Friday Fourteen Friday, Jun 29 2007

Today’s Friday Fourteen topic is…

14 Totally Swoon-Worthy Celebrity Men

1.  George Clooney.  Need I say anything else?  I have loved him since Facts of Life.  He’s matinee idol handsome, if you know what I mean.  And oh, that voice.

2.  Zach Braff.  I really never payed much attention to him one way or the other until I saw Garden State, which is one of the most amazing films I have ever seen.  He’s smart and funny and quirky looking and has beautiful blue eyes.

3.  Josh Charles.  Josh Charles simply does not get enough work in Hollywood.  He’s usually relegated to a much smaller part than he deserves.  He was so perfect in Sports Night and in a little film called Threesome.  He’s got the sexy voice thing working to and is currently doing voiceovers for the Army Strong campaign.  Which means my TiVo remote gets a workout when one of those flash by.

4. John Krasinski.  He’s so great in The Office and I can’t wait to see his new movie with Mandy Moore (one of my celebrity girl crushes).  A guy I’ve dated looks and acts a lot like Krasinski, which makes him even more endearing to me.  And hello, John’s going to be in a movie WITH George Clooney!

5.  Joshua Jackson.  Who didn’t fall in love with Pacey?  Who wouldn’t rather throw Dawson in his stupid creek and ride off into the sunset with the best friend?  So cute.  He reminds me of a younger George Clooney (it really does all come back to George).

6. Hugh Grant.  Yes, I know he slept with a prostitute.  I care not.  Perfect hair, charming accent and able to make fun of himself.  His audio commentary on Love, Actually is hysterical!

7.  Colin Firth.  Another Brit, another charming accent, more lovely hair.  He seems like such a gentleman.

8. Robert Redford.  Yes, he’s a bit…old.  But he was Jay Gatsby and I have loved him since I first saw that movie.  And the movies he has directed (The Horse Whisperer, A River Runs Through It, Legend of Bagger Vance) are always so beautiful to watch.

9.  Conan O’Brien.  Another very funny man.  Plus, a redhead.  And tallll. 

10.  Matthew Perry.  I have loved Matthew Perry for a very long time, since the beginning of Friends.  Through the drug addiction and the puffy times and the super skinny times and the driving his car into a house times.  I watched Studio 60 for you, Matthew.  THAT is devotion.  THAT is love.  Swoon. 

11.  Matt Damon.  An oustanding actor and damn cute. 

12. Ben Affleck.  I can’t think of Matt without thinking of Ben.  They just go together in my mind.  Ben is far more handsome, but not as good an actor.  Although he was very good in Hollywoodland last summer, playing George Reeves, the original Superman.

13. Benjamin McKenzie.  I just really really loved him in The O.C.  Adam Brody was funnier, but Ben can brood like nobody’s business.  And he’s a UVA grad!

14.  Matthew McConaughey.  He’s a bit of an odd duck (naked bongo playing, anyone?) but you cannot deny the man is hotness personified.  And I certainly would not kick him out of bed for eating crackers.

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What happened? What went wrong? Thursday, Jun 28 2007

(Yes, I’m going to blather on and on about a TV show. It’s my thing.)

Tonight is the very final episode ever of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, thank god, and I will then be released from the bondage of this horribly awful show. I know, you’re thinking, “No one’s forcing you to watch it if it’s that bad!” If only I could have stopped…if only.

You see, I love the work of Aaron Sorkin (maybe not so much the man himself, but the work). The first four seasons of West Wing? Perfection. Sports Night? Hilarious and heartbreaking. The American President and A Few Good Men are two of my all-time favorite movies.

So naturally I was eagerly anticipating his new show last fall. Plus it had Bradley Whitford (he of West Wing fame and Emmys) and Matthew Perry, who was the only thing I really loved about Friends. And the premise was promising — behind the scenes at a weekly sketch comedy show, ala SNL. It should have been SO DAMN AMAZING that I would want to watch each episode over and over, savoring the rhythm of the dialogue and the skilled performances from every actor.

