C & D at The Movies 2: The List

Poor Mark Ruffalo. First he has to be in the stupid lesbian movie, and then everyone in it is mean to him. But the joke's on them since he gets to be the new Hulk in The Avengers! The lesbians will regret making him angry.

That's right. My Self-Imposed Pointless Project of the moment is complete. For the first time ever, I have actually seen all of the Oscar Nominees for Best Picture!

For my own personal entertainment, I've made a list from 1 (super awesome) to 10 (wish I could get that time back to waste on something else):

1. The King's Speech. Great Great Great!

2. Winter's Bone. I know, I said True Grit was my #1 pick until I saw the King movie, but that's because I had forgotten that this one was nominated. Also very very good. My husband would probably say Winter's Bone is his #1, but he hasn't seen the King movie yet.

3. True Grit. Some people are annoyed by the lack of contractions, but I loved it. Plus-Matt Damon!!!

4. The Fighter. This one was honestly a letdown. I wanted it to be a bit darker. But, guess it's a true story so it has to turn out like it turned out. And of course, I love me some Marky Mark!

5. The Social Network. This one was a surprise. Much more entertaining than I thought. As usual, a stunningly cute performance from my JT and "the best friend guy" is a new imaginary boyfriend.

6. 127 Hours. Didn't live up to the hype, but delivered on my own expectations: "Cute boy cuts off arm." Yep.

7. Black Swan. Everyone luuuvs this one, but it left me unmoved. Very pretty, very well made, kind of pointless.

8. Inception. Looked cool, had that kid from 3rd Rock, but I didn't like how they kept explaining what was happening in the movie in the movie.

9. Toy Story 3. Just told you about this the other day.

10. The Kids are All Right. Maybe, but this movie was stupid stupid stupid. I like lesbians as much as anyone (Y'all know I watch Ellen every day!) but I thought this was just your classic middle class romantic drama b.s. except Hey! They're gay! That makes it edgy! Poor Mark.

C & D at The Movies

Lee is looking at me with disdain because I'm watching Toy Story 3. He can't understand why I'm suddenly obsessed with seeing all of the best pic nominees this year. "You didn't see Avatar or The Blind Side last year and everything was ok," he says. I know LeeChat, you're right, but now I'm at the point of no return. Last night I went to see The King's Speech with my sis as her Birthday Week Launch Event. It kicked the Facebook movie's ass, and knocked my previous pick, True Grit, into the crick. It is fantastic. (The real star of the movie? The wallpaper!!) And yet, I'm sitting through Toy Story three, y'all. If only I could channel these obsessive behaviors into something productive...Anyway, I will say that the TS3 portrayal of daycare is spot on. Otherwise, kind of a waste of time I could have spent watching Meerkat Manor. I mean reading.

So now there's just "the stupid lesbian movie" to go. Maybe it won't be stupid, but I have a feeling. At least Mark Ruffalo is in it. He's dreamy.

Super Bowl Wrap Up

Super Bowl has come and gone. We had another in a series of fantastic SB parties (thanks, Howells!) and I believe I can safely say that I have eaten the most delicious thing I will ever eat. Behold, the cake pop:Yes. Footballs of cake, on sticks, displayed on a field.
Made by (you guessed it) the Queen of All Things Culinary: Adriane Kimmel.
Here she is enjoying a well-deserved High Life. Never have a party without her unless you want your party to have bad food.

As if the cake pops weren't enough, we also had a ton of yummy meat. (That's how we do!)

Ribs and sausage.
Carnitas.

But did we have enough tortillas? I think so.
It was so much fun I even smiled with teeth. Wow.
Hope your Super Sunday was almost as fun.

Arctic Blast Y'all!!

Hey look! Today was that one day when it snows! You can remember last year's snow on the flickr. I'll wait. Feels like it's about the same. But watch out, don't sit in the chair! It has a little bit more snow on it this time.
It's just a tiny dusting of snow, but it is COLD. And not just Texan-Jen cold ("brr! it's 60!"). Real live in the twenties COLD y'all. So cold that I got to wear my cupcake mittens.
Have you ever noticed that I have two entirely different eyes? Both a lovely color, sure, but totally different shapes. Weird.

So remember last time I was blogging and simultaneously watching a kind of smart movie about art or something? Not so this time. That's right, I'm watching Grey's on the computer. Well mostly listening because I minimized the window.

Check it! We have another follower! Welcome, "Powerhouse"!

Food and Teevee: my two passions!

What delicious food did your husband make for you this weekend? Mine made these:See the pieces of bacon nestled inside with the cheese? Genius. Everyone always makes grilled jalapenos wrapped with bacon but then the bacon gets black and yucky. Yep. Best. Husband. Ever.

