top ten: romantic comedies

I love baking and/or cooking while watching romantic comedies. It makes for a perfect Saturday afternoon. Especially if I'm baking/cooking for friends later that night. I just made a chocolate guinness cake and helped Michael make his beef and potato cabbage irish something or other, while watching Two Weeks Notice which made me think about my all time favorite romantic comedies. This list includes only western ones as asian romantic comedies are in a league of their own.

And starting with my three favorites:
(the rest in no particular order)

1. Love Actually

Far and away my all time favorite. A must watch every Christmas and Valentine's Day.

2. Two Weeks Notice

Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock's dialogue is so cute! They are my favorites. She is the lawyer I wish I could be.

3. Hitch

Too funny for words.

4. You've Got Mail

There is something so sweet about the way Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fight whenever they see each other.

5. Sleepless in Seattle

Classic.

6. Knocked Up

Too funny.

7. Bridget Jone's Diary

Who doesn't love Mr. Darcy?

8. Something's Gotta Give

I watch it everytime its on TBS, which is like every other month. I also went to the restaurant Le Grand Colbert featured in the movie in Paris and loved it.

9. Love Potion #9

It's so bad it's good.

10. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days


Honorable Mentions

Notting Hill
Pretty Woman
Music & Lyrics
About a Boy

Vintage Henry

I was poking through old pictures and came across ones I took of Henry in the front yard when he was 8 months old. He IS getting big, Carolina. It freaks me out. He has Caleb's blonde hair from childhood and my curls. It's getting so long that he's sporting a very foxy 80-style permed mullet. I'm just too sentimental to cut it (plus I'm afraid Henry will freak out, turn his head too fast and get stabbed in the eye with sharp scissors . . . .)

I don't think the Muckala clan can swing NY - mainly b/c we are pushing it on taking time from work as it is. We will be with you in spirit, Caro World Traveler!

We are good, Caleb started the new job and is optimistic. I had a good day at work - potential summary judgment on the horizon - and am looking forward to a weekend of slowing down and catching up on . . . everything. We have decorating to finish, a yard to prune, a garage to clean out, a zoo to visit . . .

Books I recommend: NOT the Hobbit. Too slow. Just read "Twilight" again, OK? (Kidding.)

MEGA PSYCHED!

Life is moving quickly!!! i cannot believe how big Henry is. Things are going great here.
Planning is coming along smoothly, Tom and I are having fun and I have actually managed to get him involved in a couple of things.

In bogota! He met my grandmother and a couple of friends!!!!!!!!!!!! we tried all sorts of fruits food, we were super explory, explory, Bogota is such an amazing city, it just keeps surprising me.!! We found the most amazing amazing restaurant i mean the best restaurant we both have ever been to! they only work with native products from amazons and pacific coast!!!
We didn't feel unsafe at all..so that was really nice. We are planning a trip to the Coast of Colombia in April, its sooo cheap to fly right now! We'll see, since there's so much going on at work, life..so now its a matter of TIME!

We have been working really hard with our non profit and organizing triathlon races and others, so it's been couple of really hectic weekends...but we are so excited about everything that we are having a lot of fun...

His bachelor party is May 1st and has like 20 friends going to key west so its pretty exciting ! we'll have a dinner before they go and so he's psyched. Tom's GM can't come to the wedding, so we are having a reception up there after the wedding, sometime late July.We might even have a little ceremony for her.

Tom's aunts and mother are arranging a shower for me in NY in April, which is super sweet of them, so we'll be going up there. My friends from NY will go and my friend from Chicago might go as well. Depends on dates, I will give you dates if you guys want to go. Obviosuly i dont expect any of you to come since its just too much money in a bad economy right? im sick of hearing that..bad economy... I'll keep you guys super posted.

Can't wait to see everyone! So far it looks like 58 or so people are going. We'll see how that goes. Ill try and post pictures of the bouquet..it's coming along nicely... i tyhink you guys will appreciate it. We are also asking for people to send back a quote in the RSVP, which is really not an RSVP, but whatever. We want to incorporate them to our ceremony...also....it looks like bagpipes are in the forecast!!!!!!!!! ha

love you ladies...miss you guys so much...i miss the chapel and studying for finals...

i almost almost miss KRems voice!!!!!!!!!

love you guys,

c
picture of the MIT race this last weekend

Must Read: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

I love to read books on the plane. It's really the only time when I have no interruptions, no cell phone, no email, no internet. I can read a book without feeling bad that I'm not doing something else. On my way back from Santa Monica I read the most fabulous book, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Blink is about the power of our unconscious and rapid cognition. A quote that perfectly sums up the book's unintentional premise is by Sigmund Freud: "When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature." This appears to be true from Blink. Gladwell provides very everyday and easy to understand examples about why our best decisions about the most complex of problems are best made by instinct, often in a split second. He also shows us how the more information we have about something can actually bog our mind down and make us less accurate. He explores a wide range of topics from love and marriage to the difference between coke and pepsi. He discusses our unconscious bias towards things such as race, gender, and even height. One that may be interesting to Beth - gender bias in classical musical, particularly brass instruments and how that problem has been somewhat solved. The lawyer in me also loves the fact that he provides endnotes and I can look up each of the studies he cites to in order to make my own assessments.

