7 Quick Takes: Week ending March 28

-1-

This past weekend we saw Muppets Most Wanted and it was quite enjoyable.   I might have even liked it more than the previous movie-- you know, the one with Seth Rogan.  Part of that may be due to the fact that I saw it with my 2 youngest cousins, which helped me channel my kid-at-heart self that much more than usual!   Sadly, there was not enough Pepe in the film.  That is my only complaint.

-2-

Auntie invited me to attend a sports memorabilia show this weekend and I am totally going.   Major nerd alert.  The chances of me buying anything are slim to none, but it's so fun to see what is out there.  These shows are almost like interactive museums, where if you have enough money, you can literally cash in on history.   I'm mostly there for baseball but I appreciate it all.  We'll also be meeting with Erica to finalize our ticket schedule - YAY BASEBALL

-3-

Speaking of my favorite sport, Opening Day is Monday night in Oakland [which is bad for my east coast bedtime], and the home opener, which we are attending {!!!}, is in one week - Friday April 4.   Mother Nature is traditionally not a fan of warmth on such celebratory occasions, but I have already begun to consider clothing options to avoid freezing to death.   Many of them will likely come from my Favorite Winter items, despite the fact that it is spring and this is an Indians game, not a mid-season Browns game.  

-4-

Facebook usually leaves me with mixed feelings, and I rarely post on people's status messages that ask for advice or opinions, but I could not resist on Wednesday.  An AU choir buddy asked about FitBit.  As you may recall I LOVE FitBit, and said so on her wall.  We have since become FitBit friends.  I think that means we can see each other's stats, but am not sure.  

Anyway - during the discussion I also used an emoji of a bicycle, prompting one of her friends [who I don't know] to say Julia, your iconography certainly marks you as a prophet of my religion.  What is this magic?  I was highly amused and am thinking I should perhaps comment on more Facebook posts!

-5-

Moving day fast approaches, and we have been in touch with the management company, reminding us of tasks to complete before we get our keys.   This list cracks me up.

Needed by lease signing date:

Utility account numbers

Proof of Renter’s Insurance

Pet Photos

Yes, a photo of my cat is a requirement!   Maybe it's to confirm we have a cat and not a St. Bernard.  I don't think they really care about his name or appearance.  For the record, that was the easiest item to check off the list.

-6-

Anyone else watching The Cosmos on Sunday nights?   I admit to teasing Michael about it during the first episode, but I now find myself watching along side of him.   It explains difficult concepts very well, and the guy who narrates is almost as cool as Morgan Freeman.   Almost.

-7-

If you need a weekend project, here's a suggestion.   My guess is I won't tackle this immediately, but gosh, do I need to.   I try to be organized in my daily life but sometimes I suffer electronically.    This is a great presentation and it uses Mac OS X so I am on board!



Jen's got lots of Quick Takes too!

7 Quick Takes: Double Dose!

So turns out when you move your entire house without professional help it takes awhile.  Hence my absence from the blogosphere.  If for no other reason except to keep track of my year, I present a double dose of quick takes

7 Quick Takes: Week ending February 14 
{this should have been posted last Friday morning}

-1-

We made another dent in our Oscar movie watching quest!   Dallas Buyers Club and Captain Phillips were both very enjoyable.   I must say, I was a bit apprehensive about Captain Phillips.   I don't really know what I thought it would be like, but it was awesome!  Highly recommended.   I figured Tom Hanks would be amazing and he was.   Totally got hosed on the lack of an Oscar nod.

-2-

We had a lovely meal and concert experience on Saturday.   The Cleveland Orchestra did not disappoint, and Michael and I could not decide which part of our meal was the best... his cauliflower and blue cheese soup, my chopped salad, his hanger steak, my chorizo mac n cheese or our amazing cinnamon bread pudding.   #thisiswhyIrun

-3-

Tuesday afternoon we headed to Florida to begin our PACK THE HOUSE project.   Nene was kind enough to take us to the airport on Tuesday.    In typical Nene fashion the garage opener wouldn't work, and our iPhone player got stuck in the car outlet, so we could not take it with us for our drive back.   We were all cracking up at the "Nene-ish" situation

-4-

So it turns out that packing is a lot of work.    We started Wednesday morning by unpacking the boxes of boxes, and got help from The Moms.

 We worked for hours!   Even though we don't have a lot of stuff, we managed to keep busy

Mom looked like she was hugging a ghost.  It was just a lamp

-5-

There were injuries!

Mary Lynn pinched her fingers a few times and I injured myself pulling apart a bed frame.   The worst part?  We decided to LEAVE IT BEHIND!  

Why yes those are Muppet band-aids and yes they helped me heal quicker

-6-

Thursday we loaded the pod.    But first I did a little jig to kick things off

It took longer than expected.... about 4 hours to load a 3-4 room POD.   Now, keep in mind we have a 3 bedroom house, so I would say that's pretty good, stuff-wise.    We celebrated by taking a WONDER picture.   

As in, I WONDER why we did not hire professionals.   And that is a very good question to wonder.

-7-

What would a move be without Jules in a tall box?

7 Quick Takes: Week ending February 21

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A few days in Florida after a frigid Ohio winter really gets you appreciating the sunshine and warm weather.   I could not resist capturing this moment on the patio after running outside for TWO consecutive days (!) including a 10 mile slog with Al.   We both earned our birthday cake that day.

-2-

I spoke at my alma mater this past week; I felt so old.   My mission was to speak to the seniors [only 100 days til graduation!] and get them pumped about their transition to LRA alumni.    Despite the free pizza and KLONDIKE BARS they seemed less than thrilled.  I like to think it was high school angst and not me or the others who spoke to them!

