Fun Factoid

From Wikipedia:

Arthur Guinness started brewing ales initially in Leixlip, then at the St. James's Gate Brewery, Dublin, Ireland from 1759. On December 31, 1759, he signed (up to) a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery.

B & D's Wedding

I've known B since junior high, and even though we've lived apart for the past 12 years, we've managed to stay close friends. She's one of those who I'd trust with my life. She has a huge heart, and she deserves everything good that has and will come to her.

Last weekend, we got to celebrate her marriage to D! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. There was so much detail to the wedding -- it was like a chinese beach theme. There was the same silk chinese brocade fabric in the bridesmaids dresses, groom's tie, and tablecloths. As placecards, they used glass bottles with names contained inside, they had umbrellas and little red flowers all over the place, including the cake, and they played a lot of Jack Johnson. Just looking at it all made me exhausted of planning my own future, not-yet-existent wedding. Most of all, though, it was wonderful just to see how happy she and D are. And oddly, they seemed especially grown up. Is that what happens when you get married??? POOF! I now pronounce you adults!

Weddings are now one of the few occasions that we get to have a mini high school reunion.

This was the first time we got to be a bridal party! I like dressing the same as my friends! It was so much fun fussing over each other saying that's not straight, you have a hair out of place, just like monkeys fussing over each other looking for ticks 'n stuff.

It was also my first time being a bridesmaid, and I have to say, I had a lot of fun walking down the aisle. It's like my own fashion show for 5 seconds. I didn't mean to do a model walk -- it just happened because I had to walk on the balls of my feet to avoid sinking into the ground with my pointy heels.

I'll end this posting with a treat. B had a flower girl and ring bearer, aka the most adorable little brother/sister pair ever.

Sweet, salty, scrumptious weekend

The sis plus friends came to visit! It was a food tour, and somewhere in there, we crammed in Billy Elliot and The Met.

Miss Mamie's Spoonbread 2

Dylan's

Crumbs
My first time, and I have to give it a thumbs up! So many flavors!

The Shakeshack
In 'n Out is still on top!

Magnolia Bakery
Still really good, unlike Buttercup, which has just fallen from grace.

Nobu
YUM.

Max Brenner's

Breakfast of Champions
Consists of a collection of Magnolia, Junior's, and Lady M's.
Then I sent them off with Levain cookies in tow!

Naked Bike Ride

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Plane Movies

I watch a lot of movies on the plane, so I end up watching a lot more variety that I normally would. Examples include The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1), and High School Musical (I?). Some of these I cannot even finish (Earth, HS Musical) and some I will finish but I want to throw up (Sisterhood).

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still
I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still most recently. Apparently, it is a remake, which means that the first version was probably pretty good. I have no idea, because now the whole story is marred by this modern version. Keanu Reeves is the normal stoic, robotic, awful actor that he is. Jennifer Connelly is fine, but I don't understand why she chose to do this movie. It's a sci-fi film that mixes in religion, ala Contact, but not nearly as good. It maps the whole analogy out for you, but it is just SO UNBELIEVABLE. I found the message and feel of the movie to be entirely mismatched.

1.5/4 stars

2. Twilight
International flights seem to have better movies. Examples include Zodiac, and more recently, Twilight. One might say that I only like this movie because I absolutely loved Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullin. This is only *partially* due to his hotness, but it is also due to how so very well he plays the role. Ooh, those vampire stares. This movie was shot beautifully -- you could feel the atmosphere of Washington and the eeriness in the air.

Kristen Stewart is the only complaint I have. While she was very good at portraying the mystic Bella and only unreadable girl to Edward, I could not understand why she loved Edward. ?? I'm told that it's not that well explained in the book either (nope, haven't read it), but the turn from fascination to love was too abrupt and unconvincing.

Other than that, I loved how they went surfing in cold cold water. (Nocal!!)

3/4 stars

Pup of Many Names

Cody had a lot of different names, starting from when he was a puppy.

"Houdini." Small puppy + flexible bones + sheer will = expert escapist.

"Miss America." Cody grew up, became more refined, and developed a fine palette for food. He was not one of those uncivilized dogs who just scarfed down their food in 10 seconds. No, Cody liked to take his time.

