haircuts, movies, week in progress

So March Break was fairly uneventful but I forgot to mention an important thing that I did! I cut the kids hair!
I suppose this isn't too big a deal. I cut Liam's hair all the time. I don't however cut Olivia's hair all the time. In her 4 short years, I've only cut her hair a total of 2 times. Maybe 3 times at most. Her hair was getting so very long so I hacked it all off.
Olivia looks more her age with her hair shorter.

***

I watched Borat on the weekend with the hubby. yeah it was pretty crass and it was so very uncomfortable to watch some parts. There are some situations that he goes into and you're just thinking Oh No, please don't! Hardest to watch had to be the naked wrestling. Definitely hilarious was Pamela Anderson in the wedding sack. Funny movie but disturbing. I don't think I'll be viewing it again though.

Yesterday morning I managed to get all of Just Like Heaven viewed. I was entertained. I like me some Mark Ruffalo. The reason I can enjoy such fluff I think is because I'm very good at just accepting things that are done just for the sake of advancing the story. It doesn't matter how unrealistic it may be, I'll buy it if it will keep the story going and keep me entertained. There's nothing really new in this movie but it's tried and true and I liked it.

Also viewed Stranger Than Fiction today. What a lovely movie. I enjoyed this one so immensely. The characters are great. Will Ferrell is excellent and so is Maggie Gyllenhaal, as usual. I really like her. And there are so many famous people acting in this movie. The story was good, the plot was unique and the ending was terrific. Now I want some cookies...

***

Card night was good on Saturday. We sat about for a little while before getting in a game of euchre (which An and I won) and then we played several hours of poker. Not just Hold 'Em either. We took turns calling different games, dealer's choice. Greg and I both lost which means that he's going to be even less likely to ever play again. The kids stayed up almost the entire night. We left after 1:30am and the girls were still going strong. Even Liam had passed out on the couch. The next day we were told that the reason the girls were probably good so late was because they were eating straight sugar! Gerry found little tea plates of sugar in Jacqui's room! *rolls eyes*

Sunday was relaxing day. Monday was help Greg pack day. He's in Toronto this week and then off to Mexico for a week. Just today we found out that they want him in Rome the week after. We thought it had been cancelled but now they're begging him to go. The way I see it, it's ok for him to go and travel for weeks at a time so long as he can take multiple weeks off to be with us in the summer. We'll see him next weekend since we're driving to Toronto to be with him before he leaves for Mexico. Then we'll head back again to see him when he arrives back from Rome before he heads to Waterloo for a course. so yeah, he'll be gone for 4 weeks straight.

well that's all for now...

2007 50 Book Challenge: Book Four - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling

This was an easy one but I'm still including it in my 50 books, dammit!

Whenever a new Harry Potter book comes out I will typically read the entire series in full before starting the newest book. With books 5 and 6 though I opted just to read Order of the Phoenix and bypass reading the first 3. So it's been a while since I've read Philosopher's Stone.
And I'm so glad I did. It was almost as wondrous to be introduced to this world in this reading as the first time. There are so many things that I'd forgotten or that have become so much more important. And I've watched the movie so much more often than I've read the book, so much of what I do remember has come from the movie. There are so many details that have been excluded from the movie or changed for visual effect. It was really good to be able to use the descriptions JKR writes to get that picture in my mind of setting and characters than to have to rely on the movie.

It is quite a short read as well since it's missing the complexities that the following books contain. It's simply an introduction to the world of magic and the characters that will make the next books in the series so complete.

Let's see... my favourite Philosopher's Stone moment?
you know, this is such a hard one. There isn't one moment that I can say is my favourite.
What I do like about this book is all the little details of Harry Potter's world and the nostalgia of going back to the beginning with these characters that I feel I know so well but have rediscovered new things about them yet again.
I also like that Harry's not so angry. :( He's not yet been bogged down in being a boy hero wizard.

On to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

a slow and relaxing March Break

weekly update: Not too much to relate. It was March Break so I had all 3 kids with me in the mornings and then my own 2 to entertain the rest of the time. Wasn't too bad. Mostly watching tv, movies and playing video games, punctuated by hockey, hockey and hockey. We had a playdate with Jacqui on Tuesday and I managed to fit in a dodgeball practice and NMF on Thursday before heading to the Sens game. Every other night except Monday we took in some form of hockey. Today was more of the same with liam's day starting out with a hockey practice (though Greg was home and was a nice man to let me sleep in while he took the boy!), then Greg went to do a light weights workout while we kept Rich company packing for his trip. A little more NMF for luck on his trip then we took Rich to catch his flight from the train station. don't ask... Card night tonight with An&Gerry. not too much exciting this week...

