see these movies.

hey.

just wanted to stop by to tell you about these 2013 movies. it's not a list of ten (which is kind of killing me for some reason #ocd) and they aren't in order of how much i liked them. ain't nobody got time for that.

1. the conjuring
i was too scared to see this movie for like ... 4 months. but when i finally did i loved it. glad they're making a sequel. also, this is a good example of how to do horror; no convoluted story, a simple witch hanging is good enough.

2. star trek
this was so great, maybe better than the first? actually, its quality may have everything to do with fact that benedict cumberbatch (or "bento tinderbox" as john travolta might say) was the villain. my love for him is unparalleled.

3. kings of summer
i wanted to see this at sundance but never got the chance. then i wanted to see it in theaters and missed it again. i eventually saw it via redbox. it was worth the wait. just one of those hilarious, odd films we can thank sundance for. for instance, there is dialogue about how one character is confusing cystic fibrosis with being gay. what?! hahaha.

4. the way way back
this is one i saw at sundance and LOVED! i had to wait until summer to show everyone else how great it is. and i don't think i've heard a bad review.

5. blackfish
my roommate told me about this film before it hit theaters. i was intrigued so i forced my family to join in. i was worried that it might be off putting/agenda shoving, but it doesn't feel that way at all. the information seems to be presented in a very straight forward way. it's streaming for free on netflix now, but if you plan on ever visiting seaworld again, i'd skip it.

6. gravity
saw this in 3d imax and it was maybe one of my very favorite theater experiences (best goes to jurassic park 3d imax). it felt like i was on a ride. it was unreal. see it in the theaters if you have the chance. the fact that it won 7 academy awards should give you at least the slightest interest.

7. about time
my mom and dad begged me to see this movie with them for weeks! perhaps months. i just wasn't interested. i think it was mostly because the poster looked like a nicholas sparks film. if you ever want to turn me off, mention nicholas sparks. well i eventually went and it was great. really unique and real. good lessons from this film.

8. frozen
i almost feel like not putting this on here. it's gotten a little outta control amiright? but hey, it's a good movie. i'm all about wicked, and it is very wicked-esque.

9. the hobbit: the desolation of smaug
i liked this one better than the first. i attribute that to two things:  1) it's called the desolation of smaug and when it came out my friend said she lived in the desolation of smog. get it? utah inversion? funny joke, and 2) cuz benedict duh!

10. saving mr. banks
two of my favorite things are disneyland and the 1960s. the combination in this film was just my thing. also jason schwartzman and bj novak, i love them.

11. walter mitty
this is maybe my favorite, mmm. maybe not. well, second favorite. it was so unexpected. i loved the scenery and the music and the story and oh man, that scene that he is imagining himself as benjamin button was the hardest i laughed in a movie in 2013. beat that! also, can we go to iceland?

12. blue jasmine
woody allen is my favorite. i love most of his work, it speaks to me. blue jasmine wasn't any different. i'm surprised it didn't get more buzz. i think this is probably his best film of recent years. and cate blanchette was amazing. serious talent.

13. frances ha
this movie was really weird. i heard about it when it was at the broadway in salt lake, but didn't watch it until it was streaming on netflix. it's in black and white and isn't shy in being what it is (i'm not really sure what it is still). at the beginning of the film i didn't really know how i felt about it, but by the end i was head over heels. "ahoy sexy" is now a part of my most-used greetings. thanks frances ha.

14. american hustle
if you loved silver linings playbook you'll love this. same deal here. a little more depressing but still great. such great music too.

15. 12 years a slave
i saved the best for last. i don't really know what to say except that this film made me think about slavery in a way i hadn't ever thought of before. it was gut wrenching. a movie comes along every so often that changes your life, and this was one for me. also, cuz benedict.

i still need to see the place beyond the pines, the spectacular now, ain't them bodies saints, enough said, philomena, and her. any takers?

peace and good tidings on this friday. go see a movie.

odds/ends.

via. #wecan'tstop #wewon'tstop

hello. remember when i said a few weeks ago that i was so super busy? well that ended sometime this week and now i'm as bored as bored could be. but hey! that means i blog!

my week has been full of horror movies, hot chocolate, sweaters and space heaters. <<< my favorite kind of week. i'm looking forward to all that and more this weekend. you should probably follow @amelianmd on twitter because she's been live-tweeting all of our horror movie experiences and she kills me (with laughter). you might also want to visit hatch family chocolates this weekend because they are going through a tough time and could use community support, but mostly because their hot chocolate is outta-this-world delish. what ever you do, have fun while doing it! happy weekend.

