Love List | December Edition...

COMPETING BALLERINAS, COMPETING ALL-STAR CHEFS AND 11
MORE THINGS THAT COMPETED FOR MY LOVE THIS DECEMBER.

1|BLACK SWAN

My friend Alex said it best in his Facebook review-- So I'm copy and pasting it here: "What happens when you mix Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' with 'Repulsion' and 'Carrie' along with a little hint of 'Suspiria' and 'Mommie Dearest' what do you end up getting? [One of] the best film[s] of 2010." Well said and now it's my turn... What do I have to say? Black Swan is beautiful, creepy, eerie, graceful, thrilling and oh-so-good. It totally gave me goose bumps. (Just give NatPort the Oscar now.) Be sure to check this one out!

2|WILD GRAPE BISTRO

Every year my friend Shila and I have a Christmas tradition of brunch and exchanging gifts. This year we went to the new (to me anyway) Wild Grape Bistro on South Temple downtown. I think I have found a new favorite restaurant in Capital City. It was de-lish. I will be coming back often, and not just because of the cute host that showed us to our table. But that certainly didn't hurt this review. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it now. Nom. Nom. Nom.

3|TOP CHEF: ALL STARS

Team Carla!
Hootie-Hoo!

4|FAMILY GUY'S EPISODE:
'ROAD TO THE NORTH POLE'

I love a good Christmas themed TV episode and this year produced some goodies (see: 30 Rock, The Office, Community, The Middle, Glee) but my favorite had to be Family Guy's "Road to the North Pole". I was in stitches watching Stewie and Brian venture off to the North Pole and discover the truth about Santy Claus. (Spoiler: It ain't pretty!) Beyond the humor and the shock is a very important message. So watch it (via Hulu, before its too late) and learn that message yourself. (oh and I'll never look at a reindeer the same way again!)

5|DOG DAYS ARE OVER
by FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

Non-Christmas Music Single of the Month, Part 1.
(Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!)

6|ROLLING IN THE DEEP
by ADELE

Non-Christmas Music Single of the Month, Part 2. (Cannot wait until her new album drops in February!!)
(Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!)

7|JESSE DOBBS

I met Jesse back in 2002 when he was working at the Blue Boutique; since then he opened a new (and beautiful) shop [Iris Piercing] and it has done very well. (Five years and counting!) This month I found out that he was moving to Colorado to open an Iris there. I was very sad to hear this, but Salt Lake's loss is Denver's gain. Thanks Jesse for being my piercing extraordinaire-- it was fun working with you on that one project a few years back... come back and visit! Salt Lake will miss you!

8|ONLINE X-MAS SHOPPING

This season I chose easy and did most of my Christmas shopping with the click of the mouse. And man, why doesn't everyone do this? So much better than dealing with the parking and crowds and lines and madness-- making my holidays a little brighter. Plus who doesn't love package delivery day-- even if they're not for you (well most of them anyway.) From now on, it's online all the way. Click!

9|A CHRISTMAS STORY on TBS...
A CHRISTMAS STORY on TBS...
A CHRISTMAS STORY on.....

Awwwe Fffuuuuuddgge!... what was I thinking? For some reason this holiday classic has never been much on my radar; it was okay- but never a must see. That was until this year. Thanks in part to a 24-hour back to back to back airing, I watched it twice-and-a-half in a row and was laughing out loud the entire time. This might be one that gets to be purchased for the holiday DVD collection.

10|"I'M REMEMBERING" BLOG

I'm Remembering is a blog that is, like, so totally radical for those (like me) that grew up in the 1980's and early 90's. I dare you not to peruse it's photo galleries and not, like, have a cow, with a gnarly grin on your face while you think "OMG, I so remember that" or declare "Wow, I totally had those". It's a bitchin' walk down memory lane. for sure. We really did grow up in the best decade. It really was, like, the bomb. Do you remember?

(And yes, we did have everyone of the 80's toys pictured above-- I had totally forgotten about the top two pictured until this website!)

11|OH SANTA!
by MARIAH CAREY

New Christmas Music Single-slash-Guilty Pleasure of the Month.
(Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!)

12|JOAN RIVERS

This is one funny lady! I've been rolling at her say-anything-and-everything hosting E!'s hilarious Fashion Police. (Starlet or Streetwalker! Hurrah!) And this month I also got to check out the fascinating documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. An uncompromising look behind the scenes of one of America's hardest working comedians, both in her personal and professional life. (Available on Netflix Watch Now)

13|MARIE CALLENDER'S POT PIES

Official diet-killer of the month. (Although according to conflicting reports, these delicious suckers probably did more damage. Damn You Hershey's!) Any who, this not-so-quick-but-affordable meal found it's way on to my dinner plate several times this month. A good sign is that as December draws to a close, I'm honestly kinda sick of them. Yup, I loved them that much!