If you watch So You Think You Can Dance then you know who Mia Michaels is.  I want to be Mia Michaels.  I think she is brilliant, funny, talented beyond belief, quirky, original and kind.  Her choreography makes every dancer look like a genius. I honestly wonder if she choreographed something for me, if I too would look wonderful.  I doubt it, as up to this point my choreography consists of sitting on the couch 1, 2, grab the remote, 3, 4 eat some popcorn 5, 6…you get my gist.   But if anyone could make me look fabulous, it is her.  I love how honest she is and how real she sounds when she talks to the dancers.  I know it sounds crazy but I think we would get along great.    Plus she has a wicked hat collection that I am extremely envious of.  So if I can’t be Mia Michaels, I would just love to know her.  Or be in the same room with her.  Here is her website…http://www.miamichaels.com/

Sigh.  Big sigh.  Last night I got the call.  The one from my husband’s friend after hockey.  I immediately knew when the phone rang at 10pm and it was a strange number that our luck had caught up with us.  My husband broke his collar bone playing hockey.  Why do men insist on continuing to play a sport that continues to cause them harm?  One by one, all of his friends have had some big injury while playing hockey.  His number was up.  So now he sheepishly sits at home, in a sling, in a ton of pain, needing a lot of care and attention.  Which would be fine if I didn’t also have two children and a dog all also requiring a lot of care and attention.  I understand that he is really hurt and miserable and that this affects him more than me, but now I have to do double the work to keep our household running.  And our household had a pretty freaking busy schedule to start with.  If this was the universe’s way of telling me to slow down, I am not amused.  So yeah, we can handle this and get through it, after all it is only a broken bone.  But. Sigh.

OMG!! I have had the book Twilight on my books to read bookshelf (yes there is a whole bookshelf) for at least a year, maybe two. I am not even sure where it came from, if a friend gave it to me or I bought it myself. (so if you are reading this and you need your book back, let me know) When someone lends me a book I put a sticky on it with their name so I remember who to give it back to after I read it…so this tells me I probably bought it or someone bought it for me…anyhow, wow! I loved this book. First of all, hello, vampires! My favourite topic lately…and it was just so well written and really easy to read and the romance and the vampires, yum. If you remotely like vampires you need to read this book. I just got back from buying the rest of the trilogy, New Moon and Eclipse and the fourth book gets released this weekend. I am so excited about the rest of this series…I even saw they made a movie out of Twilight that is being released in December. After Eragon and The Golden Compass I am leery of seeing movies made out of good books though…

We went to see The Dark Knight last night and I have to say it was good – but I didn’t love it as much as the hype made me think I would. Heath Ledger was phenomenal but didn’t have a ton of screen time, he really was amazing though, and I liked the movie’s take on his character. It was very sad really that his last film role doesn’t let us see his face. I am a huge Christian Bale fan (not in the same league as my friend Alex of course), and I adore him as Batman. He is beautiful to look at and plays the role so well. I think he acts the role as well as Heath plays the Joker but of course he will be completely overshadowed. So it was good, but not BEST MOVIE EVER good. What did you think?

I just read the greatest book. My father lent it to me and said “You have to read this book!” So even though I have an entire bookshelf of books to read beside my bed, I picked it up immediately and started it. I was hooked from the first page. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is even Canadian, which just makes me like it even more. It is a story about an old man reminiscing on his time in the circus during the Depression, as well as coming to grips with what aging has done to his body and mind. It was a very powerful story, but also very light and easy to read. I absolutely loved it…one of the best books I have read in ages.

PS If you have read it or decide to read it, let me know what you think…

A friend asked me yesterday where vmchick comes from and I thought others may be curious about it as well, so I am blogging about it . I was choosing a user id for something or other while I was in the midst of a glorious affair…with Veronica Mars .  I get so involved with my favourite tv shows that they really consume me.  I can’t miss a single word of dialogue!  I started taping (now PVRing) all my shows years ago, because I get ferocious if I miss anything.  I also love the ability to replay favourite moments like Logan and Veronica’s heated kisses…or one of Weevil’s sarcastic comments.  Anyhow as an ode to one of my favourite shows of all time I will forever be vmchick…

Last night a friend and I were reminiscing about my favourite movie, and one of hers too…which leads me to this post:

