Movies, movies

As usual, around Christmas time there's a lot of movies to be seen. There's a few more I still need to see, but here's my thoughts on some of them:

Loved it. Looooved it. To be fair, I'm a sucker for a true story that involves sports. Every movie that falls in that category (Rudy, Miracle, Radio, Hoosiers) I've really loved. I'm typically not a huge Sandra Bullock fan, but I loved her in this, and obviously loved Tim McGraw. A lot of the dialogue was cheesy, but it was still really great, and, if I remember correctly, great for families. I can't remember anything bad.

Awful. Did not love it. To be fair, I know not everyone feels this way. Obviously Meryl was fab, and Alec was, ya know, himself, but the kids were the worst actors, I could have sworn John Krasinski's character was secretly gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) and I just didn't love the story line at all. I can't say much more without ruining it. I will admit there's a lot of funny parts. Oh yeah, and I probably shouldn't justify seeing an R-rated movie for those contemplating, but the only reason it's R is you see Alec's body double's butt briefly, and there's some pot smoking. I don't recall any F words, and there's definitely no sex, thankfully. (Meryl and Alec? Nast.)

I would not recommend this movie to most people. It's extremely depressing. You know when you give your ticket to the movie man and he says, "Just so you know, this is a drama, not a comedy" that you're in for something. The acting was good, and there was a really good message, but it is rough.

Ehh. Disappointing, to be honest. I think I had too high of hopes. The acting was great, I loved the dancing, costumes, etc, fell in love with Marion Cotillard and wish I had her classic beauty. I just walked away from it feeling like I didn't really like it and couldn't figure out why. It wasn't until a few days later (potential spoiler) I realized what it was. I adore Daniel Day Lewis, but I came to the conclusion that his character was just not likable enough for me. Basically, he's an idiot and I really couldn't sympathize or get where he was coming from. He's a fool.

Looooooo-UHved it. Granted, in my book George Clooney does no wrong. (I think he may be my #1.) I really loved Vera Farmiga. She was great. Not who I would have initially cast for the part but she nailed it. I laughed out loud multiple times, and found myself nodding during all the traveling scenes. If you're a frequent traveler you'll especially love this movie. I saw it twice.

Weekend recap

Two weekends ago was one of the most fun and busy weekends I've had in a really long time.  It started off Friday night with seeing Push.  I'm a fan of Dakota Fanning's and really enjoyed seeing her in an older role.  The movie wasn't anything I'd say you have to see, but I thought it was entertaining and enjoyed it.

After the movie we got dinner at Chevy's, and then headed up to Pacha for Anita's birthday.  This was actually my first clubbing experience in the city if you can believe it.  Even though I always have fun dancing, and the friends that were there were awesome, I have to say, I was not overly impressed with the whole club scene.  I wasn't that into the music (even though there were three or four floors with different music) and I just felt a little violated.  There was about a 10 minute period where I wasn't with Curtis and I was groped by a totally drunk guy (he stole second!) and some other dude tried to get all up on me dancing.  Yikes.  Let's just say I'm glad that's not the way I have to meet people in the city.  It was so hot in the club though, that it was so nice after leaving to walk from 11th and 46th to 7th and 42nd.  Love those nights you can just walk and walk.

Saturday was super fun.  Got up early(ish) and went to Alice's Teacup, one of my favorite brunch places.  I'm obsessed with the vanilla yogurt and granola.  We had to wait a bit so we headed over to Pets on Lex to look at the puppies.  I'm not all for buying puppies at a pet store because it promotes the business of puppy mills, however I didn't think it would hurt to look.  I absolutely fell in love with this Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  I've never given those dogs a second look but this one just stared at me and I felt as if he was choosing me to take him home.

