Friday, September 30, 2005

So remember way back when that I wanted to use the crystal stems for all of the boutonnieres and corsages, but my mother was skeptical and wanted real flowers for folks like the clergy, mothers, etc?

Change of mind alert!

I arrived home yesterday and filled her in on my phone call to the bead people. She then got a sheepish smile on her face and started to say that she didn’t to add to the work I already have in front of me, but how did I feel about going ahead with doing bead bouts and corsages for everyone after all?

Ha! Seems that the more she sees the bouquet I’ve already put together, the more she loves the way it looks. It is rather spectacular, if I do say so myself.

What’s a few hundred more stems to make?

She is going to call the florists to let them know they’re off the hook for those items, which will change their proposal. I also did another quick inventory of the beads I have and I need to order more of the 6mm clear beads because I have only the exact amount needed to finish the bridesmaid bouquet. I also need to order more of the pinbacks since I’ll need about 10-12 and I have only 7. But I’m going to wait a bit before ordering them to make sure there isn’t anything else needed later.

On a side note, Beau and I will be having dinner tomorrow with bridesmaid J and her husband S, who is going to be giving the sermon/charge/whatever-you-want-to-call-the-message. Should be a fun evening - these are friends whom I was with in New Hampshire. There aren’t too many people outside of my family who know me as well as they do. J and I tend toward loud, raucous laughter when we’re together.

Yeah, so I scored a whopping 0 on this week’s Survivor quiz. Where this season’s game is different is that we’re grouped into tribes. So while my team had the lowest score last week and had a member voted out of the game, it could be that one of the other tribes has a lower score this week and I’ll be saved. Unlikely, however, and I fully expect to get the axe.

Sad.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

1. OK, so the favor labels will be tags instead. I ordered the labels already, so we’ll see how they look anyway. And if we end up doing tags, then maybe my mother can use the labels for her business instead. I’m hoping the sample paper arrived today so that we can get moving on that stuff.

2. I checked on the status of the backordered beads and was told they won’t be in until mid-October now. That won’t do. So I called customer service to see if I could replace the bulk beads I ordered with the smaller packs that they do have in stock, but at the bulk rate. A few minutes on hold paid off, they will ship tomorrow. I get the joy of opening 48 packs of beads next week. Woo!

I counted out the beads I still need to make for the other bridesmaid bouquet. Turns out I have a lot of the large light blue beads left over. They will get stemmed, too, for the florists to use. And I still have a few corsages to make for some gals who are helping with the wedding. I only have a few of the smaller colored beads, so I ordered a 12-pack of the ones I need for those corsages. The few extras will get stemmed for the florists.

I’m making good progress - all of the black diamond stems are done for my bouquet. I’m 2/3 done with the light blue for my bouquet. I have all of the dark blue done and 2/3 of the small clear done for the bridesmaid bouquet. I also have about 50 of the 200 large light blue done for the bridesmaid bouquet. So the last push will be working on the large beads for both bouquets.

I still have a ton of wire available, which makes me wonder if I ended up overestimated on that after all. But I still have a lot of stems to make. And I’ll use it all up on the florist stems if I have wire leftover.

3. I did a practice mail merge for the invitation addressing. It worked fine, thankfully. I will adjust the envelope size when I get home (I guessed at the dimensions since I didn’t have one handy) and the font will need adjusting as well since we’re using one that I don’t have on this computer. We’ll need to go over the information with a fine tooth comb to make sure we have all of the proper names and titles. Then comes the printing, which is always scary.

4. And we’re into the serious house hunting, with a planned look-see at a potential townhouse rental not far from my parents. The neighborhood is called Singletons - funny, huh?

OK, so I’m totally into The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. My snap assessment of last night’s episode (***spoilers and whatnot***):

1. It only took two episodes for Martha to bring up her prison time.

2. Where the people went wrong was in splitting into “creatives” vs “corporate” teams. I thought last week that both teams should have been composed of equal parts creative and corporate. From the gitgo I knew that Primarius would kick Matchstick’s rear ends. Corporate types are also somewhat creative, but creative types are not necessarily business minded. The grouping of this oddball, emotional lot of creative types sealed their doom.

3. I am astounded that Jim is married and it makes me wonder what type of gal he managed to snooker into marriage. He’s loathesome.

4. About the tulip selling with girls in Dutch outfits on street corners…what is wrong with you people? My first thought was “We’re not just selling tulips from Holland, but also Amsterdam’s red light district brought to New York.” First the very bad Hansel and Gretel retelling, now this? I was relieved that you undersold Primarius because for that alone you deserved to lose.

5. I think Martha fired Chuck less for his lack of management skillz, but more because Jim and Dawn make for exciting teevee (not good exciting, mind you). So we’re stuck with more yelling and buffoonary for one more week.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

*free commercial*

Television Without Pity (aka TWoP) - there’s nothing like it, imho.

Meticulous recaps of your favorite TV shows and yet better.

Snarky. Highly opinionated. Hilarious. Rated PG-13 (depending on the recapper).

Brilliant.

