It's a Start...

We're on our way.

www.cleft-media.com
This is to be the company website, which will soon house a reel and other assorted company items. I also put a placeholder at www.justonr.com. You can tell I'm not a designer. We purchased a template for the company site so that I won't have to do any design work.
I also bought my own domain, www.cookingwithfeminists.com, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I'll probably get a placeholder up this afternoon while I develop something, and I'll add a link at that point. Any content suggestions?

**Update! I'm live at Cooking With Feminists. All I have at this point is a graphic that gives the feel I'm going for. I really want to do a digital scrapbooking-type motif with a kitchen theme. Does anyone know where to find decent FREE digital scrapbooking elements? I did a Google search today and found a few things, but I need a bit more in my cache. I know that some of you are really into digital scrapbooking....help a girl out! Thank you :)

On Demand Free Movies: Say Anything...

So I've decided to start posting on the movies that I watch 'on demand', since on demand movies are usually b-rate or totally awesome. I usually spend at least one night a week watching worthless television, and I think that the world needs more bad movie reviews, so here's my take on the best and worst of 'On Demand'. For what it's worth to those of you who have Comcast On Demand, one of my favorite films of all time, "Magnificent Obsession" starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson and directed by master of melodrama Douglas Sirk, is currently available. Walk, don't run, to your TV set!

Last night I watched Cameron Crowe's teen classic, "Say Anything." Snicker all you want, but I've never seen it before. Since I decided to do about 45 minutes of strengh training and yoga while watching the film, I didn't pay enough attention to really get a sense of the 'filmic artistry' that could've been in the film. I also had an incident with an unnamed one-year-old that made it difficult to focus on the last part of the film, and which cut into my yoga and stretching. (He watched the last 30 minutes of the movie with me.)

I don't have much to say on the way of a movie critique. It's hard to criticize something that's gone down in the canon of teen film, as do most movies from the 80s with John Cusack. The film had a great tie-in deal with 7 Eleven, as Lloyd has two Big Gulps during the course of the film and the couple of Lloyd and Diane end their first date at the infamous convenience store. (It's amazing what I choose to focus on when I watch films.) I would eulogize about the politics of masculinity and femininity in the film, because that's what I usually do, but I can't focus enough tonight. For now, all I have to say about that is, "There are enough guys in the world. Don't be a guy, be a man," or something like that, courtesy of Lloyd's best friend Corey. I bought into the romance, which I don't do very often. The earnestness of the actors, and the simplicity and believeability of the plot, made it work better than, say 'Pretty in Pink,' which has the same theme of all classic teen movies - opposites attract. All in all, worth seeing once. (On another note, the last movie I saw was 'High School Musical 2' - not proud of it - and the romance was so completely manufactured, just like the rest of the film, that I don't see how anyone could believe it, even a tweener. Have our brains really digressed that much in such a short amount of time?)

Frankie in Action!

He crawls!

He pushes buttons and has a mullet!

He looks out the window with Anna!

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs!

Thank goodness Bridget's not an '07 pug! (And yes, this is a joke...and if you have a pug, soooooo funny.)

Dog days of summer....

So, it's topped roughly one billion degrees for the past several days now. If you go outside, you risk melting. We stay indoors, all day; therefore, nothing exciting happens! We spend a lot of time opening and closing doors, playing with plastic water bottles on the kitchen floor, ripping clothes out of drawers, and napping. At least the air conditioning works well (keep those fingers crossed!) Unfortunately, the aforementioned activities don't allow for many photo opportunities, so you're stuck with a look into the mundane everyday.

Bridget really could care less.

This is a common scene at our house...Frankie eats, Bridget waits patiently, knowing that at some point, Frankie will throw food onto the floor at her. He does this no matter where he's eating...at restaurants, at other people's houses...he must feed his furry friend!

Frankie's favorite game - open, close, open, close, open close....this can go on for ten minutes at a time.

Mr. messyface.

Frankie wants his MTV, yo.

And for good measure, here's a picture of Frankie's friend Anna, who came over to play yesterday. I couldn't get a good one of them together, so just pretend. There was lots of messy snack eating happening in the living room; Bridget was in heaven.

Help!

I'm having a little problem. Where are the good public pools on the southside? I could drive all the way to Gwinett County, but there's GOT to be something nearer to here, say in Peachtree City even. I live just south of the city of Atlanta, and I'm dying to go swimming. Does anyone know of anyplace that might work? Are there any baby-friendly pools out there?