"George Clooney." He became distinguished with age and had those salt and pepper looks that other dogs would kill for (not that he didn't have them when he was a puppy!). He basked in the sun and enjoyed getting massages.

A unique dog, to say the least, who captured all of our hearts.
No doubt that all dogs go to heaven.

High-flying Bridal Shower

The best bridal shower I could have ever imagined!


Seriously, one of the top 5 coolest things I've ever done. Maybe I should come up with a list. I like making lists.

In no particular order:
trapeze
Letterman
surf camp
field day (for a bunch of 20-3o year-olds, may not be considered "cool" per se)
zip line through a forest enshrouded in clouds

Praps I should shorten this to Top 3 since the last 2 I had to really think about. I guess there really was an order to the list!

Oh hello, Lover

Eeeee!!! Look what I did!!

Mary Norton shoes

Shoes really DO make a girl happy!

Friday Night Lights: Hello Goodbye

Aired: 2/6/2009

I have been meaning to rate this episode for awhile. Oh man did it give me goosebumps. This episode put together all the elements of why this show is soooo good. I admit, I'm a sucker for motivational sports movies, but this is more. The characters on this show have hearts of gold, hearts of GOLD! Everything about Coach and Mrs. Coach (as Matt Saracen endearingly calls now principal Tami Taylor) is all that you would hope a married couple would be. Thank goodness FNL has not tried to tarnish their everlasting and supportive relationship with thoughts of infidelity.

This show is honest, heartfelt, innocent, and inspirational. The first season was so good it made me watch show after show, uninterrupted, for a solid week. Second season fell off a bit, but this episode in particular, pulls everything this show stands for back together, and the result, well, evokes goosebumps and palm-pressed-to-chest motions.

In this episode titled "Hello Goodbye," Tami Taylor goes through her own strife, battling against the boosters and their dream for a jumbotron for the football field, but she pauses to listen and support her husband, the beloved Coach Eric Taylor. Coach Taylor is struggling with the decision to bench Matt Saracen, the QB who rose to the occasion when QB1 Jason Street became paralyzed (season 1). A rising star freshman is now poised to take the team to another level -- a better arm than Jason Street, destined for greatness.

Coach struggles: "The fact of the matter is that it's my responsibility to that kid to make sure that he's not pushed too fast and that he's prepared."
Tami responds: "You're making the decision with such a conscience... I think it's because you're a teacher first, and I know you're going to say it's corny, but you are a molder of men. And I find that admirable, and I think it's sexy."
kiss
Coach: "Tell you what, I'm going to have to ruminate on that a little longer since you find that so damn sexy."

I LOVE Mr. and Mrs. Coach!!!


In another moving scene, Coach Taylor takes Brian "Smash" Williams to a walk-on tryout at Texas A&M. Coach and Smash are waiting on the sidelines and are told that the Texas A&M coach wants to reschedule. Coach Taylor interrupts the ongoing practice to lay everything out on the line, including his own reputation, to get Smash a chance to play that day.

Coach Taylor: "This kid right here can flat out play... Let me tell you something else, he's got more heart and guts than any kid I've ever coached. You know what I'm talking about."
A&M Coach: "Let me ask you something, Coach, if someone pulled a stunt like this while you were over at TMU, what would Coach Wood have done?
Coach Taylor: "He would've said, 'There's a guy with balls and the courage of his convictions.' And then he would look at me in the eyes and say get the hell off my field."

Coach Taylor then takes Smash aside to say:
"You listen to me. You listen to me closer than you have ever listened to me before. You remember that Rutlidge game... You came into that game, you took over that game, play by play, you owned that game. I watched you that day, and I said to myself that kid is going to go all the way. Right now, right here, God has placed you to do what you do best. Go all the way."

Smash delivers.

*melt* I melt!! The heart of this man, the molder of men.

Rating: 3.8/4 stars

Things I Love

Things I Bought that I Love
(Borrowed concept from Kelly Kapoor's blog)

Club Monaco Rosie Satin Sheath Dress

Fabulous

Things I Got that I Love

Need I say more? Seriously, my life has been revolutionized.

Failed jokes

There's nothing more disappointing than a failed joke. Especially ones that you yourself laugh whole-heartedly at.

