Recipe of the Week: Lemon Rosemary Mashers

How was your holiday? I hope you were able to squeeze in the teeniest bit of time for yourself! I barely managed to take a little time for myself last night to watch an amazing documentary (which deserves a post all its own later this week!)

I've managed to move up the what-dish-are-you-bringing-to-Thanksgiving-ranks since Shug made our relationship "official." Instead of store-bought rolls or salad, I was allowed to bring *gasp* the MASHED POTATOES this year!!!!!!!!!!! See! Marriage has all of these hidden perks!!! The treasure chest overfloweth, I tell ya.

Anyway, I wanted to knock socks off in the mashed potato department and I had the lovely opportunity to give these hallowed mashers a "test run" with the company at Friendsgiving. And the results were great! All the friends gave my new recipe the green light for my family Thanksgiving the following week.

But wouldn't cha know, that these mashers were just too stinking "weird" for the palates of traditionalists...my family politely picked at their mounds of taters, but as I helped with the dishes, it was these molded peaks that were hitting the trash can...! Thanksgiving fail.

I've been demoted back to salad, FYI.

So, I urge you to proceed with caution with this recipe and think about your guests and what appeals most to their "ideas" about what potatoes should "do." Are they a dish all their own and can stand up to the robust flavors of their accompanying dishes? Or are they merely a blank slate, a medium to hold overly-salted gravy and turkey on the way to the mouth? THINK about it.

Lemon Rosemary Mashers
Serves 8-10...or two people with leftovers for days since no one would eat them
Ingredients:
7-8 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into large chunks, unpeeled
8 cloves peeled and cleaned garlic
salt
1 brick Neufatchel (sp?) cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sour cream
Zest of one lemon
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary plus a few more sprigs for garnish
salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water, garlic cloves, and the potatoes to a boil, making sure all of the potatoes are covered with water. Boil for 45 minutes to an hour or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. Drain potatoes and garlic and return to the pot.

Add the butter, Neufatchel cheese, sour cream, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mash your heart out. When your arms get tired, take a break to finely mince the rosemary leaves that have been cleaned from their stalks. Add this to the potatoes with some pepper. Mash until it's all incorporated. Take a quick taste to see if you need any more salt, since you boiled the potatoes in the salted water, you may not need to add any!

Transfer to serving dish and add the extra rosemary sprigs for garnish. Pray your guests are the open-minded-about-potatoes-crowd.

So I'm Gonna Get my Shop on Today...

Love.

From KnockKnocking on Etsy.

Have a fun weekend!

How cute is this couple?
Hope your weekend is fun!
xo

Via Superbomba.

National Buy Nothing Day

I don't even know if this is still official, but for the past four or five years I've tried to not spend a cent on "Black Friday."

I think the fact that people are dying in super-deal-induced-mobs on this day to be reason enough.

I hope you get the day off and enjoy it!

xo

Hilarious drawing by nataliedee.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful day to spend time with the people you love most.

I am thankful for:

• My Shug
• My Shug's ridiculous laugh
  
• My Ruby
• My sister and her honesty
• My mom and her love of books
• My dad and his sense of humor
• My extended family that supports me
• My amazing friends that put up with me
• My job(s)
• My education
• My hovel of a house that I can say I own
• My country that allows me to believe what I want to believe
• My future
• And that I get to decorate for the holidays now without feeling silly!
  

I love that Thanksgiving is about being together without all the hullabalou that the holidays seem to bring.

What are you thankful for?

A book for the reading pile: Look at Me

I thought it only fitting to celebrate my Bestest Best's birthday today by posting about a book I loved...she is one of a sadly dwindling population of voracious book readers in a society of text-based communication and Twitter, where you get 140 characters to tell your story.

Look at Me is truly a modern classic. Written in 2001, on the cusp of the explosion of MySpace, facebook, Twitter, and blogging, it's a cautionary tale about the duality of the American life: what we want people to see and what goes on behind the facade.

The book begins following a traumatic automobile accident in which Charlotte, an aging model, has smashed every bone in her face. Surgery and 80 titanium screws later, she is repaired, but looks so unlike herself even her sister and agent don't recognize her. We follow Charlotte thorough her recovery and attempts to salvage an already waning modeling career.

