Surprise!

Drewby's making a visit to Chicago! My little brother called last night and asked if I would like to have a surprise visitor next weekend. UM YEAH! Drewby's coming to town to spend the weekend with his big sis! We're going to have so much fun! I love that he is one of my best friends in the world. See you in eight days kiddo!  UPDATE:  Nevermind, he texted today that he just found out he has an art competition.  Sigh.  BUMMER! Why does he have to be all artsy and cool like that?

The Name Game

I just finished putting together a baby shower game for one of my co-workers upcoming office baby shower. It's a celebrity baby name game. My mind just rotted. There are some "interesting" names out there. I'm trying to be diplomatic here. If you were a celebrity and you were having a baby, what would you name yours? I want weirdness people! Give me something like, "Brisk Morning Walk." The winner will receive a prize. I'm not exactly sure what yet, but it will be good!

For those of you who watched the Oscars, do you remember when Jon Stewart came up with his stripper name? You mix your middle name with the street you grew up on? Mine would be Kathryn Cliff Trail. Doesn't work so much. But if I took my dogs name and mixed it with my first car, then we have a name! Piper Celica or Hunter Celica or Woofie Celica or Georgie Celica. Something in there works as a stripper name. Am I sensing a stage name for me? SWEEEEET!

Uptight

You know it's winter when you just. don't. care. anymore. And yes, they were that way when I put them on this morning. You can also see my little red toe through my tights. My patience for winter is wearing thing...just like my tights.

Call Me Basil

Yes, another quiz! Does that tell you a little about what's going on in my life right now?

Lindsay had this on her blog and I got the same thing.

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by post people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

What Spice Are You?

Quinn's Party Pics

See what I mean? I was being wrestled to the floor by little Piper. She's a little thing that packs a big punch. And no she isn't grabbing my boobs in this picture. I moved her hands before one could be taken. I can't wait until my nephews are big enough to wrastle. Yes, that's wrastle with an "a."

Here's a picture of me, Janell and Angie. Angie and I went to junior high together. Fast forward a few years and I get a call from my cousin, Josh, telling me he's dating a girl I knew in JH. RANDOM! They've been married for eight years. That's so cool. And so is she. Yeah, we tore up the volleyball and basketball courts at TCA.

Below is one of the cutest kids you will ever meet. Happy First Birthday Quinn!

Click here and here to see more pics of the party.

Bravo Designer Quiz

This is for all you Project Runway Season 4 lovers. Which designer are you? I was Jack. He's "big hearted." I think it fits.

I'm Feeling Periodical

Don't you just love being a girl? I swear this would be me if I only had one period a year.

Academy Awards

Europe has taken over all of the American awards shows! Seriously, what does that say about our film actors this year? We weren't up to par!

I'm disappointed in myself because I ended up watching all one bagillion hours of the Academy Awards last night. I told myself I wasn't going to watch and instead I would do productive and fulfilling things like read, organize, memorize scripts, or write my own Oscar acceptance speech. Instead I ate too much cake and ice cream at Quinn's first birthday party (where I was wrestled to death by three year old, Piper). Then we got home late so we watched the DVR version of the Oscars. We sped through the "boring" awards and speeches, yet after two hours we still hadn't caught up with the live taping. BRUTAL! But I like John Stewart and I like making snarky comments about what people wear. So I should be satisfied.

Speaking of satisfied...Atonement DID NOT win for best picture!!! hahahahahahaha! Vengeance is mine! I didn't realize until last night that I had it out for this movie. I mean, what did this movie ever do to me? It just disappointed me. Blah story + blah characters + high expectations = bitter me. The one part I did love about the movie was the musical score. So congrats to them on winning an Oscar! Yay musical score!

Speaking of music...THREE CHEERS FOR ONCE!!! Seriously, Janell and I hugged when we saw them win their Oscar. FAVORITE SONG OF THE YEAR! I could listen to that album over and over again. And thank you John Stewart for bringing Marketa Irglova back out for her acceptance speech. It was the most inspiring and beautiful speech of the night!

Speaking of beautiful...Favorite dresses: Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner. I really didn't see that many of them. Worst dress: Sorry Julie Christy, loved your movie, not so much your dress.

Smiling with Santa

I spent Saturday with my wonderful Aunt, Anna Mae, who we call Auntie. She said she had a little surprise for me. She remembered me blogging about me never having a smiling picture with Santa Claus. Well, she found one! Check it out!






















I may be smiling but I have my hands ready to sock him one if he even looks in my direction. Thanks Auntie! Seriously, how cute are we? Don't you just want to scoop up my little sister and have a tea party with her?