Good News, Bad News

First the good news...I talked to the woman at Georgia Perimeter College today, and she said I definitely have a job; apparently they stopped looking for someone when she met me, which is flattering. The job is teaching an online film course. Basically, I facilitate the students, answer e-mails, grade papers, etc. The college comes up with the curriculum, so I don't even have to deal with that. They've never done an online film course, so I'll be the first one to test the waters.

The bad news...the job doesn't start until spring semester, which is after Christmas. Apparently they weren't able to create the course in time for fall semester, which starts in two weeks. I kind of figured that had happened since it's been over six weeks since my interview and I had been warned that it wasn't a top priority for fall. This means I've got to keep looking for freelance work until then - if anyone has any leads, let me know! I am very excited, though; this is my ideal job and I'm so glad it worked out. Now I just have to figure out how to sneak "Snakes on a Plane" into the course curriculum...

Laundry Land

Daddy has a weird sense of humor. It's not fun to be put in the laundry basket!

Hey, kiddo! Look at the camera! Mom wants to blog about this!

Now Frankie knows what the world looks like to a pair of dirty trousers.

American Idol

So...duh, of course I didn't get through to the next round. I never planned on getting past the mass call today, but I tell you, it was fun. Well, all of the waiting around wasn't fun, since I was there for 11 hours starting at 6 AM until I finally sang at 5 PM, but it was a good experience. There was your usual parade of weirdos, like the girl dressed up as Annie (complete with red curly wig) and the she-male who was wearing tin foil as an accessory, and there were more 'showbiz moms' than I'd ever like to see again in one place.

There were over 10,000 people in the Georgia Dome this morning. To audition, they pulled people down onto the green in the order they were seated and then divided the masses into groups of four. Each group of four singers presents themselves at one of twelve tables. Behind each table sit two producers, who act as judges. Each individual gets about 30 seconds to sing, and when those four are finished, another four approach the table. I figured that probably about one in every 200 people gets through to the next round, so the odds are stacked pretty high against each individual person. I saw a lot of dreams crushed today, it's really quite sad how much people invest in competitions such as American Idol.

Since I don't sing pop music, I assumed that my chances of advancing were slim to none and I decided to just have fun with it. I figured that the judges were bored to tears with pop ballads, the likes of which were once sang by Celine Dion and Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, so I decided to go a completely different route. I ended up singing 'Come on Eileen' by Dexy's Midnight Runners. The judges looked on the verge of tears when I went up to sing, and were thoroughly not into the song until I broke into chorus. Their faces lit up and at the end, one of the judges, who happened to be a British lady, told me that my song was 'brilliant.' I think I threw them for a loop and they really enjoyed the change of pace. In fact, the other judge thanked me for my song choice as I walked away from the table after my audition. She said it was 'refreshing'. Now, you may ask, why didn't you advance if they liked you so much? It's pretty simple - my singing didn't sound so hot. I know I wasn't in top form, and as I said earlier, I'm not a pop singer. But I had a huge grin on my face as I did the walk of shame to the exit. At least they liked me - and I totally had fun singing for them. Isn't that what it's really all about? *warm fuzzies*

Here's a photo that a professional company took of me as I was walking down to the field for my audition, hence the watermark. I tried to get the kid behind me to take a photo, but he didn't quite get how to work my camera...and this is the best I can do. It serves as proof that I was there.

Last call!

The infamous baby food coupon expires on Wednesday. I was at Target this morning and Gerber 3rd foods are on sale for .65 a jar. If you buy two using this coupon, they are .15 a jar, which is a pretty good deal. The coupon is really great for buying those .52 cent 2nd foods jars, making them .02 each, but if you are like me and have a kiddo that's beyond 2nd foods, this is the time to stock up before the deal is over!

Suggestions?

Yessiree, I've been registered....

So I was talked into trying out for American Idol by my loving spouse and another friend who is also trying out. Mostly this is just for laughs and some people watching (there will be around 10,000 people in the Georgia Dome on Tuesday, complete with total weirdos and showbiz moms), but I don't want to make a complete idiot of myself. I need song suggestions! I have to have two ready. I'm mulling over a couple, but they aren't very well known songs for the most part. I'm thinking of doing "Come on Eileen" as covered by Save Ferris in the late 90s and perhaps "Hide and Seek" by Howard Jones or "Bittersweet" by Moxy Fruvous. But really, I have as much chance of advancing past the first audition as Bridget does of learning to do taxes. There's no need to get all serious. But what do you think? What should I sing? (We've already ruled out Yung Joc.)

