Recent Reviews

For anyone who doesn't know, Mike and I really enjoy going to the movies. We don't eat out a lot, we don't go to expensive events or anything like that, but we do enjoy a nice matinee at the movies. There is a Regal Cinema within walking distance from our apartment complex and it has been a great way to get away from the apartment, get some exercise, and have a few laughs. In the past 2 weeks we saw 2 movies that I felt compelled to blog about, as they both stirred up thoughts that I wanted to share. So here goes:

The Dark Knight
One word: DARK

Overall, I liked the movie. And I'll admit that I bought the hype. However, I think that it should have received an "R" rating. We rarely see a movie that causes me to bury my head in Mike's shoulder so often. Seriously! Heath Ledger was freakishly scary as the Joker, and really made Jack Nicholson's version of the Joker 20 years ago look like Ronald McDonald. As I watched his portrayal of this sick, loony villain, I could only imagine what frame of mind he had to get himself into in order to play that character. The sound mixing in this movie was incredible-- I love going into a theater and the walls shake from the intensity of the sound. The movie was also very long... CAUTION-- POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD-- with the introduction of Two-Face, I figured that we would have another movie on our hands, but no, it just dragged on. This definitely could have been 2 movies. And I thought it was weird that they had Maggie Gyllenhall (spelling is wrong, I'm sure) play the character of "Rachel," when Katie Holmes played her in the first movie. I get annoyed when movies and TV shows try to do that. Case in point, "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (the 2 Vivians). Despite all of this, I would still give it 4 stars.

Mamma Mia!
One word: Obnoxious

OK so when it comes to movies made of Broadway musicals, I am extra critical, but no less hopeful. I knew the plot of the show going into it, and this is one of those movies where you just have to check your brain at the door and enjoy it. But that's hard sometimes. I must preface by saying that I'm not a huge fan of some of the songs, but I know good music when I hear it. As a whole, the movie was fun, colorful, energetic, and the scenery was beautiful. But the casting was all wrong (the leading girl was good, but looked way too young for the part), the timing was inconsistent (it was never clear when this story takes place), and the music was somewhat ruined by... well... casting!

Being a Broadway musical fanatic, I become very annoyed when Hollywood studios make movies out of musicals, and hire actors who can kind of sing. They get big names in order to bring people into the theaters, and the actors butcher the music. Back in the olden days, if an actor couldn't sing, they valued the music enough to find someone who could sing, and dubbed the voice. For example, the same woman was the singing voice for Deborah Kerr in "The King and I," Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," and Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady." Have you noticed that? The music was beautiful and the acting was also good. But now it's hard to find a good musical... Last summer, "Hairspray" was the big blockbuster, and it was good overall. But oh my gosh Amanda Bynes could NOT handle the part of Penny... she's a white girl who has a deep, soulful singing voice that really catches Seaweed's attention. And it didn't work. Several good examples of recent musicals-to-movies were "Rent," "Dreamgirls," and "Chicago." The makers of "Rent" did the smart thing and hired most of the original cast of the show, which made it amazing. "Dreamgirls" is one of my absolute favorite movies and not only could all of the actors sing, but they sang WELL. And who doesn't love "Chicago?" Richard Gere was a little iffy, but the rest of the cast was pretty good.

As a whole, I enjoyed "Mamma Mia!" but only because I let myself. I was disappointed that the music was somewhat disrespected (whoever didn't put Meryl Streep's songs in her key should be fired). However they did cast Christine Baranski who is always hilarious. I love her. And SHE can sing. :)

OK, stepping down from the soapbox. I would give this movie 2.5 stars.

Any thoughts?

One Word

1. Where is your cell phone? nightstand (that's ONE compound word)

2. Your Spouse? sleeping

3. Your hair? blondish

4. Your Mother? musical

5. Your Father? tall

6. Your favorite thing? books

7. Your Dream last night? forgot

8. Your favorite drink? smoothie

9. Your dream/goal? mom

10. The room you're in? living

11. Your hobby? cooking

12. Your fear? failure

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mom

14. Where were you last night? show

15. What you're not? unhungry

16. Muffins? banana

17. One of your wish list items? house

18. Where you grew up? TEXAS!

19. What are you wearing? jammies

20. Your pets? fish

21. Your computer? Macbook

22. Your life? blessed

23. Your mood? tired

24. Missing someone? family

25. Your car? truck

26. Something you're not wearing? socks

27. Store? Marshalls

28. Your summer? Busy!

29. Your favorite color? pink

30. When is the last time you laughed? tonight!

31. You cried? Monday

Try this... not that easy!

