Monday, December 28, 2009

Our Tree, Part Two (Electric Boogaloo)

Well, we didn't get the tree decorated until Sunday afternoon! However, we did manage to turn on some Christmas tunes and trim the tree before our friend came for a visit (more on that later). Here it is (excuse the blurriness of the first two photos)!



Sunday, December 27, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Merry belated Christmas to all of you who celebrate it! I tried to get this post up on the 23rd, but the days before Christmas were a wild blur of baking, cooking, wrapping, and preparing. However, we had lovely (though chaotic) holidays with both of our families in the end.

Hope all of you enjoyed warm, merry, and bright Christmases!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Our Tree!

Isn't she a beaut? It might be a bit hard to tell in the photo but she's a tall girl, too! Nine feet according to our tape measure. Like with my trees the past two years, she's a discard from the holiday event hosted at one of my jobs. We just got her today, a bit close to Christmas, but she came free of charge so the price is right. With luck, we'll have some time to decorate her tomorrow night!

(With such an epic tree complementing the beautiful woodwork in our circa-1865 apartment, I joked to Justin earlier, "I keep expecting a performance of the Nutcracker to break out in here!")

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Duckie vs. Blaine

We saw Pretty in Pink last night. And I realized something.

I think the first five times I saw that movie, I did what I think John Hughes wants you to do - root for Blaine and Andie, i.e. for the "love conquers all" motif. However, before the movie started, I told Justin that a lot of women I know think that Andie should have chosen Duckie instead.

Then, we watched and that's all I could think! Blaine is a meek, spineless wet blanket of a rich kid and the Duck Man is awesome. He dances and sings to Otis Redding in the record store! He makes Cindi Lauper's thighs go up in flames with his kiss! He tackles the rich asshat for calling Andie "nada"! He wears a blue crushed velvet tux to the prom! Come on!

Sorry - got a little impassioned there. But seriously, that movie makes no sense to me now. ;)

Monday, December 14, 2009

John Hughes Marathon

Justin and I are four years apart. Most of the time, that's not a majorly discernable difference. However, sometimes we realize that we heard a song or saw a movie or experienced something at vastly different times in our lives.

Take, for example, the Chuck E Cheese animatronic band. My main Chuck E Cheese party-going days were in the late 1980s, while his jumped the decade line and were in the early '90s. I'm not sure when Chuck E Cheese added animatronic bands to their restaurants, but I definitely don't remember them from my childhood days there. Thus, when Justin mentioned the weird animatronic bands offhandedly, I had no idea what he was talking about and it sparked a heated discussion which ended with us realizing there would be times when this would happen.

In the example that sparked this post, Justin has not seen most John Hughes movies, a fact which surprised even his mother when I told her on Thanksgiving. He has seen Ferris Bueller and Weird Science, though. When I first found out, I added a number of Hughes classics to our Netflix queue and commenced our "John Hughes Marathon!" This weekend, we ticked off Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. And Pretty in Pink is on the way! Huzzah!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Unsorted Bookmarks

I am one of those people who has lots and lots of bookmark folders. They mostly contain blogs. I know I should switch to Google Reader, but I really enjoy my process of going to a folder marked "UK Blogs" or "Beer Blogs" or "Web Comics" and clicking "open all in tabs." Call me crazy.

A few of my normally visited sites don't belong in any of my folders, though, so they live at the bottom of the bookmarks menu. I thought I'd highlight a few today, since they're pretty interesting and often on my radar due to their unique position.
  • shitmydadsays on Twitter. As the guy's bio says, "I'm 29. I live with my 73-year-old dad. He is awesome. I just write down shit that he says."
  • John Quincy Adams on Twitter, "The line-a-day diary entries of John Quincy Adams, beginning with his journey to Russia on 5 August 1809."
  • BibliOdyssey, the world's digital online library. Gorgeous books highlighted here!
  • mattbites.com, "a man obsessed with food, drink & everything inbetween"
  • The Daily Portsmouth. I've mentioned this site before, but it's here again because it just has such beautiful views of the city. Even though we live here, we don't always get to roam around and see what's going on around town, especially in the winter. But we can live vicariously through this blog's author!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

'arry Potter, Part 2

In the same vein as my post the other day, here's another thing that proves I'm a big, fat Harry Potter nerd. As if anyone cares. ;)

I'd like to present our new fish, a red halfmoon betta named Professor Remus Lupin!