Reading the paper this morning, there was an article about marrow donation and this quote jumped out and has been dancing around my head.
“I’m going to have to develop a little more patience with myself and really just enjoy being alive and not worrying about having to spend every moment of every day trying to achieve something.”
So, I will keep that with me today, as well as this video, which I imagine is what the inner workings of my brain look like.
I’m still in recovery mode from our most recent trip to Asheville, NC. The trip home was brutal. Peter misread the tickets so we missed our flight. I could not be annoyed with him. He was annoyed enough for the both of us. We rallied and tried to make the best of the 5 hours we had in the Charlotte airport after driving 2 hours to get there.
Luckily,(insert exciting music here!) We bought an iPad the day before and pulled that sucker out to surprise the kids as soon as we got to the airport. Needless to say, the kids were beyond happy and we were saved, quite frankly.
I ache from the tip of my head to the end of my toes. My body is angry and my fatigue is endless. I am working on it though. And by “working on it”, I mean doing a whole lot of nothing. (aside from making out with my VitaMix and giving my doggies love)
With the kids happy and occupied on the flight, I watched Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere, which I’d been dying to see. It was mesmerizing. I love how Coppola describes it as more of a mood, than a film. More like a haiku. It’s beautifully minimalistic. Just a brief glimpse into the life of the main character, a famous actor, played surprisingly well by Stephen Dorff. Elle Fanning is lovely. That girl lights up the screen.
I feel the need to wrap myself in a cocoon and come out in a few weeks. A vacation to recover from my vacation.
If only life were that easy.
Nope.
Thrown back into the thick of it.
In the meantime, I am smiling remembering sights and sounds from Asheville, good times had with family and craving food from Chai Pani and The Laughing Seed.
I had Peter pull over one day so I could snap some pics of this amazing mural. I only noticed later the creepy hanging chickens in the blue background. Blech. Ignore that part.
While snapping a few shots, a Jack Russell terrier came bounding towards me, barking. He immediately stopped as I bent down to pet him and give him some love. His scruffy bearded owner appeared from a doorway and yelled “BRUCE! Quit it!” I laughed all day at the thought of a dog named Bruce. Love it.
Pretty brilliant, right?
That line from Raising Arizona popped into my head when I starting writing this post. Remember that scene where relatives Gale and Evelle Snoats are visiting Hi and Earl H.I. and Ed and they read the sign that says “WELCOME HOME SON!” Then they turn to H.I. and Ed and say “Where’s he been?” It always makes me laugh. What in that movie DOESN’T make me laugh? Such a classic. (Edited later: Many thanks to “Anonymous” who corrected names for me. I prefer to call him “my brother” though, instead of “Anonymous”, it just sounds better.)
I haven’t blogged in many moons. What can I say? I got sucked up into summer and any spare minute is spent doing nothing or everything. I have also felt extremely pedestrian and like nothing I’m doing could possibly be of any interest.
However, here I sit, ready to regale you with bits and pieces from the land of Suburbia. In a list, of course, which is what I seem to be doing lots of lately. List-making that is. I have 5 going right now with all of the things that must be done before we can leave for Asheville, NC on Wednesday. This family needs a good dose of Grammy and Bompie and to relax with the rest of our family. This town rules. It really is so fantastic. I’m looking forward to doing LOTS of nothing.
This summer I vowed to do more with the kids and I’m freaking exhausted. I have a love/hate relationship with summer. There are aspects of it I love: lazy days, more light, berries, swimming, picnics, having nothing that we HAVE to do, driveways drinks with my neighbors. But the part I fear and dread is being a full time camp counselor. And believe me people, I have been one this summer. And I think I’ve been a pretty freaking good one. I’m tired. Quite honestly, I’m tired of them being here all of the time. I’m tired of the house never really being clean because they are always here. I’m tired of not having one minute to myself, unless it is the time between when they go to bed and when I fall asleep, which is roughly 45 minutes, and no, that does not count as quality self time.
Rant over. I love my little sun kissed wombats. I really really do. But I wouldn’t be too terribly upset if the school called and said “Mrs. Provost, it’s an emergency! We need the children back immediately!”
Oh sure, I would fake disappointment for their sake, but inside I would be planning out my first few days of freedom.
Things that have been making me happy lately:
…really wanting this shirt. Beard love!
…starting to feel a little better, although the nausea lingers. Puke.
…devouring “Boardwalk Empire” – SO GOOD!
…pouting over extra poundage. (I know, I know, no one wants to hear skinny people complain that they feel fat, but suck it. This is my blog and I can have fat days too.)
…searching etsy for valentine’s cards for the kids to give out. I hate the cartoony ones.
…wanting to buy this so I can learn Spanish
…still feeling loose and relaxed from a massage yesterday. Nothing like a masseuse with intuitive hands
…trolling cute invitation sites for HJ’s birthday party invites and a lovely friend’s baby shower invites. I heart great paper coupled with exquisite typography. It’s kind of my porn.
…excited to see The King’s Speech tomorrow
…dreaming of our next vacation
…eating Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt. OMG. (see earlier line point about extra poundage)
…looking forward to brunch with my mama and family this weekend
…reading this book and this one too and loving both.
…needing to get my hair cut. I’m starting to look like Cousin It.
Happy Weekend.
XO
Kanye West’s 30 minute film, “Runaway.” Have you seen this? I was absolutely mesmerized. It’s beautiful.
