namely Rashan and my BFF Stace. Those two can wax poetically about music and producers and influence until long after my eyes glaze (which admittedly usually happens in the first 5 minutes). I never know anyone they're talking about it and really don't care. I can sit in complete silence for hours and feel perfectly fine. Happy even. They both need music to fill that void.

There are some notable exceptions. 112, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston & Amy Winehouse. I listen to all of those artists as my fall backs. When I'm getting ready to go out, riding in the car, relaxing, whatever. One of those 4 is likely to be in the rotation. When Amy died, I was utterly stunned. And once again disgusted by how blithely people dismissed her and her addiction. EVERYONE has the capacity for overcoming those drugs just as they can succumb, though the former is maddeningly more difficult than the latter. I never give up hope that people will find and fight their way from addiction's grip.

I rarely talk about my aunt and uncle, drug addicted for decades, who continue to hang on. Yes. Decades. Rashan said before I told him about them, he didn't know people could live that long on addiction. And even without many of the health problems that plague the rest of their siblings. We didn't think about Whitney. I don't talk about my aunt and uncle because most of the time I try not to think about them. The fact that they've thrown their lives away behind addiction. That they have children who cannot or will not talk to them. That they have grandchildren who at this rate will never know them even though they are still technically alive. Stranger still is the fact that we know where they are. Living in squalor in the house where they grew up. When Rashan and I went to Rowland, we drove past the house that I hadn't seen in well over a decade and didn't even recognize. My dad told me to stop by and say hello. I couldn't. I was scared of what I would find and who I would find. My aunt comes around every few years but I haven't seen my uncle in over a decade. I also couldn't see them because Rashan couldn't see them. Couldn't see another reminder of drug abuse. And I certainly couldn't face them alone.

At Amy's death, I fell back on my mom's favorite words for these types of situations, "What a waste." WHAT A WASTE!!! That beautiful, BEAUTIFUL voice forever silenced. I tried to begin the healing by playing Back to Black. Hands down one of my favorite albums. I listened and sang along to every track. I even threw a little Frank in there. But I had to stop because it was making Rashan sad. It made me sad to end the tribute. But I can't imagine his pain so I do my best not to exacerbate it.

My heart filled with dread yesterday as I read reputable news outlets confirming Whitney's death. Why????  Such a waste! I thought of Bobby and Bobbi and Cissy. Now another father, daughter and mother have to experience the pain of that loss. The pain of what could have been and what never will be. Now that Rashan's asleep, I can't stop crying. For them, for her, for Rashan, for me, for our children. It hit me again, just like it does almost every time I think of addiction or Ricky, that our children will never know their grandfather. Rashan said, with the saddest look on his face, "Why today? Why did she have to die two days before...?" He didn't have to finish. It was already on my mind.

Ricky was also there on our wedding day. Rashan said Ricky didn't cross his mind. But he crossed mine. My dad was there and it made me a little sad that Rashan's dad wasn't. I wasn't consumed with it. But I took a moment to think about him and hope he was at peace. And hope that Rashan was okay knowing Ricky wouldn't be there. I was sad all over again that I'll never meet him. Never know him beyond stories. Even what Rashan knew of him is limited because of how early the addiction began. Ricky was a sporadic at best part of their lives by the time Rashan turned 9.

With Whitney's death, I had an immediate urge to listen to her greatest hits. My mom, sister and I used to sing along with the "Waiting to Exhale" soundtrack like it was the last album on earth. We loved that thing! Remember when soundtrack releases could be more exciting than the movies? Whitney's cd of the national anthem and "America the Beautiful" were also in heavy rotation. We could listen to them over and over again. Those songs were forever transformed for me. I thought of her renditions while watching the Super Bowl last Sunday. For me with those songs, NO ONE matches Whitney! And I'd just been listening to the soundtrack of "The Preacher's Wife" thinking, "I need to watch that movie again!" I also loved Maya Rudolph's Whitney impression. Loved it! So as silly as it is, I mourned the loss of any joy in that for a while. When I saw Maya will be hosting SNL next week, the loss of Whitney hurt again.

The pall was heavy in our house with thoughts of lives ended so soon because of drugs. I was cooking dinner. Rashan was watching tv. But both of us had these dark thoughts that remained mostly unexpressed. I didn't want to add to those things weighing him down. This time with all of the memories of Whitney-filled times and songs playing on a loop in my head, I showed restraint. I didn't listen to a single Whitney song. I didn't watch endless (annoying) speculation and chatter on news channels. I even stayed away from twitter and facebook because the group grief was just too much. But now I need an outlet. I need Whitney's music. I need to remember her as the vibrant, talented woman, filled with promise who provided so many songs on the soundtrack of our lives. I DON'T WANT THIS. I don't want these feelings of hurt, sorrow, grief and loss. I don't want this fist of feelings wrapped around my heart. And the fact that it will all resurface with the next light extinguished after a battle with drugs is almost too much. But this is our life. For better or for worse. These next few days may be difficult. If you pray, pray for us.

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 131

1) I like watching butter melt. I think it looks cool. Too bad I'm only using butter for baking now. Womp womp.
2) I had a FANTASTIC run yesterday! I felt magical during my four miles! I'm running 6.2 (10k) on Tuesday! I also read some things about shaking up your training that I'm excited to try out!
3) I ruined my sleep pattern again when Rashan was off two weeks ago. Oops. The 8 books I read last month are also to blame. I read several of them in one day. I was sleepy but so far in that I was like I should just read these last 100 pages. It's so good! 50 pages more isn't bad. Keep going. For shame.
4) I have at least 6 posts I need to do, several related to my 30 before 30 and other goals. -_- This is the longest blog slump I've ever had in 6.5 years of blogging. Sheesh that's a long time. My mouth dropped open after I calculated it.
5) I'm trying new produce and I really want somebody to tell me how to get into this knobby thing labeled an "African yam" at the grocery store. AND tell me how to cook it.
6) I started a free online foreign language program (Mango) via my library on Friday. Two lessons in and I'm already ready to impress the workers at my favorite produce purveyor. Estoy bien, gracias. Y tu? J/k. LOLOL I know about 2 phrases more than I knew before. (And I already knew that one.) But I understand some things I never did. I took Spanish 3-6 grades. French in 10-12th. I'm starting with Spanish, then French, Italian, Urdu (one of my good friends is Pakistani), Portuguese and Arabic.
7) I'm doing the February photo challenge but I haven't figured out where or when I'm posting them yet. I'm enjoying y'all's photos, though.
8) Some days I'm very zen about everything. Other days I'm impatient about taking over the world. Today is a zen day. Om.
9) Speaking of om. I'm terrible at yoga. I know that shouldn't be but the quietude makes me nuts. And it's so sloooow. And I'm a competitive person and have to constantly remind myself yoga is supposed to be the opposite of competition. I don't have to be able to hold the same pose as the teacher. Duh. It's a very annoying experience. And yet some of the stretches feel so great that I keep going back.
10) I don't want to be one of those people but I'm about 5 minutes from shutting facebook down. It just annoys me more than anything else most days. There are a couple of people (and my eye roll of a running group) that I'm ONLY connected to via facebook who are the sole reason I keep the account.

28 Days

A few weeks ago my running partner asked me to join a healthy eating program at WholeFoods. I did some marginal research and saw I'd learn about reading food labels and eating a plant-based diet. Sounded great to me! I'm always looking for new recipes and ideas on incorporating more vegetables into my diet. I should have done more research before I agreed. After I tell my running partner I signed up, she casually mentions it's a meatless diet. Say whaaaa??? I have no desire to give up meat. Eat less? Sure. Completely abstain from chicken, chicken stock, fish, bacon and EGGS? I'm all good on that. Come to find out, it's a rather stringent 28-day program.

Week One: No dairy, no processed foods (I take this to mean white flour/sugar)
Week Two: Same + No meat, fish, eggs
Weeks Three & Four: Same + No oils

I love cheese and milk with my cereal but it doesn't really love me so the idea of limiting my dairy intake had already been floating in my head. I also liked the idea of limiting white flour and sugar. Pork is increasingly distasteful to me so that wasn't much of a problem. The point where they COMPLETELY lost me was giving up oils. The reasoning? They're empty calories. I run 10+ miles every week. I'm pretty sure I can withstand a few extra calories. Especially if I'm eating all/mostly plants and whole grains.

