Asthma, new roomies, Sundance...it's been a busy day.

Things are really starting to wind down here at the home of the Sundance Film Festival. The first five days are always the busiest and then most of the stars and out-of-town folk head home.

Which explains why John Krasinski and the rest of the cast and crew were not present when I watched Brief Interviews With Hideous Men this evening. BUMMER. I really wish I could have seen him. Oh well...

Here's the really bad news: I didn't like the film. Here's the good news: I don't believe it's been picked up yet so it might not even be released. I'm lucky I even got to see it! I really, really wanted to like it but I didn't completely understand what the message was, or if there even was one, and I thought it lacked flow. Plus, Krasinski has a monologue at the end that seemed so rehearsed and unnatural. It made NO sense, or maybe it did make sense but it was just stupid, or maybe it went right over my head. I don't know. Good for him for taking a risk though- I mean, that's a huge part of Sundance.

I was wondering after watching Motherhood last night (we'll get to that in a moment) if part of the reason I was enjoying the films so much was because they were part of the festival. With all the excitement, how could you not like the film? But Brief Interviews proved that theory to be incorrect.

Okay, so Motherhood. This was a cute, quirky little film about what is sacrificed when you become a parent. Uma Thurman plays a mother of two who really misses working and having an adult life. She used to be a writer and she keeps a blog!! Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards also star. Last night was the PREMIERE of the film! All of the stars were there and even Jodi Foster ,who has a cameo, showed up. Although I never actually saw her. The director just said she was there and thanked her for coming. There was a short Q & A and the director was very cool and pretty outspoken, Minnie Driver was hilarious and Uma Thurman came off as very sweet and almost a little shy. I did like this movie a lot and I think that anyone who is a mother will really enjoy it!



Director Katherine Dieckmann answering questions about Motherhood.







Uma Thurman talks about the film.






I am so glad that I was able to attend Sundance! The festival isn't over yet but I don't have tickets to any more films and I'm working everyday until it's over, so Sundance and I have most likely parted ways for now.

Onto the other news of the day...

I took Neve to the vet this morning for a shot and I explained to Dr. Lund that she breathes really fast and sometimes she has little coughing fits. We talked about it for a while and he listened to her lungs, which apparently make a bit of a swishy sound, and told me that he thinks she has asthma!! He gave her an injection and I have to let him know if it helps. She has an appointment to get spayed next Wednesday, but if the coughing and rapid breathing haven't stopped, we can't go ahead with the spay. If the shot he gave her doesn't end up working I might have to get a little kitty inhaler for her! So far no coughing today so I really hope that the medicine is working!



I thought this picture I took of Neve was really cute!








I love this pic of Belami and Neve. They have been sitting together a lot lately! I love it that they are such good buddies!



And one more thing...

As some of you know, Laura Lee moved out last week so Suzette put an ad in the paper for a new roommate. Today a girl named Erin came over to look at the place and meet me and Suzette and her family. We all feel like it's a good fit so Erin and her boyfriend move in tomorrow! She seems so nice and I think everything will work out quite well!. They will only be here until the middle of March at the latest. Erin loves cats and she seemed to really like Belami and Neve!

I'm working on making the apartment nice, comfortable and cozy! Suzette gave me a couch and I have it set up with my $2 coffee table and I love sitting here by the fire every evening, reading, writing on my blog or whatever I end up doing. The kitties love it too!

Sundance is about storytelling. Storytellers can broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us.
Robert Redford

SUNDANCE!

Okay so I'm actually pretty pooped from my long day but I wanted to let everyone know how my first Sundance experience was.

Everyone keeps saying how mellow this year's fest is and it's most likely due to a couple of things: the inauguration and the economy. Main Street is usually so packed you can hardly move but today it was empty enough for a nice stroll in the sun. This is also the first year that it hasn't snowed during Sundance, according to the locals.


Here's a shot of Main Street. You can tell it's pretty quiet.