Welcome to the week, my little candy canes.
Hooray! I feel better. This fact is actually comical, considering my version of “feeling better” is still rubbish compared to healthy people’s version of “feeling better.” But, I’ll take it. Gratefully.
Don’t take your health for granted, ladies and gentleman. Just don’t.
Even with all of my ridiculous health issues, I frequently compose little post-it love notes to my body.
Dear Body,
Thanks for 37 wonderful years together. You’re doing a great job! Keep it up.”
love, Emily
Ok, on a totally random note, I watched Love Actually the other day. Many people name it as a favorite holiday movie and I hadn’t seen it in a while.
I remember thinking it was really sweet the first time I saw it.
This second viewing?
Meh.
Why is everyone referring to Natalie as “fat” in the movie? (Hugh Grant’s love interest) She’s clearly not. She’s stunning. There are 4 or 5 jokes about her being chunky, with tree trunk thighs and a huge arse. It started to irritate me. She’s clearly the most attractive girl amongst all of the naysayers. It just rubbed me the wrong way. And then at the end when she jumps into Hugh Grant’s arms he said ‘Good God, you weigh a lot.”
THAT’S supposed to be charming? I suppose it is English humor. And I WAS cranky when I watched it.
Anyhoo…
I was reminded of my deep affection for Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Colin Firth and Liam Neeson.
Speaking of Colin Firth, have you seen A Single Man? I’m sure I’m the last on the planet not to have seen it. Go see it.
Absolutely stunning. An astounding entre into directing by Tom Ford. Not to mention stellar performances by Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. It was really really moving. The juxtaposition of the agonizing grief he feels and the beautiful way the film is shot is mesmerizing.
I go through these phases where I fall upon something that fascinates me and I gobble up every available morsel of information about it.
Currently, my obsession is autism.
It started when I watched HBO’s Temple Grandin, the biopic about a woman growing up autistic in the 50s and 60s. (expertly portrayed by Claire Danes)
That led me to read one of Temple Grandin’s books, The Way I See It, as well as check out from the library ALL of the other books she has written, including a memoir by her mother.
Temple Grandin is the first person to accurately describe what it feels like to have autism. I found the information fascinating, not only as an insight into autism but human behavior in general. I really do believe that MANY people exhibit symptoms on the autism spectrum.
I find her wildly inspirational and super interesting. She is a highly regarded expert on Autism, has her doctorate in Animal Sciences and was instrumental in designing humane livestock facilities in the 80s. Phenomenal.
She spoke at TED in June 2010. Check it out.
I also recently saw Autism:The Musical, which I highly recommend. (you can stream it on Netflix for free)
AUTISM: THE MUSICAL counters today's bleak statistics with one woman's optimistic pledge to lead a group of autistic children in defying diagnosed expectations by writing, rehearsing and performing their own full-length musical.
I spent a good amount of time in awe of the parents.
Autism usually doesn’t present when the child is born. When it does appear (2,3 or 4 yrs usually) I would think it is almost like a death, depending on the severity, of course. The autism spectrum is quite large. In most severe cases, you have a normal, happy, healthy child and then one day, she stops looking you in the eye and starts to behave erratically. I can’t imagine the heartbreak.These parents grieve the life they thought their child would have and the life they thought they, as parents, would have.
However, as with anything, you have to keep going. It takes energy, commitment, love and positivity. You see that in this film.
I saw “The Kids Are All Right.” (skip this if you haven’t seen it or don’t want to know anything about it.)
I wish I had seen it before everyone proclaimed it to be the best movie in all of the land ever ever ever. I liked it and found it quite lovely but I much prefer seeing things without expectations.
Julianne Moore seemed a little awkward. I know her character IS awkward and insecure but at times I thought she was going to slip into her character from 30 Rock. Do you watch 30 Rock? She was on last season as Alec Baldwin’s girlfriend from high school with this “wicked pissah” Boston accent. She talks lower like she did in the movie, so I found it distracting.
Then I was totally distracted by Mark Ruffalo’s character’s hot girlfriend because I couldn’t figure out what she had been in before. Turns out its Yaya DaCosta from America’s Next Top Model 2004. (thank you imdb!)
I did enjoy Annette Bening. She was at her best. And there were moments that summed up parenthood and family life really beautifully.
My favorite favorite moment though, and my heart fills with warm gooeyness when I think about it, was when Nic and Jules (A. Bening and J. Moore) were lying in bed facing each other and Nic says “I love you, chicken” and Jules says “I love you too, pony.”
Sigh. There was such a beautiful intimacy to it. I think about it all the time. Not to mention I loved the use of such random terms of affection. Beautiful.
I thought it was a little heavy handed how Mark Ruffalo was depicted as such a playboy. Ok, we get it. He’s attractive and gets a lot of ass. The hetero sex scenes seemed a bit extraneous and acrobatic while the lesbian couple was completely under the covers. (although that could be a nod to the fact that when you’re married, things are just not that exciting.)
I really wanted Joni to wash and brush her hair, although I found her adorable and sweet. Same with Laser. Such a sweet kid. Except the part where he “discovers” his friend is a douche. I’m sorry, the friend SCREAMS douche long before he even suggests they pee on a stray dog.
Overall, I enjoyed it though…especially the Heath bar that I ate greedily like a kid who snuck out of fat camp.
Did you see it? Did you like it?
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