Saving Mr. Banks

Last August I wrote how excited I was to see Saving Mr. Banks. Have you watched it yet? Patrick and I snuck away for an evening when we were in California and saw it at the Chinese Theater in LA. It did not disappoint!! We both loved it. The movie is much deeper and more inspiring than I expected from the previews. Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and especially Colin Farrell were so wonderful to watch on the screen.

Also, the movie portrays the premier of Mary Poppins back in 1964 which we realized took place at the very theater we were sitting at in Hollywood! We had no idea, it was a fun little coincidence.

I'd highly recommend this movie for the whole family, bring your Kleenex!

Music Video Throwback Thursday

In preparation for Valentines Day, lets watch Mariah's "Always Be My Baby". I LOVED this song and video when it came out. Thanks to VH1's Pop-Up Video I remember that the majority of it was filmed at Camp Mariah, a camp that she had funded, in upstate New York (wikipedia confirms it). I still love the innocent camp romance!  

What's you're favorite throwback love song? 

Snow Baby

It snowed on Sunday and we took Myles out for a little sled ride around the house in his furry (ewok?) hat! He is at such a fun age right now, it's a blast to see him experiencing all of these new parts of life for the first time. Yesterday my sister's little dog kept running up and licking him in the face and he was dying of laughter. For about one second it made me want to get a dog. :)

Location, Location, Location!

 This past weekend, Jason and I headed up to Snoqualmie Falls with Tracy and Cuong for a post wedding portrait shoot aka "Trash the Dress". Some people are really hesitant when they hear the "trash" part of that. I promise, the goal of the shoot isn't to wreck your dress! 

The goal  of a post wedding shoot is to capture amazing photos that wouldn't have been possible on the wedding day. 

Apart from just wanting an excuse to get to wear your dress again, here are a few reasons you might not have considered to do a post wedding shoot: 

-Get photos in a special spot that wasn't logistically possible on your wedding day. 

-If you didn't love your hair/makeup, here's a second chance at it!

-If the weather didn't cooperate on your wedding day. 

-If you are really stressed out on your wedding day, a second shoot is a great way to get photos where you don't looked stressed! If you know ahead you'll probably be stressed out on the big day, plan to do a post shoot and lighten your load on the wedding day. 

Thoughts on Sochi...

Have you been watching the Olympics? 

I can't help but be a Debbie Downer about them this year.

Usually, I LOVE to watch the Olympics, both summer and winter. But I haven't really gotten into the Sochi games. All of the negative press has really gotten to me this time. Instead of watching figure skating, I find myself reading articles about nearby communities without water, thanks to Sochi construction demolishing their wells and how Russia spent over $50 billion on the games-yikes. Not to mention everyone's fixation on a certain snowflake that refused to become a ring.

I appreciate that all of the negative aspects are coming to light instead of being hidden from the rest of the world. Russia isn't the first country to host an Olympic Games that has a less than stellar human rights record. And no matter where you are, hosting such a big event is a magnet for terrible things like human trafficking and threats of terror. Just as it is an issue in Sochi, sex trafficking was an issue at the London games. Maybe the positive in this is that all of these things ARE being reported on instead of ignored, the first step toward change.

One more complaint, then I'll leave you be. #sochiproblems, REALLY people? Do you realize the people of Russia have to deal with yellow tap water ALL the time, not just for 2 weeks like you do? Stop complaining! Did every news outlet send only journalists who've never traveled outside of the US before? I really appreciated the way this article tackled the issue.

I WANT to get into it. I do think the idea of the Olympics is still a positive one once you get past the human rights violations and overpriced pyrotechnics. I remember watching as a child and it inspiring me to continue with sports- definitely a great message for people of all ages today.

Have you been watching? What has been good?

Hopefully I'll watch some of the games and be back next week with a post full of Olympic spirit!


PS. Loved this about Surya Bonaly- one of my favorite figure skaters from back in the day. But even Surya and her backflips, something I looked on with nothing but amazement as a child is rife with it's own controversy.

Best Friends

I love this little gif of Mylo and Rafa "playing" together yesterday. Happy Monday!

Monday Motivation

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