I started my day with Adventureland, which I really liked, it was funny and sweet. It will be in theatres in the next couple of months since it already had distribution before coming to Sundance. Greg Mottola directed this (he also did Superbad) and it stars Kristen Stewart Jesse Eisenberg, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. When it was over Anna and I took the bus downtown for an early lunch at Zoom, a restaurant owned by Robert Redford. I had some delicious vegetarian chili and baked mac and cheese. Yum!!

As we moseyed about Main Street I had my first celeb sighting when I brushed shoulders with Liam Neeson as he walked by us! Actually I guess you could say my shoulder brushed his elbow- he is really tall!

Right after that a woman asked us if we would like to attend a panel about the film La Mission starring Benjamin Bratt, and we figured why not?! I don't have tickets to this film, but after seeing a clip and listening to the director and cast discuss the material, I'm interested in seeing it! It's about a very violent, macho-type guy living in the Mission district of San Fransisco who finds out that his son is gay. The cast and crew, including Peter Bratt, Benjamin's brother who wrote and directed the picture, talked about the film which was very interesting and then there was a "Q & A" which turned out to be very uninteresting. No one really asked any questions, people just raised their hands and told little stories about their own lives while everyone else just sat there thinking "Why are you telling everyone this?"



The Bratt brothers talking about La Mission. That's Benjamin on the left.




After walking around a bit more we took the bus back to my apartment to relax before heading out to see Adam starring Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne and Peter Gallagher. This film is in competition so everyone gets to vote on what they thought of it. I really liked this one, it's about a guy with Asbergers and his relationship with a woman who moves into his apartment building. There was also a "Q & A" after this with the stars of the film and the writer/ director, Max Mayer. This "Q & A" was better because people actually asked questions but then this one dumb guy basically told them that he didn't like the end of the movie and you could tell that the director and actors didn't really know what to say.


Here is Max Mayer speaking about Adam.







Hugh Dancy, who plays the title character, answered questions about the film. BTW- he is SO CUTE!!







Rose Byrne, who portrayed Beth, also talked to the audience.





Before the film started we spotted Claire Danes who I believe is dating Hugh Dancy. (LUCKY!!) I was determined to get a photo with her because as with most people of my generation, I'm a big fan of hers! She wasn't too thrilled about taking the photo it seemed, but I figure it must be hard when you are just trying to enjoy the festival and people keep stopping you for a photo op, so I guess I won't hold it against her.



Here's the photo. I look like a dumb ass but I'll blame that on the fact that there was a row of chairs in between Ms. Danes and me and the fact that the camera seemed to be on a bit of a delay. The movie star, however, looks flawless... go figure.


It was a fun day and I'm so glad that I get to experience the festival! I love going online at the end of the day to see which celebs are hanging out in my backyard. I love being among the first to see these films and I love being surrounded by all of these people who LOVE cinema!

It's a miracle, really, that movies- independent movies, especially- get made at all.
Nick Hornby

This is a miracle I am grateful for!

Sundance, my White Christmas, Neve.

Well folks, long time, no... write! I am once again very sorry that I haven't posted in quite some time. We have been slammin' at work so I've been really tired when I get home and usually end up just watching a movie and going to sleep. Which leads me to some recommendations for all you lucky readers!

I watched Stepbrothers and thought it was hilarious! Totally worth watching if you want a chuckle! I also watched Hamlet 2- very funny as well, but a little odd. Still something I would recommend for some good entertainment. I watched Tropic Thunder recently and again, really funny! I went to the movies twice this past week too! I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- good, visually quite stunning and a little sad at parts but also uplifting. It reminds me of Big Fish, which I love! My buddy, Chris Masterson, was in the audience when we saw this, kinda cool. The other movie I saw was Bedtime Stories, with my friend, Anna, and her little girl, Zoe. It was so funny too! My, I've been watching a lot of comedies lately!

