With a smile plastered on my face

I watched this video tonight. Love.

The Laramie Project

I watched The Laramie Project today. We've had the movie at home for weeks, gathering dust by the TV, and I've often asked Roy if he wanted to watch it.

"Too depressing," he said.

And that's true. It's the story of Matthew Shepard and the hate crime committed against him in October 1998. It's not exactly light and fun. But in the spirit of what today stands for, I decided to watch it. And I'd recommend it.

The most emotional part was the dramatization of Dennis Shepard's (Matthew's father) speech, which can be heard in the video below:



The full text of the speech can be found here. It's definitely worth a read.

At the risk of sounding trite, I'll say this: I will never forget Matthew Shepard or his legacy of social justice and equality.

Ezekiel 25:17

The other night I saw this:



And it reminded me of how much I love this:



Particularly this:



So Roy and I sat down and watched the movie, and I had a chocolate shake that wasn't a $5 shake and thought about how awesome it would be to be Samuel L. Jackson.

The end.

Quaint Christmas: Days Two and Three of Our Christmas Vacation

Both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were laid back days. Considering that my uncle's weakness from his illness earlier in the year, my brother's kidney stones, and my pregnancy, we weren't in the best shape to go out and party. Instead we stayed in for most of both days.

On Christmas Eve, we decorated the tree...



...ate candy...

...gave Buster lots of love...

...took Buster for a walk and took lots of blurry-on-purpose pictures...

...looked at the Christmas lights...

...and opened gifts!

It was a small, quiet Christmas Eve with few gifts, but it was still good.

On Christmas morning, we crowded around the laptop and showed my mom and uncle a couple of our favorite videos.

I introduced my mom to i can has cheezburger. These were her favorites:

We hung out and took it easy...

I love this video.

Keeping up with my current tradition of either posting about kittens or politics, here's a video that I found to be very poignant.



Go, Obama!

(Thanks, Kari.)

That's what's up.

I saw this on Kari's blog and found that it was just what I needed after a long, overly emo week.

Vote/Don't Vote

I actually don't like this video, but I like the message. So here it is. Vote, people!



We don't have TV channels at home (gasp!), but we still managed to watch part of the VP debate at a friend's house last night. Wow. Palin is a very unintelligent person. I shudder to think about McCain getting elected and then dying in office, thereby leaving the fate of the US in the hands of that woman. A woman who winks in the middle of a debate!

I'm scared of what the future holds for this country. This last month before the election is going to be very interesting.

I guess I have more to talk about than I thought...

Things That Make Me Go "Wow"

1) Web Without Sense is a collection of complaints about websites. Needless to say, it's hilarious. Here's a good one:



2) And in keeping the Grammar Nazi spirit alive, Brandy made my day when she sent the picture below to me.



3) This video totally brings on the awesome.



4) And this one is so sweet.



5) The Book of Leviathan by Peter Blegvad is a visual treat for anyone who likes to think. This is a collection of comic strips featuring Leviathan, a faceless and overly philosophical baby, his stuffed rabbit, and the family cat. The gang go on many adventures, including a long trip to Hell, in this dark comedy of a story.



6) Love, love, LOVE this video. It's the funniest thing I've seen in awhile.



7) I also love this penis iceberg. Article here.



8) Lastly, I got my computer back! I've spent the last couple of days trying to get it the way it was before I took it in to be fixed (minus the spyware, of course). I'm still trying to import all my email, as well as figuring out how to convert my external hard drive to a more stable format. It's a work in progress, that's for sure. But hopefully I will have some new photos to share soon and will be able to be a better blog commenter.

Things That Make Me Go "Wow"

This is a collection of cool things I've come across lately.

1)



2) I found this on Kari's blog. Hilarious.



3) The Head Project!



(Image by the ever-so-lovely and talented Elle Moss.)

4) Things I've seen around town that have made me smile:





5) Angelina and I embraced our inner dancing queens when we saw Mamma Mia! today. What a great movie! I haven't been able to stop dancing yet. I'm even dancing as I write this. Just in case you've been living under a rock, here's the trailer:



6) Jenn showcased her radness when she sent me an edible arrangement as a thank you for taking her engagement pictures. Yummy, pretty, and incredibly thoughtful! Thanks so much, Jenn!





I have (what feels like) a bazillion posts in progress, so I'm going to try to catch up on those this weekend.

And the Cherry Ran Away With the Spoon: Day Five of Our Anniversary Trip

Thursday was probably my favorite day of our trip to Minneapolis. Yes, I loved our anniversary and all the other days, but Thursday was dynamic and exciting for many reasons.

First of all, it rained! I love rain. I love clouds. I love that special darkness a room has when there are thunderclouds looming outside. I love that it decided to rain while we were there. It felt like a gift especially for us Southern Californians who don't see a drop of rain during the summer. Thank you, rain gods!







