...and which you can watch now, because they're on Netflix Instant!
1. I know this came out a while ago, but Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothingis really truly fantastic. I watched it when it first came out and was delighted, but after a recent re-viewing, I was astounded: it's inspired. Do yourself a favour and watch it now, whether or not you have seen it already.
2. Alex and I have been sort of on a learning-about-wine kick after reading a hilarious Roald Dahl short story about a wine connoisseur (the story is called Taste--read it!). You can only read so many articles on tannins before you end up with a strangely chalky sensation in your mouth, so we were pleased to discoverA Year in Burgundy, a new-to-Netflix documentary following Burgundian winemaking families. It was very informative, and so fascinating to see these different families and how their lives completely revolve around the art (or the science) of wine-making.
3. Apparently, in the 1930's, the Galapagos Islands were the perfect destination for those seeking perfect solitude and nearly complete isolation from society. Until, that is, numerous people ended up on the same island. The Galapagos Affair, which documents the lives of a few Germans living on the island of Floreana, is intriguing, terrifying, and definitely worth the watch.
4. Yes, Silver Linings Playbook did come out two years ago, but it was just recently released on Netflix Instant. I really do love this story. I love its honesty. I love the broken characters. I love the idea that everyone can find happiness. It's rough and complicated, charming and simple. Serve with tissues.
5. Upstream Color. No words. Just watch if you're ready for a beautiful, terrifyingly strange experience. Then come talk to me.
It was a little odd when I went to my most recent midwife appointment and they said, "well, if you're not in labour by then, we'll see you again in a week!"
What?
No...
Yes.
Hearing something like that for the first time was so strange. To think that we could actually have Evangeline any day now! While most of the thoughts that run through my head when I think about this fact are focused on sweet Evangeline and how excited I am to meet her, there are assuredly quite self-centered thoughts which lurk behind the good ones. I'm just very ready to not be so physically uncomfortable when I sleep, or walk, or stand up, or bend over...or even sit for goodness sake! I'd really like to begin to fit into my old clothes again. I'd very much like to stop constantly talking about being pregnant. I'd also very much like to stop being asked constantly about being pregnant.
Wah, wah, wah.
Anyways, on to some more interesting things.
Alex and I are still reading The Moviegoer, which continues to delight with it's mottled yet loveable characters. I really should start reading The Book Thief so that I can finish it in time for Balboa, but I just haven't found the time yet.
//
My sister-in-law, Sara, threw me and Evangeline the most lovely Baby Shower (I wish I had pictures to prove it, but you'll just have to take my word for it). Eve made out like a bandit that night. I'm pretty sure her wardrobe is bigger and more fabulous than mine is at this point. A few of our favourite things:
This little Gap lobster romper.
I can't even handle thinking about it on her at the beach!
Blueberries for Sal, which remains one of my favourite children's books.
The illustrations are perfectly charming (as is the story), and I love the fact that it's set in Maine.
Teething beads (thanks, Jessica!). I'm so excited to use these. I'll look so hip.
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Fact: Alex and I both really like Alexander Calder. (You know, the guy that made hundreds of kinetic sculptures--which, interestingly, Duchamp dubbed "mobiles"--and built the Flamingo in Downtown Chicago?)
Calder, Flamingo, 1973.
We really want to build a Calder-esque mobile for Evangeline. I really like this one:
I love how it looks like leaves...but it's also perfect, because high contrast colours
(black and white) are especially stimulating and helpful in visual development.
I really don't think it would be that difficult to create one yourself, as long as you get the equilibrium right. He used wire and sheet metal, but I bet you could use wire and thin wooden slabs if you couldn't get the sheet metal... (Technically, you can buy onehere for a hefty price, but it would just be way cooler to make your own.)
The Millennium Park concerts are beginning again! Hurrah! I'm so excited for The Planets, which is being performed on July 12. I was always a huge fan of Holst, but he is so much more meaningful now, because the theme from Jupiter was our wedding march.
The march begins around 2:55 if you care to know...
As well as being free and outdoors (and byob--awesome!), these concerts have numerous showing times throughout the week. Babies, champagne, and music on summer evenings are exactly my cup of tea.
I stumbled across this Chesterton quote today while (embarrassingly) not reading Chesterton, but readingthis article of things Chesterton never said.While I know it's lengthy, it's really too wonderful not to share (especially because it corresponds, if sometimes obliquely, with many thoughts I've been having regarding Evangeline lately, eg. sleep-sharing, nightmares, imagination, and Alex's and my belief in the importance necessity of fairy tales).
"The timidity of the child or the savage is entirely reasonable; they are alarmed at this world, because this world is a very alarming place. They dislike being alone because it is verily and indeed an awful idea to be alone. Barbarians fear the unknown for the same reason that Agnostics worship it– because it is a fact. Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear. When I was a child I have stared at the darkness until the whole black bulk of it turned into one negro giant taller than heaven. If there was one star in the sky it only made him a Cyclops. But fairy tales restored my mental health, for next day I read an authentic account of how a negro giant with one eye, of quite equal dimensions, had been baffled by a little boy like myself (of similar inexperience and even lower social status) by means of a sword, some bad riddles, and a brave heart. Sometimes the sea at night seemed as dreadful as any dragon. But then I was acquainted with many youngest sons and little sailors to whom a dragon or two was as simple as the sea." (Tremendous Trifles)
Alex and I have slowly but surely been collecting new pieces for our lovely little home. We've been very successful at finding things we love at the thrift stores around our area (thank you, Chicagoans for giving away cool stuff), even if some of it requires quite a bit of work. Our most recent project was converting this wooden bookshelf...