The picture has the original laminated covering on it. There's a bright yellow sticker on the back that says "Prestonwood Town Center" on it. That mall is now bulldozed and became an office park. I took ice skating lessons there and they had the best corny-dog stand. That's right, I say CornY-Dog instead of Corn-Dog.


I also was just thinking the other day about the shirt I was wearing in this picture. It had silver thread woven through it. I loved that shirt.

goodreads.com

Christine just introduced me to something that just might transform my life: Good Reads. My mom calls me all the time wanting book suggestions. She reads faster than anyone I know. This website would be a goldmine for her. You can find your friends online and see what books they've read, what they recommend, and you can even write your own book review. For instance:

1) Harry Potter: Go read it now because you'll absolutely fall in love with it. You'll wish you had never read it so you can read it again for the first time.

2) The Da Vinci Code: OVERRATED!

Go and explore! And let me know if you're a member so we can trade favorites.

Stop, Collaborate and Listen

Two amay-mayzing things happening tonight:

1) Lunar Eclipse. I don't want to miss this one. It's a full lunar eclipse y'all. I'll take any chance I can get to howl at the moon and beat my chest (though not hard because I'm experiencing some tender warriors at the moment. Do I need to spell it out for you? Okay - PMS).

2) The Senate. We're performing tonight at The Playground (Halsted & Belmont) at 8:00 p.m. $10 and BYOB. Be there....and then go watch the lunar eclipse. I'm thinking the eclipse should be in full glory between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. (central time).

While You Were Watching American Idol

Timely Combination:

8:47:29 p.m. - Stretching hamstrings on the floor while doing the middle splits with back against the couch all the while pointing out to my roommates how flexible I am, even at my age.

8:47:41 p.m. - Couch moving and scraping against the wood floor at the same time creating a timely "noise."

8:47:43 p.m. - Lots of pointing and laughing in my direction.

8:47:47 p.m. - Me swearing up and down THAT WASN'T ME!!!!!

IT WASN'T ME!

DWTS Season 6

Most of you are familiar with the short-lived Dancing with the Stars addiction I had a couple of years ago. I realized after months of professional psychiatric evaluation that my addiction was mostly founded upon my love for all things Texas, aka. Emmitt Smith. Love him! (spoken with a sing-songy voice)

Well now there's a new pack of "Stars" ready to dance their way back into the spotlight. You can read the new list here. I'll just point out a couple of my favorites:

1. Kristi Yamaguchi: I wanted to be her! Did I ever mention I used to be an ice skater? Probably. I saw her once at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. We were at the women's volleyball championship and she was sitting a few rows in front of me. She was gorgeous! And so tiny! Hated her. Kidding! I love you Kristi. Come over here and let me give you a hug!

2. Steve Guttenberg: What little girl didn't fall in love with the movie Three Men and a Baby? Police Academy defined "comedy" back in the 80's. He was the man. How come in the 80's, leading men looked like Steve Guttenberg and Michael Keaton? Now they have to look like Brad Pitt or Eric Bana. I mean, I'm not complaining. Somehow we all loved the geeky, funny guy. I still do. Sorry Brad Pitt. You're good to look at but can you make me laugh? You can? Well....whatever, you ruined my point.

and....I don't think I really am excited about any of the other dancers. Plus I refuse to get into the show. I have enough to think about with LOST (seriously, how amazing was Thursday's show?) and Project Runway.

Blue Ray vs. HD DVD

I don't get it. Someone just tell me what to buy already.

Oh Indy!

I'm not going to lie to you folks, I'm pretty excited about this:

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm sending my love to all of my favorite readers!...which basically means anyone who reads this blog. I hope each one of you has at least one person tell you today that they love you. If not, I love you. I'm sending you a viral hug. Squeeze!

When You Care to Send the Very Best

I had a fun surprise when I arrived at the office this morning. The girls were huddled around the reception desk and said that I had flowers! They said, "do you have a man we don't know about?" Girls, you don't even know! I saw that they were addressed to "Kathryn Orender." There's only one man out there who calls me Kathryn. I knew they were from my sweet dad! I knew it the second they said, "you have flowers!"

Not even 30 minutes later another co-worker comes to my desk with another vase of flowers! Two in one day? Happy Valentine's to me indeed! Can we say "Daddy's girl"?

Get Me Out of Neverland

Last night was the final cut for my film scene in my On Camera class. You know, THE scene.

Well, it started out incredibly rocky because my teacher changed the way we were standing, changed the lighting, changed the camera angle, etc. And I didn't wear heels which means you couldn't really see me over Fernando's shoulder. He finally got us in position and told Fernando that he couldn't move at all. He also told me that I couldn't move my head to the left or right and that I could only move it about three inches forward or I would be in shadow. How that heck is someone supposed to get all seductive and sexy when you can't move? As Doug said, "it's very difficult. That's why we as film actors get paid the big bucks." I want the big bucks!

