Naturally Optimistic

Dahlia in her party dress. The weekend, once again, flew by MUCH too quickly. I mean really? Two days off and five days on? Who thought this was a good idea? (okay okay, don't answer that - clearly the people working seven days on thought it was GREAT!)...I digress... Friday night...we had a pick up shoot for WHITE MAN'S WORLD at my house. It involved Jason & our actress Kris, Pat our makeup guru and myself. Mostly Pat & I sipped cocktails & discussed religion & philosophy while the scene was being shot. I dug it! The scene went great it was a fun night. Pat LOVES Dahlia so it was nice that they got to spend some quality time together. Dahlia slept til 7:15am on Saturday! Whohoo! THAT rocked my world. The rest of the day was spent putzing around, more ADR work for GOD ROCKS and Dahlia's first birthday party! It was for our friends' little girl Claira who was turning 3. There was a lot of commotion - gave us a glimpse as to what we're in for in a cou...

Dahlia has been more & more vocal lately and it's awesome. Every now and then we can actually hear her voice...very cool. She makes more coos, goos, gurgles and "laughs" - sort of, we think. Right now she's just chilling out in her chair, with her bunny & taggy blanket making all sorts of cool sounds. It is an awesome thing to witness. We talk to her every day - in our language and hers to encourage her to make noises and explore that type of expression. You can actually hold a "conversation" with her if you mimic her noises. I can't wait til she starts babbling more & then come the words. I have a feeling this one's going to be a lot like her mama - talk, talk, talk, talk talk....poor Steve....

Yesterday was WAY too nice to be inside blogging about - so we were outside most of the day. Today is the return of crap weather (38 and rainy) so a good day for blogging! Dahlia & I walked to work yesterday - about 2.5 miles each way. We had to try out her new jogger. It rocks! The ride is very smooth & sweet. I think we both dug it. She slept most of the way to work and was SUPER smiley and LAUGHING once we got there -awesome! It was hard to concentrate at work so after a few hours we walked back home. Again she mostly slept, I ate ice cream and she was super happy when we got home. We didn't even make it inside! I brought the bouncy seat out and we hung out on the back steps. I even enticed Anna over for a margarita! :) Steve got home and we did more hanging out outside - Dahlia even dined al fresco. We had margaritas and cheese and it was fabulous. 75 degrees & not a cloud in the sky. That's Duluth SUMMER. What a treat to have it in April. When it's that nic...

Imagine that! I watched two movies AND and my baby baptized this weekend. Busy busy busy! This film is definitely unique and I must say I enjoyed it. You sort of have to take a leap of faith, go along for the ride and things become clear as you let yourself go. It's funny, it's sad, it's touching and it's kind of weird. I think the 3 main actors (Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson (LOVE HIM) and Jason Schwartzman did a great job - their characters were interesting as were their relationships to each other. The music was fun, the sets were gorgeous and as usual Wes Anderson's deft directing hand did not disappoint. And once again I suck at writing reviews...but I liked it and that's all that matters, right?

Dahlia was baptized yesterday. We had a lot of family and some friends with us and it was a good day. The service was a special "Earth Day" service which was very appropriate & the main theme was water which worked well for both Earth Day and baptisms (there was one other baby baptized too). Dahlia did soooo good all throughout church (and it was a LOOOOONG service) but she was getting hungry right at the point of the baptism so...she got a little cranky up there. Oh well. She was still pretty dang cute. I have no pics from the church -waiting to get those from my folks...but here are a couple of Miss Dahlia in her sweet little dress.

Just finished watching this great little flick . If you're into simple, interesting movies with beautiful music, check this one out. The song FALLING SLOWLY won an Oscar this year, and deservedly so. Hailed as "a modern day musical" this film takes it's time and really uses music to tell a story in a way that is definitely not cheesy or overblown. The potential of what could be is always right around the corner. The music is wonderful, the directing is very light-handed and the acting is unencumbered. It's really quite a beautiful little film. Check it out.

I finally got around to taking the car & car seat in to be checked today. I've been meaning to go each month for the car seat clinic since Dahlia's birth but somehow have each month forgotten or not gotten out of the house in time. Today I not only remembered but made it in time - whohoo! The car seat was installed properly! And very snugly. Kudos to Steve for that. They removed the towel that we had to make the angle more proper (they don't recommend it any more - but they did in December! Weird) and replaced it with some pool noodles. Just to make it "extra" safe. Her harness needed to be tightened a little (I blame the fact that I don't put her in an extra sweater every day now due to the warm weather) and the clip needs to be more up by her armpits but other than that we were good to go. Of course this all took like an hour which was a little annoying but oh well. The other annoying thing? Not ONE hot fireman was there! I was in firehouse 8 for nearly ...