Secondly, I had a photographic breakthrough. I had started reading Understanding Exposure the day before, and I was having a hell of a time making sense of how one can tell when an exposure is "correct" based on the camera's light meter. That morning, as we were trying to decide what to do with ourselves that day, I was complaining to Roy that I didn't know what the hell the author of the book was talking about. We managed to make sense of it together, and I spent the rest of the day shooting many correct exposures! (Well, I'm not sure they were entirely correct, being as there are so many small things to take into account when shooting. But they were more correct than I was shooting before.)





This is the bird that was trapped in Wade's basement. See how he's standing in the corner, all Blair Witch style? Wade was able to wrap a towel around it, pick it up, and put it outside.



This is a shot of the hallway of Wade's building.



We decided to go to the Walker Art Center to start our day. With the rain, our original plan of going to Minnehaha Falls didn't seem like such a good idea. So the Walker it was - and it was a great choice.



The museum's focus on modern and contemporary art pleased me very much. (I have come to realize that I am actually quite taken with more recent art movements. It has taken me awhile to get here, but it's a good place to be.) I wasn't able to take any pictures of the art itself (I couldn't even use a pen to write down the names of the things I liked!), so here are some photos of details of the Walker design/decor.





We crossed the street and went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, otherwise known as Heaven. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see all the amazing pieces! Here are some of my favorites. (I bet you can't tell which one is my absolute favorite!)













This one is a product of that camera waving stuff I love to do.



The grounds of the Sculpture Garden were gorgeous as well.







At this point, I was pretty giddy with excitement. And once we walked back to the museum, I realized that I was also pretty hungry. And then I got pretty grumpy when we learned that the museum cafe was closed. So we ended up leaving (even though Stacy had just arrived) to feed the monster.

We went to French Meadow for lunch, a yummy health food place. It was really tasty. We need more of these places here (and less chain restaurants, please). We went back to Wade's to rest up for the long night ahead. And once we were rested and it was time, we went to the Mill City Museum to see a free show by Roma di Luna.

The Mill City Museum was very cool, especially the courtyard. The show was supposed to be held outside in the courtyard, but with the rain earlier in the day, it was moved inside.







A few words about Roma di Luna: I'd never heard them before this trip, and I am so glad we went to their show. They are a truly amazing group of musical artists (and happen to be Minneapolis locals). I bought both of the CDs they had available for sale and was able to get one signed by the main singer/violinist of the group. And by the way, her voice (the lead singer's) is heartbreaking and beautiful. I sat through the entire show just transfixed by the power and energy of the music unfolding before me. It was incredible. Also, I was pretty much a born-again concert virgin, not having been to a show since 2002 or 2003, so that made the experience that much better.

One of the best moments of the show was when they announced that their next song was for Jane for the occasion of her 52nd birthday. Jane was sitting relatively close to us, and so I got to watch her cry happy tears throughout the song (requested by her significant other), which of course made me tear up as well.

I didn't get any good pictures, but here are the two kind of decent ones I took.





Check out this 2007 video. It's not the same as seeing them live, not even close, but it's still pretty cool.



And of course, you can hear them here; listen to "The Romance of Wolves" (it's my current favorite song).

After the show, we walked next door to the Guthrie to use the bathroom. (There was no way I was going to use the crowded bathroom at the museum!) The Guthrie is this giant blue theatre that offered some good photo opps.

I love this picture! It's of Roy looking out of the window, but I took it of his reflection in the reflective window sill.







This is another reflective picture.





We walked to Sawatdee for dinner. I absolutely love Thai food, and this place did not disappoint. I had the massaman curry and some drink called a Monkey Lover. Well, I can't be sure of the name of the drink anymore, but it was something having to do with a monkey. My favorite part of the menu was this:



After dinner, we drove over to Grumpy's for karaoke. I'd been hearing about karaoke all week; apparently it's a big thing with Wade and his friends. They were all pretty excited when they saw that a big group of drunken women were doing karaoke. Wade wrote a really good blog about the experience, which you can read here.

I didn't actually think I would do karaoke (again, that shyness factor), but later I decided that Wade and I had to do a song together. The most natural choice seemed to be "Baby One More Time" by good ol' Britney Spears, and Wade was all for it. Once we got up to the front of the room, three of the crazy drunken women asked if we needed back-up dancers. Like, duh. Of course. We performed our set, the crowd went wild, and I sealed my place in Grumpy's Hall of Fame.

Um, not. I think Wade sang over me the entire song, which is probably the best thing that could have happened for everyone in attendance.

All in all, it was an interesting night. I had five drinks and didn't even catch a buzz, which was shocking. Grumpy's had the best tater tots ever, and of course, the drunk women will hold a special place in my heart forever.

(Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures during karaoke, but one of Wade's friends did, so maybe Wade'll send them along to me one of these days.)