2007 50 Book Challenge: Book Three - The Birth House by Ami Mckay

I'm going to start off by saying how thrilling it is for me that I've finished 2 books in 2 weeks!
I know it sounds kind of sad. I mean it's just 2 books. And they weren't any great literary works that will change the world. But for me, I've been so distracted by life in the past few years that I've missed the joy I get from just reading. I used to immerse myself so completely in a book that my hubby knew not to bring up any casual conversation while I had a book in hand because I just wouldn't register anything. I miss that feeling of being so utterly caught up in a story and its characters to the point of shutting out whatever is going on around me. It's definitely an inexpensive escape that I've ignored for far too long. I do hope that I can keep up my reading from now on. I just enjoy it so much.

So onto the review...

The Birth House by Ami Mckay was a highly pleasant read. This is a story of a woman in the early 1900's just before the First World War broke out and through its duration. It's not a war story. It's a story about life in a small village in Nova Scotia in those times from a woman's perspective. This is by no means a chick lit book, but it is a woman's book. I don't really recommend it as a great read for the men that I know, unless they want to get a sense of the conditions that women lived in at that time. It was a time when women didn't have the right to vote, marriages didn't happen for love, and women (in this rural village anyway) were expected to keep house, have babies and were looked down upon for having any independent or intelligent thought. It was a bit of a rub for women back then because they really held so much power in their hands, they took care of everything, from house to home, cooking, cleaning, shopping, children, husbands. And yet, none of this power could be used to gain some independence for themselves because there was no such thing as feminism. Men ruled the households, they ruled their wives. And women lived like that willingly because that's what women did. I don't want to make it out like this is a problem. That was just the way of the world back then. We get a glimpse of the suffragette movement going on down in Boston but it was the lot of women in tiny Scots Bay, Nova Scotia to marry and have children. Reading this book gave me a sense of what it was like to live as a woman in those times. It reminded me that the rights and privileges we have now as women are taken for granted. That it wasn't so very long ago that women had a very different way of life.

Particularly I enjoyed the way in which the book was written. Mckay writes her story with letters, journal entries and newspaper clippings. It's like sitting down with her main character, Dora, over a cup of tea at the kitchen table as she goes through her scrapbook. There's almost a comfort in the simple way of life, tea and brown bread, the bliss of ignorance through the belief of just following tradition. I loved the anecdotes and quotes passed down and between the women in the book. There's such a history and sense of community surrounding that way of life, where recipes and stories were shared so personally.
However, the author doesn't pull punches either when relating the negative aspects of life as a woman back then. Marital abuse, child bearing and birthing problems, the pushing of new medical practices over practiced traditional midwife procedures, as well as the quickness to diagnosis independent thought and unwanted intelligent behaviour in women as hysteria. I did enjoy that the practices of midwifery were portrayed as sound compared to the almost barbaric way obstetrics medicine was practiced on the poor women of that day.
It's almost a fantastical tale because it's difficult to think of living that kind of life in this day and age and culture, where women have as many rights and ability to express free thought as any man, where we have the ability to choose how we live our lives.

It was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to any woman. Mckay's writing style was very easy to read and I liked that it had a distinct Canadian flavour to it.

Next up: City of Bones - Book One of the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare

2007 50 Book Challenge: Book Two - Checkmate by Malorie Blackman

ahhhh... finally got to the last book of the Noughts and Crosses trilogy.

A mighty fine series. This one didn't have the incredibly sad ending of book one, Noughts and Crosses, or the cliffhanger ending of the second book, Knife Edge. It was a very good ending to the series though.

I really enjoy the twist the entire series puts on the racism issue. At times I really had to think to remember just what colour the skin of Crosses and Noughts were supposed to be and was pleased at the realization that it didn't really matter. As a young adult novel the series highlights the relevant issues regarding racism quite effectively by switching the roles of the minority.
I also really felt a deep empathy for the lead character, Sephy (short for Persephone - my absolute favourite name for a girl since I was in grade school and had learned about mythology). I couldn't help but notice that everything Sephy felt and every way she reacted to situations was exactly how I would have. It was eerie in a way.

