Outdoor Movies

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.

Oscar Party

Last year in honor of the Oscars I posted about why I love movies.  This year, I was apart of a small crew that organized an Oscar Viewing Party.

We had almost 40 people come to the event.  People dressed up, walked the red carpet, gave autographs, posed for photos, played bingo, cast their ballots, and ate and drank until their hearts were happy.  I sadly didn't see any of the show (except for the last 15 seconds of the Les Mis performance and Anne Hathaway's acceptance speech) but everyone had a good time so that is all that mattered. The event was a lot of fun and it gave me an excuse to go to Value Village and purchase a 46 vintage cocktail dress.

Oh, and I did I mention that I got to be on the news?  I did!  Click here to watch.  Plus, two of the newscasters got dressed up and served as our emcees for the night.  All of this put together made me feel like a minor, minor, minor, minor, minor local celebrity.

Fun times.

Why I Love Movies

Mom and me pose for a picture shortly after the store opened.

I spent the first nine years of my life (more or less) in a video store.  My parents owned their own store, Video Adventures, and I would end up there everyday for obvious reasons.  There was a little mattress in the back office where I would take naps.  I didn't mind being at the store.  I filled my time playing with Barbies in hand-built structures made entirely out of plastic VHS cases and honing my skills as a skee-ball player.  That's right....we had a skee-ball game... in the store!  It wasn't a good idea for my parents to show me where they kept the tokens as I frequently would nab them to play with customers.  I don't think anyone ever paid to play that game because I always had them on hand (sorry Mom and Dad!).  In fact, I loved spending time at the store.  All of the employees became an extended family, customers became friends, and we always had something good to watch.  Plus, I got to work a pricing gun and use the register. When the stores closed we liquidated all of the videos except for our favorites. This meant that we got to keep goodies like: Mannequin, Adventures in Babysitting, The Gnome Mobile, Troop Beverly Hills, Just One of the Guys, The Parent Trap (the first one), The Absent Minded Professor, Hairspray (again, the first one), Sleepless in Seattle, The Mighty Ducks, Coming to America, well....I could go on and on.  I'm probably one of few people my age who brags about their impressive VHS collection.  I just can't let them go.

Growing up I got to see alot of movies.  I mean alot of movies.  The store would get preview tapes so that we could watch them before we ordered.  Mom and Dad would have to watch them and I would always be right between them on the couch.  It was pretty great.  Because of the store I got to see movies that most kids my age weren't allowed to see.  We had a pretty strict rule about not repeating bad words and whenever anything would get too mature Dad's hands would go over my eyes and Mom's hands would go over my ears.  This was a pretty good system.  It took me a while to figure out the actual story behind Pretty Woman.  I just thought it was a movie about a lady who learned to shop and live in Beverly Hills. I'm happy my parents let me watch movies with them.  I learned a lot. In the end no harm, no foul.  I turned out just fine.  In fact, I think I turned out pretty awesome.  Movies introduced me to acting, music, design, and a world outside of Southern Maryland. For this I am very thankful. 

The reason I am bringing this up is because tonight is the Academy Awards.  I always get excited for the awards despite only ever seeing one or two that are nominated.  The main reason being that I grew up in a family that watched movies at home not in the theater.  I do enjoy going to the movie theater but I generally only go for two types of movies: Will Smith action films and comedies.  It is incredibly enjoyable to laugh out loud with people or scream and cheer for Will Smith's victory over aliens/the wicki-wild wild west/whatever he is conquering.  Otherwise, why spend all that money when you can pig out in your pajamas on your own couch?  I never see movies in a timely manner but I'm ok with that because I love renting and watching movies at home.   These days I am a big fan on Redbox and the library.  The library gives me access to the classics while Redbox helps me stay in touch about relatively new films (and pop culture).

This year I saw 17 movies; meaning movies that were released to a wide audience in 2011.  I saw eight with the help from Redbox, three in the theater, three via cable at the Lyddane's house, two via United flying cross country, and one via the library.  I'm pretty proud as I have seen three of the films nominated for best picture: Moneyball, The Help, and Midnight in Paris.  All three were very enjoyable but I have to go with Moneyball.  I love sports movies to begin with but Moneyball takes it to the next level.  It is a candid look inside the world of major league sports.  It is intelligently written and well acted.  If you haven't seen it please go to Redbox and treat yourself.