One of the things my mom did all the way right was teach me to avoid diets. Her advice: Change your lifestyle rather than doing something extreme for a few weeks or months. I decided to give this plan a try anyway because I'd already said I was going to and for the other aforementioned reasons. I'm 12 days in so let's start with the positive things I've discovered:

1. I love almond milk! I am all in for substituting it in baking (where possible), oatmeal, my rare coffee, cereal. This is one of the great joys of this process for me! It would've taken a lot for me to buy an entire carton of almond milk in case I didn't like it. Now I had an excuse. I also found I like the Harris Teeter store brand but not the Whole Foods store brand. I re-tried soy milk. Still don't like that. Sweetened oat milk? AWESOME! But has a crazy amount of sugar which kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Hemp milk tastes like cardboard. It's almost grainy. BIZARRE. The WF almond, oat & hemp I tasted for free in store.
2. Eggs are just as delicious with olive oil as with butter. I've ALWAYS cooked my eggs in butter because the times I had it cooked in oil, it seemed to be lacking in flavor. In retrospect, I think it was usually cooked in canola oil. Why? Just wrong. A dash (and really the scantest amount is enough) of olive oil in a non-stick skillet is enough to make my eggs a delight. Butter, you're out!
3. Grilled veggie burritos are DELICIOUS! I really didn't miss the meat! (But the fact that it's only 60 cents cheaper than the meat burrito? That's a fail.)
4. Eating fruit is so much easier when you are eating eliminating all that other stuff. In the last two weeks, I know I've had more fruit than in a shamefully long time.

I'm so glad to incorporate all of these things into my life! I love the positives! So much that I'm trying to be less effusive about the negatives... but for me, they're pretty big negatives.

1. I'm starving. Not literally but I'm really, REALLY hungry, really, REALLY often. I don't stay full enough long enough. And yes, I've incorporated more fiber (oatmeal, whole grains, quinoa, barley, etc.) and still my hunger is OFF THE CHARTS!!
2. I have NO desire to eat fake meat. You know "bacon" and "chix" which are made of soy/tofu or seitan or tempeh. If you call it what it is, maybe I'll eat it. But when you give it a name like an actual meat product? Automatic turn off. If I need to taste meat that badly, there's a simple solution: I'll just eat meat.
3. It is woefully difficult to find appealing vegan recipes. I know they exist. I have found some but there is so much WADING through things that are too basic, not filling or that look like a collection of side dishes, soups, stews, curries and salads. The plan's own list of recipes was a huge letdown. I'm looking for things that expand my cooking repertoire, not just remove the meat and/or add tofu. 
4. Vegetarian recipes are almost no help since so many (way too many, really) of them rely heavily on cheese. In most cases, if recipes use feta, blue or goat cheese, a lot of the dish's flavor resides in the cheese. I love cheese but it seems lazy to add it to things just to say you ate a vegetarian meal. I'm talking to you, food site that had MAC & CHEESE as a meatless monday meal. Again, if you want meat, just eat it. Come on, people. Mac & cheese as meatless monday is a cop out. And a side dish. I know that's a cultural thing but mac and cheese is a side dish.
5. There are too few easy fast food/restaurant meal options, particularly in this city. When I don't feel like cooking, it is VERY difficult to find even varied vegetarian options. Remove cheese from the equation (+ my disdain for raw onions and winter tomatoes) and I'm so straight on buying a salad with lettuce, carrots and dressing. Let me just go get a piece of fruit. And then another one an hour later...
6. Speaking of which, this isn't the plan's fault but I still hate apples as a snack. With most fruit, I eat it and I'm good for a while. I eat an apple and I'm not satiated, not hungry but RAVENOUS within an hour of eating apples. Like I might as well start cooking while I'm eating the apple if that's my snack. Because I'm going to be ready to eat a (meatless) horse in 5, 4, 3, 2...
7. Shopping is incredibly time-consuming what with all the label-reading. Milk is in the weirdest places. Why is there milk in certain wheat breads? Only certain ones? It's bread. And a healthy bread. You don't need milk.
8. There is only one vitamin you can only get from meat. B12... Which is essential for brain function. You can take a supplement, though. Pass. I like my brain functioning without having to supplement with a pill.
9. It's making Rashan miserable. He doesn't want to tempt me by eating things I can't eat (no matter what I say) so he just mopes around the house when he's hungry.
10. I'm probably not supposed to binge on the things I'm giving up the following week. You should've seen my meat and dairy binge preceding week one. I ate more milk and dairy than I ordinarily would. I also rarely eat dessert & suddenly became obsessed with it when thinking about all the dairy and eggs in my favorites. I never save bacon grease but I cooked Rashan some bacon last night (and actually didn't even want any!!) then wanted to fry something up in the bacon grease just because it was there. Ma'am...

I'm sure there are many, many, MANY things I don't know and haven't tried with this lifestyle. But I know one thing... I normally eat 5-10 eggs per week and after almost a week egg-free, those two eggs I ate as I wrote this post were FANTASTIC!! BABY, I'M BACK! Oh I know something else. I can definitely eat less meat. Most of the time I actually like the challenge of deciding what to eat when I'm not eating meat. But for me, this process became way too stressful and way, WAY too restrictive. Like everything else I do, I'll take what I need and leave the rest. I want to enjoy my every meal and I'm going to work hard to make that happen with and without meat. But on my own terms.

Get Your Guns!

My mom lives in the suburbs of Charlotte. In the 25 years that she's been there, literally thousands of people have moved within 5 miles. I wouldn't be surprised if it was near 10,000 with the number of housing developments that have popped up. It's only 20 minutes from downtown and I can see the skyline from the entrance to the neighborhood on a clear day. But her house is also less than two miles from the next county over... a very rural county. I felt pretty cool running over the county line on my first ever 5.5-mile run yesterday! ... But not for long.

To recap, near the country, but definitely a large suburb of the city. So you might understand why I'd be a LEEEETLE bit upset when I'm on my run and a kid on a bike rides past me toting a package. He's no more than 12 and what do I see when I take a closer look? The butt of a rifle peeking out from under his arm.

WHAT?! 

It's 5 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon and this unsupervised kid is riding around with a rifle under his arm!! I was shook. There was a constant stream of traffic on this well-traveled road AND yet... he could probably get away if he decided to turn around and get in a little target practice on the runner... you know... ME. But why was twitter COMPLETELY unfazed when I related this yesterday? I got ZERO responses. I hate all of them. Get mad, everybody! I theoretically almost died! (This wouldn't have been a problem if I could be more like the rest of the women in my state.)

You're It!

I used to hate tags about 4 years ago when I had blog relationships with at least two dozen people and got the same tags over and over again. But with my shrunken blog family (some people only see fit to blog monthly... *couSHABOOGIEgh*), I guess I'm ready to play again. I'm supposed to tell 11 random things about myself (I think because I don't share enough randomness LOL), answer 11 questions and ask 11 more. Answer those 11 on your blog or in the comments. These are from Nerd Girl. Now let's party!

