Our First Premiere!

So Tyler and I went to our first movie premiere last night! It was just a really cool experience. We walked down the red carpet at Grauman's Chinese Theater, were greeted by complementary endless bags of popcorn and drinks, and had kick-ass seats on the isle about midway up the theater. The movie itself was cute and fun. We cringed more than once when the theater erupted in laughter at ridiculous things, but let's face it: we were at a premiere. We saw stars like Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Malcom Jamal Warner, David Arquette, and more that Tyler could name that I couldn't. We had free valet at the afterparty at Boulevard3, where we were greeted with plates of food and pina coladas. There was no vip section where the stars where whisked away to; they were just mingling with us, which was a real treat. The food was amazing and thankfully unlimited because I was starving. We chatted, we observed, we ate. It was a nice date night out. Definitely not a fool's errand. PS: Kudos to anyone who can pick out Matthew McConaughey in the party photo.

Fool's Errand?

Tyler and I were invited by my boss' husband to the premiere of Fool's Gold. What a Hollywood thing to get to do! After being informed that we didn't have to be in cocktail attire despite the cocktail party following the screening, we rsvped yes! Tell you how it goes after (it's Wednesday night). Despite knowing how terrible the movie is going to be, we are optimistic that it'll just be a fun date night out.

quick trip: palm springs!

So Tyler and I had the opportunity to make our second trip to Palm Springs last weekend and we jumped at the chance. We had gone there for our anniversary last June and have been anxious to go back ever since. It was great to get away from the city for a day. We didn't get to do much because the purpose of the trip was a "destination" wedding, but I was able to sneak away from the festivities to have dinner with Tyler. We treated ourselves to a nice (and expensive) dinner at a quintessential Palm Springs steakhouse (they're everywhere in that town) where Tyler had the steak (of course) and I had seafood pasta and the best creme brule of my entire life. Sorry there aren't more pics, but they are copyrighted!

worth reading about Ledger...

Jumping on the bandwagon, subscribing to the hype, call it what you will. But hopefully you are reading this blog because you know me and therefore won't think that I am doing said jumping. I didn't feel the need to write about Ledger's death because I didn't know the guy. Don't get me wrong, watching him touring Graceland (with who I think was Naomi Watts) was awesome (a store better told than written). And after moving to Hollywood, I clung to my position that celebs ought to be left alone. After you see one in a grocery store, you realize that they are just people. People trying to earn a living, just like you and me. But I read Entertainment Weekly's article about Heath Ledger's death and was moved to tears. Many tears. I hesitate to say sobbing because that's just embarrassing. But from a somewhat fluffy magazine, this article (in last week's edition pictured above) just so eloquently summed up my feelings, and I suspect, the feelings of many many people about his death and others like it. Tyler subscribes for obvious reasons and I flip through it if I get time, and frankly am never impressed and would even go so far as to say the magazine as a whole is not a great work of journalism, bordering on tabloidesque recently for popularity. So you can imagine what I thought as a breathed a sigh of dread when seeing Ledger on the cover. But this article blew me away. Read it if you have felt anything, or very little about his death. My grandma said once that she has a shelf of things she can't explain that she's going to ask God about when the time comes. Ledger is on my shelf.

Oscar Nominations out today!

Oscar nominations were announced this morning and regardless of whether or not a ceremony will take place (because of the writer's strike for those of you living in a cave) we are pretty excited. Feel free to "vote" in a comment or e-mail. Always fun to see people's predictions.


Best Picture
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Actor
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Director
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Foreign Film
"Beaufort," Israel
"The Counterfeiters," Austria
"Katyn," Poland
"Mongol," Kazakhstan
"12," Russia

Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"
Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"
Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, "Juno"
Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"
Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

Animated Feature Film
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

Art Direction
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"There Will Be Blood"

Cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Sound Mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Transformers"

Sound Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers"

Original Score
"Atonement," Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner," Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton," James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille," Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma," Marco Beltrami

Original Song
"Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

Costume
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Documentary Feature
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War/Dance"

Documentary (short subject)
"Freeheld"
"La Corona (The Crown)"
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

Film Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Makeup
"La Vie en Rose"
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Animated Short Film
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf"

Live Action Short Film
"At Night"
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)"
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)"
"Tanghi Argentini"
"The Tonto Woman"

Visual Effects
"The Golden Compass"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers" E-mail to a friend

Sports Photography...

