Broken English

The third and final DVD I rented the other day was Broken English. I like Parker Posey. She's just quirky and odd enough to add some much needed laughter to a lot of great movies. (like the new Superman, for instance) This movie was touted as a romantic comedy, and I figured it would be light and fun. . . SO not the case.

As much as I hate to admit it, because I seldom do this, I didn't finish watching. About an hour in I realized that there was another half hour to go and I just couldn't bring myself to finish. It was so DEPRESSING. The writing was contrived and bland and the acting was mediocre. I was really really disappointed.

So, long story short, don't rent this movie. It's not romantic, nor is it a comedy. (at least that's true of the first hour, and I can't see the last half hour redeeming it)

Birthday Wishes

As August comes to a close (how on earth did that happen?!) it occurs to me that I am an awful, horrible friend.

I know so many others that share my birth month that I completely, and with no excuse whatsoever, forgot to wish a Happy Year. Where was my brain? What happened to my calendar? Oh, that's right, I have about 5 of those, none of which I ever look at.

And so, in a very late and very pitiful way, I would like to wish a very belated happy birthday to Dallas Petersen (who actually has a birthday in July), Petre Biggs, and Jen Harman. I know there are a lot more than that, but truthfully, I'm still not looking at my calendar, so I can't come up with more than 3 off the top of my head.

I love you all. I hope you had wonderful birthdays. And please forgive my pregnant brain for overlooking your big days!!

Driving Lessons

It was appropriate that the DVD I watched last night was Driving Lessons.

I started the evening by finally attending Orem City traffic school, to clear my record of the wonderful little speeding ticket I got back in June. I can't imagine traffic school is ever meant to be fun. And it certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been. But seriously, I often wonder why people can't keep their mouths shut in situations like that. Don't they understand that the class will end more quickly if they will just STOP with their snarky comments and questions? NOT something a pregnant woman wants to sit through. EVER.

So I came home and settled in to bed with some popcorn and a movie. I have to say, this really wasn't what I expected. I'm not sure what I expected, actually, but it was quite a bit darker than the preview led me to believe. Laura Linney's accent was pretty atrocious, and I can't quite figure out why they cast her, when there are probably 30 big name British actresses that could easily have played the part.

I like Laura Linney, don't get me wrong, but I don't so much think she was the one for this movie.

Rupert Grint held his own surprisingly well against Julie Walters, and the relationship that they formed was quite sweet. . . The plot, once set up, was a little bit predictable, but I still enjoyed it. It could have done with some better writing, but it wasn't glaringly bad.

I'm determined to watch Broken English tonight, between loads of laundry. I'll let you know how that turns out.

WAMU

About a week and a half ago I got a phone call from my bank. They were calling to alert me to the fact that there were some weird charges on my account and they wanted to know if I had authorized them or not.

I was impressed. The charges had not even shown up online yet. I had no idea anything weird was even going on. The woman who called me (twice. I didn't pick up the first time, but got a message to call them back) said she would cancel my debit card, that I should destroy it, and they would send me a new one. It would take 7-10 days to get it, so I should use checks or cash in the mean time.

I was a little bugged, but I've gotten through 10 days just fine. In fact, it has actually been pretty eye opening as to how quickly I spend money.

But then today, I noticed there was a new $400 charge on my account that I had never authorized. I was confused, obviously, as my debit card was no longer usable, so I called the bank.

It took my 35 minutes and 3 transfers of departments to even get to the right person. When I did, she told me that not only did the original girl not cancel my card, they had no record of that phone call at all.

SCARY!

Then she transferred me to ANOTHER department to dispute the charge, at which point the automated system basically kicked me out and said it was having technical problems.

SO I went to the bank so I could talk to a real person.

In the end, I basically have to cancel my checking account and start over, just in case. Which is BEYOND annoying.

But more than that, my faith in and happiness with Washington Mutual, is seriously in question. I can't believe how long they kept me on hold today!! WHAT HAPPENED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE?

That said, the guy in the AF branch was incredibly helpful. But their phone service. UGH!!! Also, PLEASE hire people to work on your phone lines that can speak coherently and have beyond a 4th grade education. . . I'm just saying.

Music And Lyrics

We had a crazy week last week, and an equally crazy weekend. We somehow managed to get roped in to working box office/concessions up at the castle for Julius Caesar, despite our best intentions to not be involved at all this year. Also, Ben worked about 80 hours this past week, including a nice long day on Saturday, and I tagged along for a good portion of the after hours stuff.

Yesterday I decided to watch one of the movies I had rented in order to spend some quality couch time. The baby was making it known that he was NOT happy with all the time I'd spent running around and it was time to lay down for a while.

The movie of choice was Music and Lyrics. I had gathered some light movies at Hollywood video, knowing that I didn't want to watch anything heavy or depressing, and since I missed this one in the theater, I started with it.

