if you know me at all, you know i don’t sit still for long, even on the weekends when that is exactly part of what one should do. i’m usually out and about running errands or doing chores around the house, gettin’ to all that stuff i neglected during the week. included in that list is almost always at least one workout to keep myself in check.
well, several months back i had popped on over to orangetheory for an early morning class one saturday. in typical fashion, afterwards i also took grace on a nice stroll through the neighborhood and then showered off for the rest of the day. however, that particular saturday had “the rest of the day” start with a nap. i am usually not a weekend napper, but clearly my body was telling me i was due for some much needed rest, so i threw on my long, fuzzy, pink robe and curled up for a snooze.
hours later (who knows exactly how many) i was jolted awake by grace’s barks. someone had rung the bell, and since phillip was out doing his own thing, i raced down the stairs, big hair flying everywhere (and i mean EVERYWHERE). i can only imagine how i looked to my neighbor when i flung the door open! she, too, was slightly taken aback since it was the middle of the day and had certainly never seen me in this state. i can only hope there weren’t drool trails down the sides of my face!
i eventually got my bearings, engaged in a brief conversation that was more than socially acceptable in length, and promptly went back upstairs to finish my nap. so, if answering the front door in my robe was on my bucket list, i guess i can mark it off now!
with a new year comes a new blog series (don’t worry, i promise i’ll finish the mcu!). this one is going to be casual and fun and will include posts whenever the mood hits me. i’m looking to minimize self-induced stress this year, and blogging when i want to (rather than when i feel like i should) is step one. 🙂
a couple years ago phillip and i moved out of atlanta and up to the suburbs for more space and more affordable housing. city livin’ has its price! our neighborhood has proven to be the ultimate suburban dream, one of which i feel like i have been waiting my whole life to live. so, as fun things happen up here in our little bubble, i’ll share them with you!
there is a family of five down the road with the sweetest group of daughters, and a few months ago they went on a roadtrip. i of course offered to pick up their mail and boxes while they were gone, and a couple nights before they left, the mother saw me on a walk and asked if we could watch their fish, too. i don’t know if i have ever been more flattered in my life! i immediately replied yes and ran home to tell phillip the good news.
for five days, we kept their beta fishes bluey and bella alive. my only regret is that i did not get a picture of them! they were in a compact tank with a divider (apparently beta fish attack each other if they are in the same space?) and each gobbled up their fish flakes when they were fed. only bluey gave me a scare a few days in when he was lying side-up at the top of the tank and not moving much. turns out their water probably should have been changed once or twice while they stayed with us. but hey! the fact that we walked that little aquarium back to their house with both fish alive is all i wanted.
p.s. the fish did finally meet their fate about a month ago. i think they had a little ceremony in the backyard and buried the fish in some shoeboxes. some things never change. 🙂
although we are well over halfway through the original mcu films, i finally hit my point after this last one that i am very ready to be done. i don’t think it’s that i’m not having fun; rather, it’s the knowledge that after we finish these originals that there is still so much more we can watch. like loki’s series! seriously, that’s most of what i’m living for right now, lol. but, we’ve come this far, and i think i can power through the rest.
like always, let’s start with the food. we went for bbq (yes, again), and when i say it was forgettable, that might be more on me than the food. we did this latest movie night several weeks ago, and since the food was not mind-blowing, it simply has faded to the background for me. we picked up dinner from sonny’s bbq. i feel like i have been on a bowl/casserole kick lately because that night i ordered the loaded tots. i mean, it’s kind of hard to turn down tots and queso and bbq. was it worth the calories? meh. but you know what i would happily order again? the okra. oof, that was especially good because it came with a side of ranch for dipping which only made it better. phillip went for the chopped, marbled beef brisket and definitely had leftovers. because it was so much food? possibly. because it wasn’t that good? also possibly. at the end of the day, i simply have had better bbq.
i don’t know that this week’s movie probably should be categorized as a comedy/funny, however, now that i’ve watched it a few times since, i appreciate all the small jokes and jabs throughout the film. which movie? thor: ragnarok. i understand the overarching story line is pretty perilous with hela’s unmatched strength and seething rage, but didn’t you chuckle when thor was strapped to that chair on his way to meet the grandmaster? i know we were all having flashbacks to that boat scene in willy wonka & the chocolate factory.
