Dudes, that was a really effing good movie. Perhaps I needed a good cry, because LORD, I cried. I’m a crier in general, but I realized that I almost never watch anything alone, and when I cry in front of others, I try to keep some dignity. But I was alone, and I just let it go. Injustice is one of those things that just sets off my waterworks, and with no one around to judge, I just sobbed and sobbed.

Anyway, I loved it. You should watch it. Everyone who is nominated for Oscars for that movie should win.

It’s described as “down-tempo trip hop” which is usually not my bag, but this stuff makes me wanna do some shots and dance in my yoga clothes. Or perhaps that’s revealing too much about my typical Saturday night.

I chose a photo I took in Thailand. I love the colors and sweep of the beach and the feeling I get when I look at it.

Don’t you love it? I’m very pleased with the look and the quality.

Here’s my Paris corner:

I’m happy about the rest of the room, too, though we SERIOULSLY need to address our lame, shlumpy, non-light-blocking shades. Did you know shades cost a million dollars? (hint hint, any uh, shades companies, that may be reading…)

(just kidding)

(not really)

All this would be perfect if SB liked the picture. Apparently he doesn’t. Hmph. He doesn’t like the couple walking in the lower right, whom we’ve taken to calling The Germans. Something about their sensible shoes and 80’s hairstyles. ANYway, *I* love my new canvas and highly recommend these guys. You can get a code for 50% off and free shipping if you like them on Facebook should you want to get your own!

Just don’t listen to your husband. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He didn’t like those lamps at first, either, and CLEARLY he was wrong about those.

You may recall, a couple of weeks ago, we got to go down to Portland and see our friend’s band. You have no reason to believe me when I say they are SO! GREAT! because clearly, I am biased. But when I tried sitting down to tell you WHY they are so great, I found this review, and well, they said it better:

There was always something quite intriguing about Jonah’s previous efforts, an underlying darkness buried beneath their anglophilic rock-and-roll swagger. Whatever it was, it’s come to the surface on The Wonder and The Thrill, a surprisingly grown-up pop recording in which the quartet outgrows their previous niche appeal and aims for the heavens with immaculately crafted rock numbers that balance homemade tarnish and mass-consumption sheen. Simply put, opening number “Please Let Go” is one of the finer rock songs you will hear this year—a slinky and harmony-heavy track that plays off the vocal strengths of frontman Henry Curl—and you’ll get equal pleasure from the Travis-sounding “Bees” and the mournful “Crowns (If You Must Follow).” Actually, no matter where you find yourself in The Wonder and The Thrill, you’ll be content. EZRA ACE CARAEFF, Portland Mercury

Seriously. This is a REALLY GOOD album. You can listen to it here on their website. I was just going to list my favorite tracks for you, but just like the review says, you can’t go wrong with any of them!

And guess what? Local peeps! Jonah is playing this Thursday night at The Comet Tavern in Seattle! We will be getting a babysitter and staying out late on a school night, and it will totes be worth it!

BUT! Non-local peeps, do not despair! I picked up an extra copy of the Wonder and the Thrill and I’m going to have a give away! (Locals, you may of course enter as well) International peeps, you are not excluded! I’ll pony up the postage should one of you win.

Leave me a comment to enter and I’ll do the draw-ring on Friday. You can just say, “Pick me!” or you could also leave me a new music rec.

Yay!

But dudes, I love the holidays and all the cozy festive-ness, and I like to start thinking about Christmas as soon as it gets chilly and dark and we’re definitely there. AND GUESS WHAT. So, remember that Clever Girls Collective thing? I got to do that sponsored Cheerios post? Well, I applied for another thing like that recently and I’m so excited for the opportunity, I’m giddy. I get to blog about Shutterfly’s Christmas cards! YAY!