After brunch we saw He's Just Not That Into You and I have to say we totally loved it.  Maybe it's because I went into it with low expectations?  I don't know.  They've been shamelessly advertising for so long, and I feel like most movies that have so many A-list actors end up being a flop, but I really loved it.  I'm surprised so many people are hating on it.  I feel like so many of the examples shown are so many classic mistakes girls make, and I laughed really hard a lot of times throughout the movie.  Yes, I hated the way a marriage was represented, but honestly, isn't that in every movie and tv show?  Whether blatantly or subtly, Hollywood has a way of getting us to root for the cheating husband and the dirty mistress (hello MerDer.)  Not that I was necessarily rooting for that scenario in this movie, it just seems like a lot of people are up in arms about the marriage situation, and I don't get why because it's nothing new for movies.  I'm not condoning it, just saying I guess I've come to expect it from Hollywood.  I don't know, I'm sure I sound hypocritical because I hated Nights in Rodanthe because we were supposed to root for Richard Gere and Diane Lane and HELLO!  She was married!  But I feel like that movie was different than this one.  Anyway, the point is, I really enjoyed the movie.

After the movie we headed over to Rockefeller Center to do something I've always wanted to-skate at the famous rink!  I'll be honest, I don't even really like ice skating, hurts my ankles.  But I just wanted the experience, and that's pretty much all it was.  SUPER small rink that gets so cut up so it's not the most slick (and we got on just after the zamboni) and very expensive.  I'm glad I could do it once though.

After skating it was home for a bit.  I was exhausted and had a crazy headache (thanks to a little "fun" activity we participated in on our walk from the theater to the rink which led me to walking into a parking meeter....my knee still has a gnarly bruise and I think I may have gotten a mild concussion.)

Took a little nappy nap and then headed to one of my favorite restaurants Harry's Burritos.  Mmmmm. So good.  Then it was up to Anita's for the party at her apartment.  We didn't get there till after midnight but it was still super fun.  I honestly have more fun dancing at these Mormon parties than at a club, I decided.  She lives across the street from my first apartment so it was fun to be at the old stomping grounds.

I finally saw it

I absolutely loved Benjamin Button.  I've heard all sorts of reviews so I tried to go into it with no expectations.  I went to a 6:50pm showing and made sure to grab a Diet Coke (one of my lasts) and didn't even get a bit sleepy, thank goodness.  I struggle in movies, even early ones.  I was worried it would be too long for me but other than during one part I never felt like it was slow.  I thought there were great lessons, amazing special effects, and phenomenal acting from Brad.  And seriously, how could one tire of looking at this face?  He is honestly perfection.

Reviews

It's safe to say in the last month I've seen a lot of movies.  Here's my thoughts:

Good acting by Sean Penn, as always.  Interesting story that made me think.  I'm surprised they didn't release it before Prop 8 was voted on.  Sort of slow at times, they could have cut out maybe 20 minutes.  Oh yeah, and I love Josh Brolin.  Totally crush on him.

The best movie in all these.  Absolutely phenomenal.  So inspiring.  It was tough for me at times to not jump up and cheer.  Everyone should see this, and I wouldn't say that about very many R-rated movies.

Great acting, but totally depressing.  I wouldn't recommend it.

I realize "great acting" is redundant, but it's true. Meryl Streep was awesome.  I wouldn't put it at the top of your list, but definitely worth seeing.  It's nice to see a different story line.

Loved it.  I haven't seen many Clint Eastwood movies (Million Dollar Baby might be my only one?) but it really was great.  I couldn't figure out how it was going to end and then I totally loved how they wrapped it up.  If you're sensitive to racial slurs this is definitely a no go.  It's slightly cheesy at times but still really great.  I could have done without Clint singing the song to the ending credits, however.  I also loved that Clint's character reminded me of an extreme version of my grandpa-old war vet, grumpy, racist, very handy, and lovable.

Eh.  I didn't love it.  Interesting story, and even though you know the ending it gets really intense at times, however I was often bored, and thought it was lame no one spoke with a german accent (except Hitler, who was surprisingly sort of creepy to see.)

Anne Hathaway was amazing.  Not a movie I'd recommend to just anyone.  Sort of artsy, and some might just say it was dumb.  I was entertained, and enthralled by Anne.  She's reason enough to see it.  Interesting portrayal of families and how they cope with life's curve balls.

Cute.  Bring tissues.  Jen is gorgeous and I want to hate her.

