Happy Birthday Early!

Ultimate Rewards Points
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

My birthday came a bit early courtesy of Lexis Nexis! All through law school I was obsessed with the Lexis Nexis rewards points they handed out for trainings or regular visits to lexisnexis.com. So obsessed that by the time I graduated almost 30,000 points. To give you some perspective, most of my friends had around 1,000.

So, last week I cashed in my points on their amazon.com website and got:
- a digital picture frame
- scanner
- card reader
- several books
- a cupcake carrier
- $10 iTunes gift card

The majority of the shipment came today and I've been playing with my digital picture frame all night.

Thanks Lexis!

Wednesday: Tortilla Soup

Wednesday: Tortilla Soup
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter Release Party
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

Ok, so all you peeps have till Friday to read the book because I REALLY want to post about the book! Consider this your warning ;)

Saturday: Neopolitan Ice Cream Cake

Saturday: Neopolitan Ice Cream Cake
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

I made this for our good friend Jennifer and David, who were in town visiting from North Carolina. It was chocolate angel food layered with strawberry and vanilla ice cream and it's dang good if I do say so myself.

Swing Time

Despite my self-professed passion for dancing flicks, I had never actually seen a Fred and Ginger movie and - oh man! - was I missing out. It is like they are connected by invisible strings, moving constantly in sync.
More importantly, what makes them standout against all the ballroom I've ever seen, is the seeming absence of effort. Sometimes I watch ballroom dancers, particularly the hardcore professionals, and it seems like every muscle in their body is tense. But F&G just glide and twirl and dip as if the movements are more natural than walking. It is stunning.
What surprised me even more (besides the blackface number no one mentions) is what good actors they both were. They were funny and charming and their chemistry was amazing. I won't lie and say the rest of the movie was genius - it's still all about the dance numbers. However, overall it was really entertaining and now I really want to see more F&G flicks.

Mama Maggie

While at home in Paducah last month, I did interviews with my great-grandmother Maggie Stewart and my grandmother Nancy Stewart. I've finished editing the interview with Mama Maggie - complete with family photos and music. It will of course be more interesting to the Stewart's on the blog but I think the life of any 95 year old is interesting whether you are related to her or not. You should at least watch till she talks about her mother and her ability to "bless you down." ;)



Mama Maggie from hollandnm and Vimeo.

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Congressional Working Moms

This article is AMAZING!

Big Love

I've got one word for why this season of Big Love rocks my pants off....

MARGENE!

Screen on the Green

Screen on the Green
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

Last night Nicholas and I went to the opening night of Screen on the Green. They opened with Annie Hall, which was a big hit and really fun to see with an audience.

We packed a picnic which (I hope ya'll are sitting down for this) I COOKED and prepared. That's right I chopped, cooked, and generally prepared eggplant pasta salad AND I baked peanut butter cup brownies for dessert. Then I packed it all up with bread, cheese, and fruit that I bought at the grocery store ALL BY MYSELF.

Are you impressed yet? You should be. It's all part of my campaign to remain a well-pampered housewife and convince my husband I can put my legal skills, such as analysis and research, to good use without actually getting a paying job. ;)

Saturday: Chalupas
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

Yeah, it's been awhile. We know.

My Simpson Avatar

Please don't miss the T-shirt! :)

Underwater Doggy Treadmill from hollandnm and Vimeo.

Global Literacy

Last week's Newsweek was about global literacy, aka "What You Need to Know" about the world around you. They had a quiz you could (and still can) take to test your global literacy. I consider myself a pretty informed person but I was pretty shocked by my 55% on the quiz. Of course, if there wasn't a sports section I believe I would have done significantly better.

However, the following articles spelling out 181 Things You Need To Know contained several facts that shocked me even more.

Here's a sampling:
1. The largest Muslim nation in the world is Indonesia.
2. Brazil is the worlds leading producer of ethanol, which they make from sugar cane not corn.
3. More than half the 12.8 million Mormans in the world live outside the United States.
4. The United States is ranked 24th in internet broadband penetration (after Estonia).
5. The last time the No. 1 blockbuster of the year focused on a woman was 1964's Mary Poppins.

Maggie

Maggie
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

If there is a cuter dog in the universe, I would sure like to know about it.

Fourth Anniversary
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.

The Fourth Anniversary is fruit and flowers. Nicholas and I always try to stick close to the traditional gifts. This was my "fruit" basket from Nicholas. I got him a tomato knife because a tomato is totally a fruit!
We also went out for a lovely dinner at Oya and had a fabulous time.

Hallelujah

And the congregation said AMEN!

Cabaret

Can you tell I'm having a bit of a movie marathon? ;)
I LOVED this movie. It was infinitely better than Blade Runner (see Christina I have appreciation for things made before I was born...in the 1980's! - sorry just had to throw that in!). The whole thing was really fantastic - the costumes, the music, Liza Minnelli. And Joel Grey as the MC was nothing short of mindblowing.

Even if it was just a silly musical it would have been entertaining, but I think what made it genius was the deeper layer. The desperation of Sally Bowles and her band of fools. You know it's good film making when you hate the characters and feel sorry for them at the exact same time, especially Sally/Liza. Her intensity is so magnetic, but it is so tinged with sadness - just like her mom. I actually thought about the two of them a lot while watching it because I felt just like I did when I was watching Judy Garland in A Star Is Born. What we know about her real life makes her performances so much more touching and ironic. I think the same is true to a certain extent with Liza. Her portrayal of Sally Bowles is such a work of genius because it is difficult at times to imagine where Sally ends and Liza begins.

Big thumbs up - absolutely loved it.

Blade Runner

Holy crap was this movie boring. I mean I get why it's important and it is pretty amazing that they tapped into issues of globalization and genetics almost twenty years ago, but I almost fell asleep like three times.

My biggest problem is the pacing was painfully slow. Plus, all the special effects look so dated. The only thing I really liked was the contrast of all the 40's hair and clothing in the futuristic landscape.

Overall, I have to say if I'm going to watch a story about robots gone wrong it's going to be Battlestar Galactica.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Wow...make sure and watch this one when you're all rested up and in a stable mood because it's quite a battle. Elizabeth Taylor is phenomenal - loud, crude, biting. Richard Burton's performance increases at this steady pace that is just short of psychotic. The whole time I kept wondering how these people said these things to each other, even acting, and retained a half-way decent relationship. Then I read this on wikipedia:

The relationship between them portrayed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is reputed to have been similar to Burton and Taylor's real-life marriage.

Well, there you go. It actually reminded me of the movie Closer, where the fights are so real they reach right through the screen and slap you in the face. Of course, they were both directed by Mike Nichols, which means his four marriages maybe aren't that surprising.