Moving again.

Not my home address just my blog address.
I am finicky and I get bored easy and I like to change things up.
If you want to follow my blog again here is the new address  Tam-My blog.
My life is lots of fun so you should check it out.

Well, Merry Christmas.

I am feeling disconnected.
Blogging normally helps.  It hasn't been really.
Normally I feel a connection and that's why I do it but for some reason I don't.
Maybe it's hormones.  Maybe it's life.
I don't know.  I'll get back when I get back.

For now, Merry Christmas.

Christmas Movies-Little Women

Last night was Little Women.

Claire Danes is amazing.  

When they give Beth the piano for Christmas and her reaction to it, I just sobbed and sobbed.

I think everyone does a great job acting in this movie.  I think it is Winona's very best and quite possibly only best.  Can you convince me otherwise?

Christmas Movies-Sleepless in Seattle

I realize technically it isn't really a Christmas movie but I always have thought of it as one since it begins during Christmas.
What can I even say about Sleepless?  It is wonderful.  Poor Bill Pullman who seemed to get type cast because of this movie.  While You Were Sleeping redeemed him a little though.

theatrical release poster

I love Love Actually actually.

Mind you it is rater R for dirty bits.

I watched it twice in a row.

Christmas movie time!

I normally do not do anything Christmasy until Thanksgiving is over but this year is slightly different.
Did you know I do not have TV?
I have a TV I mean I don't have channels, cable, etc.
I only watch movies.
I have learned that my movie collection is lacking.

I have signed up for Netflix and decided since it is pretty much the week of Thanksgiving I can start watching Christmas movies to expand my list of movie choices.  Today I spent some time filling my Netflix que with Christmas movies.  I am looking forward to them.  Did you know I have never seen It's A Wonderful Life all the way through?  Actually I think I have only seen the end and that is all.  I know, tragic.

My favorite Christmas movie is The Muppet Christmas Carol so we have been watching it.  Have you seen it?  In my opinion Michael Caine is the best Scrooge ever.  It also has some great humor since it is the Muppet's and great original Christmas songs to add to your Christmas music playlist.  As a side note I am really excited for the new Muppet movie.  I love the Muppet's.

This is my recommendation for your next Christmas movie.

theatrical release poster

Last night I watched The Family Stone

I love this movie so much.

I am not a huge SJP fan but I love her in this movie.  She does a great job as well as all the other actors.  

Have you seen this?  That dinner scene!!!!!  I fast forwarded through it last night because it makes me so uncomfortable.  Seriously see this movie if you haven't.  This is how I always wanted my Christmases to be. I may have cried a little last night.

Tonight I have Love Actually waiting for me.  

Please let me know any of your Christmas movie recommendations.  And see my side bar of my upcoming Christmas movies.

Did you know?

Did you know Eva used to be a little baby?

 One of the first pictures of her.

First smile I captured.

With her favorite cousin Lucy.

At 2 years.

In 2 months she is going to be 3!

Not fair.

Yams for the holidays.

I love yams!

A little cinnamon, brown sugar, butter and salt and you have a magnificant holiday treat.

The best thing about yams is they cook really fast and mash so easy.

Halloween Porch Pictures 2011

I love these pictures.  

They are the first of many Halloween Porch Pictures!

I loved squeezing this chunky butterfly!

Eva's triple scoop ice cream cone costume was made by her amazing Auntie Marie.

The night turned out perfect.  It was the last warm night of the year.

Lil' Smokies

Lil' Smokies are a perfect holiday snack.

I only buy them around the holidays.

I think eating them right out of the package tastes more like Christmas than cooking them.

I still like them cooked and I love them cooked in BBQ sauce and eating them off a toothpick as if they are high class hors d'oeuvres.

Our holiday dinner last night was Lil' Smokies and edamame.

Yum.

November 9, 2011

November 9, 2011 - It doesn't sound like an important day.  It was a Wednesday.  Seems ordinary enough.  But it's not.
It's a significant day in my life.
One that is sad and depressing.
One that I would like to run away from.
Life is fragile and can change quickly.  Don't blink.  Don't get too comfortable.  Don't have expectations or hopes or dreams.  Just live in your today.  Look around, be grateful, don't look ahead and don't look behind.
Enjoy yourself because tomorrow or even the next moment things will change and you have no control on what is coming.

Question my therapist asked me.