Speaking of films, I bought my Sundance tickets today!! I bought tickets for 4 movies: Adam, Motherhood, Adventureland and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It's a whole process, as I've told you before, to get these tickets, and today was the last step. I picked up a guide to all of the films and went through to find the ones that I was interested in seeing. Then I had to pick the showings that fit into my schedule at work that week. I was lucky because there was only one movie I wanted to see that was sold out. That movie was I Love You Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Some of the other people in line went to check out the "sold out board" and had to pick totally new films. One guy told his friend "We suffer from good taste." It looked like pretty much everything they had picked was no longer available! I am psyched for the festival! I can't wait to be a part of that- so cool!! Park City is going to be CRAZY! Here is a link to the film guide if you want some more info on my choices or any of the other films:

http://www.sundance.org/festival/filmguide/alphabetical.asp?alpha=a-c

I can't believe that 2008 is over! It was a big year for me with the move. What did you do last year that you're proud of? Any New Year's resolutions? I never really have one and this year is no different. Hmmmm... I'll have to think about it and get back to you.

I know everyone is wondering about my first Christmas away from home. It was a White Christmas in more ways than one. First there was a lot of snow and second, my friend, Stacie who I spent the day with, her last name is White. Hehe... It was very nice at Stacie's. Her family is so sweet and inviting, but it's just not the same as being with my crazy and wonderful relatives. That was probably the biggest difference- my Christmas was very calm and relaxing this year- we didn't even get out of our pajamas all day! That's not the case back in Norwell! The excitement of the holiday actually came when Stacie and I tried to drive back to Park City that evening. The weather was so bad, there was so much snow, that we had to go back to her parents and leave in the morning! She lives about 2 hours north of PC in a little farm town called Paradise and there are a couple of canyons that we have to drive through to get there. The road through one of the canyons actually ended up getting closed due to the weather so it's a good thing we turned around!

Belami and I received a pretty great gift this year- a new kitty!!! There are some stray cats who live at Stacie's grandmother's house and one of them kept running inside every time someone opened the door, but we had to just keep putting her back out. She was very sweet and clearly didn't want to be an outdoor kitty. To make a long story short, as I'm sure you've already guessed, I just couldn't leave this little girl out in the cold so I brought her home and now she lives with B and me! I named her Neve (think Neve Campbell for pronunciation) because it means snow. She is absolutely precious and so unbelievably affectionate. I brought her to the vet thinking that she was a kitten but Dr. Lund looked at her teeth and told me that she is actually a little over a year! Even he was shocked because of her size. I really like my vet, by the way! He decided not to charge me for the exam because he thought it was great that I decided to keep her and he knows how expensive the first visit can be. She is totally healthy so that's great news. I am going to have her spayed at the end of the month. Her and Belami are getting along great! He is in love with her already, but she's taking a little more time to really love him. He doesn't exactly know how to play it cool and his enthusiasm scares her a bit at times, but so far so good and it will only get better! Here are some photos of Neve.




Here I am with my new baby! Isn't she cute?!










And again.









She loves this little bed up on the windowsill. It's fleece on the bottom so it's a little slippery and some mornings I wake up with it on my head because the kitties have knocked it down!








I think she has beautiful eyes! A classic torti with a split face! I hope she likes getting her picture taken with me for a mom!!









This photo gives a good size comparison. I know it's a little hard to see how much smaller she is, but trust me, she's little.








I hope you enjoyed my photos of the new addition to my little family! I apologize again for taking so long to write! Thank you to everyone who sent us Christmas gifts. It was very nice of you to think of me and even though I was so far from home I felt loved and missed and that in itself is a pretty nice gift.

I can't wait to see most of you in a week! Knowing that soon I'll see everyone kept me happy and excited over the holidays! I keep telling myself it doesn't matter when you see your family, just that you do get to see them!

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!
Amanda Bradley

What a great idea!

OMG!!!

That's what I'm thinking right now... due to the DRASTIC haircut I got today!

I have been thinking about donating my hair to Locks of Love for a while now and I finally decided to do it! But it is SHORT!!! The amount you have to donate is 10 inches, but I'd say that the total I actually cut off was at least a foot! The new cut is very fun, but it's going to take some SERIOUS getting used to!