1) I love ear muffs. Still. They're cute, they never mess up my hair & they keep my ears warm.
2) Stretching has become one of my favorite activities now that I'm a running machine. It feels grrrreat!
3) I love dancing. Line dancing, salsa, cha cha, Just Dance, aerobics class, Zumba. In my house, at the grocery store, at the club, at your wedding, my momma's house, your momma's house. Doesn't matter. Just gimme a beat. Oh and I'm good at it.
4) I told Rashan if I won tickets to the Super Bowl and the Falcons are there, I would leave him at home. I can't have him seeing his team there in person and I might never see mine (the Panthers). He claims this might be grounds for a divorce. *shrugs*
5) I leave Christmas lights up inside my house because I just can't let it go. I plug them in when I need a boost.
6) I'm going dairy-free, meat & egg-free & processed food-free for 28 days starting this past Monday. This week is just dairy and processed food-free. Everyone say a prayer for my continued sanity. Yes, this is self-inflicted. Details forthcoming.
7) I have four kinds of salt (table, sea, black lava, fleur de sel) and six kinds of pepper (black (whole & ground), pink, crushed red, white, chili, cayenne). I will be using the fleur de sel and pink peppercorns in the next month. CAN'T WAIT!!
8) I have never disliked a news anchor/reporter so much that I couldn't watch him/her deliver the news. Even the ones I knew in my old life as a journalist. Until now. There is a guy here I HATE!! He says the dumbest things. Whether he wrote them or not, he says them. It's almost worse if he didn't write them. No. Wait. It IS worse. I refuse to watch him.
9) I love getting pedicures but hate getting manicures. The nail techs ALWAYS mess up my nail shape no matter what I tell them.
10) I went on a free sample spree a few months ago and for a while I was getting something almost every day. I'm in a dry spell now and looking longingly at my mailbox.
11) I have stacks of books all over the living room that prompt others to offer me bookshelves. But I secretly like the way they look all stacked around. It makes me feel like my life is full of reading. Oh! It is again. :)

1.  Is there anything you’ll eat one way, but not another? 
Very similar to NG, I'm extremely tomato picky. I don't eat fresh tomatoes out of season. Summer only. I love most tomato products (sauce, KETCHUP!!, salsa) but HATE tomato soup & juice. Canned, fire-roasted, diced tomatoes are well-loved in my kitchen! Love raw carrots, hate them cooked.
2.  Where’s your favorite vacation spot?
Anywhere warm with a beautiful (preferably relatively uncrowded) beach.
3.  What 5 things would you grab if your home were about to be destroyed?
Phone/charger, degrees, fave pumps, a Le Creuset, my hat collection. Yes I know these all sound ridiculous.
4.  What are you listening to right now?
The dishwasher. I like quietude when I'm reading/writing blogs.
5.  What’s the most you’d spend on a purse?
At this point 0. Within the next year, probably $200.
6.  Do you think we’d get along in real life? Yes! You're the best!
7.  Do you have a monthly clothing budget? Nope. Not right now.
8.  What do you do when you’re bored?
Tweet, play Words with Friends, tweet, watch tv/movies, bother Rashan, read.
9.  What surprises you most about being an adult?  
That I'm married and it's quickly become pretty normal. And definitely that I feel like the same person that I did as a not quite adult and that I don't necessarily always like an adult.
10.  Do you love your hairstyle? Sometimes. I'm impressed by the length!
11.  Who’s your favorite Golden Girl?
I guess Sophia if I have to pick one. Surly amuses me on tv... and often in life.

Now here's a mix of her questions, Inner Diva's questions and mine. You may notice a slight food bias...
1)  Is there anything you’ll eat one way, but not another? 
2) What food do you absolutely refuse to eat and is there anything that can change your mind? Like if your favorite chef EVER prepared it, would you eat it?
3) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
4) Where’s your favorite vacation spot?
5) How did you decide to live where you live right now?
6) What's the riskiest thing you've ever done?
7) If money was no object and all your bills were paid indefinitely, how would you spend the next year?
8) Do you like your family?
9) What's your favorite drink?
10) What's one thing you can eat and eat and never get tired of?
11) Is there a smell that instantly reminds you of something or someone else?

Encounters of the Masculine Kind

In the last two weeks, I must have been wearing eau de 'how you doin' as I conquered the city. All kinds of riff raff saw fit to approach me. I think these things happen mostly to give me something to blog about.

A. Man Reeking of Alcohol at 3 in the Afternoon: (Looks me up and down) Unh! How you doin?
 Me: Fine. (To clerk) Pump 2, please.
 MRoAa3itA: I'll get it if you let me take you to dinner tonight.
 Me: Nah. My husband won't like that.
 MRoAa3itA: Aw man. All the good ones are taken.
 Me: Yeah I guess so.
 MRoAa3itA: Nah! I don't believe that!
 Me: (Silence.)

B. Me: (Minding my own business sitting in my car waiting at the light with the window down enjoying the nice weather.)
 Dude: (LAYING ON HORN) AAAAAAAAAAAY!
 Me: (Horrid face.)

C. Toothless Elderly Man: (Looking pleased in my direction) Hey sweetheart!
Me: (Warily) Hi.
TEM: I think I love you.
Me: (Panicking letting my words come before I think them) No thank you.
TEM: No thank you?
Me: (As we pass each other) You can't love me! You don't even know me!
TEM: Says yo mouth!
Me: (Raucous laughter)

Why does a man 30 years older than all of you have the best approach? I know part of it is more practice but just FYI, laying on your horn and yelling out of your window and looking someone up and down making guttural noises aren't attractive means of communication. I thought we knew this already. You know what I'm gonna say, right? Do better.

#29: Watch AFI's Top 100 Films

The American Film Institute has this list... 100 best films. As a filmmaker, I felt like this list included a bunch of stuff I should have seen (probably a long time ago). I also included this goal on my 30 Before 30 list because Rashan had seen everything on the list. It was not a goal I looked forward to completing. Part of that is my problem stems with my impatience with long films. If it's a comedy, it needs to be 90 minutes or less. If it's a drama, it needs to have a wonderfully fleshed-out plot for me to tolerate more than 2 hours.

I found some films I really, really liked and others I just found passable. I was surprised to learn how much I can appreciate a good western! I hated them growing up because it was all my dad would ever watch. That and Star Trek. Wait. And This Old House. And tennis. Okay that's enough. Then of course there were the ones I didn't like at all. Some of them will make you gasp. Dun dun dun... I warn you, I won't sound remotely like a filmmaker. Anything intelligent I had to say about these has already happened and may happen again but not today!

Likes
1) The Godfather. I avoided this one for YEARS. Turns out I really, really liked it!
2) Gone with the Wind. As a Southerner, this one was on my radar my entire life. I'd seen pieces but never the whole thing. You know the length is what got me. I liked it so much I watched it in one sitting!
3) It's a Wonderful Life. I don't know why my mom hates this movie. I'd seen bits and pieces growing up but never saw the whole thing until this past Christmas! I really enjoyed it!
4) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I don't really like Jimmy Stewart. I think he's corny. But these two movies tried to make me a convert!
5) To Kill A Mockingbird.  So cute and sweet. I liked the book, I liked the movie.

6) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I liked this film so much I need to watch it again.
7) Everything Hitchcock. I love that man.
8) Bonnie and Clyde. PAUL NEWMAN!!!! Faye was pretty awesome, too.
9) The Silence of the Lambs, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Shawshank Redemption. All 5 stars.
10) Bringing Up Baby. My favorite dead guy Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn? Yes, please!

Dislikes
1) Casablanca. I KNOW!! I'm lucky Rashan married me for this one. I didn't get the hype at all. And I really hated that he said 'Here's lookin at you, kid' 7,000 times. Blech.
2) Citizen Kane. Eye roll again. I know as a recovering journalist I'm supposed to love this but I didn't. Not even a little bit. I wasn't into the story from the outset.
3) Goodfellas, Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch, Sullivan's Travels, Nashville, Intolerance.
4) A Clockwork Orange. One star. I hated this one most of all. Hated it.

Overall, I gave 67% of the films 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. Just 12 got one or two stars (meaning I would not want to watch them again). I think that's a great ratio considering the skepticism with which I approached this list! Goal complete!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 130

1) I've decided I'm going to start finding fun free stuff for Rashan and I to do every week. We might not get to it all but at least we'll get to some. We chill at home a lot but I'm ready to go conquer the world together!

2) I'm going to stop trying to make fetch happen. I tried two different plans on my Bible app and neither one worked for me. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll use the Bible on my phone. I kind of like that. Even though it looks like I'm texting in church. LOL

3) I was in an AWFUL sleeping pattern for months. I would fall asleep around 11, wake up at 2 and not sleep again until between 8 and 10 in the morning at the worst and 5 and 6 a.m. at the best. I'd wake up at 3 p.m. and still not feel rested. I often woke up several times during the night and couldn't go back to sleep. Then I worked out five days last week and my body demanded rest. Even when I woke up I could GO BACK TO SLEEP!! This has been true for the last 4 days and I feel AMAZING! Now I just need to not wake up at 8 a.m. and life will be much better.

