Nothing Like The Smell Of Fresh Popped Popcorn

Back when Christian and I were both in school at UGA we saw movies all the time. The Tate theater at the student union played movies almost every night of the week and the cost for admission was an unbelievable $1.50 (and no, I went to college in the mid 90's so this was a great deal). The Tate theater is possibly the most comfortable theater I have ever been in and the movies were rarely crowded. Occasionally on a Friday or Saturday night they would play a new release that many people were interested in seeing, but the usual fare was stuff with subtitles and things shot on Super 8, not real crowd-pleasers necessarily. The Tate theater was where I changed from a casual moviegoer to a veritable addict. I imagine that we averaged 3 movies a week while we lived in Athens.

The move to Baton Rouge, then to New Orleans, the start of 'real' jobs and responsibilities and the arrival of La Luz all caused the average to drop. We went from seeing 3 movies a week to seeing 1 and now it is closer to about 3 a month, tops (and this includes Netflix).

I miss the old days of being in the cool, dark movie theater, of being spellbound and on the edge of my seat, of crying or laughing because someone got it so 'right on'. I am not snobbish or particular about what movies I will see. I am open-minded and love all genres. For me there is no better drug than the two hour anesthesia of watching something that is so far from my life.

At the end of each year Christian and I would make a list of our top ten movies of the year. Sadly, I think most of those lists were washed away along with the rest of the journals, notes and other scribbled on scraps of paper that drifted out into the floodwaters. Consequently, as my memory fades I have very little recollection of what my favorite movies were in years past. I decided that I want to revive the tradition because my memory loss is so profound that I barely remember what movies I watched last month. Even though we probably only watched about 20 movies this year, I am motivated to list my favorites. I am only selecting 5 because there are so few to pick from. So, here they are in particular order (1 being the most loved).

1. Once
2. Darjeeling Limited
3. Juno
4. No Country For Old Men
5. Knocked Up

One night when I am not so tired and I don't have to run so many miles at 5:30 a.m. I will explain why.

And as much as I miss the movie-going, 2 hours of this is definitely my first choice:




There is no question that having a kid makes your priorities change, but in every way it is for the better.

Geaux Tigers

The impact of the championship game and the Sugar Bowl on the city has been huge. Regardless of whether LSU wins tonight I will be happy. New Orleans has looked like its old self to me for the past week. It is so nice to see the streets packed with tourists, hotels at max capacity, and streetcars filled with passengers. I hope that the media coverage for the games and the stories that will be told by recent tourists will entice others to come here and enjoy all that New Orleans has to offer.

La Luz was in rare form tonight. She was dressed in her LSU cheerleader uniform but was doing the "Go Dawgs" cheer. I guess that is what happens when you live in a divided house.

It Rolls Along

I just got back from a night in Houston visiting my dad who is arguably the best patient around. Bolstered by spending the past 24 or so hours around such a remarkable guy, I somehow found the energy to post a few of the Christmas pictures before heading to bead.

La Luz and Loki, en route:



La Luz, holding baby Wesley:


La Luz and Liam, spending some quality time together:



And with Papa-T:

Let The Seasons Begin

I have plenty of pictures from the past few weeks that I am itching to post. There is no easy way to quickly upload the monstrous photographs so I have been putting it off. My concern is that if I don't do it now I won't ever do it and then the initial purpose of the blog (my desire to chronicle, at least in part, La Luz's life for friends and family who are far away) is lost. So, please bear with me while I indulge a bit and post some of the pictures taken over the past few weeks.

La Luz and Christian enjoyed a few days together before my vacation started. With the exception of the day that they kicked around the house while the duct work in the attic was repaired, they were very busy.

One of the more exciting excursions was a trip on the streetcar to the aquarium and to visit me at work. I think the streetcar is La Luz's preferred method of transportation these days. She has already been on two rides since the St. Charles line reopened:



Here she is in my office, "working". She certainly makes it look like fun.


They also spent an exciting afternoon at Kelsea's playing with (terrorizing) Noodles the cat:


La Luz and Molls at Christmas Eve mass at St. Patrick's:


Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve at GG's. It is amazing how impossible it is to get two toddlers to sit still for a picture. Consequently, these are the best ones of La Luz and Edward together:




I will post pictures from Christmas day and the Atlanta trip over the weekend so as not to inundate everyone.

