Sunday, February 27, 2005

Life Roundup

Hello and welcome to Moviephone (tm)

I finally got to see a movie in the cinema for the first time in ages. I saw The Aviator, which I quite enjoyed. Seeing as I just watched the Oscars(tm) I truly believe that each of the cinematography, editting, art direction etc awards were truly deserved. It was an entertaining movie on all of those levels and the performances were very interesting to watch. Considering how much I dislike Leonardo DiCaprio I was suprised that I enjoyed his performance in the film. It's truly a pity that Scorsese didn't win this year, but hopefully he will make another film and win next time. He truly deserves it.

I've been a knitting fool working on this flower basket thing and the only reason I haven't put photos up is that I know i've made a basket full of mistakes on the damned thing and seeing everybody else's superb efforts makes me a bit ashamed to display my own. But I will eventually get over that and post pictures this week.

My new year's resolutions have gone down the tubes for reasons that I can't quite understand at this point. It doesn't look like Luke and I will be visiting Europe. Eventhough my credit card's paid off, all of a sudden I have student loans to deal with, I haven't even though about my screenplay and exercising has become an intermittent distraction. sigh. i need to get back up off my ass and recommit myself. Oddly enough though I am content.

Thank you blogger world for giving me the platform where I can speak boldly and nakedly, though I don't know anyone who actually reads this silly self indulgent thing that I love dearly. Thanks for listening. Will be back soon.

much love
La Grenadine.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

There's Nothing Wrong With You...

Hi There,

Earlier in the week, in fact on Valentine's day, I went with my husband to see one of his favorite singer songwriters perform, Neil Finn. He played along with his brother Tim, both formally of the New Zealand band Crowded House (perhaps you remember the 80's love anthem "Don't Dream It's Over"). My husband turned me onto the band and I'm imploring you to discover their beautiful music. These guys are the same age as my parents (my god!) and they made music in the 70's (as split enz) and 80's (as crowded house) that remains relevent to this very day. I heard a rumor that Paul McCartney himself proclaimed that if he were a modern day rock star that he would be Neil Finn. Their music is honest and genuine and comes from the heart. It hurts to listen to, but brings a smile to my face at the same time.

My favorite Finn Brothers related songs:
1) Six Months in A Leaky Boat
2) One Step Ahead of You
3) Message to My girl
4) Don't dream it's over
5) Distant Sun
6) Always Take the Weather With You
7) Better Be Home Soon
8) Won't Give In
9) Disembodied Voices
10) Driving Me Mad

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Hey! Wait A Minute Mr. Postman!

Mr. Postman was nice enough to deliver not one, but two parcels for me on this rainy day and one of them was from my secret pal!!!!!

I wonder what could be inside.



Two more knitting books to add to my ever growing collection AND a dvd of Freida, one of my favorite movies that has a knitting scene in it. How very thoughtful of you secret pal, you must have seen my amazon wish list!!



I got Weekend Knits which has all sorts of new tips and stitches that I've never heard of. I think I'll be spending some time with the Brioche stitch, scary as it may seem! And it recommends movies and literature that feature knitting in one way or another. Plus I got the Felted Knits book which will come in handy because...

My yarn for the Vogue Flower Bag arrived too!!!!



So you must know that I am camped out in front of the tv with my new books and yarn. Thank you so much secret pal, i hope your secret pal is as good to you as you have been to me! I can't wait to show you what I make!

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Tonight

I will be watching Arrested Development, the funniest show on television. If they cancel this t.v. show I will never watch Fox again, not even for the Simpsons.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Thank God For a Weekend

As much as I loved working the trade show I really missed having a Saturday to rest last week. Thank god the weather's so beautiful today.

I got a little surpise in the mailbox today: A note from my Secret Pal! yay!


I've also been working on some knitting projects:

Here's the latest progress on the knitty wavy scarf. I'm not even halfway done with it. It's taking me forever.



I started the leaves on the Vogue Knitting Bag and felted a little swatch:


Thursday, February 10, 2005

That Vogue Flower Bag

Hello there

As previously mentioned I am starting the Vogue Flower Bag knit-along and of course I can't just follow the leader and do the same colors as the pattern so I'm doing it the Grenadine way, with grenadine pink roses instead of red. Many thanks to artful yarns for museum wool:


I shall be using "guided tour" for the bag part, "ming vase" for the trellis, "gift shop and planetarium" for the leaves and "sister wendy" for the roses!.

Planetarium


Giftshop



Guided Tour



Ming Vase



Sister Wendy


GrenadineGirl

Monday, February 07, 2005

Pop Quiz (of the film variety)

hello friends,

Please do this quiz and pass it on and send it back to me:





1. The last movie you went to see in a theater:

A Very Long Engagement, which was tres tres belle. love love love that audrey tatou and jean-pierre jeunet.



