So I just finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. To summarize, it tells the story of a nine year-old boy, Oskar Schell, whose father died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Not too long after the funeral, Oskar finds a key that belonged to his father and makes it his mission to search New York City for the lock that matches this key. The story is told through Oskar, in first-person narration, which made the book especially immersive for me. Others I have talked to who read this book have described it as inspiring and enlightening. I thought it was well written and creative, but overall, I found it to be profoundly sad.

Aaron and I recently rented Capote. The movie is a partial biography of Truman Capote during the time he researched and wrote his book, In Cold Blood. It was a quiet, introspective movie, but totally engrossing. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote was amazing and clearly deserving of the Best Actor Oscar he went on to win earlier this year. My only criticism, and I’m not sure that it wasn’t the intention of the filmmakers, is that it the movie leaves you with many questions, eager to know more.

This past weekend James and Chrissy and Aaron and I went to see the Cirque du Soleil show Corteo. We met in the city first for lunch and asked Peter and Maria to join us. We had a delicious meal at The Cheesecake Factory, including a couple of shared pieces of, you guessed it, cheesecake. Afterwards, James and Chrissy and Aaron and I continued onto the show. It was beautiful and bizarre with great music and lots of acrobatics. My favorite act was called Bouncing Beds which featured a group of acrobats, dressed as children bouncing and performing tricks on a couple of trampolines that were made to look like beds. We had a great time and would definitely recommend seeing the show if it comes to your neck of the woods.

Happy Anniversary to Amy and Joe! Last night Aaron and I baby-sat for Justin, while Amy and Joe went out for the first time since he was born. I am happy to report that things went very smoothly. Amy even left us delicious homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner – YUM! We were thrilled to baby-sit and give Amy and Joe a little time to celebrate their anniversary, but the best part of the evening was that I got my first smile from Justin.

The whole family got together this past Saturday at Mom and Dad’s house in celebration of Dad’s birthday. We had a cookout dinner, presents, cake and some entertaining rounds of Guitar Hero. We couldn’t talk Dad into giving the game a try, but he did seem to enjoy watching. Maybe next time we’ll be able to convince him to strap a guitar on. :)

Click on the above image to see the album from the party.