Bye, Nora

As you've heard by now, because you are on the internet, Nora Ephron died today. My first thought : She was 71? She looked pretty good for her age. The rest of my thoughts were about her work, though, so don't worry, I'm only 18% shallow.

I love love love Nora Ephron. "You've Got Mail" and "When Harry Met Sally...". have been my comfort movies for years. Movies I can say every line along with and still enjoy watching them.

I'm always in agony over whether Sally and Harry are really going to get together. Watch it; I know you'll love it. (Probably only Laura will get this reference.)

I've actually been thinking about Nora Ephron a lot lately, even before tonight's news. I've started work writing a romantic comedy the last couple months (I hereby solemnly swear not to become Always-Talk-About-Their-Screenplay Person, but it was relevant here, so don't hate me) and she's obviously one of the masters of the genre. One of very few, really; there are not many good romantic comedies out there, but when they are done right, they're the best (which is why I think it would be a good writing exercise to try to write one, but I digress...).

Ephron's characters are so true-to-life and relatable, but still so unique. And there is so much genuine laugh-out-loud humor all over the place. Not a ton of joke-y humor, but the (to me) more meaningful "funny because it's true" sort of humor. I could go into in-depth analysis mode here, but I've already read articles that do a better job of summing up what makes Ephron a great writer than I would in a blog post that I'm writing when I should be sleeping. So we'll just say Nora Ephron is terrific and a legend and will always be an inspiration to me. So thanks, Nora (since I know your disembodied spirit is totally reading this blog post).

I Can Show You Nice Cats. Shining, Shimmering, Splendid.

My cats get more terrible songs made up about them than any other creatures on the planet. Trevor and I are both extremely guilty (though I'm probably worse). The basic rules are take whatever song is in your head and randomly insert love for the cats. Only worry about rhyming if you really have to.

"There can be miracles, when you are fluffy. Though hope is frail, we love fluffy cats."

"Tonigh-igh-igh-ight, Julius is a cat. So let's set the world on fire. Because he's so good. And strong and handsome and orange."

"Tell me why-y. Tiberius is best cat ever. Tell me why-y. Tied with Julius and Fidel. Tell me why. We have so many good cats in our family. Cause I want to pet their soft fur."

"Hey, I just met you. And you're a good cat. So let me love you. And be my good cat."

20 Adorable One-Piece Swimsuits Under $50

Faithful reader, MacKenna, asks: "Places to find cute, affordable one-piece swimsuits? Anybody?"

Sure, she wasn't asking me, specifically, (I should have cut out the "Anybody?" bit if I wanted it to make this look like she came to my blog for fashion advice), but the results of my research following her facebook-posed question could not be contained in a mere status comment, so here we are.

I always really want to buy swimsuits at this time of year, but can't justify it. I have six swimsuits and four of them even fit me well enough to be worn in public. Which is plenty, considering I go swimming like eight times a year on average. But they are such a fun article of clothing. You can go crazier with patterns and colors with swimsuits than other things for whatever reason. The last swimsuit I bought is snakeskin pattern. Snakeskin! Who'd've thought I'd ever wear anything in such an ugly print? But I love it on that swimsuit.

Anyway, MacKenna's question allowed me to justify "shopping" for swimsuits, within the rules of "one-piece" and my self-imposed budget of $50 ("affordable"). So for that, I must thank her.

Here are 20 favorites found today, from various sources:

Florals: 1) H&M $34.95, 2) JC Penney $22 

One-Shouldered: 3) Target $34.99, 4) Target $39.99

Black on White: 5) Urban Outfitters $44.99, 6) American Apparel $45

Brights: 7) Target $49.99, 8) American Apparel $31.50

Navy Patterns: 9) Downeast $49.99, 10) JC Penney $30

Vintage Cuts: 11) JC Penney $42, 12) Etsy $40

Tribal Prints: 13) Urban Outfitters $39.99, 14) Macy's $47.99

Ruffles: 15) Etsy $49.99, 16) Target $39.99

Animal Prints: 17) dELiAs $34.50, 18) Target $49.99

Polka Dots: 19) Unique Vintage $50, 20) dELiAs $34.50

Worst Hyperbole Ever

• OCD Show #2 went well and I actually wasn't nearly as nervous as expected when it came to actually performing. Last post came out of that terrible time in the rehearsal process after the material has been worked too much to be funny to me anymore, but before I actually have my lines down. So I'm just stressing to learn something that I'm convinced won't even be any good. Worst thing ever. But I got through it and we got overwhelmingly positive audience reaction again, of course. Because we rock. And now I'm excited to start writing phase for Show #3. Writing is my personal favorite part of the process. Oh, and to plug myself really fast, the repeat of Show #2 will be June 21st.
• In my quest for Chicago history knowledge, I read Devil in the White City last month and found I'm fascinated with the Chicago World's Fair (I didn't expect that to be more interesting than the serial killer stuff, but it totally was). I decided next to read City of the Century which was referenced often in Devil and includes earlier Chicago history to boot. However, City wasn't available on the Nook, so I had to buy a paper version. Worst thing ever. It takes two hands to hold this thing open comfortably! How did I ever live like this? I'm only about 75 pages into the thing and I never want to read another paper book again. Other than the unwieldiness, it's very well-written and informative so far, so I'll press on, but still. Awful.
• Our apartment complex changed the laundromat schedule last week to Mon-Sat 8am-6pm. Which means I can only do laundry on Saturdays, since I have a normal human being work schedule. When the schedule was 8am-11pm Sun-Sat, I did my laundry late on weekdays because it was impossible to get a free washer on the weekends. I can only imagine it'll be way worse tomorrow with the change. Probably the best bet is to be ready to go right at 8am, which is not how I want to spend my Saturdays. Worst thing ever. Seriously this time. Come on, The Boulders Apartments, I'm okay with the fact that all my neighbors are illegal immigrants or meth addicts, and that the place catches on fire all the time but please, just let me do my laundry.