The book also allows us to peek inside the mind of a partially-deranged history professor that has written study upon study linking the invention of glass windows and reflective surfaces (i.e. mirrors) to the conception of self-image and self-awareness...and how damaging that has been for society.

The book even postulates a society where there are websites for "Ordinary People" and "Extraordinary People," where online readers can learn about the intricacies and minutia of other people's lives. Voyeuristic and interactive. Sound familiar?

Read Look at Me. It explores the unfair advantage that beauty has in our society and how we've let it take the reigns of our morals and values, all while keeping the ride exciting and fast-paced. It will have you thinking about it for days after you finish the last page.

P.S. Happiest Birthday to Bestest Best!

Self-Care? Sounds dirty.

Guess what? Asinine paper has been written and submitted! Now what am I going to cry about?

I've had the rare privilege to watch my lack of self-care slowly being flushed down the toilet this last year. Before the wedding insanity, I'd managed to carve out a piece of time for myself each day so I could read, work out, make crafty stuff, blog, whatever. The only stipulation was that it had to be something I enjoyed and was for no one else but myself. It might sound a little selfish, but I firmly believe that if you don't take the time to care for yourself, how can you care for others when your reserves are kaput?

I'm sure you know many women who have dropped the time for self-care to fit in another page of homework, another chore completed, another task at work, or another person looked after. I always thought I'd be able to stave off the usurpation of my self-care time, but, lo and behold, it's gone...and it left me last fall.

I've noticed with the lack of my self-care time I'm crankier, exhausted, and have a really negative outlook on situations I am lucky to be in. Take, for example, my extreme distaste for some of my graduate courses...C'mon! Wah! I mean, really? Poor me has to go to graduate school and take graduate classes I don't like. Could I be any snottier? Not really. I am lucky and I am blessed. Now just to get that through my thick skull.

I realized that my usually positive personality was struggling to emerge from a carcass that hadn't taken any real self-care time in over a year.

So, this last weekend, I didn't do a page of homework. I read an amazing book (I'll post about it tomorrow!). I cooked some yummy meals for Shug and myself. I spent some much-needed time with friends. I decorated a little for the holidays. I took a nap with Ruby. I bought a treadmill and ran for miles to my favorite songs.

I feel better already.

I want to know, as the hectic craziness of the holidays approaches, what do you do for self-care?

What Weekend?

Whoa. This weekend was so fun and I'm exhausted! We had a Friendsgiving Feast along with a Friendsgiving miracle! I'm sure this week is going to be just as crazy for you as it is for me! In my love of making checklists, lets indulge ourselves, shall we?

• Make checklist. Check.
  
• Write asinine paper for online class of death.
• Write letter to department concerning asinine peeps teaching asinine classes.
• Wait to mail letter until grades are posted.
  
• Write paper for substance abuse class.
• Finish project for group counseling class.
• Take the Rubester to the vet to check her stitches.
• Get some puppy Valium so Rubes will allow for said stitches to heal.
  
• Work!
• Let Shug use the computer...At least a little.
  
• Work out...the hallowed treadmill is here!
• Get thyself to a Thanksgiving Feast.
• Before feasting, make mashers.
• Have a girl's day with Shug's sisters.
• DO NOT SHOP.

What fun things do you have on your checklist this week? I'm saving the decorating for the holidays until next week...That is a checklist in and of itself!

Photo via Shug before the Friendsgiving Feast!

A Friendsgiving Miracle!

That's H-Bomb, Bestest Best, and me crying our eyes out at Friendsgiving.
Why, you ask?

Bestest Best got engaged the night before and just told us the news.
I couldn't be happier!

It's like my little sister is getting engaged all over again!

This marriage deal is catching on.

Friendsgiving!

I'm so excited because today is Friendsgiving!
It was created by my Bestest Best last year since we never get to see each other
(or any of our other friends, for that matter)!
The meal will be a certifiable Thanksgiving feast
complete with with a turkey, cranberry sauce, and wine!

What are your plans before the holiday insanity "officially" starts?


Source.

Girl Crush: Leila Hyams

In my quest to watch movies that influenced many great directors, I stumbled across this old movie from 1932, called "Freaks."

