Twilight

So y'all, this is the part where I let my inner 15 year old girl out. I went to see Twilight today. In case you're culturally impaired and you've never heard of the books or heard about the movie (mostly in the context of 12,000 screaming girls swooning over Robert Pattinson), it's about vampires. That's pretty much it. A regular girl meets a vampire and they fall in love. This filled 4 WHOLE BOOKS, pretty lengthy books at that, and I'm not ashamed to say that I've read every single one. My favorite one by far was the last one, so I am really hoping that the movie franchise does well enough that they get to Breaking Dawn, because that's going to make one incredible movie.

Twilight was really good- much better than I expected. I kept wondering how it would look to someone going in cold having not read the book or even knowing the plot, and if that were the case the movie would SUCK. But since I'd read the books and knew what was happening and what will happen in the future, I LOVED it. In a sense it was better than the book because you weren't stuck reading Bella's whiny thoughts. The girl does tend to ramble on and on in self-righteousness, so it was nice to not have to deal with so much of that.

And I guess it is inevitable that I talk about Edward. What the heck makes him so appealing? Probably the mix of gentlemanly behavior, incredible self-control, and the dark brooding gaze. Whew. He could just tear that girl apart but he loves her so much that he forces himself not to- is there anything more romantic than that? (Yes, this would be the 15 year old girl part of me talking.) Not to mention that the actor playing him is HOT, which is exactly as it should be. I don't think there is a man alive who could do justice to Stephanie Meyer's descriptions of Edward, but they got a good mix of pretty and intense in Pattinson.

Right, back to my regular 29 year old self. How can it be Sunday already? Where did my several days off GO? I put up Christmas lights, watched an embarrassing number of episodes of Brothers and Sisters, knit up a storm, worked on my message board thing, went to my bookclub, went shopping, and watched the rain. Rumor is that tonight and tomorrow we might get measureable snow. This is insane- it's not even December yet! And, as I've been reminding myself for the past 3 days I HAVE to paint my toenails tonight. What if I ever have to take my shoes off in public (in december? really?)? So I'm going to go do that, watch the last 2 episodes of Brothers and Sisters in my apartment at the moment, throw my clothes in the dryer, and eat some icecream. Just because it's Sunday night doesn't mean my vacation is over yet, dammit. Oh, and tonight I'll dream about hanging out with the hot vampires.

Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I spent yesterday at my friend Erin's house eating wonderful food, petting her cats, and playing Imaginiff, which is a really funny game where you pick a bunch of people, read silly questions about them off of cards, and hope you pick the the same answer as everybody else so you get points and WIN. It was a good time. And I had a great turkey sandwich for breakfast this morning. YUM.

On Wednesday my friend Eric was in town, and we did decidedly Nashville things. We had breakfast at Noshville (POTATO PANCAKES!). Then saw Transporter 3. (Not really a Nashville thing, but a really great unapologetically ridiculous action movie. I loved it. And until people were walking out I was sure I was the only girl in the theater. There was one other.) After that we went to The Flying Saucer, which is where I will be taking anyone who is even slightly interested in beer. Amazing. They have 10 million beers on tap (I could be exaggerating) and a trillion more in bottles. A beer snob's dream.

This morning I called all of the companies I do business with (like the electric company and credit card companies) to tell them that my phone number has changed and I even got the APR lowered on one of my credit cards. I'm going to call my credit union on Monday (they're closed today) and see if they'll lower the APR on their card because right now they're the highest by far, which seems backwards to me. That got me on a roll so I did a big count up of debt and I'm happy to say that it has definitely gone down in past 11 months. My plan is working. I have been skipping trips and shopping and all kinds of things because the only goal I care about right now is not owing money. In the coming year I am prepared to aggressively attack my debt and make a really appreciable dent in it. Not that $4500 isn't appreciable, and considering all of the things I paid cash for this year that's really noble. Next year will be even better. The main thing is that almost all of that was paid on credit cards. YES!

