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 & 5 Movies I Haven’t Seen

Hello and happy Sunday!

I hope yours is off to a good start.  I woke up early and already tackled pancakes, an outdoor run and 4 episodes of Parenthood.  Why is it that I complain about being tired all week and then the weekend comes I suddenly can’t sleep in to save my life?  C’est la vie.

As for the rest of this weekend, it was low key but satisfying.  I decided to start it a day early by going to happy hour at the Med with Hannah on Thursday evening.

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We basically ate a bunch of delicious food (hello, bacon-wrapped dates!), drank sangria and talked about all the fun we’re going to have on our Vegas trip.  We’re SO excited!

Friday night was spent at trivia, where Joey and I finished the first round with a perfect score and somehow had zero points by the end of the night.  Zero.  

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I guess our team name turned out to be true.  Who knows the exact year John Candy died anyways?!

On Saturday, I woke up early again (go figure), and spent the rest of the day reading, getting a much needed massage, getting my workout on and bypassing everyone who was waiting the full 50-60 minutes for a dinner table, by snagging two seats at the pizza bar when we headed out to dinner.

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We sat in front of the kitchen and got to see all the craziness that goes on on a busy night.  I watched a guy bend beneath the counter and stuff an entire plate of food in his mouth in about 30 seconds, then turn around and go back to work.  Is that allowed?!

Then we came home and watched a movie.

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Joey’s brother just moved and decided he didn’t want to deal with transporting his very extensive movie collection, so he took his favorites and offered the rest up to us.  Joey narrowed it down to about 100 movies last night and I’m “not allowed to saying anything, because it’s only the first cut,” so instead we just looked through them to decide what to watch that night.

Turns out there are a few “classics” I hadn’t seen in that pile.  Movies that I know are good, I know other people like and that I’ve always meant to watch, but just haven’t yet.  Movies like…

1. Saving Private Ryan

It’s not that I’m a huge war movie watcher or that I even know what the story is, but I find history really fascinating and I’ve heard that this movie is such a realistic depiction of WWII that I feel I need to see it.  Plus.  Tom Hanks.  Nuff said.

2. The Godfather

I was watching another Tom Hanks movie last weekend and he kept quoting The Godfather (name that movie!!) and I found myself wondering why I’d never seen it.  I feel like there’s so many Godfather references in other movies/shows that I should see the original source of all those references.  But then again, it just seems so boring…

3. V for Vendetta

What is this movie even about??  I think I’ve seen bits and pieces and have just thought “what is going on?!”  I must have missed out on the period in high school when everyone was into this movie.  I was probably watching more enlightening things like Anchorman.  Don’t judge me. 

4. The Indiana Jones Series

But I’ve ridden the Disneyland ride enough times to feel like I’ve seen them all.  And actually, I’ve seen the most recent one, but there were aliens so I don’t know if that movie actually counts.  It might be nice to see the others though.  How many are there again?

5. Almost Famous

But wait, this is what we ended up watching last night, so I can cross it off my list!  And why had I never seen this?  I thought it was great.  The soundtrack was awesome (how could a movie about music not be?) and I didn’t even hate Kate Hudson, even though she always looks perfect and goes by the name Penny Lane.  Plus, Rain Wilson, Jimmy Fallon and Zooey Deschanel?  If I had known, I would have seen it sooner.  Oh, and the scene where they think their plane is about to go down?  Brilliant!  

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What “classic” or popular movies haven’t you seen?

What year did John Candy die?

Do you or have you ever worked at a busy restaurant?