We are working on a pitch for business related to asthma. I asked the group, what if we put this in our presentation?

Sucks to your asthmar!

*silence*
What?
Sucks to your asthma?
Me: Asthma-R. You know, it's from Lord of the Flies.
Huh, I don't remember that quote.
*sigh* :(

Gran Torino

Because I spend so much time enjoying my favorite pasttime of watching movies and TV, I've decided to start writing reviews. Just short ones. I usually rate on a 10 point scale, but because I think this allows too much liberty, and because the Sundance Film Festival uses it, I'm going to use a 4 star scale. I'm free to use fractions though.

Gran Torino
3.5 stars
At first I thought this movie was about a car race, but it turns out that it's really about life and death. And really, the Gran Torino is not a car RACE but rather just a car.

This movie takes place in Michigan, and the neighborhood where this story is played out is a spitting image of its real life form. Who knows, maybe it was actually filmed there. This environment, which never seemed to recover from the Detroit riots, is the backdrop for Clint Eastwood and his Hmong neighbors who struggle in a deteriorating community. I don't know what Clint is like in real life these days, but he delivers a knock-out performance playing this crusty, grumpy, ~70 year old dude who squints, spits, and drinks beer on his porch.

This movie is insightful, ghostly, and inspiring. It not only touches the heart, but it's also LOL hilarious (totally unexpected!).

Sundance '09 (cont'd)

Eccles Theater

We waited for 5 hours in this line to NOT get into I Love You Phillip Morris. It was a sad day. However, attending the Q&A session afterward did lift our spirits. Note how we have adhered to the 3-Step Program with our similar-looking hats.

The awesome winter-wonderland that is Park City.

We didn't forget to squeeze in some snow play!

Kristen Wiig

You would never know it from her crazy antics in SNL, but Kristen Wiig is pretty and... seemingly normal?

LOL

Bill Hader came back for a do-over. I give 3 out of 4 stars for Adventureland!

Sundance '09 (cont'd)

John Krasinski

Very nice fellow. He took time to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. He did that the entire time he was "exposed" to the masses, which is leaps and bounds over what some people would do. It was pretty funny to see this crowd of squealing girls chasing after him. One fan said, "John, you're my HERO!!!" To which he replied humbly, "Aw, don't say that!" I heart John Krasinski. Yes, I won't deny it, I was one of those girls too, although I wasn't squealing. With all my experience, I am now a calm and collected fan.

Michael Cera

Not as awesome as we had originally thought. This guy dissed us! THIS GOOFY GUY!!! We were the only fans calling him over to the barricade, and he wouldn't come. Then everybody left, and he had been standing out in the cold for 10 minutes with his clan, doing nothing, and it was only 3 of us left, and he still wouldn't come over and only said "sorry." George Michael Bluth, I am sorely disappointed. However, I look forward to your upcoming movie Arrested Development.

Jim Carrey

Very funny (in a normal funny kind of way) and very nice. See how I didn't get a clear shot of him? That's because there are these scumbags who acquire autographs for a living and shove and pin women like the sis and I up against metal barricades to get their autographs.

Sundance '09

Another fruitful year at Sundance! Snow play, movies, and celebs. Here's what we learned.

Spencer Treat Clark

If you don't recognize this face, perhaps you know him better as Lucias from the Gladiator.
Spencer Treat Clark is now 22 years old and thinks he can be late to Sundance movies and still get in. No no child star, you're not that special. When nobody on the wait list (ahem, yours truly + company) can get into I Love You Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, that means that there are no seats, and neither child stars nor people who have waited 5 hours can get in.

Guess the best thing to do is to sneak into the Q&A session!

3-Step Program

All our lives, the sis and I have tried NOT to look alike. Many times, as people who shop together, as people who have the same mom who shops for us, we end up getting the same shoes, sweaters, socks, helmets, etc. I objectively think, that up through high school, we haven't actually physically looked alike. But the older we get, the more and more we look alike. Well, now instead of fighting it, we're embracing it, and we've decided to try to look exactly alike and formulated a 3-Step Program to do it.

3-Step Program for Sisters to Look the Same

1. Start dressing alike. When together, we must change to mirror what the other sis is wearing.
2. Get the same pajamas and wear them at the same time. We spend a lot of time together in our pajamas, so it will become really hard to tell us apart.
   
