three movies

I caught up on my movie rentals this weekend, and saw and recommend these three:

Notes on a Scandal - Yeah, it's pretty messed up to watch Cate Blanchett have a love affair with a 15-year-old, but Judi Dench rocks it in this movie. It's pretty much depressing but still good.

The Queen - Interesting to see what all of the fuss was about with Helen Mirren taking on the role of the Queen of England during the time of Princess Diana's death. Although I was obviously aware of when she died, I wasn't really invested in it, so it was interesting to see it from this perspective.

Stranger Than Fiction - Definitely a good idea for Will Ferrell to do a movie like this, where he plays a more serious, "normal" character. There are some sad parts, but I really liked this movie a lot. Also, I heart Emma Thompson.

can I get an AMEN!

Apparently, my one-true-love favorite store, Target, has realized that pregnant ladies do not want to wear shorty short shorts in the summer. This is the only store where I've managed to find longer maternity shorts, not the super high-rise ones that are so popular with people who have better legs than I do. Go Liz Lange! Go Target!

my 200th post!

So this is my 200th post, and luckily, I have decided to not complain about something. In fact, I want to actually give props to living in New England, which I rarely do. The thing I've noticed in the past couple of days is how spring just seems to....happen. One minute, you're freezing your butt off, it's snowing, everything is dead...and the next minute, the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and the temps are soaring. Now, I know that we've had an early taste of summer this week and that the weather will surely moderate to more normal temps for this time of year, but still. It's a pretty glorious time to be outside, and it's so great to see everything come to life.

how pathetic is it...

...that I really feel like I've accomplished something by clearing out all of my TiVo'ed shows? I've watched everything that's mine in the "Now Playing" queue (don't worry, Greg still has stuff there, so it's not like it's empty) and I feel like I've completed a major project.

Seriously, on a scale of 1 to 10, how pathetic is this? I'd say about an 8.

holding the door

Here's the thing about being pregnant - people, sometimes complete strangers, will be nice to you in a way that they may not have been previously. Like, if you drop something, they'll pick it up. Or they will stop their car to let you cross the street. Or, for example today: I was rushing to grab the elevator in the parking garage where my car relaxes during the work day. Usually the group of people will let the door shut, and, assumedly, laugh their way all the way up at my misfortune. Today, they held the elevator door for me. However, it was with a caveat, as one woman in the elevator told me - "We only held it because you're pregnant." She said it in a joking way, but still.

Oh well, guess I'll just take advantage of the niceness of humankind for the next 14 weeks, until it's back to the regularly scheduled rudeness.

celebrity encounter

OK, so I will once again mention that I don't write about work on here, but I will say that I was in New York for the past couple of days for a work conference, and at one of the functions I met Hunter Bell from what is probably my second-favorite show of all time, [title of show]. He was super-nice and I must say, it was pretty exciting for this theater nerd. I will now, AGAIN, urge you to get your fannies out to the store and buy the soundtrack to their show, because you will not only enjoy the music, you will laugh and laugh. Or check out their really funny blog on their website.

In other news, I'm just happy to be home now. I'm exhausted and thrilled that it's almost the weekend. If you have no plans and want to check out some local theater fun, I'll be hanging out at SCT this weekend for our production of Grease. And since, as we all know, Rizzo turns out not to be pregnant at the end, I am not actually in the show. But I'll be working house and helping out as much as my swollen and tired feet will allow (by the way, I was not complaining about pregnancy there - I was being descriptive!). I am also very happy that the weather is finally supposed to be nice this weekend. The 70s! Holy crap! It hasn't been that warm since....January.

you know what? I take it back

In re-reading my last post, I just want to smack myself. You see, I promised myself that I wouldn't be one of those pregnant ladies who complain about the whole thing all the time. And in real life, I've really tried not to. But putting it out there on the internets is the same thing. There are so many women who try so hard to get pregnant, and go through painful fertility treatments, sometimes for years at a time and with no luck, and I have had it relatively easy in comparison. There have been some scares throughout, and I feel like I have a right to complain about those things (which I have not really done on the internets) but I can't bear to listen to/read myself complain about stuff like leg cramps and bloating. Because, geez. It's not like I didn't expect these things. So I take it back.