Not a very politically correct name nor a very politically correct storyline,
but an actress I'd never seen before played one of the leads: Leila Hyams.

She had amazing style (along with Daisy Earles) in the movie and a little internet searching affirmed my assumptions that the style went further than her wardrobe for "Freaks."
Although, that sequined tap suit is a.maz.ing.

Via LeilaHyams.com

Animal Collective Love

More stop-motion love...Thanks bel biv devo for the link!

A Movie You Should See, Now: Sugar

I know. This pic is probably the perfect image to DETER you from seeing this sparkling, under appreciated gem of a movie. Fireworks, baseball...blah. But this movie will have you rooting for Sugar, the eponymous main character after his very first pitch.

Sugar is from the Dominican Republic, where baseball is the only, I mean, ONLY ticket out of poverty and routine of a life just scraping by. Sugar is a gifted baseball player, but so are his other teammates on the training team he's been drafted for. Eventually, Sugar's skills help him get a spot on a AAA team in the States. Apparently, AAA means one step below the major leagues, a resource for coaches and scouts to find the "next big thing" in baseball.

This is where the movie takes an unexpected turn. We follow Sugar through his homesickness, the language barrier, the pressure to be perfect, and the yearning for a different life. It was such a poignant portrait of being transplanted to a different country and the struggles it entails. It's an immigrant's story where the individual may be welcomed to the United States, but only if their performance remains stellar.

This is a unique portrait of belonging and finding one's way. Watch this, it's not about baseball.

Recipe of the Week: Neighbor-Gift Apple Crumble

I have the pleasure of living across the street from the sweetest, liveliest, kindest old man. He and his wife are Japanese and I stand almost a head taller than the both of them. I often find that when I'm in close proximity to this couple I have to mentally restrain myself from hugging them. It must be the combo of the perfect-hug-height and the fact that they are a pair of the nicest people in the world. The husband cares for his ailing wife, who is blind, but he manages to have the most impeccable yard and apple trees. So, like I said, he really is the sweetest man on the planet...or at least the block.

A week or so ago, as I screeched my car to a stop in front of my house, he bolted out into the middle of the street saying, "Do you like apples? Would you like some apples? Here are some apples for you! But wash them off really well and I apologize if there are any worms!" I had barely gotten out if my car and he heaped a HUGE bag of apples into my arms. He laughed and said if I needed any more I knew where to find them.

So this gluten-free recipe came to existence because of necessity and guilt: necessity because I had 10 lbs. of apples chilling in my kitchen and guilt because I knew I would hate myself for letting my neighbor's gift go to waste if I let them spoil/find their final resting place in the garbage can.

Neighbor-Gift Apple Crumble
Ingredients:
Heaps of peeled, cored, and sliced apples, about 5 lbs. pre-peeled
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 - 1/2 granulated sugar
3 t cinnamon, divided
1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks), cold and chopped into cubes
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
Couple pinches of salt
Optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Throw all of the prepped apples into a big bowl with the lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and granulated sugar. I like my crumbles to be tart, so add more sugar to taste if you like it sweeter. Let that sit until the juice from the apples has dissolved most of the sugar. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350. In a medium bowl combine the brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, butter, oats, and salt. Combine with a pastry cutter or your hands until well combined and clumpy. It doesn't have to be completely mixed together, just well combined. Add the nuts, if using and give the mixture a few stirs.

In a buttered 9x11 glass dish, dump in the apples with all of their juices. Top the apples with the oat mixture, making sure it's no thicker than an inch. It's ok to have the apple filling poking through in spots. Put the dish on a cookie sheet to guard against spills and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the crumble is golden brown and the apples are bubbling.

Remove from oven and let cool a bit. Invite your neighbors over. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy the company and the crumble!

Tears while Teaching, a Series

Ok, so it's not a series, but I actually HAVE been able to muster some semblance of emotion when dealing with humans involved in violent hormonal transformations that effects mind, soul, and patches of short and curly hair.

Last week I had to teach a lesson on steroid use. About 3% of Granite high school students actually use steroids. The percentage of Granite students that abuse prescription drugs is close to 25%, but it would be ridiculous to have a lesson focused on that!

So back to the 'roids.