All last fall I photographed Oaks Christian High School's football team, and the winter season has lead into broadening my horizons with girls water polo, basketball, and soccer. Prep Sports Online (www.pso.com or more specifically www.oakschristianlions.pso.com) is the company that has hired me to do this and I have to say that so far it has been a lot of fun and great learning experience. It's great to be able to do something other than weddings for a change.

New Year's Eve Prom Party

We were in Chicago for New Year's Eve and opted to spend it with Heath and Thais Carter. Lisa Anderson, Lisa Cockrel, and Deena were hosting a prom party for the evening, so after some Trivial Pursuit, dinner with the Carters and Browns, we got ready for the prom. The theme, very apropos: A Moment in Time. The prom was complete with voting for king and queen (Ryan and Lisa C won the honors), spiked punch, bad hair, lots of snow, dancing, and corsages.

Introducing...

our cousin (who really feels like a nephew):

Samuel Patrick Dean Sisil

born: Dec. 31, 2007 at 7:05 am

weighed: 10 pounds, 5 ounces (don't worry ladies: c-section!)

measured: 21 1/2 inches long

Tyler's aunt and uncle live in Cypress, which is only about 40 miles away so this week we were able to go down for a few days and visit the baby. Tyler's mom, Debra was visiting from Missouri to help out with the baby and it was wonderful to be able to spend a few days with her, since we hadn't seen her in about a year!

Road Trip to Chicago

After Christmas, Tyler and I took a week to go to Chicago to catch up with friends and to spend New Year's Eve (see next blog) in the windy city. It was great to be able to see so many people and thanks to the Aneeds for letting us stay at their place!

We loved seeing:
Heath, Thais, and Violet Carter

Scott and Tracy

Jake and Katherine

Cole and Leena Pacak

Zach, Kate, and Issac Danielson...

...where we tried our hand at Guitar Hero

As your can see, I rocked hard.

Tyler concentrating.

We also frequented our favorite spots like Pipers Alley (2nd date), Marcello's (2nd date and our wedding reception), Leona's (rehersal dinner and many dates), the Art Institute (weekly dates), and Millennium Park

Mount Kato

So this year, my brother, Alex, got a snowboard for Christmas and was obviously anxious to get out on the slopes as soon as possible. So while the preparations were being made for our feast, on Christmas Eve day, Alex, Tyler and I went to Mount Kato, the local ski slopes. Tyler got back on skis after many years away from the Denver mountains and he and I watched as Alex attempted jumps and rails with his board. My dad and grandpa drove over with the camera and stayed to watch for a while as well. Since it had just snowed the night before it was excellent conditions. So great to be able to do an activity with just Alex. There was even a guy dressed as Santa to get in the spirit of Christmas Eve.

Christmas with the Alders in SNOWY Minn.

Tyler and I flew to Minnesota on Wed, Dec 19 and were greeted with snow and cold. It was awesome and just so fun to actually see snow from the plane. We spent the holiday in Mankato, a small town south of the Twin Cities where my grandparents live. On the drive down there was a blizzard and the reasons for hating winter crept into my thoughts, but I dismissed them immediately, since I was in a snowy wonderland. As per tradition, Christmas Eve is spent EATING an array of platter full of cheese and crackers, fruit, veggies and dip, shrimp cocktail, and my mom's famous artichoke dip. Then we move on the Oyster Stew (a tradition dating back to my great-great-great grandparents) and Potato Leek Soup (for those of us who hate oysters, and a tradition we got from our trip to Ireland in 2001). After dinner we open gifts. Yes, we cheat. We open everything the night before. It's been that way since I was born and I love it. Christmas day we open stockings and have a crown roast meal with a little football on the side.

Tyler made a haul of DVDs.

My mom very excited about her Disneyland ornament from us.

Alex looking through the Apple book of football photos from his second championship year in a row.

My snow angel.

Tyler and I with my grandma Pete and grandpa Dean.

...and the snowy wonderland.