paul the octopus

Unfortunately it wasn't until today that I heard about this Octopus named Paul.  I say unfortunately because Paul the Octopus died today. Morbid, I know.  But what makes Paul so cool (besides that him and my dad share a name) is that he was an oracle of sorts- apparently he had a perfect record (8 for 8) for predicting some of the World Cup games, even predicting the final game.  Since octopuses don't talk (doi) they placed two plastic boxes with an octopus treat inside and the flags of each country on top.  He would then grab the country's flag with his tentacle and lift it up to get the treat- that being his prediction.  What a peculiar thing this all is.  However when I saw this news story today I knew I had to pay my respects to the little 8-legged cephalopod- that's octopus in scientific lingo.  I've attached a video below to show his final prediction.  A little scary- perhaps not suitable for younger eyes or kids that have nightmares.

I am not sure if I am more amazed by his prediction or his ability to open up this box. All his tentacles wrapping around it make me a little jittery.  Creepy little things but kinda cool, no? Well regardless, I think I may have just found my halloween costume...

RIP, Paul.

have you heard?

Celine's coming back to the Colosseum.  

the one and only.

so dramatic.

That's right. Celine Dion is coming back to Vegas to play at her favorite spot, the Colosseum.  I was absolutely thrilled when I heard this because I was devastated that I missed my chance back in the day when she used to have a regular show there.  While some of you may mock me for liking Celine Dion, you can't deny that the woman's got talent. Plus she is an entertainer and her show I am sure would be nothing short of magical.  Just imagine hearing It's All Coming Back to Me live. Gives me the chills just thinking about it. Well for those interested her first concert is March 15 and goes on through the summer.  You better believe all be road tripping with all my besties to go see it. Right girls?  

p.s. pretty sure as I was looking up pictures of celine, my co-worker came over and saw my screen covered in pictures of celine. awkward?  a little. 

newsies + lady gaga =

..a really good youtube video.



Never thought you'd see those two in the same sentences? neither did I.  However when my bff sarah sent me this video I loved it so much I knew I had to share it with the rest of you.  But don't think that is all, I have ulterior motives in this post which is to get you readers who haven't seen Newsies to go and watch it. now. It's a fantastic musical created by the one and only Kenny Ortega (This is It, High School Musicals, Gillmore Girls, etc.).  This rendition with Lady Gaga may be fun but the real deal is even better.  Between the dancing and catchy songs, I could seriously watch this movie over and over again.  Oh and did I mention Christian Bale plays the lead Jack Kelly who is oh so dreamy?  Seriously if you haven't seen it go watch it now.  And if you have, come over and watch it with me cuz I am thinking I need to watch it ASAP.

"You get your picture in the papes, you're famous.  You're famous, you get anything you want.  That's what's so great about New York."  -Racetrack 

FILM: babies

notice the caption: "everybody loves babies"
why yes we do.

Well it's no doubt that the documentary Babies was a film that would interest me- anyone who knows me knows that I am kind of obsessed with the little guys.  So I finally got the chance to see this film a couple nights ago and I of course loved it. Surprisingly enough the movie is all about babies. 4 of them.  They are all born about the same time but in different places (San Francisco, Namibia, Japan, and Mongolia) and in completely different circumstances.  There is really not a lot of dialogue in the film (why would there be, babies can't talk) but I was kept interested regardless.  Not only were the babies absolutely precious, but it was interesting to watch them grow and see them develop.  Sure I could probably come up with a deeper analysis and talk to you about a compare and contrast of the babies upbringing but ultimately it's just a cute film about babies growing up.  What's not to love about that? nothing, I tell you. So if you love babies and have 1 hour and 19 min of time to spare, than this might be a fun choice. 

CAUTION: it may make you baby hungry, so for any young [married] couple out there not ready to have a baby, proceed with caution. you can't say I didn't warn you... 

p.s. speaking of babies... how cute is my niece?!?! I'm such a proud aunt.

pic taken by her mom from her blog- but had to share it!

rooting for all of you..

So today I read an uplifting list that my fabulous sister-in-law blogged about a day or so ago and I loved it so much I had to share a favorite part as well.  The list comes from the book Prudent Advice: Lessons for My Baby Daughter (A Life List for Every Woman) and the rest of the book looks absolutely darling that I just might have to buy it on amazon.  

I need this book.