PS: Re:Melissa and Lisa's comments on my last post - having a little rump on your bladder is the CRAZIEST feeling ever. You feel like you're going to pee right there on the spot! I'm not complaining - I'm just sayin'. It's nuts!

complainy mcwhineypants

This has been such a crraaazy couple of weeks in my life. I feel like I never went on vacation - any zen-like effects of spending time in the sun are completely gone. Most days I feel like I'm running around in 20 different directions and nothing is getting done quite right. I can divide up my problems into three categories: work, pregnancy, impending parenthood.

As for work, well, I don't talk about work here. Suffice to say there is a lot going on right now, and with 15 weeks to go (at most) until maternity leave, I've got a ton of stuff that has to be completed before then. 15 weeks may seem like a long time, but time has a tendency of flying by in a very inconvenient way.

As for pregnancy, well, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant, and winding up the second trimester. I feel very physically different than I did even a couple of weeks ago - I'm bigger, the baby is moving around a lot more, the sciatica is absolutely excruciating at some times. I feel like I'm short of breath at some points, I have some pretty spectacular heartburn episodes, there's numbness in my leg on occasion, and I'm overall just feeling really tired and slow. Which, when you have a lot to accomplish in your regular life, doesn't really work. Anyway, blah diddy blah blah blah. It's just the same crap you hear from any pregnant lady (and believe me, I'm eliminating some of the really distasteful issues that have cropped up), and I'm sure no one wants to hear it.

As for impending parenthood, well, holy shit. And that's all I can really say about that.

Now, aren't you so glad you read this post?

weekend update

This is a picture of the sunset in San Diego the last night we were there.

Lisa said she missed my weekend updates. So here you go, Lisa, this one's for you:

Friday: Today I have to continue cleaning my house, because we are hosting Easter and my family will be descending on Sunday and I'd prefer they didn't think I live in a pigsty. It's actually not to bad as it is right now, but there is still plenty of work to do, and I tend to get obsessive-compulsive about it. Hey, looking back at the beginning of my blogging career here at Blogger, I was talking about the same stuff. Easter. Getting the house ready. Cooking. Life doesn't change much sometimes. Anyway, today is also my mother's birthday, so I will swing by there later, and then tonight, we are going out for Greg's birthday (which is tomorrow) with his parents.

Saturday: Although Saturday is Greg's birthday, we will be going out to breakfast with my mother and brother to celebrate her birthday. Then I have to do a ton of grocery shopping and start some of the cooking aspects of Easter, like making the desserts. I also have to try not to stress out at Greg about everything that has to be done, because, after all, it's his birthday. Too bad, because I'm really good at freaking out the day before people are supposed to come over.

Sunday: Easter. Hopefully we will eat, drink, and be merry, but I'm not sure how merry I'm going to be while trying to cook a meal, since I am total crap at cooking. Frankly, I feel sorry for my guests.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that I have to finish up work on the Grease playbill. Not sure when that's going to happen.

aaand..she's back

This is a picture of some seals (or sea lions?) in La Jolla.

As expected, San Diego was awesome. The weather was perfect every day, and we had a lot of fun. Every day, we did something touristy in the morning/early afternoon - went to the Gaslamp District, Coronado Island, San Diego Zoo, La Jolla, and the Midway Navy boat (huge ass boat that fought in WWII) - and then in the late afternoon we hung by the pool. I did a lot more walking around than I expected, but it's good for me. I was extremely sad to come home - seriously, I had tears in my eyes when I was going to work this morning - but I guess that's all a sign of a good vacation. It was really good for Greg and I to spend some quality alone time together. Things have been so stressful lately and it was a good break. And now that we're back in CT, we wonder - why the hell do we live here? If it wasn't for our families and friends, we'd definitely be on the West coast, or at least in warmer weather on the East coast. I can't stand this cold crap anymore.

Now I am going headfirst into an extremely crazy week - Greg's birthday, my mom's birthday, production stuff for Grease and we're hosting Easter. Arrrrghh!

FYI Tomorrow is my one year anniversary on this blog. Whoo hoo! Hasn't it been sooooo interesting? And enlightening? And what not?