My teaching partner and I made up gender-specific Jeopardy-like games to try make this dry and oh-so-pertinent lesson fun. One of the schools I teach at has VERY few students that could be considered belonging to a minority demographic, but the kids that do fall into this category are usually extremely athletically gifted and have been "drafted" from other parts of the Salt Lake Valley to play at this "winning" high school.

One of the health classes I teach has a bruiser of a kid in it. He's well over 6 feet tall, at least 200 pounds, facial hair, the whole 9 yards. He looks like he might be able to throw a football. And he has quite a bit of trouble with his English. He's improved so much over the course of the school year, due to sheer survival techniques, especially since his teachers can't/refuse to help him in Spanish when he has a question.

So, naturally, there are some words he's still working on.

In my zeal to get all of the boys involved in the lesson, I didn't give them the choice to "opt out" of answering a question, as I had in previous lessons. I had totally forgotten about this student until he was standing in front of the class, ready for the next Jeopardy question. I'm sure he and I were whispering the same prayer that the question be relatively easy to understand.

Of course it wasn't. But since he is a competitive soul, he rang the buzzer first and then looked at me with an "Oh-great-now-what-do-I-do?" expression on his face. He had totally understood the question, but I could tell he was struggling for the answer in English.

He mumbled, "I...don't know it...in, um...English." The class was dead quiet for the first time all morning. We were all holding our breath.

So I responded as his face turned red, "En espanol esta bien." He let out the air in his lungs in a sharp breath, like he'd been punched in the stomach.

"En serio?" he asked. Yes, I was "for real" and I was trying to keep it together now, since his eyes had glassed over and a look of relief had washed over his face.

I totally understood how he was feeling. When I was entrenched in a study abroad in Valpariaso, Chile, no one, I mean NO ONE spoke English. My brain was ALWAYS working, even when I didn't want it to. Driving by billboards, having the radio on in the background, listening to the conversations on the bus, even the box of damn tissues I cried into - all had to go through a multi-step translation in my brain. It was an exhausting process. Whenever I came across a fellow English-speaker, it was cause for celebration. And a much-needed break for my brain.

He answered the question in Spanish, "Los pulmones...?"

It was wrong.

Gah! I wanted so badly for him to get it right! But at least he was able to communicate his wrong answer to me. He smiled sheepishly as the other team stole the question and went back to his seat.

After the game was over and the boys were shuffling out of class, he straggled behind and gave me a beautiful smile with a jock-nod. He was totally the victor that day. Somebody understood him.

90 Days

Well, it's been 90 days since our wedding.
And I couldn't be happier about our decision.
Here's to three month's of being hitched!

48 Hour Break!

It's a celebration! Why you ask?

Because not only is my paper on time,
but I received a cookbook in the mail.


This isn't just any ol' cookbook.
.
.
.
.
.
It's a gluten-free cupcake cookbook.

I know.
I just died a little myself.

So, I'm going to occupy myself with a few baking experiments and reading this.

What are your plans?

Photo via Cupcake Social.

Mushroom Cloud Layin' Mutha'effer

Only the very unlucky have had to listen to me cry and whine about a required class I've taken this semester. Not only is this an online class and I am involved in post-graduate work that is probably the most diametrically opposed subject to internet-only communication, but the instructor and I...well, we're not buddies.

We're not biffs for many, many, many reasons, but the main reason is that I go to a public university known for it's open-minded approach to politics, lifestyles and the like. Usually, my classes are sure to cover the entire spectrum of human nature, but this online class has managed to remain staunchly ignorant to about 90% of the population and the way they choose to live.

So, yeah, I've had a few aneurysms over this class this semester.

But things got a lot worse at about 9:46pm last night.

To premise: every single one of our online postings and assignments have been due at midnight over the course of the semester. And when glancing at the syllabus, I THOUGHT our behemoth of a term paper was indeed due at midnight, as well. Natch, right? BUT, the syllabus did say the words "midnight" for all of the previous assignments, as opposed to 12:00am. For some reason, the syllabus said just 12:00 for the big ol' final paper, which, preceded by all of our other assignments, I assumed was midnight, as well. This would be the kind of midnight where carriages turn back into pumpkins and I would be finished with the most abominable term paper to date.