I have to admit, I liked it. It wasn't Shakespeare, but it was clever. I liked the actors, I liked the script, mostly, and it was just downright fun. I'm an unabashed Hugh Grant fan, so I really got a kick out of him playing the silly 80's pop star.

The other 2 movies waiting for a viewing now are Broken English, starring Parker Posey, which I would have loved to see at Sundance, but it was sold out. And Driving Lessons, with Rupert Grint and Julie Walters. I'll let you know how they are when I get around to watching them.

Showing Off the New Toy

As much because I was getting stressed out by having that particular picture at the top of my blog as anything else. . . a second post of the day.

I wanted to show off the joy of the fancy new camera. Keep in mind this is all without photoshop to color correct and on all automatic settings. Jeremy & Emily were nice enough to give me a great photography book that will hopefully teach me wonderful things about manual settings. . . since it's been about 15 years since I had a class on the subject.

But in the mean time. . . some beautiful moments:

Aubrey. I hope she keeps those gorgeous blue eyes. They're amazing.

The boys on our trip over to the park to play. They are such good sports. They pose for me whenever I ask.

Nick at the top of the mountain. We took the ski lift up to the top at Sundance.

Ben and Trish pausing on the trail.

Some pretty trees. . . because I was getting vertigo trying to shoot down at the valley, I turned the camera up the hill.

30 and 30

While I turned 30 years old this weekend, the baby boy is 30 weeks old. . . and that made me realize it's been a very long time since I posted a belly picture. I think the last one was at 23 weeks. And believe me, a lot has changed. . . here's a little proof:


I'm not sure I'll ever get used to looking at pictures of myself pregnant. . . & I'm a little scared to see what the next 2 months are going to do. . . Ben keeps saying he's bucking to be an only child, and I'm inclined to agree. Even before he's born. Remind me of that in a couple of years, will you?

The big 3-0

Turning 30 doesn't freak me out as much as I expected it to. . . maybe it's because I don't feel as far "behind" as I did when I turned 28 (which was the really hard one for me) or even 29. Life is accelerating rather more quickly than I can keep up with lately, so I feel like 30 is OK. I can't see myself having a nervous breakdown this weekend or anything like that.

That said, it is a milestone. And Ben, being the fabulous husband that he is, wanted to celebrate it in a big way. He considered trips. . . but I wear out so quickly these days that it's not very realistic for me to spend a week in high heat and humidity or walking the streets of NYC, let alone fly long distances. So he went another direction.

Last night, we picked out something I have been wanting for a very very long time.


I'm no photographer, in the professional sense. I work with photography day after day and I know what my pictures look like compared to the people who really know what they are doing. Having a good camera does not, in itself, make someone a good photographer.

But I'll tell you what. . the pictures I take look a lot better coming from this fancy new thing than my little point and shoot. . . and that's close enough for me.

Prepare yourselves. . . you thought I took a lot of pictures before? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Metromint

I would like to take a moment this morning to give a shout out to one of the things that has made the nausea of pregnancy just a little bit easier. I was ignorant to it's existence until our trip to San Diego, where Ben's sister Tiffany introduced us to it's joyful qualities. I wish I had known about it far earlier in my pregnancy.

The product of which I speak is called Metromint water.



A lot of people swear by ginger to curb their nausea, but it never really helped me. What did seem to help, especially during the day, was a mint or a piece of gum. I would take handfuls of the free mints at the door of restaurants just so I had a stash in my purse. Peppermint just seemed to sooth my stomach.

One of the major issues of pregnancy (as those of you who have been pregnant can attest) is dehydration. If you don't drink enough water, especially in the summer, you start to have contractions. And believe me, whether or not they are actual labor, when you are only 6-7 months along, they're scary. So, as far as I'm concerned, anything that will serve the purpose of hydration while simultaneously making my stomach less sick is a perfect product.

It's tough to find in Utah, but totally worth the search. (you can buy it at the grocery store in California) We found it at Good Earth in Provo, but only in a small quantity. We found the biggest stash at Wild Oats in Salt Lake. And I'm not going to lie, we bought a lot. I found that the Spearamint flavor is just as good as the peppermint and I drink at least a bottle a day. Ben drinks just as much though. It's not just for the pregnant ladies.

Go get some and try it. I know it sounds a little odd, but believe me, it's so good. All natural, and a great way to avoid all of the sugar from those mints in your purse.

Day of Fun & Anniversary Partying

As a celebration of the time Chandy has been with our crazy little department (she's leaving for a British adventure), Matt decided some fun was in order. We had a nice lunch at Fuddruckers and then spent the afternoon at Boondocks.