Instead, I force myself to watch each episode, just hoping that it will get better. But man, it has been a fast slide downhill since the pilot (which was, I have to say, pretty good). Sorkin is just so clearly bitter about so many things in his life, all of which become thinly-veiled plotlines. The sketch comedy bits are, for the most part, not at all funny. His characters are inconsistant and badly written, which is sad because he’s got amazing actors to play them. He plagirizes from himself at will, so several times during each episode I think, “I’ve heard that before. I’ve seen this before.” In other cases, it’s like he’s mixing up leftover plot threads from WW and SN together.

But mostly it just doesn’t feel real. At all. It’s never jelled. I’ve never bought this scenario and these characters.

I really, really tried to love Studio 60. I’ve watched every episode and occasionally there will be real flashes of what I’ve come to expect from Sorkin, but mostly I’ve been terribly disappointed. It all ends tonight, after three weeks of some of the most awful episodes yet. It’s like he’s trying to see how look he can drag things out without anything actually ever really happening.

It’s going to take a LOT of watching of old WW and SN episodes to get this bad taste out of my mouth.

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Cooking with Noodle Thursday, Jun 28 2007

A lot of my favorite bloggers sometimes include recipes (complete with lovely photos) in their entries for their favorite dishes.  “Well,” I thought, “I like to cook and I have a blog, so maybe I should post some of my very unique and special recipes.”  So here goes, the first Cooking with Noodle entry.  Pay close attention:

Faux Cafe Mocha

You will need: 1 Packet of hot chocolate mix (today I am using fat free Marshmallow Lover’s hot chocolate), boiling water, crappy cafeteria coffee and powdered AND liquid creamer.

1. Empty hot chocolate mix into large styrofoam cup.

2. Dump in some powdered creamer and mix the two together.

3. Fill cup HALFWAY with boiling water (about 6 – 8 ounces or so). 

4. Stir stir stir to dissolve hot chocolate mix.

5. Fill the cup the rest of the way with regular brewed coffee. 

6. Add 2 of those little cups of dairy creamer. 

7. Stir stir stir some more. 

8. Optional — If you have the same kind of hot chocolate mix I did and your marshmallows come in a separate packet, add those now.  They will melt and make a nice faux foam on top of your Cafe Mocha.

There you have it!  Sorry there are no fancy photos to accompany the recipe, but use your imagination.  I hope it wasn’t too complicated for y’all to follow.  If you’re a Starbucks addict like me, your wallet will thank you.

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Last stop on the 2006 – 2007 Grief Tour Tuesday, Jun 26 2007

My family has been dealing with death since December. That was when my grandmother (my mom’s mother) died after being ill for a few months. We didn’t really have a service for her, but we did have a reception at her retirement community that my mom and I flew to upstate NY for, and my mom went back one more time in January to sort through all her belongings.

Then in early February my grandpa (my dad’s dad) died. He had been pretty sick since last summer. Because of a variety of reasons, logistics and scheduling issues that I won’t go into here, we had one memorial service for him in Michigan in April, and then a big family memorial service in Illinois this past weekend. The weekend also included going to our family cemetary and interring both his ashes and the ashes of my grandma (who died in 2001) together.

So basically, for the first time since last July, my family is not dealing with the illness and death of one or more parents/grandparents. We’ve had numerous opportunities to say goodbye in many ways. We’ve shared all the stories. We’ve gone through pictures and mementos. We’ve cried and laughed. We’ve hugged. We’re healing. And now we have closure.

Hopefully, our family’s 2006 – 2007 Grief and Loss Tour is done. I think we all very badly need some good things to happen. I know I do. And I know that while my grandparents are not here in body, they’re always with me in spirit.

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Missing Thursday, Jun 21 2007

A few days ago I lost a small silver fleur de lis charm that I’ve been wearing on a chain for almost a year.  It went flying off when I took the chain off, and I still haven’t managed to find it.

