Raised on Disney

The morning routine for me and Dexter looks a little something like this--I hurriedly get ready for work while silently telling myself that tomorrow morning will be different; I will get up on time; and then I sweep into the kitchen to fix us toast, pour milk and make instant cappuccino. At this time he is still in his room holding court with his stuffed animals. I can hear him squealing and making emphatic points while running back and forth across his crib. I pop open his bedroom door and assess the diaper situation and depending on how soaked he is he may get a bath (and if that's the case it's more silent promises on my part about waking up earlier to leave time for such frivolous things). Then it's teeth brushing time while I sing the most ridiculous teeth brushing song ever concocted by yours truly. Perhaps if you ask nice, I'll sing it for you sometime. And finally we sit down for breakfast and listen to the Pandora Walt Disney station until we walk out the door. FYI the Walt Disney station is the BEST way to officially start a day.

I was raised on Disney y'all. Cinderella is my old school favorite. Sleeping Beauty is for the birds. I never much cared for what Snow White was wishing for in that well of hers. Sword and the Stone is the most underrated movie. I used to do a mean Iago impression. I always related to Belle's bookish nature. Who doesn't love whos its and whats its?

I am in the zone when I have that station playing. I belt out every song like I'm on The Voice while Dexter looks at me like the crazy that I am. I annoy Josh by trying to play Name that Tune and he tells me that he was busy making real friends while I was watching movies. I respond by singing louder.

While there are many things, I'd like to experience with Dexter, I would say that I hope he shares the same love for Disney that I do. I hope that one day we'll hunker down on the couch with a great big blanket and watch and sing along with one of those classic movies together. That one day gets closer with every morning.

to eat, to watch, to listen

Happy Friday and three day weekend! Woo, get crazy! We'll be spending time with family and friends this weekend. I plan on rocking every one of my favorite summer outfits. I hope that treating this as a final hurrah for summer will entice the heat to break. It was a whopping 100 degrees today! I hate the winter snow and ice but this heat is a little ridiculous.What are you up to this weekend?

To eat:
Josh whipped up a batch of homemade donuts last Sunday using a roll of the Pillsbury Biscuit dough we had hanging out in the bottom of our deep freeze. Good grief, I love this guy.I ate them for breakfast the rest of the week.

And as if that wasn't enough to satisfy the junk food monster in me, I tried the cake balls at Creme Cupcake and they are life changing, friends. Do it.  

To watch:

I spotted this trailer on Cup of Jo last week. Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones? Good call!




To listen:

Maybe I've been living under a rock or something but I totally didn't realize that Scarlet Johansson had such a good voice. Was that a backhanded compliment? Anyway, I've really been loving this song. Brought to my attention from this blog and now here for your listening pleasure.

A recap of the weekend through food mostly

It all started on Friday, as most weekends typically do.

We got Dexter to bed on Friday and decided to watch Drive on Netflix. Holy buckets, it's kind of a creepy love story? Say whaaa? I had no idea. Also, hello, gory lose your brain scenes (yes, scenes plural)! Again, I had no idea! Josh asked if I thought it was going to be more like Fast and the Furious and the answer is, yes, yes, I did. Or maybe Point Break? Fool. Note to self: a little research into a plot synopsis prior to viewing, not a bad idea.

After sleeping that off, we headed out to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning. And now, my latest advice to you market goers on a budget. At least advice in regards to food stands that give you more bang for your buck. I know nothing about produce, maybe ask Josh. If you find yourself with an appetite and only $3 in hand, then go to the West Des Moines Rotary stand on the south side of Court Ave. closer to 3rd St. and purchase yourself a slice of breakfast pizza. Josh and I shared the sausage kind (they also have ham) and it was a generous size. Now, if you have another $3, go ahead and treat yourself to a fresh squeezed OJ from the same stand. Joshie gave it a thumbs up. Me? I prefer to take my $3 and wash it down with a cup of homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream from Sweet Treats which is on the north side of Court Ave. closer to 2nd St. Heaping portions. Dexter prefers to do the same.

Saturday afternoon gave us a trip to Bass Pro Shop in preparation for our big family vacay to Wisconsin. We already purchased Dexter a lifejacket from Costco on Friday so Josh was scouring the aisles for various fishing related items during this trip. Dexter and I looked at the big fish tank. He was unimpressed and was more into the people watching. I hear ya, kid.

The biggest Dexter powered discovery of the weekend is that he loves cheap Mexican. We took him to El Rodeo for dinner on Saturday night and he was in heaven. The music moved him and he wiggled around in his high chair dancing. And the food, oh the food. He ate almost an entire cheese quesadilla and waved his hands in the air after every bite of rice and beans.  He's quite the ham, or should I say jamon?

Sunday, Father's Day Sunday. Josh and I wrestled with Dexter in church in the morning. Then, grilling with family for lunch. Bulgogi, which I'm sure I'll never tire of. Also the raspberry ice cream dessert turned out! Huzzah and three cheers! This photo makes it look orange but it's definitely pink as seen here. I fully endorse putting it in the freezer for the less pudding more ice cream texture. And man, I tell you everything should be made with a graham cracker crust! Internally, I was doing Dexter's happy rice and beans dance.

