Chicago!

Meredith, Jennifer, Diane and I went to Chicago over interim break. It took us awhile to get there because we got stuck in a blizzard on the way and we just sat in the snow until they took care of accidents and cleared roads. But we had a good time even though we had less time there than we'd planned. And at the end of the trip, Diane got me sick with the flu, and I'm still getting over it. That's my excuse for not getting these pictures up sooner (We went last Thursday and Friday).

Here we are in front of the weird faces. There was another one across from it, and they rotate through different pictures of people.

The Bean.

The Chicago river looked so amazing.

Me outside the Felicity room at American Girl Place. We had all always wanted to go since we were little and it was a lot of fun. We didn't actually buy anything because it would have been too expensive so we just looked around. But there was so much new stuff there to see, so we weren't bored by any means.

Our dish-clearer, us, and Erin, the girl we stayed with Thursday night at The Melting Pot. Our fondue was amazing. We demolished all our food, especially the dessert. Chocolate dipped strawberries, cheesecake, pound cake, marshmallows, brownies, rice krispie treats, and bananas were what we got to dip.

A Picasso we saw at The Art Institute.

Another Picasso. The museum was amazing.

two items

Last night, I went ice-skating, and I forgot how much fun it was. Possibly the best part about it was that it was an outside rink. I've never lived anywhere cold enough to have an outdoor ice rink. And speaking of cold, it is so cold here. Right now, it's about 11 degrees, but with the wind, it feels about -5 degrees. I've never lived in the kind of weather where if you don't have a scarf, you feel like you've lost your breath and your throat is freezing and beginning to close up. It's an odd feeling, but I don't dislike the cold. Yet. The locals assure me that somewhere around mid-February the snow will no longer be magical and I will begin to hate it. We'll see.

Another item of note: last week, I discovered what my least favorite movie of all time is, and what could quite possibly be the worst movie I have ever seen. Shattered Glass. Don't even get me started on this movie. I know Lee Hardy is supposed to be a really smart guy, but it was his idea to make half of Calvin freshmen watch this movie, and I think I will forever hold a grudge against him for it. Aside from the fact that Hayden Christensen is potentially the worst actor ever to hit the big screen, the entire movie was pretentious, silly, and by the end, you are begging Stephen Glass to kill himself and stop whining about it. Of course, he doesn't kill himself. Instead, he insists on living on and writing a stupid book that was turned into the very movie you are watching. I don't normally wish death on people, but in this case, I am very tempted to do so. This movie made me hate every single character in the movie, so there wasn't even anyone to like or root for in any way. I am convinced that it was the biggest waste of 94 minutes in quite a while. I intentionally didn't write about the movie here right after I saw it because I was too incensed to write in coherent sentences. So there you go, my two cents on Shattered Glass. A movie to avoid at all costs.

new favorites

I have a few new things I love: Iron and Wine, and the movie Once.

Iron and Wine's album The Shepherd Dog is amazing. Every single song on it is the kind of song you can't help but replay every time you hear it. Plus, I found out last night that Iron and Wine is coming to Calvin in April (needless to say, Meredith and I screamed when we found out). So not only am I fully enjoying their new album, but I will actually get to see them live (and for only 5 dollars!).

My second new thing is the movie Once. Calvin showed it last night, and it was so good. It's the most unusual, funky, atypical movie/musical. I can't even describe it. It's sort of a musical/romance movie, but so much richer than that. The music in the movie was fantastic, but it was so natural and unassuming, that I loved it even more. The whole film was very simple and understated, but that doesn't even begin to describe it. I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to get the soundtrack (my roommate is getting it).

so this is the new year

I'm back at Calvin and very happy to be here. I had a great break, but it feels good to come home to my own bed and see all my stuff and sit on my own futon watching my own movies.

So far, I love my class. It's called Art: A Reflection of Culture, and I love it. Basically, we read ten pages a day, watch movies every other day, and discuss what we read and watch. My professor is pretty awesome, too. I'm really looking forward to the rest of January. It's great to not hate getting up at the crack of dawn (except that in the winter, it's before dawn) because I'm going somewhere I want to be. Our first movie we watched was The Constant Gardener, which was an excellent film. The point to this diatribe? Interim is awesome.

And last but not least, I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping my new year's resolutions. I worked out yesterday and I'm going back to the gym later today. And I haven't eaten dessert since I came back to Calvin (I only get to eat dessert on weekends . . . hopefully it will work). Plus, I'm getting back into recreational reading.

Life is good.