Co-dependency Backlash: Day 3

It is so quiet around here without Greg. I'm working on the writing right now so there's no music, no TV, the cats are in comas somewhere, no neurotic husband finding endless problems that need to be fixed right-this-second-if-not-sooner. It's just the tap-tap-tapping of my computer keys and the birdies singing outside. Eerily weird. What the heck did I do with myself before Greg? I don't even remember.

The weirdest thing of all is settling into bed all by myself. I miss the snuggles and goodnight kisses.

Haven't spoken to Greg yet today. I think he was planning on seeing a Watford game, his local soccer football team, with his friend Stuart today. Then I'm sure the plans involved a trip to the Spanish Arch, his local pub. All I asked was that he not get stumbling drunk. The Arch is just a few minute's walk from his mum's house, but a lot of trouble can be hatched in a few minutes. Damn English hooligans. :)


So yesterday kicked off the start of the annual SXSW film festival. I met up with a few girlfriends, Dilek & Isil the Turks, for a couple films. The first was I Love You, Man, which is coming out soon.


A few of the stars were there to talk about the movie after it showed, including:

the highly adorable Paul Rudd

the very tall Jason Segel

Rashida Jones

Jon Favreau

and (Greg is going to be really jealous of this one) the adorable Jaime Pressly


Greg loves her white trash character on My Name Is Earl.

The movie played to an almost full house at the Paramount. It was cute in that awkward, geeky-guy-learns-to-loosen-up kind of way. The main problem I have with this movie: featured prominently is the band Rush. The boys play Rush songs on guitar and base. They sing Rush. They even go to a Rush concert. They are obsessed with Rush!

I hate Rush. Geddy Lee's voice makes me want to scratch my eyes out. Anytime Rush comes on the radio, Greg knows the channel must be changed immediately or there will be hell to pay. Needless to say, those scenes were especially painful for me. Other than that, cute.

Next we saw The Snake, a movie about a morally bankrupt guy who joins a support group so get close to this bulimic girl he fancies. Just a guess, but this one probably won't be coming out in theaters anytime soon. Both movies were entertaining, but what I really love about this festival is all the documentaries and off-beat films that show so I'm really looking forward to those in particular.

In a short while I'm off to catch a few more flicks with the girls. And I guess I won't be hearing from Greg today. ::sniffle, sniffle::


I know you're having a great time, babe. However, I really should get a call tomorrow morning or someone is in BIG TROUBLE, MISTER!

All my love,
Your lovely, patient & oh-so-cool wife
xxxxx

Brianna's Bachelorette Party

I hadn't been bar-hopping in Austin in a looooong time so a few things took me by surprise.

1. Scantily-clad girls paid to dance on bar platforms seem to be all the rage in Austin right now. Pangaea, a ponce-y bar where the old downtown Alamo used to be, had a few with everyone awkwardly trying not to stare even though they really, really wanted to.
2. Every party girl in Austin owns some variation of this trapeze dress:
3. When traveling in a bachelorette party, its ridiculously easy to get free drinks. This wasn't so much a surprise, but it never ceases to amaze me...

First we met at Manuel's for dinner.


Then we hit the town.

Free champagne - awesome!

With the Bachelor at his new bar. Ladies, I'm sorry but he is not that tall. :(

The bride with another cocktail to add to the deadly mix

Subjects in photo are not as drunk as they appear - one of them anyway...

Fun night!

Hob-Nobbing

My lab-mate Omar, you know, the one who hung out with Matthew Settle last week? Well, guess who he met last night...

STIFFLER'S MOM!


Otherwise known as Jennifer Coolidge.

Lol. That's right. He got a call from good ol' Matt to go out drinking last night. (And drinking they did!) She's apparently in the same movie and was hanging with the boys for the evening. And as Omar's telling me this, he's trying to act all cool and nonchalant as if he hangs out with film & TV stars all the time. But underneath his slouchy posture and tone of boredom, he's barely containing his down-right giddiness. You can totally tell, especially considering I heard the whole story within one minute of seeing him today. Ha!

