The Bond Experiment #1: Bond. James Bond.

Tonight I saw my first James Bond movie.

It started a few weeks ago when Brad was discussing how he'd like to watch the "best of the best" of a certain genre to potentially discover the "all time best" in that specific subject. "Like James Bond," he said "I'd like to watch all the James Bond movies in order and see which one is the best." ("Oh!" I said "Like Godzilla movies!" but he hasn't quite got on board with that one yet.)

I also explained that I had never watched a James Bond movie. Which, really, is a shame considering how entrenched they are in our pop culture.

So tonight we began our expedition with the beginning: Dr. No.

Brief thoughts:

First off, can I say how incredibly epic the James Bond theme is? I had heard it before, but obviously never in conjunction with the movies and its so perfect. No wonder its become such an icon.

It's really amusing to watch a 60's movie now, especially since I haven't watched many before. Everything from the wildly bouncing openings credits to the red vinyl doors to not always quite catching what the actors are saying (and by the way, still looking pretty awesome on blu-ray.)

And I really liked suave Sean Connery.

Brad warned me this movie begins a tradition of Bond villains missing body parts. Something about biting through steel? I'm looking forward to it. 21 more films to go!

The Return of the Elephants!

The elephants have returned to the OKC Zoo!

Of course, they actually returned a few months ago. And Malee was born in the middle of April. But since this is the first time I've had a chance to visit, it was all new to me and I'm still excited. :)
Did you realize they had been gone is June 2008? That's a long time. And the Zoo has made the quite a big deal over the Return of the Elephants!

As they should, really. Their new exhibit is really gorgeous and deservedly lauded over. I was avoiding viewing a lot pictures of it for the most part because I was wanting to be surprised. But truthfully, I shouldn't have worried. I don't think you could snap a photo that would spoil the overall appearance of the area. (if you're interested, and haven't already seen them, official pictures are here.)
And having spent so many years watching these large lovely creatures in a very small, concrete slabbed area, I am really loving all the space and activities they have now. While they currently only have two females, plus the calf, they have room for two more ladies and two bulls and are making breeding, education and conservation a priority. Which is awesome.

And its designed so that there's not a bad viewing spot in the place. Whether you're on the ground or on the ramps, you should be able to have full viewing access at all times.

While the Zoo has made renovations in the past (The Great EscApe & Cat Forest come most prominently to mind) this one is really above and beyond and makes me super excited to see what will be coming down the pipeline. (Okay, I'm less excited about the new Herpetarium.)
And I know its eight years away, but Aquaticus is desperate for a renovation and it sounds like they're giving themselves plenty of time to design and work on it. (While I doubt that the dolphins will be making their return, I still hold out a flutter of hope. When I was a kid, they were my favorite. Its still sad to go to the Zoo and walk past their showroom and know they're not coming back.)

And a new Giraffe exhibit? Yes, please. Don't stash these pretty creatures in the back of the zoo in a field. Soon they'll have a whole new area as well as a giraffe feeding platform, similiar to Dallas.
Though I'm curious as to what they new African-styled events center is going to be for exactly. Any thoughts? (Don't say events.)

Anyway, I'm thrilled at the return of the elephants and I'm glad they're getting lots of love and (finally) a brand new facility. Malee is way too cute to ignore so be sure to go see her sweet face soon.

(Do I sound like an advertisement? I meant every word! Zoo, you should hire me.)

Outbreak

Did you know there was a tornado outbreak this past Tuesday? If you lived in the Midwest, you did, because you were probably directly involved somehow. (Was that seriously just this past week?)

Our weathermen had been pushing warnings since before the weekend that severe storms may be coming and that we should be "weather aware" for the beginning of the week. By Monday the Weather Channel had our entire state covered in white with a 9 out of 10 risk for tornados, which is the same rating Arkansas had a few weeks prior during their tornado outbreak. By Tuesday morning all of the state was prepared and waiting, wondering what would be occurring that afternoon.

I have to admit - there's still a piece of me that loves to watch the weather brew.