In other news, last night I finished up my latest pair of fingerless gloves, and these are about 12 million times better than the first ones. Check it out! These are done in bulky bamboo yarn, which I'm in love with and I'm going to buy a ton more of it and start knitting. I don't even know what I'll make with it, I just love to use it. It's thick and warm and really REALLY soft and has a texture almost like silk. YUMMY.





















Also, because I know you're interested, I am completely in love with Coldplay. I never paid much attention to them before but this is their latest song. I could listen to this over and over and over (and I HAVE, as the youtube search page keeps pointing out). Hush up youtube, I'm a little obsessive about songs and I don't think I have to answer to you!



Today and for the rest of the weekend I will drag out Christmas decorations, work on Christmas lists, see Twilight, knit some more bamboo, watch Brothers and Sisters, and make a display rack out of an old picture frame I got at Goodwill. I will post pictures as I suspect this will be a really cool project. Happy shopping day everybody!!!

Letter From the Editor

This month's letter from the editor in Vogue has me in giggles. The economy has hit everyone, including the magazine, which featured an article about shopping at Target and Walmart for Christmas. But the funniest part is page 120, where in a caption about an outfit it is stated that all three pieces all have 3 digit prices (and that's a good thing, they're so inexpensive!). Because CLEARLY to Anna Wintour, that's as cheap as you can get without slumming it.

One Hell of a Knitting Streak

Every year I do the same thing- the weather gets cold and I start knitting. The other night we had snow flurries (this is a big deal in Nashville, they practically closed the interstates), and last night the temperature was in the teens. We're not cut out for that kind of cold down here! You northerners and your insulation and snowplows, thinking we are just wimps below the Mason-Dixon line. That's not quite it. Everybody freaks out because no one knows how to drive in snow, houses are built to get rid of heat, not save it, and you just don't find the winter clothes here that you would in, say, Quebec. We're ill-equipped.



Anyway, I have been knitting like a fiend. Last February I went up to Massachusetts to visit my mom, and while I was there I got some gorgeous super soft merino/angora blend yarn. I started a scarf while I was there. It's in moss stitch with a border and it is soft and soooo pretty. But I put it down in April when the weather got warmer and I started sewing, and never got back to it until about 3 weeks ago and now it is done. For some reason I made it about 7 feet long, but long wrappable scarves are really in now, right? Right.




Once that was finished I needed a little project, something not so long and tedious as a scarf. So I found some odds and ends and started making sleeves for paper cups. At the office we've just recently changed from styrofoam to paper coffee cups, and this will protect my hands from burning and also keep coffee warmer longer. And they're environmentally friendly because you don't have to use a cardboard sleeve or double cups. And they make super wrist bands as well! I think I'll be giving these to a bunch of people at work because they knit up fast and they'll be a good Christmas present with a Starbucks gift card.






OBSERVE the cables on that yellow sleeve! I've never done them before and they were SO much easier to do than I ever expected. I'm going to be playing with them a lot more from now on.

And finally, since the weather is colder and I don't have any gloves that I like (gloves make my fingers cold because they're kept separate and then it feels like I have orphan fingers), I decided to try a pattern for fingerless gloves. I finished the first one last night and I started the second one this morning. This is an angora/tencel blend yarn that is really soft, but I don't know how warm this particular pair will be (the pattern has weird increases for the hand and I used a light colored yarn to see them better). Next time I might do them in something heavier. Although I'm wearing the one that is finished as I type, and I have to tell you this thing is pretty toasty. I have 4 or 5 different patterns for these so maybe I'll just whip up another pair that look a little more finished at the top and bottom. I like garter stitch just fine (knit knit knit) but I found a pattern with some ribbing at the top and bottom and around the thumb, and that sounds like either a good challenge or a way to drive me crazy. We'll see which one it is.

Update!