Extremely well done.  Interesting story that kept me invested.  Sad.  Great acting.  I love the girl in it, Freida Pinto, she's strikingly gorgeous.  Everyone loves an underdog and this one is a winner.

I was dragged to this one despite thinking it looked like maybe the lamest movie ever.  Going in with the lowest of low expectations I found myself pleasantly surprised.  It made me laugh a number of times.  Completely unrealistic and ridiculous, but good for a laugh.

I still have yet to see this one.  It's rare I'm not fighting sleep in any movie, so I have to really gear up for this lengthy film.  I've heard really mixed things so I'm going in with no expectations.

Honey honey.

Finished the book on Monday, saw the movie last night.  Loved both.  The movie really held its own.  The book's a quick read so you still have time to read it before seeing the movie.  Bring tissue to the theater, it's a tear jerker.  Don't miss this one.

Loved it

Last night I went to a tiny little theater in the Village and saw Hounddog.  I feel like I've been hearing about this movie for over a year.  People have been protesting it due to a graphic scene involving Dakota Fanning, a minor.  I'm not going to rationalize it, and say it was no big deal, however with all the hype I was imagining something much worse.  I couldn't fight the curiosity from the negative press, however, and being a big Dakota fan, wanted to see for myself.  

The little theater was awesome.  My ticket was only $10, that being a steal as usually movie tickets in the city are $12-12.50.  Sodas and popcorn ranged from $2-5.  Seriously?  And there were only about 50 seats in my little theater.  To make it even better, Deborah Kampmeier, the writer of the movie, came out before it started to talk to the audience.  She said this movie had taken 12 years to make, and now that it's been released in limited theaters, they're working hard to have it released everywhere.

I love New York.  I love that every movie that's made can be found in the smallest little theater around, and the writers/actors will show up to make appearances.  (Charlize Theron was at the Lowes theater on 66th to do a Q&A session before the showing of Battle in Seattle just a few weeks ago.  Tickets were available for anyone.)

All that being said, I loved the movie.  There were two very short, uncomfortable scenes, and despite those, there was nothing in the movie that was questionable.  Dakota Fanning is such an amazing, talented little actress.  I hope she can stay straight, and not get screwed up like so much of young Hollywood.

And most of all I really, really loved the moral of the story.  Crappy things happen in life, and then it's up to us to decide if we will let it ruin us, or make something good come from it.  Maybe I just liked it so much because that's something I've been working on in the last year.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, as you definitely could be offended by the content, but if you think you can handle it, it really is a great show, and you should see it if it's playing in a theater near you.

The wait is over....We got Carried away

There are some New York nights that are monumental, gigantic, historic.  Others, are just Big.

-Carrie Bradshaw

Thursday night finally came and Curtis and I went to the 12:01am showing of Sex and the City at Battery Park.

We headed to Union Square for dinner at Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man.  You can't go wrong with this place, it's one of my favorite restaurants in the city.  If you're ever in town DON'T miss it!  

We started off with the Mediterranean Platter; Hummus in olive oil, Babaganush, Spanish eggplant dip, Greek stuffed grape leaves served with grilled pita bread.  The bread was SO good and our favorite spread was the hummus.

Then I got the Marinara Penne and Curtis got the Salmon Wellington.  We finished it off with the Melting Chocolate Heart Cake; Warm chocolate cake with a melting heart of dark and white chocolate.  Served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, fresh strawberries and blueberries with a choice of warm chocolate or raspberry sauce served on the side.  MMM.  SO GOOD!  But we both ate way too much and ended up with hurting tummies and Curtis with a bad headache.  Luckily we were both feeling fine by the show.

We got down to the theater at about 10:30 with other mobs of girls decked out in their great shoes and cute dresses, "I <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZDe5B8cT4LvjCSAth48mz_PoIiLNe-qtmLT-dhuWJcqPfAXWt2rLgMH-5pRj-QtmDEVowo9yUgAwBTrEJkYXGfVTn9G51tFoZL1vyRyBfEBoxSgmfgS_Ufuvmo7Re8QAKgLg9kaUAsVl/s1600-h/DSCF2316.JPG">Even though I'd downed a Red Bull, by about 11:30pm I was getting sleepy, and kinda worried I would struggle through the movie.  Luckily when the show finally started and they played the theme music I got the biggest adrenaline rush and didn't get sleepy once.  The crowd was great, everyone cheering and clapping at all the best parts, ie the first time it showed all four girls together, during the fashion montages, when Big first appeared onscreen, etc etc.  