By Tuesday afternoon you could start to feel the anxiety tingling amidst our community. I was at work and it was the topic of the day amongst our customers as well as ourselves. I had just returned from watching the weather at lunch where it was announcing 3:00 as the beginning of the watch.

Around 4:00 my boss had pulled up radar on our work computers and we noticed it was starting to begin. But we weren't getting video or (at this point) even very regular updates on the radio station, so we were unaware of the chaos that was beginning in Canton.

(I haven't listened to all these videos, and due to what's occurring in them, there may be language. Warning for all those with little ones around.)



By 4:15 my coworker called in to give us warning that the weathermen were going crazy and Bob & I were crowded around our computer watching circle after circle pop up on the radar. There was no sound - all we had to go off of was where the spinning circles appeared to be via radar. By 4:30 there were six to seven cyclones. And by 4:50 we closed up early. You could tell everyone was staying home and battened down - we had had very few customers in the past few hours.

So right at 5:00 when I arrived home, my grandmother was a bit frazzled from listening to reports about tornado after tornado, fielding phone calls and working on dinner. But at this point, I only had one family that I knew of to be concerned about being directly in its path (and mind you, that's enough.)

Then they beginning announcing Moore.

I have several family members in Moore. Most of them went through the May 3rd F5 back in 1999. The other option (depending on which way the storm turned) was Norman, which is where my bosses were currently on the road headed home. We saw the tornado from Chickasaw that was headed their way and I was shocked. They were no longer announcing a tornado warning - the weathermen were now calling for a tornado emergency, which I had never heard called before. My cousins got out of town and flew to our house.



The tornado that was headed for Moore lifted - but Chickasaw, El Reno, Goldsby, Piedmont... to really think about what occurred blows my mind.

By this point we had already packed and I had already thrown everything into the car. Had the large wedge tornado not lifted at Moore, it was headed our direction. And with all the other craziness happening, we would be ready at a moment's notice to run to the storm shelter.



So how close did any of this come to us?
Well. I didn't think it was that close at the time. I was on the phone with the rest of my cousins in Moore - who were telling us they were safe and that it was all over - when the sirens went off here and I had to jump off the phone with them to see what was going on. But they were announcing a tornado on television in our county nowhere near us. So we shrugged. Our weathermen were acting like it was no big deal. Thirty minutes after the sirens went off (I say thirty, it was probably fifteen) they announced something out by our local mall and we blinked. The mall being less than ten minutes from our house and all. But that was it - one blip, nothing else mentioned, no big deal made. Everything got still and then suddenly our tree swung sideways and torrential rain poured. And two minutes later tops, it was over.
So now - looking back on everything - I know that was when the tornado went through. But even though we were flipping back and forth between two channels, we heard nothing but a blip about the mall and a blip about debris being dropped at a local exit. And then at the 10:00 news, a station was out at a local community surveying the heavy damage it had sustained. Which was bizarre.



That above video actually terrifies me a bit, because we had no idea that was going on in all of the mess. I was looking for the other videos tonight and came across it. This was the first I had seen of the local tornado and its a bit more violent than I expected. I did know it had picked up a semi and threw it - the man driving is still amazingly alive.

This is just crazy:


So, all of that said, all of mine and those I know are fine. Thankfully, no one was hurt or even sustained any damage to their property, which we praise God for. We're starting to settle into summer weather - you can feel the heat setting in and therefore these chances are dwindling. Which I think most everyone is okay with for awhile.

Summer Movies: "Mermaids, Jack."

This post has started out in many ways.

First off, it was going to be all about Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides which I just saw tonight. So let's start with that.

When I first heard they were going to make a fourth Pirates, I thought "You have got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous. I'm done."
Fast forward: somehow I end up watching it on opening night in 3D Imax? (Sigh. Trailers. You can get me every time.)

That being said, it's fun. Its a standard Pirates movie. Action-adventure, quips, lots of sword fighting. I enjoyed it. And the visual effects are really outstanding - the Fountain itself & the mermaids are top notch.

Which is also what drew me in. Mermaids.

