Back in August, Joey and I debated getting the Alamo movie pass.  Joey really wanted it but I argued that we wouldn’t go any more often than before, even if we did have “unlimited” movie privileges.  Well, we saw three movies just last week, so maybe Joey was right after all 😛  If you’re not here for constant movie talk, don’t worry, there’s still food and puppy pictures to come!

We finally saw Joker!  It came out the weekend we left for Italy and then there was just so much controversial discourse around it that it sort of turned me off.  It was time though.  Whew… this one is a thinker!  I think there are things to admire and things to feel uneasy about and for me, lots of things to feel unsure about still.  I’m not entirely sure what this film is trying to say about mental illness but something about it makes me feel uncomfortable and I just don’t know that a Joker who’s not pinned against Batman really makes sense, but Joey and I did agree that the filmmakers did a good job not fully making Joker (or Arthur Fleck) a sympathetic character.  Visually and narratively, it’s compelling and, of course, Joaquin is just fully committed.  Gotta say though, Gotham needed to look and feel a lot weirder!

Saturday morning, we walked to Black Eye Coffee for caffeine and breakfast.  We hadn’t done that in so long!  Afterward, I went to pick up my boots at Dardano’s (they look great!) and Joey surprised me by cleaning the bathroom, even though it was my turn ♥  We watched a couple episodes of Deadwood, then Joey cut us off so he could vacuum and mop the floors??  Who is this person?  For dinner, we made Thai Butternut and Cauliflower Bowls with Snow Peas and Peanut Sauce from Plated, because my little sis gifted us a subscription!  She is the best and I really loved this meal.  That peanut sauce!

Then we saw The Irishman!  It’s only THREE HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES LONG.  Though I’m certainly not opposed to watching movies on my couch, in my pajamas, I really do love seeing a film on the big screen and I’d been told that this one was worth doing so.  I’m not sure I agree though.  Not to say there aren’t scenes that looked amazing up there, but so much of it is character-driven and I don’t know that you need to see Robert De Niro’s face on a large scale to read the emotion in his face.  Despite being an extremely long movie (shout-out to the guy sitting next to me who fell asleep like three times, then left early — I heard his girlfriend say “we’ll try again tomorrow” when they left, ha!), it was actually well-paced and I can’t imagine cutting any of it out.  I don’t have a strong connection to Martin Scorsese films, but I thought this was very well made, interesting and I felt more emotionally impacted by it than I had expected to be!

Sunday morning, I made pumpkin spice pancakes for breakfast and we watched SNL from the night before.  Never speak a bad word about Harry Styles to me, okay?  I dare you to wear a full read outfit and pull it off!  Afterward, we managed to put together lunch salads for the week before we both went our separate ways at 10:30.

I had a stuffing-making date with my mom!  I own a copy of this recipe and we made it together years ago (I think I was still in college??) but I wanted to witness the entire process.  It’s time consuming and it made me appreciate the fact that my mom has made this every Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember.  Time commitment aside, it was the most fun hanging out in the kitchen together ♥  She even made me a wonderful tomato, avocado and Swiss on sourdough for lunch.  I got a quick taste of the stuffing at the end and now I’m extra excited for Thanksgiving!

I went straight from my parents’ to yoga, then finally back home.  We made another Plated meal for dinner — Smoky Salmon Salad with Everything Spice Croutons and Caper-Dijon Vinaigrette — and it was another winner!  I mostly love that we own these recipes now and can re-make them even without the subscription.  Guys, we finally finished Deadwood — I really liked the show even though I was confused about what they were saying through all that Shakespearean language 50% of the time — and rolled right into the movie.  It’s like watching a season where they’ve digitally aged all of the characters, except it’s not digital.  I like it so far, but we’ll see how it ends.

This week: book club, possible snow, lunch with my dad and… I’M SEEING LITTLE WOMEN!!!!  Excited does not begin to describe how I feel.  Our book club got advanced tickets and I feel so lucky to be going.  I will report back, but until then, please have a wonderful week 🙂