So, one year ago I was experiencing my teeth rotting inside my head. Numerous (countless, really) visits to the dentist and a few thousand dollars later it looks like my front teeth are finally good. Some were drilled, some were prepped for crowns, a couple were pulled, several different bridges were tried in varying sizes and shades of white (some looked like tic-tacs had been slapped into my mouth), eventually one was glued in, and there was a root canal somewhere in there, but FINALLY it all looks right. And doesn't hurt. And the infected bone (the medical term for that would be the Aveolar Process structure of the Maxilla- see, I make sure you learn something on this here blog) has healed up and filled in.

I had a cleaning today and instead of giving me news like, "HEY! Let's yank the two most obvious teeth you've got!" I only had 2 little teensy cavities. Such a relief. Some people might think cavities aren't something you celebrate but let me tell you something you innocent little creatures new to the world of dental hell, cavities are NOTHING. I got them filled while I was there, and they used fast-acting anesthetic which I'd never had before. I requested it because I had a meeting this afternoon that I couldn't be slurry-speeched for, but that stuff is FAST. So unless it's some really quick work you need done, I don't recommend it. I was feeling things about 10 minutes into the procedure and they had to stop and numb me up again. But it worked for today.

It occurs to me that I'm not even sure how many fillings I have. 10? 12? 30? I can't count. How many teeth are in my head? And it's not like I'm not taking care of my teeth: I floss every single day (even over my bridge which is a bitch), I brush two or three times a day, I've worn a night guard every night for the past 8 months. And today they gave me prescription toothpaste to try to stop some of this decay going on. I fully expect my teeth to just fall out like so many Chiclets one day. It's only a matter of time. But I am hoping that in the 20 years it takes for that to happen dental technology will be so advanced that getting them replaced will be a breeze. I can't believe how far the technology has come in the past 20+ years of my own complicated dental history.

So YAY! No more rotting teeth this year!

New Things!

Okay, this blog has gotten sort of boring as of late, probably because nothing really newsworthy or notable has been going on. So time to put a stop to the dullity (new word!) and liven this thing up!

And to do so... I will do a post of some new things I've discovered lately, and also a post that I said I'd do about stuff I'd tell my younger, stupider self if I could go back in time. Until then:



I LOVE Kathy Griffin. I have such a girl crush on her.

Quantum of Boredom

I LOVED Casino Royale. I thought it was smart and funny and the pace was fast enough to keep you on your toes but not so fast that you got confused. The plot was well developed with some good twists. There were gadgets (like his car w/ the defibrillator, how cool is that?). The characters were well developed, Bond was rugged and fierce, the Bond Girl was smart and sexy. It is one of my favorite action movies and the best Bond movie I've seen.

Yesterday I saw Quantum of Solace. Oh man what a mess. All of the things that made Casino Royale great were missing. The plot was dumb. There were zero Bond gadgets. Bond was a good fighter but a boring emotionally unavailable robot. The girl was DULL and felt more like a daughter than a Bond Girl. They kept cutting chase scenes with other chase scenes, which really only worked the first time. There were multiple car chases, a foot chase, a boat chase AND an airplane chase (which felt totally out of place). And the locations, while beautiful, did nothing for the movie. There was no HUMOR. In my book James Bond is supposed to be a rakish, womanizing, risk-taking spy with a sly side. It's about double entendres and drinking and hitting up all the women he comes across because he lives a life of danger so why not have some fun once in a while? This movie was nothing like that.

I was disappointed. I hope the next one is better. Daniel Craig and Judy Dench deserve more.

Christmas List
Aston Martin DBS

YES, it really DOES matter

So yesterday was a super craptastic day. I mean, I WOKE UP in a bad mood, which isn't normal for me. I had a headache. I was tired. I was grumpy. My hair wouldn't act right and I couldn't find my Excedrin. I walked out the door in really blah clothes (jeans, striped shirt, dark green hoodie, loafers- a combination that made me feel really down on myself but I was running late), looked at the blah weather, and felt what remained of my soul get sucked out of me by gremlins. I tried to get to the drugstore to buy some Excedrin, but the traffic was unusually bad so I skipped that and went straight to work.