Go Dawgs...Sick 'Em

Christian was in the Quarter for what seemed like three days with friends of ours who were in town for the Sugar Bowl.

I am not kidding, this is what my New Years Eve looked like. Incidentally, it just might have been one of my best ones ever - easily in the top five:


Consequently, La Luz and I had to celebrate UGA's trip to the Sugar Bowl in our own special way - wearing red and black, muddling through what parts I remember of the Georgia fight song, and doing the "Go Dawgs" cheer (the first thing I learned at UGA). Here she is, mid cheer:

Here's To A Productive New Year

In a somewhat amazing escape from what is usually my reality I had an incredibly productive holiday season this year. I suppose it helped that I stayed away from the office and even managed to avoid obsessing about checking my blackberry every hour. Here are some of things I was able to do:

Spend time with my family and friends, my favorite part of the holidays.

Finish The Omnivores Dilemma and then spend the next few days feeling anxious, wondering what to do with all of the information.

Read half of What Is The What and spend the rest of the vacation feeling heartsick for the Lost Boys.

Open presents.

Watch La Luz open presents.

Watch La Luz act completely underwhelmed upon the discovery of the 'orange' car but go completely insane over the unsolicited, Hello Kitty lipstick.

Watch Xian flip out over the 360.

Spend approximately 18 hours in a car with a dog and a toddler.

See Juno. It was totally entertaining and made me smile and laugh.

See No Country For Old Men. Good god that was frightening. Javier Bardem will be my boogeyman for the rest of my life. Thanks Joel and Ethan.

Run 16.2 miles in the North Georgia mountains, take a wrong turn and reach the top of one right as the fog lifted. Forced meditation and an incredible blessing in disguise. I was lucky that morning.

Listen to a ton of music and podcasts on the new ipod nano Santa left under the tree.

All in all it was an incredible week and a half. I am sad it is over and that it is back to reality and all that brings with it for me right now. 2007 ended beautifully but 2008 is already starting out pretty intense. I am well-rested though, buckled in and ready for the ride, happy to have those in my life along side.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with all of our love.

An Early Christmas Present

Today La Luz and Christian supervised Nelson while he installed the new duct work, vent covers and UV filters for the ac and heat in the upstairs of our house. It is the most unexciting home repair work ever and possibly the lamest way to spend the first day of Christmas vacation.

The work wasn't all without reward, however. The big surprise that Christian failed to mention on the phone is that Nelson also replaced the upstairs and downstairs thermostats with, oh yeah, you guessed it, electronic ones. Here's the new look in our house:


Check one gift off of that crazy list!

All Dolled Up

La Luz had a big day today. She spent the morning with AJ and Mary running errands and the afternoon at Mom-mom's house playing with the train, exploring around the neighborhood and blowing bubbles. She was completely wired by the time we got home and only just went to sleep. I hope the late bedtime means she will sleep late since she and Christian are both now officially on Christmas break. Don't get me started.

Here she is wearing some stick on earrings Mary apparently gave her. She pretty much threw a fit when I had to take them off to bathe her. They look so cute it sort of makes me wish I would have pierced her ears when she was a newborn.

He Knows When You Are Awake

The older I get the more creeped out I get by the lyrics to Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I hate the thought of someone, anyone, even Santa, knowing if and when I am sleeping. That is just a little too omniscient for my taste. It makes me wonder why more little kids don't get freaked out by that idea. Whenever I mention it to La Luz she seems intrigued, but mostly appears to just make mental notes, as if reminding herself to say "please" and "thank you" and generally exercise decent behavior at the risk of missing out on presents.

I remember one Easter a long time ago my younger cousin, Mary, became completely flipped out and inconsolable when she finally realized that a rabbit would actually enter the condo in Destin, the one where she was sleeping, scurry across the kitchen floor, and place a basket for her on the breakfast room table. I think she was so traumatized that my mom tried to convince my aunt to just break the news to her.

