Movie Mania!

Matt and I have seen a lot of movies this summer - and three of them have been in roughly a week! First, we saw Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3 as a double feature at the drive-in.

Two weekends ago it was time for a Piratical rambustification... (the third of the "three" movies)



Then we saw In Bruges (for free!) as a preview last Wednesday... and on Friday, it was time to see Harry in IMAX!


Then, a surprise - my dad got tickets at work for the four of us to go and see an advanced screening of Hairspray!

We all went last night. It was tremendous fun - I highly recommend it! There are a lot of brilliant character roles and fun music. You'll want to dance and sing!

As for the other films? Here are my one-sentence reviews.
Additional comments are available if you are interested!

1. A funny and cute film which is a good wrap-up to the franchise, I hope!
2. I'm not well versed on the comic, but from what I hear they took major liberties with the storyline.
3. Honestly and sadly, I had trouble following the plot, or lack thereof.
4. Hopefully, they will make changes to this before it goes to theatres, since it has the skeleton of a good dramatic film with comedic elements.
5. Brilliant, especially with the 3-D - a great addition to the series.
6. I talked about this one above, but I'd go so far as to say it is the feel-good movie of the summer!

A weekend full of adventure!

We were busy, busy, busy this weekend! A lot of fun was had and a lot of energy was spent.

On Friday night, we went to see Harry... at the IMAX theatre! First, we had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants... Stir Crazy, then wandered around a bit. Luckily, we got there early, since the line for our 9:45 movie started a little after 8pm! We got on line pretty early and entertained ourselves with books and playing cards.

The climactic scenes at the end were shown in IMAX 3-D, which made it all the better - you feel like you're there with them! The movie was great, and now I am very excited about the book release! :)

On Saturday, we went into the city... finally! I've been planning this trip for Matt's birthday since the middle of May! We took the train in and stopped to grab some coffee (me) and a donut (Matt) in the terminal. He enjoyed the donut so much that we decided to get another... at Doughnut Plant! They have amazing and unusual donuts... so yummy! I shouldn't have, but how do you resist such unusual flavors and varieties?

We then thought about going to Ellis Island and the MOMA, but instead we wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy. We kept walking, and ended up passing by the Astor Place Theatre, where we purchased last-minute tickets to see a show!!

This unfortunately made my plans for dinner null - there wasn't time! We'll just have to take another trip in to eat a hard-to-find type of cuisine - and I will post about it at that time! Instead, we caught a quick bite at BAMN! It's amazing that for a grand total of five dollars I had: a bottle of water, hummus with pita and a flatbread with feta and grilled vegetables. What a bargain!

We then went to the show.... which was amazing!! Matt has seen them before, but this was my first time. I was blown away! It's so fresh and unusual - controlled improvisatory performance art, if that makes any sense at all! ;)

On Sunday, we went down to Mitsuwa Market. It's a fascinating place, and reminded me so much of my friend in Japan! (see her link on the sidebar!) Too bad it was so crowded... I was looking forward to lunch at their Japanese Food Court! Since the day was so nice, we left the craziness of Mitsuwa and drove up to the Palisades Interstate Park. It was beautiful there, and they even had a little eatery to satisfy two hungry adventurers!

We wrapped up the weekend's fun with a bit of dry ice....

All in all, it was a tremendously fun weekend. Hurray! (see all of the pictures here!)

A Change!

I finally had enough. What do you think?

Before

After

(I actually remembered to bring the camera with me to the salon to do "before"
and "after" shots, but didn't remember to take them until it was too late. O well!)

Adventures in Filmwatching

Last night, Matt and I went to a screening of a movie which is now in post-production. This means we were a test audience - supposedly the first test audience of this film. It was interesting - not something I would think to go and see myself, but still interesting, especially when we were asked to stay for a small focus-group for the twenty-plus studio execs who were there! We gave our opinions, and perhaps elements of the film will change because of that before it hits theatres.

