Congratulations!

I went bowling on Wednesday night with my family and our friend Laura Williams. And Congratulations are in order, Laura and Bram are getting married next fall! Yay!! I met Bram back last January when I visited Laura in Athens, GA where she lives. I approve. ;)

Abby and her Extended Family

Here are more pictures of Abby. Also, a note, I think Christine has some really good pictures that she'll post soon as well, so click on over to her blog as well (it's over there under Favorites on the left)

Abby and Haydon

Abby and Rachelle

Abby and Samantha

Abby, Samantha, Aubrey, and Ciara (I'm sure I misspelled someone's name - sorry)

Abby and Aubrey

Abby and Shayla

Abby and Grandpa Johnny (Dad's brother)



Abby and Emily

Abby and Grandma Atkisson again

Abby and Jackie

Merry Christmas!

I've been down at my Mom's since last Thursday and just got home tonight, so that's part of the reason there's been such a dry spell in the blogging! This post is going to have a lot of pictures, mostly of Abby. :) So, the highlights: On Saturday we took Abby to JC Penney to get her portraits taken and we're pretty sure Abby should be a professional baby model. We had a nice little coupon so I think Mommy and Daddy ended up getting 15 different shots! She was very smiley and ridiculously cute. I'll post some of them when I get them.

On Sunday we went up to Kokomo so Abby could meet her Great-Grandmas. I believe they are Mamaw and Grandma Ollie, since Mom's already Nana.




Christmas Day was very busy, but nice. It was sad that Nikki and Tyler couldn't be there, but we video-ed everything and are going to send them the highlights on DVD. Some of the pictures below: Izzie's Christmas present from Christine - a purple scarf that matches the one she made me, Abby's present from her Mommy and Daddy, and the little princess asleep at Grandma Ollie's house. I'll post the pictures of various relatives holding her as well so people can download them, but I might do that later after I've had a chance to photoshop out the redeye.






And finally...Abby being cute - a very rare occurence as you can tell.

Atonement

For Bill's birthday (today) we went out for dinner and a movie last night. We went to see Atonement with Keira Knightley and James MacIvoy. Slight Disclaimer: There is a very dirty word that is featured prominently (although somewhat humorously) in the beginning of the movie, so if you're easily offended wait for it to be shown on tv where it will have to be taken out.

Atonement is based on the book of the same name my Ian McEwan, and was supposedly the book that could never be converted to a movie. This was due to the fact that the point of view and timeframe change often. Somehow, the director and writer has managed to convey these same point-of-view changes impeccably, but without dumbing it down for the audience. It's difficult to review the movie without giving an awful lot away, but the differences in perspective are integral to the plot.

The general plot revolves around Robbie, Cecilia, and Cecilia's younger sister Briony. Briony is a 13 year old aspiring author who witnesses 2 different scenes between Cecilia and Robbie that she misinterprets due to her immaturity. She then accuses Robbie of a terrible crime based on those misinterpretations. Then the movie moves forward to 4 years later as Robbie tries to make his way home from war-torn France, and consequently through Dunkirk. Cecilia and Briony are both (separately) nurses in London. The second act, as it were, simply gets into the consequences and regrets of Briony's actions.

The acting: James MacIvoy is unreal. And hot. :) He conveys so much without words at all and his chemistry with Keira Knightley is excellent. The girl that plays Briony, Saiorse Ronan, is also excellent, as well as the grown up Briony, Romola Garai. Keira Knightley does an excellent job with less screen time, and overall I think everything was superb. Also, the score by Dario Marianelli is stunningly beautiful. It has an extremely prominent role in the movie in places, which I normally don't like, but I do here. He weaves in everyday sounds, such as a typewriter, to push forward the action of the film (it's a very staccato, almost military sound), but his most beautiful work is the haunting theme of the film - "Atonement" as well as "Elegy at Dunkirk" which is played as Robbie surveys the beach at Dunkirk waiting to be evacuated. I bought both of those off of iTunes.

Overall this may be one of my favorite movies of all time. It is heartbreaking, romantic, but not boring. Two Thumbs Up!!

Abby's First Laugh!

New Art

I went to a charity auction tonight at the Harrington School of Design, which is where my friend Natalie goes for photography classes. It benefited the Chicago Youth Programs and many of the faculty and staff put art up for auction. Natalie sold two of her three photographs (which was a little weird because they were a set and me and Natalie both liked the one that wasn't bought better than one of the ones that was, but whatever). I bought one item which is of a tree from an interesting perspective in Switzerland. Natalie bought one that I liked of a pinup girl from the 1800's (saloon-esque) which she then proceeded to give me for Christmas!!! So I've included pictures of both. The tree is going in my living room with the rest of my black and white photographs and the pin-up girl is going in the dining room. She's in blue, so she should go in my bedroom (which is decorated in blue), but I'm pretty sure that would be weird, so she's going in the dining room. There were 3 pin-up girl graphics and Natalie bid on this one and when she got beat on this one, bid on another. When she got to the front to checkout she found out she had them mixed up and ended up winning the one she wanted in the first place! Happy!

Brrrr...

It's really freaking cold. That's all.

Shake your Baby!

This is Abby dancing with her Daddy. There's no sound, so just sing your own music :) I believe you need the latest version of Quicktime to watch it.

Edit: Ok, I'm an idiot, there is sound, you just can't hear the music, although right at the end you hear me or Nikki laugh. I had my speakers turned off.

No Country for Old Men

Here's the nutshell version of my review: Creeped me the hell out, but really well made. Also, very much an indie type of film in that it's not predictable, doesn't explain much (i.e. let's you figure it out for yourself), and doesn't have a typical plot. The plot, which really only explains about 2/3rds of the movie, is that Josh Brolin's character, Llewelyn Moss, finds some money from a drug deal gone bad, and the people that set up the deal send Anton Chigurh, a psycopathic killer for hire, and another set of people, "The Mexicans", after him. When Chigurh kills the company men, the company sends someone after him, while he in turn, continues to pursue Moss, who is also being pursued by the Mexicans. Chigurh has his own set of principles which helps him determine who lives and who dies, and these scenes are the best in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones plays a sheriff that also pursued Moss, but only tangentially. Essentially he plays the role of observer of the events, and also gives some moral narration to the film.

The acting in it is fantastic, but in the case of Javier Bardem (Anton Chigurh), that just meant that he freaked me out (in the best way possible). I was slouched down in my seat, flinching at every gunshot for about a third of the movie. By far the best parts of the movie to me, are the conversation that Bardem's character has with the people he's about to kill. I really needed a massage after this movie because I was so tense. I don't think I can emphasize that enough. I overheard a woman say afterwards that she needed to go see a Disney movie to balance herself out. Essentially, I could appreciate how well made and acted the movie was, but I don't think I'd see it again, only because it scared me.