(oh, right, here are some things for you to look at:)
- i want!
- "get a manicure" is on my monthly to-do list ...
- the grand budapest hotel trailer came out this week. looks good!
- a good reminder.
- pop culture and "four o'clock in the morning".
- been following these kids on facebook. it's thoroughly entertaining to find them on my feed each more. i heart ny.
- ben introduced me to curbed, but mostly i just love 7-11 (oh and temples).
- this "rickman-off" on jimmy fallon made me fall more in love with both jimmy AND benedict cumberbatch.

happy happy fall fall.

i can't say i wasn't looking forward to fall this year. even with the summer racing by, i'm glad that i can now say that paige gets home in just a couple months. along with that, i'm looking forward to ...

eating / mom's chili

drinking / cocoa latte, pumpkin steamers, and crio bru

mastering / the art of staying warm (i.e. sweaters, socks, coats, space heaters, cozy blankies)

learning / how to make pickles

playing / in piles of leaves

finishing / that book i started LAST YEAR

watching / conference, new tv seasons, and horror movies!

hiking / to see the color change

wearing / tights!

cooking / all things pumpkin

working / on getting ready for paige's return

traveling / to st george for fall break

wanting / to pick back up my exercise habits (gotta train for that triathlon) 

find more fallcentric posts here and here. and happy first weekend of fall!

**post inspiration via bleubird

9. grow a garden.

garden heaven (please notice it involves a cat).

i just got the following email from my uncle: 

hello everyone,
i will be in town over the weekend. saturday i will be at peggy's to take down the green house.
everyone is welcome to come and get some plants. there are dozens of tomato, squash, melon, pepper, eggplant, perennial flowers and shrubs. there are probably enough for everyone to take a half dozen or more.michael

^^^ it looks as though the universe is working with me to meet my goals.
^^^ i love my family. they make green houses and then they plant things and then they give them all away.

happy friday.

odds/ends.

look at this shapely post! it's what's left over from my week.

- bought my swimsuit >>> the chosen one (which was really hard because THIS one was only $35!!! ... and while i was looking for those links i found another!! i'm so conflicted).

- i'm dying, DYING! over these rifle paper co. iphone cases. DYING!

- i can't seem to shake my desire to eat out like every single day this week. currently craving 1) o'falafel chicken shwarma, 2) habit burger onion rings 3) anything at cubby's 4) and last night i think i may have had the best ceasar salad of my existence at pizzeria limone.

- how great are these arrested development posters? may 26th can't come soon enough.

- i too have come to terms with the fact that i am an iceaholic and endorse these suggestions on the best fix.

- salt lake's bike share program opened on monday. now if only the weather would cooperate.

- and another beehive announcement: red butte garden's 2013 outdoor concert series. yessssssss!!!

happy weekend!!

what i eat at work.

today i'm eating at su casa for lunch and that's all i've thought about all day, from the sound of my alarm at 6:30am.

t minus 50 minutes till i'm chowin' on a chile verde chimichanga with mexican rice and black beans on the side and a diet coke.

i can't wait.

love orange.

love orange

by olive senior

somewhere between the repetition of sunday school lessons and the broken doll which the lady sent me one christmas i lost what it was to be happy. but i didn't know it then even though in dreams i would lie with my face broken like the doll's in the pink tissue of a shoe box coffin. for i was at the age where no one asked me for commitment and i had a phrase which i used like a talisman. when strangers came of lightning flashed, i would lie in the dust under my grandfather's vast bed and hug the dog, whispering "our worlds wait outside" and be happy. 

once i set out to find the worlds outside, the horizon was wide and the rim of the far mountains beckoned. i was happy when they found me in time for bed and a warm supper, for the skies, i discovered, were the same shade of china blue as the one intact eye of the doll. "experience can wait," i whispered to the dog, "death too".