3. Dye our hair the same color.

Okay, so we're well on our way to Step #3. (We didn't get the EXACT same pajamas for Christmas, but they're really the same with different patterns, so I call Step #2 completed.) I have to say, that I'm pretty excited about the hair. I feel like I am in this constant battle against having straight medium-length hair. Boooring. But no matter what I do, I feel like I end up in this steady-state of hair.

Steady-state

I tried other things:

Long side-swept bangs
But essentially, I think it's the same thing.

(Pic from New Years 2009)

Short!

I loved this cut, but it was so much upkeep! I would really have to have my hair cut every 6 weeks to keep this cut, so it eventually turned into steady-state.

So the sis and I decided to dye our hair 2 shades lighter. I think something like this?
Yay! Unfortunately, this will take a lot of upkeep too, so I may just end up at steady-state after say, one touch-up. *sigh*

Stay tuned...

Snow!

It's snowing, it's snowing! It's fun watching the snow fall from the 16th floor. It snowed earlier this week too (the first snow of the season), and the snowflakes were so huge that it looked like cottonballs were falling from the sky!

Not THIS Old Lady

My company's main office is in Stamford, CT, and there's a small NYC contingency in the "New York office." We are part of a larger umbrella company, so we share space with a sister company in New York. ANYWAY, it is usually just 3 people, working in our corner. Sometimes people from the CT visit, but it's pretty rare.

So yesterday, out of the blue, the president of our company came into the office for a meeting, and brought her mother along, who was going to leave for the airport from our office. Right now, only the side entrance to our building is open due to construction, and the arranged car service was for some reason, only going to go to the blocked off main entrance around the corner. So the president asked me to show her mother to the main entrance since she would be tied up with a meeting. Okay sure, no problem. It will take 5 min. She introduced her mother, who was named Audrey, so that was cool -- off to a good start!

As we were getting ready to head out, I grabbed her suitcase for her. She said, "Wow, what service!" Ahem. What??? SERVICE??? Um, lady, I'm taking your suitcase for you because I'm being curteous because YOU'RE AN OLD LADY!! Kind of like how I carried my sister's suitcase all over NYC because she's my sister and because she's got a lot to carry and because she had a gimpy knee!! Kind of like how I try to carry everything for my mom so she doesn't have to carry stuff. "Service," please, I'm not the help around here. In any case, I moved on.

We got to the lobby and saw that it was raining... HARD. She's like all apologetic and said that she'd go out by herself, no reason for me to get wet, and it's just around the corner. But she didn't know her way around and I wasn't about to just let her wander around by herself. The president asked for a favor and I wasn't going to lose her mother. Anyway, she had an umbrella, which she generously shared with me, and we got around the corner, and it's 3rd Ave., and I really have no idea where a car would stop to wait for someone. There's no towncar in sight. So I left her at the bus stop for shelter so that I could just check around the corner at the other entrance to make sure that the car was not waiting there.

Well, turned out, there was a car there, and they say that they were there to pick up "Audrey." So I walked back, in the rain, no umbrella, to get her. She followed me to the car and interestingly, didn't offer her umbrella this time. But then the idiot driver was all, wait no, I'm waiting for a different person.

I then turned to Audrey and said we'd better go back to the other entrance, and she rolled her eyes, went "augh,", turned around, and stalked off and left me standing in the rain. Dude!! It's not MY fault your daughter didn't arrange things right for you!! But then another car was parked a few cars down, which turned out to be the correct car (it was an SUV; car services are never SUVs! How was I to know?). So I called Audrey back, and sent her away to the airport.

Was I happy that that was over. Ungrateful old lady. She stayed dry while "the help" got all wet.

Broadway

Okay, so I know everybody always talks about how the best stuff is off-Broadway, but I have yet to discover these gems and am pretty satisfied with my Broadway shows.

East Coasterly Activities

Kiran and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge when he visited.

And Pete and I went to an apple orchard in NJ to pick apples. And then we visited a farm that made cheese from grass-fed cows, and where the workers wore dresses with their big rubber boots and gloves.

We found a perfect apple tree.