One year ago today.....

... I married the man of my dreams!! In a way, it seems like we've been married forever, but it feels like our wedding day was only yesterday! I have never learned so much in such a small period of time. Being married has been a blessing, but not always easy. I learned that God is gracious and I am not. I learned that real love really can conquer all. Last night I was lying in bed thinking about all the changes that have occurred since we got married... a year ago yesterday we would not lay in the same bed... Mike was not wearing a wedding ring (that was actually something that I had to get used to: "Oh, he's married... wait-- he's married to ME!!!)... a year ago yesterday I never would have gone to the bathroom with the door open... and those are just a few of the many incredible changes. Mike never really does any housework unless he is asked several times, but then again I'm very particular in how I like things done... but then again I would NEVER touch the finances. That's all Mike. We are so very different, but I'm so glad. This has been the most wonderful year of my life, and I'm thankful for every moment... easy and hard.

I'd like to take this opportunity to list some amazing (and funny!) things about my sweet husband, Mike:

• He's really smart with our money, and makes sure that every penny has a place. We hope to never be in debt! He is so dedicated to our budget which isn't so much fun sometimes, but we will have a house sooner rather than later because of this!


• He can swish Listerine in his mouth for 5+ minutes without it burning his mouth. Amazing.


• He likes his shirts folded in a certain way so that they fit just right in his drawers. I actually started folding my clothes that way now.


• He chooses what he will wear each day by the order that it comes in his closet. I have to keep an eye on this sometimes because the shirt and pants don't always match.


• He could watch Stargate for hours on end. Seriously, hours.


• He has a deathly fear of poison ivy, oak, etc. Let's say a football rolls into a patch of green under a tree... even if he knows there's no poisoned leaves, he still won't go and get it. "But there might be poison ivy down there!"


• He prays with me every night before we go to sleep.


• He prays with me every morning when he leaves for work (even though I may be half asleep at the time!)


• He doesn't like to take credit for very much... "I'm just doing my job. God should get the credit."


• He takes such good care of me by always taking my truck in for an oil change... I've never been good about that.


• He likes to eat eggs "over easy," which I learned does NOT live up to it's name. After a year of marriage, I can finally do it without breaking the yolk most of the time. (why can't he just like them scrambled??)


• He is a gadget junkie... if it has LED lights included in it, he's all over it.


• He has the amazing ability to eat straight out of a bag of chips and stop before he's had too much to eat. I'll just keep eating until someone takes the bag away from me.


• He has to be the undisputed KING of to-do lists. As I go through bags of papers in the den to decide what needs to be shredded, I find to-do lists from activities we did back in 2006. Some are pieces of paper folded up with 1 thing written on them, and some have 20+ items. As long as I've known him, he keeps crazy to-do lists, and they're very detailed. They even include things like "clip my toenails" and "pray with Rachel."


• He'll use the same bath towel for like 4 days straight. Ewww. Yeah, I know it saves laundry and we use it to dry our clean bodies, but ewww.
• When he comes in the door after a long day at work, even before I see his face I hear him call out, "Who's my pretty girl?"


• He looks very handsome when he comes home from the barber shop with a fresh haircut.

OK so that's all I can think of right now... but I know that there are more! I love you sweet Michael!

(Now we can eat that frozen cake in the freezer that's taking up about 10 cubic inches of space!! Maybe we can have ice now!)

This is the story of....

....Mike and Rachel on Vacation!!!