Moving on...I was told not to look at Fernando because then they couldn't see my eyes. I had to look at the wall just past his ear, etc. IT WAS SOOOOO HARD! Doug kept asking, "Where's the sex? What happened to what we talked about last week?"I said, "I am trying to be all sexy with his ear. That's what happened!" I had one inch of work space. Crazy difficult. I was frustrated and kept flubbing one line. We got a meager take. Then he pulled Fernando five feet away to stand by the camera. I had to stay where I was and do the scene while being far away. Doug said, "Remember Katy, SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX." Got it. So I did it and Doug goes, "Cut. Okay, that's it." That's it? I was shocked. Ooookay, so not even another take?

Then we had to watch it. SHEER TERROR! I was mortified and could hardly stand it. I wanted to go hide in a corner while holding onto my childhood pink Puffalump (yes I still have it). So after the final cut, Doug looks at me and says, "I don't even know what to say." *cue the birds chirping* I said, "I don't like it." "YOU DON'T! That was amazing!" WHAT? Seriously? I just said, wow, okay, I trust you guys. Then he made me watch it frame by frame to watch my face, my head movements, etc. He said, "you can't teach people that." I honestly didn't feel totally connected so I thought it could have been better. I'll take his word for it.

The second to last scene wasn't that bad, at least from the mid-point on. At one point in the first half I look like I'm about to choke him. Hilarious. But I did connect and it was strong. I guess I realized that I needed to know what the physical connection was like so that I could really connect with him even though I was five feet away in the last shot.

I learned so much: 1) It's hard y'all and 2) I have really fat-patty hands. Hand modeling is out. DANGIT!

Frost Bite

Happy Monday! And what a glorious Monday it is. Who doesn't love Mondays? Just think, only 4 more days until the weekend!

I think I epitomize the song "Working for the Weekend." Epitomize...I'm having one of those moments when I'm not sure I used the correct word. Epitomize...it's like the one time when I kept saying the word "tree" over and over again and it just didn't sound right. It must be the cold air!

Blogs about weather are usually boring. And this one won't be any different. I just feel like having a pity party. It was all of ZERO degrees yesterday. Windchill registered at -30. NEGATIVE 30! I seriously think my face is thrice its normal size due to windburn. I feel like I've been skiing down a mountain for three days, except I haven't. I just walked five blocks in the cold wind. Whoa is me! (she places back of right hand against her forehead in exasperation while tossing her head backwards) Poor, poor girl.

Today is a balmy high of 12 degrees. I get bitter everytime I look at the temp in Dallas and it reads 65 degrees and sunny. My brother kindly called me today to tell me, "I played tennis yesterday in shorts and a t-shirt." Yeah, well...my scarf turned frosty yesterday from the moisture from my breath. boo ya!

Friday Fun

You know how much I love LOST. I was borderline hysterical last night when I got home and realized that my DVR didn't record LOST! I only caught the last 15 minutes. I'm still recovering.

Pop Candy gave a link that you can enter in a few tidbits about yourself and Sawyer will give you a nickname. He gave me the nickname "Ladybug." Swoon!

Where Are They Now? Family Ties

Family Ties is perhaps one of my favorite shows of all time. I don't know one girl who didn't have a crush on Alex P. Keaton.

It was fun to see them reunited for the first time in 18 years on the Today Show. And I still quote "Sit Ubu sit. Good dog." but had forgotten why until watching this interview.

Upcoming Shows

Come see me perform with my Playground team, The Senate! We were recently voted to be a new Pilot Member team for The Playground theater. Was does that mean? Probably nothing to you, but we think it's a big deal.

You can see us soon:

Saturday, February 9th
8:00 PM
The Playground (Halsted and Belmont)

Wednesday, February 20th
8:00 PM
The Playground

It's $10 and BYOB. Good times guaranteed!

Place My Hands Where?

Riddle me this: How on earth does one turn the scene I picked for my On Camera class into a seduction scene? Little innocent Kate Winslet telling little innocent Johnny Depp that she wants to keep pretending they're a family until she dies doesn't exactly seem sexy to me. Somehow teacher Doug thought so.

Thinking I'd have to gear up and get some fat tears ready for a dramatic part, I selected Fernando as my scene partner. He's a good friend. We've never done a scene together in class. It will be fun. Next thing I know Doug is telling me to play a seductress. Katy is to seductress as Ben and Jerry's is to health food. Then he tell us in front of the class to "pretend you're naked...." Uno momento. I'm sorry Doug, could you repeat that? I thought I heard you say, "pretend you're naked." Oh he said that alright, AND SO. MUCH. MORE. He was getting all Nora Roberts on us. I cannot repeat the words whispered to me in the corner that night.

