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azure_armand went camping this weekend with his dad, so I had a weekend to myself. But it was quite full of other people anyway!

I went to pondering76's birthday celebration on Friday night. Not sure that Dave & Buster's is my kind of place in general, but it was good to catch up and to see the birthday girl so happy!

Saturday morning I saw my cousin C, in town from Chicago for a wedding. We had brunch and went for a walk, and chatted and caught up. It was really nice to have enough one-on-one girl-cousin time to not only cover the family stuff, but also get into some more meaty topics. Quite lovely. Also, the Luce in Hopkins (it was near her hotel) is perfectly nice. Pretty quiet on a Saturday morning, too. It's not going to replace the St. Paul one for me, natch, but it's nice to know there's a place I like out on the west end of the Cities, for just this kind of occasion.
Saturday evening I picked up fayde & went to a party for wiredferret, since we briefly had the pleasure of her being in town. What an awesome house L has, and how nice to see everyone there. And wiredferret looked great in her dress. I can see the appeal of the "walkaway dress" pattern - it's very flattering. I don't know if it would work on me, though; it seems like almost everyone has to alter it somehow to make it work, and I don't have a super-defined waist. Perhaps best to leave that one for the hourglassy ladies, on whom it looks so nice.

Oh - to all of these events, I drove, which is sort of noteworthy because it was my first time driving a manual in 13 years. windelina, don't worry, I stalled it a lot but didn't do anything bad to the car (I am pretty sure). And I was a lot better driving it by the end of the day on Saturday!

Sunday I went to the state fair with r0ckc4ndy and her man B and s4 and spacebug. We ate fried things and looked at seed art and drank beer and people-watched, and left before anyone got crabby. Success! (My only failure was in not personally consuming any item-on-a-stick.)
And then I chilled out at home for a while until my hubby got home.

Oh, also, we've watched a couple of movies in the theater recently, and I watched a few at home this weekend. For posterity:

Inception: I really liked it. I love puzzle-type movies and movies that make you think about the nature of reality. And this also had a fair amount of action, which I enjoy.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Totally lived up to the hype! Silly in a way, but utterly satisfying. I enjoyed all the classic video-game references, even as someone who really hasn't played many of them. This movie made me want to dye my hair magenta.

Boys Don't Cry: I'm sure I should have seen this years ago. Hilary Swank totally deserved the Oscar she won for this movie, and the rest of the acting was also excellent. I have to admit I found the movie a little slow to start, but was utterly gripped after the first 40 minutes.
Timer: Cute, but ultimately disappointing. I watched this because I figured I'd catch a couple of dumb romantic comedies while azure_armand was away, since he doesn't like them much and I have a slight weakness for them. Turns out that while I do have a soft spot for romantic comedies, they can't be as dumb or irritating as the ones I saw this weekend. I thought that Timer's premise (basically, you can get a timer chip implanted in your wrist that tells you how long it will be until you meet your "one true love" and also tells you exactly when you make eye contact with them for the first time) is interesting, but the way it plays out just irked me. I'll tell more in comments if you are interested and don't mind being spoiled.
The Proposal: Awful. Okay, I picked this out only because it was available to watch instantly, but I should have given it a pass. I only finished watching it because I like completion. The boss, Sandra Bullock's character, is really awful and while she does eventually expose her vulnerable side (explaining why she's so mean), she really doesn't do anything much in the two or three days the movie covers to explain why the male lead should fall in love with her. It's a really implausible love story with some irritating stereotypes to go with it. Skip it.