While I was at church yesterday - where it seemed as though they were mopping up with all the carols we hadn't sung already, which was excellent - Max took Richard and Judy off to the National Archives. Unfortunately they didn't have as good a time there as Kate did, as it was terribly crowded, but they managed to see the 'big three' (the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence), then came home for lunch before packing and heading off to the airport.
It was very lovely of Richard and Judy to bring the mountain to Mohammad (to mix my religious metaphors) by coming here for Christmas and was nice to have a slice of home here at such a family-oriented time. I'm really glad all the cooking went well and have renewed respect for my Mum and Judy, who seem to take these big family occasions in their stride, but must work unbelievably hard!
Collapsing exhausted, we watched the next on Tom and Bambi's list of screwball comedies - 'Mr 
Deeds Goes To Town' - and I LOVED it!! Gary Cooper is one of my favourite favourite actors and Jean Arthur is fantastic in her movie debut (apparently she was very hard to work with and spent most of the shoot in tears of self-doubt). In classic Frank Capra style, it's funny and touching, while making a comment on society and the evils of putting money before humanity. And it features the line, "my game little wife", which I suspect Max might be using quite a lot from now on!
Maxy took today off, which was really nice, because I don't really feel like I've seen him all Christmas. It was also really nice to have the flat back to ourselves, as lovely as it's been to have his folks here. It's been an amazingly warm, sunny day and I was excited to that Max was going to have the chance to come to my brilliant yoga class this morning, where I was going to debut the ace yoga mat that Mum and Dad gave me for Christmas.
So we wandered down to the YMCA, me proudly joining the swollen ranks of DCites with yoga mats slung over their shoulders, only to discover it was closed due to a powercut! I was disappointed to see my yoga instructor disappearing around a corner, sad that I wouldn't get to use my new mat or show Max how cool the class is.
Instead, we pootled to Filene's Basement, where I bought a set of light dumbbells, because Carlos says I should be working out every day and at the weekends, go for walks while carrying dumbbells. I think Max was more embarrassed than me that I was standing at traffic lights, pumping weights, but I certainly regretted my decision to buy them quite so far from home, as they were quite heavy by the time I got back!
We took a detour on the way home and hit the Lucky Brand sale, which is always a pleasure. Then this afternoon, we discovered a whole world of fun on our TV - On Demand.
You press the On Demand button on your remote control, then have access to this huge cache of movies, programmes, music videos and even workouts(!) that are just sitting there, ready to be accessed - you've guessed it - on demand!
Some of the things, like new movies and shows like '30 Rock' - you have to pay for and, because the BBC pays our cable subscription, we don't want to complicate things by starting to buy stuff that just goes straight onto your bill. But there's a whole world of free stuff to watch, including loads of movies, 'CSI:NY', 'The Soup' and 'Leverage', which we watched four episodes of and are now really into (it's basically like 'Hustle', but with a bigger budget). Good news in this new age of the pitifully weak pound!
The future's bright, the future's On Demand!
This evening we went to see 'Marley & Me', which was fine, but not amazing. Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were both fantastic, I thought, but the overwhelming thing I took from the movie is Never. Own. A. Dog. When alive, they make your life a misery, and then they die and you're really sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment