sam's christmas playlist

Sam has latched onto three Christmas songs this season: "Jingle Bells" (the Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters version), "Santa Baby" (the original version with Eartha Kitt), and "'Zat You, Santa Claus?" (with Louis Armstrong).

There are particular things that Sam likes with each song. He likes how Bing and the Andrew Sisters have a few pauses during the last verse of their song (they sing, "Jingle [long pause] all the way..."). He thinks the male singers for "Santa Baby" are hilarious (the ones that sing, "Boom, boom" at the beginning of the song). And he really likes the drum (which sounds like rapping on the door) at the beginning of the Louis Armstrong song.

Sam's memorized the track numbers for each of these songs, and he can select the each one on the stereo without my help. He usually decides to turn on music while I'm cleaning in the kitchen. Since each song calls for a mandatory dance party, I get nice little breaks during dish duty. Here's a clip from one "Jingle Bells" party:

reading goals: quantity vs. quality?

Yikes! I have read only 29 books this year (so far). I knew that my initial goal to read 52 books this year was unrealistic (especially when I started a full-time job), but I hoped that I would at least match last year's accomplishment of 35 books.

Can I read six books in the next few weeks? I hope so. I just wish that I wanted to read shorter books than the ones sitting on my nightstand. I'm antsy to delve into Andrew Graham-Dixon's Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, but it consists of 500+ pages that are filled with 17th century history. What should I do? Start the longer book now, or barrel through a handful of insignificant and easy reads so that I can reach my silly goal?

I wonder which I would find more rewarding: the accomplishment of reading a few dense/historical/intellectual books, or the accomplishment of reading dozens of smaller, easier reads. To be honest, I don't know which I prefer. I obviously like the intellectual stimulation of the former, but my pride relishes accomplishments in terms of quantity. Hmm. Do I value quantity or quality when making reading goals? I can't say. Perhaps I like a mixture of both?

What about you? Do you need to hurry up and finish some goals for this year? Or have you already given up?

a few more pictures of leavenworth

Besides our frustrating hike, we had a fun time visiting Leavenworth. We tried on silly hats, bought gingerbread cookies, and wandered around the various shops. Here are a couple more pictures from our short trip:

We embraced the faux-Bavarian lifestyle

hike: icicle ridge in leavenworth

A few weeks ago we traveled to Leavenworth, a faux-Bavarian town in central Washington. We had read about some of the hiking trails in the area, and decided to hike Icicle Ridge during one of our mornings there. (We hiked to the peak of the ridgetop that is directly behind me in the photo on the left.) We knew that this would probably be our last hike of the season, so we hoped to make the most of it.

Soon after starting on the trail, though, we realized that we wouldn't be ending our hiking season on an extremely positive note. The hike wasn't too scenic, since many of the trees had lost their leaves. There was even snow at the top of the trail. But the view at the top of the hike was still quite nice.

However, the most frustrating thing about this hike was the trail. It was very narrow, consisted primarily of very steep switchbacks, and often was placed right against the steep slope of the mountain. It was really difficult for us to carry Sam up such a steep trail - J and I joked that we were doing penance for our inconsistent attempts and exercising. However, we also couldn't let Sam walk up the mountain either, for fear that he'd fall off of the narrow trail and careen down the mountainside.

J and I were exhausted after a mile or so, and slowly dragged ourselves up the mountain for another mile. It was pretty miserable at times. Sam got really bored and grumpy, too, which didn't help the situation. But we finally finished the hike after about 3.5 hours (which included time to eat lunch at the top).

At the beginning of the hike, when Sam was cheerful and J had energy

Recuperating at the top

This wasn't the most pleasant hike in the world, and I know that it's largely because we were hiking with a small child. This hike would be a lot more fun if we were only with adults or teenagers. Even though it was good to get some exercise (and do penance, I guess), I don't think we will becoming back to Icicle Ridge anytime soon.

symphony as spectacle

Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony

I haven't been a very good blogger this month, at least so far. It seems like I should have more time on my hands, since I have a househusband (at least for a little while longer), but I feel like I've been really busy. Maybe I'm not really busier, but my days have gone by faster since J is with me during the day (and I have someone to chat with me!).