For now at least, La Luz seems to dig the idea that Santa is coming down the chimney, the one nearest to the tree, and will leave some presents for her on Christmas morning. At the start of the holiday season I didn't really think that she was old enough to be bribed with Santa but I learned a few weeks ago that her teacher bribed her on a number of occasions to get her to take a nap in the afternoon. Once I discovered that she was actually threatened by the thought of Santa not coming to our house to leave her an orange car under the tree, I used it every time I needed a decent bribe. I will have to resort to more creative measures in a week, but for now I can convince her to do just about whatever I need her to do (or not do).

Here she is earlier tonight after a lazy afternoon of steetcar and wagon rides with Christian. She is checking out her new princess ponytail holders (a Christmas gift from her teacher) in the mirror and looking incredibly scuzzy.

They Shouted Out With Glee

La Luz's first school Christmas party was this morning. I decided to take the day off because I was worried that I would get stuck at the office and be late, as usual. I loved every minute of my day off with La Luz and even managed to be a bit productive while she napped. It worked out perfectly that I took the day off because there was no after care at La Luz's school and Christian has been busy all day grading his exams.

The Christmas party was totally entertaining. I had no real expectations going into it, assuming that there isn't much you can do with toddlers. The girls came out of their classrooms wearing reindeer shirts made out of their hand and footprints and headband antlers. The reactions as they left their classrooms and discovered that there parents were waiting for them in the entry hall to celebrate were hilarious. Some of the girls did the obvious screaming and jumping. Others scanned the crowd, craning their necks with looks of anxiety as they searched for familiar faces, and some saw their parents' faces in the crowd and immediately flipped out and started bawling uncontrollably until their mom or dad rescued them. La Luz was one of the few kids who was just generally excited at the idea of a party, at school, with parents, and, most importantly, presents and unrestricted cheetos and sugar.

After a very disorganized photo session wherein all of the girls were lined up and asked (bribed) to stay in place, the kids made it through one round of Jingle Bells (which, incidentally, never sounds better than when sung by a 2 and 1/2 year old) and then dispersed to run around the hallways and eat Christmas candy. Santa made a guest appearance but La Luz would not sit on his lap. I hoped that she would feel courageous after watching her friends sit on his lap but that did not work. She made sure, however, to get Christian to hold her and walk within shouting distance of him. She yelled from about three feet away, "Santa, may I please have an orange car? Thanks".

Most of the pictures have her classmates in them. This might be the only one I have just of her:

I Hope You Had Fun

I have never been much for manual labor. It is not that I mind it in particular, just that I have never been asked to do it, so it is not part of my routine. Organizing, stacking, sorting, dusting and general cleaning are very much a part of my skill set. Christian, unlike me, actually had to do a fair amount of yard work as a kid (at least this is what he tells me) so taking care of the lawn is something he dreads, though does without complaint once he finally decides it has to be dealt with.

Even though it has been in the 70s and 80s for the past two weeks, we have been kicking our way through 6 inches of beautiful leaves in our front yard and on the sidewalk every time we leave the house. I kept hoping something would happen and they would all disappear - lots of wind? strong rain? a generous lawn service hired by neighbors? On Saturday Christian tackled the very overwhelming task of clearing the front of the house and sidewalk. I know this is nothing close to shoveling snow but it was 80 degrees outside, humid and breezy so the job was extra burdensome. When La Luz and I pulled up to the house I couldn't get inside fast enough. La Luz, on the other hand, was ready to dive right in and offer her assistance - as long as she was allowed to wear the special gloves:

Saint Lucia - The Queen Of Lights

Today is the feast day of St. Lucy. I love the saints and their stories. Over the course of my life I have had a few different copies of books containing stories of the lives of saints. I remember being intrigued by the things that were depicted in the pictures with each saint - St. Francis always had animals around him, St. Christopher (and I don't think he is a saint anymore) had the baby Jesus perched on his shoulder, and St. Lucy had her eyeballs gouged out and displayed them on a dinner plate. Wow. Gorey stuff.

A year ago I posted the story of how St. Lucy came to be and why she is so special. If I actually spent time learning how to work blogger I could put a link back to that old post. I have had that on my "stuff that needs to get done" list forever but that list is always disregarded in favor of the "DO THIS NOW, FOOL" list.

