Heartburn

I watched "Heartburn" last week in honor of the great Nora Ephron. Have you seen it? What did you think?

Seconds into the movie I was all "ahh! baby Jeff Daniels!" There are all sorts of fun celeb sightings in the film, but not surprisingly, Meryl steals the show. The film is based on Ephron's book by the same name, and is a semi-autobiographical interpretation of Ephron's marriage to Carl Bernstein. The film has a slower pace than her other movies, but the real-life emotions that she captures so beautifully make up for it. I couldn't get over how much her daughter (the baby in the movie is actually hers) looks exactly the same now as she did when she was a toddler.

Is "Heartburn" amazing? I wouldn't say so. But it's Nora Ephron! It has her name written all over it. It's good. Add it to your queue and prepare to ache over Meryl's crazy hair, her amazing pregger fashion sense and most of all, her marriage.

dr.? dr. leo marvin?

What if I'm looking for a bathroom, I can't find one,

and my bladder explodes? 

 Isn't this a breakthrough, that I'm a sailor? I sail?! I sail now?!

and one more...

Hi, I'm Bob. Would you knock me out, please? Just hit me in the face. 

I was going to wait until next weekend to watch "What About Bob" w/ my college roomies, but a) we probably won't stop chatting long enough to watch it, b) they both fall asleep as soon as a movie starts and c) I WANT TO WATCH IT NOW.

kentucky

I had a loverly time in Kentucky last weekend visiting my friend Laurel and her husband Steven. We consumed many hot drinks while watching snow fall and we laughed and told stories and reminisced and cooked together and I was happy. 

The drive is seven hours without stopping, so I was in the car for a good 7.5 hours. I am ever so grateful for the DVD player in the van and I listened to You've Got Mail on the way there and Juno on the way home. I also compiled a playlist right before I left (which explains how the songs don't always flow) and now "Cosmic Love" will always remind me of falling snow and leafless tree-covered mountains blurred outside my car window.


Magic Perfume by Charlyne Yi and Matt Davis 
Comptie d'un autre été : l'apres-midi by Yann Tiersen
Lovin' Arms by the Wood Brothers
Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine
The Cave by Mumford & Sons
I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers
Sweetest In The Morning by Jill Andrews
The High Road by Broken Bells
Is It O.K by Serena Ryder
All for Love by Serena Ryder
Have You Ever by Brandi Carlile
Losing Heart by Brandi Carlile
The Funeral by Band of Horses (remember this from the talent show in My Life as Liz?)
No One's Gonna Love You by Band of Horses
Is There a Ghost by Band of Horses
Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear

eat pray love

If you haven't read the book, "Eat Pray Love" is the true story of a woman (Elizabeth Gilbert) who spends four months each in Italy, India and Indonesia after a divorce and another relationship left her broken and unsure of herself.

I'm a different movie watcher than most people...or at least, many of the people I know. I get fully absorbed by the beauty of the actors, the costumes, the music, the scenery, everything. Here's a good example: I like the movie "Marie Antoinette." I think it's sad, funny, absolutely gorgeous and ironically, watching it feels like eating cake. I don't know many people who like the movie "Marie Antoinette."

That being said, "Eat Pray Love" was also sad, funny and gorgeous, though instead of making me feel like I was eating gelato and pizza and pasta, it just made me want to be eating them!  

Julia Roberts was beautiful, James Franco, Billy Crudup and Richard Jenkins were surprisingly tender and Javier Bardem was simply delicious. Every character was astounding. The soundtrack was glorious-- take note of the song that plays when Elizabeth (Julia R) is eating a plate of spaghetti. Genius. 

I think many women will be able to relate to the desire to know, to discover one's self. I think it's important to know who you are and to like that person. I think it's important to surround ourselves with people who enjoy who we are and who bring us up instead of down. I think it's important to not get caught up in the travel aspect of "Eat Pray Love." When I saw the movie "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" I ached for Greece. I thought that if I could only get away, then I would be able to discover myself. Granted, I did end up going away to Ireland for six weeks and I did end up discovering a lot about myself there. But the thing is, I'm still discovering myself. Most of my discovering has happened right here in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I'm thankful that I have moments to myself where I can just be me and just do "me" things and find comfort and beauty and pleasure in being in my skin. I like my thoughts, I like how I can make myself laugh, I like the way I eat cheesecake veeery slowly because I fork tiny slivers into my mouth and hold each bite on my tongue. I like that I like the movie Marie Antoinette, gosh darn it! 

