Something to Watch

Truth be told, many Academy Award winning movies go right over my head. That's why the two I've watched most recently were such delightful surprises and I highly recommend both.  First, The Apartment starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. '

I know Shirley MacLaine mostly from Steel Magnolias and Sweet Charity, two of my favorite movies.  I know Jack Lemmon, from Grumpy Old Men.  Seeing them in roles from 1960 when they were much younger made me see each of them in a whole new light.  Jack Lemmon's character has an apartment on West 67th street between near Central Park and uses it in order to get ahead at work.  I am so fascinated with anything that depicts an older version of New York from Breakfast at Tiffany's and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to Mad Men.  This movie totally upsets any idea that men in New York just recently became cads.


The other movie I saw, A Room With A View, I watched entirely because lately I cannot get enough of Maggie Smith.  Since I know Helena Bonham Carter from Les Miserables, Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this was a bit of a shock for me.  I didn't know she was even capable of existing outside of some dark weird role.

I think this is one of those movies you watch when you are in the mood for British accents and early twentieth century English Society.  Not terribly much even happens over the course of this two hour film. Nevertheless I enjoyed myself for some inexplicable reason.

Love

work treat I discovered in my Bag

flowers

appetizer - fried spinach ravioli

vegetarian chicken parmesan and pesto pasta

Upstairs Downstairs

 

 
I can't get enough of Downton Abbey, no matter how many people they obnoxiously kill off.  So I decided to try Upstairs Downstairs, which is something of a poor man's Downton.  So far I like it.  I trust the plot will thicken.  The Downstairs staff could stand to be a bit more likable.  I would love to see the original series from the seventies, but I don't know where I can find it.

Also, I missed the season premiere of Sherlock and then waited too long to catch it on PBS's website.  I am so sad because now I feel compelled to wait until the season is over and it comes to Netflix.  Who knows when that will be?  Between DVR, Hulu, and Netflix you would think I could get it together.  Nope.

Sleep Deprived

There are many topics I would like to discuss but I am so sleep deprived I will be lucky to make it through the work day and safely trudge through the snow back to my apartment.  At some point I am going to completely burn out.  Until then, I guess I just keep working nonstop.  Here are some things I would like to discuss but I am just too tired:

• Last night while watching the Super Bowl I learned that Phillip Seymour Hoffman died, much to my chagrin.  I loved him in Doubt, Capote, and even Catching Fire.  A friend pointed out that he recently starred in The Master, that movie inspired by L. Ron Hubbard founding Scientology and now he's dead.  I really need to see that.  
• On Saturday night, C and I went to see The Wolf of Wall Street.  It was so funny and exciting but unneccessarily objectified women just as gratuitously as the unseemly characters portrayed in the film.
• A friend currently nine months pregnant with the baby she concieved out of wedlock with her boyfriend from church posted an article on facebook slamming the same sex marriage ceremonies that took place during the Grammys. Glass Houses . . .

All would make for interesting posts, but I am just too tired to fully flesh out all my ideas. Headache all day long . . . 

It Takes Two

January 4 marked the two year Anniversary of my first date with C.  I was so happy with my life two years ago, so it's quite a miracle that I am so much happier now.  To think I started this blog when I was so miserable in law school and then became even more miserable after became even more despondent after graduating is astonishing when I wake up every morning increasingly excited to face each day.  I am so glad I have so much written down so I can look back and know how blessed I am. Returning to Artisanale was a pleasure.  C had fondue for the first time.  We reminisced about how intensely he interviewed me on that first date and he recounted how he noticed me as soon as I walked in the door.  He told me he was way too full for dessert but that I should do ahead.  He then proceeded to steal half my petit fours and one of my precious macarons.  I'll allow it.    

Take a Look It's In A Book

It's been a couple months since I've discussed what I've been reading. I've quickly forgotten most of them, but here are a few that stood out.

The Overnight Socialite is one of my most fun reads ever.  It's a modern Pygmalion story.  If you like that type of thing and you are at all interested in New York Society, then you will love it and read through it quickly.

Beyond Belief was written by the niece of the leader of Scientology about her experience growing up in the Sea Org, Scientology's version of clergy.  She describes her experiences doing child labor, undergoing intense interrogation, and only seeing her parents once a year, if that.  I highly recommend it because it's such an easy read.  I have found Scientology fascinating for quite some time.  After reading this book, I cannot look at actors who profit from their membership in this faith the same way.  

                

Mindy Starns Clark is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.  She is an amazing writer.  My mom and I are reading everything by her that we can get our hands on.  These books take place near where my mom grew up and I love learning more about my Anabaptist background and details of why Mennonites ended up fleeing from Germany to America through these books.  It is so much fun to see these mysteries unravel.



I found this book to be a difficult read, but for some inexplicable reason I just had to get through it.  The protagonist suffers from depression and this is a big part of the narrative.  I started skimming those parts after a while because I was really looking for a mystery.  I would not classify this as a mystery because it's really just the story of a private investigator looking for a missing person without giving the readers any real clues that would allow them to solve the case.  I wouldn't recommend this book at all, although there were many instances where I did enjoy the read.

It's Gonna Be A Happy New Year

Three days before Christmas I received some very bad news.  Looks like I will be moving once again. After the moving 5 times in a year saga of 2010 I have been blessed to call the same  apartment home for a record 3 years and 3 months. I dread everything that moving entails from unreliable movers, to the inevitable disorganization of the process.   The sheer panic of needing to find an apartment in the last 2 weeks of a month, get a move in date, move out and move in, all while working 60 hours a week is an experience that only other Manhattanites can fully comprehend.  Instead of letting it completely ruin my holiday, I decided to not think about it too much.  I am purging, getting organized, dreaming of bigger apartments, and burying my head in the sand.  That is something I typically never do, but I vow to do more in the future.  So far it's working out great.  Last year was the best of my life and 2014 looks like it may be even better if that is possible.  I still need my list though so I don't get too lazy.  

In 2014 I resolve to:

1. Go see the Statue of Liberty once and for all.  I know I say I will do this every year.

2. Pay off 51% of student loans

3. Go to at least one new continent

4. Visit at least one new state

5. Go to a new city

6. Finish going paperless.  I am almost there.

7. Go see three Broadway shows. 

8. Go to a concert of one of my favorite artists

9. Stress out way less and be more selfish

10. Read at least ten nook books

Last year I only got a 7 out of 10

1. Enjoy my life and allow myself to take pleasure in the moment Check

2. Scan everything until I am living a paper free life Still working on it, but I'm getting there

3. Pay off 16% of the principal balance of my student loans. Check

4. See at least one new American city Check - Memphis

5. Go to at least one new state I went to a new country instead: Belize

6. Get fashion bucket list item #5 Vera Wang wedding gown and J Crew schoolboy blazer

7. Go see at least four Broadway shows (including Book of Mormon and Annie) Annie and Mary Poppins 

8. Rekindle old relationships a few, but not as many as I would like

9. Go to a concert of one of my favorite artists Kanye West

10. Finally visit the Statue of Liberty nope