Amongst many wonderful things I read in the list my sister-in-law highlighted, one of my favorites said this:


Root for other people:
"We all tend to envy other people's successes. It's not intentional; somewhere in our DNA it seems to be programmed that for every success for someone else, there is one less success for us. For every book published, there is one less book we will publish; for every baby had, there is one less baby for us to have. Of course, that is illogical. Fight off those thoughts; there is an unlimited amount of potential for everyone in this universe. Championing others is kind, and even more, it's a display of optimism that will seep into you and color your view of this life."  
-Jaime Morrison Curtis


Isn't that fantastic? How easy is it for all of us to sometimes get down on ourselves because we compare ourselves to other people's greatness. Instead shouldn't we focus on celebrating each other's greatness and creating our own?  

So here's to celebrating all you great people out there. I admire all of you.  Some of you are brainiacs getting your masters degree, while others are the wittiest and most clever writers I know.  And others take stellar pictures or make the cutest crafts that Martha Stewart herself would be jealous of.  Some of you have the most precious babies, hot husbands, and a closet full of fab clothes that naturally I'd be super jealous of, but instead I am rooting for all of you who are doing great and beautiful things in your own unique way, and am glad to call you friends (or people I'd like to know on my blog subscription list).  

Who are you rooting for?

ms. mom

So my mom has been gone for 3 weeks which means in the meantime I have taken over the role of commander-in-chief and been playing mom. thankfully she gets back in 6 days and you better believe there will be a celebration like no other when she returns. Between taking my siblings to school and swim in the morning (pretty sure swim is at 530 AM, tell me about it), driving them all over town, and feeding them, I have been ready to surrender the white flag to motherhood.  I promise I love my siblings and like to help, but all this mom stuff wears me out.  It doesn't help either that I have caught a terrible cold that does not seem to want to go away, although you'd think with all the water I'm consuming I would have drowned it out by now. not so. Well luckily things have gone just about as smoothly as you could ask for. No accidents, no dropping grades (as far as I know...), no house fires, and the kids even have clean clothes and a mostly tidy house to come home too.  boo-ya. but now I think we are all ready for mom to regain her rightful throne and get this ship back in to tip-top shape.  I've always appreciated my mom but my appreciation has increased ten-fold since I've taken over for her.. and that appreciation extends out to all you other mothers, both new and seasoned, out there. It's tough stuff and you deserve a shout out not just on mother's day. So here's to you moms (especially mine) for being selfless in everything you do and doing A+ work for the noblest job out there. here's to moms.

speaking of moms.. this is a picture of my baby neice, ava.  she is clearly very precious and has an awesome mom who takes great pics and makes the most precious stuff for her. 

FILM: the painted veil

This movie review is on The Painted Veil.  I watched it a couple nights ago and while it was my second time seeing it and I still loved it.  It is a film set in the 20's located mostly in China, particularly in the rural parts.  Needless to say the scenery captured is ah-mazing. But regardless of the beautiful cinematography, the story itself is powerful and is able to stand on its own.  The plot is basically about a doctor (Edward Norton) fighting the cholera outbreak in a Chinese village and dealing with a loveless marriage and a wife who previously cheated on him. The outbreak and the doctors hand in it is interesting and historical but what really is worth watching is the story between the couple and the transformation they both go through.  It is not your typical love story but I found it to have more depth than most love stories I've seen in the movies.  There is a specific scene when the wife (Naomi Watts) is talking to the nun and the dialogue is particularly moving and shows an insight into what real love perhaps is.  It was so good Harold and I rewound it to listen to it again and we had a discussion about it and the underlying theme in the film.  I don't want to give too much away so go rent it and watch it for yourselves and you'll see what I am talking about.  And don't let your husbands, boy friends, or guy friends be shyed away by this movie. It's not a chick flick by any means.  Oh and did I mention the acting is great in this film? Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are the stars of this film and they do a fab job.  So if you are looking for a movie with some depth to it than I'd fully recommend The Painted Veil.

forever young

Most of you probably know that last year, my senior year in college, I lived in the most amazing house with the most amazing girls (and the most amazing couch).  We were and still are very obsessed with this amazing place, also knowns as the candy shoppe.  So if we are a little annoying with our candy shoppe jokes, cliquishness, and adding -ulls to every word, I apologize but if you lived there too you'd understand.  It was a place of happiness.  A true home away from home. A safe place. And a place we wished that time could've slowed down and the days there lasted longer.  Some of my greatest college memories happened there with those girls- right up there with my London study abroad (which if you know how much I loved it, is not easy to match).  Well in honor of our love and obsession, Kylie, the candy shoppe's own talented photographer, created this little video out of a photo shoot we did.   I thought she did quite a great job.  A great way to remember our good times there- including my hair disaster which is captured in this video.


candyshoppe. from Kylie Nixon on Vimeo.