There are three topics in the book which are of particular interest to me. The first is his discussion about the mathmatician turned marital researcher, John Gottman. Gottman is able to predict with about 93% accuracy whether or not a couple will get divorced. Shocking, isn't it. Based on watching a few minutes of videotaped footage of a couple having a conflict discussion - and in the book's example the couple were just talking about their dog. He evaluates not only what they are saying, their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice all with exact scientific precision. We may see a happy couple having an amusing disagreement about their dog, but he sees unspoken cues that detect contempt in a marriage. Signs that he can even see in newlyweds. The second concerns racial bias and a test called the implicit association test or IAT. You can take the test at www.implicit.harvard.edu. The IAT can test for many kinds of biases, but the most popular one is for racial bias. The results are often disturbing and almost entirely unchangeable. You can literally take the test everyday and get the same result. Of course, there are factors that could change your perspective as the book points out. The last area is mind reading, or more accurately reading someone's facial expressions. There is a very scientific way of doing so, in fact about 500 people in the world are certified to do so. And they can do so with astonishing accuracy. It is no surprise that Gottman has employed much of the "mind reading" principles into his area of study on marriage.

Anyway, if you haven't read this book, please do. I think it is the kind of book that engenders lively conversation.

There's a New Muckala . . .

On February 18, 2009 we welcomed a new Muckala into the world: Max Hugh Muckala. Max is the first child of Caleb's brother Erich, and his wife, Ashley. We had a few scares: emergency C-section, visit to the NICU for Max and an emergency surgery for Ashley following the emergency birth . . . it was pretty scary for a while, but we have an adorable new Muckala in the end, so we are pretty excited. Henry could not resist letting his Aunt Ashley and new baby cousin know that he was thinking about them . . . he's such a sweet boy. More to come on the Muckala clan . . .

Henry at the Park

This is my baby and his Brown Bear. We had a "Henry and Momma" weekend recently and we went to the zoo and the park near our house. He's getting so big . . . he's fourteen months old now and extremely stubborn. When you walk in a room he says, "Hiiiiiiiii." He's also started randomly yelling to get attention, which wasn't much fun when we were out this Saturday celebrating Caleb's new job (Insurance Department - perfect for him and a state job so GREAT hours and benefits).

Henry is just so amazing right now. It's hard to imagine having another baby as perfect, but I know I'll feel the same about the next one . . . in twenty years . . . I mean, we have finally started getting our sleep again and I'm back within 3 lbs of the my "pre-Henry" weight . . . I'm not giving that up too fast! Another post soon . . .

Je t'aime Paris

So we are back from our trip and I have to say that it was my favorite to date. Paris is everything it lived up to be. In winter it is romantic and relaxing. We stayed on a quiet residential street right off the Champ de Mars park just south of the Eiffel Tower. We were a within a couple blocks walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and could see it from our street. There was also a metro stop just around the corner making it so easy to travel anywhere in Paris. One block away was Rue Cler, the cutest neighborhood street market. There was a butcher shop, cheese shop, produce market, bakery, flower market, chocolate shops and several restaurants, cafes and creperies. Every morning we walked over and bought croissants and other pastries at the local bakery then walked or hopped on the metro to get to where we needed to go. Michael took this picture of the street we stayed on, Avenue de la Bourdannais and as you can see, there is the tower lit up at night in the distance.

I love eating in Paris. The food was amazing. How could you not love croissants, baguettes, cheese, foie gras, duck...the list goes on and on.

I love Paris in winter. Fewer tourists. I hate tourists. I hated the crowds in Italy and Greece. It was suffocating the crowds. But Paris felt like home. Few tourists, few lines, quiet streets. Just us and the city and sounds of french speakers everywhere.

I love the Paris metro system. It takes you everywhere and anywhere cheaply and easily. It's considered the best in Europe and rightly so. I even love the performers on the metro and the fact they always play my favorite song (Michael and I's first dance song at our wedding) La Vie En Rose. And they even play When the Saints Go Marching In...which makes me think I'm in New Orleans.

I can't believe our trip is over, and I can't wait to plan our return. :-)