Hairspray

So we finally went to see Hairspray...... and absolutely LOVED IT!!!

It was so funny and witty and everything I thought it would be!

Now I'm even more excited to see the movie when it comes out this summer, as it will be quite a different interpretation. I'm always skeptical when musicals are put to film as it's harder to be more creative with the scenes, as musical stages have very limited space.

I totally recommend you see it, the next time it comes to town, or even if you head out of town (TO, NY).

A girl from my work had gone to NY for the weekend with her daughter and her friends and they waited in line to get some last-minute tickets to see Hairspray and they absolutely loved it also!!

Emma

I have finally finished reading Emma by Jane Austen. It was a harder read with the different language use, including different spelling for words. It was such a romance-filled book. There were so many people getting engaged and "attached" it was hard to keep up with. In the end, everyone is happy.

Emma is a girl who has just played "matchmaker" for her governess and her sister is off elsewhere married with two children. Emma is alone with her father searching for either more matchmaking or for love of her own. She means well with all that she does and encounters several surprises.

After defeating the vocabulary barrier and being introduced to several characters at once, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will have to read it again to figure out what I missed while figuring out everything else from the beginning.

I haven't quite decided what my next book is to read. It could either be Pride & Prejudice, or Jane Eyre, or even the classic Lord of the Flies.

Warmer Weather

So, with all this warm weather and the melting of snow, and the rain today our street is now covered in these huge puddles. I am quite amused to watch cars go through the puddles that splash up to my front window depending on the speed. It's not so exciting when you are walking along the path beside the street as cars go by. Some cars are cautious to the water, but others, either don't see it in time or don't care and I somehow manage to get splashed. It also adds to the mud in our front yard that I sink through with every step. But you can hear the cars going by from inside the house and it looks really cool (like one of those rides at Wonderland) as long as you're indoors!

Is the race over?

Is the race over? A lot of people were cheering for Rob & Amber to win The Amazing Race: All Stars. Now that they have been eliminated, the buzz going around is that a lot of people will not be watching the show anymore, because of that.

Road Rage

What is it with people in such a hurry nowadays? Whatever happened to the saying "stop and smell the roses"?

I've been noticing while working downtown that there are a lot of people that are always in a hurry. From my office I can hear cars screeching and it makes me worry after reading several articles in the newspaper of pedestrians getting hit on corners that are only a block away from me.

When I walk on the sidewalks or cross the street at the right time, I watch cars practically whiz past me (almost hitting me) and then roaring off into the sunset.

What's the rush? We should be enjoying a day for everything it has and not trying to rush through.

Montréal

Will & I are in the very early stages of planning a mini-vacation. We have decided to go to Montreal, and that's as far as the planning has gone. We had wanted to go to Montreal last winter, but things came up that we couldn't control, we had even booked our hotel.

So, fingers crossed, we are hoping to head out there for a week sometime in the spring. If anyone has any ideas as to where to stay, what to see, where to go, feel free to mention them as I, nor Will, have ever been. We are open to any suggestions.....

Nails

I never would have thought I'd be the one to say that "I broke a nail, I need a nail file to fix it", but here I am.

I still have yet to grow one final nail, but I have successfully forbidden myself to bite the other nine.

Those who know me, know that I am a constant nail-biter, ever since I can remember.

But now, I am completely excited to be able to pick things up with my nails (like coins and small items).

I am surprised that I haven't gone back to my bad habits of biting as I have very little self-control (like when it comes to chocolate).

But now that I see that I can actually grow the nails and maintain them, I am less interested in biting - except for that final nail.

That nail is my "in case of emergency" nail where if I do feel the urge to bite, I do.

I am really trying to stop with that nail, but when it's in this stage of size, it's really hard to move forward, when it's all I have left.

YAY!

Oscars

Like most people who avidly watch the Oscars, I made my picks of who I thought would win. I managed only to get half right, but it's hard to choose winners for films I haven't even seen.

One of the films that did well the other night was Pan's Labyrinth which is set in post-war Spain about a girl named Ofelia. Powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable cruelty, Ofelia lives out her own dark fable as she confronts monsters both otherworldly and human.

It seems like such an amazing story, and I would really love to see it.

I was very impressed to see that Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar. It isn't always easy to succeed after being eliminated from American Idol.

The Oscars did a montage at the beginning about all the nominees. They were in front of a white screen doing or saying whatever they felt like - and that's what I like most about people - when they're being real.

There was a musical number (like most years), but this time it was with Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly about how people in comedic movies don't get nominated at the Oscars and about how sad it is. But they quickly get the idea to do both kinds of movies so that they could be Oscar worthy actors.

They also had a group from the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, seen above, that does a collaborative choreographic process and a unique weight-sharing approach to movement. It was really cool.

The show ended up going into the wee hours of the morning, and I had to go to bed because of getting up early for work the next morning. If only they showed these things on Saturday nights, I'd be up all night!!

Oh, my nola

I am absolutely in love with Harry Connick Jr.'s new CD Oh, my nola.

Nola stands for New Orleans Louisiana.

The CD has the whole New Orleans theme to it with the essence of jazz from Harry.

This is his tribute to his hometown and what it has been through with Hurricane Katrina.

I absolutely love it!! I totally recommend you buy it!!

Some songs on it are Hello, Dolly! Working in the Coal Mine, & Won't you Come Home, Bill Bailey?

As soon as it starts, you just want to begin dancing!! Harry just possesses the talent to make you dance and to put a smile on your face.

Roasted Asparagus

So, the roasted asparagus didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. I think it would've worked better had the aspargus been thicker stalks, but we learn from our mistakes, don't we?

I can't wait for the weekend to come as my super cool aunt is coming up north from NJ. It has been awhile since we've seen each other so it'll be great to catch up and introduce her to Will. My other super cool aunt and her fiance are coming up from TO to visit as well with my Grams. We're visiting some traditional spots in Ottawa, but overall I'm just excited to see everyone together.

The blister that I received after skating last weekend on the canal has finally gotten better enough to wear proper shoes. I tried wearing shoes Monday (after the fact) and I ended up limping all day because the shoe kept pressing on the blister. It took me about 1/2 hour to scrounge up some guts to take off my first bandaid (which did NOT have any polysporin on it) after soaking my foot, and it still hurt. It actually hurt even more to put my foot back into the warm water after the bandaid was taken off. So, the last couple of days I have been wearing these shoes that have open backs but they felt like flip flops to me and I had to keep clenching my toes so that they wouldn't fly off.