I downed some questionable Advil (expired? possibly?), got my breakfast, and skulked through the day. It was DARK outside. The rain was coming down in irritating dribs and drabs. I couldn't say anything right to save my life. Through the course of the day I had to talk to people from Canada (French Canadian) and Miami (native Spanish speaker) which always taxes my brain a lot. You have to be careful what you use, say "Difficult" instead of "Hard", and "Correct" instead of "Right", and so on because it translates better. At some point I lost the striped shirt and just wore the hoodie zipped up because I wasn't happy with the combination at all.

I went home feeling terrible about myself, so I called my Mom. That always helps cheer me up because we laugh a lot on the phone. I whined about my day and she listened and said the appropriate things, "Oh Heather, tomorrow has to be so much better!" And I did start feeling a LOT better after that. I had dinner, drank a good sum of wine, watched Grey's Anatomy online, and knit. That was pretty much it. I couldn't deal with another person or do any exercise or really ANYTHING that involved something other than zoning out.

Today I woke up and it was still cloudy and dreary out but I had a silly text message from my sister. My hair was fluffy but didn't act like sparrows were nesting in half of it. I put on my fancy Vincent Longo eyeshadow (with PRIMER POTION, my newest favorite-ist thing that might even require its own follow-up makeup post), and then contemplated the closet. It is cool today, but not cold. I picked out jeans (usually it's jeans), with a black camisole and an electric blue cropped cardigan to go over it. Then I added my necklace with big smoky quartz beads, and put a fuchsia scarf around my neck and some heels on my feet. And then I felt like this day could not go wrong no matter what I did.

Here's the new rule: when you wake up feeling like the world is caving in, WEAR COLOR. Wear clothes that fit. Wear things that make you feel like you rule the world. I have a tendency to wear a lot of black. And that's fine, but I have to pull out the bright accessories or my mood will be as dull as the clothes I'm wearing. I also have to be careful because a lot of my clothes are slightly too big now and that makes me look sloppy. And I look and feel so much better when clothes are more on the tailored side.

Today has been a million times better than yesterday. And I know it has at least a little to do with what I was wearing. That may sound shallow to you, but the New York Times ran an entire article about how Barack Obama's clothing is being perceived. You can't blow off clothing, it leaves such an impression not only on those around you, but on yourself too.

Weekend!

Yesterday I drove down to Huntsville for the first time in months. It did a lot to reconfirm my suspicions: there's not a lot to do in Huntsville. It's getting bigger by leaps and bounds but as far as entertainment goes? It is lacking. I hung out with my Dad who was back in town for a short visit. We ate lunch and walked around the new higher-end shopping center.

I'd never been in an Anthropology before but that store is soooo much fun. I had this impression that it is just a clothing store for the rich and tiny, but they also have household items and candles and perfumes and quirky books. I bought some Satu Plum Nectar perfume in a little roller bottle and I'm head over heels in love with it. It's sort of a fruity floral, and I've decided it is impossible to put too much on as it it very light. That is in welcome contrast to my other two favorite fragrances, Channel Coco Mademoiselle and Sage Onyx oil. Both of those are really easy to overdo. But THIS one is completely different. I could actually wear it to work and not knock people out.

Anyway, Dad and I finished up our afternoon with Wallabedarned drinks at Outback Steakhouse. If you've never tried that, it's a peachy frozen drink and it is deeeelicious. Try it. You'll like it. Unless you don't like peaches. In which case we can't be friends any more.

On the drive back to Nashville (I can't BELIEVE I used to drive that so much), I started going over the past month in my head. I have been back in touch with a ton of people I knew a very long time ago. I don't know what is bringing everyone out of the woodwork. Is it the election? The feeling that things are changing? Most of these people I haven't seen or heard from in a decade, so maybe they're going "Wow, where was I 10 years ago?" It's just funny that it all seems to be hitting at once. And it makes me realize how much change I've gone through in the past 10 years- 2 interstate moves (one for school, one job transfer), graduated from college, 2 bad break-ups, battles with depression, battles with my family. And yet I'm exactly the same giggly silly person I was back then. So I think you really can make it through anything.

