Bits of my weekend vol. 62.

it was a peaceful weekend. lots of rain and clouds made us want to hunker down with good movies and a great baking project.

i was going to take cupcakes to the boy's class since this is his last week in preschool.

i even cracked out all the good ingredients.

no box mix, no sirree.

swan's down, real butter, buttermilk, vanilla paste, the works.

only one problem.

they flopped.

take a look at this and tell me if you can figure out the problem.

seriously. i still don't know what i did wrong.

i followed ina garten's coconut cupcake recipe to the tee.

to the tee, i tell you.

i blame the oven. it just seems to get too hot. i even reduced the heat on the second set, but to no avail.

so i bought popsicles for his send-off. ugh.

not a good way to go out.

but our culinary adventures were not a total bust.

we went to porta via for a celebratory pizza.

words cannot describe.

and the gelato? oh, mama mia.

we also did another little project.

framed up one of the boy's works of art.

don't you just love?

we also went thrifting and found this.

not exactly vintage, but we didn't already own it so had to get it.

it's a classic, for pete's sake.

and we went to the library, where we got piles and piles of books.

as usual.

oh! and i finished the book i was reading, snowflower and the secret fan. i have a feeling the movie is going to be super tragic.

did i mention the boy's going to kindergarten this week?

yeah, i think i may have brought that up a few times before.

are you seeing any young ones off to kindergarten this week?

or maybe you've braved the world of kindergarten drop-off and have it down pat.

if so, please leave your words of wisdom here. i'm gonna need them.

have a great week, my lovelies!

robinne lee interview to come very soon.

a lovely film. i hope.

i am dying to see snowflower and the secret fan, but it's not in nashville yet. i have been fascinated by asian films for years, and this one does look intriguing.

here's a synopsis from fox searchlight:

In 19th-century China, seven year old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong - or "old sames" - bound together for eternity.

Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan.

In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong's descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai.

i perhaps should read the book first. if this movie follows in the footsteps of memoirs of a geisha or the joy luck club, it will not compare in quality to the novel which inspired it.

but it promises to be a visual feast, if nothing else.

the best asian films, of course, are not made for american audiences and are not in english (i.e., in the mood for love, flowers of shanghai, shower, scent of green papaya and raise the red lantern, to name a few), but i will see it either way.

what do you think? what movies are you most looking forward to this summer?