I loved the movie.  I loved how everything went and how it ended.  

The night ended perfectly with a cab ride home (even though the weather was absolutely perfect and gorgeous I'd had enough with the walking in 4 1/2 inch heels.)

Getting home at 3am and to bed at 4am (and having to go to work the next day) was entirely worth it!  

Friday night and Saturday

It's been a really fun last 24 hours.  Last night Curtis and I schlepped through the rain to the UES and tried a new restaurant, Zocalo.  If you're ever in New York and looking for a yummy Mexico restaurant I highly recommend it.  We both loved it.  They seriously had the best chips and salsa ever, and the chicken in the enchiladas was so tender.  Mmm.  After dinner we went to Union Square and saw Under the Same Moon.  It was a great foreign film.  Very touching.  We both shed a tear.

This morning we branched out to another new place for brunch.  We go out for breakfast on Saturdays a lot, and usually always end up going to one of a couple of the same places.  We finally branched out and headed to TriBeCa to eat at a place Courtnie recommended, Kitchenette.  It was adorable and the food was really good.  We shared mixed berry pancakes and cherry and vanilla french toast.  SO GOOD.  The restaurant was decorated really cute.  All the tables were made from old doors, and all the decor was from upstate.

After brunch we walked a bit and then headed to Union Square so Curtis could look for jeans.  We went to America Eagle, Diesel, and Filene's Basement.  He ended up doing really well there, getting a pair of Diesels and another great pair for $84 total.  I, on the other hand, spent a little too much at DSW.  I got four pairs of shoes though, and I'm super excited.  I'd been needing (almost) every pair.

Then, to top it all off, we went to Pinkberry.  Tonight Sara and Jenna are throwing a Pirate Palooza so everyone will be dressing up for that.  Should be fun!

General Conference weekend

General Conference weekend was a pretty eventful one, so being that I try to keep up with my blogging like a journal, I want to still blog about it.

Friday night it was a double header at the movies.  First was Stop-Loss.  I swear I've been seeing previews about this movie for like four months, not to mention have been reading about it ever since Rees Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe broke up.

It would make sense that it had a political agenda, but I just didn't think a whole lot about it.  It was definitely very anti-war.  Despite the fact that it was extremely liberal I could look past it and really enjoy the movie.  I liked it.

Leatherheads is another one I've been seeing previews for forever.  I was really excited seeing as how I love George Clooney (he's in my top 5), Renee Zellweger is one of my favorite actresses, and who doesn't love John Krasinski?  That being said, this movie was laaaaame.  I mean, I was really tired and struggling to stay awake about thirty minutes in, but still, it just a total waste.  I ended up surrendering the fight and went to sleep for most of the second half.

Saturday was a super packed day.  I got up early and schlepped up to West 95th Street to meet up with my fabulous new friend Adam, who'd rented a Zip Car for a few hours to head to New Jersey to go to Costco.  Since I was having a party that night Adam let me tag along.  Costco was great.  I've never actually shopped there for myself.  I mean, I've gone with my mom millions of times, but never have I personally bought anything.  I was able to get an amazing load of delicious treats for a super low price.  Thank you Costco and thank you Adam!

That morning I'd gotten a surprising call from my aunt Terry.  She and her husband Jon were in town for the day.  They'd been on a cruise and were staying the night in New York and wanted to meet up.  They were seeing Mama Mia! and wanted to know if I'd seen it.  I hadn't and they told me they'd get me a ticket.  Sweet!  

So as soon as I got my groceries home I changed and then headed up to Times Square to see the show.  It was kind of ironic because I never knew the story line, but the night before at the movies I saw a preview for the movie Mama Mia! and then here I was, seeing the show, twelve hours later.  I absolutely loved it!  I don't know ABBA's music, other than Dancing Queen, but enjoying it anyway.  It was super upbeat and funny.  Loved it.