It’s not valuable.  I think I paid $15 for it at the market in New Orleans.  It’s fairly easily replaceable — I’ve already found half a dozen like it on the internet.  But that’s not the point…

A couple years ago I started buying myself little pieces of jewelry on different trips.  It seemed like a good souvenir, because every time I wore the ring or the necklace, I would remember the trip.  I have a pearl ring I bought in Charleston the weekend we visited just in time for a hurricane and some funky earrings from Seattle.  Other stuff too.

When I was in New Orleans for work last summer, there were fluer de lis items everywhere — jewelry and art work and flags.  It was already the symbol for the New Orleans Saints, and has become a symbol for the city itself, post-Katrina.  So on my one day off I went to the market and bought myself the charm and a ring, both with a fleur de lis.

For a year, every time I wore that necklace or looked down at that ring, I thought about my time in New Orleans.  About how much I learned.  About the wonderful people I met.  About how proud it made me of where I work and what I do.  And about that amazing, beautiful city that I fell in love with.

I’ll order a new charm but it won’t be the same.

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Seven Random Things Wednesday, Jun 20 2007

I’m tagging myself (via mizgee’s blog) for the Seven Random Things meme because yo, I have like half an hour of work before I can go home and there’s nothing I can accomplish in that half an hour and I’m bored!

So, back to the subject at hand — Seven Random Things About Me:

1. As a child I sucked my thumb for much longer than I should have.  It contributed to completely ruining my mouth.
2. I really hate Diet Pepsi and will only drink it in the most dire of circumstances.
3. I started a tradition for myself a few years ago that every year I buy one or two Christmas ornaments that are somehow reminiscent of something that happened that year.
4. I almost always read a few pages of a book (or a LOT of pages) before I go to bed at night.  When I was little I convinced myself that if I read before I went to bed, it would prevent me from having bad dreams.
5. I re-read books constantly.  It’s because I read fast and due to the whole reading every night thing, I don’t always have something new to start on.  I had no idea that most people don’t re-read books over and over again.
6. I really don’t tan.  I have very pale, freckled skin that sunburns easily and then goes back to being very pale.  It may take on a slightly darker golden pigmentation but it’s still ghostly white compared to most people. 
7. There’s a road (a big major road) in Peoria, IL, that’s named after my family.

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Managing Expectations Wednesday, Jun 20 2007

“Managing expectations” is one of those corporate speak buzz words that people throw around quite frequently.  And it makes sense — if you take a group of people and put them through a process, you need to know from the beginning that everyone has the same expectations of what that process will entail and what the outcome will be.

But I will admit in my personal life, I don’t do a very good job of managing my own expectations.  I’m constantly hoping that the next man I meet will be THE one.  I’ve set up situations in my head and find that the reality never comes close to what I was expecting.

Last night I had a first date with a guy I’ve been talking with through Match.  And it was…meh.  I mean, he was a nice guy, we had plenty to talk about, but…there was no spark.  At all.  We’ll probably talk some more and see each other again, but I can already tell it’s not really going to work for me. 

Because I need to have that spark, that click, that chemistry.  It may not be instantly fulfilled (believe me, in the past I have waited a looong time to make that move) but I need the anticipation and the possibility and the excitement.  It’s a difficult quality to define and it may be very difficult to FIND. 

But I can’t settle.  I won’t.  I’m not going to let myself get so desperate and lonely that I don’t wait for the one person who I know is out there and is perfect for me.   I have to keep trying because one day, he will be there and it will be everything I’ve ever expected.  I hope.

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Father’s Day Sunday, Jun 17 2007

Today is Father’s Day. I have one of the most awesome fathers in the world. I’m totally a Daddy’s Girl, especially because my dad and I are a LOT alike.  He’s my role model and my mentor and my hero.

Part of his gift today was these three pictures in a frame together:

That’s a photo of me, and one of each of my brothers, with my Grandpa and his tractor.  I loved the way they all looked together, and even more, I sort of loved the symbolism of it — presenting my dad with photos of his father and each of his kids for Father’s Day.  It seemed appropriate, especially since this is the first Father’s Day since my Grandpa died.