Anyhow, J and I went to the symphony this past week. There were a couple of things distracting me during the performance (including one first violinist who violently rocked and swayed with every musical beat), so I ended up closing my eyes so that I could focus on the music. And then I began to think: why do we even need lights during a symphonic performance (aside from the fact that the musicians need to see the music in order to play)? The symphony setting definitely is catered toward the idea of spectacle: the musicians are on display, the stage is well-lit, and all seats turn towards the stage. That evening a violin soloist even wore a sparkly, shimmery dress, which added to the spectacle for me.

But don't you technically go to a symphony to listen to music? Why do you need to see anything at all? There must be a visual element of the symphony that is appealing - is it to see the conductor frantically waving his arms? (Or to see the backside of the conductor - he hee! I remember overhearing a joke that conductor Keith Lockhart (who recently left the Utah Symphony) attracted fans who primarily liked to watch him from behind!) Or perhaps the spectacle is the various instruments on stage? Perhaps people like to pay attention to the musicians (although this seems a little contradictory in terms of the symphony member's wardrobes - they traditionally wear black, which seems to suggest that they don't want to attract attention). Perhaps people want to see the soloist play and manifest extraordinary technique?

What do you like to watch at the symphony? Do you like watching as much as listening?

gilbert blythe --> jack kelly --> mr. darcy

Last night J and I had a fun time seeing a local production of the musical "Anne of Green Gables." J has never read the L. M. Montgomery books (or seen any of the telefilms), so the whole story was new to him. It was fun for me to see the show, and think about my memories of the books and telefilms.

On the way home from the show, I had to fill J in on how the "Anne of Green Gables" 1985 telefilm was extremely popular show when I was a young girls and teenager - and not just because of the story. I would bet that Jonathan Crombie, the actor who plays Gilbert Blythe (Anne Shirley's rival/friend/romantic interest) was probably the first "movie star crush" for a lot of girls my age.

It's interesting to trace the historical development of movie star crushes during my teenage years. I would guess that my friends and I all had similar trends, largely due to the release dates of different films/telefilms. The early Gilbert Blythe crush soon developed into the Jack Kelly (Christian Bale) crush when "Newsies" came out in 1992. And just about the time of high school, the "Pride and Prejudice" television drama (starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy) came out in 1995. Darcy was an easy replacement for our earlier crushes - not only was he rich and broodingly handsome, but he was a little bit older (just as we girls were becoming older and not as interested in schoolboys and newspaper boys like Blythe and Kelly). And plus, by that time we girls were reading Jane Austen in our English classes, so we could swoon over Darcy in print as well.

Can you think of any other actor crushes from the '80s and '90s? What crushes were popular during your teenage years? (On a side note, J doesn't remember any widespread crushes for actresses during his teenage years - he guesses that boys would just note that someone was "hot" and stop at that.)

I would imagine that girls a little bit younger than me had a widespread Heath Leger crush after "A Knight's Tale" came out in 2001, right?

househusband and sam words

I love having J at home. J prefers to be called a "househusband" (the counterpart to a "housewife"), and he's doing a great job in this new role. He also is kept busy in the mornings with freelance work. I usually watch Sam until 1:30 in the afternoon, and then J takes over while I get ready for work. Although I realize this situation won't last long, it's been fun.

J cooks dinners four nights a week, and I think that is my favorite part of having a househusband. Not only do I not have to cook (yay!), but J is a lot more creative at cooking than me. We are eating tons of delicious things that I have never cooked (and in some cases, never considered cooking) since we got married. We've had Indian curry, sloppy joes, homemade pizza, and delicious spicy chicken. I don't know what I'll do, once I have to take over cooking duty again. The few meals that I've rotated for the past few years will not be able to compete...

In other news, Sam's vocabulary is growing each day. Here are my two favorite words:

• "bi-gok-gig-gers" = binoculars
• "bananimous" = unanimous (Although, I have to admit: he doesn't understand what this word means. It was the "Word of the Day" on the Sesame Street episode for Election Day, so he's been saying "bananimous" when asking to watch that specific show on our DVR. We're working on getting him to understand the signification, though!)