Got my new glasses from Labrabbit. They RULE and I love them.

5 parties. Took my third spin class. Got to catch up with Jenny and Jen at Lula. Fantastic weekend, but 5 parties [st. sebastian day, austin’s bday, jon & autumn’s schwarzenegger, liza’s pizza, eliza’s 30th] split between two days may be one too many parties.

Tweekly Make: Moosewood Kitchen chili made with Upton’s instead of TVP. I’ve been making it for years, but it never gets old.

Films watched 3rd week of the year:

Nate & Margaret
Somewhere Between *
Any Day Now
The Color of Pomegranates ** [Armenia]
The Running Man

*documentary
** foreign language

I feel like a jerk, but I finally watched my friend Nathan’s film Nate & Margaret and it was quite good. It is streaming on Netflix. I am proud of him for making such a sweet, fun, bittersweet film. Favorite scene was definitely the mug scene towards the end.

Somewhere Between was an enjoyable documentary about Chinese girls who had been adopted by American families and are curious about their birth families/how they came to be adopted. It was directed by a woman who was adopting a Chinese girl herself and the film is dedicated to her daughter. Having been adopted myself and finding my birth mother, I felt a lot of empathy for the girls in the film, but I wish the director had delved deeper and opened some doors that we only saw a peek at that were then slammed closed.

Of note: I adapted my new year’s resolution from watching one foreign language film a week to watching a foreign language film from a different country every week. 52 different countries! This will happen. I would love to get recommendations for countries that will be hard to find films for. Countries knocked out so far: Japan, Italy, Armenia, Russia! Only 48 to go!

Super productive week. Got my taxes done and saw that One Strange Bird was right across the street, so I finally dropped in. Awesome little shop. Because of stopping by, I made the connection that a class I had been considering taken was taught there! So, on Saturday, I took my first Dabble class: Linocut printmaking taught by owner Nicole Northway. The above photo is a picture of the lino block I carved and the prints that resulted from it. I predict many lino blocks in Rhymes with Twee’s future. At work, I noticed that one of the screws from my glasses was coming out and a simple tiny screwdriver wasn’t cutting it. I ended up having to drop in to Labrabbit, where Coyote fixed them! Coyote also showed me great frames made in the USA!

Films watched 15th week of the year:

Bending All the Rules
Into the Abyss*
ADULT.’s Three Grace(s) Triptych
Source Code
Truly Madly Deeply
Today’s Special

*documentary

CIMMfest made it possible for me to see the film Three Graces that ADULT. made and then played the score live to. It was unnerving; like Matthew Barney meets Alejandro Jodorowsky but with a 99% female cast. Though I was certain I was going to have nightmares afterwards, I somehow avoided them. I am watching Today’s Special right now and I need to go eat some Indian food ASAP.

These bunnies were spotted wreaking havoc in the neighborhood. Police are advising keeping carrots on your person at all time to distract them from attacking.

Lots of awesome friend’s birthdays this week. I failed at being able to sing Billy Bragg’s ‘A New England’ at my friend Megan’s birthday, but I succeeded later in the week. I applied for my first craft fair of 2012 this year; for Urban Folk Circuit @ Schubas in May. Cross your fingers! I’m fighting against a cold I’m pretty sure that was tipped off by biking to work on a freezing day dressed inappropriately. Lately I’ve been researching natural remedies rather than reaching for a medicine first. So, for my sore throat I’ve been gargling and then drinking water with 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper. It actually chases away some of the soreness. As a result, haven’t gotten to work out very much for the past few days.

Tomorrow is Zachary and my 6 year anniversary! Next weekend we’re heading back to DC for the Arlington, VA Chickfactor show to celebrate. It’s great to be in love with your best friend.

Films watched 13th week of the year:

Gates of Heaven*
In Time
All That Heaven Allows
My Week with Marilyn

*documentary

This week, I watched a great deal of Shark Tank and not a lot of films. Gates of Heaven was my favorite of the week. It is a charming documentary and I connected with many of the people interviewed about the deep connection they felt to their pets. I was actually surprised to know that pet cemeteries have been around that long. In Time was a great premise, but it fell short. I felt like part of the film was yanked from one of my recent faves Timer.