Its still not too far off the mark sometimes, but when I was little I was obsessed with fantastical. Girly fantastical. My playhouse was lined in unicorn wallpaper. Fairies conspired in trees. And when I grew up I wanted to be a mermaid. Now unicorns are still beautiful and fairies are still things of wonder - but mermaids, ah. Mermaids are still my deep-seated favorite fantastical creature. Good, evil - whether being lovely or dragging men to the bottom of the sea, somehow they still capture my attention. And I was glad to see them used in the Pirates lore and handled so well.
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By the way, I think its terrible to have the headline Spiderman Writer signs on for Carrie remake on Playbill and not have it be referencing the musical version. That's unfair.

Apparently, there's a movie remake of Carrie in the works. Sigh.

Also, aren't the Tonys sometime soon? Anyone know anything about them this year? All my knowledge includes is that The Book of Mormon gathered the highest praises and most noms. Anything else?
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And then: such excitement.

(Note: Potential spoilers included in the link.)

I settled in at the house for a standard flip through the web. Email. Facebook. CNN. Superherohy--.

FIRST LOOK AT TOM HARDY AS BANE?! Whaaaaaaaaaaat??

I mean, we've been getting lots of news. They announced more casting tonight and that production had officially begun. The first photos of filming have been leaked.
But this? This is a whole another level of awesome. I wasn't expecting to see this yet. I couldn't believe I had missed this until midnight.
(I'm just now beginning to think I might get some sleep tonight.)

So its good to know the viral campaigning for the final movie looks to be as awesome and spot on as the first two. I can't wait for July 20, 2012. I'm hoping to relish all the tidbits they drop throughout the year.

And its also good to know my happy dance still involves lots of bouncing up and down. Because happy dances can evolve over the years and you never know until you have need for one.

Summer Movies: "I need a horse."

Thor is quite possibly my favorite Marvel film to date, although Incredible Hulk still might edge it out simply because of Edward Norton. I'll have to watch them all again to be sure. I don't think that will be a problem.
But in all seriousness, Thor is really well done and really funny. You should go see it. (and if you need someone to go with, call me.) Be sure to stay after the credits.

Grandma and I had a great weekend. Saturday was beautiful - and free - so while I wasn't too excited initially about mowing the lawn I'm really glad its done with. Especially since at the very end our mower was making very strange, probably very bad, noises and we barely came in under the wire before it sounded downright terrible. I suspect its merely that the fuel is old, since we finally got it fixed not that long ago. Oh well. At least the yards are finished for right now. Everything else looks good to go.

This past Friday was also Amy & Ashlyn's piano recital. Their playing was quite beautiful, they looked beautiful and they made it through the whole recital beautifully (it was long.) Quite proud of all four girls.

No, seriously. Call me if you go see Thor.

"Ashlyn, you look gorgeous!"
"I know. That's why I play the piano."

Wedding #1: Tropical Paradise

Okay! Now I finally get to show you the wedding I've been talking about:

Everybody together now: Oooo.....ahhhhh....

It was so gorgeous. The flowers came in so nice (mostly), the colors complimented one another so well. This was one of those projects where I actually enjoyed the work along the way as much as (if not moreso) than the end result.

Looking back at the pictures, I guess its kind of hard to believe my boss and I spent over twenty hours of design work alone on this wedding (not including all the mechanics preparing beforehand). In some respects, it may not look like over twenty hours worth of work. But I promise you, its there.

Pew Markers

For example, the piece above. These things consumed huge chunks of our time. Since there were twelve in all, we each worked six. They turned out so lovely - that green hanging amaranthus at the bottom just looked gorgeous as a runner down the aisle. And I've discovered I love those huge orange balls in the center (protea.) My boss, however, discovered she's not such a fan, but this picture simply does not do these justice. She really designed a lovely piece.