-3-

Michael and I drove from Orlando to Cleveland Monday and Tuesday.   It about a day and a half.  It was epic - we listened to good music, had lively conversation, and played the license plate game.   What can I say?  We travel in style.   Highlights?  Stopping in Atlanta for lunch with Gabrielle on Monday.   We forgot to take a picture!   But also, we drove past a familiar sight of my childhood.   The Florence Y'All water tower in northern Kentucky

-4-

Sadly our moving escapades severely limited our Olympic watchings thus far.  But I am happy to say we arrived at our destination on Monday evening just in time to see ice dancing.  I must say, Davis and White get me every time.   I love that they have been together so long and seem to almost move as one person and know exactly what the other person will be doing.  It's awesome

-5-

While we were away, Oliver spent his first session in Ohio kitty boarding.    He was not a happy camper when we dropped him off, but boy was he pumped to be home on Tuesday

-6-

I discovered MyFitnessPal this week.    [Thanks Al!] Whoa.   I thought I was OCD with Fitbit....  The fact that Fitbit syncs with MFP is making me ridiculously excited.

-7-

My mom turned SIXTY last Friday.   Yes she is a Valentine.    Her request?  To spend the day at the Magic Kingdom.  We were more than happy to oblige.

Relatedly, I almost died last Friday.   Say what?    Well you see...... My mother wanted to ride the damn Tea Cups.  It was her birthday so I couldn't say no.  It's not my favorite ride.

Mom insisted that she did not want any gifts.  But I love giving gifts {much more than receiving them, in fact} so I would have had none of that.  We gave her a pretty awesome gift, which I will be writing about in the next few days.

Just call me Ebert

I'm not a huge movie theater person... When $20 can't get two people tickets and a snack, something is wrong with the world. That said, we do love our Netflix subscription. And w all know, some movies you just have to see in the theater. Such as Avatar. Over the holiday weekend, Michael's dad decided we should see Avatar in IMAX 3D, so on Saturday January 2 off we went to the 11 AM showing. Along with the rest of Orlando! The first three shows were sold out. We bought tickets for Sunday and saw Up in the Air that afternoon instead. The two movies are extremely different (blue aliens on a mythical planet vs. George Clooney) but both quite enjoyable. I am very glad we saw Avatar 3D IMAX in the theater; it was awesome and highly recommended. It was, in fact, the only theater movie we planned on seeing. But due to below-freezing temperatures in Florida we spent a lot of time in movie theaters in the past week. In fact, in the last seven days I have seen the following five films:

• Up in the Air
• Avatar
• Nine
• Leap Year
• The Princess and the Frog

There are a few more coming out soon that I would like to see sooner rather than later (mostly because of the upcoming Golden Globes and Oscars) At this rate, I will view approximately 180 movies in the theater in 2010. And you can just call me Roger Ebert.

A for Effort?

You may recall we embarked on a movie watching challenge at the beginning of June. The goal was basically to watch as many movies as possible, so as to get a great value out of our Netflix subscription. In the past 30 days, we have watched eight films.... so an average of 2 per week. Not bad, but in no way something to write home about. Our plan was thwarted by the fact that we (mostly Michael) watched a million episodes of Heroes via the "Instant watch" queue. For most people this means watching movies and TV shows on the computer screen. And that used to be us. We started Heroes in the fall, instant-watching on the computer. But apparently that's not good enough for us anymore. When we got our Blu-Ray player earlier this year, Michael purchased the one with built-in Netflix, thus allowing all instant watch programing to come through the big screen. I was indifferent to the feature, but he was super-pumped. To wit: He has watched 30 episodes of Heroes via the instant watch feature just this month- And the month is not over yet!

A Fun Movie Quiz

My mother is forever sending me 'distractions' like recipes or fun articles or videos, etc. She recently sent me a super fun movie quiz. It's sponsored by Empire, and it celebrates the last 20 years of movies. As you may be able to tell (above) it's a big painting with movie titles 'embedded' in the artwork. Some are obvious, others not so much. I have figured out about 35 so far. Best part is you can save and come back later. To play along, click here.

Movie Challenge

Now that there is nothing* on TV, I have had to come up with alternative distractions in the evenings. You know, when I am not planning our wedding. And I thought of something! We have been Netflix subscribers since moving to DC in 2004. In case you are unaware, the thing about Netflix is you pay monthly and can rent as many movies as you want. There are no late fees, so if you receive a movie on March 1 and don't watch it until April 30, that's OK. I mean, you're paying for unlimited movies and you've only watched one. But if you're fine with that, so are they. Spring was rough for Netflix watching. We were just busy, doing various stuff. We had visitors, house stuff, wedding stuff, etc. Oh, and don't forget about May television, which included season finales of Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, LOST (best show ever) and American Idol. We really don't watch much TV-- those are our only shows-- but you can't miss the last ones till the fall! Then the Cavs were in the playoffs and like any idiotic Cleveland fans, we tuned in to each game. Once the Cavs lost, I decided we needed to do something productive (and less heart-wrenching) in the evenings. This brings me back to Netflix. I decided we should try to watch a Netflix movie every day. We can have 2 DVDs at home at a time, but we also have 'instant watch' movies, which will keep us busy while the actual discs are in the mail. We have recently watched Cactus Flower, Get Smart, and Silkwood. Quite a motley assortment, no? Tonight we have no discs at home, and will venture into the instant watch category. We also have HBO with our cable- somehow it does not cost extra- so we have been searching for movies currently in our Netflix queue to record on HBO, thus adding more 'instant watch' movies to our list. Between the DVDs, Netflix Instant Watch, and HBO movies that we DVR, we should be in good shape! I'll let you know how we do later this month.

*unless you count reality summer TV or NBA finals w/o the Cavs as quality television