So..

I think I've figured out why my sweaters are always on the floor of my closet.

Seriously, this cat is insane.
Nothing like Saffron, the angel cat.
But at times he can be so loveable...

blah

I don't think I should wish for things. Do you ever wish for something, and then you get it and you realize it's exactly what you don't want? I don't think I really know what's best for myself sometimes. Feeling nostalgic tonight. Most cryptic blog ever, but I'll leave it at that.

my dollar bin purchase...

I have always wanted one of these...

wicked

So I went on a great date last night to the lovely Academy of Music to see the touring broadway show of Wicked. An when I say date, I mean, my dad and I went together. Somewhere along the line we have fallen into the tradition of seeing musicals together, just the two of us (sorry mom). We met up in KOP and then drove into the city together and had a nice dinner before hand. My dad works such long hours I rarely see him, so it was fun to catch up, just the two of us.
I am on the Kimmel Center's preferred person e-mail list, so I bought the tickets before they went on sale to the general public. We were in the fifth row and it was pretty much amazing. This was especially nice because the last time I was at that particular venue we had snatched up discounted tickets to see White Christmas and we were in the absolute last row of the highest balcony and we were basically watching the show between our knees. Anyways, the Academy of Music is such a beautiful venue and everything from the set and stage and costuming was so incredible.

I had ganked the soundtrack from a friend in preparation and pieced together bits and pieces of the plot based on the music. But there were so many little details that were pulled from the Wizard of Oz that we learned the back story too: the ruby slippers, her hat, the broomstick, how Dorothy got to Oz, the winged monkeys, etc. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the music before hand (none of it is terrifically catchy, compared to, say Les Mis) in the climax of the first act when Elphaba is souring above the stage as pictured left, the energy the whole performance was so amazing that I had to bite my lip to keep from belting out "Defying Gravity" with her.

My favorite part of the play was how it made you challenge your own definitions of what was good and what was "wicked". How often do we try to force people into boxes of being 100% good or 100% bad and how everyone is really a shade of grey? "Are people born wicked or is wickedness thrust upon them?" is one of the opening lines of the play. At what cost does popularity come? There is a really great lesson about making assumptions about a person when you don't likely have the whole story.

Anyone else out there check it out?

So here I am

Week without Internet I didn't survive seven days. I decided a work week was good enough. I discovered I really, really miss Blogger and Google, but Facebook wasn't too hard to live without. I was surprised though at how often a random (and trivial) thought would pop into my head and I would find myself with the urge to log into facebook and share it or make it into a quick blog post. It's weird how social networking makes us feel the need to broadcast mundane aspects of our lives. Anyways, I have been inspired to try to keep my Facebooking time to a minimum from here on out because it really wasn't that hard. Isaac Is pretty much the most hilarious kid on the planet and I am in denial that we have about a month left in the year of being four. Four has definitely been my favorite age to date. Three was very volatile but four is just independence and personality. We will see what five brings. =) Today he and I were laying on my bed and he picked up a hairbrush and started reinacting this scene... Clearly he was Glenda and I was Elphaba. I guess I have had the soundtrack on heavier rotation than I realized in preparation for next weekend. Oh yeah I guess I should come clean on my blog about the fact that I am dating someone now. :-) I don't plan on making him a regular topic on the blog but I'll address what I anticipate are the FAQ's... * How did you meet him? E-harmony. Way better than LDS dating websites. Yeah, I said it. * Tell us about him? He's 31. from central PA, went to PSU (oh the horror for a Pitt alum such as myself!), lives in North Wales. He works in a retirement home overseeing all of their foodservice stuff. I don't understand the details really, but he wears a shirt and tie to work and is not a lunchlady. We have pretty much nothing in common, but we get along very well. * Is he Mormon? Nope. Lapsed Catholic. * Are you okay with that? Yup. I live in the middle of no where on the East Coast, I attend a family ward, and have probably met every single LDS guy in the tri-state area. I'm unwilling to relocate to Utah or some other Mormon Mecca. I'm a ripe old 28 which we all know is Mormon old-maid-menace-to-society-territory and throw in the fact that I am an (unmarried!) mom to a mixed race child and it's not like LDS guys are lining up to date me. I'm fine with dating someone who is not LDS. * When did you meet him? E-mailed back and forth all summer, met for the first time in August. Started dating "for real" in like, mid-September. * Do you have any pictures of him? Not ones where he doesn't look terrifying. But he looks sort of like the guy from Hitch, Kevin James. * Can we get a name? How about initials? PDH. New Years Goals Update: Ride my bike to work at least once Organize office, craft, sewing and scrapbook supplies and start using the office as a functional craft space Finish painting the rest of the house ------>my brother is coming Monday to repaint the Barney purple bathroom and hopefully the living room. Make a loaf of bread from scratch Go one week without the internet I'm counting it. --->Completed 1/15 Take at least one mural tour in Philly Fly a kite Scrapbook 3 pages a month Work out twice a week ---->Yeah... ummm... Start composting Take Isaac camping Drink 8 glasses of water a day ------>Doing pretty well with this one actually Take a class on something hobby related Make progress towards getting my elementary certification (right now I am highly qualified in elementary ed, but it is more desirable to be dually certified) Floss daily I have yet to floss in 2010. Read three books before I head to the beach ----->I did finish the Time Traveler's Wife today. Although I started it last year, so I dunno if it should count. Eat more homemade meals and less frozen stuff and fast food Grow something edible and eat it Write a blog post when each of these is completed What's new in your world??

One of my resolutions is to go a week without using the internet. I find myself endless sucked into facebook and surfing blogs and... it eats up a lot of my time. I used to be such a huge reader and I have found that I am still working on my beach book from August (The Time Traveler's Wife-- which, in my defense is over 500 pages long). Anyways, I thought a computer hiatus might free up time to get a jump start on some of my other goals and if nothing else will give me some momentum by having one thing crossed off the list before the end of January.

So it will be a while until the blog is updated. Keep strong loyal readers (all three of you!)

The rules:

• Internet free week starts tomorrow, January 11, whenever I wake up and ends January 18th when I wake up.
• I am allowed to use the internet at work. I can check work e-mail (if you need it, lemme know) and go on other work related websites (IEPWriter, Edhelper, whatever).
• I'm also allowed to check my bank website.
• No chatting, no Facebook, no Blogger, no Hotmail, no yahoo maps, no youtube, no googling recipes, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

I'll be back in a week to report. Wish me luck! I'm not terribly disciplined when it comes to denying myself anything I enjoy but I am excited to see what I can get done this week if I am cutting down on my screen time.

Movie Reviews

Avatar

• Visually stunning. 3d effects were really cool. But the storyline was cliche (white man goes native) and full of holes, the dialogue was cheesey and the whole thing (pushing three hours) was unbearably long. I took a 40 minute nap in the middle of it and didn't really miss anything.

Sherlock Holmes

• Saw this with my sister and parents and I wasn't really sure what to expect. There was lots of action which wasn't really how Holmes was in the books but also a lot of witty dialogue which kept me engaged (I have a very low tolerance for action). RDJ played him just right and Jude Law kept me salivating.

Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeak-quel

• I thought it this very cute. Isaac loved it and I'm sure sooner or later I'm sure we will add this one to our DVD collection. I predict a third Chipmunks movie.

Almost Famous

• Yeah, I know I'm pretty late on this one. I just saw this recently and really liked it. My friend recommended it as his "all time favorite movie". I don't know if I would take it that far. It did have a fanastic soundtrack and it did sort of make me want to travel the country in a big tour bus.