Sunday, June 29, 2008

Weekend Movies

We watched 3 movies this weekend. My favorite was All That Jazz. I originally saw it in the theater in 1979. I was 17 at the time. I wonder why I wanted to see it then? It is not your typical teenage movie. Anyway, it must have made an impression on me because when I saw it this time I remembered lots of things from the first time I saw it. It was really great and has some totally excellent dance numbers that are choreographed by Bob Fosse who also directed the film. The story is based on his life. Ann Reinking is in the movie and does the most gorgeous dancing.... Below are some scenes from the movie. I was glad to find some of the extended dance scenes on You Tube because I am addicted to watching them now. Click here if you want to see the ending dance number.
We also enjoyed Ratatouile. The animation was excellent and the story was quite nice and sweet. Never thought I would feel warmly about a rat, but you just never know what might happen in life right?
Lastly we watched Little Miss Sunshine which was very good, but the weakest of these three movies. Love that Abigail Breslin though and I thought Steve Carell was excellent in this role. So different from his role on "The Office."
Happy work week everyone!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Stamping!

I don't do it nearly enough......spend the day with my rubber stamps, vintage photos, old books to cut up, and beautiful paper...... Here are the cards I made when Jane and I had our challenge to make stuff with the basic pink background.
I know the cards above and below feature the same stamp, but it is one of the Top 10 stamps of all time!!! It is made by Paper Bag Studio and called Lilly and Zoe. Click here to see it.....
Also, the background stamps are new and by Basic Grey. I think I mentioned that last time. They are totally excellent.
Happy weekend to everyone! I wish we could all gather at a fashionable shop in Paris!!!!!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Movie Week

So far this week I have shirked all of my duties except for going to work. I ordered some movies from the library and they all came in at once. Tonight I watched La Vie En Rose, a movie about the singer Edith Piaf. When I heard her voice a long time ago I thought it very strange. Now I am intrigued by it and will be getting a CD by her from the library. She had a very sad life but was blessed with her singing and that brought her joy. The actress who starred in the movie certainly deserved the Oscar that she won!
Last night I had a double feature. First up Mike and I watched the documentary, Crazy Love, which is too bizarre to be true, but it is. Then I watched Notes of a Scandal which was completely engrossing. I think I have about 6 more movies from the library this week! Every night will be movie night around here!

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Wonder and Beauty of a Friday Night

I don't know if anyone else is as weird as I have been over the last several years. Anytime there was a book or movie (DVD) that I was interested in I felt I had to own it......Hence, lots of money spent at the bookstores. Enough that I am now pretty cash poor and book rich.......Well, I recently rediscovered the joy of the public library. You can order anything from them and if my town's library doesn't have it; they order it from another library in the system. The only drawback is waiting, but that builds character right???? So, I have been on a spree of ordering things from the library. It all built to a crescendo this evening...I arrived home from work and Mike told me he picked up our new stuff from the library. So this weekend is going to be fun, fun, fun. The picture above is from a Busby Berkeley musical (popular in the 1930's). The lovely Jeanie told me about this DVD that just has the musical numbers one right after the other!
Next up is the book above. I read the first two books by Suzanne Finnamore. The first memoir was about her engagement and wedding. The second book was about having her son. The book about her pregnancy and childbirth was one of the best I have read. I think the writing that she did about the love of her son is some of the most poignant I have read. So, I was particularly saddened to hear about the fact that she is divorced; but I am putting aside my other book so I can read this book tonight and tomorrow. That is another great thing about the library; because I am such a memoir fiend and can read them quickly, it really is great to get them from the library.
And lastly, we have these two movies to watch! Perfect, because it is a rainy night here......books, movies, my honey, and also this weekend the Chicago Cubs are playing the Chicago White Sox. This will be fun because Mike will be hepped up about the games and I can watch them with him or sneak in some reading! Happy weekend people! I will put up part two of the previous post on Sunday!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Jane is a Genius!