the snake story thor tells about loki made me smile, and the valkyrie (scrapper 142) helped keep things light, too. and even i must admit that thor getting his thunder power without his hammer was pretty dope. but let me ask this, does he get his eye back in a later film? please tell me the answer is yes! i’m finding that although my initial reaction to the movie the first time was “it was fine,” the more i watch the movie, the more i like it.
sometimes first impressions aren’t always accurate, but sometimes they are. let’s see how sonny’s and thor stack up to the competition.
another mcu night called for another sequel, this time for the one and only thor. and like chris hemsworth, our dinner that evening was beefy. we were craving some barbecue and ordered from nearby cue. on the verge of becoming unpleasantly hangry, i only had time to snap a couple photos of my meal, the fresh garden salad with shredded pork on top. did this salad change my life? not quite, but with enough chipotle ranch and bbq sauce slathered on top of that generous mound of meat, it was a pretty enjoyable bite. dave also had a salad but went for the southwestern barbecue chicken salad, and jenn and phillip both had platters. i’d be lying if i said phillip’s brisket and jenn’s side of mac’n’cheese didn’t make me a little jealous. good thing i can always hop in the car and go get some for myself!
but what about thor: the dark world? was it as mildly enjoyable as our dinner? i’d actually say it was better than expected. generally i feel like thor’s films have gotten sour reviews, but after watching the movie and catching it a couple more times on tv, i came to really like it. i was pleased to see that thor was much less self-involved this time around, and i don’t know that i’ll ever be able to get enough tom hiddleston. despite some selfish motives, the brothers came together to set aside their differences for the greater good, giving us plenty reason to root for them both. i was glad that jane generally wasn’t the center of the story, as she’s never been my favorite, but her rag-tag team of scientists are always a joy to watch.
our commitment to new movies and new restaurants is stronger than ever, so bring on the rankings!
well, last week i mentioned to you that i was ready to mix things up. i felt like we were getting in a character and food rut, so we definitely got a taste of something different this week. we’ll get the bad news out of the way first, not that there’s particularly stellar news to share afterwards…
i told dave that burgers and pizza were out of the question, so he suggested we do japanese for dinner. it’s been a while since i’ve had a good roll of sushi, so i was game. we did some searching online and decided to give tokyo shokudo a chance. looking back, there were plenty of red flags and, in hindsight, we should have run in the other direction. no, not just run. we should have sprinted away.
first, i’m not saying that every restaurant needs to have a fancy website, but the only way to view their menu is through three pictures on their google maps profile. i get that sometimes the best places to eat are those that aren’t glitzy and are those hole-in-the-wall type of joints, but in viewing the menu, i was already questioning our choice. not wanting to be a debbie downer, though, i went with the flow and let phillip know what i wanted so that he could call and place the order.
jenn and i stayed at home with grace and gwen while the boys went to go get dinner. conversation was pleasant (as always), the weather outside was lovely, and the dogs were getting in some good zoomies, but we both started wondering what was taking so long. i wouldn’t say we were hangry, but tokyo shokudo is right down the street, and it’s not like we ordered one of everything. no sooner were those thoughts in our mind than they returned, shaking their heads. we knew there was a story to tell!
the guys arrived at tokyo shokudo, and it sounds like no one greeted them at all. not a good start. the sushi chef asked who they were, they replied, and he said it would be 20 minutes before the food was ready. the guys decided to go on a quick white claw run while waiting, and upon returning to the restaurant, the food still was not ready. the chef gestured to phillip and dave to have a seat, and although it sounds like he meant to come across nicely, his demeanor was just plain prickly. finally, everything was ready and packed up and we sat down at the dinner table to chow down. dave’s sashimi bowl looked very appetizing, and the sushi rolls phillip and i ordered were bright and colorful and just what i was in the mood for. i eagerly snapped apart my chopsticks, poured myself a little soy sauce, and grabbed a piece of the spicy tuna roll. i’ll say it was perfectly spicy and perfectly tasty. i always love getting tuna with my sushi. i then went to grab a piece of the yummy yummy roll but frowned as i discovered a nice little piece of plastic wrap clinging to the top of the salmon slice. if the service had been impeccable and speedy, i would have been able to forgive what was probably an honest oversight. however, the experience overall was pretty disappointing, and it is hard to come back from plastic wrap on your sushi. i think it’s safe to say we’ll be looking for another sushi spot in town to satisfy our raw fish craving.
