Things I've done/watched/learned/ate over Christmas Break 2007:
Accomplishments
*Put together a difficult play kitchen for Millie's big Christmas present. Because it was all plastic, the pieces came all attached with dangerous, poky prongs (well, they became dangerous once the pieces were snapped out) that would stab under your fingernails. It took three hours to put together (and 1 viewing of The 40 Year Old Virgin and 1/2 of the 4th Harry Potter movie) and, if I do say so myself, it stands quite nicely on its own. Now I have a toy storage unit from I
KEA awaiting me downstairs, but I am writing this instead.
*Donated a big bag of clothes to DI. Surely someone out there in the world could use a Utah Theatre Association shirt from 2003. I also parted tearfully with garments that were worn on my mission. It is the end of an era.
*Bought actual groceries (as opposed to already made meals) to make 2 slow cooker recipes this upcoming week. While accomplishing this, I did receive a strange look from the Macey produce man while inquiring about where I could procure 4 fennel bulbs.
*Directed 4 big shows at Riverton High School. My Music Dance Theatre Revue for 2007, a hilarious farce called Cash On Delivery that I thought went great, The Secret Garden (which was at least memorized...) and Anything Goes- which I thought was a lot of fun, but was somewhat controversial in the Riverton area... I guess. I suppose my plans for next year's Hair will need to be altered.
Learned
*When shopping for a replacement nose hair trimmer, the universal sign for said object is making a vroom sound while jabbing your fingers at both nostrils. This worked successfully at Walmart while trying to communicate with a non-English speaking employee. By the way, I got the last one at the American Fork Walmart so wait a bit until they re-stock. I feel no shame in sharing this.
*When playing Chutes & Ladders with a 2 year old, there is no shame in being sent down the slides putting you back several spaces. In fact, the game can be considered a success if that's all that occurs... over and over again. The same goes with Disney Princess Memory (except for the sliding part)- in fact this game can be considered a success if the cards are left face up and instead of matching 2 of the same cards, just pick 2 cards at random that look like they belong together (example: The Princess Jasmine card and a pumpkin from Cinderella card because Jasmine is hungry).
*A 2-year old will eat jalapeno cheetoes if they are dipped in ketchup.
Watched
We will go in chronological order (Jackie is production assisting a show at Hale in WVC so I am home alone in the evenings...):
Saturday 12/22
Sweeney Todd was awesome- except for Helena Bonham Carter's vocals (I didn't mind Johnny's pop/rock vocals for some reason). Nothing compares to seeing it live on stage with the full chorus/score, but I quite liked Tim Burton's vision of it. Here is the NYTimes article with Sondheim about why he made the choices he did: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/theater/16gree.html?em&ex=1198990800&en=ed5d88810188809a&ei=5087%0A
Sunday 12/23
The Amazing Race. I actually like almost all of the teams that are left. Every time we watch, Jackie turns and says that though it would be fun to go on the show, I would have contact lens problems and she would get motion sickness (we'd also get eliminated if she had to bungee jump). She is probably correct. If I'm ever on the show, my strategy would be to call LDS missionaries and have them navigate us around. They could call it splits or service hours and we would have language and direction experts with us! It's a win-win situation!
Monday 12/24
Nothing quite celebrates the eve of the birth of our Lord and Saviour than the MTV airing of Legally Blonde the Musical. I also saw National Treasure 2- I read that it's like a rip-off of Indiana Jones, but I still enjoyed it (plus my dad paid for it- Thanks Dad!). Nicholas Cage has strange eyes. And a strange mouth. We'll make that a strange skull.
Tuesday 12/25
Nothing celebrates the day of our Saviour's birth than Season 2 of Big Love. I am loving this season even more than Season 1 (6 episodes in and so far no Bill Paxton bum! Thank you HBO!) Also watched Stardust- It was alright... it's no Princess Bride. Robert DeNiro needs to be pickier with his roles.
Wednesday 12/26
Eastern Promises was awesome. I once again renewed my vow to not get involved with Russian mafia. Also, I don't think I could survive a nude fight in a sauna against two men with knives. I will make a new vow to make sure this never occurs.
Thursday 12/27
The Kingdom wasn't very interesting, but it was interesting seeing Jennifer Garner and Jason Batemen on screen together because on
Friday 12/28
I saw Juno- which also features them together (minus Jennifer rescuing Jason from a terrorist and having to stab an assailant in the groin with a knife... although that would have put Juno in a whole different genre). I really liked Juno and Michael Cera is a comic genius.
Food Highlights
When I went to squeeze a lime on my fish tacos at Market Street Grill (thanks Anything Goes cast), it shot all over my shirt and hand. This needs to be remedied.
Chocolate covered sunflower seeds, although tasty, are hard to eat in movie theaters without making a mess- or is it just me?
Jalapeno Cheetos are better that Flaming Hot Cheetos (and are not as hot either).
Some hot chocolates are better with water than milk. I know you may cry heresy, but it's the truth.
I feel bad to whoever gets a library book after me because throughout the book, they will see remnants of former meals.