I finally did my 3 MILE Walk Away the Pounds DVD this morning. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be because the pace doesn't get as fast as it does on the other DVDs. I got gross and sweaty anyway (that's the goal). It was a really satisfying workout because I remember a couple of years ago when I bought it (before I had any of the others) I got to 1.5 miles and quit in exhaustion. And now it doesn't seem all that hard. I'm making progress!

Right now I'm making beef stew for dinner. It is really cold out and stew will be perfect. Somehow I screwed up my queue in Netflix so I have 3 DVDs worth of Brothers and Sisters to watch. I need to finish one up tonight so I can send it back and get something else. I don't want to burn out on that show- I really like it so far. Oh hell, I need to start my book for next Saturday's bookclub too. I'm all caught up in Marie Antoinette: The Journey, and I don't want to put it down. But I have to get at least 1/2 way through The Handmaid's Tale or I won't have a clue what people are talking about. So I have a lot of media to plow through! No time for blogging!

So that's the weekend! I hope you had a good one too.

I take it back

Okay, yesterday I said that Obama won but I didn't have any big dramatic post for it so I just breezed by the whole thing. But it's been bugging me all day because it was a big night and a huge MOMENT when he won, so just because I haven't got something dramatic to say doesn't mean that I shouldn't say ANYTHING.

So here's my experience of Barack Obama becoming our president elect. Tuesday I was home flipping through channels (I only have very limited basic cable because I'm Heather's Debt Reduction Journey), and loading the CNN website and just HOPING. No one I have ever voted for has won an election (until now!), so I didn't want to get my hopes up. But I was really really hoping.

I was in the kitchen cooking up some mac & cheese when they called Ohio. At which point I started jumping up and down squealing like a 13 year old. There was no way McCain was going to win without Ohio. And then 9:00 came and all of the broadcasters were silent for a good 10 seconds before calling the race. And then silent for a long time with the cameras on the crowd in Chicago going nuts. I was going nuts. I sat on my couch thinking "This is better than Oscar night. This is HUGE."

And of course it isn't just that the first African American president will be in the White House. That's been covered to the point of redundancy and I'm sick of hearing about it. Not that it isn't a fantastic step in the stupid race relations fight that's been going on for 100s of years now, but really if you're picking somebody based on merit then it doesn't matter. I think that Obama will give this country an image that it has been lacking for at least the past 8 years. He has proven to me that he's smart just in the past three days because he is surrounding himself with brilliant people for his cabinet. People who are smarter than he is, and that's the way you want someone to run the country. He knows he can't do this on his own. He's picking people who have been through this before and who know how to fix some of the problems that this country is facing. It's going to be a very dynamic 4 years. I am really excited to see what happens next.

Now, we come to the really important part: the dress. YOU KNOW WHICH DRESS I'M TALKING ABOUT. No? Well then here's a picture:

Let me make myself very clear: I hate this dress. Michelle Obama has a great figure. She can get away with things that most women can't because of that. HOWEVER, I draw the line here. This dress makes her look lumpy (she is not) and saggy (she is not). The color is distracting and the criss-cross effect at the waist isn't doing her any favors. I understand that she makes her own fashion choices but this is just not... right.
















None of this made sense until I saw the original Narciso Rodriguez dress:

My Friends (hee hee, so much funnier now that we're not hearing it constantly), do you see where it all went wrong? The neckline, the sweater, the proportion, the point at which the color begins and ends, the fit. THIS is what this dress is supposed to look like. And I honestly don't think that it is because the model is a size 00 (her arms are going to snap like a twig if you look at them too long, and she has the ONLY legs that don't get short when you put an -- oh God no one can wear those! -- open-toed bootie on them). It's a matter of proportion and fit.




So I'm really ecstatic that Barack Obama is going to be our president. And I am also looking forward to Michelle's upcoming fashion choices. Because while I don't agree with everything she wears, she is brave and she takes risks. Which is more than I can say for myself.

