I love lamp

I have an apartment - yaaaaaaay!! I sign the lease tomorrow - more details (and pics!) to come...

It's a Bust

Aaaaaaaand, I'm officially apartment hunting.

(Nuts.)

Still Waiting

No signature from the investor approving the deal today...*sigh*

Jane says not to give up hope until it's really, really too late, but truth be told, the odds are slipping.

And yet, there's still time for a miracle. ;)

Join me on the Edge of my Seat

So after spending the day mourning the loss of potential Seattle home-ownership, Jane got an email from the wily bank-negotiator (who was conspicuously absent during the final necessary hours before the deal had to be closed) which said, "Oh! I can get this deal done - I'm too busy to do it now, but I'll email you on Monday."

Aaaaaaaahhh!!

So after pulling her hair out in frustration, Jane talked to the lender and asked if we got all the paperwork to him on Monday, was there still a chance we could close in time. His response?

Maybe. IF the paperwork gets to him by Monday morning, it could still happen.

Oh the stress of it all!!

Update: There have already been several emails fluttering around today and the gist of it is, if the lender can get the paperwork in time, we have about a 50/50 chance of closing in time. However the bank negotiator said he has already sent TWO requests to the investor to sign off on the paperwork and he hasn't seen it yet. The deal definitely won't close without the investor sign off, so....

Stay tuned!!

Aww, nuts...

Just found out today that the deal on the 2 bedroom condo in Greenwood I was trying to buy fell through.

*sigh*

So it's back the drawing board (and likely renting) for me...

Grape Stomp 2010

It's that time of the year again, when, for the sixth? seventh? year, we head over the mountains to the east side of the state for a mini-road trip to the Champoux Vineyard for the annual Grape Stomp Event!

Last year the stomp was canceled, so we were pretty pumped to get back into action this year. However, we had a few notable changes. First of all, Uncle Joe sold the hop farm! Tradition dictates that after work on Friday, we head east and crash for the night on Uncle Joe's many spare beds, couches, and square feet of carpet. Fortunately for us, he sold the farm to his son Jeremy (my cousin) so it all stayed in the family and we were able to keep the Friday night tradition alive - just sans Uncle Joe and (Aunt) Lila. Sadly, they took the spoils of the liquor cabinet with them when they moved (no more Jim-Beam-Mountain-Dew or Crystal-Light-"vodka" to be had, awww). But we made the best of it (read: drank beers instead) and Jeremy proved to be an equally good host.

Secondly, several of our regular attendees were unable to participate this year. Fortunately, I've been busy making new friends here in Seattle, so we still touted a group of 11 - half veterans, half newbies. Not quite the robust 20 we had two years back, but after a few hours together, you could hardly tell the two groups apart; everyone made a real effort to play nice. (Actually, I think they genuinely liked each other...there were a couple epic matches of horseballs and some great jokes born out of those new friendships.)

Lastly, since Uncle Paul is still on the road to recovery from the West Nile virus, we didn't stay the night at the Chateau as we had in year's past. Instead we camped at the nearby Crow Butte Park. With access to bathrooms, a few air mattresses and french press coffee in the morning - it worked out just great.

All in all, we walked away with a lot of fun memories, new friendships, some great wine, and - oh yeah - one of our teams took first place (but you didn't doubt that we would, didja?)

And finally, just to tickle your senses, our team names:

8lb, 6 oz Baby Jesus (first place)
Bangerang!
Valentine's-Day-After-Tomorrow-Never-Dies-Hard-(er)-With-a-Vengeance
(and one more...but I can't think of it right now)

Though Dustin couldn't join us this year, he had several good team name suggestions for us, including (but not limited to):

Mud-Butt
Full Diapers
Projectile Poopers

(Can't tell he has a new baby at home, can ya?)

*All pictures courtesy of Evan Taylor-Hurley, from whom I completely stole them, without his knowledge, off his Facebook wall. :)

Thanks Evan!! (You don't mind, right?)

Mama Quilt #6: Abby

When I found out the Terps had a bun in the oven, immediately ideas began to swirl around in my brain for Abby's mama quilt.

Abby and I met freshman year of college (even though she attended SPU and I was up north in Bellingham) and I can't rightly say we "hit it off." Don't get me wrong - we liked each other alright (er - at least I think Abby liked me then...) but neither of us knew how long the other would be in the picture, so I'd say we started out more acquaintances rather than friends, per se.