*/free commercial*

My favorite shows:

The Amazing Race, of course!
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (which I am reading currently…heh)
Survivor

I have been trying to close out our books for the month and fiscal year since about 10am this morning. My boss put me off for a few hours in case he decided to continue spending money. I finally made him let me move forward in case we ran into problems and I’m glad I did because we have a problem. Actually, it’s his problem so he’s trying to fix it.

Procrastination doesn’t pay.

LATER - 4pm: It is finished. *sigh*

Ah, another season of TAR is upon us and while this family edition isn’t going to involve as much world travel, I think it will be fun one. My spoilerish thoughts are in the hidden section. However, I have some that I can share up front:

First, my mother watched with me and I think she’s hooked. Woo!

Second, it came to me about halfway through the show that the reason Kim of the Black family looked so familiar is because I worked with her at the government contractor I was with right out of college. From the first scene that showed them, it nagged at me that she looked so familiar. I turned to my mother and said as much at the start. It was a later camera shot of her profile that lit the bulb over my head. Anyhoo, the WaPo had an article about them and she teaches 5th grade in Alexandria. I remember that she was taking classes at night toward earning some degree; I supposed it could have been for that. She was married, but childless when I knew her. I do remember hearing that she was pregnant soon after she left the company, so the ages of her kids is about right. Small world…

The rest is =======>

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

So I got home from work yesterday to find a grocery bag with items that Mom wanted me to take to the frig in the basement. Seems her frig crapped out on her yesterday.

I woke up this morning to discover that my frig was filled to capacity with the stuff from the frig upstairs. What’s amazing is that Mom and Dad must have made several trips into that kitchen, but I never heard them. I was sound asleep, I guess. And now that Annie is hard of hearing she didn’t alert me as she used to when intruders came into our space.

After talking to my mother this morning, I learned that the freezer section had also crapped out and so my freezer is also fully loaded.

A new frig is being purchased today. I’m told it’s a side-by-side with lower freezer section. So now I’m wondering if this means I start the cooking early since all of the food is in my part of the house now?

Block out two hours tonight for the premiere of TAR8 - 9pm ET on CBS.

I am playing a game again this season so I’ll keep you posted on my status. And you know you’ll get a weekly recap every Wednesday.

The family I’m watching? The Aiellos - a father with three sons-in-law.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Still making small progress on things:

1. Beau and I went over the program and made some tweaks to the content. We also selected the Scripture passages that we want to have read.

2. I made the labels for the favors. Now I need to buy the labels and print them.

3. Did I mention that my mother found the paper for the program covers? She also found a nice ribbon that we’ll use with them.

4. The style of the font for the favors will be used for the invitation envelopes as well. There had been some debate about the font choice, but this compromise will be good.

5. I made about 60 stems this weekend. All of the black diamond stems for my bouquet are done. I’m now focusing on getting the stems for the last bridesmaid bouquet done so that I can go ahead and put that together. Then I’ll need to decide on the ribbon to finish them off.

I’m getting excited about my dress coming in soon. And the bridesmaid dresses, too. I can’t wait for Mom to see them in person.

Absolutely, yes. I have said this many times myself.

We (Dad, Mom, and I) were at lunch after church yesterday, talking about wedding stuff, house hunting, job hunting, etc. when my father said something so extraordinary (to my thinking) about what men think about that I was prompted to get serious about reading For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn (a wedding gift from Thinkling Jared). What did my dad say?

Men wake up every morning wondering if today is the day they will lose their jobs.

Or words to that effect.

My response? Complete disbelief that this was even a thought in their heads much less that it would be their first thought. He mentioned that I really needed to read the book and so when we got home, I set aside my plans for the afternoon (which included a nap and making bead stems) to read the book. (I did have the Celeb Poker show running at the same time - I am able to watch TV and read at the same time.) I managed to get through most of it yesterday and I finished it this morning.

What Feldhahn reveals about men is illuminating and surprising. She spent considerable time interviewing and surveying men to make sure her information was correct. Her presentation of 8 simple facts about men is helpful for women to have a better understanding of what men think about, how they feel, and how we can love them better.

As I got further into the book I realized how deeply wounding my attitude, behavior, and words have been to my father and my fiance. For the unintentional, but undoubted hurt that I have caused them, I humbly ask for their forgiveness. And I promise that now that I get it, I will try to do better.

Women, if you want to understand the men in your life better, you must read this book. Wives, if your marriage is faltering, this book may help you to know how you can adjust to meet your husbands needs and love him better. This is a must read for every woman.

Jared, thanks for the gift. Its value is priceless for what I’ve learned and will be able to apply in my marriage.

There were a few more shows watched from the DVR yesterday. Turns out the Redskins had a bye week, so that freed up a few hours more. So here’s what else I managed to watch:

1. Invasion. Interesting. Kinda spooky in light of the recent hurricane activity. I’ll stick with it for a few more episodes as time permits.

2. Celebrity Poker Showdown (Championship). For me there’s something really fun about watching celebrities play mediocre poker. Part of it is the witty banter - they’re playing for charity, so it’s not like their playing for their living. Therefore, the atmosphere is pretty light. And they manage to put together quintets that are very interesting personality combinations.