Day 1: 7/3/2008

We started out the day at 5:30

am with the intention of going to Holiday World theme park... so we got up early, packed the bags, and opened the door... to find that it was raining cats and dogs! You see, our apartment is incredibly insulated that you seriously can't hear the rain unless you are directly next to the window. Then on to Plan B: taking an actual vacation day by doing a lot of nothing!! YES! Just what w

e were looking forward to! Since it was 7am and we were wide awake, we went over to Bob Evans for a calorie-licious breakfast. Then back home to start watching Season 5 of 24! (The best season EVER) What a great day! After a while it continued to rain so we drove to Metropolis for a movie day! First was Hancock with Will Smith (a little weird, but good), then lunch at Panera, and Wall-E!

Here's a picture of us very excited to be on vacation:

Day 2: 7/4/2008

Alas! Plans once again thwarted by the rain! Our original plan for the 4th of July was to go boating but after checking out weather.com, we decided otherwise.... we pretty much laid around (what we really needed to be doing) and Rachel came down with a small case of cabin fever... which was somewhat cured by an afternoon of baking! Oh and just so you know, mint extract does not make a good substitute for vanilla extract in homemade chocolate chip cookies. Anyway, that night we really didn't feel like driving downtown and messing with crowds, so we went over to Plainfield to watch fireworks at Hummel Park, one of our favorite walking/rollerblading spots. The day was not a total loss! And yes, we were wearing sweatshirts!

Day 3: 7/5/2008

Finally a day out of Indy!! Saturday we headed to Santa Claus, IN (yeah I know) to Holiday World! Of course first came a trip to Bass Pro Shop in Clarksville, IN... and then we were off to ride the rides! We started out at the waterpark and it was so fun. Did I mention that this theme park has free unlimited soft drinks? Yeah you just walk up, grab a 12-oz cup and fill it up with whatever soft drink they have! Free of charge. Oh and they also have free sunscreen. At Holiday World, each section of the park is devoted to a different holiday, and the Christmas section was at the front. They had a life-size nativity scene at the front of the park, which you don't see every day. After the waterpark, we had some lunch and very large ice cream cones, and we were ready to hit the coasters! We were able to walk right up to 

one of the 3 rollercoasters at the park (all are extremely fast, wooden coasters), The Voyage, and I realized why there are only 3 coasters at this park. They will beat you up. I don't do well on wooden coasters because of the rods in my back, but I am stupidly fearless sometimes and just go for it. I was fine for the first 30 seconds or so, and then it got so fast and jerky and rough that I started to worry about my back. My screams went to cries toward the end and that's when Mike did the sweetest thing he's ever done for me. I'll never forget it... he let go of his bar and leaned over and wrapped his arms around me to keep me stable. I cried as we got off the ride, and I had whiplash the next day. After that ride, we both decided that we were definitely done for the day. It was all better later b/c we stopped at Sonic on the way home. Fun day overall!

  

Day 4: 7/6/2008

What a fun Sunday! After church we drove up to Peru, IN to Lake Mississenewa and went boating with our good friend Mike Rainey! Pro: I got to drive the boat, Con: I got sunburned! No really it was so fun. We only pulled the tubes around a little while, then parked the boat in a cove and talked for a while. Yeah, definitely could have used a girl-friend out there...

Day 5: 7/7/2008

On Monday we headed down to Petersburg, KY for the Creation Museum. What an amazing place! The whole museum was dedicated to the scriptures, and compared what the world tells us about "how we got here" to what the Bible says. It was so awesome, I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Day 6: 7/8/2008

Maybe not the best choice on our part... since it was the last day of our traveling vacation, we went into it exhausted. On Monday night we got a hotel in Lawrenceburg, IN and then went to Mason, OH Kings Island on Tuesday. Honestly we were too exhausted for another day at a theme park.... but we went for it anyway! After the water park we did one roller coaster and Mike was done for the day... but I was good to go! So I rode the Backlot Stunt Coaster (which is a ride based on The Italian Job-- the coaster cars are actually little Mini Coopers!) all by myself, which was a different experience. Maybe we'll do better next year!

So that's our vacation! Actually the last few days we slept in, read, did some laundry, watched 24, and just relaxed. NICE. It was a good time for us to focus on spending time with each other and saving money in the process. Only 365 days until our next vacation!!!