I LOVE Christmas cards. I know they’re not everyone’s bag, but I get SO excited about getting the mail from Thanksgiving through New Years. My blog friend Swistle created a Christmas Card Scoring System that totally cracks me up. It’s so true! I’ve copied it here, but please do remember, the cleverness is all Swistle’s:

* Card received: +5
* Card received before December 1st: -1
* Card received after December 25th: -1
* Card is pretty, and looks nice on wall: +3
* Card is glittery: +1
* Card sheds that glitter: -2
* Card is shiny / has metallic accents: +1
* Card does not contain card, but only letter, so there is nothing to put up on wall: -5
* Card is e-card: -5
* Card includes photo or is photo card: +5
* More than one photo: +2 each additional photo
* Photo is non-Christmassy so will look good on fridge all year: +1
* Photo is Christmassy so increases holiday feeling of card: +1
* Red-eye causes family to appear possessed by evil Christmas spirit: -1
* Photo was taken on beach this past summer in summer clothing, so family looks chilly against winter pattern of card: -1
* Photo includes dogs with glowing eyes who seem poised to eat humans: -1
* Card includes letter: +5
* Letter is informative and interesting: +3
* Letter describes child as “amazing” or “already an avid reader and accomplished Suzuki violinist at age 3!”: -3 each
* Letter is so braggy and saccharine-cheery, I wonder why I associate with these people: -3
* Letter is so very braggy and saccharine-cheery, it crosses over into comical and becomes fun to read aloud in an unkind tone of voice: +2
* Letter uses the word “blessed” more than one time: -1 per use (not including first use)
* Letter is a sermon/evangelism disguised as a Christmas letter, and contains pious spiritual hopes for our country, for our country’s leaders, for mankind, and for me personally: -5
* Letter mentions details of gross surgery/illness: -1 or +1, depending on entertainment value
* Letter contains thinly-veiled family gossip: +3
* Card includes check: +5
* Large check: +10
* Card includes announcement of pregnancy: +10
* Card from Christmas Card Friends contains surprising news of baby born since last card sent: +10

HA HA HA HA! Right? I would also add extra points for the whole family being present in the picture. As much as I love adorable photos of the kiddos, I like it when the adults, the ones with whom I have a relationship, are pictured.

Well friends, Shutterfly and I want you to score highly this year. They’ve asked me to post about my favorite designs, and DUH, I’d be happy to. All of these are the flat stationary card variety. I just like those best. I like to cut the photo out after the holidays and stick it on the fridge. I did see that their folded card variety have the option to put a picture INSIDE, too, which could have me changing my strategy at the last minute.

Anyway! Here goes! My first choice is this one:

I love the design. I like that the picture goes over the whole card, and I really like the words. Happy holidays and warm wishes apply to everyone.

Same with this one. It would really stand out amongst all the froofier cards in someone’s display:

You may be sensing a theme here, but this one is my favorite, I think:

Love it.

But, OK. After writing all this, I realize that I love the look of the single photo cards, but I DO love to receive more than one photo, so here is the one I like best of that variety:

Should you be a super duper A+ sort of card sender, Shutterfly also has Thanksgiving cards. And should you be the sort who likes to collect all of your holiday greetngs, then spend the slower time after the holidays peacefully composing your New Year’s cards, they have those too.

Wasn’t this fun! Please let me know if you end up taking any of my suggestions! And if it’s not clear, PLEASE send me a Christmas card. The scoring system is all about my LOVE for any card, you know this right?

_ _ _ _ _

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

1. MAC Fast Response Eye Cream You guys, this stuff RULES. I’ve never seen any results from any of the miracle creams I’ve tried. I just assumed that they’re all bunk, and I may as well stick to my generic Olay. But a couple of weeks ago, upon the overly exuberant recommendation of a friend, I decided to give this a try. I was super shocked to feel a difference within minutes. The skin around my eyes REALLY IS softer, less line-y and less saggy/papery. I just read some reviews of this product, however, and it seems not everyone agrees with me, so your mileage may vary. I’m just sayin’, I’ve never used anything that I would bother recommending to anyone, and I kind of want to start buying this as a gift for birthdays and holidays. It’s that good.

2. Hyperbole and a Half After recommending a $30 tube of girly lotion to you, I’m pleased to bring you something even more delightful and absolutely free. This blog is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on the internet. Really. If this post doesn’t make you cry from laughter, I’m not sure we can be friends. If it does, I also recommend this one and this one.

3. I am admittedly not one of those Music People who always know about bands you’ve never heard of, so please don’t take this recommendation as though from a Music Person, but I’m super digging The Broken Bells lately. They’re a good summer soundtrack. A Music Person would tell you that they include members of Danger Mouse and The Shins, but a Music Person probably would have recommended this band to you at least 6 months ago.