Lindsay, the girl who cut it at a place called Hair Solutions here in Park City, was really nice and she did a great job, but she straightened it and that's not something I would do with this cut, so I think I'll like it more when I do it myself. That's usually the case for me anyway. Luckily my hair grows really fast so if this really does feel too short after a week or so, at least I know it won't be long before I've got some length back. And bottom line- it's for a good cause! It's the season of giving, right?

Here are some pics of the new 'do...

The view from the back.

The view from the front.

Perfect headband hair. Hats are a different story :(

Fare...(sob)...well...(sob, sob).

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

Just wait five minutes.

They say of New England weather: If you don't like it, just wait five minutes. I'm learning that Park City is the same! It has been snowing lately, that famous powder that I've heard so much about! A true winter wonderland!

When I looked out my window late this morning it was not snowing, but by the time I was out of the shower, it was. I had some errands to run but decided to wait it out and get some stuff done around the apartment. I realized the other day that they don't clean up the roads very well in PC so I figured I'd go out once the snow had stopped and the plows had started. After a couple of hours it was still snowing, but pretty lightly, so I went out. After driving for a couple of minutes it was a white out!!! I kid you not, you could barely see a thing, and on top of that, just as I suspected, the roads were completely covered in slush!

I was in the store for maybe 10 minutes getting what I needed. By the time I came out, it was like a COMPLETELY different day! The sun was shining and while the roads were still messy, the plows were out and you could see perfectly! I couldn't believe it! Only the mountains still had some fog (or clouds or whatever it is) around them, but that's actually really beautiful. The weather can change in an instant here, it's so crazy!

I've always found Park City to be a visually pleasing spot, but I've only recently realized the beauty of Park City at night. The mountains look like ice cream sundaes, the way that the trails and the trees wind down the sides- that's really the only way I can describe it, which might not make sense but if you saw it, you'd understand. You can also see all of the lights in the houses spotting the hills, which is a unique and pretty sight as well! Since it's the holiday season there are Christmas lights and decorations all around which only adds to the scenery.


I took this picture from my driveway this afternoon. I love the blue color that everything has. It's hard to see but the fog/cloud I was talking about is right behind the trees, but you can tell there's a clear, beautiful sky. I'm not sure the photo does it justice, but everything looked lovely after the snow!


It's less than 10 days until Christmas! Is everyone ready??? Some of the presents I mailed out might be late, but forgive me please, this is the first year that I've had to send out a GREAT majority of my gifts. This required more preparation and supplies than I expected! I hope that no one is too stressed out with holiday shopping and planning! Remember to take some time to relax with your loved ones! Make cookies, build a snowman, create snow angels, go sledding, go skiing. Have some hot chocolate or eggnog- spiked if you need it! Watch your favorite Christmas film, or watch a holiday movie you've never seen before. And don't forget to listen to some Christmas music!

If you need some ideas for Christmas movies here are a few that I like...

Scrooged. Obviously.
The Family Stone.
Love Actually.
Elf.

Hmmm... I thought I liked more Christmas themed films. Guess not. That's a sad list. What's your favorite Christmas movie? Besides A Christmas Story, because I'm sure most of you are thinking that! It's a good movie, but enough already!!

My quote is from The Family Stone, it goes along with this post quite nicely, I think.

Meredith: So what was that dream?
Ben: Which?
M: You told me you had a dream about me but you didn't finish. You didn't say what I was doing.
B: You were shoveling snow.
M: I... what?
B: You were just a little girl in a flannel nightgown and you were shoveling snow from the walk in front of our house. And I was the snow and everywhere it landed, everything it covered. And you scooped me up. You scooped me up with a big red shovel.




P.S. In case anyone didn't believe me about Belami's love affair with wrapping paper, here he is attacking the roll. It's a love/hate relationship.

Disclaimer:

I would like to apologize in advance to anyone receiving a Christmas gift from me for the amount of cat hair that will come along with it. Belami is a wretched wrapping partner!

You know how wrapping paper kind of attracts hair? Well a cat who enjoys laying all over the wrapping paper (while you're trying to wrap a present) really doesn't help matters.

