Movie time.

Monday my husband had a dental appointment and used it as and excuse to take the day off.   So we headed to the movies.  Salt with Angelina Jolie was out.  We liked it, its very thrilling, lots of intense action.  Some of the reviews have not been so kind, referring to it a a large budget to blow things up, and the script was written on post it notes, but I do have to say its deeper than that.  After seeing Inception the week before, which is also intense with some interesting subtleties, I thought it was still a good flick.

On of our friends just returned from several weeks in Germany so we headed to the movies with her today.  Surprisingly we saw Dinner with the Schmucks and it was MUCH MUCH better than anticipated.  We laughed so hard, and you do need to stay all the way thru the credits for the last little bit.  We were the only ones in there, when we were surprised by this little bit.  I am not a big fan of Steve Corel but I know many others are.  I am slightly amazed he got some of the lines out with blowing it. 

So if your looking for intensity and espionage, see SALT.  If your looking to lighten your mood and have a good time, see Dinner with the Scmucks.

Weekend Round up

Well Friday was fun.  I work at the ballet studio on Fridays.  With a large break between 2 of my classes, I go out with some friends usually for coffee or breakfast.  This week I was surprised and we headed to and estate sale.  Because I'm in house mode, I was more interested in the house it was being held it.  It was built in the '50s. and reminded me of what at the time was a swinging updated all the bells and whistles home.  It had a bit of a different layout, but it was so the major rooms all had the view of the lake surrounding area.  The master bedroom, living room, dining room, family room (with a built in 1950's bar) all had this glorious

view.  I don't believe the home had ever been updated, except for carpet in a few areas.  It was definitely funky retro. 

My friend shopped, and I just kept looking over the architecture.  We left with my friends purchases of some old albums, and a musical triangle. Then we hooted around the old neighborhood, where both of us had lived at different times.

Lunch at the Fortune Inn in Kenmore.  I always thought they had the best hot and sour soup!  We happened to get there on a day where they were running a little late, so it was interesting.  Normally I would not want to eat at restaurant that isn't really open but they let you in anyways.  The food is still good and for a little over 6 dollars you get a huge lunch of soup, salad, fried rice, main dish and of course fortune cookie!

Back to work to teach two conditioning classes.  It was the last day of a 4 week session, and I usually tell parents if you want to watch I expect you to participate. They 99% of the time stay out.  Its ridiculous for parents to watch their kids do exercise- stretching, pilate's, yoga, and ball work.  I understand watching them dance.  Its quite different. But I had two parents coming in and plant themselves down. One looked like she was taking a nap, and then they kept talking through the class. REALLY ? No wonder kids are so out to lunch about manners.
Finally Friday night brought music and friends to our lives.  We headed to Oddfellows , where a friends band- Black Velvet 4- were playing.  A good friend who I haven't see for over a year recently moved back to town, and showed up, as well a couple other good friends.  It was pretty fun & very late night for us.  We got home about 1am.  Hubs wakes up at 5am for work regularly so its a very long day for him.

Saturday we were rudely awaken early the next morning by someone doing only god knows what but creating a HUGE amount of noise about 7 am.  Then 9:30 my phone goes off and realtor wants to bring clients at 10:30. So we hurriedly dressed and vacuumed, ran up to Starbucks for coffee and oatmeal. Hubs ran off to work for several hours, and I ran errands.Checked out a couple bookstores- one called Third Place Books, which has both new and used books.  I always can find things there. Not only did I get a book on cooking for students for my daughter but found a mini travel Scattergories game and really cute bag clips that look like big happy frog faces. A little BBQ with some nice T-bones that had been on sale finished up our night.

Sunday was so delightful to sleep in. Actually managed to stay in bed 'til noon reading a Linda Howard novel. Then we had breakfast, and went into town to see the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Inception. If you've seen the trailers, you only kind of have and idea about this movie.  Like the other movies he's done recently he is a bigger than life character and makes everyone else seem so minor.

I had planned on hitting one or two of the festivals going on this weekend.  There were so many choices in the Seattle area, with the Bite of Seattle going on (I quit going to this over 10 years ago too crowded), The Lavendar festival in Sequim- which i really did want to go to, and the Kirkland uncorkded festival.  But with the weather so pleasant, and just enough to do with out going to any of those, it was quite pleasant.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  This week I'm hoping to check out a new Yarn shop I saw going in, in Kirkland.  I love to crochet, but I do want to learn to knit.   I love yarn as long as it isn't wool- wools to irritating to my skin.