For more on THE DRESS, here's a New York Times article, and here's a slide show of her style so far.

Eclectic Tastes

I swear I'm not turning this into a music blog, but not much has been going on that needs blogging lately. Obama won (YAY!) but I don't have any big dramatic post for that one. I got a bad virus earlier this week, so I haven't been doing much but reading about Marie Antoinette and taking it easy. Hence the music! I have been listening to these two songs constantly these days, and they could NOT be more different, and now I'm passing them on to you. My five readers. Lucky ducks.

The first is Jason Mraz, who I have just discovered. (I am way behind on these things, okay? Now that I've checked out all the videos on YouTube I'm like oh DUH he did those 200 songs that were constantly playing on the radio last year. I'm not good at sticking names to singers. So maybe you're burned out on him but I'm in new song discovery bliss.) This WILL be stuck in your head. Consider yourself warned.



The next is my pretend boyfriend Josh Turner. I don't normally listen to country music- really just The Dixie Chicks and The Wreckers and some bluegrass... okay, okay, I listen to a little country music. But I don't have country pre-sets on my radio and this is NASHVILLE so they might kick me out if that becomes public knowledge. This will have to be our secret. Shhhhhhush! I forgot about Josh and rediscovered him and now I can't stop listening to this song either. I never in my life understood the whole Barry White/ deep voice thing until I heard this song. Now I'm starting to get why women throw their panties at musicians....



PS I really REALLY hate the word panties. But when you're throwing them around I think that's the only way you can refer to them.
PPS I'm not wild about the first video, it's boring. But the SONG is great. And I learned how to embed videos from youtube which I am SUPER proud of (copy + paste WHOOOO!) so here it is.

Unsettled

The first Monday back to work after the time change- the day draaaaagged. 10:00 rolled around and my body was like YAY! LUNCH! But my mind was like are you crazy!? We've got 2 more hours here!

I'm ready for some things to be wrapped up:

• I'm ready for election results. I'm steeling myself for bad news, and it's like the whole country is suddenly superstitious. If you commit to a side and that person loses it is YOUR FAULT!
  
• I'm ready for my developing friendships to get to the point where you call and say, "Hey! I'm coming over!" And it's not weird. (Right now that would be very very weird.)
• I'm ready for something big and mind-consuming to happen at work. I know, be careful what you wish for. But I do a lot better when things are really busy at work and the day flies by.
• I'm ready to get up the motivation to get my office/craft room in shape. It's a wreck. I keep pulling out yarn or fabric thinking I'll do something with it, and then I don't. I let this part of the apartment get messy because it's a work room, but now it's just driving me insane. However I don't feel so much pressure to clean when it's so easy to just close the door and walk away.... Mess? What mess? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.
  
• I'm ready for some holiday time off- Thanksgiving will be 4 days of potlucking and shopping, and at Christmas I'll be off for a week. I'm excited to spend some time with my family.
  

So, time-change, bored-at-work, crazy-ass-elections, all this weirdness. I'm ready for some results! In the meantime, look at the pretty fall leaves in my work parking lot today!
OooooOOOooohhhhh, pretty. I was convinced that the fall leaves just skipped out this year- a ton of leaves just turned brown and that was it. But there are a few spots with really beautiful leaves after all. Pictures really don't do them justice. Everything is all yellow and orange and red, and this is the 4th year in a row when I've SWORN I'd take a picture of the trees at work and I FINALLY did it. Here's another pretty picture:

Duffy

I wish I could find a recording of Mercy that does it justice, but I can't. The live ones are the best although they sound scratchy, the pre-recorded ones are muted (but scratchy drives me nuts so muted is what you're getting). It's sexy, it's catchy, and if you hear it too many times in a row it's almost annoying. This song makes me dance around my living room (I am not the only one who does that, I know it!), so kick off your shoes, crank up the volume, and hit PLAY.

Happy Saturday!