After the show we ate an early dinner at Cosi.  I can't believe I'd never eaten there before this.  I'm officially obsessed with the chicken caesar and am so glad we have one by my work.

After dinner I headed home to get ready for the party.  This was something I was super excited about.  About a month ago I read a post on Amanda's blog about a party that sounded so fun.  They had an Enrichment activity where they had a Favorite Things party.  Basically everyone brought something that was their favorite.  It could be anything from a favorite recipe, to a favorite mascara, to a favorite hair towel.  Amanda said the party went really well.  It helped everyone get to know each other better, plus hear about a lot of super cool things they hadn't heard of before, and leave with a new little tricket.  I thought this sounded so fun and was meaning to tell someone in our Relief Society presidency that we should do it for Enrichment.  Then I got to thinking, we don't have to do this for Enrichment, we could just have a party.  I've really been wanting to get to know the girls in my ward better so I thought this was perfect.  I mentioned the idea to my roommate in the middle of the week and she mentioned that it was perfect timing since Saturday night all the guys would be a the Priesthood Session of conference and a lot of girls had been talking about getting together to do something.  So, we sent out the evite and it was a great turnout!

It was a really great party and there were some really interesting gifts given, that really helped me get to know interesting things about the girls.  One girl gave my roommate a gift, and while I don't even remember what the actual gift was, it was what was on the outside that was neat.  There was a super cool postcard (so we thought) on the outside.  Chels mentioned that she loved the postcard and I agreed, and then the girl who gave it said, "Actually I took that picture out of my window.  Photography is one of my favorite things so I thought I would include one of my pictures."  Super cool.

And maybe towards the end of the party we ended up blaring the music and having an impromptu dance party.  AAAAAnd Chels couldn't help but bust out this umbrella during Rihanna's Umbrella.

Sunday morning I made the General Conference typical Hope breakfast, Eggs on Toast.  MMM.  Although I can never make it as good as my mom's, it still was alright.  

We spent all afternoon on the futon and got a little bit of the sleepy sillies.  And, yes, that is my Ridge 04 shirt.  I still wear in proudly.

Weekend

This weekend was pretty uneventful, which was really nice considering how crazy things have been recently.  (You wouldn't really know, because since it's been crazy, I haven't been able to blog, and since I haven't been able to blog, you don't know how crazy it's been.  Vicious cycle.)

So Friday night I was supposed to go to the Mets vs Braves game with Chelsie, Jaclyn, Maria, Steve, and Mike.  Supposed to.  Didn't make it.  Long story.  But I met up with Chels and Steve to see Baby Mama.  I have to admit, even though I think Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are two of the funniest women on tv, I thought the movie looked pretty stupid.  Maybe it was my low expectations, maybe it was because it was and 11:30pm showing and I was super tired, but I thought it was hilarious.  I was rolling.  Amy is freakin hysterical.  The movie is cheesy and predictable, but perfect for a great laugh.

Saturday was super lazy, which was perfect.  I didn't get home from the movies till 2am and I can't even tell you how excited I was to be able to sleep in.  I've had to get up early every Sat for the last several weeks and there's nothing I hate doing more than setting an alarm Friday night.  I got up about 10:15am which was perfect because I'm at least old enough to now hate wasting the day.

I got up, watched 30 Rock with my roommates, chilled, and then went over to Curtis'.  We headed over to his hair cutters.  I (finally) convinced him to go shorter, although he was freaking out the whole time, driving the stylist crazy.  I thought it looked really good.  When we got back to his place and he tried to style it he realized it was uneven and got really mad.  This kills me because the guy seriously almost never gets mad, but when it comes to the hair, watch out.  It's his "thing."  Love it.  So after a big freak out, me attempting to fix it, and then me realizing he wanted me to cut a lot more than I was comfortable with (especially after seeing how seriously he takes hair cuts) I sent him back to the hair cutters, where he got it fixed.  I met back up with him and he looked like a little boy.  It was all short and just laying flat, kinda like missionary style.  He looked adorable.  Have no fear, he still sports the hawk, but it's a shorter version (for now.)  He's been meaning to get some new sunglasses so we stopped at a tourist trap.  Sunglasses for $5?  Okay.  He wanted my opinion on a particular pair.  At first I was like, ehhhh.  Then my honest opinion was, "Weeeeellllll, you have to know that when you wear those people are going to think you think you're really cool."  Him: "I do."  (Joking, mostly.)  "Okay well you have to be prepared for comments.  Like, I have some super big glasses and when I put them on people talk to me like I think I'm a movie star or something."  That didn't bother him, so I told him they did look good, so he got them.  After about five minutes I was obsessed with them.  We went to eat at Gold Street Diner and I made him wear them during lunch because suddenly with his normal hair, look-at-me shades, and 36-hour shadow he totally reminded me of Bono, who I love, in case you don't know.