Well, it wasn't. This mental heavyweight I have had the horrible luck of studying under had posted that our assignments were due at 12:00pm. As in: high noon. As in: not midnight. I had just posted my term paper 9 hours and 46 minutes late. I know this may sound insane, but when the big hand and the little hand are on the "12" it could be either midnight or noon...That's why we have those little letters to follow the time, just to let all the imbecile students know when they need to turn in a paper worth HALF of their grade.

If she doesn't accept this as "on time," a screed has already been scribbled to the department on HOW TO TELL TIME.

Image via Language is the People's

Anthropologie Haul

I love things that only cost $9 at Anthropologie.

I feel like Rachel Zoe plus 50 lbs.

I lova the sale rack.

K, so the boyfriend jeans were NOT $9.
But they were 50% off;).
Cost-per-wear, girls...cost-per-wear.

Recipe of the Week: Butternut Squash Enchiladas for Your Tummy

Whoa. This week has flown...So the wine drinking will commence at my house on Friday night.

Cause the week ain't over yet.

This is the original gangsta/favorite recipe of mine for lots of friends to come over, drink, and pound the table with their politically fueled fists. I first whipped this up with my room mates my sophomore year of college. I bartered enchiladas for a pan of the most divine cinnamon rolls ever to sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on the planet. It was a GOOD trade.

SO be sure to invite some friends over when you make these, because not only will they be friends for life, they'll help you with the leftovers!

Butternut Squash Enchiladas
Serves 4-8 depending on the hibernation status of your peeps
Ingredients:
3 lb. butternut squash, cut in half and cleaned out
Extra virgin olive oil
2 bricks neufatchel (sp?) cream cheese, softened (I like this over cream cheese)
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T cumin
1-2 t chili powder, more if you like it hot
1-2 t cayenne pepper, same as above
BIG pinch of crushed red pepper
1 small can of diced and roasted green chiles, heat level to your liking
1 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1 t crushed black pepper
2 cups frozen sweet corn
Big stack of corn tortilla, white or yellow
Big can of green enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese
Crema Mexicana
Crumbled cotija cheese
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350. Oil a cookie sheet with the olive oil and place the butternut squash face side down. Bake for 45-60 or until a knife can easily pierce the skin.

While this is baking place the neufatchel cheese, cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, can of green chiles, Bragg's, and freshly ground black pepper in a big bowl. Stir until well combined and creamy. Add the frozen corn and mix until incorporated. Set aside.

Once the squash are baked through, remove from oven and let cool face down for a little bit. (You can even bake the squash a day in advance to speed up prep!) Once the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh with a big spoon into the bowl of the cheese and spice mixture. Stir until well mixed and creamy.

If you turned your oven off, turn it back on to 350. In a large casserole pan pour a little of the enchilada sauce on the bottom so the enchiladas won't stick. Take a big stack of the corn tortillas, wrap in a paper towel, and zap in the microwave until warmed trough (they'll be way easier to handle this way)! Now place a big blob of butternut squash mixture on a tortilla, roll, and place face side down in the prepped dish. Repeat until your dish is crammed with little enchilada rolls.

Pour the rest of your enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas, making sure everything is covered. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, removing the foil for the last 15. The cheese should get all melty and slightly toasted.

Remove from oven and either garnish in the pan or after serving. Use the crema Mexicana, cotija, and cilantro sprigs with another grinding of black pepper. Be prepared for silence while your friends enjoy!

Rough Day

Early in the morning yesterday we took Ruby to get spayed.
I'd been trying to prepare myself for leaving her there all day.

I didn't do very well.

I was a blubbering, sniffling, puffy-eyed mess.
Ruby was just fine, the vet did an excellent job.

But now Ruby gets to rock an infernal cone collar,
oh, excuse me, an "Elizabethan Collar,"
for at least a week.

She
is
SO
miserable.

I'm tearing up again.

Oh, P.S., I promise to have that enchilada recipe up tomorrow!

Rain, then snow.

“Movie created using a single shot of Polaroid Sx-70 Time Zero film. Incrementally manipulated and scanned approx 125 times. Not digitally created.”

SO lovely.

