Icehouse - Electric Blue

One of my favorite songs from my childhood. His mullet is so mullety!:



No Icehouse on itunes! Boo!

What's Up Doc?

I just want to acknowledge for my own journaling purposes that my doc John G. is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. He just spent an hour with me just to talk and listen and help. And he did. Feel more uplifted than I have in a while. As Obama said last night, "Let's fix what needs fixing and move forward."

New Hair.

I have so horribly neglected my blog. I am going to try to get back to it. Unfortunately, the timer just went off on dinner, so I will just quickly upload some pics of my new hairdo. I NEVER dye my hair, but I wanted to mix it up, so I got a trim, along with some full bangs and dyed my hair an auburnish color. The color doesn't quite translate in the photos, but it gives you an idea.



Right when I got home, so the styling looks a bit severe:


This photo is weird, but it shows the color a little better. I was at Griffith Park and pointing to a peak I'd like to hike:


Okay. So the dinner still needs a few more minutes in the oven. So I'll post a few pics from yesterday. I went to Griffith Park and wandered around a bit. There are so many trails I want to explore, but I feel like I need a hiking partner to be safe, I suppose. It's so rad to have that huge park like five minutes from my house. I really need to take more advantage of it. I can't tell you how much I am loving the weather in SoCal right now. It's perfect. High 70's, low 80's, sunny, gorgeousness.

The LA Zoo used to be located in Griffith Park and the old animal cages remain, which are creepy and awesome.


There's also an old rad carousel. I was hiking along, turned a corner and heard the pipe organ music - sort of surreal. The horses are ancient old looking, but still functioning and the pipe organ is super cool.




All right, now it's for real dinner time.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Gingerbread House

The young women in my ward gave us this adorable gingerbread house. I appreciated the Hansel and Gretelness of it.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

It just doesn't get any better than this. The whole concert is great (no, I didn't get to go in person, but man, I wish I had!), but this song is perfect. Just posting this as I've been listening to the CD lately:

Christmas Tree

This will be the first Christmas I spend in California. Since we'll be around, we got a real tree to enjoy. It's just a lil thing, it's cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my ornaments, which must be stored in Utah, boo, but Whit's mom let me use Whit's Grammie's ornaments. They are all white, silver and gold and look really nice with the white lights. I found a pretty topper - it's an old fashioned style cracked glass, pinkish topper. I also added a few birds, because...well, because I like them...and voila - a classy, cute little tree. Merry Christmas!

Hugh in Concert

Tonight I went to a benefit concert that Band From TV was doing and my dear, lovely, Hugh Laurie was performing. I was a few feet away and got to just watch him play all night. He was funny and cool as ever. It's fun to watch him play music because you can tell he loves it so much, that's he's on cloud 9 when he's at his keyboard. Jesse Spencer who is also on House was also in the band playing violin - he's really good and seems dope too. After the show I saw Hugh walking out, but he was in quite a hurry, I mean, I'm sure, he knows if he stops a crowd will form. So I just quickly told him thanks, that he was great, and he thanked me. Still crazy to be that close to my #1.

Here are a few pics and little video.

The King's Speech

Couldn't have loved this movie more. Splendid. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are ridiculously wonderful.

I'll Fly Away

One of the greatest TV shows of all time - certainly in the top of my favorites - was I'll Fly Away. It was perfect. These opening credits almost make me wanna cry. What I wouldn't give for this to be released on DVD. PLEASE!!!

California Raisins

I mean, so bizarre, but I loved this as a kid. I had their albums on cassette tape...yeah.

I think it holds up:

Nutcracked.

I think nothing puts me in the Christmas mood more than the Baryshnikov Nutcracker ballet. I grew up watching this every year and loving it. It's very different from the traditional stage ballet, but it will always be the best since it's ingrained in my mind as THE Nutcracker. I remember dancing around the living room lit only by the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree with my Mom's nutcracker in hand. I love me some Tchaikovsky!

Some more adorableness

Nothing will top the cuteness of my last post - but I have some random cute animal pics I thought I'd throw on here - because I am a sucker for cute animal pics.



Real Bambi & Thumper

Real Simba & Timon








Okay and I'll post one more pic of baby Blyth to add to the cuteness (I think she looks like Chelsea here):

Blythe Iris Taylor

Yesterday after quite a long birthing process for poor little Chelsea, our little niece, Blythe, was born. She is absolutely beautiful, a perfect little girl and we love her.