A little later I was getting ready to go out for the night.  I was supposed to meet up with Taylor for dessert, and then a goodbye party for Karen, my dear friend who's moving to Arizona.  My contacts were super dry so I took them out to rewet them.  I was at Curtis', so I used his roommate's solution, or so I thought.  It turns out it was contact disinfectant.  The second I put my contact in my eye, my whole eyeball was engulfed in severe stinging.  I had this happen once before, when I used Elise's roommates "solution."  (There's a long story that explains why I made this mistake twice....I swear I checked the label before I did this.)  Note to contact wearers: Do NOT EVER make this mistake!  It is the worst pain ever.  The pain forces your eye shut so you can't get your contact out, and you can't make the pain stop without removing your contact.  (Yet another vicious cycle?) After many attempts at forcing the lids open and clawing at my poor eyeball, I got out the contact and let the faucet water gush into my beat red eye.  Needless to say, I was thrashing around and whispering angry cuss words in the boys' bathroom.  When I finally composed myself I walked out and Jason, Curtis' roommate was very confused.  I told him what had happened.  He told me sorry, because it was his disinfectant.  And I told him sorry I attempted to steal some solution.

I went home to redo my makeup and change, but by the time I got there all I wanted to do was not go out.  I called Taylor and canceled, feeling awful because the last time we had plans they fell through as well.  Luckily he's the nicest guy in the world.  

I ended up just chilling at home with a couple of roommates and Court.  I really was sad about the party, but at least I caught up on the Office, Grey's, and the Soup, and had some fabulous girl talk to boot.  And later that night and the next day I got some concerned text messages and questions at church regarding my "burned eye."  Haha, guess the news made it to the party.

Going to church was nice because I feel like I haven't been forever.  Last week was Stake Conference, the week before Jason and Elise were here and we only went to Sacrament, and the week before was General Conference, so it felt good to be back to normal.

The most exciting part of my weekend happened after church.  My friend Kellie is moving and was selling her lovesac.  I've always wanted a lovesac so I jumped on the opportunity.  The problem?  She lives on 105th Street.  Luckily my fabulous home teacher and friend Randy (Ricky-Randy to me....yes, a take off of Justin-Bobby) has a car and agreed to let me borrow it.  He was going to take me but is in the middle of studying for finals.  He goes to NYU dental school.  Amazing.  So I still needed a guy, so Curtis came.  I made Curtis drive seeing as how I've never driven in the city.  Don't worry, as we were heading up Madison Ave I was looking at the people and saw this guy carrying his little daughter, tossing her in the air.  "How cute," I thought.  Then I realize, gasp!  It's Toby McGuire with his daughter Ruby!!!  Totally legit A-list sighting.  Love it.  He was sporting a beard.  Looks like a great dad.  Thank you UES.

So we made it to 105th and got the lovesac (after quite the debacle) into the backseat of Ricky-Randy's 2door CL.  Yeah, we were cramped.  

We headed downtown and Curtis took my lovesac to my apartment while I saw in the car.  Then I took him to midtown where he was two hours late to meet up with some out of towners visiting.  I dropped him off at 5th and 42nd, and then had to brave the city behind the wheel for the very first time after living here for over a year.  I had to go to 1st and 14th.  It actually wasn't too bad.  I was really nervous, but did okay.  I kept wanting to make calls because it just seems natural to talk on the phone while you're in the car, but you can't use a handheld device while driving here.  Not like I needed the added distraction anyway.  