Blackman did a nice job of the telling of this last chapter. It was excellent how she went back and forth in time without it being confusing and it was a great technique for bringing out all the details of the story. I'm just a little disappointed that not all the questions were answered. well, all the important questions were answered, just the silly ones regarding the men in Sephy's and Callie's futures are the ones I'm still curious about.
and of course, there was the usual amount of blubbering going on when I read Callum's first letter. Fantastic. Just so good. Thanks Patty! I really appreciate you putting me onto this series. I really enjoyed it!
oh, and I'm so glad that I could get through it so quickly!

Next up: The Birth House by Ami Mckay

It was my first full week of caring for Baby Aidan. I survived!
lol honestly it's not as bad as I make out. Sure there's the crying and the diaper changing, but it's not all bad. There are just some things that I've gotten used to not having to handle anymore. I think the worst is really the crying. With my kids, I can simply say stop crying or soothe and comfort and the crying stops. With babies, there's no instant communication. There's no understanding yet. So when Aidan cries he can't explain to me why he's crying. Chances are, he doesn't really know why he's crying. At least with my kids, they cry because they stubbed their toe or they didn't get what they want. With babies, they could be crying simply because they're cold or frustrated or just wanting to be a fuss! That's really what gets me the most taking care of babies. But when Aidan is smiling and laughing and playing nice, well, I have no complaints.
The times he cries the most are of course during nap times. All week he cried for an hour in his playpen because he didn't want to nap. I'm hoping that he's just not used to being around here. New surroundings, new noises. It's far less quiet here than at his home. Only on Friday did he actually nap for almost 30 minutes, but even then he just whined a bit until I decided to get him. The rest of the days, it was full out wailing.
It's funny how quickly one can forget what it's like to have a baby. I had 2! You'd think I'd be able to handle getting this kid to nap for me. *sigh*

***

Olivia's final dance class of the winter session was on Monday. Aidan and I attended the Open House. The girl was lovely. She loves to lead the other girls in the exercises. She likes being the leader for marching and she always volunteers to be the first to show her pony gallops. It greatly amuses me when Miss Nancy tells her to flap her wings like a butterfly, with nice long arms and slow flapping, and instead she holds her hands by her shoulders and just flaps her hands really quickly. Just so cute. I couldn't take video this time because I had Aidan to watch this time, but maybe next time someone can keep me company.
Dance begins again after the March Break so I have to remember to sign her up again.

***

I watched The Prestige. I had some problems hearing the dialogue and I find that very distracting. I can't say exactly what my problem was. A number of things perhaps. The sound quality in the movie may have been bad and I have a loud clock in my tv room that ticks and chimes every 15 min. I really should remember to turn off the chime if I'm watching something. In addition everyone in the movie has an accent. It's set in Britain but I had a hard time figuring out who was supposed to have english accents and who had american accents. It was hard too because half of the americans were putting on british accents and other brit actors were putting on american accents. of course hugh jackman got rid of his aussie accent to do the english one. I also couldn't figure out if the actors were dropping their accents here and there so it was all kind of confusing and very distracting to say the least.
However, over the past week since I've seen it, I kept thinking about the movie. So all in all, it must have had some impact on me. I did like the story and the magic part was very interesting. I saw the Illusionist which was more of a story about the people. This one I found to be more about the magic. But how the people were affected by the magic was fascinating as well in this movie.

***

Liam finally made it to hockey! He's missed it since middle of February for different reasons.
He had a good game too considering he hadn't skated in nearly 3 weeks! His first shift was in net and right off the bat he made a fantastic save off a hard shot by the other team. It was good.
I then dropped both the kids off at K&J's before heading to dodgeball. I was on my own this week since both Greg and Rich were out of town. I had a good arm practising before the game but I totally broke under pressure during the game. I couldn't throw at all and ended up having so many of my balls caught. ugh
I did get one nice out. The guy I threw it to put out his hand to catch it and it just slipped through his fingers. It rocked!
So we started out really strong yet again with a perfect first game. Things went awry though somewhere because we ended up losing 12-8. Good times though. We have a great team and the other team was fun to play against too. There were a couple of guys with rocket arms though. A little scary to have those balls whizzing past the head at high speed!
Dodgeball. good times. You should try it.

***

Thursday night was Ottawa Sens vs Toronto Leafs hockey. I took Liam to the game. It was a good one. We smoked 'em 5-1 but there was some concern in the 3rd period that the team would choke in the end. But no such worries. They played a good solid game. It was a late night as we didn't get out of the parking lot until 10:45p.
Friday night was another late night as we headed over to play with Isabelle then to the airport to get hubby at 11p.
Saturday Greg was kind enough to bring the boy to hockey practice at 10a. CAA came by afterwards to check out Greg's car. It wasn't starting and we wanted them to check if it was the battery. It turned out it was just a blown fuse. Then we went for Chinese buffet. We headed to Canadian Tire to get a new fuse for the car and then back home to relax. Saturday night proved to be another late-nighter because we went over to Ryan and Leila's for dinner. We kept the kids up way late!
After so many late nights I made the kids go to bed early last night even though there's no school this week because of March Break.

