frozen

Scout and Catcher saw the movie Frozen with their grandparents over Christmas break. Now, on occasion, Scout likes to freeze herself. On Monday we managed to acquire a paperback book version of the movie when Scout tucked it under her arm and walked out of a restaurant with it (in her defense, it had been forgotten and left behind by another young girl). I have now read Frozen at least a dozen times, and Scout has assigned character names to the entire family. If we break character and call someone in the house by his or her actual name, Scout is quick to correct--and kind of scold--us. She is Elsa, the older sister and the one who does the freezing. Tillie is Anna, the younger sister. Alex is Sven the reindeer. Catcher is Olaf the friendly snowman. I was Olaf the friendly snowman until Catcher got home this afternoon and convinced the casting agent that he was a better snowman than I. So now I'm one of the wise old trolls (thanks, Elsa). 

500!

This is my 500th post (and I remember when I thought 100 was a big deal). To commemorate this feat, I thought I would share other memorable 500's. 

- The best 500 ever: 500 Days of Summer.

- A 500 I couldn't care less about: Daytona 500.

- Best lyric containing 500: I don't know the name, but that song from Rent that goes "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes..."

- Most popular 500 associated with a car: Ford 500 (I didn't know this, but when I google imaged "500" the Ford 500 popped up everywhere).

- A 500 list I'll never make: Forbes 500.

Here's to the next 500...

put me in the movies

...or take me out of the movies and sell me for cheap. What?! I'm talking about Film Biz Prop Shop, a not-for-profit establishment in New York City that takes donations from TV shows, film sets, Broadway shows and other commercial productions and then sells them to us for super-cheap (otherwise the stuff would end up in a landfill...ridiculous!). I just learned about this store so I haven't been; however, I'm eagerly awaiting its virtual debut (and let's be honest, I probably wouldn't venture out to Brooklyn to see the store in person anyway).

Until the site launches, I'm thinking of my favorite movie sets and dreaming about what I could do with all that Josef Frank fabric from Mama Mia!, for example. Do you think they have the Womb Chair that was used in one episode of Felicity? Or maybe Pat the Dog from Friends?

and the oscar goes to:

Back in my twenties, when I had more time to myself than I knew what to do with, I would see every movie nominated for an Academy Award--including Best Foreign Picture when I could I find it at the Angelika--and my friend would host a big Oscar party (gowns optional...I'm kidding) as we challenged one another with our knowledge of film. One time I even fashioned an Oscar statue out of Christmas-themed cookie cutters and brought them to the party. True story.

Fast forward ten years plus one husband and two kids later, and anyone who has children knows that movies are the first thing to go on your social calendar (especially before the little ones are too young to sit through Disney Pixar's latest masterpiece). So my new Oscar tradition has become choosing one nominated movie to watch per year and then throwing my arms up in disbelief if the chosen one fails to take home the coveted statue of Best Picture. However, since I started this little tradition in 2009, my record is 2-0. In 2009 I went with the obvious favorite Slumdog Millionaire, but last year I consider myself lucky by correctly choosing The Hurt Locker (actually, I just wanted James Cameron to loose to his ex-wife). This year I'm going against the favorite (The King's Speech) and picking The Social Network. Alex and I watched it the other night, and he liked it so much he briefly considered getting a facebook account. That's kind of a big deal and worth a statue to me!

370 beech street

370 Beech Street in Highland Park, Illinois has several monikers; however, arguably the most famous is the home of Cameron Frye in the 1986 classic flick Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Although it appears somewhat lackluster set in the context of sullen Cameron Frye's adolescence--minus the scene when his father's Ferrari plummets through a giant pane of glass--the house is actually a mid-century gem and one of my favorite houses from a film.

Designed by architects A. James Speyer and David Haid and built in 1953, the steel-frame and glass house is also known as the Ben Rose Home (photographer Ben Rose once owned the property). In real life, I prefer the city over the country and would much rather dodge criminals on the subway than predators crawling out of the woods, but there's something about the 5300 square-foot home situated in the woods over a ravine that makes even the city girl inside of me long for a little nature. Perhaps it's because the glass walls that encompass the space are inherently modern and allow you to "view" nature without "roughing it."

When it was last sold, the house went for $2.3 million. Maybe my dreams of living in the country will have to wait.

Photos from Sotheby's Realty