Accomplishments
*Put together a difficult play kitchen for Millie's big Christmas present. Because it was all plastic, the pieces came all attached with dangerous, poky prongs (well, they became dangerous once the pieces were snapped out) that would stab under your fingernails. It took three hours to put together (and 1 viewing of The 40 Year Old Virgin and 1/2 of the 4th Harry Potter movie) and, if I do say so myself, it stands quite nicely on its own. Now I have a toy storage unit from I
KEA awaiting me downstairs, but I am writing this instead.*Donated a big bag of clothes to DI. Surely someone out there in the world could use a Utah Theatre Association shirt from 2003. I also parted tearfully with garments that were worn on my mission. It is the end of an era.
*Bought actual groceries (as opposed to already made meals) to make 2 slow cooker recipes this upcoming week. While accomplishing this, I did receive a strange look from the Macey produce man while inquiring about where I could procure 4 fennel bulbs.
*Directed 4 big shows at Riverton High School. My Music Dance Theatre Revue for 2007, a hilarious farce called Cash On Delivery that I thought went great, The Secret Garden (which was at least memorized...) and Anything Goes- which I thought was a lot of fun, but was somewhat controversial in the Riverton area... I guess. I suppose my plans for next year's Hair will need to be altered.
Learned
*When shopping for a replacement nose hair trimmer, the universal sign for said object is making a vroom sound while jabbing your fingers at both nostrils. This worked successfully at Walmart while trying to communicate with a non-English speaking employee. By the way, I got the last one at the American Fork Walmart so wait a bit until they re-stock. I feel no shame in sharing this.
*When playing Chutes & Ladders with a 2 year old, there is no shame in being sent down the slides putting you back several spaces. In fact, the game can be considered a success if that's all that occurs... over and over again. The same goes with Disney Princess Memory (except for the sliding part)- in fact this game can be considered a success if the cards are left face up and instead of matching 2 of the same cards, just pick 2 cards at random that look like they belong together (example: The Princess Jasmine card and a pumpkin from Cinderella card because Jasmine is hungry).
*A 2-year old will eat jalapeno cheetoes if they are dipped in ketchup.
Watched
We will go in chronological order (Jackie is production assisting a show at Hale in WVC so I am home alone in the evenings...):
Saturday 12/22
Sweeney Todd was awesome- except for Helena Bonham Carter's vocals (I didn't mind Johnny's pop/rock vocals for some reason). Nothing compares to seeing it live on stage with the full chorus/score, but I quite liked Tim Burton's vision of it. Here is the NYTimes article with Sondheim about why he made the choices he did: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/theater/16gree.html?em&ex=1198990800&en=ed5d88810188809a&ei=5087%0A
Sunday 12/23
The Amazing Race. I actually like almost all of the teams that are left. Every time we watch, Jackie turns and says that though it would be fun to go on the show, I would have contact lens problems and she would get motion sickness (we'd also get eliminated if she had to bungee jump). She is probably correct. If I'm ever on the show, my strategy would be to call LDS missionaries and have them navigate us around. They could call it splits or service hours and we would have language and direction experts with us! It's a win-win situation!
Monday 12/24
Nothing quite celebrates the eve of the birth of our Lord and Saviour than the MTV airing of Legally Blonde the Musical. I also saw National Treasure 2- I read that it's like a rip-off of Indiana Jones, but I still enjoyed it (plus my dad paid for it- Thanks Dad!). Nicholas Cage has strange eyes. And a strange mouth. We'll make that a strange skull.
Tuesday 12/25
Nothing celebrates the day of our Saviour's birth than Season 2 of Big Love. I am loving this season even more than Season 1 (6 episodes in and so far no Bill Paxton bum! Thank you HBO!) Also watched Stardust- It was alright... it's no Princess Bride. Robert DeNiro needs to be pickier with his roles.
Wednesday 12/26
Eastern Promises was awesome. I once again renewed my vow to not get involved with Russian mafia. Also, I don't think I could survive a nude fight in a sauna against two men with knives. I will make a new vow to make sure this never occurs.
Thursday 12/27
The Kingdom wasn't very interesting, but it was interesting seeing Jennifer Garner and Jason Batemen on screen together because on
Friday 12/28
I saw Juno- which also features them together (minus Jennifer rescuing Jason from a terrorist and having to stab an assailant in the groin with a knife... although that would have put Juno in a whole different genre). I really liked Juno and Michael Cera is a comic genius.
Food Highlights
When I went to squeeze a lime on my fish tacos at Market Street Grill (thanks Anything Goes cast), it shot all over my shirt and hand. This needs to be remedied.
Chocolate covered sunflower seeds, although tasty, are hard to eat in movie theaters without making a mess- or is it just me?
Jalapeno Cheetos are better that Flaming Hot Cheetos (and are not as hot either).
Some hot chocolates are better with water than milk. I know you may cry heresy, but it's the truth.
I feel bad to whoever gets a library book after me because throughout the book, they will see remnants of former meals.
