This weekend Cliff and I spent a significant amount of time in our $1 garage sale lawn chairs watching movies outside. I must say, I think movies might be better when watched outside with a group of folks. Maybe it is just the magic of summer or frozen drinks (thanks Sonic!) but either way, outdoor movies are pretty great.
So I'm the lucky gal who gets to plan our Movies in the Park series at work. It is pretty cool as it is the first thing that I have ever programmed all by myself. It is totally my baby. If it succeeds or fails it is all on my shoulders. My goal this year was to pick movies that would get a variety of folks out to our parks. I wanted classics that would hopefully bring out more than just families with small children. In addition to families, I wanted kid free couples, folks on dates, people with friends. My goal was to get a diverse group.
Last weekend was our first of the series. We showed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or "the good one" (sorry Johnny Depp fans out there but his was atrocious). I got to the park early to help our new crew get the screen up. Once it was up, I treated myself to my first Crisp Bean Burrito of the season from Taco Time. Last summer Kerry introduced me to them and they became a staple for the event crew. In fact for Haunted Hayride I ate Crisp Bean Burritos four out of five days. That is actually quite disgusting but I will wear it as a badge of honor. I was really pleased as we got a good number of people out to the park on a weekend where everyone and their mom's second cousin were out of town due to the fourth of July holiday.
This week we showed Back to the Future. I was really excited about this one as I had several coworkers tell me they were coming. And they were all folks without kids! Not that there is anything wrong with kids but this just goes to show that I am approaching my goal. Well, on Friday we had awesome numbers and so many of them were our non traditional viewers! One elderly couple got there around 7:30pm to get a good spot and no kidding they must have been 75 years old. Victory! I'm hoping the momentum will continue throughout the rest of the summer. Fingers crossed. Check out our website if you want to see the rest of this season's movies.
Last night we were invited to a friends house to see a movie in their backyard. How cool is that? They bought their own screen off Amazon as it is going to be a yearly tradition. They rented a snow cone machine (with kid syrups and adult syrups like mojito, peach daiquiri, and margarita), had a fancy popcorn trolly, and a candy concession bar that was out of this world. Cliff and I both ate so much candy. M&Ms. Red Hots. Starbursts. Rice Crispy Snacks. Skittles (did you know the green is no longer lime but instead green apple? Gross.). They showed Up (which is oddly enough our next Movie in the Park). To help get people in the spirit, they even had a bunch of balloons tied to the top of their house (note on the top left/middle part of the photo below). Pixar really has made some quality films. My favorites being Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up. I always cry several times throughout the movie. It is just so sweet and real. It was a great date night. Cliff and I need to one day be as cool as Sarah and Isaac. It was a beautiful night and their hospitality made it even better.
On a side note: their backyard had the most amazing grass ever. Seriously. It was like a think lush head of hair. We just kept running our toes through it. It was so green. So soft. We've never gotten the appeal of large grassy yards. Now I think we see. It was impressive.
Outdoor movies are so much fun. Cliff and I went to one on the Hopkins Campus during the 14 days we lived there together in the summer of 2005. Before this weekend we hadn't gone to one together since. Big mistake! My hope is that it will become a favorite summer date night.
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