Month: December 2011

Three sentence movie reviews: The Muppets


Oh Muppets, how I love you for your humor and your songs. My front teeth dried out while watching this movie, due to the constant smile on my face. The actors broke the fourth wall repeatedly in a way they usually don’t and Matt laughed at one line delivered by Amy Adams for a good three minutes; tell me you have plans to see this, because it’s the most fun movie of the season.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Descendants


Slow, in that good, meditative way that I enjoy, this was an acting tour de force by yes, of course George Clooney, but especially by Shailene Woodley playing his older daughter. The incredibly understated story has me wondering about the book which I’ve just put on hold at the library. As with most Alexander Payne movies, there were some excellent scenes that will probably populate my brain for years and I always, always enjoy Judy Greer who steals every scene she appears in.

Three sentence movie reviews: Footloose (2011)


Given that nearly every scene in this movie was reproduced verbatim,* I can only conclude that the reason for remaking this classic was to save today’s teenagers from the heavy synthesizer soundtrack of the original. The new Ren and Ariel do not have the–and I can’t believe I’m saying this–gravitas of Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, and Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell are no John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest,** but I greatly enjoyed this movie. Setting this version in the South was a brilliant move and it’s so true to the original that it’s fun to see the “quotes” of the original movie sprinkled throughout in costumes, props and dance moves.***

*Footloose was the first movie I saw without my parents. In fourth grade I went with Angie Fuller after school on a very rainy day and we were quite scandalized by the language. My family had the VHS tape growing up and at one point my brother astutely observed that we missed a lot of the jokes the first several times through due to being too young to understand them. Viewing this film, I was very pleased when the MTV films logo popped onto the screen because if anyone currently does teen movies well, it’s them.
**I did particularly enjoy the increase in Ren’s Uncle, Wes Warniker’s character. He was great.
***However, there is much to discuss in the small changes. Original Footloose fans, let’s discuss the changes and which were effective.

New Slippers!

I used the rest of my birthday money to treat myself to delicious quality brand new sheepskin slippers. I’ve been walking around in thick socks, due to the lack of slippers so these are a vast improvement. I love how this pair have the cutaway, making them easy to get my feet into.

First wearing of the slippers! Sentinel is going through an interesting shoe phase and is busy checking out the news from my shoes.

Emu brand! Deliciously warm! Hopefully I’ll be wearing them a very long time.

Why I can’t currently live in a tiny house.

The coat closet rod is full of MY coats. Matt’s are on the door.

From left to right:
  • Red rain slicker, for when it’s really pouring.
  • Bright yellow flagger coat I wear when bicycling
  • Tan mid-weight jacket and matching fetching cap
  • Cute jean jacket
  • Tan vintage car coat whose button fell off and I need to replace
  • Red vintage dressy coat with fabulous button
  • Vintage red wool coat for when the temperature is below 40 degrees (also includes fabulous black hat with built in scarf and matching thick suede gloves)
  • Cream cashmere blend winter coat for when the temperature is above 40 degrees (also includes cute checked cloth cap and leather gloves)

Ideally, I would have one coat that could go on the bike, dress up, dress down and become warmer and cooler as the temperature allowed. I’m sure such a coat exists, but I have yet to come across it, especially at my store of choice, Goodwill. But if I found such a coat, I would have to give up all the other ones, most of which I like a lot, for one reason or another.

Decorating is fun

I enjoyed decorating at my Mom’s house this afternoon. Mostly because last year she had handily taken pictures of each part of the house and included them in the boxes so all we had to do was find the object in the picture and put it in the proper place.

As there were a lot of boxes, this was a very good thing.

Afterward, we had delicious pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad. Yum!

What I want for Christmas

Smart Car wants people to drive them. So they set up on Broadway, right across the park from my work. I wandered over and got a test drive and a ten dollar gift certificate to the Pearl Bakery. They were fun to drive and now I know what you can get me for Christmas.

Only $12,000-$17,000 and you can make my wish come true.