I won't go into depth here - I don't want to spoil it for those who may want to see it down the line - but if you are at all interested in hearing more about it, feel free to ask. I didn't sign any kind of waver saying I couldn't talk about the film. ;)

How we got this privilege? Luck, really. We were the right aged people at the right time... which is cool. I hope somehow we get to do it again!

Quote to share...

Two days ago, I took my mom to a market that I've been frequenting this year. It's close to where I work and has excellent prices on produce and the like. She was very excited to go and it met her expectations... so much so that she said the following:

"I love it so much I want to sleep here and do it again tomorrow!"

New and Free

Again with the free. :) But this is good for everyone!

The next time you want to call 411, but don't want to pay for the service, try this. I've used it and it works great!

Free and cheap... two of my favorite things!

1. FREE - Happy Seven-Eleven! Being that it is July 11th (7-11) you can get yourself a free 7.11 ounce Slurpee! Woo hoo!

2. CHEAP - Today is the last day of it, but if you can still get them, go to Staples for their penny sales - pencil boxes, folders, pencil sharpeners and pencils are all ONE CENT each! I hit up the clearance section as well and got myself some bulletin board border and two cute teacher notepads for 50 Cents each! Nice!

I am a bargain hunter, perhaps sometimes to extremes.
But you have to admit that these are two pretty rockin' bargains. :)

More pictures

This past weekend, Matt and I took a picnic to Skylands to enjoy the fresh air and see the flowers. As always, it was beautiful. I love it there, and it's so close to his house!

More pictures are here.

Picturesque weekend adventures!

For two Sundays in a row, we've gone to St. John's in the Wilderness Church. After the first visit, we went on a picnic to Ringwood Manor, and TurtleDuck came along for the fun. See the pictures here!

Picture highlights from a few events

I uploaded an album with some pictures from a few recent rambustifications.... Enjoy!

Father's day....



A day trip to Pequest Fish Hatchery and Jenny Jump State Park...

Dad's Birthday at Mt. Fuji*

*Notice my RED hair? I decided to do a temporary change... it was interesting to be a redhead!

Insurance Insanity and Resolution

I took my dear 'ol Sheep-in-a-jeep in for repairs today. I haven't mentioned too much about the accident of late, but here's an update.

As I told you, they decided to go through insurance. I thought that was a bit silly to go through the rigmarole, but it's not my decision to make. So, I called and made a claim with their insurance carrier. The local agent then called me back and warned me that there was a "potential coverage issue" (read: this person is either behind on their payments or uninsured) but he promised to look into it and get back to me after July 4th. I stewed about it for a few days, and then got a shock on Thursday morning... the problem was cleared up and my claim would go through! They said that I would get the repairs and a rental. Woo hoo!!

So, a very thankful Miss President went to a body shop this morning, as directed, and dropped off my baby. They then took me two doors down to a rental agency and arranged for my temporary transportation. A short time later, I got the estimate on my car... $965.20... and was told that I won't get it back until at least Wednesday.

I'm certainly thankful that this seems to be going smoothly, after a rough start. And although I don't get spoiled with the same type of rental as I did the last time I had an accident, a Jeep "cousin" will certainly do the trick...

Last time: Jaguar X-Type

Today: 2007 Jeep Compass

Random Musical Craziness

This practically made me fall out of my chair. :) I think some musicians had a little bit of extra time on their hands, don't you? hehe!

Note to Peter: as the resident cellist, what is your take on it?

Blah.... and GRR!

I have a ton of things to post about and have been a slacker of late. Hopefully I will get to it soon.

But the news of tonight:
On Saturday, Matt and I hit up some garage sales. It was a productive afternoon, and there were many bargains to be made. But as we were at one, we hear a crunch and turn to see a buy backing into my Jeep! He dented her and scratched her up a bit, and would have just driven away if we hadn't seen it happen. So now my poor little baby is going to have to go and visit a body shop and get fixed up. The woman (passenger) who is the insured wants us to go through her insurance, even though it will be much cheaper (ballpark of $1000) if she just paid cash for the repairs (which we had agreed to do). I don't care as long as it gets fixed... she is the one who will have to deal with her insurance rates going up because of this.
...at least I had my camera in the car and was able to document everything immediately, including the other car... and their license plate.

grumble grumble grumble.