4) It must have been some GOOOOD sleep because I woke up with sore right ribs Friday morning and they haven't stopped aching yet. Do better, ribs.

5) I wish I still liked ribs. The food. Pork is almost dead to me. We're down to bacon and sausage. And when chicken sausage is cheaper, I buy that. But I don't believe in non-pork bacon. It is an abomination before God and man and should be banned from the earth. It was written...

6) I was supposed to make oatmeal butternut scotch cookies this weekend. Then our neighbor brought us delicious banana nut muffins. Desire gone! Oops... Maybe today.

7) I have turned a corner in this job application process after getting another rejection and realizing several things.
   A. I am amazingly blessed to be able to stay at home while I find a wonderful job for me. It took me too long to realize this but I'm holding on to it while I have it.
   B. I am in a season of preparation. I must use my time wisely. I know I'm meant to learn and grow from this experience. Look at me getting all zen on you.

8) I really try to keep in touch with my grandma more but she's so depressing and/or negative some days that it can really be hard to talk to her.

9) Speaking of negativity, my twitter and facebook timelines are doing the most. Facebook is about 10 minutes from going the way of MySpace. I'm not willing to give it up completely yet but I interact on there less and less. I'm basically down to food and running. I stopped regularly posting pics unrelated to those two things months ago.

10) I'm about to completely dump my running group. Ironically, because it's not meshing with my running goals. That's so beyond not the point, right?? Crazy.

Movies 2012: Week 1

I'm well on my way to watching more documentaries this year than last year! I didn't actually go back and count but if I can maintain a 50/50 ratio, even at times above that on the documentary side. This was a great start to the year!

January 1-7, 2012
1) Winnebago Man. Documentary about this man who loses his entire mind on a commercial shoot for Winnebago. It's just as much about the filmmaker who's obsessed with the video. I was instantly exasperated by the Winnebago Man's prolific, over-the-top profanity and the filmmaker's insertion of himself into the story. With the filmmaker's participation in this film, it really should have been called Winnebago Man and Boy or something. For the amount of build-up to finding Winnebago Man, there had to be the ultimate pay-off. I think there was. I also think there are interesting ethical conundrums inherent in this film. (The idea of viral video victims setting the record straight; knowing when you're getting the real person while making a film; establishing your importance or worth in a film as the filmmaker? How could you tell this story without including yourself?) From the way it began, I was actually quite surprised to enjoy this film. But I did! 3.9 stars
2) Micki & Maude. A man finds out his ambitious wife (Ann Reinking from Annie!) and his secret mistress are both pregnant. It's shocking how long this charade went on. SHOCKING! I shook my head throughout but somehow still enjoyed it. 3.7 stars
3) The Opposite of Sex. Christina Ricci stars as a homewrecking trollop who moves in with her brother and seduces his boyfriend. So crazy. Lisa Kudrow has the most awesome and jerky personality! She's the best character! Amusing film and certainly not without twists. Really ridiculous ineffective music. 3.6 stars
4) Letters to Juliet. Amanda Seyfried plays an American girl who finds and answers a decades old letter to Juliet (improbable, I know but if you saw how it happened, you'd be even more skeptical). When her response leads to meeting the original letter's author, she joins the woman and her grandson on the search for a long lost love. It started off rather interesting and had interesting moments throughout but silly, unnecessary things kept happening to remove some of that interest. 3.2 stars
5) Gimme Shelter. The Maysles direct this Rolling Stones concert film that accidentally captures footage of a murder in progress. Pretty amazing documentary. It captures the freewheeling, frenzied and chaotic atmosphere of the concert before and during the murder. I feel like I could watch this dozens of times and still see something new every time. It certainly doesn't hurt that the music was great, too. 4 stars
6) The Other Woman. Wow. Natalie Portman stars as a woman who wins the affection of the one she loves only to find out that affection comes with a lot of baggage. The movie is so much deeper than that description but the ambiguity in the explanation is what makes the unveiling more powerful. I had never expected to feel a sympathy or affection for 'the other woman' but I most definitely did. Really beautiful film. 5 stars
7) Picture Me. A filmmaker follows his girlfriend on her rise to model superstardom. While it was interesting to hear some things from models, if you've been keeping up with stories in fashion, for the most part, it didn't break any new ground. The insecurity was disconcertingly bizarre. It was also pretty creepy how old these girls looked. A 16-year-old could easily pass for a 25-year-old. Even 30.
8) Love and Other Drugs. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star as a drug rep and his early-onset Parkinsons-suffering sleep around buddy who go through all sorts of ups and downs together as they try to figure out life. Mostly amusing but harmless. Remember Vonda Shepard of Ally McBeal fame? Someone reprised her constant moans over music and under dialogue throughout this film to annoying heights. 3 stars

2012 Goals

You guys know I LOVE goals! I live a much more ordered life when I'm setting and achieving goals! This year I turn 30!!! Wow! I remember when 30 seemed old. LOL It's so funny how your perspective changes. I've put my goals into categories to make them a little more manageable.

Culinary

1. Try some old recipes again. I cook several times a week. Almost always new recipes. Sometimes even when I'm making a sandwich. I need some standbys. I'm going to try to find some this year.
2. Re-vamp my food blog. The Record Dish is so far from where it started for me that it might be time to move. Get a fresh start.

Fitness

1. Run 750 miles, a 10k and a half marathon. That's about 14.5 miles every week. At the beginning I won't be there (this week will have about 9) but at the end I'll be beyond that... sometimes in a single run. WOW! I'm so excited about where I'll be this time next year!
2. Work out 3-5 times every week. Already on number 4 this week today!

Life & Career

1. Read 45 books. Since I'll be working a lot more this year than last year (claiming it), I'm only upping this goal to 45. I read 50 last year. I'll be cramming as many books as possible into the first half of the year. Now reading 3 books.
2. Make a real effort to find a church. I didn't attend a single one locally in 2011. Wow. I know my spiritual growth is stagnating without a church.
3. Use my time more wisely. That means creating a plan for my days and executing it. I have to have a plan and deadlines to get films created, books read and syllabi written.
4. Buy a camera and a new desktop computer. If I'm going to make more documentaries, I need the equipment to move it on forward!
5. Complete my professional website. Domain name purchased, waiting on the design.
6. Change my name. I've made a decision and I'm ready.
7. Volunteer. I've always wanted to be a baby cuddler at a hospital.
8. Complete at least 10 more 30 before 30 goals. I've done 11 so that will bring me to at least 22. I've had to revise my list to more accurately reflect my current lifestyle. Most of those goals aren't gone forever, though! Look for them on either 35 before 35 or 40 before 40. (LOL)

Career & Money

1. Budget our spending to make room for more things we like to do. And of course, we need to build our savings.
2. Save $1,500 on our grocery bill this year. We were at about $900 w/o even really trying the first 7 months of the year! Part of this savings will require me not wasting money on food that doesn't get eaten. I really hate that.
3. Get a magnificent job. I'm not sure if this will be filmmaking, teaching, a combination or something I haven't even imagined but I'm getting myself mentally ready for the next step.
4. Watch more documentaries. I didn't have nearly enough in my film diet. So far this year, almost half of the films I've watched were docs. I think that's a good ratio. And of course I wouldn't mind even more of a tilt toward the doc side.
5. Make more documentaries. I need to crank out some new things.
6. Attend at least 2 film festivals. I LOVE film festivals and I've only been to one! This is part of my version of attending professional conferences and I'm ready to get back out there!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 129