4. The This American Life iPhone ap. When I grow tired of the news at about hour 2.5 of my commute, I listen to a few stories, and all is right with the world. I freaking LOVE people’s stories, you know? Should you be in the mood for some good radio right now, that most recent episode about Recordings for Someone Else is really good.

UPDATED TO ADD:

Not really related to this post, but last night Clark *almost* figured out the dog door and I got this cute video. Enjoy!

Clark’s good friend Dahli made him this sock monkey blanket and sent him this cute onesie. Both were featured in the last post, but an outfit this cute deserved further highlighting, don’t you think?

In other earth-shattering, possibly never to be repeated news, about a half an hour ago, around the time of Clark’s morning snooze, I set him in his sidecar thing while I was making the bed. He was laying there happily babbling, so I decided to see what would happen if I just walked away. So I grabbed the baby monitor and shut the door. He continued to babble for a few minutes, then he started to low level fuss. I decided to give him two minutes and see what happened. It was like, WAH! WAH!…Wah! Wah!…Wah….wah, wah, snoooore…

GET RIGHT OUT OF TOWN.

I can’t believe it! Usually, I swaddle him, put in a bink, rock him, sing, and stand on my head playing the banjo with my feet to get him to go to sleep. Who knows if this startling phenomenon will ever be repeated but holy shit, dude! I can’t believe that just happened.

__________

The title of this post comes from Atmosphere’s shout out to Minneapolis “Always Comin Back Home To You”. If you’re a midwest loving person, (and I know there are a bunch of you) you should download it right away. The first half is beautiful, haunting, hiphop, the second half is clever silliness, all praising places you can ‘drink tap water and breathe the air’.

[musical recommendation disclaimer: This is not new. I am not on any sort of cutting edge. I am aware of this.]

I thought everyone was well cast. Originally, I didn’t think that Robert Pattinson was hot enough to play Edward, but after seeing the movie, um yes. Yes indeedy. He is plenty hot. When he made his first appearance in the cafeteria on Bella’s first day of school, the audience totally squealed. It was awesome. It was like they were trying to keep it in, but they just couldn’t.

Speaking of which, the particular crowd at the 8:30 showing on opening night was mostly full of grown ups, which made me feel bad. As I was calmly printing out my tickets from the Fandango machine, that of course I had purchased online earlier that day with my grown up debit card, a group of teenaged girls was just getting the sad sad news that Twilight was sold out. One of them shrieked, got a hold of herself, then proclaimed in a shaky voice, “You have NO IDEA how upset you’ve just made me. We took two busses to get here, in the rain, I straightened my bangs, it CAN’T be sold out.” Her announcement caused more cries of despair from other teenagers in line, who slowly began peeling off and sulking away, back out into the rainy night. Yeah, sorry about that ladies.

Anyway, I thought they did a good job if staying true to the book. It was really almost exactly the same, with just some stuff left out, but nothing really added in. I give it two enthusiastic, adolescent thumbs up.

Some of you may be fortunate enough to live in area of the country or part of the world where the presence of an H&M is commonplace. Perhaps you’ve become immune to the euro fashion available in sizes meant for human women, the copious accessories, the irresistible handbags, all available at bargain prices. Well, to you I say, imagine an entire region devoid of such treats, the entire Pacific Northwest with only Target to turn to for the occasional Isaac Mizrahi cheap fashion risk.

Until a couple of months ago, H&M was a treat only sometimes enjoyed on trips to New York, or other proper cities. In fact, I originally knew it as “Hache y Eme”, or, the only store in Barcelona that sold clothing in sizes above 4. Well, a couple of months ago, the Seattle area got not one, but TWO! TWO HACHE Y EMES! I rejoiced, but did not visit, for I knew that I must wait until I am no longer with child to properly enjoy the fruits of H&M. Then the other day, I don’t even know why, I visited their website and learned that HOLY SHIT! H&M has a maternity line! GET. OUT! Then! Then! I called the Southcenter store and learned that THEY CARRY IT! Which I guess not all of them do! A field trip was definitely in order.

You guys! It’s HUGE. It’s like a proper euro one with two floors and an escalator and everything! Now, if you should be local and also knocked up, don’t get TOO excited. The maternity section is all of 10 feet by 12 feet, but I still got three shirts, a nightie, a hat, and and scarf for under $100.

Shirt crisis averted, for at least another few weeks.