i'm a single girl again!

(Nick calls this picture Bad Haircut)
Just until Monday that is. Yesterday morning (really early, I won't tell you how early) I put my husband and our friend Beacon on a plane to NYC. (By the way, I love that phrase "put them on a plane". In my head I picture myself actually tucking them into the seats, like babies in car seats. Weird.) The boys are going to visit Teej and Kinnie and they are also going to the NFL draft. Recently Nick and I bought a new camera and Nick has discovered a talent for taking beautiful photographs. (I think so anyway) Here's a link to his flickr site which he has recently named the "dink and flicka". (Any office fans out there?)

It's interesting being on my own again. He's only gone for 5 days, which is a good amount I think. Long enough for time on my own, short enough where I won't miss him too much. (I'm not flattering myself to think he's missing me out there in the big city.) Saturday I am going to Broken Arrow to visit my Teegy. It's been too long since we have had time with just the girls so I am really excited.

Well, I started this blog thinking it would be interesting but alas, it is not. Maybe I need Nick around to inspire my inner comic. Miss you honey.

(perhaps the most interesting part of this blog is how many times I used parenthesis and quotation marks. geez louise.)

another rant about food

While I'm at it...

You know what I hate?
(and I'm aware that all restaurant employees hate me because I can't order anything the way it comes. they freaking put tomatoes on everything!)

Sometimes at Sonic (usually during happy hour) I get my drink with extra ice, because sometimes I bring a can of diet coke from home and when I finish the cup of coke I just pour in my can from home over the delicious Sonic ice. It's a weird problem I have, needing SO MUCH ICE in my cup, I admit, but it's how I roll.

Anyway, back to the rant. I hate it when the fast food people don't hear my requests because they are too busy rushing in with their own question. As I was asking for my extra ice, the girl spoke over me and asked if I wanted to make it a Route 44 instead of a large. I said no, my drink came with an alarmingly low amount of ice and I drove away peeved.

It's the same thing when I order a burger or something. As I'm asking them to hold the tomatoes, they are yelling over my voice at the drive-thru to see if I want to upsize my combo and to ask me what kind of drink I want.

JUST LET ME FINISH! STOP UPSELLING ME! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF DRINK I WANT WHEN I'M READY!

Maybe all this means I should lay off the fast food.

even the girl at panera bread can make me feel like an idiot

Me: I'll have half of the bacon turkey bravo with no tomatoes.
Her: Do you want to change the bread? It's tomato basil?
Me: No, it's fine. Thanks.
Her: What kind of soup did you want?
Me: (sheepishly) Tomato.

it's a texture issue. i don't expect her to understand.

movie reviews

I forgot to mention that Nick and I went to THREE movies this weekend again. We really should seek professional help for our addiction. Here's the goods:

Untraceable: Diane Lane thriller. Actually better than I thought it would be. Interesting, not too gruesome, exciting.

The Savages: Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. So good. They play a brother and sister who have to start taking care of their aging father. Anything that Philip Seymour does, I am there. He gets lost in every character he plays. I forget I'm really watching him instead of an actual person. I sent Tyler a text during the movie that said, "I'm watching the Savages right now and it's like looking into our future." Except of course we love our Dad and wouldn't stick him in a third rate nursing home. Or would we?!

Sweeney Todd: Nick and Beacon went to see Rambo, but there's no way I could sit through that. I'm still not sure what I think of Sweeney. I guess it's strange seeing a sad musical. Who sings when they are sad? I think I was just too tired for this one Saturday night. I didn't love it.

Also go see There Will Be Blood. So well done. You know it's a good movie when you are literally squirming in your seat because you don't know what the crazy main character will do next.

one of the nicest things...

...that's ever happened to me.

I was reading my friend Katie's blog and discovered she recently read for the first time all of the Harry Potter books. Several times I have thought that people who were late into the Potter game are so lucky. They get to gorge themselves on 7 straight books and 5 movies. I started reading them after the 3rd one came out so I waited impatiently with the rest of the world for the last 5 years for books 4-7. (the wait between 4 and 5 was a painful one. three years? come on J.K.!) Anyway, I'm lamenting over the fact that I will never read the books again for the first time and I decided to dig out Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone for old time's sake.

I was first introduced to Harry Potter by my best friend Katie (not to be confused with the above mentioned Katie, different gal). She convinced me to see the first movie over Christmas break our sophomore year of college. I responded to this with a resounding EYE ROLL. Little kid movie? Fantasy? Pshhhhh..... But she made me go.

And that was all it took. I was in love. I was taken with this brave boy. Has there ever been anything more endearing when the 10 year old says with total innocence: "I'm not a wizard. I'm...I'm just Harry"? The answer is no, there has not.

So I settle in bed to read the first book and by about the fourth page I realize I HAVE NEVER READ THIS ONE BEFORE! I remembered with sudden clarity that after I saw the movie, I went and bought the first 3 books, but since I had just seen the movie I started with the second book, always meaning to get back to the first one, but I never did.

I was enthralled with the first mention of Mrs. Figg, Uncle Vernon's day at the drilling office (who knew this is what he did for a living?!), Vernon seeing all the wizards celebrating after Harry semi-defeating Voldemort the first time, the fact that Harry and Ron are so mean to Hermione for the first few months at Hogwarts, Ginny begging for a glimpse of Harry and crying when her brothers left on the Hogwarts Express, all of the times Harry used magic and didn't know it as a child.

It was pure joy. I finished it within a few hours. Now maybe I can hold off on seeing the 6th movie until it comes out on DVD just to make it last that much longer. Or maybe not.

a year in movies

I am up at 2 am on Christmas day (actually I guess it's the day after Christmas) watching the series finale of Gilmore Girls. To keep from crying my eyes out at the thought of the end of another great show, I was browsing my favorite website, imdb.com and found that they listed the movies in 2007 by their release date. So I went back to January of 2007 and wrote down the movies I've seen in the theaters this year. And what a year it's been, movie speaking of course, not counting the marriage and stuff.

