Ok so let's talk about the weather. It is glorious. GLORIOUS I tell you! Cool at night; warm, windy, and sunny during the day! Heck yes! Running is so much easier in this weather and running makes everything better. I'm more productive at work, I'm a happier Sam, and I wake up with gems like this stuck in my head:
Oh, my childhood, there you are! This wasn't on TV when I was a kid, but it's one of my dad's favorites and he had the entire series on VHS. VHS I say! And my sisters and I watched them all. I was so in love with Artemus Gordon I couldn't stand it. I highly recommend this series: there are a lot of fun James Bond-ish gadgets, disguises, bizarre villains, all in a Western Setting. Not to mention karate style fighting and Robert Conrad splits his super tight pants in just about every episode if you watch closely enough. So, so much fun.
Which is all to say this is basically how I feel today:
Especially after, when looking for this video, I found this one:
Happy Thursday everyone! I used to watch the Sonny and Cher show every evening in high school. Because of this bit I've always had a desire to sit on top of a piano and sing in a red dress. I even do a pretty good Cher impression when I'm a couple of drinks in. That is, I think it's pretty good and people are usually too busy snorting their drinks through their noses and laughing to tell me otherwise and that is the kind of feedback I like: too debilitated to critisize.
I hope you have a lot of delightful weekend plans. I will be watching the first season of Remington Steele and knitting Christmas presents.
As you know, I like to keep seasonal things seasonal. I don't like to get ahead of myself; I want to enjoy November for its blustery in-between-ness, transforming from fall to winter and I love Thanksgiving and want to give it its due between Halloween and Christmas. So I do not watch any Christmas movies or listen to any Christmas music or read any Christmas books until after Thanksgiving. But I do tend to get a little excited to get excited for Christmas. Some Christmas things I can't help but think of before Thanksgiving. I make two lists every November: a list of things I'm going to give or make for people at Christmas and my Christmas list. My parents ask for my Christmas list every Thanksgiving and I'm a big dork about it. I play with fonts and colors and strategize about which category (yes, category: books, dvds, gift cards and miscellaneous) should go where.
Speaking of Christmas lists, one of the items at the very top of mine is non-stick frying pans because I only have two frying pans which are more of the everything-sticks variety and one is teeny weeny and the other is HUGE! Does anyone have a preferred brand? Something middle-of -the-road in expense and quality?
I'm a sucker for British TV. Especially anything with Maggie Smith in it.
She is so joyfully bitchy. Her scenes are absolutely the best. I've only seen the first two episodes, but the other discs should be coming in through Interlibrary Loan any day now and I can't wait to sit down with a cup of tea and knit and enjoy the (polite, British) drama.
3) The word "gormless"
I love that word. Gormless. Although now I've thought it to much and it's lost all meaning and sounds totally weird. I wonder if you can be gormful? Or what a gorm is? Apparently and a lot of different things, it seems.
I've known about this band for a while and liked what I've heard. But as I was trying to find stuff to listen to on YouTube while I work I put on a few videos and it just hit me in a certain way. I'm now in full on obsession mode.
The thing that brought The Dead Weather to mind was the preview for AMC's new Western Hell on Wheels. I don't have cable at my house (thus my obsession with DVD's I can get through the library like Moonlighting) so I didn't see the premiere last night. The previews do kind of make my Deadwood-loving heart beat a little faster so maybe I'll watch the show online or when the DVD's come out. But back to the point, the song on the previews for Hell on Wheels had me humming and straining to think WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT SONG until I finally got to a computer and with some creative Googling re-discovered my favorite Dead Weather song:
3) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
It took me 50 pages and at least two zombie nightmare before I decided I liked this book (and that I probably shouldn't read it before I go to bed). It's weird and can be a little jarring sometimes if you're really familiar with Pride and Prejudice but if you're willing to take it for what it is, it's a pretty enjoyable read. There's some gross zombie action, some country dances and gossip, something for everyone!
My family quotes movies a lot and this one more than most. We "Put the candle back" accuse each other of being "abby normal" and sing "Puttin' on the Ritz" like monsters. I couldn't love this movie more if I tried.
2. Carving Pumpkins
Last night, my sisters and assorted boyfriends/husbands/babies gathered to carve pumpkins. Last year, my sister was so pregnant she couldn't get up by herself and it took my other sister and I all of our strength to heave-ho her up. This year, we had a little child wandering around the garage in a walker, banging into things and yelling. She reminded me of an angry roomba, or R2D2 malfunctioning or Captain Pike in his little scooty chair but without the disfiguring scars.
For those of you too cool to know what Captain Pike's scooty chair looks like.
I know this comparison is not a new one, but hanging out with toddlers is so much like hanging out with drunk people. Last night I was sitting on the floor eating chili, when my niece, using the couch to steady herself, staggered over to me smiling, grabbed my boobs, smashed my cornbread muffin into a thousand pieces, tripped over my legs and fell into me giggling. Then she puked on my pants. It's a good thing she's darn cute.
Anyway, we all managed to dodge the mad toddler long enough to carve our pumpkins without anyone getting hurt. It was the most fun you could have while sitting on a cold, cement floor in October.
3) Moonlighting
So this one doesn't have anything to do with Halloween, but I spent all weekend at the Blue Moon Detective Agency and I am smitten! Smitten with young Bruce Willis, smitten with Cybil Shepherd's entire wardrobe, smitten with Ms. Dipesto, the list goes on and on. I don't care how the two lead actors felt/feel about each other in real life and I don't want to know. I just want to sew shoulder pads into all of my shirts and practice using a banana clip while watching this show. And waiting for this guy to show up.
If this video doesn't make you happy, you need some serious help.*
I want to be in this video so badly! I want to be as cool as that tattooed girl hanging out by the piano but I definitely want to be the girl Frank pulls on stage to play the harmonica. Because I lurve him.
Earlier this week I looked at my calender to see two blank, white squares labeled Friday and Saturday. You know what that means? NO COMMITMENTS! I'm going to cook and read and watch a lot of Mad Men and knit A TON because Applefest is coming right up. I'm also going to buy myself something pretty with my birthday money because my Grandma told me to, and then I'm going to go show it to her. There's also a really good chance I'm going to drink too much coffee, eat a donut, get Mexican food for at least two meals and probably drink some wine (maybe even in a hot tub). Weekend, here I come!
Happy Thursday!
*Ok, try this:
Don Draper, kids. He will cheer you up anytime! (Also, you may have gotten pregnant just looking at these photos. Yes, even if you are a man. And you may be reduced to mumbling, "Don Draper...Handsome...Don...HANDSOME...Don Draper..." for the next hour or so.)
