This and That

Here's what's been awesome around here lately.

1.  Last Friday a friend loaned us her passes to the Savannah Film Festival where we went to see the Director's Choice film, where the movie isn't announced beforehand.  So we were super pleasantly surprised when the movie turned out to be The Muppets!  We were the first audience in the world to see the movie (see: we are important and influential).  Not surprisingly, the movie was fantastic, and I smiled the entire time.  My face hurt afterward.  Go see it when it comes out.  (It's way better than this trailer might suggest.)

2.  Also, when we were at the film festival on Friday, I saw this handsome man walk past, and I kind of recognized him.  I told Matt that I thought that had been a famous actor man, because he was handsome and because he was dressed like a famous actor man and because there were all of these people who seemed to be treating him like he was really important.  Old Roommate Cris had mentioned that James Marsden was in town, and I told Matt that maybe that had been him.  Matt then proceeded to list off everything that James Marsden had done that he knew (X-Men, Modern Family, etc.) and I couldn't place him.  I couldn't place him until, right before The Muppets, they gave some award to James Marsden and showed a montage of all of his very important and influential work.  Then I realized where I knew him from: 27 Dresses.  Oh yes, my Saturday night HBO guilty pleasure movie.  Matt shook his head in shame and likely contemplated divorce.  Hell, at least I didn't recognize him from Bride Wars, right?  Right?

3.  During a conversation with my coteacher yesterday about cord blood storage, one of my best students walked into our conversation and asked, "Whore's blood?  Like a harlot?"  Love that kid.

4.  Really, really pleased with myself because last week I found a BOB Revolution stroller on Craigslist for $100.  And it's awesome, and smooth and beautiful and I'm really obsessed with it.  Mitch, however, seems to think that this is just another form of a bicycle (and Mitch HATES bicycles), so he pretty much just barks at it and is less than thrilled when Matt and I chase him around the house with it.  I think that once he begins to associate the stroller with walks, though, he'll warm up to it.  Hell, the stroller has a weight limit of 70 pounds, so if I could get him strapped in correctly, I could put Mitch in it!  Should've gotten a double stroller. . .

5.  Three-day weekend, three-day weekend, three-day weekend!  I've got grand plans of doing very little and of eating much.  There will be naps.  There will be Parenthood marathons.  There will be some ellipting.  There will be nary a teenager.  Shoot yeah!

Happy days to you!

There's No F'ing Jello in the Jungle!

I mentioned before that Matt (Felds) and I were going to be attending the showing of The River Why as part of the Savannah Film Festival.  (Again, many thanks to Cris for giving us her tickets.)  All week I'd been hearing about the different celebrities who were in town for the festival, so in the back of my mind I had this secret wish that Matt Saracen (whose real name is Zach Gilford, but I will forever know him as Matt Saracen and I don't care how obnoxious that is) would be there for this movie.  But I didn't even mention that secret wish because I'm weirdly stupidly superstitious and didn't want to jinx it. 

So on Friday night we headed downtown to the Trustees Theater and found our seats.  I had to go to the bathroom (maybe I'd had 6 Diet Cokes at dinner?) and while I was waiting in line one of the other women was talking about how she and her husband had just seen Matt Saracen on the street. (!!!!!!) So I began to freak out.  When I returned to our seat, I was giddy, and told my Matt, "Guess who's here!!??!!"  My Matt seemed interested, but not crazy like me, and then sent me back out to the lobby to get us something to drink.  (In his defense, he would have gotten it himself, but I was already up.)  So I returned to the lobby to get our drink, and the line took FOREVER.  When I got back to the theater, the credits for The River Why had started.  I sat down, and my Matt timidly told me while I'd been waiting in line Matt Saracen had come out to introduce the film.  "But he's coming back out for a Q&A after the movie!," he made sure to add, perhaps fearing that I would never ever let go of the fact that he sent me away and made me miss Matt Saracen.  (Like the time Tanya made me miss meeting Dan from the Miami season of The Real World when we saw him at the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Don't think for a second that I've forgotten about that!)

We watched the movie (that wasn't very good--sorry, Matt Saracen) and then we watched a short, Streetcar, that was very good, and then we got to enjoy Matt Saracen's Q&A for the last thirty or so minutes.  I know that it's not cool to be starstruck or to giggle incessantly when in the presence of a star from one of your favorite shows, but I don't care.  I was so excited to sit there and listen to him talk.  I was even more excited to learn that real-life Matt Saracen is really funny.  Like really funny. 

