Audrey Hepburn

#4: Watch every movie Audrey Hepburn has starred in.

Here's the list of movies I found on IMDb:

1. Roman Holiday- 1953
2. We Go To Monte Carlo- 1953
3. Sabrina- 1954
4. War and Peace- 1956
5. Funny Face- 1957
6. Love in the Afternoon- 1957
7. Green Mansions- 1959
8. The Nun's Story- 1959
9. The Unforgiven- 1960
10. Breakfast at Tiffany's- 1961
11. The Children's Hour- 1961
12. Charade- 1963
13. Paris When It Sizzles- 1964
14. My Fair Lady- 1964
15. How to Steal a Million- 1966
16. Two for the Road- 1967
17. Wait Until Dark- 1967
18. Robin and Marian- 1976
19. Bloodline- 1979
20. They All Laughed- 1981

I've seen a few of these and am actually quite excited to see a lot of them.  I have to say, My Fair Lady is one of my favorites.  I love the book (Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw for those of you that don't know).  I did my high school senior English project on GBS and got a 99% from one of the few teachers who didn't seem to like me!  Is it sad I remember that?  I think I still have it - the project that is.

Do any of you love old movies too?

Fourth of July Midwest Road Trip Leg 2

Where:  Evanston, IL

How long: 2 days

Activities:  Walks (the theme of our trip really, Kayla got spoiled)
                
                  Hanging out with Gigi

                  Gigi feeding me my cereal and putting me to bed (to give Mommy a break)

                  Reading Glamour

                  Practicing my sitting skills

                 A lot of practicing

                 Oh, and I finally found my toes!  (This isn't entirely true. She found her toes a long time ago but hasn't really cared about them until now.  Now she's constantly grabbing them - laying, sitting, diaper changes, constantly.

Evantson wasn't as eventful as Glen Ellyn, but that's why I (Mommy) love visiting Papa and Gigi - because I get to relax a bit and we just get to be together.

Thursday morning (7/7/11) we headed up to Milwaukee for our final leg...

Check off #33

Yesterday was Aunt Meg's 29th birthday...what?!?!  I kept telling her that it's her last hoorah before 30.  I came up with, what I think is a pretty great gift idea for her from my sister, mom, grandma and I.  You can read about it here.  Then she told me she wanted to go see Harry Potter 7.2.  We had seen 7.1 around my birthday so it just seemed fitting.  She wanted to see it in IMAX 3D.

I'm glad because it can check something off my 101 list, but I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda scared.  I've been to an IMAX movie.  Justin and I went to see Eagle Eye, and all I can remember is turning to him and saying, "Holy **** the screen is huge!" and "Is it just me, or is this REALLY loud?"  Does that make me old?  Well either way, I'd heard that the 3D can make some people feel a little woozy (spelling?) and I was a little worried.

We planned to go to the 9 am showing at an AMC (a great deal of $12 instead of the whopping $16.50- seriously I used to love the movies...)  We bought tickets ahead of time but didn't think it would be that crowded.  This is what we pulled up to:

Yes, you are correct.  That is people waiting in line to get in the door at 9 am.  Part of this was because they opened the doors late, therefore they started the movie late to accommodate everyone.  Well then we were worried about seating and rightfully so.  We ended up in the second row off to the side when I turned to Meg and said, "At this point, I think I'd rather be front and center than off to the side." (A decision I think we probably were glad for later.)  So front and center we were...no less excited.

Well, the movie was great.  I'm surprised at how much I remember from the books.  I actually kinda liked the 3D (unlike Megan) and the only complaint I had was my neck hurt from sitting in the very front row.  And I'm sad the movies/books are over.  I think I would see another movie in 3D, it would have to be a particular kind of movie though, nothing with things coming out the screen at me or too much motion.  

The one thing though, since I'm an analytical person, I couldn't figure out why every time I tilted my head slightly to either side, the whole picture became blurry.  The edges were a little blurry (which made me think about aperture and depth of field in photography) but everything got blurry if I tilted my head.  Which led me on this trail of thought at the beginning of the movie:

1. Why the heck would that happen when I tilt my head?

2. Damnit, now I can't move my head in either direction.  I have to stay perfectly still with my neck craned backward.

3. I can't believe people have 3D TVs and sit in their own homes with these stupid glasses on just to watch TV.

4. Wait...why can't TV companies just add a piece of glass or whatever at the front of the TV screen made of whatever these dumb glasses are made of so people don't have to look like idiots in their own homes just watching TV?