i knew all about death then because in dreams i had been there. i also knew a great deal about love. love, i thought, was like an orange, a fixed and sharply defined amount, limited, finite. each person had this amount of love to distribute as be may. if one had many people to love then the segments for each person would be smaller and eventually love, like patience would be exhausted. that is why i preferred to live with my grandparents then since they had fewer people to love than my parents and so my portion of their love-orange would be larger.

my own love-orange i jealously guarded. whenever i thought of love i could feel it in my hand, large and round and brightly colored  intact and spotless. i had moments of indecision when i wanted to distribute the orange but each time i would grow afraid of the audacity of such commitment. sometimes, in a moment of rare passion, i would extend the orange to the dog or my grandmother but would quickly withdraw my hand each time. for without looking i would feel in its place the doll crawling into my hand and nestling there and i would run into the garden and be sick. i would see its face as it lay in the pink tissue of a shoe box tied with ribbons beside the stocking handing on the bedpost and i would clutch my orange tighter, thinking that i had better save it for the day when occasions like this would arise again and i would need the entire orange to overcome the feelings which arose each time i thought of the doll.

i could not let my grandmother know about my being sick because she never understood about the doll. for years i had dreamed of exchanging homemade dolls with button eyes and ink faces for a plaster doll with blue eyes and limbs that moved. all the december i haunted my grandmother's clothes closet until beneath the dresses i discovered the box smelling faintly of camphor and without looking i knew that it came from miss evangeline's toy shop and that it would therefore be a marvel. but the doll beside the christmas stocking, huge in a billowing dress and petticoats, had half a face and a finger missing. "it can be mended," my grandmother said, "i can make it as good as new. 'why throw away a good thing?' miss evangeline said as she gave it to me."

but i could no longer hear i could no longer see for the one china blue eye and the missing finger that obscured my vision. and after that i never opened a box again and i never waited up for christmas. and although i buried the bow beneath the allamanda tree the doll rose up again and again, in my throat, like a sickness to be got rid of from the body, and i felt as if i too were half a person who could lay down in the shoe box and sleep forever. but on awakening for these moments, i would find safely clutched in my hands the orange, conjured up from some deep part of myself, and i would hug the dog saying "our worlds wait outside."

that summer i saw more clearly the worlds that awaited. it was filled with many deaths that seemed to tie all the strands of my life together and which bore some oblique relationship to both the orange and the doll.

the first to die was a friend of my grandparents who lived nearby. i sometimes played with her grandchildren at her house when i was allowed to, but each time she had appeared only as a phantom, come on the scene silently, her feet shod in cotton stockings rolled down to her ankles, thrust into a pair of her son's broken down slippers. in all the years i had known her i had never heard her say anything but whisper softly; her whole presence was a whisper. she seemed to appear from the cracks of the house, the ceiling, anywhere, she made so little noise in her coming, this tiny, delicate, slightly absurd old woman who lived for us only in the secret and mysterious prison of the aged.

when she died it meant nothing to me, i could think then only of my death which i saw nightly in dreams but i could not conceive of her in the flesh, to miss her of to weep tears.
 
the funeral that afternoon was 5:00 pm on a hot summer's day. my grandmother dressed me all in white and i trailed down the road behind her, my corseted and whaleboned grandmother lumbering from side to side in a black romaine dress no shiny in the sunlight, bobbing over her head a huge black umbrella. my grandfather stepped high in shiny black shoes and a shiny black suit ahead of her. bringing up the rear, i skipped lightly on the gravel, clutching in my hand a new, shiny, bright and bouncy red rubber ball. for me, the funeral, any occasion to bet out of the house was a holiday, like breaking suddenly from a dark tunnel into the sunlight where gardens of butterflies waited.