Have a little fun today

About a week and a half ago I heard that Hugh Laurie was going to be the guest on "Ellen" and I immediately got to trying to get tickets! "Ellen" shoots on the WB lot and we can try to get tickets for one taping a year, but this one was already booked up. Luckily I have awesome co-workers who followed up until a couple of tickets were released and I was in! I found out my little sister-in-law, Brighton, is a huge Ellen fan so she came with me and we had a great time going to the show on Monday. We got to be VIP and because Brighton and I are cute and fun (yeah, I said it) they put us in the best seats in the theatre - right on the front row in front of Ellen and the guest's chairs. We danced and laughed and smiled our big chomper smiles. Ellen had some really funny bits to start out the show, it's cat week, there was an adorable little five year old boy who danced hip-hop and Twitch from SYTYCD surprised him. And then the moment came, back from commercial break and out came Hugh Laurie. I was so freakin excited. I was a few feet away from him. He's tall and absolutely, utterly gorgeous. I mean, I already knew this, but seeing him in person was even more impressive. He was super funny and clever, as always. Wish his interview could have gone on for days. The second guest was Jesse Tyler Ferguson from "Modern Family" - he was very funny. We got the dvd of the first season. The musical guest was funnish - got their cd. The last segment was about Ellen starting a home garden and she had a basket of veggies from her garden and she handed Brighton the largest zuchinni she had.


(screen capture from the show)

Whit, Brighton and I then went to Umami Burger. We're sitting waiting for our table and then Brighton clutches my leg - I glance over and see this actress, recognized her, but didn't really place her. Brighton is really excited, I'm thinking, what is the big deal, it's just some actress, then she squeezes me again and I look and now I see what she was looking at...freaking Sam Rockwell! Then I gasp with excitement as well. We love Sam Rockwell - he is one of the best. I mean did you see "Moon"? It is one of the coolest movies and certainly one of the best performances ever (he got so shafted by the Academy Awards). The actress there is his girlfriend, Leslie Bibb. We don't want to bother him, but decide to write a small note to hand him on our way out, just telling him how amazing he was in "Moon" etc. So on our way out Whit hands it to him and we end up having a little conversation, he shook our hands, Leslie Bibb basically talked about her future bowel movements...weird. Anyway, just a fun little capper to a really fun day.

Emma & Hugh

Emma Thompson just received a star on the walk-of-fame and I wanted to post these two videos of Hugh Laurie and Emma's speeches at this event. I love them both - they are just the coolest.

Ol' Timers

I made reference in my last post to the fact that I love old movies of the '30's & '40's. I am lucky that I grew up in a family that respected and enjoyed these movies because I think I developed good taste in acting and writing in part because of this education. While Whit and I were in Napa, we were thumbing through books about the film stars of this time. One book was about character actors and it was full of amazing, interesting faces. There were so many unique, fun, strange actors - I love it, I wish our movies these days utilized more character actors and less bore core pretty people. Not to say that old movies didn't have their pretty people - their pretty people were outstandingly gorgeous.

What are my favorite movies from the '30's & '40's? Well, I'm glad you asked. In no particular order:

The Philadelphia Story
Bringing Up Baby
I mean how to pick between Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald movies, hmm...well, Naughty Marietta started it all for me, so that. But I also love Rose Marie and Maytime (sobbed like a baby in Maytime)
Oh, and then how to pick between Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers movies. Yikes. Really can't, so: Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Swing Time, Shall We Dance.
Gone With the Wind
Holiday

Holy cow, I just realized I can't do this - I have a billion titles coming into my head. Can't. I'll stop there and let my last selection spring board me into the next paragraph.

I've had my crushes on many of the old timey stars over the years (Nelson Eddy, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, William Holden, Gary Cooper...), but my number one now is Lew Ayres. He never got as big as those other dudes, but I like getting to know some somewhat more obscure actors from the time. I first saw him some years ago in Holiday (and watched it again last weekend) and his performance in that movie has remained with me. He plays Kathryn Hepburns' drunk brother - and is absolutely heartbreaking(FYI - Kathryn Hepburn is probably my favorite lady star - so strong and heartfelt and interesting). I've been watching more of his performances lately (whichever I can find - it's hard) and loving him more and more. He is super relaxed in front of the camera, has an interesting energy, always seems to have a bit of a joke behind his eyes and, of course, he's super adorable and charming. Here are a couple pictures of Lew, for my own enjoyment!

Northern Country

I was trying to wait to have pictures to post with this, but I'll just have to post them later, as I get them. Last week Whit and I headed up to Napa and San Francisco. Friday afternoon we drove up to Napa and were welcomed by my Aunt and Grandma.

I love their house, it's just so familiar and fun as my family went there almost every Summer growing up. My Aunt is a doll collector (among other collections) and I always like sitting in her doll room and just taking it all in. She is also probably why I love old movies, she educated me growing up, always having a ton of great movies to show us. I love looking through her books about the old movie stars.

It's a peaceful neighborhood and we went for a walk that night, breathing the fresh air, looking at my favorite little spot above a small stream, seeing a small deer resting in the hills - welcome back to Napa.