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It Makes My Heart Hurt Thursday, Jun 14 2007

I’ve been working on a big project the last few days.  You see, when we had my grandpa’s first memorial service in Michigan, my aunt had put together several great collages of pictures of my grandparents, other family members and friends.  Unfortunately, she did it sort of last minute and didn’t have a tremendous number of pictures of my immediate family (especially my brothers) to work with.  So there were about 4 – 5 pictures of my cousins for every 1 picture of us.

Next weekend we’ve got the second memorial service in IL, and I volunteered to do the collages this time.  My aunt sent me all the ones she had scanned, and now I’ve been sorting through my family’s albums to add to those.  So these are a couple I’ve come across of me with my paternal grandparents.

Every time I find another picture I love (my baby brother and Grandpa visiting the cows or shots of us on a tractor ride with him) it makes my heart ache a little.  It makes me sad that my grandparents are gone, sad that they’ll never see us kids get married and have babies of our own.  Of course, I’m also grateful that we had such wonderful times with them and that they were really such awesome grandparents.

On a lighter note, dang, wasn’t I a cute kid??

And an amusing discovery last night.  For the first year of my life, my mom kept (in addition to a baby book), a regular wall calendar that she noted all of my milestones on — what foods I tried, when I rolled over and sat up, my first words, etc.   I grew up as an Air Force brat and actually lived in Central America till I was 2, which certainly provided me some interesting life experiences.  So I bet you I’m one of the only people who’s mother dutifully recorded the milestone:

“Robbers came last night — N. slept through it all.”

ROBBERS.  There was an actual mention of robbers robbing our house in the record of my first year of life! 

The robbers story is actually a good one.  My parents had been out at a costume party that night and then come home.  My mom was asleep in their room and my dad was passed out from drinking too much in the living room.  He did not wake up when the robbers came in, loaded up several heavy items into our car, took the car and house keys and then, bizarrely enough, stole the jacket to my father’s costume (an authentic circa-1776 jacket my mother had handmade with pewter buttons).  Unfortunately, the robbers took a wrong turn and ended up crashing the car into a fence.  They fled the scene with only the jacket, leaving the car full of everything else they had lifted.  To this day, my mother bemoans the hours she spent making that costume.

So there you have it, a glimpse into the life of young Noodle.

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Beauty in the Breakdown Wednesday, Jun 13 2007

Oh yesterday was ugly.  Ug-Ly.  I had a total work-related meltdown.  There were tears, lots and lots of tears.  It was just sort of the result of weeks of stress and months of frustration and uncertainty and not getting the job and not really being happy with, you know, most facets of my life right now.  Hopefully it’s all out of my system.

So, to move on to something happier — there’s a potential for a vacation later this summer.   A real, honest-to-God vacation, in a foreign location, no less.  A trip that would not involve family memorial services, sorority conferences, work, volunteering in an orphanage, manual labor, etc. 

My best friend’s husband is in the Navy and he’ll be working for 3 months on a naval base on the island of Sardinia, off the coast of Italy.  And my best friend thought thinks that we should go over there and visit him.  In ITALY!  Somewhere I have NEVER been and always wanted to go. 

There are a couple hiccups, however…

- I have no clue how I will pay for this vacation.  Wouldn’t you know that it’s expensive to get to freaking Sardinia (although there’s a possibility that we would go to Rome with another friend and then just my best friend would take a weekend to visit the hubby).  Oh, and apparently Sardinia is THE vacation spot for Europeans in August, which is when we’d have to go.  Anyone need to buy a kidney?

- Given that I’m taking 3 days off next week to go to Illinois (memorial service) and 3 days in July to go to Orlando (sorority conference — see what I mean!),  I’m running short of vacation time.  Like, I may be able to squeeze out five days worth but that would leave me with nothing.  NADA. 

So, is it worth it to go even further into personal debt, as well as uh, vacation time debt, to go to Italy?   My inner irresponsible voice is saying, “DUH.  Buy a plane ticket, beeyotch.”

Unfortunately, my inner super-responsible voice is going, “There is no way you’re going to be able to swing this.  Sorry chica, better luck next time.”

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