But as the years ticked by, it became more and more apparent neither of us was going anywhere. Then she went and married Dustin soon after graduation and sealed the deal (so to speak - heh). Once we were both B'ham residents, we set about the work of actually getting to know each other.

While some might say Abby can be a tough nut to crack - it's never been that way for me. During those first few weeks after she moved to Bellingham, when she invited me over to make several different types of cheesecake for the purpose of simply taste-tasting, I knew this friendship was for real. Abby is kind-hearted, fiercely loyal, straight-forward, thoughtful, awkward, hilarious, and - generally speaking - always right. It's been my honor to get to know her over the years; she's one of my most dearly-loved friends.

So, for Abby's mama quilt, I decided almost instantly it would have to be strictly black and white with some kind of predictable pattern (to demonstrate her extremely logical, steadfast mind) contrasted with an unexpected burst of wild color outside the pattern to demonstrate those spontaneous moments of unfettered jubilation she sometimes lets sneak out.

Here's the final result - I so hope she likes it. :)
























PS - There is another, totally different, bright pink flower on the back side as well. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of that side, so you'll just have to imagine it for now.

Moving...(again)

My life is nothing, if not interesting. Well, perhaps not interesting per se (other than to me), but at the very least eventful.

Spent all weekend moving into two storage units and now currently occupy a spare room at the Champoux/Stratton residence (aka Poux Palace).

The plan is to only be here one month or less. Back in April, I put in an offer on a short sale condo. If it doesn't close by September 30th - I lose the home buyers tax credit...and the ability to buy property in Seattle. The tax credit (and the fact that this condo is priced grossly under market value in order to sell) is the only reason I can even think about affording it. Without the tax credit, I'll be stretched a wee bit too thin for my comfort level. So, with August 30th being on Monday (and financing taking about 30 days to roll out) that leaves only one month until my deadline; therefore, my window of opportunity is about to close.

Unless I can pull an Indian Jones by the end of the week and eke through in time, it's back to renting!!

Dunt-dunt-duh! The plot thickens....(but in the mean time, you can find me in Kirkland.)

Step Up 3D*

*Yes, yes, I've been gone from the blog for a while. I've been attempting to deal with grief and settle into a life in Seattle - I'll get to all that. But first: let's talk dance movie!

I'll cut straight to the chase: the dancing is straight-up, fantazimacaly wow!, spare no expense, bang for your buck (and then some), A-MA-ZING. Dare I say, it overachieves. As the finale in the trilogy, it delivers. (Plus, for all you SYTYCD fans, there are tons of fun cameos - and who doesn't love cameos?)

The acting, however (brace yourself) is absolutely horrendous. Like really terr-i-ble acting. And I'm not talking about the brand of bad acting one might normally be prepared to accept in a dance movie. We all know we're watching dancers who are simultaneously trying to act. At best, it tends to range from slightly cheesy (Step Up 2) to slightly stiff (the original Step Up). I mean hey, they can't all be a triple threat like J-Lo. I get it. I accept it. In fact, I know this phenomenon well. But this movie....it was almost embarrassing. (Oh and the plot stinks too.)

I know, I know: no big surprise, right? I suppose I should've seen that coming (especially since the first two weren't Oscar winners or anything), but one can hope that the acting and plot would at least be palatable. Instead, they're actually cringe-inducingly bad. Apparently the budget was only so big - and they went for broke on the dancing.

Generally speaking, a bad, cheesy, or well-worn plot doesn't bother me. Do I hope for more? Sure. But there are plenty of circumstances where we excuse a meh plot. Take for example action movies. Are the plots often good? No. But it gets our hero into and out of trouble (all with a hot babe on his arm) so at the end of the journey we are completely satisfied. Romantic comedies are no different: girl meets boy, a misunderstanding of epic proportions ensues, insert a public, heartfelt, apologetic soliloquy and all is forgiven as they live happily ever after. Sports movies to do it too: our hero has to overcome some adversity in order to win the game (and usually the morale of entire town, school, or city) in the last inning, half, minute or period - yaaaaaaay!! Often the plot is simply the vehicle to get us from point A to point B. Sure it's nice if that ride is a high class car from time to time, but most often we could care less if the car is a little dinged up; we really just need a reliable ride.

