for the love of leather

I was happy to finally be able to wear jeans this Casual Friday because I wanted to test-drive my new leather jacket without feeling too fancy. Incidentally, it is the last Casual Friday I will ever have... our dress code has officially been altered to allow denim on non-Fridays! I sure do love some skirts and dresses, but if I'm sitting in a cubicle all day it's nice to have the option to slub it up in some jeans so I can save my pretty outfits for date night and the like.

Anyway, after a long week of work the only date that K and I seem to be able to muster the energy to go on is a movie-date. We drove to Morrisville to see "Julie & Julia," which I have been dying to see and K has most definitely been attempting to divert me away from. He finally broke down, mostly because there is absolutely NOTHING worth seeing right now.

I was pleasantly surprised by how fantastically retro the Bijou was! I don't remember it being even remotely as cool... ruby-red velvet upholstery, tacky film reel tables, vintage movie posters... awesome.

Also awesome: the movie!

I attribute the quality of the film to the fact that it is based on (two) true stories. The characters were charming and refreshingly realistic. Amy Adams would get a little chubby if she kept eating all that butter! She was irritable and frustrated and discontent and had a drone job and a crap apartment in Queens, but (pardon the analogy) she took the ingredients she had and cooked up something fabulous! Real people need real motivation and usually need to build from the ground up. Relationships are messy and people are not saints, no matter how filled with love they are, but life can have a happy ending if you actually live it.

I know most people like this movie despite the Amy Adams segments (because the bits about Julia Child's life in Paris are so fantastic), but I didn't mind them. It just felt so true to (my) life, like Julie was coming to the same conclusions that I have come to--feeling bitchy (yeah but who isn't?) and bored with her job and finding comfort and peace with one simple, essential thing--cooking. It's a ritual-induced meditation. It's physical and mental nourishment, and we all need to find the one thing that can satiate our hunger so that we can experience the richness of life. Feeling complete usually involves feeling driven by a purpose... Julie chose to cook. For now, I'm choosing to dress. When I look put together, I feel put together, and I am already starting to see a difference in my attitude. I hope this little blog of mine can act as a springboard for my aspirations, because mastering the art of French cooking certainly won't do it for me. I have no desire to learn how to bone a duck.