Feedback, please!

If you had free airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US that you needed to use this summer and wanted to go someplace:

a) cool and interesting b) ripe with adventure c) not going to break the bank

Where would you go? Please comment and let me know, including examples/reasons why/etc.

Thanks. :)

random know-how

I've started using iGoogle as my own personal homepage and I love how you can personalize what you see. I put on the normal types of things: weather, calendar, top news, gmail. I also put on Google reader, Calvin and Hobbes and the How To of the Day.

Today's "how to" is pretty cool. I might give it a try. Crafty and musical all in one!

junefourteenth on the twenty-first

I never got around to posting about my birthday. Actually, I never got around to posting about Matt's birthday, either! Partially, that's because I still haven't had a chance to take him on his birthday adventure, and I had a concert on the actual night! Matt came along to the concert, and I surprised him by having my chorus sing "Happy Birthday" for him. Once we do get to go out, there will be mention of it, of course. And pictures, too. :)

So... my birthday. On the actual day, I worked, of course, and then we had dinner with my parents.

Then, on Saturday, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot. It was a bit of a joint celebration for both of us, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves! Asian inspired cheese fondue, salad, a feast of all sorts of meat in a coq au vin cooking sauce, and "flaming turtle" chocolate fondue (oh, joy!! happy dance!).

I got a very amazing gift, too. Certainly a surprise in itself - something he should not have done... but it is lovely! (in pink!) I think that the first words out of my mouth when I opened the box - in the middle of the restaurant - were, "You are insane!"

So, yeah. All in all it was a good Birthday.








(pictures from both celebrations)

Quick Update

I don't really have time for a big post, but here is a long-overdue post on Memorial Day Weekend. On the whole it was just a relaxing time... nothing too stressful. :) Just the way I like it.
We ended up leaving to go down the shore late Saturday night. On Sunday, we hung out. The boys did some power washing, we went to the supermarket, ate pizza, had some fun. Sunday, Matt, Dana, David and I went to Point Pleasant and played mini-golf and hung out on the boardwalk a little. On Monday, we all barbecued together and chilled out. A good time was had by all. :)

all pics are here.

Graduation Party for Sean

My nephew Sean's graduation from high school was on Sunday. Due to the fact that they only got a few tickets, I didn't get to attend... but we did get to go to the party! :)

It was great to see everyone and celebrate. There was a ton of people there, good food, amazing cake and fun times, even when the rain sent us all inside!

I made sure that Sean was equipped with a college essential. I don't think they let you graduate unless you've eaten some ramen!

Congratulations, Sean! Best of luck as you head to higher education... and have a fantastic time in Italy! I'm very jealous!!! :)
(Other pics are here.)

Oh, the Popcorn sickness!

Last night we decided to go to the movies. But not at any movie theatre... the drive in!
When Matt and I had just started dating, we went to the drive in to see Shrek 2 - it was such fun! I had never been to a drive-in at that point... it is such a kitschy, fun time. If you live nearby, you must go. Call me and I'll come along! ;)

When we heard that Shrek the Third was coming out, we both knew where we needed to go and see it! We weren't sure if the weather would cooperate, but about an hour before everything looked all right, so we hopped in the car and headed out to the drive-in... and discovered that we had a double feature - Shrek was followed by Spider Man 3, a movie Matt had wanted to see as well! Score!

It was a lot of fun. Even though we got there later than most people, we managed to get a spot in the front row due to taking a car and not an SUV. Due to some smart thinking, we had a good blanket and a portable radio, so we were able to stretch out and hear everything perfectly. There was lots of lightning happening over the mountains, but the sky was clear overhead so we were rain-free.

We'd brought in sandwiches, but still patronized the snack bar for a big bucket of popcorn during Shrek and then ice pops during Spider-Man. In the intermission, I had to go and use the bathroom (what else is new?) and of course the line was extremely long for the Ladies. But I was impatient and bold... and went in to use the Men's! (I had a guard outside the door, of course... and we started a trend! Several other women lined up to do the same!)