3. Inside the Actor’s Studio. Last night’s featured guest was Jodie Foster, whom I love. She is a fascinating person and I enjoyed hearing her talk about her career and the movies she’s made. She gets brownie points from me for never using the word “craft” to talk about her work. Actors sound so pretentious when they talk about their “craft.”

4. Threshold. Still sticking with this one, although Friday’s episode annoyed me. Why? Because they fell into the pattern of portraying a southern military academy as being a place where the teachers/commanders are despotic autocrats and the student/cadets are borderline automatous Hitler youth. The southern accent on the key cadet in the plot was so affected and unrealistic. No one that I know from the south talks like that.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

I woke up at my normal time this morning but I am going to the 11am service, so I had a few hours to catch up on recorded TV from the week. Here’s my snap assessment of what I saw.

1. The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. Love. It’s totally Martha and I thought she was smart to include a mention of her incarceration in the opening - softens her persona before she fires someone. I’ve always liked Martha Stewart - she has completely changed how women homemake and entertain. I’m employing many elements from her wedding mags for my own wedding, including my wedding cake design. I’m less interested in the business aspect of this show, that’s why I don’t watch the other apprentice show. What I like about this one is the creative element. And her “You just don’t fit in” firing line is perfection. I will watch the entire season, guaranteed. Oh, and I was most relieved that Jeff got the boot; he definitely did not fit in.

2. Dancing with the Stars: Dance Off. Fantastic. I caught several of the shows from the regular season and I agreed with most of America that John O’Hurley should have won. It was fun to watch the two couple dance off and I was pleased with O’Hurley’s redemptive win. And I can’t wait for Season 2 in January.

3. All Star Reality Reunion. I can’t help myself. I’m so sucked in to reality TV that I was compelled to watch. It was a little interesting to hear from some of the folks that I didn’t know because I didn’t watch their shows. I most enjoyed seeing Brennan, winner from TAR1. Beyond that? Waste of time.

Beau and I did go see Flightplan yesterday. Unfortunately we missed the first 5 minuntes or so because our pre-marital counseling session rang long. So we missed some crucial information before Jodie and daughter got on the plane.

We both thought the plot was a bit weak. However, Jodie Foster is such a good actress that she was able to carry the movie pretty well to a positive review. The airplane also gets high marks from me - luxurious travelling there. For a review that most closely matches my thoughts, read IMDb.com’s write-up.

About Jodie, after complaining that Jodie’s work in the 90s was mailed in:

It’s possible Foster herself may have finally understood that she’s gone from actress to movie star, as her most recent movie, Flightplan, is a small attempt to chink at the icy surface that seems to have grown over her - ironic considering the movie itself so chilly, austere, and inscrutable that it doesn’t lend itself to the emotional too easily. Still, playing a variation on the mother lion role she also had in Panic Room, Foster lets herself be truly vulnerable for the first time in a long while, and in a number of ways: she doesn’t shy away from showing the wrinkles on her face, she gracefully gives over scenes to other actors, and, most notably, she plays a character who isn’t entirely likeable and heroic for the entire runtime of the movie. For brief moments of Flightplan, Foster seems all too frail and all too human, and you realize it’s those qualities that have been missing from her previous performances.

About the movie:

That said, Flightplan is an engaging movie that is not easy to like, as it holds its audience at a distinct remove and doesn’t give its thrills the visceral intensity we’ve grown to expect from slick Hollywood movies; there are a few moments of cathartic shocks, but it mostly ratchets up the tension in quiet, ever-increasing notches until your whole body is so tight it might snap. Kind of sounds like fun, but kind of sounds miserable too. This isn’t a “fun” thriller - it’s one that’s bathed in sadness and seriousness, and its few jokes are less a puncturing of the atmosphere than they are nervous laughter in the face of crisis.

[...]

A healthy mix of paranoia and dread, the schematics of Flightplan are easy to figure out, but surprisingly, director Robert Schwentke distracts you from the overall plot arcs by focusing on the characters and details. You’re too busy noticing how huge and pretty the plane is, or watching each of the actors intensely to see which one could be a potential bad guy, to put the mystery-solving part of your brain into action; it’s almost as if Schwentke (and Foster) have gripped you by the shoulders and are forcing you to look into their eyes, while somewhere in the background there might be a clue as to Julia’s whereabouts, or lack thereof. Schwentke’s camera rarely leaves Foster (and when it does, the movie noticeably falters), and his leading lady’s chilly reserve and lack of sympathy actually work in her favor. Instead of bravura, over-the-top emotions, there are tiny pinprick moments of clarity in Foster’s performance, and though Kyle is not a big, prepackaged heroine, we come to respect her rather than sympathize with her. It’s a bit of a gamble, but Foster’s trademark intensity brings it off, and even as she’s strung to her limits, she never breaks stride.

Good movie - I could have waited for the DVD rental. I actually like Panic Room better, but I give this one nearly 3 stars out of 5.