Freak

I cannot adequately express how much I adore James Frain as Franklin Mott on this season of True Blood. Frain is one of those actors that I know I've seen before, but can't always place. I knew he played Cromwell in The Tudors, but I couldn't remember what I knew him from before that. It turns out he was Forney in Where the Heart Is (the best part of that movie), he was in Titus and The Count of Monte Cristo, as well.

Part of the reason for my forgetfulness is that he generally plays quiet, unassuming characters. That is NOT the case with Franklin. His vampiric meltdown was hilarious and a much needed example of a True Blood vampire who is not alway cooly cruel. He's cruel all right, but bat-$#*t crazy (pun intended) to boot.

I love how, at the end of the clip, he is disappointed that Tara isn't watching him closely enough and says "Looook!" then "Love you" and blows her a kiss. The Vampire king of Mississippi isn't wrong when he calls poor, unbalanced Franklin a "Freak".

True Blood, please give me more of Freaky Franklin!

New Cut!

As you can see, I got about 3 inches of my hair chopped off. Right now it feels exactly the way a new haircut should: swishy and light. I cannot stop touching it, either.

As usual, Miguel (my hair guy) was extremely entertaining. He just got back from vacation and was still riding high. Even though he could have styled my hair curly and gone home about 20 minutes earlier, he decided to make me straight. We joked that, with this humidity, it would last just long enough for me to get home. I insisted my cats would be impressed. That stopped him in his tracks. Apparently Miguel LOVES cats so he had to quit blowdrying and show me something important. He ran off and returned quickly with his ipad.

He has some app (I cannot find it anywhere) that you choose a picture of a cat and pet it. It purrs and the ipad vibrates. His favorite part, however, is that if you shake it, the cat meows angrily. He was quick to assure me that he does not make a habit of shaking REAL cats, just the ones on his computer!

Any thoughts about shaking cats or my new cut?

Losing My Mind

When my mother has a senior moment, we tell her she is turning into Baba; when I have one, I'm turning into Mom. I thought I would stick around in the "Mom" mode until I was a least 40. Today I made the clear leap to "Baba"

Part of my job is to tally incoming payments by check and fill out a deposit slip. This is normally one of the easier tasks I do on a daily basis. It doesn't even require me to do any math, as I have to use our adding machine to total the checks twice, ensuring that both totals match.

I would like to emphasize that this has never been a problem for me before. Today, however, I found my deposit slip (which should have been clipped to the checks) floating around on my desk. I was surprised but didn't really think twice about it, I just got the checks out of the lock box and put it all together. In doing so, I happened to notice that the slip did not match my tape total. Not only didn't it match, but it was about six thousand dollars off!

Here is an idea of what I was seeing:

Tally Deposit Slip

3625 9352

Come On! That deposit slip number looks like I just made it up! Not only did I traspose the 5 and 2, but I flipped the 6 into a 9 and switched it with a 3. It is like a Sudoku Anagram!

I would never have caught the mistake if I hadn't forgotten to attach my slip to the checks. It would have gone to the bank then they would have called the bursar's office who would have then called my co-worker, Nicole (because she did the financial report today). She would have had to have asked me about it, then I would have gone to our files just to see that the two amounts didn't match up!

So, thanks to my "Mom" moment of leaving the slip on my desk, I discovered my "Baba" moment before exposing it to the world.

More Shoes!

I don't consider myself to be one of those shoe-obsessed girls (luv ya, ladies!) but I am now putting up my 2nd shoe-centric post, and my 3rd in which photos of my feet are featured. I find this a bit odd. Oh well, I'll just have to assume you don't mind.

While shoe shopping last week, I saw this pair of orange strappy slingbacks that I thought would be perfect with my imaginary navy dress that I plan to buy for my friend, Allison's wedding. Number one, I love orange. Number two, orange shoes and an imaginary navy dress are theoretically going to be tres cute together.

I didn't buy the shoes since I felt a bit tippy in them and I could just see myself twisting my ankle in Hershey. They've been on my mind since last Saturday. Yesterday I made it back to DSW (this time with back-up in the form of Kathryn, she's a lawyer and makes a great case for most shoe purchases). She insisted I buy, so I did.

I'll just have to practice the chicken dance wearing these heels and hope for the best. The hunt is now on for my imaginary navy dress!

p.s. It is extremely tricky to take a picture of shoes while you wear them.

Hump Weekend

Today marked the close of our first session of the Summer Program. We are officially halfway finished! I have spoken to some parents who are eager to talk about what a great time their kids are having and it is so nice to hear it.

Although I have to work on Sunday, I have another movie day planned. This time we are going to see The Girl Who Played With Fire. I am really excited, but I'm not expecting another celebrity sighting.

When we were planning our trip to the movies, Kathryn and I started talking about the inevitable hollywood version of the Stieg Larsson trilogy. She read it could be Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman. I was aghast! I have nothing against either actor, but PUH-LEASE! It probably won't happen, but I think they would be way better off finding an unknown actress to play Lisbeth and someone a bit more rugged to play Mikael. I guess it doesn't matter, as Kathryn says* "I'm determined to hate whoever it is".

* I'm paraphrasing

Little Sparrow

Tonight I watched La Vie En Rose, starring Marion Cotillard. If you don't know, it is the story of Edith Piaf, probably one of the best known french singers. My exposure to Piaf was very limited up to now, but you can bet I'll be downloading some of her songs from itunes. The film was beautiful and moving, but the best part (besides the music) was undoubtably Marion Cotillard.

I have praised Cotillard before on this blog. I believed her to be the only bright spot in the travesty that was Nine. In Nine she sang 2 songs, in La Vie En Rose, it seems she sang one. I assume they used Piaf's own performances for the rest of them. Her transformation from a girl of 20 to a prematurely old woman at the age of 44 was amazing. In my mind, she well deserved her Oscar.

I couldn't help but think of Judy Garland while watching the film. If they ever make a film about Judy, Cotillard should probably be a contender. If you have Netflix (or even if you don't) you should watch this film. Je Ne Regrette Rien.

Boat Shoes and Blisters

These shoes, called my "skippers" by Delta 1, were just about my favorite pair of summer shoes until they died a year ago. It was a noble death after 3 good years of service. I cannot, in good conscience, wear these shoes in public anymore.

When my skippers died, I tried to replace them. In the end I found these:

I like them, but I don't love them. They aren't super comfortable to walk in, but they are nice enough. This summer I needed something better.

I have wanted a pair of top-siders for a couple of months now. Saturday I finally bought some. I hesitated to buy a pair since I hate to look like a poser and (not owning a boat of any kind) that seemed to be a bit of a risk. In addition, I had a hard time finding any that did not have pink or green plaid as part of the upper.

In the end, I'm very happy with my purchase. I did wear them on Sunday to go to the grocery store. Of course, I got blisters. It doesn't diminish my satisfaction except that I will have to break them in before I can really wear them.

p.s. I know it is just the lighting, but my legs look really tan in these pictures.