A Movie in the Park

It’s my mom’s birthday on Saturday, making this “Birthday Week!”  As in, I fully support and encourage all family and friends to celebrate their birthdays all.week.long.  I mean, it only seems natural that we do so as adults, since birthdays don’t get as much attention as they did when we were kids.  Seems like a fair trade off to me.

I’m always excited for my mom’s birthday as I’m partial to July celebrations (wonder why!…) and especially excited this year because the festivities are right up my alley and because I have some really good birthday surprises up my sleeve (Mom, are you reading this?).  And guess what?  We kicked the celebration off last night with a movie in the park.

IMG_4207I should have known it was going to be a good night when I met my family in Louisville and everyone was on time.  That never happens.  Seriously.  It gave me hope that I can put my dad and my sister back on the guest list for my future wedding (cough they are the family’s biggest punctuality offenders cough).  Also…a line of food trucks!  Be still my heart!

IMG_4205I was kind of taken aback by the amount of trucks that were there — nine I think?? — but finally settled on the street taco truck, Comida.  I have a serious taco weakness.  I kind of underestimated how small these tacos were, hence me only ordering one (chorizo!) plus a side of rice and beans, but that just means more room for sangria and ice cream, right?

IMG_4203My mom and my sister grabbed brisket sandwiches and some amazingly delicious French fries — thick cut and salty, just how I like em — at the BBQ truck and then we all camped out on our picnic blanket with some homemade sangria my mom brought with her.  P.S. Can you see my mom’s new diamond earrings?  She had one fall out of her ear earlier this year, so my dad took her for a replacement and white gold upgrade.  Way to go, Dad!  I swear he was also at the movie, despite the lack of evidence.

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IMG_4209Wine-soaked cherries and peaches, yes please!  Oh look, there’s my dad (kind of…).  Told you he was there too.  We hung out with our sangria while we waited for the sun to set and the movie to start.  They were showing Jurassic Park, which yes, I did just see in the theater, but Jeff Goldblum is so worth re-watching it.  My dad concurred that he is the best part of that movie.

IMG_4206How cool is the inflatable screen?  I had just enough to time grab a double scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough from the Sweet Cow truck to share with the girls just before the movie started…perfection.  About halfway through the movie, we started to feel a few raindrops and the wind picked up and that park cleared out so fast.  We stuck it out though.  We had to see who was going to save them all from the Velociraptors, obviously.

Seriously, a perfect night (albeit kind of chilly, especially for the end of July) with my family.  All that was missing was Joey (he was at his softball game) and maybe a second street taco 😛  The best part?  We get to do it all again on Saturday when we celebrate my mom’s actual birthday with tapas and dinner at the Med (always the Med!) and another movie in another park.

Is it Saturday yet?

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Do your birthday celebrations last longer now than they did when you were a kid?

Have you ever been to a movie in the park?

The food truck craze: yay or nay?

Weekend Things

I am sick.  AGAIN!  For those of you keeping tally, yes that would be three times in 4 months.  I now officially sound like a broken record and frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling right now.  In addition to feeling frustrated, I feel like someone has been sitting on my chest for the past week, like I can’t breathe from my nose, and like the amount of coughing I’m doing is about to start a fire in my throat.  My staying out till midnight on a Tuesday night probably had nothing to do with my inability to recover at all this week.

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Hannah, Beanie and I saw Mean Girls at Film on the Rocks this week and it was a blast.  Just so much girl power going on!  Not to mention Mean Girls is the best!

I swear I actually do want to feel better, but it’s summer and there’s just so many fun things to be doing on the weekend that I can’t help myself and end up doing everything but resting.  Friday popped up this week and all I could do was spend the entire day trying to convince Joey that we should be taking a half day at work.  I settled for a fun lunch break at Udi’s, which I always forget is pretty close to our office.

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I also always forget just how much I love a good Udi’s sandwich for lunch.  This totally hit the spot.  As soon as the work day was over, I was like “cold, what cold?” and all I could think about was a glass of white wine.  Bur first, we picked up the makings for a new brew — an IPA to be exact — that called for 5 different bags of hops.  I think the most we’ve ever  had to buy for one batch of beer was two bags?  This one is going to be hoppy, to say the least.

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My idea of resting is to only have two glasses of wine and throw an indoor picnic.  We cooked up a delicious dinner, threw down a blanket and picked out a movie from our Netflix queue.  The movie — The Go-Getter — was good, but not life changing and the ending was kind of strange.  At least I was in bed at a decent hour that night, right?

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I think Saturday was what did me in.  We had our company picnic at Elitch’s and there was just no way I was going to miss that.  I hadn’t been to Elitch’s in years and I can’t pass up an opportunity to ride a roller coaster.  Or you know, all of the roller coasters.  Joey hates them but his cousins were with us so I had someone to ride with.  Four beers later Joey was volunteering himself to ride a “loop-di-loop” coaster with me.  He was pretty much done riding rides after that 😛

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I also held Joey’s cousin’s teeny tiny 1-month-old baby for about 2 minutes before he started to stir and I got totally freaked out.  A bunch of our co-workers rode this crazy slingshot ride that launches you a billion feet in the air and then revolves as you come falling back down.  I felt nauseas just watching them all.  I’m all for roller coasters but I would never in a million years go on something like that.

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I’d like to pretend I went home and rested after the park, but my friend Jenn’s mom was throwing a surprise birthday dinner for her and there was no way I was missing that.  Besides, beer and ice cream cake are basically medicine, right?  I’d never had this Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown Ale but I loved it!  Joey is always making it sound like brown ales are disgusting but he’s so wrong.

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But I guess it’s not the elixir of life either because I basically spent the entire drive home coughing like I’ve never coughed before.  I’m guessing no one is feeling any sympathy for me, though 🙂  I swear I’m making a concentrated effort to take it easy today.  I’m even staying home from a family BBQ in honor of my niece’s birthday, which was this past Tuesday.  I’m totally bummed but I’m guessing no one wants to catch what I have anyways.

Hoping you all enjoy what’s left of your weekend!

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What did you do this weekend?

Do you like roller coasters?

Do you find it hard to take it easy when you’re not feeling well?