Its hard for me to seperate the final look from all the hard work put into it, which may be why I'm so attached. Maybe you see pretty ceremony flowers - and if so, that's awesome because that's how its meant to be. But what I see is the fact that they're the exact width of the pew and I see the cardboard box we had rigged with a piece of plywood on a table to simulate it. (The mechanics of these pieces alone soaked up so much time before the first flower ever entered the foam.) I see all three of us trying to lay to rest how exactly the piece needs to be mirrored on each side of the aisle and I see how early we had to start work on them because there were so many pieces and only two of us.

Bout's - (They're wrapped in moss. Love this look.)

And because this wedding was requiring so much... intensity? attention? I'm not sure of the right word. But I wasn't expecting to take on anything too heavy. I knew I would need to follow her patterns and I realized I was gaining so much experience through observation and copying her pieces (i.e. the pew markers, bouts). All that to say, when my boss asked if I'd take care of designing the toss/guestbook bouquet, I was a bit surprised and thrilled at the opportunity.

Toss/ Guestbook

Sure, I know its a small item, but at this point handhelds are one of my weakest areas. There's simply not enough opportunity to work on it consistently, and I haven't had enough practice. So this was quick and fun. (plus, it meant I got to play with the birds of paradise I had been drooling over.)

All that to say, when she asked me to handle the bridesmaids bouquets, I felt a bit like blushing. I get to play with all the pretty flowers? Me?


Bridesmaids - Colors
Not such a great shot of the bouquet itself, but it shows off all the vibrant colors nicely. The deep purple stock just completes the picture.

Bridesmaids - Full Shot
No matter the creative format, it's interesting to have two people design the same piece. My bosses original idea was a short, stocky handle of stems. But I fell in love with the elongated stems and couldn't bear to cut them. With the longer stems, the pieces looked more natural, more tropical and I loved the touch of flair.

Bridesmaids - Handle
It's all about the details, right? The handles are so rarely seen.

And then, of course, the piece de resistance itself:

Bridal Bouquet - Or in other words, why is boss is outstanding.
Let's see... birds of paradise, calla lilies, protea, dendrobium orchids, bear grass, statice, euphorbia, hypericum berry....
This really looked breathtaking up against her beautiful white dress. I love the off center cascade. I love that its many of my favorite flowers. I love the colors. I love this piece.
(Three pictures of the bridesmaids and only one of the brides? Not fair, I know.)

And all of it together....

Oh, but we're not done!
Altar Flowers

Three candelabras... (two french hens, and a partridge...)


Cake Topper

Corsages....

Flower Girl Baskets

And a parting shot....
In June you'll have to be inundated again, since I'm super excited about another wedding we'll be working then (hot pink flowers, ANEMONES, mirrored vases and black ostrich feathers? I'm there.)

Lots of love on a very special birthday.

This is one of my favorite images of my dad...

But these are the ones that still steal my heart...







Happy birthday to one of the strongest, yet silliest, men I've ever known. I still think of you every day. I love you.

Happy birthday, dad. :)

Whaddya waaant?

I love Etsy. And I should probably be concerned how much time I can waste browsing through the shops. Nonetheless, I love Etsy.

Etsy is a website where people can create shops to sell their homemade items. The best part is that it ranges everywhere from jewelry to woodcarving to paper cutting to glassware to clothing to...etc, etc. The prices are usually fair, the creativity outstanding, the quality usually high and the possibilities seem endless. Often people will also offer custom services. And while I'm not always the best at going first to the small shop community, I love that I can support everyday people through their work rather than buying from a big business.

And I love that in the midst of all these beautiful objects, there's also a vast amount of quirky.

Like this:


(From spookcityarts etsy shop)

Yes, my friends. That is Godzilla and the Phantom of the Opera in the same photo. Love.

And then this really made me laugh:



I was even more amused to realize my name was already written in as the sample:


Ha, I can assure you I felt this way this very morning! Rar! (From kitschville)

I can't let today go by without wishing my big brother Will a very happy birthday! What would we do without you? I've watched you over and over again embody the very characteristics of love: the ability to always protect, always trust, always hope and always persevere. And you give fantastic hugs. May the rest of your week be awesome and your Godzilla movies be free of wonky trombones and scary fish masks. :)