In honor of the awards, I decided to nerd out a bit and serve food and beverage inspired by the three nominated movies that I have seen.  We are having Moneyball meatballs.  They are meatballs in a spinach and cream sauce.  How does this relate to the movie?  Well, because money is green and so is spinach. We are having green meatballs so in my simple mind they are kinda like Moneyballs.  Stop laughing.  We are also having The Help malted chocolate pudding pie parfaits but without the special ingredient. To drink we are having red wine to honor Midnight in Paris.  Kinda lame I know but we needed a beverage and red wine is very French.  Oh and a salad because it is important to eat your veggies.

Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?  Enjoy the show!

In case any of you were wondering, below is a list of the 17 movies from 2011 that I saw this year.  My taste in movies can be questionable at times (note that I love romantic comedies, frat boy humor, and musicals) so please don't judge me too harshly.  Also if you have any suggestions of other 2011 movies I should see please send them my way and hopefully they will have them at Redbox.  Here we go: Midnight in Paris, The Change Up, A Better Life, The Way, Country Strong, The Green Hornet, Soul Surfer, Gnomeo and Juliette, Paul, The King's Speech, Arthur, Water For Elephants, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Help, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, and Moneyball.

Tom Hanks and Cheesecake

What do Tom Hanks and Red Hot Chocolate Cheesecake have in common?  Well, let me tell you...

Eleven years ago today Cliff and I went on our very first date.  We went to the movies to see Castaway (thanks IMDb for the photo).  It was the first time that Cliff got to see me bawl my eyes out as I just couldn't handle myself when Wilson floated away.  Looking back this should have been a waring sign to Cliff of the many years to come.  I tend to get a little emotional.  I cry sometimes.  I just can't help it.  To celebrate our first date anniversary we decided to treat ourselves to a sushi feast for lunch and a decadent dessert for dinner.

 

For lunch we went to a local sushi place and ordered a few different rolls.  Two years ago on our anniversary we ordered one of those big sushi boats.  I was just starting my sushi education and wanted to try a little of everything.  Cliff was more than happy to oblige.  I was so embarrassed when they brought it to the table as it was huge.  Well....we didn't get the boat today but we still pigged out.  We ordered six different rolls! Besides the standard California roll (really good at the place we went today), cucumber roll, avocado roll, and spicy tuna roll we also tried two new ones.  We ordered another veggie roll that had avocado, cucumber, shitaki, cilantro, and a spicy red sauce.  But my favorite was the calamari tempura roll that had deep fried calamari, avocado, cucumber, radish flower, and some pretty amazing brown sauce on top.  So good.  I wish I was eating it again right now.  It was the type of meal that makes you thankful for deciding to be a more adventurous eater.  We can't wait for another special occasion to come around so that we can go back again.

Last week in the Eugene Weekly I read about a variety of local spiced desserts.  A little bit of warm spice is making its way into truffles, cheesecakes, drinks, cupcakes, and pretty much anything else that one likes to eat when they have a sweet tooth.  I decided we were going to go to Sweet Life (the place you go in Eugene for really good desserts) and get a piece of their Red Hot Chocolate Cheesecake.  It is their featured Dessert of the Month.  The cheesecake was mentioned in an article and the writer made it sound pretty darn appealing.  Besides being a rich chocolate cheesecake topped with ganache it also incorporated a hint of cinnamon and cayenne.  It was also was dusted with edible glitter which made it feel even fancier.  You know....worthy of an anniversary date.  The heat was the kind that made your stomach feel really warm, tingly, and happy.  I love food that gives you that feeling.

To bring it full circle...Tom Hanks really is an amazing actor.  I'm glad he was the center of our first date movie.  He is enjoyable to watch.  He has been in a lot of movies.  From time to time I will challenge those around me to name all of the Tom Hanks movies they can think of.  Always an enjoyable game (to me at least).   My favorite Tom Hanks movie is  A League of Their Own.  That movie produced a majority of my all time favorite movie quotes.

Well I am going to go as our North Dakota rhubarb wine is calling.  Just curious, what is your favorite Tom Hanks movie?