Never would Fernando and I have guessed that in Monday's On Camera class our relationship would become so. much. more...in front of seven other people...and then have to watch it played back to us on video. Magic. I will never forget this as long as I live.

Why is it that I have to take acting classes to get a little action around here? It's a tough job.

Good news, we get to do it again next week. Then he's putting it on DVD for us. DO NOT count on me posting it...EVER! I'll show a private screening at my place and all proceeds will go to charity.

Not Just Another Sandra Bullock Movie

An "A ha" moment with a friend yesterday:

Me: Because I want everyone to like me.

Friend: Why? Do you think God is counting the number of people that like you?

Me: Hmmm, I guess God's not handing out any crowns for Miss Congeniality.

Friend: Exactly.

Me: Yeah. Good point.

Make an Impact

An interesting article in The New York Times. I happen to be surrounded by many Christians who are sacrificing their time and money to help people in other countries struggling to live. Making trips of their own to China, Africa, Turkey, Guatemala, Russia, etc. or giving abundantly to support those in need, Christians are making a positive impact. I know other people are making an impact too, but I wanted to specifically point out Christians because we're often viewed (mistakenly....and many times, not so mistakenly) as judgmental, unloving and self-righteous. If people truly took the time to get over their prejudices (right or left winged) to get to know each other, they'd see that they do have a common goal.

Please see the do something good! column to the left for more ways you can help people.

Waste Not, Want Not

Two questions:

1. Why do people lick the peel off lids on yogurt containers? I know why I do it: I can never be satisfied.

2. Do these same people also pour the crums from the bottom of their bags of chips into their mouths? Done it.

Okay, one more encore question:

3. Does everyone drink the remaining milk out of their cereal bowl? I absolutely polish off any remaining morsel or liquid in my cereal bowl. What cereal makes the best leftover milk? I'm going to go with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Underdogs

The game pretty much made me yawn until the fourth quarter when Eli Manning scrambled out of the Patriot's defensive net and hit Tyree with a long pass THAT HE CAUGHT ON HIS HELMET! Our party errupted. It doesn't get much better for an underdog quarterback. Congrats to the Giants. If it wasn't the Cowboys, it might as well be the Giants. Three letters: N-F-C!

The night also brought another emotional moment from me. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed and goosebumpy watching the dalmation train the clydesdale. Again, it's the story of the underdog. Gets me every time.

Scene 1, Take 1

Today is nasty in Chicago. Be happy today if you call somewhere other than Chicago home. It snowed for nearly 20 hours straight. I had such high hopes for a snow day. Then I remembered that I live in Chicago and not Texas where they'd call a snow day with the mere threat of inclement weather.

Onto more fun topics...

In my On Camera class we are asked to select a one minute scene from a film that moves us or is from one of our favorite films. We will then rehearse it and perform it for the camera and afterwards we'll have a nifty DVD. I'll have something to show my kids someday. They can take it to school for show and tell.

I procrastinated for several weeks. I felt such pressure to find THE PERFECT film scene. I began to panic, "What IS my favorite film?" "Is there a scene that TOTALLY impacted me and changed my life?" Then I just gave up and decided to find something I enjoyed. I jokingly said I selected the final dance scene from Dirty Dancing and needed a partner. That would be AWESOME! I realized most of my favorite films are period pieces or involved a foreign language. Not gonna work. But in the end I went through my movie collection and pulled out a few that I liked but didn't completely wreak of chick-flickness. I picked out Little Miss Sunshine, The Royal Tenenbaums and Finding Neverland. The first two didn't have long enough scenes with only two people to pass the test. Finally I selected a scene with Kate Winslet (I want her career) and Johnny Depp from Finding Neverland. It's the scene where Sylvia is dying and tells John Barrie that she needs them to keep pretending that they are a family. It makes me cry everytime. Do you think Johnny Depp would do me a favor and be my scene partner? That would really help me out.

Other films or scenes from my collection that would be fun to do but would either be too difficult, not fitting for me or totally inappropriate:

1. The final dance scene in Little Miss Sunshine



2. Anything from Blue Crush
3. Any scene involving Cookie from Best in Show (we had to do a dramatic piece)


I want Winky.

4. The scene from Princess Bride when Wesley finally reveals his identity. "As you wish...."
5. Kick some ass like she did in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

That's all I got at the moment. I'm sure there's plenty more, but it's Friday and my brain is shot.