Piles of Paws

With all the exciting beagles pictures you may forget that I have a cute kitty. It's true! Here she is!

I love cat paws!

Enhance!

It's like she's magnetically drawn to sunny carpet. As soon as I take Jem over to play with Izzy, Molly's planted herself downstairs.

Waffle Time!

A few months ago I suggested to Ben that we start a new tradition of making waffles on the day of the first snow. He's been begging for snow for some time now and he finally got his wish this morning!

Jem actually really enjoyed frolicking in the snow. She was just annoyed in this picture for being away from the waffles. I made a yeast dough and used the Belgian pearl sugars. Soooo good.

Lunching with Ladies

My girl friends and I sometimes meet for lunch on Fridays. Here's what we made last week:

Pear, pecan, and parmesan salad with chicken and (homemade) pasta

YES!

My mornings, only mildly diluted since getting a dog.

Silence and India

I saw two brilliant movies this week.

The Call of Cthulhu is a move based on the HP Lovecraft science fiction story by the same name. Cthulhu is big with nerds. But, like Hitchhiker's Guide, it's something I have never cared to read or get excited about. What intrigued me about this movie is that it was made in 2005, but as a silent film, since that's what movies were like when the story was written, in the 1920s.

The movie was made by members of the HP Lovecraft fan society, so I gather that it was exceedingly faithful to the original story. The silent movie style works SO well. I got really wrapped up in the story. They did a great job recreating the look and feel of those old movies.

There was a behind the scenes movie that you should watch as well. It's very funny and incredible to see how they pulled off a lot of the effects. At the same time, I get the feeling that these are guys just like me and my friends, except with better resources and experience (and they live near Hollywood). It's one of those movies that makes you wish you were a part of the making.

If you're interested in watching, you can rent it from Netflix.

We also saw The Darjeeling Limited, the latest and perhaps greatest Wes Anderson movie. Seriously, I loved this movie immensely. It had all the elements of his past films, but I felt it was in a more cohesive, polished package.

There were many regular cast members, as well as the lovely Adrien Brody. I loved the opening when they left Bill Murray behind and passed the torch to Brody. Very nice. No Mark Mothersbaugh music, but good old Kinks. Unlike the Life Aquatic, I felt like the music settled nicely behind the scenes. It wasn't such a noticeable accent, and I liked that. There were all the standard Anderson moves, like slow motion, panning between dialogue, directly overhead shots of objects, but they were gorgeously colored of India. I loved that much of the characters' histories were left unexplained. Kind of unsual, since he usually paints such vivid character stories. The men in Darjeeling were just as quirky and intriguing as ever, but the details were left up to our own imaginations.

There's a short film that acts as a prologue called Hotel Chevalier. Darjeeling stands alone, you don't miss out on anything by missing the short. However I think if you're going to watch it at all, watch it before seeing Darjeeling Limited. It's available online for free.

If you enjoy Anderson's other movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, and The Life Aquatic) in the slightest, you should really see this one.

What a strange weekend! Thursday some friends came from NY to visit. I picked them up at the airport late at night and they stayed over. Friday I drove them up to Boulder and we walked all over town visiting old haunts, weeping nostalgia. That evening Ben and Nate came up to meet me and we played pinball and arcade games in Lyons.






Saturday was another busy busy day. We saw a matinee performance of Le Corsaire with Miranda and Nate. I'm not very familiar with this ballet, except for the famous pas de deux. I thought it was a fun show, if a bit too traditional. My favorite part were the three Odalisques, who each had a bright petit allegro. Gil Boggs is the new director of the Colorado Ballet and he is definitely putting more money in their sets and costumes than ever before. It was gorgeous!

We had dinner after the show at Sam's No. 3 downtown. Then we went home to Lakewood to change clothes and feed the pets. Later that evening with Brian in tow we went the Asylum haunted house. Miranda and I screamed a LOT, and I don't even think we saw much of it because we had our eyes covered and head dug into our husbands' coats. Brian was giddy the whole time, practically skipping at parts. They had some really good effects, like a guy in an electrocution chair, severed heads hanging from the ceiling that you have to duck under, and a hall of hanging body bags, one of which had a moving person inside. At one point we heard a chain saw and Ben took off right, smack into a wall behind a curtain. He kept going and we lost part of our group. We were all screaming for each other and Brian got escorted into a separate room where we saw him behind a window frantically bumping around in some strange laboratory. In the end a clown told us to enter a hallway which you had to squish through. It was weird, like the whole was filled with two giant balloons and you had to squeeze them. You had to make a space with your hands to part the balloons as you walked and they sucked close before and behind you. You can't see a thing. Very weird. Very scary.

Today I am blissfully doing some laundry, baking, and sewing. Later tonight some friends are coming over to make cheddar biscuits, drink cider, and play games. Happy October!

I made art!

I finally used these two blank canvases I brought when we first moved into the new house. I saw this geisha picture on The IT Crowd and loved it! I made a few changes, changing hot pink to purple and redoing her flower, then I created a samurai to go with her.

I had planned to hang them over our bed, but liked them so much I need to keep them downstairs, where they will be seen. I like how they pop on the blue color.

Jem is snoozing after playing with her pal Izzy. Ben tucked her in with her bunny, and took this totally Cute Overload shot. Especially her little spot on her thigh shaped like a paw print.

Enhance!