As the second movie was ending, I started to feel a little queasy. I had eaten way too much popcorn. Much more than I know is good for me. And it was making me miserable!! Oh, the uncomfortableness of it all! Once home, I downed some medicine and moaned and groaned into bed. Yuck! Hopefully, I have learned my lesson - don't get a big popcorn ever again. Hopefully.




One more thing on a non-related topic... Alex, the younger brother of my dear friend Kate, is in Europe for the week and making video posts. Check them out here!

Oh, the fierceness...

I just heard the most infuriating story and am ready to go and beat down some people.

When you mess with one of my people, you're going to have to deal with the wrath of Miss President.

Foodie Post

Marisa tagged me for a Foodie Meme a while back. I actually got the entire thing ready last Saturday, but somehow the internet got the better of me and lost the post. Grr. So here I go again....


List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.
(I guess this means near where I live?)

1. Crecco's Cafe (River Vale, NJ) This is a local-yokal-Italian place, but the food is always good and a great value. I'm surprised every time I go at how great it is! I especially love their apple, goat cheese and walnut salad with grilled chicken.

2. Cafe Archetypus (Edgewater, NJ) This is an unusual cafe - it looks like you're underground, and some of the "booths" are their own little caves! Very cool atmosphere and good food. The majority of the menu is devoted to desserts, especially of the ice cream variety... so be sure to save some room!

3. Peanut Butter and Company (NYC) If you're a PB person, this is a must. They make their own, and virtually everything on the menu includes some kind of Peanut butter! I personally enjoy a good fluffernutter sandwich - chunky, of course, on toast. Sandwiches are served with a few chips and some carrot sticks, and they will cut off the crusts if you wish! Matt has enjoyed the "Elvis" - peanut butter, honey, banana and bacon... strangely, it's not that bad!

4. The Soda Pop Shop (Montclair, NJ) This place is a cool, kitschy retro trip. It's an ice cream parlor with vintage board games all over the walls and lots of retro paraphernalia. They serve diner-y/grill food, too (actually, I've had a fluffernutter sandwich there as well!), but it's really all about the atmosphere at a place like this. Go and share an ice cream soda with your sweetie!

5. The Melting Pot (Westwood, NJ) It's a chain restaurant, but oh, how good! If you're at all into chocolate or cheese (or both!) you will love it. Go hungry and wear comfortable clothes... you might eat yourself into a frenzy! The cheese fondue has many variations and different types of cheese, but the part I look the most forward to? The CHOCOLATE!!! You can customize the fondue, and it comes with a plate of amazing dip-able goodies... strawberries, bananas, pineapple, marshmallows, brownie bits, cheesecake bits..... my mouth is watering just thinking about it!



Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged:

Hmm... I'm tagging Rebecca in MA, even though Marisa tagged her, too. Also Angela in NH, Kate in ME, Jenny in Italy (and/or NJ) and Matt in NJ. Tag! You're all it! ;)

Weekend Work and a POTD

It is so hard to be doing work on such a lovely day. But I need to be good. I have a long weekend (Oh, joy of joys!) and I will be heading down to the shore later today for some Memorial Day Rambustification. That makes for some great motivation, leaving right now to be a time to be productive so that I don't have to stress about it later. Even though school stops for a couple of days, lesson plans still need to be in place to show my principal on Tuesday.

But even though I am sitting outside enjoying the warm air and gentile breeze, it's still work! Blah.  Must....... keep......... going........  must............... stop............ procrastinating............!!!

But something to make you smile... a POTD! I found this quote in Penn Station the last time I went into the city. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend! :)

Meh.

You know that something is wrong with your head when a seven-year-old tells you:

"Your hair looks frizzy!"

...and you actually think about it.

Weekend Adventuring?

The best laid plans of mice and men.... (or something like that)

Considering someone's birthday is coming up next week, I had been planning a birthday adventure to take place yesterday. I had several activities in mind, and was pretty excited about it. I had even toyed with the idea of going to Brooklyn today for the 17 of May Parade.  But once I realized that I was getting sick, I sadly came to the realization that there would be no adventure, at least not this weekend. Bah.