5.  Seriously Melissa, watch the movie you just paid $12 for (on sale.)

Now, I really want to read the books again.

And I need to make a "piggy bank" so I can save the $40 from my 2 completed tasks.

NMM 7/18/11

What you didn't get right today you can practice again tomorrow.

(After all, isn't that what you will teach your little one?)

I feel like I'm making a million mistakes every day, but she's alive and kicking, I'm still breastfeeding successfully and she seems happy most of the time (maybe not the past few days but...)  I must be doing something right.  Part of what I love about being a mom is the trial and error, sort of like a puzzle for this puzzle lover! :)

Post-baby shopping

I don't think I've tried to hide my love for shopping at all.  I love it.  The rush of a new pair of jeans.  The cool breeze you feel in a new tank top.  Imagining the number of outfits you can wear that new cardigan with.  The thrill of a new pair of shoes.  And now, the excitement of dressing your daughter in that new adorable fall dress.

Well shopping for myself post baby has really sucked.  I feel so limited to shoes and jewelry and make-up. Not that I have a problem shopping for new shoes...ask my husband.  I just feel so crappy about my new body that even trying on clothes doesn't sound like fun at all to me.  It doesn't matter how many people tell me that I "look great", because I don't feel that way.  I feel like all of the clothes I wore prior to getting pregnant accentuate all of the areas that I really hate.

I know I have control over this, and that's why I made a few exercise goals on my 101 list.  But I need someone to be accountable to/with.  I don't enjoy exercising on my own.  I need a partner in crime.  I want to join a gym where I can take some spin classes and pilates classes and have a set time that I feel like I'm letting the instructor down if I don't show up.  Plus, I'm so freaking tired since I think we got dealt the short end of the sleeping stick as Kayla is really not a good sleeper, I don't have any energy to do anything after carrying around my little 15 pound weight all day. (Not to mention my back and hip are KILLING me.)

I just feel crappy about my body and the one thing that was my favorite thing to do to improve my mood is no longer fun.  Maybe one day.

For now, I'll stick to buying these:

3 generations later...

I've always felt so blessed to have all four of my grandparents.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but the only time I teared up at our wedding was during the "anniversary dance."  For those unfamiliar, this is when the DJ asks all the married couples to come to the dance floor and gradually tells people to continue dancing if they have been married for X number of years, otherwise take a seat.  We specifically did this because I knew my paternal grandparents had been married the longest out of all of our guests, and their anniversary is the day after ours, so for ME it was sort of a formality and nice way to show my love for my grandparents.

Little did I know that all of the married couples had sat down at around 35-40 years, except for BOTH sets of my grandparents, who continued dancing as the DJ called out, "40 years?...45 years...50 years..."

My paternal grandparents in the foreground, and my maternal grandparents in the background

And then something happened that is one moment I will never forget.  All of our fabulous guests rose to their feet, clapping for my 4 grandparents.  I remember so clearly turning to Justin with tears in my eyes, saying, "See, I have good genes!"  And I do.  Very good.

I know I've said how much I love seeing my family members interact with Kayla.  I've always been close with my Nanny.  I spent 3 of 4 spring breaks from college with her in Florida.  Two of those, it was just me and her.  So when we went to the park the day before the fourth of July, and my sisters, brother, aunt and cousin all made their way to the big kid swings, I quietly walked away from Nanny pushing Kayla to take some photos of the big kid swingers.  When I turned back, I snapped some very heart warming photos of my grandma and my daughter.  I love seeing the joy on her face to be spending time with her great granddaughter!

I desaturated the color a bit to make it look a little "old school" and added a lens vignette (aside from my normal white balance, exposure, contrast and sharpening edits)

Fourth of July Midwest Road Trip Leg 1

The first leg of our trip was 3 days and 4 nights in our hometown of Glen Ellyn, IL.  We were initially going to be driving through the night on Friday night the 2nd of July so that we didn't have to waste a whole day driving.  But Megan ended up deciding to take the whole day off work instead of just half a day and we left at about 5 am with Kayla and Samson in tow.

