I Say, It Was A Good Day

Well this day started out very interestingly. I awakened myself with a severe and completely uncontrollable case of the giggles. I couldn't stop laughing....it woke me up out of my dead sleep and then woke Ben up out of his own deep sleep. Even after I was awake for a few minutes I couldn't stop laughing. I remember the dream very clearly, but you won't find it funny...trust me....it was one of those things that is only hilarious when you're half asleep. Lets just say, picture me as the 70's cartoon drawings of Holly Hobbie.....  See, I told you, not funny at all..........but in the stupor of sleep...it was hilarious. So I thought that was a good way to start off the new year......waking up in a fit of laughter. LOL

Next we kind of slothed around the house for a while, sucking up the last few hours of vacation weekday that we had. Finally when we were both withering away from mid morning hunger we decided to go grab some breakfast. It took us a bit longer to get out of the house than we had planned...too much time trying to find ticket info for a movie we wanted to see. So by the time we were on our way it was more of a lunch than breakfast. No problem, we'll go to the one place that ALWAYS serves breakfast. Well, what we had failed to take into consideration was that it was New Years Day......EVERYBODY and their brother sleeps late on New Years Day and they ALL want breakfast when they wake up. If everybody wants breakfast at 1 in the afternoon, who serves it that late in the day? You guessed it, IHOP.

 Sooooo here's a math problem for you, if everybody in the tri-county area goes to IHOP to get breakfast at 1 in the afternoon, what time will Benny and Frannie eat breakfast? That's right, good answer you there in the back! Benny and Frannie will eat breakfast at 2 in the afternoon! LOL

But wait, there's more! Soooooooo in an affort to save time and avoid the 30+ minute wait, what do Benny and Frannie do? They hop in their car, drive 20 minutes to the OTHER IHOP thinking THOSE people surely didn't stay up until midnight the night before......only to be greeted with a 20 minute wait. So we saved 10 minutes of wait time.......oh wait...nooooooo.........take the original 30 minute wait, subtract 20 minute drive time and a 20 minute wait and you get, -10. LOL.......YEAH!!! We're so smart! ROFL.......not. So NOW what time do Benny and Frannie eat breakfast? Yep, 3 in the afternoon.....it probably would have been sooner on a normal day but amid everything else the entire wait staff looked like they were fighting hangovers so they couldn't have gone any slower if they had glue stuck to the bottoms of their shoes. LOL.

Sigh..........it was funny.....it really was, the misadventures of Ben and Fran. This is why I can't complain about life with Ben......it's like living in a reality show. It's hilarious to me.

Oh well, so after our breakfast/lunch/early dinner...lol we went to go see the movie Sherlock Holmes. Now, I have been anxiously awaiting this movie for MONTHS...... I have been an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes ever since I was a little girl. I remember absorbing Conan Doyle's stories about him from a very young age and the first time I ever went to an antique auction with my parents I was elated when they brought out a book that turned out to be a complete collection of Holmes. To this day it's one of my most prized books, second only to my complete works of Shakespeare. I think I have seen just about every big and small screen portrayal of Holmes that has been created and watch them over and over with new found affection each time. Holmes was the reason why I first wanted to be a detective as a child.....then other favorites came along and fed the dreams of being a detective, or a spy! LOL.

So when I saw that they were making another big screen version I was thrilled. I was a little concerned that too much Hollywood affect might destroy it, but my hopes were high, especially when I found out Robert Downey Jr would be portraying Holmes. A perfect selection I think......I never would have considered him for the role, but when I saw the previews, ahhhhhh perfect.

So what did I think of the actual movie? I liked it. Obviously as a long time Holmes buff and truist there were details I didn't care for and little mistakes that I caught. Like the fact that the movie portrays Watson's fiancee is a woman Holmes has never met, when in the stories she was actually a woman they had helped which is how Watson met and fell in love with her. Also the fact that they implied there was an intimate sexual history between Holmes and Adler when that was never implied in the stories. Only that Holmes had an affection for her and esteemed her higher than all other women. Plus, to be honest, I really didn't care for the whole Irene Adler aspect of this movie at all....I mean, don't get me wrong, she did an excellent job acting the part and it was very well written...I just found it too much of a deviation from the original texts. Like I said, I'm a truist so while I don't mind some creative liscense, I just thought her character was a bit much.

The other thing I didn't particularly care for was the extreme focus on, "the dark arts". Now by it's very nature Holmes stories were edgy for their time and pretty macabre, but the EXTREME deviance into the occultic subject matter here was a bit much for me. I'm sorry, I've had my fill of that kind of thing with years of Harry Potter garbage in the media and now the whole Twilight saga garbage in the media.....I'm really tired of it. I want a good mystery, a macabre mystery....like the original works......NOT yet another occultic study.