...into this one...
It was quite a long (and smelly--polyurethane, yuck) process, which required lots of sanding, lots of staining, and lots and lots of drying time. But I'm quite happy with the final product! I will be on the lookout for more pretty things to mix in with the books, and I think Alex needs a little scotch in that decanter on top....hmmm...
I found this great print of what I believe to be Judith with the head of Holofernes in Andersonville when I bought the bookshelf. I just love it...and, what can I say, I'm a sucker for gold leaf.
Who ever said orange was a bad idea?
Our most recent treasure was this Danish Modern coffee table from the Salvation Army:
My next goal is to find some sort of table or shelf for the kitchen. I'm in dire need of counter and storage space...A little something like this French Kitchen Island from Crate and Barrel...just maybe a tad cheaper...
I made these delicious Blueberry Pie Bars. We ate them...all of them...in an embarrassingly short length of time.
Alex discovered his new favourite drink, the Sazerac.
We went to our friend Bob's art show.
I investigated Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter in the Gold Coast to try their Liège waffles. They were delicious, though not warm and fresh as they are from the waffle carts in Belgium. Tant pis...
We went to see Lord Huron at Metro, a super cool venue very close to our apartment. It was all kinds of wonderful. Take a listen.
We spent a delightful, snowy Saturday with some friends of ours which included plenty of bagels and mimosas and Settlers of Catan.
I made Eggs Benedict for Alex, because they're his favourite and he's the best. If I do say so, my first time poaching eggs was very successful--they turned out very nicely.
I made 1-Hour Cinnamon Rolls with my friend Mary. When I first saw the link (on Pinterest...typical...), I definitely thought there must be some catch. No way can something as delicious as cinnamon rolls be made in an hour. Either they won't rise or they'll taste gross.
Oh ye of little faith...
Some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had.
2.
I got a call from Alex late Friday afternoon asking if I wanted to go to the Chicago Lyric that night to see Madama Butterfly.
"We don't have to go if you don't want to!"
Hmm, no thanks. I don't like that idea.
Of course, we went. And (despite the nosebleed seats) it was divine.
I'm no opera guru (though that would be so cool...), but I'd listened to Madama Butterfly a few times before, and I was very excited to go to an opera with which I was relatively familiar. Madama Butterfly is lovely, even though the story is so awfully depressing (though I suppose jilted heroines committing suicide is nothing to blink at in an opera).
Vogliatemi bene, a duet sung by Butterfly and Pinkerton to close Act I, is possibly my favourite in the opera.
The Lyric was built in 1929 (architecturally, Art Nouveau meets Art Deco. Two of my favourite design styles...Look at all that gold!). Alex was telling me that it is quite a point of pride for Chicago. How did I not know this until now?
3.
Baby Burch turned 19 weeks! Hurrah hurrah!!! I was telling Alex that Baby literally comprises 95% of my thoughts these days...I constantly feel so blessed to have this little one growing inside me. I have a little paranoia because we still haven't had our ultrasound (hopefully the beginning of February!), and I'm just so nervous to see how he/she is doing, whether he's healthy and growing, what he looks like, etc. I definitely believe that I have felt him move however, which is such a happy sign for me. June can't come fast enough!
4.
Alex and I went to the Art Institute on both Sunday and Monday.
Art Junkies...
There's a sublime exhibit up at the moment called "Dreams and Echoes" from the private collection of Chicagoans David and Celia Hilliard. The collection in it's entirety is really stunning...it's just the sort of art that I would collect if I was say....a few billion dollars richer.
Edgar Degas.
Study of a Plaster Cast of a Child's Head (after Luca della Robbia), 1856/60.
Promised gift of Celia and David Hilliard.
Image via http://www.artic.edu/.
Pierre Cecile Puvis de Chavannes.
Study of a Sleeping Woman, c. 1867.
Gift of Celia and David Hilliard, 2007.
Image via http://www.artic.edu/.
5.
We went with some friends to see the new Italian film The Great Beauty at this great Independent Theatre just a few blocks from our apartment. I'm not going to say more on it other than it was a striking, excellent film. I think that our friend Mary had a very astute observation, essentially that it is not a film we, as 20-somethings, can understand fully. In the same vein, Alex said it's not something you can just talk about for hours (though you could), and say "this is what it means end of story." However, it's definitely something that you will keep coming back to through your life. It's the sort of thing that stays with you. See it.
6.
Including Friday and Monday in this "weekend" post is acceptable, I believe, especially because of MLK day, but covering Tuesday is stretching it. Psh. Whatever.
Our friend Fiona is in town to visit her boyfriend (one of our Chicago Pals), and we all went bowling last night. I hadn't been in years, and it was all good fun even if I was awful. I mostly just liked watching this cool kid:
Lovers Lane.
7.
I'm so happy Martha at Romancing Reilly is back to blogging again. Her posts are always such inspiration for me! (After all, it was her blog that got me to start blogging again...not sure that that's a gift to anyone else, but it's good for me, hah!)
One of Alex and my favourite Christmas presents this past year was a membership to the Art Institute (thanks, Brian and Sara!). Every time I visit, I am overwhelmed by how massive the collection is; it is really an inexhaustible gem. It's also walking distance from Alex's apartment, so once these spring days come along (I know, I know, so long to wait!) I envision almost weekly museum visits and picnics in the Park...
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