Three sentence movie reviews: Life After Tomorrow


Someone once told me there was a documentary about the girls who were in Annie and a post at the library blog prompted me to put the movie on reserve. I didn’t see a stage version of Annie until I was in my twenties, but the movie–and the movie soundtrack–was a big part of my childhood. It was fascinating to hear the stories of the girls in the Broadway show and on tour; some details were a bit horrifying (ten-year-olds at Studio 54! Where were their parents?) and some girls clearly never got over washing out at twelve, but the subject was fascinating and made the ending song particularly bittersweet.

Requiem: Goodbye to dresses

I have a lot of vintage dresses. I love them and at one time in my life, I wore them a lot. Alas, none of them fit now. I’ve decided to trade them in at my local vintage clothing store. But before they go, here’s a tour of these great specimens, all pretty wrinkled due to being rolled up and stored in Rubbermaid containers for many years.

This dress always made me think of a young co-ed, graduated, single and with her first job at a publishing firm in New York City. I also loved the double breasted buttons which worked well for me in this configuration, but never work in coat formation.

And look at the tag! Miss Executive!

Pendleton Woolen Mills is an Oregon company and so I snapped up this suit just after moving here.

I loved the color. The skirt was very unattractive, being a gathered, pleated-at-the-waist, hitting-at-the-mid-calf monstrosity. I had designs of cutting it into something that would work better, but never did.

Ah! My coat in Massachusetts for a long while. It kept me warm on my cold winter morning walks to work.

I always felt like I was in the rock band Led Zeppelin when I put it on.

I love looking at old labels on dresses. Peck and Peck sounds great, doesn’t it? And according to Wikipedia, it once was. I know I found this dress one of my go-to classics.

And here it is. It covers most of your body, but the cut is incredibly sexy when worn. It was my first realization that more clothing, properly cut, could be much hotter than wearing less clothing.

See those great seams that cut across the bodice? Those made the dress. It also had a side zipper, which I love! This is the dress I will miss the most.

For awhile, this was my go-to dress. It dressed up and down (in fact, I tore a tiny hole in the skirt while playing pool one time) and I loved the lace around the collar.

Nice, eh?

This was a great summer dress, and a bit revealing for my mid-twenties-aged fun. I wore tap pants and a sturdy bra and was quite cool.

I made this dress for a party. It was my first (and only, thus far) foray into sewing with slippery material. I looked good in it and somewhere I have a great picture of my spinning in a circle while wearing it.

This was a favorite dress in high school and beyond. I loved the seersucker and the simple cut and, it being the early 90s, I wore it in the winter with long johns and converse sneakers.

It had this funny detail on the front.

This was my first dress with a side zipper.

I bought this my senior year of high school and wore it a few times until the freshman 15 caught up with me.

The matching jacket is fabulous and I always felt very much the sophisticated 50s co-ed when I wore this. This was also the favorite of Alexsandra, the woman I was trading with. She said this designer mostly did sportswear, so this was an unusual piece.

Boston in the late 90s/early 2000s was a great place to find cheap vintage dresses. I think I paid $10.00 for this beauty. I loved the color, the belt and the detailing.

Wearing this, I felt like the young sophisticated woman about town.

Another great label! And this dress completely looks like it is styled in California.
Another good Boston buy. I bought this for then-boyfriend John’s cousin Karen’s wedding. John wore a suit and a green striped tie and we looked great. Everyone looked great! East Coast people know how to dress up at weddings.

Detail of the waist.
This dress doesn’t look like much on the hanger, but I loved it because I could wear it any time of year due to the pink or grey. I bought it right before I left Boston and wore it at the going away party we had at the house. I also love that it’s homemade and the skirt detail reminds me of those birthday cakes with dolls in them that were popular when I was growing up.

Bodice detail. Someone was a good seamstress.

Skirt detail. I wore this for a party at church and one of the women was overcome because she had made this exact dress for a dance in high school. “Warren, don’t you remember this dress?” she excitedly exclaimed to her husband. Warren did not. She told me that she had made it in red and black, which caused a bit of talk at the time.

So ends my tour of dresses. Keep looking for a shot of me in my new dress. And when shopping for dresses in Portland, be sure to visit Alexsandra’s Vintage Emporium. Those out of town can click on the link and you can shop there from your computer.