If you're wondering what Dexter ended up getting Joshie, more of that in a separate post.

Double date 2012 style

You are about to laugh. And maybe pass judgment. And probably pass judgment. Okay, you will pass judgment.

My first date with Josh outside of the social construct of Jungle Juice and 40 Fridays at the DU House was a double date with our dear friends (and matchmakers) Tom and Kelly. Not that funny?

Wait.

And on this date we headed to Waterloo to see the coming-of-age film Crossroads.

Yes, that Crossroads. And that's when Josh learned the lesson of sacrifice...and that his future wife has very puzzling taste in music and movies (and still does to this day).

So a decade later, the four of us went on our second movie double date ever. This time, The Hunger Games. Much cooler than our first double date movie, right?

Wait.

We went to a 5:50 p.m. showing and got matinee prices (yahoozie!), strained to hear each other over blaring music and appetizers and beers afterwards at Wellman's and were home by 11 p.m. Cooler, but not by much.

My thoughts on the movie? It stuck fairly closely to the book, wasn't overly violent, and gave a good setup for the future movies.  Like the book, I teared up about Rue but didn't expect tear up over Katniss and Prim's saying goodbye. Also, I thought Peeta would be larger in stature. And finally, the mutts of my imagination were definitely scarier than the ones in the movie. Pretty insightful review, huh? Well, what do you expect? I thought Crossroads was a good idea.
 
P.S. I read this article about the casting of Rue and all the CRAZY backlash. She makes some good points.

Raise my glass 8.18.11

Last year, I started to do "Raise my Glass" posts, toasting all the things that I'm very pleased about. That lasted like two weeks, as evidenced here. I decided that I'm going to try to resurrect them though since I have thoroughly convinced myself that you are dying to read about all the things that are making my happy list.

H&M $10 jeans- I went on a little shopping trip up to Minnesota with my gal pals last month and found a pair of jeans for $9.95. I am now planning to be buried in them. H&M, won't you please set up shop in Iowa?

Hello, roommates. See you in four years for our next trip! Haha.

Emma Stone-I really like this girl. Easy A has been airing on Starz a lot and I've definitely enjoyed it all 18 times that I've seen it. It's my new Mean Girls and Emma Stone is just hilarious. I won't say she's my new Lindsey Lohan because we all saw how that went down, am I right?

Cool drinks- Joshie hooked me up with this lovely concoction this weekend.

It's a homemade iced coffee. A very sugary iced coffee. It was delicious and perhaps the best thing that happened to me on Saturday. The best thing that happened to me on Sunday was my Mango Tango smoothie from Fuel over in West Glen. Yum. Josh got a Blueberry Blitz and it was equally amazing.

P.S. Have you ever noticed how smoothies always have fancy schmancy names? Caribbean Sunset, Peachy Panther, Orange you Glad I didn't say Banana? Does that make them even more delicious?

P.P.S.Let's see how many times I can reference Mean Girls on this blog.

Not coming to dinner

Josh and I tried to watch "Dinner with Schmucks" this weekend and it was very painful. Excruciatingly painful. So painful that despite the fact that we had already forked over the $4.99 to Mediacom On Demand to watch the movie, we ended up abandoning it and going to bed a quarter of the way through. Steve Carell's character's stupidity was incredibly irritating. Not irritating in what eventually would become funny and adorable, just irritating. The kind of irritating that makes me want to yell, "Quit being dumb and figure it out!" I never would've yelled that at Brick Tamland. His brand of idiocy was funny and adorable. My sweet Brick.

Pic from here

Accio Harry Potter!

I can hardly contain my excitement for next weekend. You know what next weekend is, right? It's the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows of course. I know the movies don't live up to the awesomeness of the books but ever since Prisoner of Azkaban, Josh and I have a little tradition of making an actual trip to the theater and spending a small fortune to see each movie. So excited for movie theater popcorn, Harry Potter and his final (well, part one anyway) adventure!

Raise my glass 6.8.10

I'd like to raise my glass to...

Asians. Sound weird, maybe a little creepy? Yes, yes it does. I think this stems from being one of a handful of Asian kids, (and even a fewer amount of Filipino kids), throughout elementary and high school and then for choosing a small college in Northern Iowa that again, had a relatively small minority population. So when I see Jaime from Real World San Diego up on the silver screen, Qwest Crew "killin' it" on stage or Tammy and Victor racing to be Team #1, I can't help but grin from ear to ear. Where am I going with this?

Well, I watched Paper Heart last week. I thought it looked kind of cute when it came out last year and then read about it in Rolling Stone and found out that the co-creator/star of the part-documentary, part fiction film, Charlyne Yi is part Filipino. At that point I was sold. I was buying whatever Yi was selling. The movie turned out to be cute, blending Yi's interviews with real people about their thoughts on love, with a fictional storyline of a budding romance between her and actor Michael Cera. Of course, at the end I was confused as to whether they had actually dated in reality and had to google it-they didn't? I think. Maybe. Whatever makes no difference to me. I'm buying whatever that part Filipino actress is selling.