Nature’s first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold

Her early leaf’s a flower

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf

So Eden sank to grief

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

- Robert Frost -

Stay gold guys! Still loving Dallas after all these years…

Okay so I am not sure what it is like for everyone else out there, but wow are boys and girls different in my house. Here is a conversation held last week in our house. Me to my seven-year-old son, “Hon, how was camp today?” Head doesn’t look up, semi-grunt noise emits from behind book. “Hey! I asked you a question – how was your day?” Head pokes halfway up so eyes are kind of above book but continuously darting back to words on page, “Good.” “Did you play any sports at camp?” “Soccer.” “Was lunch good?” (let’s be honest, now I am just bugging him to see if I can get his full attention and any details at all.) “Yep.” End of conversation. Me to my eight-year-old daughter. “Did you have a good day?” “Oh yes Mommy! It was fabulous. We got there and I saw Ava and we were so happy to see each other. We were both wearing the same colour skirt! And then our counsellor showed up and we played a game called squirt. It was really fun. (insert detailed description of squirt) Then we went to the pottery room and I used the white clay to make a gargoyle that I named Arabella who will live in a castle. Ava made a gargoyle named Rosie who will live in the castle next door to Arabella. Mommy, Ava and I are best friends forever. Then we painted a beautiful picture on a huge piece of paper and I used sparkles and it is so pretty. Can we hang it on my door please? After that it was a bit drizzly out so we decided to stay in for snack…etc etc etc…”

Flash forward a few hours, me to my husband, “Hey, how was hockey last night?” “Good.” “Did you win?” “Yes.” “Did you go out afterward with the guys?” “Yes.” “Want to hear about my day?” (grunt) “So first I had coffee and I decided to have a different kind today because I found out they make iced raspberry mochas, and it was so yummy! After that I called the painter about his estimate and we discussed the price of the paint. Did you see the colours we talked about? I put them out on the dining room table. Then I bought my aunt a card and wrote in it and went and bought a stamp and then I put it in the mail. I hope it gets there on time etc etc etc…

My question to you – is it the same in your house?

A friend just sent me a song title by a Serbian musician called Don’t happy be worry…http://www.ramboamadeus.com/ if you want to check it out. I don’t know the song, but wow do I know the worry. My Mom looked at me a few years ago and said, “I had no idea you were such a worrier!” And I kind of thought about it…I have always been like this, a mass worrier. I think it is what gets me through the day. Here is a typical thought pattern for me: I have next week all to myself, the kids are in Vermont and the husband is away. Woohoo! Free time. Hmmm, what am I going to do with all that free time? Well I can take the dog for a lot of walks I guess. But he will need to be off leash, or he won’t get enough exercise so I will have to drive to the dog park. But I hope he is okay in the car with me. What if I have a hard time parking in the dog park? What if the dog park is too buggy? Will I remember water for the dog if it is too hot? I will still need to make some plans for the week so I don’t get lonely. Will I have time to do the dog park and then my evening social outings? Will the dog miss me while I am gone? Is he going to get enough attention without Kevin at home? Now I have plans every night next week. Did I book too much? Am I going to be tired? Am I going to have time to relax and read? Will I need to cook? I guess I will need groceries, when will I have time to do that? etc etc etc…I could keep writing in this tangent forever…this is a very real picture of what is going on in my brain all the time. But you know, somehow it works for me…so maybe I should download this guy’s song? It could be my Ally McBeal theme song

PS – Now I am worrying about if anyone is going to read this and if they do read it if they will understand it and will they like it and is it clear and are there any spelling mistakes…

So I don’t think I could be more excited by my husband’s latest present. Most women dream of diamonds, jewels, even nice trips…me, I dream of a front loading washer and dryer. A few years ago, we stayed with my in-laws (who have everything) and I experienced the joy of a front loader for the first time. You can stuff it so full and it all gets so clean. It is fast, energy efficient and quiet. You can wash your winter coat, your comforter, 10 beach towels at once. I was in love. Real, true love. I knew I was really behind the times when I went to my parent’s house last year and even they had made the switch. We have always joked that my Dad is anti-technology. He still shuns the microwave and scoffs at the dishwasher. Growing up, we were the last family on the street to get a colour tv. Yet even they had shiny new front loaders…sigh. I knew I was truly the saddest woman on earth when we arrived at the beach cottage we rented in BC two weeks ago to find that yes even the rental beach cottage had a front loading washer and dryer. I must have finally complained enough, because this weekend, my wonderful husband bought me the shiniest, newest front loaders we could find. They got delivered yesterday…they are LG Tromm in titanium. Wow are they beautiful. We all watched in awe as the first load started up (it actually senses how much is in the washing machine and adjusts everything automatically). I did a load of about 10 towels to test it out, and they came out so clean and almost dry…I put them in the dryer (which also automatically sets everything depending on how much is in it) and they came out dry the first time, which never happened with my old dryer. I did all my laundry in 2 loads last night. My life is now perfect. I am so happy!!