1) I don't like Project Accessory. Molly Sims has no more credibility than any other person who wears accessories and I never understand what the judges are talking about when they like something. I almost never like what they like. But I can't stop watching it now that I've started. UGH!! I like some of the things they do and seeing the creation process but in general, the show annoys me. I'll finish out the season and be shocked if it lasts.
2) Speaking of shows, we've stopped watching Grimm and Person of Interest. It was the same thing every week with no overall story line progression.
3) December 26th is usually my least favorite day of the year after August 24th (day after my birthday). Christmas was so low-key this year, I was okay.
4) Did you know you can freeze store-bought egg nog? I'M ON IT!!!
5) My mom got her Christmas fish fry after all at my cousin's house for brunch. That fish was amazing! So delicious! I will allow Christmas brunch fish fries henceforth. But someone else has to cook it.
6) You know how I don't like mail addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Rashan last name? But I do like being called Mrs. Last Name. Mostly because it cracks me up! Who me???? LOL
7) I played 'spangles' clearing my tiles on triple word and double word for 161 points the other day!! It still makes me smile!!!
8) It's hilarious to me that the same people who will talk trash about Steve Harvey and Hill Harper dole out daily relationship advice. And I've yet to hear tale of their own successful relationships. Maaaaan look. By hilarious I mean annoying. Stop talking.
9) I had a colossal failure in the kitchen yesterday. Like no salvaging it, straight to the trash failure. WOW. First time in a long, LONG time that's happened. Years.
10) I ran 4 miles for the first time Sunday and it was amazing!! Not in the sense that it felt great because parts of it were torturous but amazing in that I knew I could do it and I did!
11) Remember I mentioned creating a food writing course? I'm reading "Will Write for Food" and it's AWESOME in the first 20 pages!
12) You know what January means, don't you? New goals!!!! I can't wait to share them with you! :)

Movies 2011, Weeks 51 & 52

2011 was an interesting year of films with I realized NOT ENOUGH DOCUMENTARIES!! Changes ahead in 2012.

December 18-24, 2011
222) The Good Witch's Gift. A criminal comes back in town as a good witch and the town's police chief prepare for their Christmas wedding. I guess it's cute enough and sappy but it didn't feel very Christmas-like. Not my favorite. 2.9 stars
223) Christmas Magic. A woman must help a man and his young daughter to get into heaven. I would've liked this film a lot more without the poor lip-synching on a terrible song played ad nauseum at the end. Ugh. Maybe not a lot more. It was too stripped of the things that make movies interesting; it was too predictable. 2.9 stars
224) Christmas Wishes. An orphan and a spoiled brat magically change places at Christmas time to the rich girl's chagrin. The plot was decent, the dialogue was bad, the acting was ABYSMAL!! You could feel everyone acting like a caricature of their character sketch. Bad. But the end? Outrageously bad. So, so bad. 1.5 stars
225) Comfort and Joy. A single woman (Nancy McKeon aka Jo from Facts of Life) is knocked unconscious and wakes up with a family she doesn't remember. Dixie Carter is pretty awesome as her mom. The biggest problem with these time loss movies is how much you have to suspend your disbelief. This was a bit better than others I've seen but it was still rather ridiculous. 3.2 stars
226) Broadcast News. The story of a network news producer, reporter and green, pretty boy anchor. It was pretty amazing how this story still rings so familiar 25 years after it was first told. You could still have the pretty face who knows next to nothing about making the news getting promoted for superficial reasons, massive cuts, a great worker getting hosed, newsroom romances ebbing and flowing. Wow. 4.3 stars
227) Mr. Lucky. Cary Grant stars as a casino operator and con man who convinces an heiress to host her ball for the war effort with his games. The set-up of the story was ridiculous. Just get to it and show me Cary, please and thanks. But I still enjoyed it. Even gangster Cary is still lovable and charming. :) 3.5 stars
228) Will You Merry Me? A Christian and his Jewish fiancée bring their families together to meet for the holidays. Some craziness ensues, of course, but not too over the top. The acting was pretty good. I enjoyed the film for what it was-- light-hearted Christmas hijinks. 3.5 stars
229) Three Wise Women. A woman's past and future selves have to help her  fix her life now to make it better in the future... but she doesn't know who they are. Amusing, strong start. Didn't really hold my attention, though. 3.2 stars
230) A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride. A woman comes back from a trip suddenly engaged to a stranger and her wedding-planning daughter decides to break up the wedding. Meh. 2.9 stars
231) Prelude to a Kiss. Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin star as a young couple whose life is changed by a kiss to the bride from an old man on her wedding day. I usually love magic, rom coms and Meg Ryan. But... this one didn't really do it for me. I'd probably have liked it better if I saw it 10 years ago. 3.2 stars
232) It's A Wonderful Life. An angel's sent to earth to help out a man ruined by a miser at Christmas. Aw! I don't know why I avoided this movie for so long. Maybe my mom doesn't like it?? (Turns out that was why.) I usually find him corny, but I thought Jimmy Stewart was very endearing. Feel-good movie for certain. 4.5 stars

December 25- 31, 2011
233) Apocalypse Now. LAST MOVIE ON THE AFI TOP 100 LIST!!! PUMPED!! Martin Sheen plays a Vietnam-era Green Beret sent on a secret mission to murder a rogue colonel (Marlon Brando). Pretty amazing film from Francis Ford Coppola. 4 stars
234) Fame. The original version of the story of the ups and downs of life for students at a performing arts high school. Quite entertaining. From my brief stint at a performing arts school, they sure minimized the competitiveness among the students. Still, an interesting film. 3.8 stars
235) The Dilemma. Vince Vaughn plays a man who has to figure out whether to tell his best friend his wife is cheating on him. Too long. There were a bunch of unnecessary moments. And to be a dark comedy, there weren't enough funny moments. 3.1 stars
236) Wild Cherry, A teenage girl plots revenge when she finds out her boyfriend's participating in a school get laid book. Wow. Really bad. Don't bother. 2 stars

#25: Read 10 Classic Books

I was always an avid reader. I was that kid who read everything she could get her hands on. Yes, that included every book that was assigned. I found some I never would've read that I really enjoyed (The Count of Monte Cristo, All Quiet on the Western Front) and others I found horrid (Siddhartha). Okay okay. I didn't finish Siddartha. I finished Anna Karenina for AP English my junior year out of spite. I wanted to prove that I could do it. Especially once most of my class didn't finish it. I HATED that long, long book. I wanted to read ten classic books before I turned 30. I wanted to pick a mix of books that were on English teachers' book lists, things a lot of people I knew had read in middle or high school and classic works by black authors.

This list was just like a trip back to school. There were some I loved and wished I read earlier and others I never want to even think about again. Let's start with the highs. Number one hands down is.... PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!!!!!! I love this book!!! I want to read it again and again and again! It's so awesome!! I also loved Their Eyes Were Watching God. Awesome. The Grapes of Wrath. I did NOT expect to love this book! I was marginally optimistic about the first two but this was the sleeper hit! So good! I'll tie these at number two! The top three are COMPLETELY different books set in different times, different countries but they have one thing in common: they're all incredibly well-written.

I really liked Oliver Twist but it would come in fourth on the list of the ten books I read. Invisible Man was the most thought-provoking for me, though it got off to a slow start. After the first 150 or so pages (there were 400 more), it was quite good.  It's number five. Coming in at number six, Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was just there for me. I liked it at times, other times didn't. Overall, it was fine. Number seven: Lord of the Flies was similar but more toward the don't like side.

Number eight is Catcher in the Rye. Not at all my kind of book. Overly-indulged rich kid goes around doing whatever he wants. Stream of consciousness. It made me exasperated with people who relate to this book. No thanks. Number nine is The Great Gatsby. I know! It's a true classic. Whatevs. I couldn't connect with the characters or relate to them. That normally doesn't matter to me. But in this case, the characters all felt frivolous. Number ten is Catch 22. I picked it because I've seen the cover blown up to poster size on the walls of Barnes and Noble. It took me months to read. MONTHS. No more picking books like that. Yech.

Overall? This was a great goal! AND my reading bug is officially reignited! For my 35 before 35 (LOLOL), I'm going to read 35 more classic books that I've never tackled. I only need 5 more. Suggestions?