What bothers me is a poorly constructed plot. Is it so much to ask that the character's actions make logical sense? Is a little character building really so cumbersome? Take the movie Sweet Home Alabama (Gasp! Yes, I said it. I know everyone seem to really like this movie, but it really, really bothers me. Rest assured, my enjoyment of Reece Witherspoon and Josh Lucas is able to quell my distaste...but I digress.) The conflict between Melanie Carmichael and her mother is established early in the movie as the result of Melanie's unwillingness to stay in the south (e.g. rejected airline tickets, refusal to see NY, disapproval of leaving Jake, etc.). However, during the height of Melanie's which-man-do-I-choose dilemma, her mother counsels her to "get out" and to "not end up like me." WHAT THE HECK!! This kind of discongruity bothers me to no end. Does she want her to stay or to go? To be loyal to her roots or to sprout wings and fly? PICK ONE! Otherwise, the mother's entire role within the movie is absolutely meaningless; it's simply noise. If it doesn't contribute to the plot - EDIT IT OUT.

Perhaps it's not totally accurate to say that this kind of misalignment is what troubles me so. Rather, it's when a movie has the potential to accomplish something, to truly tell a wonderful tale, to really capture you and whisk you away from reality....but instead it completely pusses out and falls flat on its face. This, this actually physically bothers me; it offends me. To be able to visualize the vastness of a story's potential and to be powerless to see it come close to fruition...ugh, it pains me. I want to shake my fist and yell, "Can you not afford a decent editor?! Can you not see the gaping holes in your story? Call me! I'm not doing anything! I'll help you!! YOU'RE SO CLOSE TO SOMETHING GREAT!" It's as though someone was too impatient to wait for the masterpiece and instead revealed to the world something that was simply "good enough." Who does that? What if Michelangelo had done that? (Granted, this movie is no Michelangelo, but you get my point.)

Such is the case with Step Up 3D. Though it admittedly recycles all parts of its plot, it demonstrated the potential to be MORE than just a "dance movie." But instead of facing that challenge head on, it attempts to disguise its shortcomings with beautiful people, special effects, and killer dancing. It pisses away its poignant moments by juxtaposing them with sterile acting and a loosely strung plot line. It cheapens what could have been a fairly sweet story by forcing what should be the subplot into the lime-light.

The two beautiful people on the movie's headliner poster? Yeah, they can't act and (are you ready for this?) have short and uninspiring dance roles in the movie. They're not even the main characters (as much as this movie tries to pretend they are.) Instead the movie is really about Moose, the skinny kid from the subplot of Step Up 2, and his best girl friend. And truthfully, that storyline is actually well done. They keep a predictable story interesting, have a few genuine moments and, of course, they dance well...but who would see a movie about him? So they cram beautiful, crappy actors into the movie to be on the poster and shove a C+ plot for them into the storyline. *Sigh* I get it, but...really? I mean, the "hot dude" doesn't even really dance! He's always in the background in the group dance scenes and most of the shots are from the waist up in the tango scene. Oh Step Up, we're too smart for that.

Perhaps I'm being greedy: asking too much of my dance movies, holding the bar too high. But in all honesty, I don't think so. The pieces were there; sadly, they just didn't put them together.

Now, just because I couldn't stop editing the movie in my head to make it better and more believable, that certainly doesn't mean I didn't like it. I mean, pfft, com'mon!! It's a dance movie!! OF COURSE I LIKED IT!! I've never met a dance movie I didn't like*. I can hardly wait for it to come out on DVD so I can buy it and complete my little trilogy and watch it over and over and over and over...

*Except of course for Save the Last Dance. That movie was terrible. And not only does Julia Stiles butcher it with her "acting," she clearly doesn't do any of the real dancing (her stunt double has a completely different body type. Please.) I am only willing to tolerate crappy acting on account of good dancing. Alternatively, I'm willing to accept a really good dancing double if: a) the acting is quality and the main actor does at least some of it (Footloose), b) the movie makes a smooth and seamless effort to fool me (Flashdance), or c) the movie is pre-1999 when it became all the rage to do your own stunts (too many examples to site here). STLD (or rather Julia Stiles) clearly meets none of these conditions. Poor Sean Patrick Thomas.

Cutest. Niece. Ever.

I mean, right? Got to spend some q.t. with my niece this weekend and I think I'm in love. She's smiling and beginning to laugh and I love that I can actually interact with her. I just want to eat her up!!

Probably the crowning moment though was when Julia was in her carseat carrier on the floor and Gracen got on his hands and knees and stuck his face right up to hers and began cooing, "Hi baby giiiiirl" just like his parents do. It was simultaneously hilarious and adorable. What is even better is that his cooing made Julia smile, which made him laugh, which made her laugh, and then the whole thing started over again.

Pretty awesome. :)