Now, was it as good as the book? I wish I could remember the book better. In my opinion, if you read the book first, it's almost always better then the movie. If you see the movie first, though, it can be hard to pay attention to the book. So read it, watch it, whatever- I think you'll enjoy it either way.

adam

Netflix Adam.

Then iTunes the soundtrack. I recognized Joshua Radin and The Weepies during the film but tonight was the first time I paid attention to Lucy Shwartz. I'll be listening to "Gone Away" over and over this weekend. Turns out her music has been featured on Greys Anatomy and Private Practice, as well as in the film The Women, which means I've definitely heard her before.

I loved it, all of it. Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy were fabulous. I'll be thinking about this movie for a long, long time.

Thanks for the recommendation momma!

home (the springfield one)

I'm in Springfield tonight and as much as I miss Andy and Casey, I'm happy to be right where I am. My parent's house has changed since I lived here. New paint, new appliances, new decorations, new landscaping, new furniture. My room, like my sister's and brother's before me, is now stripped of my belongings and is a guest room. I don't even sleep there anymore- I prefer the lack of natural light in my sister's old room because I can sleep in later. Yet despite all the changes, it's still home and one of the most cozy places I know. Cheese bagels and coffee, reading the paper on the couch in the kitchen- life is good.

I came into town last night. My friend Laurel, who I've shared secrets and giggles with since middle school, is visiting on her spring break and after spending Sunday in Harrisonburg we drove to Charlottesville Monday morning, had lunch and shopped around and drove 29 up to Springfield to see our families. My mom was out speaking to a women's group about her business, so my dad and I had a date. He took me to a new Thai place down the street where I had a very yummy honey roasted duck dish w/ jasmine rice.

Today my mom treated me to a pedicure and we rented "Precious." Phew...that was a tough movie to watch. Absolutely worth seeing, though. We took my grandpa's wife Barbara to dinner at Carlyle, which I've mentioned before is our favorite restaurant. It was a beautiful evening and as always, the food was superb. Andy will be extra jealous when I tell him I ordered his favorite entree- the pecan crusted trout. I drove Barbara into Old Town b/c she parked at Becker Electric, and it was such fun to drive down King Street and pass the colorful townhouses that have been converted into restaurants and shops. It was nice to spend time with Barbara and share memories with her (my grandpa recently passed away). Next time I'm in town I hope to visit their house and go through old photographs with her. I'm a sucker for family history.

It's good to be here.

where is busy bee?!?!

all I want to do right now is watch Best in Show, but I have to make dinner and we're having friends over. watching two of my favorite scenes on youtube will have to do. every character in this film is amazing, but I have a girl crush on parker posey and her character meg absolutely slays me. take a break from whatever you're doing and watch these.

"we are SO lucky to have been raised amongst catalogs."

"if she doesn't get her toy she's gonna FLIP OUT!"

ice cream sagas part 2

Went to Klines tonight w/ Andy, Kevin and Jackie.

Peanut Butter Oreo. Faaaaaabulous!!! (cue Oprah)

Came home and watched "Paper Heart" on Netflix because I have an intense crush on Michael Cera. He's just so precious. Andy agrees (but don't let him know I told you that).

I'm finding myself so drawn to the song Charlyne Yi performed in the film. She also does a stinkin' adorable cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U."

You have really long arms....

so why don't you use them to hold me tight?

Careful...

I Netflix'd the movie "Coming Home," which is based on one of my favorite novels by Rosamunde Pilcher. The acting is pretty lame, but I put up with it because I love the book and I'm sick so I have nothing else to do and Andy was completely zoned in on uploading music to his new ipod. The film is chugging along...two characters walk down to a private cove off the English coast... and BAM! the girl is completely naked and running around on the beach. I shrieked in horror/delight. What on earth?! What kind of a movie is this?! Then, a few scenes later, Emily Mortimer's boob fills up the lower half of the screen. More shrieking.

Our favorite role of Emily's is when she plays Phoebe on 30 Rock, who has avian bone syndrome and says, "Careful, my bones!" Only now we have decided to change the quote to "Careful, my boobs!"