Freedom Writers
Pan's Labryinth
Stomp the Yard
Catch and Release
Because I Said So
Ghost Rider
Music and Lyrics
The Astronaut Farmer
Zodiac
The Host
300
The Namesake
Reign Over Me
Shooter
TMNT
The Lookout
Blades of Glory
Fracture
Hot Fuzz
Spider Man 3
Lucky You
Waitress
28 Weeks Later
Shrek the 3rd
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Knocked Up
Ocean's 13
Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer
A Mighty Heart
Live Free or Die Hard
Transformers
License to Wed
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Talk to Me
The Simpson's Movie
No Reservations
Bourne Ultimatum
Becoming Jane
Stardust
Superbad
Death at a Funeral
The Nanny Diaries
3:10 to Yuma
Across the Universe
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Kingdom
The Darjeeling Limited
King of California
We Own The Night
Michael Clayton
Lars and the Real Girl
Gone Baby Gone
Dan in Real Life
American Gangster
Martian Child
No Country for Old Men
Enchanted
August Rush
I Am Legend
Juno
National Treasure
Charlie Wilson's War

A grand total of SIXTY-TWO MOVIES. I'm not sure how good your math is, but that comes out to more than one movie in the theaters a week. Let me tell you our secret. Nick and I are big fans of the "double feature". We see two for the price of one. On our honeymoon we were feeling ambitious and we saw 6 movies in 2 days. We pulled off 2 triple features in 2 days because we are amazing and ridiculous.

Let's recap the movies:

Way Exceeded Expectations:
Juno - best movie of the year. Of my life.
3:10 to Yuma - Russell Crowe is back baby.
The Darjeeling Limited - my new favorite Wes Anderson film. I never get tired of the slow-motion endings.
Stardust - very imaginative and cute.
Pan's Labryinth - again, imaginative and also captivating.
No Country for Old Men - didn't want to see it, but it was uh-mazing. Just read any critic in the country to hear how good it is.
Gone Baby Gone - I love any movie that leads you to talk about it all the way home.
The Namesake - Endearing, powerful. I read the book and it is excellent.
The Host - Korean movie. So scary and funny. Love it.

Of course there are many more but let's move onto the bad movies because they are more fun to discuss.

Thought It Would Be Good But Sucked It Up Bigtime:
August Rush - I thought since I bawled through the preview everytime I saw it I would enjoy the movie. No go.
Martian Child - I wanted to slap that weird kid.
Dan in Real Life - Ugh! I hate movies where the kids act like little shits and totally get away with it and the parents end up apologizing to the kids.
Catch and Release - Just plain stupid.
Because I Said So - Because I said it was annoying as hell. Diane Keaton is only good in small doses.

Movies I Knew Would Suck and Did Indeed Suck but Had To See Because It Was Nick's Turn:
Ghost Rider - Comes to mind anytime anyone says the words "bad movie". So bad. Just bad.
Transformers - Too much metal clashing, hurt my ears, couldn't care less about anything in the movie.
The Astronaut Farmer - I don't even know what to say.

Special Mention:
Charlie Wilson's War
A Mighty Heart
Stomp the Yard
Waitress
Zodiac
Reign Over Me
Harry Potter (my true love)

On Thursday I am planning for the ultimate: 4 movies in one day. On deck are Juno (again), The Great Debators, 27 Dresses and P.S. I Love You. I know that 27 dresses and P.S. may be silly, but I think it's a great way to end the year of movies.

What are your favorite and most hated movies of the year?

weekend recap

How bout this weather eh? Is this enough to negate the global warming nonsense? The ice is so early this year, I'm just hoping the weather won't be this sucky until spring.

Friday morning, I turned 26 years old. I'm sure everyone feels this way, but birthdays are becoming less special. I'm not to the point where I dread the day, although it's strange to know I am looking down the barrel of thirty in the near future. Yikes. So I decided this year to take a little trip for my birthday and leave the husband at home. I drove to Lawrence, Kansas to see Soni and James. The drive wasn't bad, considering I was watching Season 1 of Brothers and Sisters, a birthday gift from Nick. Don't worry everyone, I drove safely and remained very alert on the trip.

When I got there, Soni had compiled a "Benay Box" (aren't best friends amazing?) She included a bottle of wine, a KU mug, a Yiddish magnet poetry set, candy, all kids of fun stuff. It was so cute. Friday night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant on an adorable street in Lawrence, which is such a cool town. After dinner we saw Lars and the Real Girl which was very sweet and funny and sad and weird. Everything I love in a movie. Saturday we went to the KU basketball game which was very fun. Basketball is one of the most boring events to watch on television, but in real life it's pretty fun. The rest of the day and night was spent trying to stay warm. It got freaking cold outside and the roads froze. So our big plans to go out and party were thwarted. Soni and I watched several movies and several Martha Stewart Wedding segments from the DVD set I gave her as an early Christmas gift.

Sunday we slept late and I started panicking about the weather (actually Nick started panicking and it transferred over to me). After some very frustrating events with my debit card NOT WORKING AND NOT HAVING ANY CASH FOR THE TRIP HOME WHILE DRIVING IN ICE AND SNOW, it wasn't a bad drive home. I managed to pay the 8 dollar toll in nickels and drove 20 miles an hour the last 30 miles of the trip. It is good to be home.

Last night was the longest night ever. We woke up every 30 minutes to thunder, trees cracking, a transformer blowing up. Finally I gave up at 5 am and just got up and watched the news. OKC schools are closed today so luckily I won't have to make the trip to the south side.

Stay warm and cozy today!