Pic from here

In fair Verona

I watched "Romeo+Juliet", the 90s version, last week. It was just as good as I remember and it made me want to slip on a pair of Airwalks, baggy carpenter jeans and an oversized sweatshirt while listening to Everclear.

What a star studded cast! Not only does the movie boast the likes of Leo Dicaprio, Claire Danes, Paul Rudd and John Leguizamo but Mr. Swimfan himself, Jesse Bradford, plays one of Romeo's cohorts. Wow, wow, wow.

This ain't your mama's fairytale

With a recent purchase of a PS3, we've been exploring the world of Blu-Ray. Our foray into this hi-def medium led us to Pan's Labyrinth. I wasn't sure what to expect but was definitely not prepared for the bits of graphic violence and creepy villains. I know villains are suppose to be creepy but this particular guy really gives me the heebie jeebies. I'm sure that some of our faint of heart friends, (read: Peanut Butter and Jimmy Jam) are going to say something to me about posting this picture. Sorry!

Slappa da bass

Friday night Lora and I watched "I Love You Man". The movie was great. I have really grown to appreciate the breadth of Paul Rudd's work and Jason Segel is hilarious. Maybe I am biased because I have been told that I remind people of Jason. One thing that seems to be more and more true is that the out takes and gag reel on these fancy new DVD s tend to be just as funny if not more funny than the actual movie itself. If you never have watched Anchorman with the commentary turned on I strongly suggest you do. Oh and Rush is sweet too!

A night at the Springwood

After a flurry of activities on our social calendar-Wicked, Austin City Limits, Iowa vs. Michigan game, we took the opportunity to relax this weekend. After seeing many previews for "Where the Wild Things Are", we decided to hit up the movie on opening night. Thanks to the super sweet entertainment book that we purchased from our first cousin once removed for a school fundraiser we enjoyed a buy one, get one free admission at the Springwood 9. We've never been to these theaters so I googled to find out where it was. I saw that it was reviewed as having the best popcorn and consequently had my coat halfway on and one foot out the door.

Springwood 9 made me remember what it's like to go to a movie theater that isn't attached to the mall. There were no super awkward teenage boys, giggling girls or preteens who are dressed nicer than me. Instead Josh and I found ourselves in the lobby with kids and lots of them. There was a group of three little boys who were just running as fast as they could around and around the lobby and Josh said, "Could you imagine running around in circles and being that entertained? The only reasons we run now are because we're being chased or because we don't want to get fat." So true. Who knew the Springwood 9 could bring about such profound revelations?

Where are They Now?

I'm glad to see these two are still kickin' it these days...

THEN

I fell in love with Jamie (far left) from Real World San Diego during college and here she is five years later still in the limelight...

NOW
Or at the very least, she's basking in the pale green glow of almost celebrity.

Next, Josh and I discovered that the star of our most favorite Lifetime movie ever in the history of ever is still playing the role of a borderline slutty teenager...

THEN

Here she was in 2004 playing the role of the "good girl" who after falling prey to the charms of the school hunk yelled at her mom, "It was just oral!" and then ended up as one of the many countless victims of a syphilis outbreak in their upper-middle class neighborhood.

NOW

Josh and I recently caught "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" on TV and found our girl playing the mean and mildly trashy ex-girlfriend of Nick, Michael Cera's character. Nice!

Saturday Night with Sarah Marshall

Josh and I sat down with a heaping bowl of...
and watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". We've seen it before but it's hard to resist a film with Jonah Hill (Superbad), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). Added bonus-a Dracula musical. Need I say more?

What have yahs Wednesday

1. The last few times we've been to the movies, Josh and I have seen previews for the film "Where the Wild Things Are" which is based on the popular book from our childhood. Josh is super excited about this but I can't recall what the book was about. Wasn't it mostly illustrations? I know that I definitely have it packed away at my dad's house along with my Berenstain Bears and Mercer Mayer books so perhaps I'll have to go digging through storage.

Pic from here.

2. I think this is the best purchase I've made in a long time. An alternative to my usual summer uniform of solid colored, short-sleeved cotton tees and denim capris. Plus, it has pockets! Who doesn't love dresses with pockets? My sister-in-law, Dawn would be so proud!

I bought it here.

3. I was listening to my old Fiona Apple CD when I was playing Josh's sous chef and helping with the potato salad this past weekend. Man, I totally forgot how much I loved Fiona Apple in high school! I used to listen to that CD everyday. I wonder what Fiona is up to these days?

Pic from here, taken from her infamous video and song from the 90s "Criminal" (rumored to be about an orgy-yikes!). Josh said my parents probably were kind of worried about me since her music was a little dark. I told him they probably weren't that worried considering I alternated between her CD and Hanson's-ha.