Attn: fellow Charles Dicken's fans

I have been a major follower of Masterpiece Theatre since I was a teenager. My mom got me hooked to it. For those of you who are not aware of what Masterpiece Theatre is (it's actually called "Masterpiece Classic" now), it's a program that they have on PBS (for us, channel 79). It's on Sunday nights and they make wonderful and beautiful movies. They are called "made for tv" movies, so they aren't in theaters or anything. Anyways, starting this Sunday night, and continuing every consecutive Sunday for like a month, they are showing one of Charles Dicken's works "Little Dorrit." I have never actually read it or seen it but have read others by him. Here is a little summary of what it will be about:

Amy Dorrit's (Claire Foy) gentle spirit has never been dampened by the confining walls of the Marshalsea Prison she's lived in her whole life. Despite the dark shadow of debtor's prison, Amy lovingly cares for her father William Dorrit (Tom Courtenay), the longest serving inmate. A possibly redemptive light unexpectedly shines in the form of Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen), who has been left with the intriguing threads of a mystery after his father's death — threads that will intertwine his family and fate with the Dorrits. Clennam's exhaustive search for answers involves murder, fortunes gained and lost, the upper echelons and lowest dregs of society, and most surprising of all, a tender romance. Adapted by Andrew Davies (Bleak House, Pride and Prejudice), Little Dorrit, based on the book by Charles Dickens, is a sprawling story as timely as it is moving.

If you love Pride and Prejudice (with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and other English classics, you will probably like this. If your not familiar with Charles Dickens, his stories mostly take place on the dirty street of London but are always full of interesting characters. So it will be a bit more dark and grimy than Austen so be prepared. Anyways, hope you enjoy and if you are interested in learning more, just go to www.pbs.org!

A Big Day for Tay !!!

Well, at exactly 6 pm tonight, Taylor turned 2 ! We had a great day together at D-land (I know, why go on his b-day, he still gets in free?). I figured I'd check out the crowd and see what other little kids had their birthday today...Ok, pretty much the whole world... it was beyond crazy. It's funny, I always plan ahead and attempt to get there right when it opens and every single time, ya, it never happens. So I got there at 11 and left around 2. It was a very quick trip but long enough to be ready to go home. Of course we went on Pirates (Yeah!) but spent most of the time at California Adventure where the crowd was much smaller. Tay mostly swam, or sprinkled, in the water area and for the first time, enjoyed getting sprayed in the face! It was fun to watch.
The trip home was quite entertaining as well. While hitting major traffic, of course, (ya, I always plan and attempt to leave before the dreaded 91 deadlock but you know... Ah, I hate the 91!), for the first time ever, I saw a car switch drivers! while driving! and then cross over like 4 lanes in 2 seconds. Insane.When we got home, the rest of the night was spent spoiling the heck out of him. We had some yummy Carl's Jr (Tay likes the chicken stars) and then had some Cold Stone. So Tay had a total of 2 ice creams and one cupcake today, all chocolate (or as he says, "dat dat.") But his favorite part of the day was getting his Jack Sparrow action figure! I was questioning whether or not he would be into it but he definitely was. He loves putting Jack's hat on and off and placing his sword in and out of his hand! He's only had Jack for not even 24 hours and has already lost his "effects" (what Pirates call weapons and such) a couple times in our front yard grass! Anyways, we had a blast celebrating his special day with him.
We also had a little party, Pirate themed of course, for him last Sunday with my family. He got lots of great gifts and had lots of fun with everybody. Taylor is also really into shoes right now, any kind of shoe, my shoes, girl's tap shoes (from the white house), flip flops, whatever. So he got a lot of shoes for his birthday. He loves to play in water so my mom gave him a pair of red Mickey Mouse boots, which will be perfect for Washington too. We attempted to make the Cafe Rio burrito thingys and they turned out pretty dang good. Instead of a cake, I decided to go for cupcakes. So we had a great party and I had a blast planning it.

We love Taylor and look forward to watching him grow up! He is such a cute and funny little boy who lives for swords, boots, and chocolate.

Close Encounters of the Disney kind...

He loved them, especially Tigger! They were buds.