5k Comparisons

After running two 5ks, I'm definitely hooked on racing! I love the camaraderie, the energy and trying to hit a new personal record in some goal or another!  So let's do a side-by-side review of this race and the first one.

Location
My first 5k was at the beach and therefore absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We didn't run on the actual beach, but rather along it and the intercoastal waterway. I couldn't see the beach during the run but I could smell it and enjoyed it before and after.
Result: Draw

Size & Atmosphere
Race one had about 350 people competing in a 5k and a 10k. Race two had about 3500!! Amazing to jump tenfold!! It was so cool seeing so many runners out and about.  It was also a holiday-themed race and I saw Mrs. Claus AND an elf!  At race number one, there was certainly a greater feeling of camaraderie even though I was running with people I knew at race two. The small size and friendliness of the volunteers at race one really helped.
Advantage: Race 2

Post-Race
Race one had free massages and delicious fresh bagels! There were lots of excited people around so that was fun! But I was most excited about the oyster festival. Unfortunately it was a horrible bust with limited oysters. WACK. The times were posted as people were coming in so it was cool to see your times as you came in and unwound. Plus it was my first race so I was SUPER excited!

Race two had lots of food but because of the crowd, there were way too many people in long lines trying to get to it. There were yummy Panera bagels and hot chicken and rice soup. Delicious. But there were no race times and no info on where to find it. What? Why? This was so incredibly frustrating. Even more so because we started at different times.
Result: Draw


Course
Race one was FLAT which was wonderful! I didn't even realize how wonderful until I started training on hills in the weeks after the race! And though it was at the beach, the course was pretty boring.  It looped back before the first mile so I got to see all of these way who were way faster pass me in the first 10 minutes. Pretty demoralizing. But I quickly got over it.

Race two was hilly but near my normal route so I'd run it a few times. It was cool! And really pretty! I enjoyed it! It looped back later in the race so that was easier to take! Plus the last part of the route was mostly downhill which helps you really fly in the home stretch.
Advantage: Race 2


Swag
At race one, I got a medal. Who cares about the rest of it? I'm not running any more races without a medal.
Advantage: Race 1


Organization
This was the single biggest factor in my race. Race one went off without a hitch. It was on time. It was fun. I was ready to run! Race two? It started 30 minutes late without sufficient explanation. I found out later it was because they didn't shut down pre-race registration when they said they would and there were hundreds of runners still registering when the race was supposed to start. Thirty minutes doesn't sound like much but I got there at 7:25 for a race that was supposed to start at 8:35. It was 40 degrees outside and you see what I was wearing. It was fine for me to start running but not for me to be standing out there for an hour and a half. I couldn't feel my toes for the first 3/4 of a mile. That is not cool. I had also planned my food and water for an 8:35 start so by the time I started I didn't feel appropriately fueled or hydrated. So not cool. This category was a no-brainer.
Advantage: Race 1

Overall
While I loved the size and Christmasness of race 2, the organization killed it for me. I like things to be decent and in order. I'm feeling about done with 5ks. For a while at least. (Unless you know of a free local one...) I'm ready for my first 10k in March!
Advantage: Race 1

Christmas Movie Clichés

With the help of watching 20 (so far) new (to me) Christmas movies this year, I've come to recognize some well-worn themes. With this list, I will never torture myself with (so many) horrid Christmas movies again! Despite some moments of torture, I'm still delighted to enjoy the magic of Christmas via film!

1) The workaholic. This is by far one of the most prevalent Christmas themes. The workaholic learns the magic of the holiday.
2) Santa injured/under fire/lost. Let's call this my least favorite Christmas cliché. Wait. So Santa has amnesia? Pass the peas. (I don't know why I said this either.)
3) Christmas in Peril. Sometimes this is forgetful Santa's fault, sometimes it's the Scrooge's. Whoever's at fault, we've got to save Christmas!
4) The Terrible Christmas leads to a sad season for some lovable person. Oh man. This is a person in deep need of learning the true meaning of Christmas! You've had a rough go of it at Christmas, eh? Well I guess that's why you need us!
5) Love fixes Christmas. This is actually my favorite Christmas cliché. Rom com and Christmas? Count me in!
6) Dead or deadbeat parent and/or the widow(er). A person who hasn't known love since their beloved dies finds it at Christmas. The struggling kids get a new parent that they finally learn to love at Christmas. I do not like this one at all. It's so unbelievable. I can't stand you but at Christmas I suddenly realize the error of my ways? Even as a surly teenager? Right. About that...
7) Absentee Mrs. Claus. Where is Mrs. Claus in these movies?? I saw so many Christmas movies with a santa but no Mrs. Claus. Bizarre.
8) A new Santa. Santa's retiring or dying and we've gotta find a new one! Now this one is also related to Christmas in peril because sometimes the search for a new Santa means if he's not replaced, Christmas DIES!!
9) Christmas wedding. Another fave! Everyone loves a Christmas wedding in the movies! In life I've never seen or known anyone who had one. Hmm...
10) Be careful what you wish for on Christmas... a little magic might make it come true. I like this one, too! But I like it better without the "magic" sounds. You know it. It also sounds just like a fairy getting her wings.
11) Big city guy/gal learns an important lesson in a small town. This is an important theme for all well-worn cliché-filled spectacles. Don't you know people in small towns are more real? And people in big cities only care about money and all things temporal? If not, you learned it in this magical money.
12) The Scrooge. There's always a person who thinks Christmas is terrible. This one is often rolled up into four or more other Christmas clichés. Its closest cousin is big city guy/gal learns an important lesson, the true meaning of Christmas, the workaholic and be careful what you wish for on Christmas.
13) The True Meaning of Christmas. Ah. The cliché to end all clichés! If at the end of the movie, you don't know love is at the heart of the true meaning of Christmas, then I guess you don't have a heart or a soul or you just weren't paying attention!

The Definition of Fall Back

Sometimes people don't know how to leave well enough alone. Or how to mind their own business. This... is the definition of fall back. Long story short: I was good friends with a guy, we dated, broke up, talked a few times then I ignored him for a couple of years. He got the hint and hasn't attempted to talk to me in over a year. I got married this year and so did he. Cool.

We have a mutual friend who thinks ex & I need to be friends again. Wait. What?The two of them are actually much closer than her and I probably ever were. Me and this girl now talk about television occasionally. Like three times in a month via facebook and then nothing for months. Once a year or so, she brings the ex up to me. Monday was my lucky(ish?) day. She tells me she's not sure how we left things but she thinks ex needs his bud and we can probably talk about newlywed things.

Hol up ma'am. So ex and I haven't talked in years but because it crossed your mind and we got married in the same year, you think we should... What? Alright then. Do I attempt to tell you how to raise your children? Did you think about that message before you sent it? I assumed you didn't REALLY think about it which is why I didn't bother to address that with you. I'm pretty sure the newlywed stuff I need to discuss can be discussed with any of the FOUR 2011 newlywed couples I actually have a relationship with or...OR... and this is a long shot. Stick with me. I think I could talk to my favorite newlywed... my husband.