Alright, I admit it. I am truly, maddly and deeply in love with my daughter. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, her smiles are golden, her expressions are priceless and watching her learn things blows my mind. You know in the cartoon version of The Grinch, when his heart grows two sizes and it pops out of the heart-x-ray-machine thingy that they're looking at it with? Well, that's how my heart feels every day. Someday it might just burst right out of my chest.

She's growing up!

So the storm came. It's WINDY and snowy but not as snowy as I thought it would be. Most things are closed today - schools, clinic, banks, some businesses, etc. The plow has come by the front of the house (twice) but not the alley or the avenue so it's a bit tricky to maneuver anyway. We're pretty much staying put today. In fact Dahlia's going to have a Pajama Day and I'm not going to bother dressing her at all! The snow is wet & heavy but it's warm out so things are melting pretty quickly. We're supposed to continue to get snow and have strong winds through tomorrow morning and then it should really warm up and melt! Jason has no electricity at his apt and is bored out of his skull. Steve's dad also doesn't have power (or heat) so they're a bit miserable. We're snug as bugs in a rug though so I can't complain.

Here is an interview that Jason & I did for UMD. Don't mind the horrendous photo of me.

...this blizzard becomes as big of a deal as they're advertising (I'm skeptical because they're usually WRONG about weather 'round these parts).... So - I picked up a gallon of milk & OJ (we're almost out), some lunchmeat and a bag of Doritos....in case we're snowed in. Two new flicks from NetFlix await our viewing pleasure and the babe is stocked up on formula & diapers. Bring it on. That being said - I would rather we have a blizzard that consisted of 60 degrees and not 60 mile an hour winds.

BLIZZARD Watch for this weekend. /O.NEW.KDLH.BZ.A.0001.080411T0300Z- 080412T0000Z/ CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-DOUGLAS- 429 AM CDT WED APR 9 2008 ...BLIZZARD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING. NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTING TO 40 TO 50 MPH...COMBINED WITH HEAVY SNOW OF A FOOT OR MORE...WILL RESULT IN A PROLONGED PERIOD OF HAZARDOUS WHITEOUT CONDITIONS FOR LOCATIONS NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR. IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERAL HOURS OF NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY... SIGNIFICANT DRIFTING OF THE HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED. A BLIZZARD WATCH MEANS SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW...WITH STRONG WINDS AND EXTREMELY POOR VISIBILITIES ARE EXPECTED. WHITEOUT CONDITIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY DANGEROUS OR LIFE THREATENING. PREPARE FOR THIS STORM NOW. MAKE TRAVEL PLANS ACCORDINGLY AND PREPARE A SURVIVAL KIT FOR YOUR HOME AND VEHICLE. For GODSAKE this is the winter that will. not. e...

Need I say more?

This weekend we were unexpectedly busy. Friday night we did happy hour with Jason & Erin to celebrate the release of our trailer for GOD ROCKS . After a couple beers neither of us felt like cooking so we stopped at the Hacienda del Sol for some dinner. When we got home the babe treated us to an early-ish bedtime and we watched INTO THE WILD which I freaking LOVED. I can't believe Steve & Ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif both stayed awake through a long movie started near 9pm on a Friday night. We must've liked it. Saturday we putzed...then our neighbor Donna (the eyeball on the neighborhood) stopped by with a card to see Dahlia. Then my friend Laura (who worked on Newton's & God Rocks) stopped by with some lovely "Jenny's Cat Club" books for Miss Dahlia - so sweet! THEN & Chris stopped by....and wouldn't you know it? They had the fantastic soundtrack for INTO THE WILD in their car - whohoo! After chatting for a bit we all went for ...

Day two of Dahlia screaming inconsolably. Super demanding. Never happy. *sigh* I am exhausted and running out of ideas. Plus getting no work done at work or at home. My back is killing me and I'm just feeling - pffffffffffffffft. Did I mention it SNOWED yesterday & this morning. Yuck.

IS NOW ONLINE !! Check it out - let me know what you think!

Our travels to Southern California were a success! Okay, okay, I admit, I was sort of a crying mess when I finally let my Dad pull away with Dahlia in the backseat on Thursday at the airport, but once I got over that, things got better. (that being said I can't count the number of times during our trip when Steve or I said "Oh Dahlia" in that little voice that we do....) We got to the airport with plenty of time, checked in, relaxed and waited. Our flights were on schedule, no hassles, exit row seating and we landed without incident 4 hours later. It was so WEIRD to be back in LA! I felt like I was in the twilight zone in a way. I remembered how to get where we were going, but it was just sort of surreal. Our hotel was nice - an old 50's "California style" apartment complex which is now a hotel. It was nice to have a lot of space instead of just ONE ROOM. And for the price, it was okay. Nothing is cheap out there so why not spend $20 more and have some brea...