But I will provide a health update... I bumbled through work on Thursday and Friday, feeling crummy but functional. Friday evening I started to get chills, but no fever... but by bedtime I had 102f. So, in the morning, it was back to the doctor. Luckily the fever broke during the night.

He changed my antibiotic. To a really big one. (yikes) And sent me for an x-ray, which for some strange reason my insurance won't cover at the office. So, it was off to the hospital. No, no - not the ER again. This time as an outpatient for an x-ray only. Thanks to some connections I have at the hospital, I was able to head over and get it done pretty much right away. 
They're all ready pretty sure it's pneumonia again. 
The big question is if it is something that has just laid dorment for 
a few months or if it is a new case. And for either option... WHY?


So I've pretty much been flat on my back all weekend, sleeping, drinking as much as I can, taking an army of pills.... and I have to go to work tomorrow.  There is no way I can miss the other important concert 
week of the year. I don't really know how in the world I'll do it, 
but there really is no choice.
grumble grumble grumble (cough) grumble.

Why is my timing like this? It's seriously messing with my mind and making me crazy and paraniod.

(and why is the spacing off? Blogger is being screwy.) Grr.

...don't floss....

(...and other words I don't expect to hear from the Dentist - but did today!)

The other day I started to feel some discomfort in my mouth. A lot of it. I've just recently spent several afternoons at the dentist... I had three cavities (bah!) and got a mouth guard for my nasty habit of grinding. So naturally, this made me think of a million things that could be wrong, and therefore freaked me out. I got an emergency appointment at the dentist, and found out.... surprise!... I had broken a filling and that part of it had wedged into my gum. Whee! Fun Times! Luckily, they could fix it today, and so we did.

To add insult to injury, I'm sick again. I've been great since the whole pneumonia thing. But what seemed to start as a bad allergy week has evolved into a sinus infection/athsma thing. And with no sick days left, I am back to work tomorrow, loaded on drugs. Woo Hoo!!

So it's not a great day. Grumble.

And of course it is a week before my concerts. What great timing.

An die Freude

When Matt and I were on a city adventure a few weeks ago, he bought tickets for an event that has been on his "list" - seeing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony live in a great concert hall. He was able to secure amazingly good seats, so yesterday his parents joined us in taking the train in to go to Avery Fisher Hall to see the National Chorale's Spring Gala concert. It was an amazing performance, and my first "official" experience at Avery Fisher! We saw part of a concert while touring the building a month ago, but it is much nicer to get to sit down and stay for the entire performance! :)
The Chorale started with a piece I was extremely interested in hearing - In the Beginning by Aaron Copland. We sang it my senior year of college, and I just recently was able to get the recording of our European Tour that year, which included this piece. It is an a capella work for chorus and mezzo-soprano soloist, and I loved that I was able to hear it performed live.
After a brief intermission, the orchestra appeared and they began the 9th. I never seem to remember how powerful live music can be. The performance was wonderful. It was a full house, and the audience was extremely enthusiastic, which added to the joy of the music!

On another note, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms out there. I actually don't get to see mine today - she is down in Florida with my grandmother. We plan to celebrate next weekend when she is home again. But really, any day is a great day to celebrate mom! Truly, where would we be without her?

A Mystery and some Nature

Yesterday, Matt and I went on a walk down to the lake... to find a ton of fish dead at the shoreline! It was very concerning and puzzling. I hope that someone can get to the bottom of it!

(It made me think of the "Fish Head" song...)

Today, after being productive and whatnot, we went for a short walk. The park we went to has a strange feature - it has a Disc Golf course! I have never heard of such a thing before, but I am going to do my homework on it now! What an unusual and interesting thing! There were even two groups of people playing while we were there. I want to learn!

Pictures from the park...

Pictures are here.

One more thing...

Tomorrow is 31cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins!

I shouldn't... but I will. It's for a good cause. And so cheap!

(and they do have frozen yogurt, too.)

a Great Adventure, indeed!