The drive started out ok.  Kayla slept and Samson wasn't SUPER annoying (despite his constant attempts to climb over Kayla in her car seat to get to the window.)  Things seemed to progressively get worse, but that could also be attributed to the increasing time in the small car.  (Later in the trip we decided to switch up the seating arrangements which I think worked out a bit better.)  I caught a rare moment of peace for Megan and I on my iPhone:

Notice Kayla sleeping in the mirror...

We arrived at Nanny & Gramps' house (my maternal grandparents) at around 6 pm on Friday.  I fed Kayla her cereal and put her to bed and we soon followed.  We (the girls) spent most of Saturday shopping as I mentioned here, and Sunday my dad came down for the day to spend some time with Kayla.  Megan went to lunch with a friend from high school, and Lauren and I took off to Buy Buy Baby for some essentials.  I left my dad and Nanny to put Kayla down for a nap (which didn't go very easily on this vacation).  I recall them saying she screamed for a bit but eventually, my dad was able to walk around holding her and she slowly began to fade.  My mom's sister and her two daughters came over to spend a little bit of time with us before her whole family came out for the Fourth.  We all went to the park and enjoyed some swinging time.  It's so nice to be able to feel like a kid (not me personally as I was the photographer but I live vicariously.)

I had to really try to recall what exactly we did on Sunday, but I can tell you without a doubt what we ate: Portillo's, Barones pizza and fried mushrooms from Alfie's- things you pretty much can't visit Glen Ellyn/Illinois without.  Is it sad I recall the food so clearly? :)

Monday was the Fourth of July which I posted a bit about here.  But to expend on the day filled with activities:

Megan and I were up at 5 am to stake our claim on a spot on Lake Ellyn for the fireworks.  I haven't done this before (I haven't actually been in Glen Ellyn for fireworks in at least 5 years), but I have to say I was a little disappointed.  I was expecting some elbowing and yelling out "Don't you THINK about putting your blanket down there.  That's our spot!" and maybe some intentional accidental tripping of opponents...I'm not competitive at all.  However, all I got was my grandma, Megan, me and the dogs (since they were going to wake up the whole neighborhood if we didn't bring them with) walking calmly to the very edge of the lake and a guy riding by and telling us to go ahead and put our blankets down.  What?!?  BEFORE 6 am?  Megan assures me in previous years there are lines of people waiting just outside the sidewalk at 5:30 am biding their time until they can rush to their "spot" at 6 am.  Not so much this year.

After placing their blankets down, people like to sit there and admire there spots...

When we got back, Kayla was awake and Megan and Lauren got ready to run the Freedom Four (miler).  I walked with them to the start since Kayla was getting a little fussy.  The dogs barked/howled at us the entire way.  You could hear them from the high school where the start was.  Kayla was MUCH cheery-er after our short walk so Nanny and I stood on the corner by their house to watch the runners at the beginning and the end of the run.  The dogs "cheered" too.

After the run, everyone showered and got ready for the day.  Then Nanny, Megan, Brendan and I headed down to the parade with Kayla.  Kayla didn't cry once, in fact, despite the loud bands, bagpipers etc, she practically fell asleep.  It was hot but it was so great for me to be there again, seeing superman (see Megan's post), the bagpipers, the old fashioned cars, and the horses.  There may have been too many politicians but it was still fun.

After that, my aunt's family got there and I spent the rest of the evening trying NOT to overstimulate Kayla with the amount of people there.  I finally got her to sleep before the fireworks.  I had researched how to take good photos of the fireworks with my camera prior to the show so here are some of my favorite shots:

Pre-show practice with glow bracelets (one of which I burst all over my cousin Kelsey)

Too much smoke, I didn't try to edit any of these yet...I just love the silhouettes

Kayla did get woken up due to the EXTREMELY loud finale and it was a bit of a rough night, but I vow to NEVER not see fireworks on the fourth of July as long as I live.

Lauren's dog Layla

Kayla loves volleyball :) and eating...

Oh I forgot to mention, within 2 days of being there, Kayla learned how to sit up on her own:

We headed up to Evanston to stay with my parents for a couple days on Tuesday morning...