For Christmas we got a fancy blu-ray player that can play streaming movies from Netflix and stuff. Goodbye any idea of doing productive things with my free time!! Right this minute I'm watching Exit Through the Giftshop. Loving it so far. It also contributes to my Oscar prep project, as it is nominated for best documentary. But you're probably not fooled. You know I'm usually not watching documentaries so I can be a well-informed at-home Oscar voter, I'm using this high tech device to watch my new favorite show, Meerkat Manor!
It has all the qualities I love in a show. Uncoolness, a serial plot, and the fact that the episodes I'm watching are at least five years old.

Don't worry, I also still enjoy watching shows in a tiny square on the computer. My latest pick in this genre is Downton Abbey. It's not quite five years old, but at least all of the episodes have aired before I decided to "discover" it. That way, I get to watch it in a tiny square instead of on my big fancy teevee.

Hey, it's February. Happy Black History Month y'all! Maybe I'll celebrate by seeing if Sanford and Son is on this newfangled machine...

It's the hap happiest season of all!

That's right. Girl Scout Cookie time, y'all! If you know me you know that I LOVE (love, love) GSC's. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

At the suggestion of my dear teenager, we bought a new flavor- the lemonades (far left). As the teenagers would have said a few years ago: OMG. These are spectacular. Hurry to just outside the door of your favorite grocery/drug store and pick some up right now. (Remember to bring a lot of cash, the Girls don't let these go for nothin')
Look how cute! It looks like a lemon, and tastes like a very chemically enhanced lemon. Yummy. Thanks for the tip, teenager!

Well y'all, once again it's been a long long time since I mustered the energy to mosey on over to C&D Ranch so there's a lot to catch everyone up on. Don't worry, I'll only remember 10-15% of what has happened in the past month or so, no danger of this being too long a post.

The best news for many of us these days has been the birth of a new band, Down Tube Shifter, featuring my sweet little husband, Richie Howell, Kevin Kelnar (of BDS and wedding accordion fame) and Hugh Bradley. They've played a few shows already and of course they rule!! I put some pics of them on the flickr-as well as some of NYE-and (gasp!) have been put in charge of their Facebook page. I know. Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.

Speaking of imperfect, the knitting I've been trying to do lately is going very poorly so I put it away for a bit and knitted these socks to reignite my feelings of being a badass knitter.
Someone favorited them on Ravelry, which I know to y'all sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook but it made me very pleased. They are, I must say, quite awesome.

For the first time ever, I am very close to having seen all of the best picture Oscar nominees. For reasons I don't fully understand this makes me happy. The downside is in order to accomplish this task, I will have to see Toy Story 3. People tell me it's good, but I don't know if I can commit.

I would love to have an Oscar party, the kind where people throw in some money and the one who picks the most winners gets the money. BUT- the Oscars are happening the last week of February and we have to move (yuck) into a slightly larger crappy apartment. Have I already lived at the Grove for a whole year? Unbelievable. Seems like just yesterday I was telling y'all about the move. Time flies when you're Texan. Speaking of being Texan, I did something this month that further seals the deal: went to the shooting range!!!! I know, many of you are in the NW and are upset by the mention of guns, but I have to tell you that it was super super fun. Yes, the Seattleite in me was a little alarmed by how we could just roll up in the Sentra, walk in, check a box that said "NO" we had not committed any felonies or anything, put on the goggles and ear things and blast away! God Bless Texas.

I bought the new Decemberists record and it is great. And,-watch out y'all!- there's a new Bright Eyes record coming out in February. I might buy two records in two months, a personal best.

February is just around the corner and that means plenty of excitement is in store. The second month of the year kicks off with the celebration of the Hanukkah-esque miracle that is the second anniversary of the period between the Super Bowl party encounter and the future Starks' first date. (Feb. 1-15) Have you noticed my penchant for making up imaginary holidays? They are so much better than real ones. This year's events include the Howell's Super Bowl party of course and Rachel's "Bloody Valentine" costume party (celebrating "love and all of its entanglements") The Starks have a kick ass dress up idea that is both highly disturbing and hilarious. More details to come. Hopefully we will not repeat the sad photo-less Hall and Oates Halloween mistake. If you will be at this party take a picture of us please!!!

Ok y'all that's all I can do. This blogging thing is hard and I need a snack. Hope everyone's well.

Love your people

I guess some people pretend to like their in-laws. Suck it up, be polite for the holidays and family functions but secretly hate every minute of it. Probably some people don't even bother to pretend. I'm sure that sometimes the person you choose to marry doesn't come with an amazing new family that welcomes you as their own. Luckily, mine did. I couldn't be happier-for real-with all of the people that came as a bonus with my adorable new husband. They are fantastic, and I've gushed about them here before. (Again-not just because they are avid readers of the C&D. I actually love them.)

This holiday season my new family and I experienced the tragic loss of our aunt Debby, the person who performed our wedding ceremony. It is hard to put this kind of unimaginable sadness into words. It brings to mind a thousand cliches, but some of them are true. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Love your people (and your animals!) and try to remember what is really important.