they had dug a grave in the red clay by the side of the road. the house was filled with people. i followed my grandparents and the dead woman's children into the room where they had laid her out, unsmiling, her nostrils stuffed with cotton. i stood in the shadows where no one saw me, filled with the smell of something i had never felt before, like a smell rising from the earth itself which no sunlight, no butterflies, no sweetness could combat, "miss aggie, miss aggie," i said silently to the dead old woman and suddenly i knew that if i gave her my orange to take into the unknown with her it would be safe, a secret between me and one who could return no more. i gripped the red ball tightly in my hands and it became transformed into the rough texture of an orange; i tasted it on my tongue, smelled the fragrance. as my grandmother knelt to pray i crept forward and gently placed between miss aggie's closed hands the love-orange, smiled because we knew each other and nothing would be able to touch either of us. but as i crept away my grandmother lifted her head from her hands and gasped when she saw the ball. she swiftly retrieved it while the others still prayed and hid it in her voluminous skirt. but when she sent me home, in anger, on the way the love-orange appeared comforting in my hand, and i went into the empty house and crept under my grandfather's bed and dreamt of worlds outside.

the next time i saw with greater clarity the vastness of this world outside. i was asked to visit some new neighbors and read to their son. he was very old, i thought, and he sat in the sunshine all day, his head covered with a calico skull cap. he couldn't see very clearly and my grandmother said he had a brain tumor and would perhaps die. nevertheless i read to him and worried about all the knowledge that would be lost if he did not live. for every morning he would take down from a shelf a huge atlas and together we would travel the cities of the world to which he had been. i was very happy and the names of these cities secretly rolled off my tongue all day. i wanted very much to give him my orange but held back. i was not yet sure if he were a whole person, if he would not recover and need me less and so the whole orange would be wasted. so i did not tell him about it. and then he went off with his parents to england, for an operation, my grandmother said, and he came back only in ashes held on the plane by his mother. when i went to the church this time there was no coffin, only his mother holding this tiny box which was so like the shoe box of the doll that i was sure there was some connection which i could not grasp. but i thought, if they bury this box then the broken doll cannot rise again.

but the doll rose up one more time because soon my grandmother lay dying. my mother had taken me away when she fell too ill and brought me back to my grandmother's house, even darker and more silent now, this one last time. i went into the room where she lay and she held out a weak hand to me, she couldn't speak so she followed me with her eyes and i couldn't bear it. "grandma," i said quickly, searching for something to say, something that would save her, "grandma, you can have my whole orange," and i placed it in the bed beside her hand. but she kept on dying and i knew then that the orange had no potency, that love could not create miracles. "orange," my grandmother spoke for the last time trying to make connections that she did not see, "orange . . . ?" and my mother took me out of the room as my grandmother died. "at least," my mother said, "at least you could have told hear that you loved her, she waited for it."

"but . . ." i started to say and bit my tongue, for nobody, not then or ever could understand about the orange. and in leaving my grandmother's house, the dark tunnel of my childhood, i slammed the car door hard on my fingers and as my hand closed over the breaking bones, felt nothing.


**i've always liked this story and it means something different to me each time i read it. this time i feel like i should follow it up with the words of cs lewis:

to love at all is to be vulnerable. love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. if you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. but in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. it will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. to love is to be vulnerable.

chew on that. and have a good weekend oh and happy february 1st!

odds/ends.

currently ...

... wanting my hair to be this long.

... waiting impatiently for the clock to say 5:00PM.

... wondering how i feel about floor stencil design features.

... gchatting with emily.

... wondering why my eyes hurt, is it the smoke?

... dreading going to the dentist at 7am monday morning; could there be a worse circumstance?

... watching this music video.

... trying to gain the desire to work on my lesson for sunday.

... excited for this weekend's bbqing, temple-ing, camping, swimming, souffle making, movie watching.

... obsessed with my mia2 clarisonic. obsessed.

... listening to 

happy weekend.

image via designlovefest.

happy weekend.

this is incredibly entertaining.

happy weekend.

summer playlist.

think 1960's palm springs pool party.

i'm headed to st george this weekend.
planning on sitting by the pool.
and that's it.

odds/ends.

via illustratedladies.

welcome weekend!

i'm going to try to not cry this weekend. it tends to happen if i step into paige's room and smell her, or if i hear beyonce and even some times if i find one of her long, dark hairs in my car. a text from our secret mtc spy this afternoon helped a little and brought a smile to my face. i think i'll turn to brave to lift my spirits too. oh, and you know a bike ride always makes me cheerful {gotta start training for this baby}.

have a happy first weekend of summer!

