Losing track of time. The days go by so fast. Halloween was greatly anticipated, many movies were watched, and then whoooosh! Gone. And I have nothing to say. My health problems have rattled my nerves, and I always feel as though I'm running out of time. I don't know what to do with this blog, as it feels like I'm constantly playing catch-up in every aspect of my life, and I'm letting the film blog slip too, and the curriculum I have to write every week for work.

I guess I'm just trying to say that I'm alive even though it doesn't feel like it sometimes. 

My Insides

nothing's attached to anything!

Let's have an update, shall we?

Last Friday I had surgery to find and remove endometriosis. I've been sore all weekend, and ended up in the emergency room for a few hours yesterday with chest pain that ended up being nothing serious. All in all, I've had a lame several days. Craig's been amazing, and I've really appreciated the well-wishes from friends and family.

Since I'm in no way ready to be back at work, I think I'll start my October movie marathon a wee bit early. It'll still be a while before I get all the decorations out (not physically ready to tackle the messy chaos that is my garage!) but I'm excited that this time of year is quickly approaching. What I'm NOT thrilled about is the fact that it's supposed to be around 100 degrees in southern CA for the next couple days. Did I mention we don't have air conditioning? Heaven help us!

Sorry I've been so lame about updating this blog. Maybe someday I'll get on track but for now? Meh.                                              
           

Summer 2014

Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I've been enjoying a beautiful summer! In addition to the beach trips, hiking, and 4th of July festivities, we....

*Went to several screenings at the Frida, including Strutter (which Craig got to plan and moderate a Q & A with the filmmakers), Plan 9 from Outer Space, House on Haunted Hill, and The Fisher King.

*Went to a screening of Blue Velvet at the Hollywood Forever cemetery! We had severed ear cupcakes (made by my awesome friend Natalie) and everything!

*Stopped by the OC Fair, went on some insane rides, and took our annual photobooth pictures!

*Went on a weekend getaway to Palm Springs! We stayed in the Saguaro, shopped for midcentury treasures, took lots and lots of pictures, swam, and ate like pigs!

*Visited Salvation Mountain. What an amazing place!

*Went to Disneyland, only the best place ever!

*Hosted our third annual movie party, featuring Star Wars!

*Visited the Watts Towers. Again, amazing!

*Saw John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl!

We also saw lots of art, lots of movies, and even caught the meteor shower! You can't really beat that. So goodbye summer, you were wonderful, and I'm super excited for fall!

4th of July Weekend!

I had a super fun 3rd and 4th of July! On the 3rd we had a parking lot picnic to watch the fireworks and then we had ice cream and watched Jaws (only the best summer blockbuster of all time!) and the next day we went to the Huntington Beach 4th of July Parade, then visited family at my mom's for a bit and finally went to my roommate's family's house for insane fireworks! It was a fun couple of days full of food, friends, fireworks, and even a little sunburn (whoops!). Isn't summer the best?

Favorite TV Shows Ever!

While driving back from the beach with my cousin and sister yesterday, we started talking about some of our favorite TV shows of all time. We tried to keep it to 10 shows, but it was too hard! So, in no particular order, here are shows that I absolutely love. I've seen every episode of all of these...some are still airing new seasons, others have run their course, but they're all great.

Daria

The Twilight Zone

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Freaks and Geeks

I Dream of Jeannie

RuPaul's Drag Race

Girls

Pushing Daisies

Downton Abbey

Mad Men

Parks and Recreation

Orange is the New Black

There are quite a few shows I've missed the boat on and have been wanting to watch, like Firefly and Twin Peaks (although that one has been completely spoiled for me, so maybe not) and we've recently started watching "The Mindy Project" so...yeah! I'm a very pick TV watcher and often drop shows once I start losing interest, so we'll see what I watch next!

June 2014

I've developed an adorable habit of updating about once a month. By "adorable" I of course mean lazy and reprehensible. Obviously nobody is reading this, and I don't know why I'm beating myself up about not blogging (if I don't document EVERYTHING I will forget it all and have NO PAST and NO MEMORIES!) but the truth is, this shit is time consuming. I get up at 5 AM for work, get home at 4, and stress and stress about catching up with blog reading, pinning, keeping my house clean, making dinner, watching movies (because if I don't watch a movie a day my cinema heart CRIES!) and usually I just collapse for the day shortly after getting home. Exhausted. All the time.

So, June? How'd we do?

*Craig and I celebrated our 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. We're legit! It doesn't feel that long, but when I think about it, it feels like a million years. He's just so cute though.

*My car is so pretty and so new, except one month later it is now so dirty. I named it Polar after the little polar bear you can drive as in the old Playstation game Crash Team Racing, as in Crash Bandicoot. I miss Playstation games.

*Finally started reading Mindy Kaling's book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me" and watching "The Mindy Project". Both are awesome, obviously. That woman is my hero.

*Summer program has started at work! It's both fun and awful. The dress up days are my favorite, and this week we had Crazy Hair Day. I had rock-hard Ken doll hair that looked like THIS:

Yikes! The cook at work will not stop talking about how beautiful I looked like that. I'm mildly horrified. No red eyebrows for me, thanks. That filter is being very forgiving, I looked super weird in person. But I guess that's the point.

