Monday, February 25, 2008

Promises promises

I have a ridiculous sweet tooth. I can pass up lots of salty snacks without much turmoil - but put something sweet in front of me and it's all over.

One of my favorite small treats is Dove dark chocolate. Occasionally I like the dark chocolate covered almonds. But the standard is Dove dark chocolate Promises. They're just the right size to have something small after lunch (just 1! or maybe 2!). My Granny keeps them at her house - and often they can be found at my parents. I like the Dove brand better than Hershey's for sure. However.

The people who make these feel the need to put cute little sayings inside the wrappers (hence the term, promises). At first, I found this fun - like fortune cookies!

I changed my mind however, when I ran across this one several months ago: "Chocolate always loves you back." Are you serious?? There are so many things wrong with someone putting that inside dark chocolate - that I don't know where to start.

If I were a stronger person, I might boycott the product until they improve their sayings. I just don't think I can do that.

Here's a sampling of today's "promises":
  • Listen to your heartbeat and dance.
    That...would be a weird dance. And I'm in my office. No thanks.
  • Flirting is mandatory.
    Says who? Are you going to come make me? And again...I'm at the office. That is not allowed.
  • Get your feet massaged.
    Now you're talking...

(Yeah - so that was 3 pieces. But it's Monday!)

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

A Scene from the Malebox

Earlier this evening at the malebox

Spear: Want to find out your Sawyer nickname?
Me: My what?
Spear: Your Sawyer nickname. Mine is Rerun.
Me: Okay
Spear: It's "Moonbeam"
Me: What? That's dumb. It's a hippy name
Josh Stewart: Or your Native-American name
Me: Try my new (married) name - see if that's any better
Spear: Lots of laughing It's "Short Pants!"
Even more laughter from the boys
Me: No one better call me that.

A few minutes later
Lewis: Well, I'd better go. I'll see you all later. Bye, Short Pants.
Me: DO NOT call me that.
Lewis: You can call me "Quickie"
Me: No. No I will not call you that. Ever.

(Do not call me Short Pants.)

My Choice for Best Picture

I see a decent amount of movies each year - though most of them are the popular/blockbuster ones (rather than critics-choice/artsy types).

I'll admit, I haven't seen any of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture (though I really want to see "Juno"). Actually, now that I look through the full list of nominations, I've only seen 3 of the nominated films. I saw the 3rd "Pirates" movie, "Enchanted," and - my favorite film of 2007
- "Ratatouille."

I was on CNN.com tonight and saw this article about it - "Was 'Ratatouille' Ripped Off in Oscar Race?" There's no doubt in my mind, this is not a movie made with kids in mind. Don't get me wrong, it's clean - but the main subject matter is a little more nuanced/sophisticated than your average animated movie. I think it was a beautiful film - but more than that, it had amazing things to say about being an artist. I loved it SO MUCH.

Here's a quote from the article (from a NY Times critic):
"a nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film"

So the question remains - why isn't one of the highest-grossing AND critically-acclaimed movies of the year up for the big prize?

What do you think? Could an animated film ever win best picture? (And besides "Juno," are there any other Oscar nominated films that I'm missing out on?)

Friday, February 01, 2008

Snow Day!

I'll confess - yesterday I said that all I wanted was for the snow to miss us. (We ended up with ~11 inches)

However, my day inside has been rather nice so far - probably because I have nowhere to go. I made myself CoCo Wheats this morning. (This is a family favorite on cold days - my mom would make it when she was trying to get us out of bed.)

It seems like a good time to catch up on all the things I thought about blogging but haven't gotten around to yet.

  • My friend Chris is now blogging. Chris is a friend, a co-worker, an Illini fan, an artist, a fellow anti-condimentarian, and a junior high minister. I'm looking forward to reading his blog. Check out this video he posted this week - People in Order

  • As Chris mentioned, my Nana turned 100 years old last weekend. She is amazing. We got a chance to celebrate (a few weeks early) in December. She was so happy - and she really enjoyed her cake!

  • This summer is going to be a crazy one for my family. Josh and I are getting married July 12th - and my brother Josh is getting married not too long after that (they haven't set a date yet). Big fun!