Wish we could stay forever young and live in the candy shoppe forever.

thanks again, christopher c.

First landing of Columbus on the shores of the New World: at San Salvador by Currier and Ives

Happy Columbus Day all!  I thought I'd make a quick blog post to recognize this holiday for our dear ol' explorer Mr. Christopher Columbus himself. I'm really glad he sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and happened to come across our home sweet home.  Unfortunately he wasn't cool enough to get us a real holiday where we actually get work off (except banks, they get everything off).  Google didn't even do a cool homepage with some sort of clever columbus-inspired design. Sad because last week John Lennon got one for his birthday (it was actually pretty cool, if you clicked on the logo it played "imagine") and yet our own land's founder doesn't even get anything- I guess The Beatles were really that big.  I hear though, that NYC does a Columbus Day parade so it is good to know this day doesn't go completely forgotten.  Even better, my dear friend Cassie throws a Columbus Day party each year complete with DIY newspaper CC hats, sing-a-long songs AND she dresses up in a columbus-inspired outfit. She's an elementary school teacher so she rocks at stuff like this.  Well you better believe I will be attending again this year, her zeal for the holiday has really made me appreciate it, including the inspiration to write this post.  Let us not completely forget about the man who discovered America and take a second (even if work and Google don't) to recognize this guy.  After all, "HE IS THE MAN!!!"*

Some CC facts:

-His real name is Cristoforo Colombo- either way I am sure he prefers to go by Chris.

-In 1906 it became an official state holiday in Colorado- wonder why they were first? 

-1937 it became a federal state holiday- took us long enough, eh..

-And for whatever reason Nevada, South Dakota, and Hawaii don't recognize Columbus Day- sad.

*a lyric from one of the CC songs we sing at the party

well hello there..

found this little guy when walking into my house. for whatever reason I have a strange fascination with snails, so when I came across this infant of a snail I was kind of excited. tiny lil guy isn't it?  I've seen many snails before but never this small.  If you are wondering how I noticed it, well, I tend to have a strong inclination to anything in baby version, particularly baby animals (you should see the movie Earth with me), so naturally I was able to spot it.  Well I showed my brother and he informed me that snails are asexual. so they can all get pregnant and all have more baby snails. must be a lot of snails out there then. weird. not sure about this, but I still like you little tiny guy that greeted me after a long day of work.

ya, so I like snails, so what?

I love movies

When people ask me what hobbies I have, often one of the first thing I think of is, watching movies. Probably sounds like a strange or at least a lazy hobby but I can't help but love a good flick- I even took a film class in college because I was so interested and wanted to understand more. I've never really had the aspiration to be a film director or anything like that but I do however feel that I can immensely appreciate their work.. That's good too, right? Well to help legitimize this hobby of mine I want to try and highlight a movie each week on my blog(and maybe this will help me be a more consistent blogger). And remember people- this is just my opinion, I'm sure sometimes we'll disagree. But let's still be friends, k? cool.

Well the most recent movie I watched was Penelope . An absolutely lovely, feel-good movie that I love watching time and time again. I would say this is more of a girly film, so consider it for the next girls night out or when you need a boost in your spirits. Anywho, Penelope is a film with beautiful, colorful cinematography (I think parts are filmed in London- automatic like by me). The outfits she (Penelope aka Christina Ricci) wears are absolutely precious- including her super fun "feathery" wedding dress. But besides the beautiful things to look at in this film it is a sweet story that leaves anybody (especially girls) feeling really good about themselves after. This film doesn't leave you with unrealistic dating expectations, make you depressed that you don't have a boyfriend, or that you don't look as good as the celebs you are watching- sounds like a hit to me! Overall, the story is about a girl that is cursed with a pig face (and you worried about your nose) from an old family curse. She thinks that the only thing that can break it is dating one of her own kind (blue blood- super wealthy) so off she is to find someone to break the curse- sounds a little cliche and childish, I know, but it's a little different than what you might think. More artistic, less cheesy lines that make you cringe (Que Letters to Juliet), and a deeper message we could all be reminded of every now and again. So get out there, put Penelope in your netflix que or shopping basket and enjoy this sweet little film- and even if you don't particularly like it you can't help but feel good after watching and that is always worth our time, right?

now get watching!