If you are enjoying my blog, please make comments! (This means you, family.) It encourages me to post more often :) And you don't have to register for blogger to comment, just use the anonymous button and put your name in the comment.

Thanks!

Mirror!

Fernbank FunTime

On Wednesday, Frankie and I went to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History with our friend Rebekah and her kids. We had a great time seeing all of the lizards and snakes on display, and I caught a few photos of the Frankster having fun in some of the exhibits. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the python. I apologize to all of you snake enthusiasts out there; maybe next time.

Frankie makes a friend in the Fantasy Forest. Try saying that three times fast.

In one exhibit, kids could stand in front of a green screen and see themselves in front of a weather map on a tv. Frankie was more interested in banging on the wall than pretending like he was the next big talent on the Weather Channel.

Who *is* that good looking child?

Frankie and Aryana make multi-colored shadows.

Birthday Cake Destruction!

I think the title says it all...Juston put together this little gem.

We gonna party like it's your birthday

Frankie had a massive pool party for his birthday. We also kind of lumped Daddy into the celebration. We calculate about forty people came to the party, and our house was bursting at the seams! We had a great time getting wet, eating pizza, and as you shall see, devouring cupcakes! I'd say it was a pretty successful first birthday par-tay, and I was finally able to get a good night's sleep after fretting for a few days beforehand. Sadly, we did not bust out Guitar Hero, and with the X Games occupying all of the free TV time in our house, we haven't had a chance to rock yet. Soon!

Swim time.

Cake massacre!

Aquarium Adventurer!

My parents are in town, and to celebrate Frankie's birthday, we loaded up and went to the Georgia Aquarium yesterday morning. It was packed, but that didn't stop us from having fun! Frankie especially loved it; he would point at everything he saw, and he told us all about the fish in his special baby talk way. I gush, but it was really cute. Lots of photos ahead! I skipped the pictures of the aquatic life and focused on Frankie instead, because honestly, that's what you've come to expect from this blog! I know my audience and what they want.

Frankie and mommy, lookin' at some fishes.

Frankie gets a piggyback ride from Daddy. Here he demonstrates where to look to see a fish.

Grandpa and Frankie take in one of the Beluga whales.

Frankie and Daddy in the bubble, looking out through the River exhibit. Frankie was quite the attraction; several people stopped to watch him and comment on his cuteness.

The aquarium is so awesome! I love it!

Jellyfish.

All in all, it was a fun time, rounded off with huge helpings of Mexican food at No Mas! Cantina in Castleberry Hill. Our dream loft is just down the street from that restaurant, but that's beside the point. The food is really good; however, I'm happy to eat at any place where you can order a Dr. Pepper and a large bowl of cheese. Delicious!

Happy Birthday, boys!

Today is Frankie's first birthday. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I was in labor for 16 hours and we welcomed the little guy into the world. Our lives have changed so much since then, but I wouldn't trade Frankie for anything.

Yesterday was Juston's birthday. Yep, last year I went into labor on Juston's birthday. My water broke all over his car while we were driving to have his birthday dinner. This was three weeks and a bit prior to my due date, so it was quite unexpected! At least this year we were able to have dinner without interruption- we even had a babysitter!

Just under a year ago - note the meatwad onesie.

Yesterday morning's present fury.

Happy Birthday to my boys! I love you!

If you live in Utah...

You should totally go see "Harry and the Potters" at the SLC Library on August 11th at 7:30 PM. They're fantastic - nerd rock at its finest. All of their songs are about Harry Potter- in fact, they are two brothers who perform as Harry Potter year 4 and Harry Potter year 7. Here's some copy from the e-mail blast I got:

Friends, Wizards, Countrymen!
Harry and the Potters here. We wanted to tell you about our Manifest Destiny Summer Reading and Rocking Tour 2007! We are in the middle of an awesome tour and we are coming by your area!

The motto for this Summer's Tour is this: "You got to do all the stuff that you love!"
Read! Rock! Love!

Also our summer reading list is now posted on our website. If you write a book report on one of the books on this list and bring it to the show we'll give you a free Harry and the Potters tooth brush! Wow!

Here are the details for our Utah Show!

August 11th, Saturday
Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City Public Library
6:00pm, FREE!
210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Rock the Library with Draco and the Malfoys!

I only publicize stuff that I like. I'm advertising this because it's FREE and it's awesome. You should go.