*drops mic*

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 128

1)  I've been internet ghost. Here's why. I called AT&T to remove auto-pay from my account to pay manually. They marked it as a disconnect. I call to have them fix it on Friday and talk to 7 people in an hour and a half. One told me it would be back on by 6. Another said he would find out what happened and have me compensated and he'd call me back. Never called back. Weekend w/o internet. PISSED. Last Monday after another half hour on the phone, I'm finally told they'll shut down that account and create a new one to give me the promotional rate which is $30 less per year than what I'm currently paying. BUT the internet will still be off until December 21st, TWELVE days later. Guess who has zero love for AT&T now. One guess.
2) I hate when cards are addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Rashan (last name). I promise my name is not Mrs. Rashan. It's Jameil. Promise. My mom doesn't get it. "You 21st century women." I am. I'm okay with that. The Last Names? Cool? Mr. & Mrs. Rashan & Jameil? Great. Mr. & Mrs. Rashan last name? Fail.
3) If you're over 25 and you think you can eat whatever you want and drink whatever you want and still have a good workout, you're wrong. If you don't drink water, you will cramp. If you don't eat things other than fast food, you can't perform at peak.
4) My mom suggested a Christmas fish fry. Y'all know I'm open-minded when it comes to food but, lady, you have lost your mind. Christmas Eve fish fry? Let's do it. Post-Christmas fish fry? It's on. But no to Christmas. THEN she mentioned SEVEN desserts for 4 people. One of them has diabetes, another high cholesterol and EVERYONE is watching their waistlines. I shut all of that down with a QUICKNESS. Yes, I'm the kitchen crazy at her house because everyone wants me to cook. Furthermore, if I don't take charge, we'll eat whatever my mom thinks of Christmas afternoon after I beg her to cook. Not on my watch.
5) Was Next Iron Chef awesome? Or was it awesome??? Loved it! And now I want to do a goat cheese-brussels sprouts puree for Christmas!
6) If you saw that movie post from the last two weeks, I've been on a Christmas movie binge of late. Tis CRAY. It's been so crazy that it's prompted a list of Christmas movie cliches. Thursday 13.
7) I want to make a beef wellington...
8) I wish I could eat parsnips. I see SO MANY great recipes! But last Thanksgiving I had an INSANE reaction to them. Itchy throat and snot faucet for HOURS. Carrots make my throat itch but parsnips (carrot cousins) make my body attack. :(
9) My favorite thing about watching food shows is calling out the unusual foods before the narrator can. :)
10) Rashan brought home chocolate-dipped sugar cookies topped with crushed peppermint. WHAT?!?! I could've easily eaten the whole bag! And I might have eaten 7/8 of it...
11) In some ways, Stacey and I are the same person and it is an awesome and hilarious experience talking to her. Can't wait to visit her in New York and rob the city of as much of its food as possible. LEGGO!!!
12) I've cooked three meals and prepared a salad dressing from one of my Rick Bayless books in the last week. So yummy! That man is ON IT!
13) I love my husband. BUNCHES! Tis all...

Hm... looks like I might be ever so slightly obsessed with food... I wonder if I could create a class on the evolution of food journalism... methinks I could and it would be awesome. *Mind twerks*

Movies 2011: Weeks 49 & 50

*I apparently forgot how to count at some point in this journey toward millions of movies. Oops! You know what I meant. :)

December 4-10, 2011
202) Beginners. A graphic artist comes to grips with his father's death just a few years after learning the elderly man is gay and wants to act on it publicly. That's what the movie is billed as, anyway. And the moments where Christopher Plummer is on screen are wonderful. But too few. Quiet, sad indie film. It was very well-liked by many others. I was only lukewarm to this film. 3.3 stars
203) Mother is a Freshman. 1959 movie about a mother who enrolls in college and finds herself crushing on the same man as her daughter. Cute movie. A short and fun watch! 3.9 stars
204) In the Meantime, Darling. World War II-era film about a well-to-do woman who marries a military man and finds herself out of place when living on the base. Cute if propagandistic and a bit vapid. 3.7 stars
205) Easy. Indie film about a loose girl who always sleeps with the wrong guys. She then meets two nice guy contenders when she decides to impose celibacy upon herself. The gratuitous nudity was annoying but the story line was pretty good. 3.5 stars
206) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Silent film about the ups and downs of married life. I was very surprised to be into this story from the beginning. It was intriguing from the start and kept up the excitement despite being silent. If you look at Netflix, don't be alarmed. The film is 95 minutes. Their disc just includes two versions. I enjoyed the soundtrack version. 4 stars
207) Super. A husband fights crime after his wife leaves him for a drug dealer. This film stars Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Kevin Bacon. As strange as you would imagine. Moments of interest and wondering how it could possibly end. Outlandish. 3.4 stars
208) The Change-Up. Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds star as best friends with opposite lives (one married, one wild and single) accidentally switch lives. Some terrible and unnecessary computer-generated graphics. An outrageous amount of gratiuitous cursing and nudity. Just ridiculous. You expect a certain amount of unbelievability in a movie about a magical switch but this took things way too far. Worse, it was far too long. Almost two hours for a comedy??? Really??? Why?? 2 stars

December 11-17, 2011
You might notice a slight changeover to Christmas... :) I have no problem suspending parts of my sometimes snobby filmmaker-ness for Christmas. But only SOME parts... as you'll see.
209) 12 Dates of Christmas. A woman bent on winning back her ex-boyfriend is forced to relive a blind date 12 times until she gets it right. So cute! Even Rashan enjoyed it! 4 stars
210) Santa Incident. Two kids save Santa and nurse him back to health after his sleigh is shot down by a military plane. But they also have to enlist the town to protect Santa from agents bent on imprisoning him before Christmas. Blech. Some relatively amusing parts but really only a child will like this. And then only if they're younger than ten. 2.4 stars
211) Farewell Mr. Kringle. Christine Taylor stars in this Christmas movie about a widowed writer who's given up on love and Christmas until she's assigned to cover a town dedicated to Santa Claus. Probably overly mushy. I might listen to it if there was nothing else on but I would prefer to watch something else. 2.9 stars
212) Santa Who? A newsman tries to help an apparently homeless amnesiac find his family. Santa has amnesia! Extremely sappy. Leslie Nielsen is awesome as Santa, though. 2.8 stars
213) Eve's Christmas. Le sigh. Elisa Donovan stars in this film about an ad exec who wishes on a star to be able to fix things with her ex-fiancé. So Lifetime movie sappy. Do not want. 2 stars
214) Secret Santa. A reporter (Jennie Garth) goes in search of the Secret Santa who anonymously helps a small town. I'm sure it's heartwarming to someone. I drowned in sap. Here lies Jameil. 2.9 stars
215) Larry Crowne. Tom Hanks stars as a man downsized in the economic downturn who decides to go to college for the first time. He ends up falling for his professor (Julia Roberts) in this film at the confluence of several modern events-- foreclosure, texting in class, downsizing leading to a calling. Just okay. It's one of those films you can pay some attention to but you could also have running in the background and not miss much. 3 stars
216) A Holiday Engagement. A woman hires a man to pose as her fiance when she goes home for the holidays. Shelley Long plays a caricature of a mom in a very strange role. Just okay. 3 stars
217) A Princess for Christmas. A duke wants to finally meet his orphaned, estranged children so their caretaker aunt might as well come along. Looks like somebody's gonna be a princess for Christmas! Plot wasn't airtight but it was enough to be entertaining. 3.5 stars
218) Our First Christmas. Julia Sugarbaker (that's her real name) is the nervous family matriarch in a newly-formed family of a widow and widower and their children. Predictable... which is to be expected in Christmas movies. But with stilted acting and poor dialogue all over the place, it was absolutely wearying. 2.5 stars
219) A Christmas Proposal. Opposing counsel and one-time loves battle over the creation of a ski resort in their hometown. Not good. 2 stars
220) Christmas in Boston. Two longtime pen pals each send their best friends to pose as them when they meet for the first time. You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle & When Harry Met Sally rolled up into one. So cute! 4 stars
220) Annie Claus is Coming to Town. An elf interferes with Santa's daughter to make her fall in love. But there are two men competing for her affection. Cute. 3.4 stars
221) Unknown. Liam Neeson stars as a man who wakes up from a coma in a German hotel and no one knows who he is because someone's assumed his identity. Pretty awesome thriller. 4 stars

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 127

I'm in internet purgatory. The sordid details coming later in the week but for now, Monday Mindspacing on Tuesday...