But poor guy, he's dragging. To bed at 5:30 a.m. and up at 10 with a whole huge set of experiments to do... Not happening. Instead he's decided to succumb to sleep-deprivation & hang-over and call it a day.

I guess that's the price you pay for rubbing elbows with the beautiful people.

:)

FYI, Celebrity Stalkers...

My lab-mate Omar and his roommate were hanging out this week-end at the Ginger Man (one of my fave bars in Austin that is being pushed out of its current location to make room for, guess what, MORE condos - blech!). This guy comes up to them and asks if he and his buddies could sit down at their table. Sure! Of course! They get to chatting. Omar asks So what do you do? The guy says I'm an actor.

Oh, really? Would I have seen you in anything?

Well, have you seen Band of Brothers on HBO?

Yeah.

I played Captain Spears in the miniseries.

Omar looks at him for a second and suddenly recognizes his face. Yeah, you did, didn't you!

Turns out Matthew Settle is in town for a month shooting a new movie called Ex-Terminators with Heather Graham. According to Omar, Matt's quite a nice bloke. (Omar's a Brit, in case that wasn't completely obvious). They ended up hanging out and bar-hopping a bit. Later the party went back to the Driskill, where they read lines in practice for his shoot the next day. Earlier that day, Omar had just been telling his roommate that they should go out rather than staying in and playing beer-pong in the garage. Because you never know who you'll meet...

So true, Omar, so true...

I will refrain from commenting on this picture, but hello!

(love you, Greg...)

Whole Lotta Nuthin'

That pretty much sums up our week-end activities. And it was wonderful.

Lately our Friday-Sundays have been jam-packed with productivity, bar-hopping, travel, or worst of all, work. And while I generally enjoy most of these things, sometimes its nice to just turn everything off, tune everyone out and wallow in unwashed, solitary introspection. Or maybe not introspection so much as a state of complete anti-social vegetation.

The only foray we made into the civilized world this week-end was to catch Run, Fat Boy, Run at the Drafthouse with our friends Katie and Derek.
It was actually the second time I've seen this movie this month. The first time was at the Paramount during the SXSW film festival when it was introduced by the director, one Mr. David Schwimmer. Its a nice, simple, funny movie, but do yourself a favor and divert your eyes during the blister-popping scene. Why, David, why??

p.s. SXSW Aside: Moby was in town to play a show during the music festival. And I know someone who MADE OUT WITH HIM! THE Moby!

Geeky cute

I won't say who, but apparently she was all cute and smitten afterward. They were apparently texting each other all the next day, and we haven't heard from her since so don't know if there was ever any follow-up. The last we heard, he said he was going to take her on some trip with him. I'm eager to hear any future reports. Ha!

Celebrity Stalking

Hmmm... Rumor has it that the ever-so-yummy Mr. Brad Pitt may be shooting scenes from his upcoming movie at the Capitol on Friday.

Local Brangelina sitings have also been sprouting up over the last several weeks. (Have I mentioned lately how much I love Austin?)

SXSW Film Festival

While Greg's been away, my sister and I have been taking full advantage of the SXSW film festival.

The films started last Friday and just ended yesterday. That's 10 days of theater hopping and film watching (interspersed with grading of lab reports whenever possible - no, really... I have evidence).

That's also 10 days of sitting in on my backside for hours in dark theaters, some of which serve delicious although greasy and toxic food. The only exercise we've gotten is walking up and down 6th Street from the Paramount to the Convention Center to the Ritz to stand in line for an hour, hoping to get in. This just can't be healthy. Detox is definitely on the horizons.

After 10 days, we've managed to see 27 films, 5 celebrities, countless hipsters & pale, skinny rockers, every shade of dyed human hair possible, endless tattoos, and more lobe stretching than I ever needed to see in my life. Its been surreal.

I'm exhausted and also feeling slightly ill. But it was so worth it. :)

And I just got a call from Greg. He was able to get on an earlier flight so his plane touches down in 52 minutes! Yay!

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Greg is soon to be an internet STAR!

Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But his company is having him take professional photos today so that his smiling face will appear as one of a few friendly, helpful scientists greeting customers as they peruse the company website. That's cool, right!