I finally made it back to Randy's, and the real problem was finding parking.  Ugh.  That took another twenty minutes, but luckily I found a spot, and hopefully he didn't get towed.....

I may have stopped at Baskin Robins along the way....I couldn't help myself.  

I couldn't believe it was 10pm after I got home.  Granted, I wasted an hour on the phone and eating ice cream, but that whole ordeal seriously took all afternoon and evening after church.

Since I missed my afternoon nap I was exhausted and went to bed and was asleep before 11pm.  Can't remember the last time that happened.  Heaven.

I don't even get this cartoon but I just love the fact it has my church's name on it.

PS I'm currently blogging from the comfort of my new lovesac. Love it.

Not that it was noteworthy but...

What would a weekend be without Curtis and I going to a show?  We saw Shutter Saturday night.  We didn't really expect it to be anything great, basically it was exactly what we anticipated: jumpy, scary, tense, and cheesy.  It's written by the same people who did The Grudge and The Ring.  It's kinda lame how they've used similar things in all the movies, but still, it was entertainment for an hour or two.  And besides that, it's always a treat to go to a show in Times Square because you get the rowdy audience.  It was really annoying when I first moved here, but now it's comedy.

No Country For Old Men

So I was really sort of not wanting to see this movie, but Curtis talked me into it, and I have to admit, it was amazing.  I had my head turned away for a lot of it because I can't handle violence anymore, but the story, writing, and acting were SO GOOD.  Javier Bardem definitely deserved the Academy Award.  He is scarier than Hannible Lector.  It was just such a different kind of movie, but not strange.  It's hard to explain.  It was scary in a way that I've never seen a movie be scary.  There were lots of periods of time where minutes would go by with no dialog and I didn't even notice.  I never once got bored, which happens a lot in movies lately.  Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones were also phenomenal.  If you can handle it, I highly recommend it.

Two weekends ago

So two weekends ago Tamra, a friend of Curtis's came out with two girlfriends to visit New York and they stayed at his place.  We spent the weekend with them and they were seriously the cutest, most fun girls ever.  Seriously darling.

They came on the rainiest weekend but were such troopers.  The first night they got here all they wanted to do was eat at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn so we hopped on the A and went the one stop.

Grimaldi's was one of the first places Curtis and I went to dinner.  We love it.

On Sat we took the girls over to the South Street Seaport which is just two blocks from Curtis's place.  There's a TKTS there and the girls wanted to see if there was anything they wanted to see besides Rent.  The TKTS doesn't have as big of a selection as the one in Times Square, but it's still really nice and convenient.  While we were there it seriously felt like there was a hurricane coming.  The wind and rain were outrageous!!  This pic makes it look like we were just having fun but we were about two seconds from being thrown.  Curtis's huge umbrella even got turned upside down.  I thought of you, Elise.  :)

Some of the best pictures come from rooftops.  :)

I live across the street from Trinity Church and there's a cemetery there.  I know, it sounds weird to say I live across the street from a grave yard, but I don't really even think about it.  It's hundreds of years old, and I have to admit I have had the thought cross my mind a time or two to take a ouji board out there late one night (but obviously never would!)  After walking past it a million times Curtis noticed Alexander Hamilton's grave.  I love this place.

Saturday morning we went to breakfast at my favorite diner, Gold Street Diner.  It's owned by the same people who own Ulysses, which I mention frequently.  This diner is seriously sweet.  It's not ghetto like Denny's and IHOP (although I still love them.)  It's open 24 hours, has good food, and at night there's a deejay who seriously plays the best music and mixed better than anyone I've ever heard.

L to R: Me, Tamra Case, Natalie, Jason and Brian (2 of 3 of Curtis's roommates) and Renee Broburg.  Curtis was taking the pic.

Me, Renee, Natalie, and Tamra on Curtis's roof.

The weekend wouldn't be complete without Curtis and me seeing a movie.  We went to 10,000 BC.  It was alright.  Entertaining.  That's about all I have to say about it.