So yeah, March Break. I'm home alone with 3 kids in the morning. Today was a little rough. My kids were great though and slept in until 8:30am. So early to bed and late to rise. It was awesome! And they only woke up because Aidan was crying when Joey left him with me. The kid was quite a fuss today. He didn't want to drink any of his milk (though in talking with Karen afterwards it could be that he was just not thirsty. will likely take out one of the bottles I'm supposed to feed him.) and he didn't want his snack either. *eyeroll* I need to find me some patience...

It's quite nice out right now. Temperature is above freezing, maybe 5 or 6C. I'm thinking after lunch I will take the kids for a short walk to Rich's to get our GameCube memory card back. I keep forgetting it there. Happy March Break!

Thursday was a bit of busy day.  (Yes my weekend started Thursday!)
Aidan came over for our first full dress rehearsal where Joey brought him in the morning by himself and Karen came to pick him up.  I did mention that I'm providing daycare for K&J mornings now because Karen's going back to work.  Karen stayed with us Tuesday and Wednesday but this was the first day it was just me.  It was fine but Aidan was a little more fussy.  Could be that I was pretty tired though and he also was cranky from having gotten up so early and he's teething.  Was good though.  We got through it ok but changing his bum was an event in itself since I had to do it at least 4 times!

After feeding Olivia lunch we took her to school and then Greg and I headed out to lunch too.  The Works in Westboro.  such a mighty fine burger joint.  Greg made me try the Martini Poutini (think poutine with onion rings all in a fair size bucket!) and I had a nutella/banana milkshake.  So good!  But I was totally stuffed by the end.
Greg and I then went shopping for a new computer bag for his new laptop.  We went to Capital City Luggage where I had some of his luggage repaired and he bought his newest Briggs & Reilly suitcase.  He ended up with a B&R messenger bag-type laptop bag.  He loves it so.  It was a little pricey if you ask me honestly but it's well worth it because he's away so often.
So Greg's pretty well decked out now.  New watch, suitcase, laptop, laptop bag.  All fairly big-ticket items and I'm sure I'm missing something in that list too.

Once we got the kids from school we headed downtown for dodgeball practice.  One of the girls on our team is in the Reserves and she was able to book a drill hall for us to use to throw the balls around.  We got there so early.  Very unlike me!  but since we had to figure out parking and we'd never been to this place before we left 45 minutes early.  We ended up having a terrific practice.  Everyone made it out, except for those with injuries.  I have to say I had a good couple of games.  Once, it came down to Greg and Rich on the other team against my very own lonesome.  It wasn't looking good but I kept dodging the balls and first I got Greg out (woohoo!) and then I got Rich out!  I totally rocked!  :D
We took the kids with us and they got a kick out of it but Liam liked it best.  After the practice Olivia told us that she doesn't really like long stuff.  lol  the practice was about 2 hours long by the end of it and she was getting pretty bored.  There were a couple of close calls too.  Liv nearly got beaned pretty good by Sonny.  You could see her hair whip back as the ball passed her head!  I'm pretty sure Liam got a few body shots from random balls.
After the practice the whole team went to NMF for dinner.  It was a really fun evening.

I feel really badly for the kids though.  Up to this point, we've missed a little over 2 weeks of their extra-curricular activities so that I could do my own thing.  Liam's missed hockey and Beavers for our dodgeball games and practices as well as for my little trip to Paris.  They obviously both missed school that week and Liv also missed a dance class because of my own stupidity (I forgot to bring her dance shoes to class with us!)

Anyway, Friday we got a little snowed in.  The weather was kind of crappy in the morning so that the boy didn't have to go to school with the buses not running.  Late morning/early afternoon we got a ton of snow but by mid-afternoon the weather looked to clear up and we were good to go on our Valentine getaway in Wakefield.  We dropped the winks off at Rich's and drove the 40 minutes into Quebec side to Le Moulin Inn & Spa.
The roads were good and clear and it didn't take us long to get there at all.  It's a lovely area and we had a very nice time.  We stuffed ourselves on the table d'hote for dinner and then again on the breakfast buffet the next day.  Before dinner we played a little game of chess over aperitifs and then we played pool after dinner.  Greg kicked my butt 2-1.  And I only got one game because he scratched on the 8-ball.
Regardless, we had very lovely and relaxing together time before Greg heads out on another big stretch of travel.