The short story is that the feast of St. Lucy is celebrated as a festival of lights. Her name means "light" and so she became the patron saint for the eyes - the light of the body. In the olden days girls wore crowns made of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles - sounds incredibly dangerous. In Sweeden the youngest daughter wears the crown and wakes the family with a tray of steaming coffee and saffron buns. I don't know what saffron buns are but I bet I would like them. At this point, La Luz is barely capable of retrieving a handful of dry cereal from the box so I wasn't altogether surprised when she didn't bring me steaming coffee and saffron buns. Maybe next year.

Here's my Lucy:





always keeping it very light indeed.

Come N' Get It

Dinner time at the Vaicius feedlot. This little operation has been in effect for a week or so now. Sometimes it involves two or three bowls and baby dolls. What you see here is a more simplified version. I am glad someone is keeping track of who had dinner.

Check It

The image Christian has been trying to stage for the past year and a half.


It happened while I was busy getting ready for work this morning and I love it.
I don't know what it is about the picture that really gets me - the fact that Loki is so comfortable, her insouciant pose, or the mystery of how they got like that...it is all so amusing.

Xian's Xmas

What follows is Christian's completely unsolicited Christmas list. Contrary to my list, I am not posting this list in the hopes that someone will get him all of this stuff. It just amused me. I like the list because, 1) he assumes someone is getting him something and is confused about what he might like and 2) the list ranges from the very attainable and totally realistic to the truly ridiculous. Here it is in no particular order:


Polo shirts for school. This is an image of a Gap polo shirt but I don't think he cares where it comes from. He would like black, white, and/or red. He also asked for a royal blue one but I am not wild about that color and he is colorblind.


A seat cushion for the bench in our kitchen. There is only one person that has the possibility of making this wish come true and somehow I think her hands are full this holiday season.


Two electronic thermostats so we can finally figure out what temperature it is around here.


Madden 2008 (or 2007) for the PS2.


A saw. I guess it is a circular saw that he wants because the project that he needs it for involves removing and resizing baseboards.



A stained glass window with our street addressed etched in it for the front door. Um, yea, not happening pal.

Finally, although it is not on the list, I think all hell would break loose if either this:


or this:


appeared under the tree on Christmas morning.

Looking Like Christmas

It is unbelievable...a second ago it was Friday afternoon and now it is Sunday night, late. I am not sure what happened over the past 48 hours to make the time go by so fast, but looking back it doesn't seem like I managed to get all that much accomplished.

I got the tree all lit up and decorated with Christian and La Luz's help. We also put some lights and garland on the upstairs balcony and hung the stockings. It is starting to look a lot like Christmas around here even if it is 80 degrees outside and the ac is on. Decorating the tree, and even having a tree, is much more fun this year than last year because La Luz finally 'gets' it and she is really into the idea of Christmas. That is about where my productivity ended. The rest of the weekend was filled with a bunch of hanging out and doing fun stuff.

La Luz's weekend was, for the most part, filled with Christmas-oriented activities.

Aunt Kate sent an advent calendar and it is exactly what I had been looking for but was completely unable to find. La Luz spent the afternoon on Friday opening up the doors for the days that already passed and trying to figure out how to get us to agree to let her open the remaining days.

On Saturday I took La Luz to ASH to see Santa. We saw him, from about 25 feet away. As I got closer to the stage and Santa himself La Luz started clawing at my neck and suffocating me with her grip of death. I thought that she had outgrown her weird fear of Santa. No such luck. Maybe next year. She enjoyed the rest of the activities. Especially playing with the light up, lawn display manger and the toy soldiers.





Kelsea babysat three nights in a row and last night brought La Luz her Christmas present, a precious cat named Sasha, but renamed Noodles after Kelsea's cat. Noodles hasn't left La Luz's side since. Here she is opening it up:


Earlier tonight Christian cooked lamb chops on the grill - a recipe he had been anxious to try since he discovered it at Saskia's wedding. Not bad, eh?


Margot, Walker, Mom, Pop and Uncle Richmond came over for dinner and La Luz was totally on fire. It took about an hour to get her sedated and ready for bed. Needless to say, she crashed instantly. Here she is forcing Richmond to play the piano with her:



It is hard to believe Christmas is in about two weeks. There is still so much to be done to get ready. Let's see if I can pull it together.