Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy valentine's day, plus I've been tagged

Ok, happy Valentine's Day. I've never been huge on the whole chocolate, roses & expensive dinner reservations thing. At least not on the same day as everyone else in the free world. Valentine's Day, in general, seems very overdone. However, I have to admit that Richard has a great history of doing fabulous things (expect for the one time he forgot to make dinner reservations and was surprised that the wait at a local restaurant was 2 hours). Most of the time, he plans a fabulous and romantic home-cooked dinner. His most memorable was a filet mignon with a port wine sauce, roasted potatoes with a white wine/mustard reduction, salad and chocolate tarts. Mmm. But, he is currently in NYC, fighting his way through snow to the airport, so that he can hopefully make it home sometime tonight. So, no glorious VD (hahah, she wrote VD) plans for me. If we're feeling up for it, maybe I'll splurge and order Thai food.

On another topic, last week, I was tagged by Shannita. I tried to fight it, but how can you? So, here we go.
Four jobs in your life (best to worst):
1. Current job as PR director for nonprofit. Lord knows, it sucked for a while due to crappy bosses, but it feels really good now.
2. Ballet teacher. Yes, for three years, from age 15 - 18, I taught ballet to children ages 2-8. I had so much fun with those kids, teaching them to plie, choreographing recital dances, and just being a part of their young lives.
3. Gallery assistant in art gallery/museum during college. Best work-study job ever. Most of the time, I just sat in the gallery and did my homework while acting as "security." A few times a year, I could get dressed up and work at various exhibition openings. I got to meet artists, and even help set up their art for exhibition.
4. Library drone. A college work-study job that lasted for all of three days before I found the gallery job. Not that libraries are bad places in general, but this was VKC library at USC. It's in a basement, and my job consisted of scanning books in the basement's basment. It was dreary and even a bit scary, especially being in there at night. I lasted all of three days and then just quit.

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. Steel Magnolias -- The ultimate weepy chick-flick. It has some of my favorite movie lines ever. "Weeza, you know I love you more than my luggage."
2. Pretty in Pink -- When I was in jr. high and high school, I so wanted to be Molly Ringwald. And even though she ends up with the totally wrong guy at the end, ("Blaine?! Blaine?! That's not a name, it's a major appliance!") it's a favorite. I've even created this fantasy about how Andie & Blaine dated for a couple of years in college, but it fizzled, and how at the 10 year reunion, Andie & Duckie see each other again after years, and fall madly in love and have lots of fat babies. Yes, I'm a bit weird.
3. Monsoon Wedding -- This movie has everything, crazy inlaws, infidelity, intrigue, a child-molesting uncle, romance, dancing, singing, and even a persuasive argument in favor or aranged marriage. If you haven't seen this gem, you must Netflix it.
4. An Officer and a Gentleman -- As a bonafide holder of a degree in women's studies, I really shouldn't love this movie. It's a classic retelling of the Cinderella, man literally sweeps poor, working-class woman off her feet and carries her off into the sunset. Debra Winger really should have picked herself up out of the paper factory and joined flight school herself. But that's another movie. And yes, this film has some heavy, Reagan-era, pro-military overtones, but it's sooo good. "I've got no where else to go!" "Oklahoma? I only know two things that come from Oklahoma, steers and queers. Which one are you?" It's totally escapist fantasy, and every once in a while, that's ok, too.
5. The Apartment -- A true gem that's a bit overlooked today, this Billy Wilder classic stars Jack Lemmon as an insurance middle manager that realizes that the way up is to let senior execs use his apartment for their extramarital trysts. Shirley Maclaine is the lovable elevator operator who is having an affair with senior exec Fred MacMurray. It won 5 Oscars, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. "
Ya know, I used to live like Robinson Crusoe. I mean shipwrecked among 8 million people. And then one day I saw a footprint in the sand and there you were. "

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Project Runway
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Touching Evil/Wire in the Blood/Watching the Dead/Murphy's Law -- BBC America Mystery Monday. The Brits sure know how to make some incredible, and twisted, police drama. So much better than your average CSI.
4. Mythbusters
5. The Office

Four places you have lived:
1. San Jose, CA (years 0-17)
2. Los Angeles (years 17-30)
That's it, folks. I'm a bit sheltered.

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Lake Tahoe!!
2. Rome
3. Playa del Carmen, Mexico
4. Memphis, TN

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Bloglines -- to read all the blogs I subscribe to
2. Elann.com -- to check out what new discount yarn they have in stock
3. Yahoo -- for news headlines, movie listings, games, etc.
4. Google -- for searches

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Brownies
2. Sushi! Especially eel, scallop, and salmon skin rolls. Yum!
3. Kettle Chips Cheddar Beer flavor -- not overly cheesy like so many flavored chips. The malt-beer taste is a great complement.
4. A good, rare steak. The redder, the better.

Four places you'd rather be right now:
1. Lake Tahoe! Although it's probably cold there, just now
2. Getting a massage
3. Eating in Santa Fe
4. Knitting at home in my new apartment

Four favorite types of yarn:
1. Rowan Cork -- Sadly, discontinued, but you can still find it on ebay
2. Blue Sky Cotton
3. Noro Blossom
4. Anything by Fiesta Yarns -- the colorways are so beautiful

Four bloggers I'm tagging:
1. Mel
2. Catherine
3. Faith
4. Kate