1) Etsy sellers who go on vacation around Christmas? Not bright.
2) Rashan and I decided Robert California can't last on "The Office" at this rate. He's getting too ridiculous. Not as bad as Will Ferrell last year but still. Those episodes are unwatchable.
3) You'll be pleased to know the Christmas menu is officially underway! There was great difficulty because no one has anything they must have for Christmas except dressing and sweet potato pie. Ummm... what? How do I narrow down a menu like that? Do better, people.
4) I wish I could block profanity from my twitter timeline. It would really help my quest to keep cursing out of my life.
5) My favorite thing about my new phone is app exploration. This week's fave is Pulse because it exposes me to news sources I wouldn't ordinarily see. Least fave? iPhone-only apps. Fix.
6) Did you hear about the proposed (essentially imminent) post office cuts? It will make mail even slower. Mine already gets here after 6 if at all. So wack.
7) I ran 3.5 on Thursday and 3.6 Sunday at faster than ever paces and felt AMAZING both times!!
8) I'm going to be saturating myself in Christmas music and movies for the rest of the month!! Can't wait!!!!!! I never let my filmmaker sensibilities get in the way of jolly Christmas films! Okay that's not totally true. I don't particularly like kiddie Christmas movies. I love a good romcom Christmas! Love it! There are 29 unwatched Christmas movies on the DVR and I've already watched for others!!
9) Have you ever seen a perfume spritzer just randomly spray someone in a store? Matter of fact, have you ever seen a person in the store spraying perfume on people? I'm convinced both of these only exist in the movies and on television.
10) I secretly want an arm full of slim diamond bracelets one day. I don't care if it's gaudy. The secret's out. Boom.
11) I love gifts in triplicate. I really don't think gifts should exist without at least two sidekicks. They don't have to be huge but those gifts need friends!
12) Christmas has made me remember I have cookbooks I've never cooked from. I've fixed that with two books since Thanksgiving and I still have at least SIX to go. But I still want a slow cooker cookbook... I have at least 150 recipes saved on my computer. I could use only saved recipes and those from cookbooks I own for at least 18 months without repeating. Out of control.

Christmas List 2011

The theme for this year's Christmas is RUNNING! Surprised you, didn't I? LOL Those are the most reasonable things and turns out I really want them. I've gotten a few early Christmas gifts so that's extra exciting!

1. Running shoes!!!  This is number one for a reason!  I want this MOST of all! Done! Thanks Rashan!
2. Registration for this 10k or this half marathon.   I want these second most!
3. An arm holder for my phone/i.d./key, a Black Girls Run! t-shirt (Got a sweatshirt, thanks to Mom!), running clothes (pants, jacket in indigo grey, long-sleeved shirt in black or fuschia, jacket in black or fuschia, running headband) compression socks, a head lamp & running gloves. A foam roller.
4. Other random workout stuff like a ball, a medicine ball and a kettle bell. 
5. A job. What? God sees Christmas lists, too! :)
6. A stand or hand mixer. I currently mix everything by hand. Yeah. Nuff said.
7. Apple Corer. Chain pie weight. Both from Crate and Barrel. I'll probably use my gift card to get these for myself. Merry Christmas to me!
8. A slow cooker cookbook like this one primarily and this one secondarily.

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 126

1) HGTV has clued me in to something: I don't like futuristic toilets. Tell me that toilet is not scary-looking. I think most of all I hate its squareness. Why does that toilet look like a box? But I'm also amused to think one day that might be a relatively basic/normal toilet.
2) I bet my mom's blood pressure skyrockets every time she thinks about her latest interactions with her mom. She always starts yelling. It's insane.

3) I ran my 2nd 5k on Saturday! But it was just okay... I felt like I could've run faster. :/  I was trying to stay with my running partner. But I did like my festive attire. I'll do a comparison with the first 5k later. For those of you who are in training, how's it going????
4) Rashan and I have been married 5 months AND we only recently realized we'll be married 6 months on New Years Day!!! Awesome! To bring in our 6 month anniversary every year, we get fireworks, champagne and a giant party! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried! And our actual anniversary is 4th of July weekend? PARTY EVERY SIX MONTHS!!!
5) I think I want to start painting my nails regularly again. I want OPI's Big Apple Red.
6) I only liked the first season of Dexter a little. Not enough to continue. But I'm really enjoying the current season.
7) I've started playing a game with Rashan. I do something big, noticeable and wait for him to notice. I put up a wreath inside and switched the one outside. He didn't notice until I mentioned it. I put a rather large sleigh full of gold and red Christmas ornaments on the DVR. He missed it for the first 2 hours he was home... watching tv. I had a bunch of papers I was organizing covering a large section of the living room that I put away. I had to call his attention to it. It cracks me up!! I can't WAIT for tonight! :)
8) I have lots of goals I need to accomplish before the end of the year. I'm on my way but I have to focus. I'm ready. I approach my goals like I approach a race. Head down, enjoy it as you go but most of all, FINISH.
9) I love watching Zakarian freak out every week on Next Iron Chef. I never expected him to become one of my faves! And I certainly didn't expect to not love Samuelsson as much as I once did. OR to really really like Faulkner!
10) I love my husband. I have a blast with him! He delights me, he supports me every step of the way, he adores me. That last one is why my mom loves him. He doesn't care who sees it. One day we'll be those parents embarrassing the mess out of their children with their love!
11) One of my mom's high school classmates doesn't have email. In 2011. Fix yourself. Right now.
12) Can you believe I haven't really thought about my Christmas menu? I'm pretty sure I'm going to cook whatever is on sale at my fave (Harris Teeter) that week. Ooh! I forgot I get to go to Trader Joe's since we'll be in Charlotte. There, too! :)

Movies 2011, Weeks 44-46

I've been reading a lot so movie-watching is falling out of favor. I can't seem to get into a rhythm of doing both regularly. I suppose next year is the year of that.

November 6-12, 2011
193) American Teen. Documentary about teenagers at a high school in Indiana.  It was an interesting story to watch and I really felt for some of the characters.  It seemed like an accurate high school story for I'm sure many teenagers but without more diversity than a black kid with 2 lines, of course it could only go so far for me.  Still enjoyable.  3.7 stars
194) The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls. The story of singing comedic lesbian twins from New Zealand is a concert film with touches of their activism.  The comedy was enjoyable in spurts.  I guess I was expecting less of a concert film and more of an exploration of the women.  Beautifully shot but the story just fell a bit flat for me.  3.2 stars
195) Blair Witch Project. Wow. I hadn't seen this movie because so many people talked about how horrible it was. I already knew I wouldn't be afraid of it because it's one of those movies people either say "I was terrified" or they blank stare you.  I'd be in the blank stare category.  Pass.  2 stars
196) The Big Clock. This noir film is about a private detective who finds himself solving a murder where he is the suspect.  Very interesting and a fun watch!  The best thing about noir films is the irreverence for the characters.  ANYONE is fair game to die. When you say it like that, it sounds terrible! But for films? It's great! 4 stars
197) The Harvey Girls. Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury star in this musical about a mail order bride who joins a group of waitresses at a new whistle stop restaurant when her marriage plans fall through.  Then the towns puritans and rougher element battle for control.  Amusing enough.  3.4 stars
198) CatchingHell. OMG. The longest documentary in the entire world about a single fraction of a second event.  I didn't care anymore about SteveBartman being a scapegoat for the ChicagoCubs losing a trip to the WorldSeries in 2008.  Unless you are the ultimate fan and you feel some need to relive this forever and in excruciating detail, I don't know why you would need to watch this film. 2 stars

November 20-26, 2011
199) HappyThankYouMorePlease. Josh Radnor (Ted on "How I Met Your Mother) directs and stars in this film about a struggling writer (I know) who finds and keeps a foster kid he finds on the train until he can figure something out (I know) and the women in his life and the intertwining relationships.  As it unravels, some nice things happen in the plot.  But there are some loose ends he never quite ties and others he ties too neatly to feel real or worthy. And still it's a nice movie to watch. 3.7 stars
200) Sarah's Key. A journalist finds her family history is entangled with the story of a Jewish French girl whose family was murdered by the French during WWII.  Very moving story. The writer got lazy at some parts, relying on clichéd and overused language to push a story that really didn't need any pushing. There were times where I knew the exact line that was coming next. But for the most part, it was quite good if at times unbelievable. 3.7 stars

November 27-December 3, 2011
201) Due Date. Robert Downey, Jr. and Zack Galifianakis star in this film about two strangers who wind up driving across the country together after an airport mishap. I am SHOCKED by how much I laughed during this movie! And RDJ is PERFECT for this role! It got overly ridiculous after the first hour (of course) so that dropped it down a bit but still quite funny. 3.5 stars