On the subject of Christmas gifts, I just about ripped my hair out at the mall yesterday! It was SO CROWDED! I drove into Salt Lake to do my shopping and I couldn't get out of there quick enough. Oh and here's a thought: a baby stroller the size of a hummer shouldn't even be manufactured, never mind allowed in a mall!

I'm sure you're all thinking "Hasn't Heather worked in a mall for the past 9 years? Shouldn't she be immune to this by now?" I was thinking the same thing, but you know what it probably was? Because of my schedule, I hardly ever have weekends off so if I have to go to the mall it's usually on a weekday when things are a little less hectic.... lesson learned. I won't make that mistake twice.

So I was looking for quotes about shopping on the Internet to end this with, and this one popped up because it just has the word 'shopping' in it. I thought it was really funny and it got me thinking that I do the same thing in my letters... why??? Enjoy, even though it has nothing to do with the entry!

Friends write me letters. They run out of room on the front of the letter. They write 'over' on the bottom of the letter. Like I'm that much of a moron. Like I need that there. Because if it wasn't there, I'd get to the bottom of the page: 'And so Kathy and I went shopping and we-' That's the craziest thing! I don't know why she would just end it that way.
Ellen DeGeneres

Shopping, names, books...

Good Saturday to you all! I would say good morning but I know it's not morning for everyone...

How is the Holiday shopping coming along? I have been doing a little at a time for about a week now but this weekend it's time to get serious! This is the first time that I will have to mail all of my Christmas gifts! I'm NOT a last minute shopper by any means but I like to linger a bit. I'll see something that I think someone will like but I have a hard time committing right away so I continue shopping and maybe I find something better, maybe not. It's the same way with me and channels- radio or TV. I'm a flipper, I always think there's something more interesting to watch or listen to. And magazines too! I flip through the whole thing first before committing to an article. Hmmmm.... I wonder if there's some deeper meaning here?

Speaking of articles I found another interesting one, this time it was about names. I LOVE names and think that they should mean something. Belami means "my beautiful friend" and that's exactly what he is! Anyway the article said that recently people have been giving their babies more common names- I think celebs are still the exception- Bronx Mowgli. Although I think that name is cute!

So many people come into J. Crew with babies and we always ask what they are named. Most of them have peculiar names but I was just saying to someone (can't remember who- Mom?) that I have noticed babies names being a little less unusual than before. We had a little Daniel one day and I think there was even an Elizabeth! There were three little girls playing together one day and one of them was named Sophie which I don't think is terribly unusual. The other two were Esme (Cullen?) and Senora- which do nothing to support this theory. Then recently we had a woman come in with a little boy named Jaden, who said that if she had known how popular that name would be she would have thought twice about it. I've heard a lot of parents say that. How important is it to give your child an unusual name? I like less common names. Nothing like Pilot Inspektor, but like Jaden's mom, I would be totally bummed if I gave my child a name I thought wasn't popular and then everyone, including Britney Spears, named their own baby the same thing!

I like my name- do you like yours? Has there ever been one name you really wished was your own? When I was little I wanted my name to be Alexandra. Seriously. I thought it was such a beautiful name and I liked Alex as a nickname. I love it when girls have masculine sounding names, but I hate it when guys have feminine sounding names. I don't know, maybe I'm in the minority here, finding this intriguing.

I need reading suggestions! I am in the middle of Eclipse, the third of the Twilight series, and then I'll read the fourth but I've got nothing lined up after that. Luckily Stephen King just put his list in Entertainment Weekly and I've had luck with his recommendations, but what would all of YOU suggest? And by the way if anyone is looking for a quick read, and I do mean QUICK, pick up the Twilight series, once you start them you are truly enraptured!! I know that I asked earlier what people love so much about this story and I'm still not sure, but for me I think it's the suspense, the mystery. I love a book where I truly do not know how it will end! I'm glad I have some time off right now because I literally read every night until I can't keep my eyes open! And now that I'm more than halfway through the saga I can say without a doubt that I'm on Team Edward! Which would you rather date- a werewolf or a vampire? Tough choice.

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
Anonymous