2. The last movie you watched at home:

The Terminal, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I didn't buy the whole fountain reconstruction thing



3. How many movies do you own?

About 25. There are plenty more I want to add to my collection, including Garden State.



3a. What was the last movie you bought?

My Fair Lady, which Luke actually got for me the night before we got married.



4. Got Netflix (or a similar service)?

yes, but it's under luke's name and I can't ever get on it to choose movies



5. List five movies you adore/mean a lot to you:



Amadeus: The first grown up movie I ever watched -at age seven



Pulp Fiction: This was the first movie that showed me that there was more to film than meets the eye.



Singing In the Rain: The only movie I can remember watching with my grandmother



When Harry Met Sally: If you can quote this movie, you can be my friend.



Ghost World: I would have never met my husband if it weren't for this film. "Looking for Thora Birch..."



Honorable mention:

toss up between Back to the Future or Star Wars, both hold keys to my childhood



6. Name your guilty pleasure movie (or genre):

Four Weddings and a Funeral. I honestly can't stop watching that film. You can't go wrong with a film where the first word of dialogue is Hugh Grant saying "fuck".



7. Name 3 people to whom you're going to pass these questions on, and why:

Jenny, because she's my fellow film school alumni (what's the next film you're going to recommend to me? I need to recommend something to you don't I, but you see way more movies than me and for free too b/c you're in LA) Lija because she wants to go see a movie soon and Gabrielle because I haven't heard from her in a while.



Sunday, February 06, 2005

Working on the Weekend

Now typically I would hate working during what would normally be my precious free time, but I absolutely LOVE working at the International gift fair. I work at the trade show with my company and I get to see other great manufacturers who make wonderful gifts and homewares. Over time I've gotten to know some truly interesting creative people in this crazy wholesale industry and it's a pleasure to see them face to face. It's also great to meet my customers who I usually deal with exclusively on the phone. It's like a big social party where I get to see my company's product in the flesh and sell it to people who like it.



Walking around the booths, people are selling all sorts of things, lush woven fabrics, candles, soaps, vases and tableware, not to mention entire home decorating lines. It's so inspiring because one day I want to open my own store and checking out all of these things gives me an idea of what I actually want to sell. If I had my own company I would definately sell Moksha's Fine Wovens, beautiful textiles made into shawls, pillows, and jackets. Alex Marshall's Ceramics used to be based near my office and I'd always wander over during their sample sales. They make fabulous table ware, very organic and modern in a variety of pleasant colors and shapes, my favorite being their teal square place settings. Their line is so great because you can buy whatever pieces you need to complement settings you already have. Also check out their marvelous lamps, which I am sure will one day be collectable. My other favorite is Botanicus, the candle and soap company with light and intoxicating scents. They're the original fragrant candle company, having been in business since the '70's. I keep their green-tea travel candles in my bathroom and used their champagne candles on my honeymoon. Absolutely beautifully packaged, many of the vessels they use can be reused as gift boxes or vases onces the candle has burned down. You don't even need to burn the candle, they're so fragrant that they perfume the air on their own, but subtle enough not to overwhelm.



I also met the people behind Deadly Squire, a new line of textiles that bring to mind the 70's, but in a tastefully modern way. They make all sorts of handbags and housewares (even doggy beds and oven mits). The fabrics have a natural lean, featuring mod patterns of flowers and leaves in a 70's color scheme. The nicest people, making the neatest stuff.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

New Endeavors

We're going to Coachella!



For those of you who are as of yet uninformed, Coachella is a yearly music festival held in Indio, California. This year Coldplay and Weezer are headlining and seeing as I saw Weezer's last tour performance in Concord, CA in 2002, I couldn't resist seeing them again (hopefully performing new music). Just what we needed, an adventure. We'll be roadtripping it over the course of 4 days. There will be lots of pictures.



In other news my cousin had a baby, very cute.



I'm still working on the wavy scarf. There were some problems in that I kept skipping rows (oh yeah that's what a row counter's for) and I had to keep going back. That's what I get for trying to knit and watch the West Wing at the same time.



I also jumped off the deep end and signed up for the Vogue Knitting Flower Bag knit-along. What am I getting myself into? I keep wanting to deviate from the color scheme and do something original, like teal,charcoal and purple or orange yellow and pink, but none of the bulky wools have the right color. If they have the right teal, then they don't have the right purple or if they have the right charcoal, they don't have the right teal. And even if I do find the right mix of colors, nobody sells them all at once. Arg. I'm thinking of sticking to the original color scheme, but for me that would be sort of boring, but still I love the bag and it looks great the way they've designed it... arg.



As to the striped scarf, I have been neglecting it and all I have to do is weave in the ends. I'd better finish it soon as we're already experiencing spring fever here in California.



tomorrow, I promise updated photos.