Have a great one!

The week in round up

Well tomorrow is Friday which although is a workday for me, is also the first day of the weekend to me.
Last weekend we took our daughter to the plane to go off to San Francisco.  As we got closer to the airport drop off area, she says "You are not going to just drop me off are you?"  We looked at her and said well that was the plan, but we can go in if you like.  Well yes please. Ironically she is a frequent flyer and quite adept at getting around on her own. Since the tightened security measures at airports, it is really hard worth paying to park your car for the 5 minutes you can stay in.  So I went in with her to drop off the bag that would be checked and walk over to the endless security line.  Gave her big hugs and watched her embark down the rows of bodies with all their gear.  I notice that she tends to wear quite difficult shoes sometimes to wear into security where one must remove them.  This time she had cowboy boots, not too bad, not as easy as loafers though.   I thought my husband was doing the once around the airport but he parked and got in as I got out. That is somewhat typical- miscommunication- still after all these years.
We hurried home, to finishing straighten up and get the house ready for  the Realtors "Open House". Being too nice a day it was not well attended.  Why would you look at houses that are out of your price range? That always seems to happen.  The other is the snoopers who want to know what you have going on.  They can look at the flyer's for that purpose. No need to waste me time or the Realtors. I digress- this is the part of selling I really hate and can rant over it.
We ran to the movies for the afternoon and watched the movie Grown Ups with Adam Sandler among others.  This is really a cute movie, and I loved how they did it.
We hit music twice this week.  Tuesday at Zeeks with Dan Connolly and he had guest from Ireland Derrick Mullen (sp?) and his brother who lives in Redmond, frequently helped out.  These guys put on such a nice gig. It was casual and fun, and somehow watching a man from Ireland drink Strawberry daiquiris just didn't seem right. But he was loving them.  They had jammed the night before at the Rover, but we didn't make it.
Wednesday we caught Dan at Soul Food books in Redmond.  This is really nice venue for artist.  The stage is big enough and just high enough to still stay intimate but offer the performers space.  Dan was pretty laid back, being barefoot and all. He had a couple guys playing hand drums- like bongo's but different. One of his daughters was in attendance- she reminds me of a little pixie. As he ended he mentions he has a kidney stone.  I'm thinking why on earth are you here- knowing that for men this can be as painful as childbirth to women.  Not that a kidney stone is easier for women, its not. But he joked about it a bit and still  finished his set.  My hats off to Dan for finishing the set.
The rest of the time is adjusting to not having our daughter here. Making dinner for 2 instead of 4 ( her guest was usually here), or remembering to make dinner at all. My hubs, frequently comments that I try to starve him  when she's not around.  The rest of the time, I'm accused of over feeding him.  I know there's a happy medium.

Letters to Juliet

I can't recommend this movie enough.  It has beautiful scenery, a lovely story, and a bit of romance.  Definitely will be more favorable with women, but so be it.
I loved Vanessa Redgrave in this part. I really didn't recognize her at first. But she is so elegant and down to earth here, but that bit of whimsy in looking for her long lost love.
Yes absolutely delightful!

3-D Movies

So have you seen the New 3-D movies in the theatres?  I have to admit I'm remiss in not seeing Avatar- I wanted to see it in the IMax version, where my brother in law stated its like having a movie in your lap.  But I did go see the Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.  Two coolest creatures in this movie and any Alice in Wonderland are the Caterpillar and the Cheshire cat.  I love the Caterpillar, he just oozes Cool.  The Hatter was good but my favorite Hatter is from and Old Tom Petty Video.  Sorry Johnny.
I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the 3-D flick, but it has some cool effects that's for sure.

Theatre

Ahh what a great week so far.  Saturday and Sunday we were able to attend the Chop Shop Bodies of work- Contemporary/modern Dance showing.  Fabulous show both days.  If you weren't able to see it this year, definitely make the opportunity next year if your in Seattle in February. Congratulations to Eva Stone who put this gig together.

Today we were able to hit the movies and see Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duval.  What a great flick.  They all sing, which was pretty impressive. Not bad voices either.
If you get  chance you want to hit this one up.