Away We Go - an indie flick to watch while pregnant and soul searching

Ok, so I actually started this post a month ago - shortly after this film came out. I've probably lost all my readers by now, but today's post marks a big change for the Mojo. I'm now working from home and plan on making my posts at least bi-weekly - as per the original plan. The Mojo still seems torn between being a cooking blog, a film review blog or a current events blog; most likely, it will be a collage of all three, plus random topics (like curtain-making) I hope readers will find interesting. So thanks to those of you who hung in there...now, Away We Go!

I've been excited about this movie since I saw a poster on YouTube mentioning it was co-written by Dave Eggers and his wife, Vendela Vida. If you've never heard of Dave Eggers, well...as a synopsis, he wrote a cultishly famous-among-struggling-artists book called "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". (Look - it has its own Wikipedia entry!) AHWSG is, as suggested by its title, a self-indulgent yet poignant memoir of a twentysomething kid struggling through family tragedy and...being twentysomething. I was taking some postmodern and poetry classes when I first read it, so I was absolutely enthralled. Still am.

Dave Eggers also (true to the character that resembles him in AHWSG) founded and edits a literary magazine called McSweeny's, which has given wings to some amazing writers across TV and print media - particularly in comedy.

So, when I saw a film with John Krasinsky - the Office's bestboyfriendever Jim Halpert - and Maya Rudolph from SNL, I almost peed myself (don't worry - I didn't).

Poignant, awkward and hilarious, Away We Go not only had a cast of legendary comedians, but a relatable - if somewhat self important - story. The story had many similarities an up and coming peer of Eggers, Zach Braff's finding-myself films Garden State and Last Kiss. Braff's films represent twenty and early thirtysomething characters (both played by Braff) finding senses of identity in a society of disassociation and...angst. Eggers and Vida's story echoed similar themes.

Burt Farlander (Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Rudolph) are a couple in their early thirties with an unexpected baby on the way.

The well meant self importance of Away We Go's story may mirror Garden State, but the characters do not. Bert and Verona are lovable, hilarious and extremely relatable.

After Bert and Verona introduce themselves in the most awkward honey-i-think-you're-pregnant scene in film history (hint: it ends in John Krasinski tumbling off the bed) and discovering in a hilarious scene with Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara that Bert's parents are moving out of the country, the two go on a series of "finding ourselves" adventures as they roadtrip across the States.

Eggers and Vida move the story through a series of landscapes which imitate Bert and Verona's self-discovery, as well as the characters who set the stage for each place. In desolate Pheonix, we meet Lilly (Allison Janey) and her husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) who demonstrate just how self-centered and disconnected parents can be from their children - as well as the rest of the world. After a series of painfully hilarious antics, Janey caps off her performance by kissing Bert on the mouth as they are preparing to leave.

Without giving away too much, highlights from their other adventures include Maggie Gyllenhaal's most outrageous comedy scene to date as a rich, self-righteous hippie (who breastfeeds her 5 year old son). For all the film's crazy antics, the script still manages to plunge the audience into several tear-jerking moments. Bert and Verona's Canadian friends Tom and Much Garret (Chris Messina, "Julie & Julia" and Melanie Lynskey, "Ever After") show the unexpectedly pregnant couple what it feels like for couples who desperately want to conceive, but can't. It's not every writer who can make you cry during a pole dancing scene.

One of the most interesting points to me was how characters throughout the entire film harassed Bert and Verona for not being married. Surprisingly, it's Verona who refuses to adhere to the social norm, and although the validity of Verona's reasoning is left up to the viewer, in the end it only seems to matter as much as the characters let it.

Due to the incredible lateness of this post, you can now see Away We Go in the cheap theaters! Or you could wait until it comes out on DVD and put it in your Netflicks queue. Either way, I highly recommend it for chick-flick-lovers and high-nosed film critics alike.

P.S. Yes, the soundtrack is by Alexi Murdoch. Soooooo good.

Consignment Bedsheets + Ribbon = Homemade Curtains

I knew that when R and I bought our house and I decided to save money by making most of my accessories, it would be a lot of work. None of the windows - of which there are 14 - had curtain rods, so we put the curtain rods up while we were installing other hardware. Once the curtain rods were installed, I sat back and stared at all the work. Wow!

Thankfully, mom had been helping me save some fabric in the form of old bedsheets. Through various estate sales, yard sales and Goodwill expeditions, I had quite a collection of gently used vintage print bedsheets. And you can't beat working with vintage fabric - the materials are airy and soft, and the patterns are unique and simple. 

Anyway, so I split the curtains in four long parts, stripped about twenty inches off the tops and hemmed all the pieces. Then I cut ribbon and sewed them into four looped tabs at the top of each panel. Voila!

After I bought a pile of ribbon and thread, my friend Anna came over and zipped my bedroom curtains together with her superawesome sewing machine. The rest I finished yesterday in time for us to use our tv/guest room this weekend.

Then the closet windows...

Then the bathroom

The downstairs half bath...

And the tv/guest room and the sitting room.

For this one I ran out of ribbon, so I used strips of lace I had in a box for the tabs. It's strong, synthetic lace, so it actually holds just as well as ribbon.

It was fun, and it feels great to have made them myself (and to have saved money!). A very easy project, if anyone is thinking of ways to save on decoration. It's great getting to exactly pick your own style!

Bellingham Farmer's Market - hippies have FUN on Saturday!

Reagan and I went to Bellingham in the Puget Sound last weekend for the fourth. My girlfriend was getting married, and we had fun playing in the town we lived when we first got married. The town is truly amazing - it's an art, film and music lover's paradise. And if you happen to love local culture and excessive amounts of locally grown fruits, flowers, vegetables, soap, purses and...everything, you're in luck. Or, anyway, I was when I lived there while going to school. Viva la Bellingham!

I wanted to share my adventures at the farmer's market, because it's so amazing what ordinary people can do - usually in their spare time. These are some of my favorite vendors.  

This lovely woman runs her Dona Flora stand out of her backyard flower garden. She keeps strictly seasonal flowers, and always makes color arrangements that are spectacularly unique.

Truth be told, Dona doesn't know it, but she did the flowers for my wedding. I stopped by the Saturday before we got married and bought twenty arrangements, cleaned her out and had the most beautiful Easter wedding EVER. 

These are all handmade by a woman who spins and dyes her own wool. She sells the skeins mostly, never her products, making everyone who walks by want to immediately take up knitting.

Felted wool keychains? I've also seen her felt rocks. Beautiful, soft colors with cute holes over smooth...rocks. Why? Because she can.

This is Texture, an all-hemp clothing line that makes not only the comfiest, but the cutest hemp clothes ever. The business is owned and run by a woman named Teresa, who is a crusader for the rights to grow hemp in the US. 

Those vegetables make amazing dinners. Mmm!

Beautiful, handmade bench seats. Oh, why didn't I buy one!

Here are the herbs for dinner...

And for the finale - music. There were about four performers performing simultaneously within Depot square, which is not very big. There was an upright bass player and a tap dancer,  a ukulele, a harpist and...this guy.

And, of course, the token operatic adaptation of the Ugly Duckling.

Hope you enjoyed! Stop by again soon - life has been not giving me much time for writing, but I'll be back to a regular schedule soon.