We got back before noon on Saturday so that Greg could take care of some things before he left for Kansas.  He dropped me off at Rich's to get the kids but we ended up hanging out there all afternoon playing Wii.
Greg was supposed to take his car out but I think the battery is dead in his car.  That's what you get for not driving it for over a month!

Saturday night me and the guys left the kids (again!) with Andre so we could head to a 70's party held by one of the dodgeball guys.  I feel kind of bad that no one else showed up except for us and another friend of his and his girlfriend.  But hell, I had a great time!
We played ping pong, Cranium and Twister.  Doesn't get better than that!  I have to get myself my own game of Twister.  I'm pretty sure the kids would love it!

Sunday turned out to be pretty relaxing. We left the kids to sleep at Rich's and then we headed over for breakfast.  ok ok, it was brunch.
It was more hanging out there for us playing more Wii until it was time for Rich to head out to Sudbury and Greg to get packed and out to Kansas.

It was a pretty busy weekend!

Finally!
yeesh, I've finally finished Book One of the 50 Book Challenge this year.  The thing is, it's March.  That's 3 months in and I've only finished one book!
The other thing is, I've been reading this book for the past 5 months!  I absolutely fail at reading!

But yes, I have finally finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
My thoughts at the end of it?  well, it was ok.  I mean it was a good story, the places were fabulous to read about.
Unfortunately, it took me so long to get through it that for me, the story was so disjointed.  And I guess it wasn't so much a problem with the story itself but rather there were so many breaks in my attention span that I just couldn't get the flow of the story going.

It is too bad.  When I was in grade school I had such an interest in Dracula and vampires.  I remember doing a project with my best friend and we drew this famous picture of Dracula.  To this day, vampires still hold a special fascination for me.
So that there is an entire book filled with Dracula lore and history, I'm kind of disappointed that I could not get into this book.
Also I had so many good reviews from trusted friends and family that maybe I had very high expectations.

It's a good book but I can't rate it so highly.  I will likely forget most of the details in not too long.  :(

Next up:  Checkmate by Malorie Blackman.

back from dodgeball... we lost. But we played a hell of a couple of games. Well the other team members did. Rich totally rocked it and so did Steve. man, does Steve ever have a wicked throw. I just got by trying not to get beaned in the head. And my throws are so weak I may as well not bother throwing. The other team always catches it and puts me out, literally.

A few of us went out for eats and drinks afterwards and I really enjoyed getting to know some of the people a little better. Spencer really is a riot and Steve and Mae are so nice. Sonny just ate the whole time. He's a machine. but he's usually very quiet anyway.
Then Greg came in about an hour after he was scheduled to arrive so he didn't make it out for drinks with us. The whole team however will be attending the dodgeball practice tomorrow. It should be fun. Not as much pressure to perform, you know. And we'll be bringing the kids with us so I think it will be quite enjoyable all around.

anyway, getting back to my Paris trip. After a full day at the Louvre I was pretty knackered again and I headed back to the hotel for a quick nap while I waited for Greg to finish work. When he got there we headed right back into the city. We went straight to the Arc de Triomphe to take some night pictures. Then proceeded to walk the entire 5km Champs Elysees to Place de la Concorde. This is one of Greg's favourites sights. From there we found a little brasserie near Chatelet les Halles and had some wine and dinner before heading back to the hotel. The walk was a little cold but we went through a chichi part of the fashion district and I window-sighed at all the pretty pretty.

That was my trip. The next day I woke early in the morning (7am Paris, 1am Toronto) to catch my flight home. I had two cat naps on the plane and arrived in Toronto about 2pm. That's already a 12 hour day. I hung around with the kids thinking I should probably nap but didn't get around to it. I then went for dinner at the Crock 'n Barrel and a game of 5 pin bowling. I know... I'm a machine. I did have a really good sleep that night though and the next morning packed the kids in the car and made it back to Ottawa in 4 hours! Got here right in time to get Greg from the airport as he arrived on his flight back from Paris.

well that's a good update for now. I'll try to get on again to talk about some of the more mundane stuff.
Up for the weekend though: dodgeball practice Thursday night, Valentine getaway with the hubby in Wakefield on Friday (which I remembered I had booked as I was on the plane to Paris. I'm getting pretty spoiled!), 70s Party with the dodgeball team on Saturday (sans kids!) and then Greg flies to Kansas on Sunday.
oh and I'm doing dress rehearsals for daycaring Baby Aidan for K&J this week. last few days haven't been too bad. Tomorrow is the test as Karen won't be here. She starts work officially on Monday.

argh!  shame on me for taking so long between updates.
and I always mean to write and I have the very best intentions.  oh that road to hell...