Saturday was so much fun. We met up with a couple of our friends (friends of Whit's he's know almost his whole life) who live in San Francisco. They brought us to a little breakfast spot, which is really just a window down an alley. I had grits with bacon and brown sugar and Whit had chicken and waffle. Yummy. They drove us all over the city - to a lot of places I'd never been.

I felt like I got a good, new sense of the city. I love love San Francisco - always have. I love the bridges, I love the fog, I love the insanely steep streets, I love the history. I won't bore with all the details, but it was a really fun day. They then brought us to a German restaurant for dinner. It was really cute of them to think of activities and places catered to Whit & I - obviously a German dinner for a German girl. The restaurant is called Suppenküche and it is so popular that a line forms before the doors even open at five. I had Sauerbraten mit Lingonbeerkonfitüre,
serviert mit Rotkohl und Spätzle or Marinated and Braised Beef with Lingonberries
served with Red Cabbage & Spätzle and Whit had Gegrillte Nürnberger Bratwurst
mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelbrei or Grilled Pork Sausage with Sauerkraut & Mashed Potatoes. It was legit, awesome German food. We then shared a piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or Black Forest Cake, and when I say shared, I mean I ate 80% of it.

Sunday we hung out with the Aunt and Grandma. They drove us around Napa a bit, we watched a movie, played a game and just chilled out.

Monday morning we all went to the Jelly Belly Factory - one of our regular stops. Jelly Belly's are Whit's favorite - so he made his mix du jour and loved it. One of the new Berty Botts flavors was Dogfood and while it just tastes meaty, the smell lingers, I'll tell you. Whew.

Whit and I then drove up through St. Helena and Calistoga. Always a great drive to just enjoy the view. We had lunch at the Culinary Institute of America. I've always wanted to go there. The school is housed in what was the Christian Bros. winery - a huge, gorgeous building.


I used to dream of going to culinary school there, well that didn't happen, but I wanted to at least enjoy a meal there. The food was fantastic. The best was the little taster appetizer, where you get surprised with five or so little appetizers. We had a killer gazpacho, mini BLTs, a little Halibut thing on a plantain, beef satay and little meat pocket things, I can't quite explain - all of it was quite tasty.

After eating I went into their campus store, which is just full of every kitchen gadget you could ever want. It was so rad. I love kitchen stuff, and this was the ultimate store. I just walked away with an apron and a ship shapped cake pan. It's really cute and will come in handy for many a birthday to come, I'm sure.

I know I mostly talked about food in the post, but I guess it was a good food trip. It was great to be up in Northern California again. I feel comfortable and refreshed when I go up there. We want to try to go more often as it is only like six hours away by car. It was nice to see my family again. They really are my only extended family I saw with any regularity growing up - my only grandparent I ever knew - so they are important to me. My grandma is 93, I think, and she is still in crazy amazing shape - still sharp as a tack and sassy as ever. My Aunt is one of the most considerate people I've ever known and always a kick to be around. I'm happy they'll be going to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving and so will Whit and I - so the whole family will be together again. It will be madness, but welcome madness.

The Simpsons

(I forgot to post this when I wrote it a couple weeks ago)

This morning Whit and I got to go to a table read of "The Simpsons"! Whit has a friend that works for the show and he set it up. It was so much fun to see these various characters' voices come from the actors. It was very funny and felt super special to experience it - I mean, come on, this show is part of television history! Dan Castelleneta doing Homer was delightful - after all these years he still gives unexpected, fantastic line readings. Hank Azaria, who apparently is usually not there (just calls in) was there and hearing him do a short exchange between Cheif Wiggum and Lou was great. Hearing these boys' voices coming from well, obviously, Nancy Cartwright doing Bart, but also characters like Millhouse and Jimbo coming from Pamela Hayden was fun.

After the reading we got to meet everyone and get our scripts signed. Matt Groening drew Homer mine and Bart on Whit's - crazy! It was super great for a die-hard Simpsons fan like me to experience that.

Cookin' in the Kitchen

Had a fun 4th of July weekend with Whitby. Friday we went to the Mates of States concert. I will admit I was not a huge fan of theirs in the past, but I am converted. They were super fun.


The opening act was a band from Philadelphia called Free Energy - a very '70's influenced group and I loved them! Good night out.

Yesterday we spent the 4th with Whit's family. We had a yummy turkey burger meal and watched fireworks on Redondo beach. It was cool to hear the ocean and the fireworks together.

Today we used our barbecue for the first time. We grilled up baby back ribs with a homemade rub and barbecue sauce, corn with a lime/parmesan butter, coleslaw, baked beans, watermelon and grilled peaches with a sweet sour cream topping. It was really fun to christen our barbecue.







Oh, and for the heck of it a picture of a pie I made a couple of weeks ago for a pie party - it's apricot/cranberry.