SIGH............so, I'm not implying I didn't like the movie, I did actually, very much. It was EXTREMELY well done, Guy Ritchie did a phenominal job with it, he really did. I sincerely hope they make a sequal, a little closer to the original stories though. The actors were all very well chosen and all did a superb job with their characters. The effects were spectacular, the picture was literally a visual work of art to watch as far as the creative cinematography, and the soundtrack!!! Ohhhhhhhh the soundtrack! IT was honestly my favorite part of the entire movie! As soon as I can work that into our budget I'll be making a purchase of the soundtrack cd.

I appreciated the fact that there weren't hoards of foul language, there were no gratuitous sex scenes or nude romps. Not that I'm a prude, I'm really not.....I'm a writer, I have no problem with those things if they TRULY further the story.....but honestly, how often is that the case? So I really appreciate any screenwriter who is sufficiently talented to completely carry a story that isn't lacking in any way and not use a single one of those things. So I don't know what other reviewers think of the movie....I don't really care actually...I rarely listen to them, but overall I liked it, maybe you will too.

So all in all it was a really good day, and a good cap for the week.

Happy New Year 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

2010

I had honestly planned on staying home tonight even though our church was having a coffee house. Not that I didn't want to go, I did, but honestly....it's a half hour drive, in the snow and I just wanted to stay home and chill. HOWEVER, Ben was all excited to go and made a big batch of his famous salsa and I don't ever want to be responsible for stealing a moment of joy from him, so we went. Now I'm glad that we did. It was a lot of fun and it's always nice to hang out with our extended family. Lots of good food, good music, good friends and good fun.

Here are a few pics from the night. I didn't get to take as many as I had planned, but that's ok.

The first one is Jess, she'll kill me if she sees the pic, but she doesn't read this blog so I'm safe...LOL. She was surprised by some of the girls on the worship team to do a karioke of the Grease song, Beauty School Drop Out. LOL......the girls put silver Christmas trees on their heads to re-create the scene from the movie. Oy-vey too much craziness for a non-alchoholic party.

Then after the ball dropped in Times Square there was an impromptu kick line to Auld Lang Syne.

Normally we stay and help clean up after this kind of thing, but honestly, neither of us felt like it tonight and there were enough people helping, so we made a run for it.

Anyway, it's super late, I'm tired, the bear is already sleeping and so is the boy...so it's short and sweet tonight.

May all of you have a year filled with blessings, joy overflowing and more peace, health and happiness than your lives can contain in 2010. May abundance cross your doorstep everyday and may hope fill every place in your heart that used to be filled with despair. Moreover, may the love and mercy of God flood over you and yours from the tops of your heads to the soles of your feet.

Good night all, and God bless!

A Bear, A Boy and A Possum?

It's hard to believe our week of vacation is almost over. We've been thoroughly enjoying an immense amount of rest which we have sooooooooo needed, but because today was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a road trip. We generally don't plan them...we just hop in the car and drive wherever the mood takes us.

Our recipe for a good time out on the road?

One cute bear acting like a goofball

One vente cup of  Starbucks each

 

and one cute fuzzboy laughing at our antics from the backseat.

We revisited some places we haven't been to since we were dating and some other places we have visited over the years, many I had taken pictures of before so I didn't duplicate them today. It was really sweet and romantic to just share memories of things we've done together and places we've gone. I love seeing things and remembering what we were doing when we were there last, or how things have changed since our last visit.  We saw some new things though, like this train at a machinery museum we passed. I love trains so I had to stop and take some pics.

And meanwhile as I took pics the fuzzboy was back at the car with Ben, hanging out of the back seat window, whining and crying because I had the audacity to get out of the car and not take him with me.

How DARE I ?!?!? LOL

Not that he has separation anxiety issues or anything...lol.

Once I was back in the car he was fine, but heaven forbid mommy leave to go somewhere without him. He was also a bit out of sorts because when we go for a ride in my car he has to ride in the backseat, unlike when we ride in Ben's car and he can ride in my lap in the front seat. So he was already feeling a bit rejected...oy vey. He got over it...lol.

So anyway, the prize photo of the day...the piece de resistance...was this tasty tidbit we saw at dusk on the way home......in one of the richest towns in the state......and uhhhhhhhh...yes we are still in New England....

That's right.....in case you are having trouble reading that it says, Possum Queen Contest and Auction... LOL....okie dokie then........I have to say, I never saw anything like that when I lived down south.

So it was a fun and interesting day. We finished it off with another stop at Starbucks and some Chinese soup and an eggroll for me.......definitely a good day.