The Artist

I had the loveliest day today, and it all began at 3:00 when I went to see The Artist with my co-worker, Kristina. Following a team contest during the holidays, several of us won free paid time off and made a pact to use it together to see a movie. Unfortunately, everyone else bailed but Kristina, so we decided to go anyway. And boy am I glad we did!

I hadn't even heard of The Artist until a few weeks ago when I was watching the Golden Globes and kept seeing clips of a silent, black-and-white film. I had no idea what it was, but any thing in black and white with 1930s-era clothes and a man who looks like Clark Gable is right up my alley. It was absolutely beautiful. The entire film except for two scenes has no sound, although a gorgeous, sweeping music score keeps it from actually being completely silent. It was shot in black and white, too, but not the black and white from the '40s with a grainy, scratched picture. Everyone in the movie had flawless hair and skin, and you felt like you really had stepped back in time.

The Artist is also sort of a movie within a movie, which I loved. It's about George Valentin, a renowned silent film actor who loses everything when the Great Depression hits and silent movies fall away because of the advent of "talkies." It was romantic and visually stunning and basically perfect. I had to call both Andrew and my parents to talk about the movie right after it ended because I thought it was so wonderful.

I have also decided to cut my hair into a 1930s bob, which may prove to be a disaster. The last time I was so enamored with a period movie was when I watched Roman Holiday for the 20th time and cut my hair short like Audrey Hepburn does. Unfortunately, my hair is too curly and did not look as perfect as Audrey's. But here's a picture of Peppy Miller (isn't her character's name adorable?) and what I want my hair to look like:

Source

So then, after I drove home from that movie on cloud nine, I checked the mail and found a package from my wonderful friend, Denice, whom I used to visit teach. The last time I visited her before Christmas, we talked about how much we loved John Denver and The Muppets. When I opened the envelope, I almost cried. She had bought me the Christmas CD and written a beautiful card. I miss her a lot, and I'm really missing our old ward. Moving is always hard for me, because it takes me a while to meet new people and get comfortable.

Then, Andrew brought me a Baconator (yes, I know it sounds gross, but I kept seeing ads for it on TV and craving it -- and it was worth every penny) and the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which I've been trying to find for several weeks now. And I turned on the TV and caught an episode of Glee for the first time in months, and it was dedicated to Michael Jackson music! LOVE MJ.

Anyway, that was my very random, wonderful day. By the way, I really am planning to post pictures -- just as soon as we finally get some pictures hung and get the final stuff put away. We sold our hutch today so we have money/room for a dresser, but now I have to put away all the stuff that was in the hutch. Ah, moving and unpacking. I hope not to meet you again for awhile. :)