I'm gonna party like it's my birthday

Orly is two months old today. She spent the day kickin it in her gym. Adorable!

THE DAY AFTER: WTF?

Tilda Swinton??? Clearly Kate, Ruby and the chick from GONE BABY GONE split the vote. She is this year's Marissa Tomei!

More to come . . .

O' Holy Night

Tonight, for me, is the holiest night of the year--The Oscars. With the writers strike and O I have not been as pumped about the ceremony as I usually am. But, realizing that today's was O's first Oscar ceremony, I felt the need demonstrate the importance of the event and get back in the game. So, O and spent the afternoon kibitzing about the nominees and have marked our ballot. Orly and I have made our picks based on we think will win, not necessarily who should win

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLL:
Winner: Daniel Day Lewis, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
I haven't seen THERE WILL BE BLOOD but I hear good things. However, the people love their Clooney and he was great in MICHAEL CLAYTON. The dark horse, I suppose, is seven-time nominee Johnny Depp (and my sentimental fave) for SWEENEY TODD.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLL:
Winner: Julie Christie, AWAY FROM HER.
The critics love Christie and there is no real commercial choice. Ellen Page is too young to win in this category and I don't think not enough people saw LA VIE EN ROSE. Marie Cotillard could pull it out. I hope not.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLL:
Winner: Javier Bardeem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Bardeem was fantastic and has the momentum going into tonight. The only possible spoiler is Hal Holbrook, INTO THE WILD, who could pick up the Jack Palance Oscar

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLL
Winner: Cate Blanchett, I AM NOT THERE
Cate Blanchett was awesome in this Dylan fantasia and will not win for ELIZABETH. Also, a vote for Blanchett in this role is a vote for her cast mate Heath Ledger. The only possible spoiler is Ruby Dee for AMERICAN GANGSTER. Like Holbrook she could also claim the Jack Palance Oscar tonight.

WRITING, ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Juno
This is the one big award that this year's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE will win.

WRITING, ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WINNER: PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Like in the directing category this is a toss up between Paul Thomas Anderson and the Brothers Coen (I am a huge fan of both the Coens and PT). I am thinking screenplay to Anderson and directing to Ethan and Joel.

DIRECTING
Winner: JOEL AND ETHAN COHEN, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Great movie. Great filmmakers. They have the edge and the hearts of the Academy.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: RATATOUILLE
Hands down winner. Enough said!

BEST PICTURE
Winner: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
It has the momentum and is a fine film. Plus, more people saw it then saw THERE WILL BE BLOOD and MICHAEL CLAYTON might not be considered serious enough.

Look for my recap of tonight's festivities in a few days. Enjoy! O and I will.

Bitches get stuff done

The lovely and hilarious Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live last night. I, of course, watched it on DVR this morning as I have a eight week old baby. Anyway, the first forty minutes were pretty funny, especially the opening spoof of the CNN debate. I also thoroughly enjoyed Tina's "Women's News" segment, especially her endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Brilliant!

Keep Smiling, Keep Shinning

This weekend brought nothing but goodness. First, there was dear H who came for a much anticipated visit. It was so great to have her here. She, of course, was adorable and super helpful with O but it was just lovely to spend time talking and chilling with such a fantastic and hilarious friend. We are counting the days until we go visit H, G/J and lil A in April.

Thanks to unseasonably warm weather there was also brunch at our favorite café. This was our first meal out since O was born and O first meal in a restaurant ever. It was fantastic and easy. O was incredibly well behaved and it was so great to be out and about.

Then, there were baby smiles. Last night O began smiling back at us. There is nothing more adorable than her little toothless smile. Seriously, she can have whatever she wants. I’m going out and getting her a pony tomorrow.

Finally, there was O spending her first night in her own room. Granted her bedroom door is two feet from ours, but it was a big step—much more for us than for her. She was a champ and slept as well or better than when she was in with us. We only checked on her twice. It was kind of fantastic. Our girl is growing up.

Clinton '08

So, I wrote this whole long post about why I am voting for Hillary Clinton in the Ohio primary on March 4, but it sounded ridiculous and crazy. My reasons were completely valid but the execution just wasn't happening and I needed to move on. If you want to know why I am supporting Clinton, just read Gloria Steinem's Op Ed piece from the Times, she says it better than I ever could. Amen!

Every day the 14th!

Orly wishes you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

Forever in Blue Jeans

Today Orly wore her first pair of jeans along with a beautiful sweater made by her Aunt Abby. Classic!

Clear Nose, Full Diaper, Can't Lose!

Yesterday was a gift. A few inches of snow and lots of freezing rain meant I got to stay home with M and O. We hung out all day in our pajamas and took care of mundane chores that we had failed to complete the previous weekend. It was fantastic. I have always loved the snow day--the unexpected and guilt-free day off. But, yesterday, I felt the gift of time like never before.

O had experienced a rough 24 hours prior to our holiday and we spent the morning trying to rid her of a stuffy nose by applying the doctor recommended saline drops and squeezing out what was buried deep within her nasal passages. (M and I were both skeptical at first—it seemed like baby waterboarding but she was so stuffy that we went for it.) And, O hated it at first too, but then she soon realized that it actually helped and became completely compliant. She had this look on her face like "hey, this actually works. Go figure!" So cute!

PS: In my Friday Night Lights/Orly cross-promotion attempt, I found this online. I am ordering one for Orly today.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

There is talk around the water cooler than NBC is threatening to pull the plug on, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, the greatest show currently on television. (Frankly, it is in like my top five of all time greatest shows and I am not alone). I am encouraging all my readers to go to Best Week Ever and sign a petition to keep FNL on the air. Go PANTHERS! Haven't ever seen FNL? You can watch episodes at NBC.com. Seriously, it is awesome.

I write the songs

M and I sing to Orly--not well, but we try. She likes it. M is cooler than I am and sings her Lucinda Williams. O's favorite: "The Night's Too Long."She likes hearing about Sylvia and a place called Beaumont. Maybe her Susu will take her to the "Golden Triangle" one day.

I am a dork and even though I listen to all kinds of music and a lot of it, I can only seem to remember the lyrics to power ballads and show tunes. My repertoire consists of "Johanna" (SWEENEY TODD), "Faithfully" by Journey (which Orly adores) and Manilow's "Mandy." I did also sing her "Desperado" which she hated. Frankly, who can blame her, but it is the one song I can play on the guitar and so I know the words. I also know the words to the theme from Ice Castles as it is the only song I can play on the piano. But I can't bring myself to utter the phrase "looking through the eyes of love."

I also sang O, up until a few days ago, what I thought was, my signature song, "Froggy/Froggie Went a-Courtin'." In my mind, (and I only knew four lines from the song, or what I thought was the song), it was an innocent little tune about Froggy/Froggie taking Miss Mousie on a date. Well, I was wrong. The other day I decided to look up the lyrics so as to spare O from the continous loop of the SAME four lines. I come to discover that Froggy/Froggie is locked and loaded, carrying a gun and sword with him when he rides over to propose to Miss Mousie. The song seems to take a trippy dark turn once he gets to Mousie's crib. After her Deliverance-like Uncle, Rat, agrees to the marriage, a wedding supper catered by various bugs and vermen plays out with Froggy/Froggie meeting his maker when he swallowed by a duck or some nonsense (at least in the Dylan version--wait, Dylan, I don't do Dylan. M does Dylan. There are also versions by Elvis, Burl Ives and Springsteen. ) It is very trippy--very Go Ask Alice. There is also something about cornbread.

Needless to say, I need some new material. Any requests?