i wish i could say things with the movie improved greatly, but at least the evening didn’t deteriorate into anything worse than plastic wrap covered sushi. dave had suggested we watch captain america: the winter soldier next, so that is exactly what we did. i feel like i am generally inclined to like captain america simply because he seems to be the most grounded of all the marvel heroes, and even though his characterization proved to be true throughout this movie, i feel like the plot took some eye roll-inducing turns when that creepy-ass zola consciousness started talking, when bucky barnes (whom i didn’t recognize at all) made a “dramatic” reappearance, and when the super-critical controller chips on these humongous ships were being guarded by no one. again, whatever makes the storyline work…
if there is anything i liked about this movie, it was getting to know a little bit more about sam wilson (falcon) and seeing more of black widow. i wasn’t so sure about her during our first encounter, but she’s starting to grow on me. let’s see how it affects the rankings!
we decided it was time to keep on with iron man’s personal saga and forged ahead through iron man 3. as most of these movies have started, people who were insecure decided to use good technology and science for less than good motives, manipulate others to rise to “power,” and then take out their grudges on the innocent. sound familiar? i think my favorite parts were when tony stark crossed paths with harley in his garage and then gary in the news van. gotta love a good boy crush. oh, and happy getting better. 🙂 that was a nice touch. my less favorite parts? killian shooting hansen, pepper just having to survive her extremis treatment so that she can perfectly intervene to save tony, and all the suits blowing up. again, necessary? no. a little “forced” to make the storyline work? probably.
something else that felt forced that night was our dinner. we picked up a couple of pizzas from the local pizza place up the street, 2 nyers pizza. now, i have had their pizza before, and the first time we tried them was via delivery. it was okay, in all honesty. then, i thought we should give them another chance and we ate at the restaurant, and it was like a whole different experience. the bianca and meat lovers pizzas are hands down our favorites, and the staff is so friendly! but this night the pies weren’t as flavorful as they usually are, the dough was very chewy and not light and slightly crisp like i’d come to expect. it definitely was not their best performance, and i think i’ve determined they are one of the places that is best to enjoy at the restaurant.
i think at this point in the journey, i am ready to meet some new heroes and try some new types of food. we need to mix it up a little bit!
last week dave, jenn, phillip, and i settled into the comfy sectional sofas to watch the avengers. they told me i’d probably be inclined to like it because some of the characters i have already met come together in this film. honestly, though, i was underwhelmed. to start, i spent the first 40 minutes of the movie just trying to understand what was happening. everyone’s voices were so low, we are thrown right into the middle of a crisis, there is a new monster army that loki decides to “befriend,” and it took me several minutes to understand that the glowing rock thing had a name. but then again, this is the marvel universe, so why shouldn’t it have a name!
as the storyline progresses, the collision of each hero’s ginormous ego is no surprise, but i did find the moments between tony stark and bruce banner quite tender. anyone else? speaking of bruce, i found it highly convenient that on the ship he cannot control his rage but suddenly can when they are in new york city and he needs to use his powers for good. sure, whatever you have to do to make it work, i guess…kind of like hawkeye’s uncanny accuracy with his fancy arrows. my favorite (and least favorite) scene is when agent coulson decides to get in on the action. i think i was saddest about his death more than anything else in the movie! maybe he’ll reincarnate and show up in another film? i wouldn’t put it past this series.
generally it was fun to see all the heroes come together and use their forces against a common enemy, but it is starting to feel like every movie will be loki scheming a new plan to take over earth and someone trying to stop him. time will tell!
now, the only thing bigger than the avengers’ egos were the size of the meals we ordered from armando’s caribe for dinner. phillip and dave had steak quesadillas, and they were so full of tender meat and cheese that the tortilla could barely hold itself together. jenn had a stuffed burrito that made my mouth water, and i decided to try the media noche. it was basically a classic cuban sandwich but on sweet egg bread instead of cuban bread. i did like it but have had better dishes there (such as the tilapia tacos or the seared tuna, which is to die for). although not a new restaurant, at least i tried something new! and that is something.
four movies in, about a million to go. here are the rankings!
kelsey v 