For months now, I’ve been helping my husband and two friends build an epic LEGO recreation of the The Last March of the Ents from The Lord of the Rings movie. We unleashed the photos online on September 28, and then displayed it for a public exhibit that very weekend in Seattle at BrickCon. BrickCon was an insanely fun and exhausting time hanging with new and old friends. The drive up to Seattle and back was long… but surprisingly nice to just spend time with my husband and little Baxter, who came along for the trip. And our creation won Best in Show. Really amazed!

It’s been a smashing success and one of the most fun creative projects I’ve ever been a small part of. I hoped people would like it after all the hard work put into it, but never expected the reception to be as enthusiastic as it’s been. We’ve been interviewed for a podcast, made CNN and a ton of blogs, and we’re getting close to a million views on the photos.

We got the crazy idea after watching a marathon screening of the trilogy at the Egyptian Theatre earlier this year. One thing I will always love about Los Angeles is that there so many amazing revival movie theatres. Any night of any week, you can pop into theatres all over town to check out classic, cult, weird, obscure, popular, indie or new movies…

The idea was just to build one Ent. This snowballed. Quickly. It’s been a real labor of love though and came together so seamlessly. We’re pretty proud. And it’ll be on display again at a local event in Pasadena called Designer Con.

What else have I’ve been doing since my last ages ago post? Took a week long road trip exploring the California coast as well as attended several events celebrating the opening of the new Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum. Still going to shows including Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, and the members of Nickelcreek put on one of the best I’ve ever been to in my entire life! Oh, and in between all the LEGO madness, I still managed to see Duran Duran at Nokia Theatre. It always comes back to Duran Duran in the end…

Plot: A hard-living Hollywood actor re-examines his life after his 11-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit.

Starring: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Michelle Monaghan and Benicio Del Toro

Release Date: December 22

Anticipation level: CAN’T FREAKIN’ WAIT! And hi, Stephen, I’ve missed you!

But first, we picked up Baxter who didn’t make the trip with us. We missed the little bugger so much. Then we had to unpack, wash, and clean our gear and clothes. Catch up on emails, TV, and drama. And go see “Robin Hood”, which we loved. (Being that I’m a big geek about Medieval Europe history and art, this movie and “The Secret of Kells” were tailor MADE for me… SO WELL DONE!)

And, yes… also time to start a new blog. Introducing PuppyHiker.com. Ridiculous. I know.

Delightful. Charming. Heartbreaking. Not a love story, but a story about love.

You will fall for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom. You will hate Zooey Deschanel’s Summer. You will likely recognize yourself in both characters.

Amazing soundtrack.

Plus there is a dance sequence… to a Hall & Oates song that is like no other. I could watch it over and over a million times squeeing every second. KILLS.

Go watch it. Trust me.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single episode of the original series… and while I’ve seen some of the early movies, I don’t completely remember them except for the parts that really freaked me out as a kid.

I had to ask Remi if the Russian kid was someone important… Chekov? Who? It was only after the movie that I remembered Walter Koenig’s face. So yes, I’m not anything close to a Star Trek fan. Heck, I was one of those girls who watched the Next Generation for a while because of Wil freaking Wheaton.

That said, I LOVED this movie. It was a bit over the top with every single second being this epic moment with epic music… but I really really enjoyed it. And I guess I’m a total SAP that I cried within the first 5 minutes. This movie was all about Spock. The new and the old. I didn’t know Leonard Nimoy would be in this and he was one word: AWESOME. As was Zachary Quinto.

While I knew Winona Ryder played Spock’s mom, I didn’t know Eric Bana was playing the bad guy Nero until the credits. I totally didn’t recognize him. It took way too long for Simon Pegg to arrive on screen as Scotty and really liven things up. I loved him. Both John Cho and Anton Yelchin were also great fun.

Oh, I also loved seeing my friend Bryan as an extra in the end scene where Kirk is given his medal… way to stand out there cadet!