He mentioned the latest show that's he's working on, Off the Map, which is about doctors in the jungle.  In describing the difficulties of practicing medicine in the jungle, how there are none of the luxuries to which we've all become accostumed, Matt Saracen told the interviewer, "There's no fucking jello in the jungle."

He also assumed a [hilarious] air of authority for the rest of the interview (even though he was clearly uncomfortable being the center of attention), telling us all, "I'm a goddam doctor." 

But my favorite part of the entire interview was when Matt Saracen leaned back in his chair, and with goofy confidence told us, "I won a state championship a couple of years ago--I was the quarterback--and now I'm a plastic surgeon. . .IN THE JUNGLE." 

I may or may not have taken 145 pictures of him.  Here are more than you probably want to see.

Oh, and I should also add that after the Q&A, I--along with about 6 other 30-year old women who are also obsessed with Friday Night Lights--tried to chase him down to befriend him and get our pictures taken with him.  We were, unfortunately, turned around by some SCAD guy who decided that we were not important enough to hang out with someone who had once won a state championship but now practices medicine in the jungle.

BUT, Cris--the baller, the shot caller--Cris was at a party last night with him.  She said that he was making out with some girl (I'm pretty sure that was the girlfriend he'd mentioned the night before--at least I hope it was) and that she got a picture of him dancing. 

I went to sleep consumed with jealousy, but secretly happy that she got to meet him because I'd felt guilty about seeing him with the tickets she'd given us.

Anyway, that was a whole lot of dorky rambling.  It's probably best that I didn't get to meet Matt Saracen.  In the next year I will become cool, and not starstruck, and I will meet him and we will be friends and he will teach me how to play football and how to do nose jobs.

This and That

1.  Ladies and gentlemen, it's Snuggie weather time!  The other night I snuggied up on the couch with the dog (who does not, for some reason, own his own Snuggie).  If it gets any colder outside it's going to be lying-on-the-couch-in-a-sleeping-bag weather.  Whoop, whoop!

2.  Informal poll.  Are you tired all the time?  Because I'm tired all the time, and I can't decide if this fatigue is A.) a result of my weird sleep habits and caffeine addiction, B.) just part of being a grown-up, or C.) some kind of health problem.

3.  And, just in case you need to see how tired I look all the time, here's my school picture.  (By the way, I think that one of the very worst parts of my job is the fact that I'm forced to take school pictures that will be featured in a yearbook.)  This is what I look like at 9:45 a.m. with no makeup, and little will to live.  In my defense, I had just spent the last hour of my life corralling primping ninth graders through a stuffy hallway,  trying to get about 25 of them to keep from screaming and touching each other while standing in line.  The only somewhat redeeming thing about this photo is that I had actually brushed my hair that morning.   

And how's this for a before and after?  That's what 12 years, hatred in your heart, and a love for baked goods will do to you.

4.  We've had two fun new meals this week: Quick Dirty Rice from Our Life in the Kitchen, and Cheesy Beefy Potato Soup from My Fiance Likes It So It Must Be Good.  Both were very, very tasty.  Both will be made again.

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5. My eleventh graders have figured out that if they want to get me off-topic, all they need to do is bring up Amber from Teen Mom.  Is that bitch in jail yet?  Or at least sterilized?

6. Bought the first two book of The Hunger Games series for Chloe [but really for Matt who wanted an excuse to read them].  I kind of want to read them, but I'm afraid that they'll give me bad dreams. 

7.  The election was a bit of a suckfest--an expected suckfest, but a suckfest nonetheless.  At least most of the craziest of the crazies lost, right?  Hey, but did you hear that Sean from the Boston season of The Real World is now a Representative from Wisconsin? You know, the lumberjack guy who married the crazy girl who made out with Puck on the San Francisco season of The Real World.  If I remember right, I liked him (Sean, not Puck).  Did you watch the Boston season?  It was the one with Elka and Genesis and Montana (Basically during MTV's phase of selecting only cast members who had silly names.  Now they just try to find the person who's most likely to do steroids and botox and take 50 shots in a hour's time.).

8. I seriously have the best mother-in-law.  The other night I was talking to her about how I can't seem to find any good baking chocolate in Savannah, and today I got this in the mail.  I love her.