• summer essentials.
• bag. want.
• you are my fave put a list of summer loves on her blog. cute! love summer!
• i would like these. actually i would like all of these.
• found highest heels blog the other day. take a look.

odds/ends - all things summer edition.

from our california get-away. more here.

i just can't get over the fact that summer is just a few weeks away! june-august is my very most favoritest time of year. some might say that i'm under the weather until summer rolls around. i don't know that i'll take it that far, but i do love me some summer times. 

its all that's on my mind 

{maybe because in 2 hours i'm driving to st george, where its 90 degrees and already feels like summer}. 

the odds/ends of my week, summer style.

• on the search for 30 summer wardrobe musts.
• i'm on a sunglasses kick right now and these are perfect!
• "sand and sun flat", can you think of a better name for a summer shoe?
• first day of summer coconut almond fudgesicles. mmm.
• most awesome straw for my summer bevs.
• the first trailer for the great gatsby came out a couple days ago and i'm so excited and yesyes i know it doesn't come out till december, but something about the book is so summer.
• in addition to this post, a summer themed keep calm poster.
• lastly, some 60s french pop to kick off your weekend.

odd/ends.

i'm feeling quite lazy and can't bring myself to post the pictures from our little trip yet. 

so for now this will just have to do.

beaching on balboa island.

taken with instagram.

• summertime shoe ware. yes please.
• cute pink lemonade maillot swim suit. yes please.
• floppy-hat guide, for paige.
• this reminds me of it's a small world, and i like it.
• i'm ready for summer {see image 1, 2, 3}. 
• pretty paisleys.

plans for this weekend include watching iron man 1, iron man 2, all three community episodes, the 30 rock season finale, batman begins, followed by the dark knight. 

so if you're looking for us we'll be in our living room staring at the tv. 

have a good weekend!

odds/ends.

image via brunch.

all i'm really thinking about in my trip right now. tomorrow at this time i'll be at the beach. oh!

• travel like a pro, perfect timing kate!
• i loved this post on branding yourself. 
• simply adorable wedding invitations, for that day some time ...
• i adore caroline gardner at the moment, and would like to wrap up mother's present in this.
• shoulda bought this for my trip. instead i bought this #imcheap
• this song to kick off your weekend; i'm like obsessed with it right now.

happy weekend!

odds/ends and az.

photo synthesis, beth hoeckel.

i'm off to arizona for a friend's wedding.

wish me luck cause it's a 12 hour drive. but hey, there's a trader joe's there. and maybe a pool.

i'll leave you with the scrap of my week:

i think i'll make these for the trip.
next time i'm in la, eat here and here.
for my neck: claudine & compagnie.
i've begun swim shopping.
been loving rifle paper co, esp their easters!

have a good weekend!

keep calm.

**disclaimer: this is cliche and kind of old news {actually it is REALLY old news "keep calm and carry on was a poster produced by the british government in 1939 during the beginning of the second world war, intended to raise the morale of the british public in the event of invasion."}.

you know that phrase keep calm and carry on?

yeah yeah, you know.

i really like this phrase in general. but what i like perhaps even more than the original phrase, are the copy cats.

there's something for everyone here!

{for tangerine.}

{cupcake lovers.}

{baby boomers.}

{bob the builders.}

{asians. including me.}

{children.}

{survivors.} 

{halloween enthusiasts.}

{kansas fans.}

{hitchcock fans.} 

{facial hair advocates.}

{fancy people.}

{paige.}

{courtney.}

 

{and people reading this blog today.}

happy friday.

weekend time is here.

happiness and cheer.

{image complimnets of here.}

look at this picture of sister and father with their weekend mustaches on

and

have a good weekend.

i know you are but what am i?

looking for something to do in salt lake this weekend?

i have an idea!

come to the summer of 35 mm at the tower!

this weekend they are showing one of my all time faves: pee-wee's big adventure.

{source.}

what's better?

{they're playing labrinth in two weeks if you're a bowie fan, or if your name is shannen camp.}