Maybe my head is lopsided

I have noticed something at practice lately. It's been cold in the mornings, so I wear my green fleece hat to keep my head toasty while I'm rowing. Despite the fact that I make certain to put it on straight (have to look good out there!), it always ends up tilted at a jaunty angle to the right by the end of practice. I notice this because it is always blocking the vision in the right eye a little bit. Why does this happen? Why does it only fall down on one side? I have pondered this during many a lake tour, and all I can figure is that my head is lopsided.

Lower Rock Creek

This past Saturday was a lovely day -- perfect for hiking and photography. Dad, Uncle P, and I left about 6:00 in the morning and headed down to Lower Rock Creek, not far from Fredericktown, Missouri. The sights were lovely, although the walking was a bit of a challenge, especially given the massive number of felled trees (big ones!) compliments of a monster windstorm a while back.

A sampling of what we saw:

The sun started to peek through late in the morning

Bloodroot

Early spring flowers

What I Watched -- The Blind Side

E and I got together on Saturday night for some girl talk. Her husband is out of town for his birthday, so she and I had a great time walking the dog, eating pizza and ice cream (and salad), and watching a movie. E had already seen this, but I hadn't.

Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, the tough, run-the-show Southern mom who makes the movie worth watching. She and her family adopt Big Mike, a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks who's never had a home or a family he can count on. In the typical, feel-good movie kind of way, they all change each others' lives, but not without some bumps along the way.

A good movie to watch when you need to be reminded that there is some good in the world.

What I Watched -- Standard Operating Procedure

Honest truth: I did not watch this whole movie. I heard about it somewhere and thought it sounded interesting, but about 45 minutes of watching it displayed mostly finger-pointing, and frankly, I wasn't that interested in that.

The movie is about treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It is made up of a series of interview clips with relevant people, still photos that were taken by said relevant people, and actors recreating some of the scenes. What I got bored with was really the interviews. The military police were saying that the "bad guys" were military intelligence, and the military intelligence were saying that the "bad guys" were the military police. And the independent contract interrogators thought the whole thing was a big mess. (The latter is probably closest to the truth.) Anyway, I got bored with listening to this, so I didn't finish.

However, I lent the movie to K, who had to watch it for one of her classes. Ever the good student, she watched it all the way through to the end, and said that it did get better. Apparently the interviewees go more into the psychology of Abu Ghraib, and what it was like for the MPs and MIs who had to work there. Unfortunately, it is due back to the library today, so I will probably never know. But if anyone else out there in TV Land has seen it, I'd like to know your thoughts!

What I Watched -- Anatomy of a Murder

An old courtroom classic! The summer before I started law school, the admissions office sent out a "Suggested Reading List." There were a number of books on it, including To Kill A Mockingbird (which I STILL haven't read), Gideon's Trumpet (which I read), and Anatomy of a Murder (which I also read). I never watched the movie though.

Then, in Legal Pro during my second year of school, we watched a clip from the movie, as an example of questionable ethics. I passed the MPRE, so I must have learned something from Paul Biegler, but I still never watched the rest of the movie.

Until last week. I picked it up at the library, and I feel that I should warn you about something: it's a marathon of a movie. 2 hours and 40 minutes, to be exact. But it's pretty quick, and definitely entertaining, especially if you're interested in the (sometimes ridiculous) legal aspects of it!

What I Watched -- Up In The Air

I can see why this movie got a lot of Oscar buzz when it was first released. I picked it at my Oscar party to win Best Adapted Screenplay, but it lost to Precious. There were some good performances by the actors too; I especially liked relative newcomer Anna Kendrick, in her role as Natalie Keener. And George Clooney was good, as always. He's irritatingly good. I like him in almost everything he's in, even if I don't want to because sometimes he seems like such a jerk.

Anyway, good movie! I thought the relationship aspect of the story was good, and (as T said), "not too saccharine." And it was really fun to look at all the scenery and figure out where in St. Louis it was filmed! Lots of shots of the city!

Celebrating Miss Maryville

Because we think C was the best Miss Maryville on stage, we had a little celebration in our office on Friday. In the hope that C is better at keeping green things alive than I am, we bought her a cute little red (Maryville color!) plant. I forget what kind it is, but if anyone knows, feel free to chime in.We got some Subway sandwiches for lunch. Classy? Perhaps not. Delicious? Always. And we had a bottle of champagne! We went to the park across the way, had a picnic, and enjoyed the fresh air. Unfortunately, our other partner J was unable to join us because he took a few hours off to go for a bike ride before the weather turns sour again.

Miss Maryville 2010

Our lovely intern C was in the Miss Maryville pageant at Maryville University last night! S and I went to see her, and probably half the audience was there cheering for her too! It was the first time I've seen a real live pageant before; turns out, they're fun.

S and I in the crowd

Some of the girls' talents were really great, and it was interesting to see what they all chose. There was C's hip hop mock-up, a poetry reading, a couple of songs, a Michael Jackson-inspired dance, and a few others.

C's "Taylor Swift on SNL" impression

The contestants in their gowns

C winning 2nd runner up!

And most importantly, there was cake! (The sad part, though, was that I didn't have any, but still...there was cake!)

Lafayette Square Happy Hour

Ms. L and I went to happy hour at SqWires yesterday. We missed out on the St. Paddy's Day craziness in Dogtown, but that was fine with me, because when I say crazy, I mean C-R-A-Z-Y!I had two delicious drinks: an UrbanTini (pictured), which was raspberry vodka, pineapple juice, frozen grapes, and a couple other things. And my second was the SoCo Mojo, which was Southern Comfort, amaretto, and something. L had the classic cosmo (also pictured), and a Stella! All delish!
We also had some snacks: calamari with fried spinach and pulled pork tortillas, which came with super-tasty cilantro sour cream. I need to find a recipe for that!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit

That's Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or I could say Beannacht Ná Fhéile Pádraig (St. Patrick's Day blessings)!

(At least those are proper translations according to the all-powerful interwebs. I hope I haven't been led astray!)

Contrary to what we're supposed to do on this fine day, L and I are going to try to avoid the crowd by going to the decidedly non-Irish Lafayette Square for a happy hour drink this evening. How's that for celebratory spirit?