Hooray for summer! I have lots of fun plans and awesome movies to watch. Let's do it!

28

I am 28 years old. 

I am a sister.

A daughter.

A wife.

I am a cousin, niece, granddaughter, aunt.

I am not a mother.

I am a teacher.

A pianist.

A photographer.

An artist.

A writer.

A cinephile.

I am pretty good at lots of things.

I sing songs.

Read books.

Wipe noses.

Change diapers.

Clean clean clean.

I scold and give hugs.

I dress up.

Throw parties.

Go to musicals.

Laugh.

Kiss.

Bake cookies.

I cry at movies.

This is where I'm at. 

I'm happy. 

Firsts

Hello, long weekend! I've managed to pick up a nasty cold, but I'm happy to get a four day break from work!

Despite being exhausted from work (my students are adorable, but keeping up with them wipes you out!) this ended up being a pleasant week of firsts! On Wednesday I bought my first new car (and sadly had to say goodbye to my old/first car) and I also got my first paid writing piece posted on Lookbook's blog. I also got my first contest prize in the mail (a rose gold ring from Lulu Frost)!

Now to beat this cold...

This year just keeps flying.  Truth be told, I've been really stressed out and and overwhelmed in just about every aspect of my life, so I haven't felt inspired to document much of it. I'm trying to focus on the positive though.

Since we last talked...

*I listened to the audiobook (and watched the film) of Jane Austen's Persuasion, which I absolutely loved.

*Watched lots of movies, as usual.

*Got some early birthday presents! Lots of entertaining books and pretty things. Guess I need to throw another party to get out of this funk!

*Saw "Book of Mormon" which was AMAZING. I can't stop listening to the music, it was hilarious!

*Won a ring from Lulu Frost (pics when it arrives!) 

*Got an opportunity to write for Lookbook's blog. I'm very much NOT a fashion writer, and who knows if they'll even use what I submitted, but it was a fun post to write. If they don't use it, I'll post it in my film blog.

Here's to making this weekend count!

xo

Flying

I'm not dead! I've just been a very bad blogger. The above photo was from Easter, with my grandmother, sister, and cousin. People used to comment that I always smirk and never smile with my teeth, so there's my toothy smile! Haha.

So! What have I been up to the last few months?

Saw lots of movies! In addition to constantly watching movies at home, I always answer the siren call of the cinema, and there's nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen. Frozen Sing-Along, Groundhog Day, The Lego Movie, Nymphomaniac Volume 1 and 2, Rear Window, Forbidden Zone, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Punk Singer, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Blazing Saddles, The Women, and as of last night, Under the Skin (wow!)

Speaking of Blazing Saddles... We caught a couple screenings at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood. And yes, we saw Mel Brooks IN PERSON and I just about lost it. He's so sharp and funny! And the next night we saw Anna Kendrick introduce The Women (1939) and she was hilarious. The TCM Film Fest is definitely one of the highlights of my year. I love seeing my favorite movies in a packed theatre full of devoted film lovers. It's bliss!

"This is THEATRE!" Dri and I heard an usher yell that at some girls who were messing around before a show at Segerstrom once, and it was hilarious. I love to quote it. I saw Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Wizard of Oz, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo's Swan Lake, and S'Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical. Coming up next month is Into the Woods and The Book of Mormon and I'm SO excited. There's just something about live performances that gives me happy goosebumps.

Miscellaneous... The "blood moon"! Cosmos! Mad Men! Finally saw the Colin Firth "Pride and Prejudice" and Lawrence of Arabia! Went to the Huell Howswer exhibit at Chapman University! I've been working like a maniac and stressing out a little bit, but I'm trying to fill my spare time with happiness and adventures and new experiences. This year is flying by, but I'm getting excited about the upcoming warmer months and about planning more fun days. Hopefully I'll be a better blogger (I've really dropped the ball in our film blog too, whoops!) but if not I won't beat myself up.

Ciao!

February

Damn you, February! It always gets away from me and I didn't blog all month, not once! Well, I did in our movie blog This Cinematic Life, but not here. Sigh!

So, what have I been up to?

*Photos! I started a daily photo project...Craig did a photo-a-day project a few years ago. He took (and shared) one photograph a day for a year, and I thought I'd copy him. I've been having a good time of it so far.

*Valentine's Day! It was nice and cozy for us. Craig's work schedule didn't allow us to do anything crazy, but we shared burgers and played video games and cuddled, and that's all I really wanted.

*More cooking! Still having fun trying out new recipes, and deciding which are keepers and which ones to NEVER try again, haha!

*The Frida! Our friend Logan opened his art house cinema in Santa Ana last month. So far we've seen two films from the South East European film festival (Tango Abrazos and Koko and the Ghosts) and a series of short films from last year's Sundance Film Festival, and tonight we're seeing Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It's awesome having an art theatre so close by! We're definitely going to be regulars in those seats!

Another month has come and gone. Time keeps passing. Here's to March, I guess!