9. Tomorrow Matty and I will be attending a showing of The River Why at the Savannah Film Festival.  We're excited because we got free tickets (old roommate Cris is a baller who scores free stuff for us), but mostly because it stars Zach Gilford (a.k.a. MATT SARACEN!).  It basically looks like a modern-day A River Runs Through It, which is awesome because I LOVE A River Runs Through It. 

10.  Just spent a good chunk of my night making candied pecans and caramel.  Get ready for something tasty!

Oh, Friday, where have you been all my life--or, for the last six days?

Merry Mitchmas!

Hope you have had a wonderful, relaxing, drama-free day. Ours certainly has been. I woke Matt up at 10:30 to open presents, and then when we were done (and we got some pretty cool loot) we went back to bed until 1:30. It was awesome.

Since we don't usually spend Christmas with family (opting instead to visit with them during the summer when we have more time and fewer "let's make this a perfect moment" expectations), we've started some Christmas traditions of our own.

First, we sleep in. That's crucial, and since we don't have human children, we relish our opportunities to sleep well into the afternoon.

Second, we eat a lot. Isn't this everyone's tradition?

Third, we listen to David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" and call friends and family to hear about their days and wish them cheer.

Then we go to the movies. This year we saw Up in the Air. It was pretty great, and did a good job of washing out that nasty aftertaste from Avatar. Oh, and I think I've had a crush on George Clooney for about half of my life now. That man sure is handsome!

After the movie, fat and lazy, we return home to eat more and more.

This year, I'll make Matt watch these commercials over and over again.

How was your day? Any awesome gifts or traditions that I'll want to steal?

Dances with Pterodactyls

Yesterday I joined Matt and Collin for Movie Monday. We went to see Avatar. I was torn about whether or not I wanted to go because I've been feeling blah ever since I got that damned Swine Flu vaccine, because the movie is seven hours long, and because I thought I might rather spend the $13 on a sweater from Gap.

But, in a lapse of judgment, I went.

The best thing about Avatar was how it looked. It was gorgeous and shiny and bright. I can't wait to go on the ride at Universal Studios (would they have the rights to it?).

But the story was. . .lacking. Let me rephrase that. It was a good story, just one that's been done many times before. About halfway through, I started singing that song from Pocahontas (. . .have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon. . .can you paint with all the colors of the wind. . .) to myself. Avatar was all "love the earth," "be good to the earth," "love your fellow man," "don't be mean to the natives," "just because they have something you want doesn't mean they're your enemy." I get it. Good lessons, and all things I believe. A little subtlety would've been nice, though.

When I commented to Matt that we were watching "Pocahontas with computers," he one-upped me. "Dances with Wolves with computers," he said. Dammit! I hate it when Matt wins!

The movie-going experience got much worse when, about six hours in, during the most climactic part, I had to pee like a pregnant racehorse. This was the second time I'd had to pee during the film.

Note to self: don't drink the entire $32 five-gallon bucket of Diet Coke.

So I got up and began the trek down the stairs. I had my phone in my hand (maybe I had checked Facebook during the movie?) and was going to put it in my back pocket. But then I thought that I didn't want the phone to fall on the floor in the bathroom, so I decided to put it in my coat pocket. But I missed, and dropped my phone on the floor, and heard pieces go everywhere, namely, under the seat of a guy I didn't know.

So there I was, on my hands and knees, trying to reach under some random guy's chair for my phone during the film's climax. I found it only after a few humiliating minutes.

Final verdict: pretty but too didactic. Seen that story before. Should've gone to Gap.

Movie Star Stalking

Hey, party people. What'd you do today? I stalked movie stars.

Robert Redford is directing The Conspirator (apparently about the plot to assassinate Lincoln), and they've been filming in downtown Savannah for the last couple of days.

The stuff they do for filming is neat. Period dress.
Fog machines.

James McAvoy lighting up a smoke.

Is that a Gilmore Girl?

And. . .wait for it. . .

ROBERT REDFORD!

I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating cookies. Besides, Mitch and I are usually eating cookies in bed as it is.

I actually had an even better photo op when Mrs. Henderson (who lives on the square where they were filming and had been watching from her window for days) and I stalked ol' Bobby outside his trailer, sitting and waiting for him to emerge. He finally did, and when it happened I was so flustered and excited that I messed up the camera settings and all I got was a blur. Damned technology, always ruining my life!