Yesterday during therapy I gave my therapist the analogy of a 50 gallon bucket and that filling that bucket seemed impossible but that I was in charge of filling it and I felt hopeless and frustrated and that nothing I did was enough.
She turned the question and analogy on me and asked,"So, what fills up your bucket?  What makes you feel satisified and fulfilled?"
I really had to think about it but here is my answer:

Right now, today, after my kids go to bed and I feel I have no one requiring anything from me I watch a movie and try to mentally escape from myself and my life.  My house needs cleaning desperately and there are so much seemingly better things I could do with my time but watching a movie helps me to regenerate and fill my bucket a little and face the next day with renewed energy.
Last night I watched The Importance of Being Earnest.  I love that movie so much.  Every line is hilarious and clever.

I'm pretty sure I did this on my last blog but whatever, here are some lines from the movie.  Don't just pass over them, read them they are wonderful.


"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1

 "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"I should have remembered that when one is going to lead an entirely new life, one requires regular and wholesome meals."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"Oh, I don't think I would care to catch a sensible man. I shouldn't know what to talk to him about."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"Gwendolen - Cecily - it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2


"Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?"
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 3


"London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 3


So what fills your bucket?

Mrs. Meyers seasonal scent

I love Mrs. Meyers hand soap.

I found this new seasonal scent at Whole Foods.

I am very excited about it.  

I love that it works for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Oh, the small things.

I am determined to soak up the holidays this year right down to my hand soap!

I'll think about that tomorrow.

Sometimes life can be really, terribly hard.
Today I want to throw my hands in the air and say, "I don't care anymore, whatever."
It is so much easier not to care.
It seems so much easier to just emotionally disconnect.
I asked my therapist if that was possible.  If I didn't have to deal with all my problems but that I could pick a date and start from there and that everything from before that date could never be brought up again.
She told me that was pretty much impossible.
Shit, damn, hell.
Why can't that be possible?

Here is a quote from Scarlett O'Hara:
Scarlett: I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.

© Warner Home Video. All rights reserved

(I know there are a lot more pretty pictures of Scarlett 

but I love this scene in the movie and book.)

That's what I think every day.

I feel too busy to figure out my life.
I am exhausted everyday it seems.
There is just too much stuff.
Luckily I see my therapist tomorrow, right?

Love.

One of my good days.

I feel like it has been a while but it has only been a week and I am sick of looking at my horrid Halloween pictures too so here is a new post.
I actually have a lot of pictures to post of October but today I am just going to talk about today.  I liked today.
I have been having a craving for shrimp since I have been planning my company Christmas party.  All I have been able to think about the last couple days is boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce.
If you want some good shrimp, or seafood for that matter, in Utah you go to Market Street where they fly in fresh seafood daily.  The really great thing about Market Street is you can avoid paying $30 a plate and go to their deli so that's what I did.  I bought a pound of wild caught shrimp and gobbled them up.

I actually didn't finish the whole pound, don't worry.
But...
...I washed it down with this.

Yes that is the Medio Litro.  It was wonderful.

While eating and drinking and being merry this was my perfect view:

She did not get a bite.

I also got my hair done today.  It has been six and a half months since I got my hair done.  It was needed badly and since I must do my own self portraits you get this fuzzy, horribly colored picture of my hair.

It actually looks good in real life.  It is nice and rich with some hints of light.  And of course I can't get my hair done without buying some new beach spray to try.  Paul Mitchell has some new beach spray.  I will let you know what I think.  I lover beach hair.  If you are on Pinterest I have some pretty beach hair pinned.

I finished up my day with a visit from a good friend and her kids and Eva ran around squealing with delight.  It was a good day and that I am thankful for.

Happy November!

Happy Halloween!

Today is the best day at my work.  Although this Halloween was less fun than some in the past it was still a pretty fun day.  We had some great chili and great desserts.
I dressed up as a hunter because I promised Teresa I would be a boy.  I wish she would give me permission to post her Elvis pictures from last year but alas, I can't.  Teresa thinks I should have been Russel Brandt because I look like him but I can't pull off the accent or I would.
So here I am.

 Michelle was Spiderman.  I love that this is a boys sized Large Husky.

This is a great nostril shot for you.

It was the end of the day so the beard was worn off.

So Happy Halloween!  I can't wait to take Eva trick-or-treating tonight!