All of the art in this entry is by my friend Jane. We snuck in a stamping session last weekend. We bought these pink cards in a pack and decided to challenge ourselves to make something with them.
Below you can see the plain pink card we started with. We used some new clear Flourish stamps from Basic Grey that are just incredibly beautiful!
You know, honestly, I don't know why we buy any store made embellishments (except for the little rhinestones you see here). I much prefer to use old books to find special words in, punches to make crowns, and vintage photos.
I think the cards Jane did are stupendous!!!! I will post mine in the next couple of days....

Saturday, June 14, 2008

and we are back....!!!

Thanks to my husband, I am back in blogland!!! He fixed our computer!!!
So before I head out the door for a much needed haircut; I thought I would do a quick post.....
I wanted some pictures on this post so I went to Google and put 1920's cloches in the search engine and look what popped up!!!!

These pictures really inspire me! Which is a good thing because I have a collaborative project I must work on today. It is the "itty bitty friendship book" which is a sponsored by the Red Lead Paperworks Yahoo group. More on this subject later; hopefully I will have something to post by tomorrow!!!

Friday, June 13, 2008

What? No Pictures??????

Sorry about this picture-less post!!!! Our computer is on the fritz and might be in its last stages......We are planning on going with an Apple next and hopefully we will be doing so in the next few days or else, maybe our computer will come back to life.

I just wanted you to know in case you wonder what is going on over here in the Land of Maude! I will be back as soon as I can!!!!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

42nd Street

A couple of years ago I stumbled onto the soundtrack for the musical 42nd Street. I love the songs and music; and the sound of tap dancing.

Recently I have been on a streak of ordering things from the library and decided to try out this movie. It was made in 1933 and has some gorgeous clothes and dancing. Some of the plot points are a bit strange, but overall it was some good escapism. While Mike watched the Cubs, I watched the movie. Now I am tapping off to sleep!

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Annual Used Book Sale

Yesterday Mike and I went to the annual used book sale in the parking lot of Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie, Illinois. This is the 13th annual time for us. The first year we went when we were dating.....1996. The next year we were married. It is as much fun as Christmas morning to me.
There are a ton of books and they are very inexpensive! In our first years I would buy tons of books. I still have some from the first years that I have not even read yet. This year I tried to be sensible. We have so many books in our home and we are running out of space for them. So, I was pretty selective this year. The highlights of my book buying yesterday were Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner and Love Walked In by Marissa de los Santos. Also, I found some really inexpensive children's books to use in art projects.
In the fiction section I met a lady, a retiree who lives in Arizona part of the year. She held up The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and asked me if I had read it. I didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm by saying that I am one of the few people who did not care for it. So I said, "So many people love that book!" Well, we got to talking. She told me she is in a book club in Arizona and went on to show me some of the books they read and loved. In turn, I was able to foist some of my favorite reads on her. She was very receptive and bought all the ones I recommended such as Plainsong, Tender at the Bone, and Motherland. It was lots of fun.
There were so many good books there that I have already read. If I had a lot of money I would have bought them and sent them out to people I know would like them. With finances the way they are, I took pictures of them and hope that some of you find a new great book you have not read!



If you are in the Chicago area, the book sale lasts all week! They had tons of boxes of books they had not even unloaded yet because the tables were full. I would have liked to go through all of those boxes! Treasure hunt!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I Wish!!!!

(Photo courtesy of slimmer jimmer of Flickr)

I WISH....
  • That I could dance the quick step with Tony Dovolani

  • That I was in a rock and roll band and we could do a cover of "Signs" by the Five Man Electrical Band

  • That I could see a custom made double feature of Sex and The City and M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, The Happening, right now.

  • That I could be shipped off to a cabin by a lake somewhere in Michigan and just sit on the porch and read books for a month straight

  • That I had enough energy to clean and organize this house once and for all

  • That I too had a magnificent pair of Wellies to wear to the beach (see above!)