On Sunday, my friend Jenny celebrated her quarter-century birthday. She and Will are home on leave for two weeks and we were invited to meet them for a celebration at Great Adventure! What fun! We brought Jenny a tiara and some party hats for the rest of the crew.

The day started out very cloudy and rainy, which kept many people away - a great thing, especially when the sun decided to come out in the afternoon! We rode a bunch of rides and got to "meet" a ton of characters...

One downer.... or perhaps it is an upper? The six of us got imprisoned on the ferris wheel! We were on there for over a half-hour, twice stuck at the top, looking down at the people, 15 stories below, as the wind whipped around the cars. It was so not cool. When we got off, we complained. Usually, it doesn't do anything... but in this case they actually listened and hooked us up... with Cold Stone!

Happy Birthday, Jenny! Hope you had fun!

Road Trippin'

I had a wonderful few days in Massachusetts. I left later than initially planned on Sunday, but that was all right. Once I got up there, I checked in* and met up with the Woods at Qdoba. We enjoyed some food and then hung out a while at their new house - so cute!
The next day, Becky, Catherine and I went to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester. We'd initially planned to go to Good Harbor Beach, but because of the Nor'Easter, a lot of Gloucester ended up underwater and is now being repaired. The day was fantastic and we had such fun hanging out , catching up and playing at the water's edge.

Later in the day, we went to Building 19... I was excited to go, but unfortunately found nothing that I wanted! Oh, well. I did try on some funny boots... I'll try to get the pic, since Becky took it with her camera! :) My feet looked like a muppet!
That evening, I got to see my long-lost friend Amy for some chips and salsa at Chilli's - something we did on countless times while in college!! We'd recently found each other again through MySpace, and it was great to reconnect. I missed her a lot!

The next day, I met up with the Wood girls again and we went to a very belated birthday lunch (and vanilla cokes!) at Johnny Rockets. I was supposed to be up in MA for Becky's birthday party in January, but ended up somewhere else instead! :( We wandered around the mall a little bit and perused some sale racks, got some ice cream, and went back to the house and sat on the patio to enjoy the sun for a minute before I had to get back into the car.

I got home in record time - just a touch over four hours! It was a great trip and I am so happy I had the opportunity to get away and play. The weather was amazing and it is always good to reconnect, both with old friends and yourself!

Pictures are here.

*A space of my own - yay! Or as Amy put it, "How grown up of you!"

Small Green Update

So in talking more about the previous post, I do realize a few things that I do.

- I do recycle. My family separates out all of the plastic and glass stuff and sticks it in a big trash bag. When I go up to Matt's house, I bring it with me. They recycle, and actually have a recycling center in town where you can drop things off. So I just pretend that I live in his town and bring things to his house! And I've decided to take it a step further, by adding another big bag of paper and cardboard to my car so we can separate that as well - there is always so much paper in the trash!

- I reuse things. Recently I have been collecting small plastic containers, like yogurt cups and the like, for work. I use them for when I have the students color... instead of having 20-something students fight to get crayons out of a big bucket, they get a cup full of crayons to share with a partner. :) I also use shoeboxes and the like for storage, both at work and at home. They are a good size for desk supplies and small instruments. My dad likes this kind of alternitive storage, although he tends to take it to extremes! He keeps things like bolts, screws and nails in my old baby food jars, and hordes coffee cans. Maybe he is planning to build a new car out of the metal?? ;) We also reuse things like mailing envelopes, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and cardboard boxes in terms of mailing, and gift bags as well. I have even been known to recycle wrapping paper... and some of you wouldn't know unless I told you I'd done it to you!

- We do recycle plastic bags. The supermarket has a bin for them, and we collect any that we get during the week and put them in when we're at the supermarket again, if they are not being reused by us, that is. And small ziploc-type bags get recycled at home - if they have had something dry in them (like cookies), they can be rinsed out and reused. The ones with raw chicken in them, however, get rinsed and sent with the plastic to the grocery recycling, though.

So I do some small things. But small is better than nothing. And being more conscious will bring me to a better place as the options become available.