Mary Poppins

(photo credit to Disney)

Eva has really gotten into Mary Poppins.  This is the movie she always picks when she wants to watch a movie lately.  She loves it and has started trying to sing some of the songs.
I have always loved Mary Poppins but now I know it very well and have discovered, again, how witty and funny it is.
Here are some quotes:

(this one is my favorite)
Mrs. Banks: [singing] We're clearly soldiers in pettycoats, and dauntless crusaders for women to vote! Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid.

(photo credit to Disney)

I love Mrs. Banks and all her lines in the movie.  She balances feminism and being a wife and mother hilariously.  She is ever sweet and patient with her husband when he can be a bit of an ass.  There are a couple scenes where she is constantly complimenting him of everything he does.

"Splendid, George! Inspirational. The Times will be so pleased."

"Oh, George, you're always so forceful."

"How clever of you! I would have muddled the whole thing."

"Oh, George, you didn't jump into the river. How sensible of you!" 

(It's not as funny reading it as hearing it obviously.)

Mrs. Banks: I'm sorry, dear, but when I chose Katie Nana, I thought she would be firm with the children. She looked so solemn and cross. 
George Banks: My dear, never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint. 






George Banks: Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts. 






George Banks: I suggest you have this piano repaired. When I sit down to an instrument, I like to have it in tune.
Mrs. Banks: But, George, you don't play.
George Banks: Madam, that is entirely beside the point! 






Mrs. Banks: But you're always saying that you wanted a cheerful and pleasant household. 
Mr. Banks: Winifred, I should like to make a slight differentiation between the word cheerful and just plain giddy irresponsibility. 






Mary Poppins: Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking. 

Up on my soapbox with a suicide roll.

Proceed at your own risk.  I am expressing some of my life opinions.

Remember as a child you are told how pretty, smart and fantastic you are but then when you start to grow up you learn it is not ok to think you are so fabulous so you learn to hate yourself and shame yourself and make fun of yourself only to get into adulthood and learn it is ok to like, daresay, love yourself so then we have to spend the next 10 years of our adult life learning to like who we are and share our real selves with the world?

I have the hope to help my girls through this silly hardship.  I have no idea how I will do it but I want to try.

Right now Eva is in the super cute stage where everything she does is absolutely darling and everyone ooos and ahhs over her.  This super cute stage is partly so super cute because she is innocent to it and doesn't ham it up when people give her compliments.  One day this will be over and it will be sad but for now it is so fun.

We went to a wedding a couple months ago and Eva had to wear her very fancy dress and fancy necklace and we curled her hair.

When people told her how pretty she looked she said,"I know!" but not in a snobby way, but in an "I am having so much fun" way.  I want her to always feel this way.  I want her to know it is OK to think you look good and to like who you are.  Not only is it OK but you will have a healthier happier life if you are able to like and enjoy yourself.  I think the key to this is to be aware that you are no better than anyone else and that you are not, and don't have to be, the best looking, smartest or funniest in the room.  If you are happy and satisfied with who you are than it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or looks like.

Here's a recent, personal example.  I was working at Nordstrom the other day and they had some hair stylists there so I had one of them do a suicide roll for me.  See pictures below:

 Me twitterpated with my hair.

It is a bit messy since this was the end of the day.

I absolutely loved it and plan on doing it often to my hair.  But one young makeup artist I was working with said, "Oh did you get your hair done? (clearly I had)  You have a poof on the top of your head."  That was it.  In woman code that means,"I don't have anything nice to say about your hair so I will just make a statement about it since I want to let you know that I don't like it and think it looks horrible."  I know what you are thinking, "Well you were at Nordstrom."

I just blew it off and thought,"Well, I love it".

My point?
It's OK to be in love with yourself.  
It's not OK to think you are the only one who exists or who is important.
It's OK to like your like's and stand by your opinions.
It's not OK to think that people are stupid who don't share your like's and opinions.
It's OK to think you are pretty amashzing.
It's not OK to think no one else is amashzing.
It's also not OK to think "You are great but I am better."  

So let's enjoy ourselves as well as enjoying what others have to offer.

OK got it?  Good.

Thanks to Michelle for letting me know about a great tutorial on Youtube about how to do a suicide roll.  Here it is in case you want one too.

And send me a picture if you do it.

Pictures of Miss Eva.

Pictures of Miss Scarlett.