Almost, TGIF!

I've spent the past week working my butt off. It's totally gone! I look a little weird right now but, other busy people tell me it will come back soon. Over the past few days, I found myself skipping out on a couple of dates because I was too tired to hold a lucid conversation. I instead chose to sleep...before 9pm! Granted I've been up at 6:30am trying to fit in an almost daily run (which is a very positive change in my life) but, a 9pm bedtime is pretty out of the ordinary for me.

Tomorrow night, I'll be toasting the Libras in my life, eating cheesecake treats and attempting to keep my eyes open long past the time when they would normally close. Saturday night, I'll be wishing a friend well as she and her partner head west to Seattle to start the next chapter in their lives together. Saturday and Sunday are all mine. I plan to thoroughly enjoy that free time to relax and recharge.

Tonight, I had to deal with all the apples that haven't been getting eaten! I gathered them up and started peeling, then chopping, then cooking and finally cooling. Steve came home and said the house smelled delicious. I can't smell it anymore but, the apple sauce sure tastes yummy! Would you like some? We have WAY too much.

PS: If you have even the slightest bit of anxiety, don't ever see the movie Law Abiding Citizen. Just don't. I guess it was well done for a completely messed up story but, I wanted to hug my pillow for the five hours that followed the movie. Not worth the stress.

Julie and Julia

Maybe it's because I'm absolutely in love with the optimism that's threaded throughout this movie or the fact that I can totally identify with how hard it was for Julie to "kill" those lobsters but, I loved this movie! I think I smiled/laughed for most of two hours while watching Julia hoot and holler over life's simple pleasures...and perhaps cried a teensy bit too watching the ups and downs that the main characters faced in each of their lives. It's just life. But, what a wonderful gift it is when you discover a passion that you are able to share with others you love. Now, that's rich!

"Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) are featured in writer-director Nora Ephron's adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell's Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends...until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."  -Columbia Pictures

Bottle Shock

I watched the movie Bottle Shock last night. This is the story, (based on actual events) of the early days of California wine making featuring the now infamous, blind Paris wine tasting of 1976 that has come to be known as "Judgment of Paris." Fun! I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

"Sommelier and wine shop owner Steven Spurrier, a British expatriate living in Paris, concocts a plan to hold a blind taste-test intended to introduce Parisians to the quality wines coming from elsewhere in the world (and save his business in the process). He travels to the not-yet-famous Napa Valley in search of contestants for his Judgment of Paris taste test, where a chance meeting introduces him to floundering vintner Jim Barrett of Chateau Montelena. This twist of fate and the resultant oenological epiphany forever change their lives along with that of Barrett's son, Bo, as well as the fortunes of Napa Valley wineries and the global wine industry as a whole. "    

-Sundance Film Festival

ACTUAL "Judgement of Paris" Results:

1. Chateau Montelena 1973 United States

2. Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973 France

3. Chalone Vineyard 1974 United States

4. Spring Mountain Vineyard 1973 United States

5. Beaune Clos des Mouches Joseph Drouhin 1973 France

6. Freemark Abbey Winery 1972 United States

7. Batard-Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon 1973 France

8. Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles Domaine Leflaive 1972 France

9. Veedercrest Vineyards 1972 United States

10. David Bruce Winery 1973 United States

UP

I went to the movies last night to see Pixar's latest film, UP. What a wonderful experience! If you have the chance to see this, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.  

Partly Cloudy is the next Pixar short film directed by Peter Sohn. It’s being shown in theaters before the movie, Up. They did it again. How can they make me laugh and cry in less than 6 minutes?

Variety’s Review of, Up:

"Depending on what you think of Cars, Pixar makes it either 9½ out of 10 or 10 for 10 with Up, a captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along. A tale of an unlikely journey to uncharted geographic and emotional territory by an old codger and a young explorer could easily have been cloying, but instead proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled. Lack of overtly fantastical elements might endow Up with a somewhat lower initial must-see factor than some summer releases. But like all of Pixar's features, this one will enjoy a rewardingly long ride in all venues and formats. Pete Docter's picture has the privilege of being the first animated film to open the Cannes Film Festival, on May 13." 

Oh, and to those of you who have already seen the movie, it would take 105,854 balloons to do the job or 1,492,537 cubic feet of helium. Cool!