So the biggest news in the past 2 weeks is that I jetted to Paris, France for a 2 day stay.  Just like that.  Last minute, spur of the moment.  Greg had such a great time in Cartagena the week before he was in Paris.  And then when he told me of the beautiful weather in Paris I bat my eyelashes at him to bring me over.
The batting of the eyelashes must have worked because he immediately checked to see if he could get me out there on points.  Within an hour in which I checked that my mom could babysit while I flew off to Europe, I was booked!  So it was Sunday that we booked and Tuesday night that I left.  I was back again on Friday afternoon.  Whirlwind travel, not gone for very long but very exciting and yet comfortable at the same time!

On my first day in Paris, I walked all over the city to see some of the major tourist sites.  Walked from Gare de Lyon along the Seine to Notre Dame.  From Notre Dame I walked past the Palais de Justice to the Louvre.  Went into the museum to look around for a bit but then decided against purchasing a ticket for such a short period of time.  Then walked through the Jardin de Tuileries to Place de la Concorde.  From there I got some nice views of the Eiffel Tower before crossing the Seine to the Rodin Museum.  I spent a couple of hours there, my favourite museum in Paris.  Because I was so close to the Eiffel Tower from this point, I figured I had to go see it up close.  I walked past Les Invalides before coming up on the tower.  I didn't go up as there were so many people.  I really only need to go up once anyway unless I have a lot of time to kill.  After this I was tired!  I hadn't gotten much sleep on the overnight flight and had just walked across a lot of the city.
I took the train out to the suburbs where Greg was working to meet up with him.  We had a fabulous Moroccan dinner there.

The next day I had planned to visit the Louvre then the Pompidou, which wasn't open the last 2 times I was in Paris.  Between museums I wanted to walk past the Opera and then the Bastille, which I also hadn't seen before.  Turned out I ended up spending the entire day in the Louvre.
I hung out mostly in the french and italian sculpture rooms.  I also viewed my favourite french paintings, Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 by David and La Jeune Martyre (The Young Martyr) by Delaroche.
It's amazing but everytime I see Martyre I notice something new.  You can't see it at all in the picture from the link above but there looks to be a boat on the shores of the lake or river that the woman is floating in as well as a figure standing beside it.  I don't know if it's meant to be part of the painting or if the images were removed from the picture and just show up as shadows because the were painted over.  Also, in front of the sunset in the top corner is a man with a horse.  I always ask myself, is it someone coming to help this woman or is it the person who killed her?  It's so fascinating.  And the way the halo shines over the woman's face is just divine.  I love looking at this painting whenever I go the Louvre.  Here is a picture of it that I took when I was there.  I wasn't actually supposed to be taking pictures in this room but I didn't use flash.  Can you see the images I mention?
The Coronation is amazing simply because of it's size and detail.  The feathers on Josephine's robes are so real and the paint actually stands out from the canvas to make it appear lifelike.

My favourite sculptures in the Louvre have always been Canova's Cupid and Psyche and Cupid Reviving Psyche.  Isn't it so pretty?  I can just stare at the detail of the marblework for hours.  I discovered 2 new favourite italian sculptures while I was there.  The Veiled Lady by Corradini and The Nymph and the Scorpion by Bartolini.  The first time I had seen a sculpture with the facial features showing through a veil was in the movie Pride and Prejudice.  It was stunning.  This is the same technique.  I think it's so amazing that anyone can work with the marble to achieve this kind of effect.  As for the Bartolini work, the skill of the sculptor is so evident by how real the sculpture looks.  I love the folds in the stomach of the nymph and close up you can see the frown on her face because she's been stung by a scorpion.
Sculptures like this amaze me as it feels like the people could just stand up and walk away.  The realism is awesome.  It's why I also like the Rodin Museum so much.  Sculpture just does it for me.  Here are two of my favourites from the Rodin Museum.  The Kiss and Eternal Idol.  Just so sumptuous.

It really was a lovely day at the Louvre filled with many more wonderful sculptures.

I'll have to finish this off in another post.  I've got to get ready for dodgeball!