The best part for me personally is the fact that they have a professional hair stylist and makeup artist to pretty him up for the shoot. That's right - my husband is having his first brush with dragdom today. Awesome. :)

I called him to beg that he not wash it off before he gets home so I can take full advantage in this supreme opportunity to make fun of him tonight. And you know what. He's cool enough to oblige my every whim so he's doing his best to preserve the effects for my benefit. What a champ! I love a man secure enough in his own sexuality that he's willing to sport makeup all day just for me.



***Update***

To be honest, the buildup was way better than the reality. I'm a bit disappointed. I was expecting a full-on theater-type freakshow. No such luck. All they did was even out his skin tone a bit. No blush. No mascara. The slight lip color they applied had already vanished. My revelry was greatly diminished. Damn! And I had such high hopes.

One cool thing though - few people know this, but I actually have been cutting Greg's hair almost exclusively for the last few years. I used to hate doing it. I was terrified of disfiguring him - even momentarily - with my total lack of skill or training in the hair styling department. Greg, of course, could care less. All he cares about is the fact that we don't have to drop $40 on his haircuts every few months. I've done it so often now that its far less painful. Now I just cut great wodges of hair with wild abandon and am done with it. Plus, I get shoe-buying bonus points every time I do it so the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks for me. Well, apparently this lady was really impressed by my handiwork. She only had to straighten out some of his side burns to make him all symmetrical and perfect.

I won't lie. I'm proud of myself. Maybe I'll add that to my resume.

Eat Your Heart Out, Hulk

In case you're interested, the American Gladiators are having try-outs here in Austin on Saturday!

Larisa yells Oooh-yeeeeah! (a la Macho Man Randy Savage).

Damn. Its probably too late to dust off my little 10-pound weights and start working on my pecs, right. Another golden opportunity missed...

Another (Less Thrilling) Celeb Sighting

Between sucking up the courts of sand volleyball in Zilker Park and a refreshing (yeah, that's the word!) dip in Barton Springs, we stopped for lunch at The Shady Grove where we saw:


Know who she is? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

I didn't either, but then again, I'm not up on my daytime soap stars. Michelle Stafford from The Young and the Restless was just a few tables over from us. Well spotted, Alicia.

I liked Luke Wilson better.

Oh! And someone stole my sunglasses! I can't believe it. If you can't trust the hippies at Barton Springs, who can you trust? Honestly!

I'm keeping my eyes peeled

According to justjared.com, Ryan Reynolds is in town filming his new movie Fireflies in the Garden. A-dor-able!


And on a similar note...

My name is Larisa. And I am addicted to celebrity gossip.

Its true. I am a complete junky. I am entirely too familiar with the shenanigans of Paris, Britney, and Lindsay. On my downtime in lab, I'm surfing my fave sites for my daily fix:

popsugar.com for a very sunny-side-up version

perezhilton.com for a nastier version. Yeah, its kinda harsh and ridiculously catty but the biotch inside needs a bit of a chuckle from time to time.

justjared.com because they always have tons of pics.

I know. Its sad. This is my cry for help. I need an emergency intervention.

Celebrity Sighting!!

Greg and I were having lunch with our friends Bobbi, Matt, Nate and Linda at Guerro's on South Congress. Who should walk by but the highly adorable LUKE WILSON! I love him!


Bobbi spotted him first, but I didn't believe her. I refused to believe that my boyfriend Luke Wilson had walked right by us, and I hadn't even noticed him. And then I saw him sauntering through the restaurant kinda muttering to himself. Hmm? He walked out of the building as I quietly said an "I love you!" in his direction. I thought he had walked out of my life forever. But a few minutes later he came back in and joined an older-ish woman at a table directly opposite the one we were sitting while waiting.

I've been here for almost 6 years and this was my first celeb sighting. I've heard rumors of Sandra Bullock, Jake Gyllenhal, Sheryl Crow, Matthew McConaughey, etc, etc being spotted all over town. But personally, I think my boyfriend Luke Wilson blows them all out of the water.

Ah, cheap thrills. Made my day... :)