Stop Motion Insanity

I know, I know, stop motion is now what animation was to indie videos 5 years ago. Everybody's doing it, even of it's getting a little OVERdone, like, ahem, mustaches...

But just like facial hair done right, this stop motion beaut from Grizzly bear tickles in all the right places.

Best Halloween Costume '09

It's so wrong, it's right.

Can we decorate, yet?

Ihope

so!

Images via LittlePapoose's Etsy Shop!

I'm a liar.

I broke down and bought Ruby a warm little vest for her winter walks. Do you think she'll forgive me? I don't think so, either.

Recipe of the Week: Pasta or Notpasta with a Goat Cheese Sauce

Are you busy? Tired? Run down? Are you dreaming of lazy conversations in outside cafes surrounded by a language you don't speak? What about a bonfire completely fueled by the pages of your useless and exorbitantly priced textbooks? Weird. Me, too.

So, in this haze of schoolworkteachhomeworkstressschoolworkwork, this is a comforting little dish that can be whipped up in the time it takes to boil water. Or plot an escape plan.

Pasta or Notpasta with a Goat Cheese Sauce
Serves 4 regular folks, or 2 Americans
Ingredients:
16 oz. of your favorite pasta or notpasta (i.e. gluten-free)
1 1/2 c of goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
handful of shelled pistachios
sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
extra virgin olive oil.

Get a big pot of generously salted water boiling on the stove. Once it's at a rolling boil, add all of the pasta and give it a stir to make sure none of the pasta have stuck to the bottom of your pot. Boil as per the package instructions until al dente.

Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest. Put the pasta back in the pot with the reserved pasta water, the goat cheese crumbles, shredded Parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well until the cheese is all saucy and melty.

Portion into bowls and add a squidge of extra virgin olive oil, another grinding of black pepper, a spoonful of sun-dried tomatoes, a few shelled pistachios, and a sprinkling of some more Parmesan cheese.

Don't worry about the dishes, just enjoy!

A Vacation Would Be Nice

I'm going on my second day of teaching.
I'm teaching a lesson on substance abuse that is so watered down and innocuous
these kids called my bluff right away.

So I'm taking a cue from all the other teachers these kids have:
I'm on mental vacation today.

I'll be listening to the waves tease the beach and
Shug burning slowly in the sun.
(We put sunblock on, I swear!)

I'm pretty sure wine is a part of my vacay, too.

Where the Wild Things Were

Yes, we FINALLY got to see a canon of my pre-school existence. And, of course, I was let down.

Big surprise, right? But in all honesty, I tried sososo to not have any lofty expectations going into the theatre. Readying a TEN SENTENCE book for the screen is no small feat. Spike Jones even shrugged off the task a few times before buckling down with Maurice Sendak (the author) to make the movie. I would have passed on this project, too. Why? Well, here's the original text:

"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another. His mother called him "WILD THING!" and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" so he was sent to bed without eating anything. That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew- and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are. And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws- till Max said "BE STILL!" and tamed them with a magic trick of staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things. "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" "Now stop!" Max said and sent the wild things off to bed without their supper. And Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat so he gave up being king of where the wild things are. But the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go- we'll eat you up- we love you so!" And Max said, "No!" The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him- and it was still hot."

It's kinda ok, but without the amazing illustrations it's just another kid's story without the dumb "hidden morals" (I'm looking at YOU Hansel and Gretl, thanks for scaring the crap out of me!). You also are taking holy words to kids everywhere that had imagined and dreamed up poly-plots, sequels, prequels, and subtext to this amazing and vague little story and make it into a movie for the masses. Touching this with a film is a very, very, very difficult thing to take on.

I really felt like I was watching two movies simultaneously. The A-MAZ-ING wild things truly had me in goosebumps. Seeing these beasts that I had loved so dearly and shared so many bedtime stories with move, and talk, and roooooar was thrilling! And maybe that's the problem. I had such a visceral and emotional response just to the damn previews for this movie, a feature length endeavor just couldn't hold up. And, as expected, the dark plot was also much to rickety to support these wild things in their wild rumpus.

But, go see this movie. Seeing the wild things in "real life" makes it worth it. Let me know what you think!

I forgot to sleep in!

Drat.
Well, at least Ruby got some extra zzz's.
Have a lazy Sunday!