This past weekend was delightful, pure and simple. It started early with Mickey coming home after a half-day on Friday (if she works even just an hour longer on the rest of the work days, then that means she can take a half day on Fridays). We ate, then went shopping for various knicknacks (cross stitching materials, clothes, et cetera), then went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I really, REALLY liked. It was surreal, sublime, and very much a Charlie Kaufman movie. I felt that both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet did fantastic jobs with their roles, and there are some real moments while jaunting around inside Carrey’s head. (In particular, I’d like to point out any of the scenes where he’s a child.)

One of the interesting things about the movie (to me, anyway) was that we see the feelings and emotions and thoughts of this character who is incapable of saying it in the real world. So we (the audience) becomes endeared to the character, because we see this nakedness. WE see how much he cares about Winslet’s character. We want them to be together, and after all why wouldn’t they after that level of honesty? She’d have to have a heart of stone to not be with him after that.

And then you remember, it’s all in his head. She doesn’t know ANY OF IT, and may never.

I may write more about this movie once I’ve had a chance to watch it a few more times, but that won’t be until it’s out on DVD (and yes, I WOULD like to own this on DVD, more than any of the other Kaufman movies I’ve seen, including Being John Malkovich). Instead, on to the rest of the weekend.

Saturday was Mickey’s birthday, and we slept in until nearly noon. We then puttered about for a short while, and then went out to “breakfast”. It started to rain just as we were about to go out for a hike, so instead we stayed in for the afternoon, and then went out to dinner, ate way too much, and strolled through the mall. (Downtown Bellevue is very pedestrian friendly, I find, and quite lovely at dusk.)

We then went home and snuggled up and watched Twin Peaks together (we have Season 1 on DVD, and I’m eagerly awaiting Season 2). Mickey had only seen a few episodes back when it originally aired, so this was her first time seeing the first season all the way through (I’m still missing the pilot, though, which does a lot to set character and location for it all). Twin Peaks is one of my favorite series, so I’m really happy that I got to finally share it with Mickey.

Sunday was also a late sleeper, but by the time we woke up, it was starting to clear up and be nice out, so we went shopping for a red shirt that would match Mickey’s dress for a wedding we’re going to in June. We bounced around to various stores, plazas, and malls (even the Goodwill!), and finally ended up in Redmond Town Center, which is a VERY posh outdoor mall. We stopped for ice cream (I told you it was nice!) and strolled around enjoying each other’s company. We finally ended up in a store called Simo Silks, which is primarily classic oriental dresses and such, but also had some very nice imported silk dress shirts, one of which was just the right shade of red. AND, they were having a moving sale, so everything was marked down obscenely… so now I have a very spiff red silk shirt for $15.00. I asked them where they were moving, and his response was “We’re not sure yet… they’re raising our rent next month, so we had to make a decision.” This is unfortunate, but understandable… I wish them luck, and hopefully I’ll come across them again (they’ve got nifty stuff).

We finally meandered home, and did laundry and various other homebody things, and snuggled up on the couch to finish off season one (we’d only completed the first three episodes the night before).

Nothing was spectacular or monumental, but everything was good — really good. And that, my friends, makes me very happy.

Cheers.