Now, Boondocks is a place full of crazy fun things to do, but decidedly fewer fun things for a pregnant woman. I decided to play photographer of the adventure instead. Here are a couple of highlights:



Bumper Boats


And Go Karts

It was way to hot outside to stay out all afternoon, so after a game of putt putt we went inside to use up our tokens in the arcade. We decided to pool our tickets and redeem them for a team mascot. This is what we came up with:



His name is The Annoying Thing, and we are pretty proud to have him around.

The rest of the evening was spent up in Ogden celebrating Ben's parent's 40th wedding at Tony's pizza, a Hess family favorite. We had a nice big crowd of about 23 of us there, and though it was stiflingly hot in the restaurant, we had some great pizza, great conversation, and had an overall great time.





Ben won't be thrilled that I posted that last picture of him with Isabella, but I thought it was funny :)

Painting

As part of our crazy weekend we got the nursery painted. . . And although we strayed from our original plan quite a bit, in the end, I'm really happy with how it turned out.


We still have some touching up to do before we can put all the face plates back on and hang the blinds back up, but it's pretty tough to tell any of that from these pictures, so I'll show off our handy work in the mean time. The colors match his bedding perfectly, so as long as the furniture looks good in here, I think it's going to be an awfully cute nursery.

Hooray!!

Busy Busy

Tonight starts a straight week of back to back craziness. A big part of the craziness relates to Ben's parents visiting from AZ. But some of it is the result of us not getting stuff done earlier in the summer, and very little time left before Ben starts his many trainings, followed by school starting.

For instance, have we done ANYTHING to get the nursery ready for the baby? Oh no. Save painting a couple of squares of color on the wall to test the colors, we have yet to begin. That's one order of business for this weekend. We have a plan and some paint colors chosen. . . but we also picked a rather complicated stripe pattern, as well as a chair rail to execute, so we'll see how far we get.

Also serving to crowd our week, an activity at Heritage Halls tonight, an acting workshop for Ben on Sunday, a 40th anniversary party for Ben's parents, a cooking class at Sur La Table that I got Ben for our anniversary, and a visit (preceeded by a lot of house cleaning) from Ben's parents to our house. . . which they've yet to see. For those of you who know what my normal post-work routine consists of these days (basically a lot of time on the couch with my feet up) please say a little prayer for me.

I may just keel over, or go into labor, neither of which are good at this point. . .

More Wedding

Because the pros do it better than I ever could. . . Jer & Emily's photographer, Mary Clark, was awesome. She was so amazing with the kids and so patient with all of us and the crazy summer heat. I was very impressed. Here's a selection of her shots that I loved. (from her blog. . . I hope she doesn't mind. . . this is a glowing recommendation)

Everyone who was at the temple-- both families and friends

Just the Webster clan

The happy couple in color. How cute are THEY?!


I am so impressed with how relaxed Jer looked in all of the pictures. He's obviously a very happy guy.


Nathan, Tanner & Jenny. So sweet. . .

The bride and groom dance with little Aubrey.
Have you ever seen a cuter baby?

And to end with. . . possibly my favorite picture I've ever seen of my grandparents.

Glucose testing

Ben finally kicked my butt out the door early this morning to do the stupid glucose test. . . I don't know if I have gestational diabetes yet, but I know that test was no fun. I still feel yucky, 3 hours and one bacon egg & cheese biscuit later. Also, I have a nice bruise on my arm from being stuck twice.

On the plus side. . . it's over.

Jer & Em Tie The Knot

They finally went and did it. And because weddings are less about words and more about pictures (at least in my head), here are a few highlights.

The Happy Couple

Tanner kissing the bride his own way

Tanner & Carter being silly

Nathan & Jenny with Tanner

Natalie & Jason with Ethan, Aubrey & Carter

Us. Yes, I'm getting huge. . .

Me and Ethan

Waiting for the reception to start. . . killing time watching Ben play Mario Brothers on DS

The grandkids. Carter, Tanner, Ethan & Aubrey

I didn't capture the bride and groom dance (I was handing out cake!), but I did manage to catch this sweet moment.

The cake cutting. They were nice. . . no smashing in the face. But I think there were threats involved in that decision. . .

It was a beautiful day and an beautiful wedding. As usual, we had a little rain and wind for a few minutes while we were setting up the reception, but it all cleared up and the night was perfect.

Hooray!! And welcome to the crazy family, Emily!

Hairspray

Everyone I know has been telling me to go see this movie since the day it came out. It took us a little while to get to it. I am SO glad we got to it.

The word that kept coming to my mind while we were watching was "delightful!" This is just a great movie. It's fun, it's light, while still having a great and important message. The cast is amazing all the way around. The production design is gorgeous. And, it's CLEAN!! I could watch it with my grandmother without batting an eye.

It's definitely something I'll own on DVD.

NOW Who Thinks My Fears Are Irrational?

I'm just saying. . .

I know the odds are slim, but no one can say it never happens. .

I can't think of anything that would scare me more.