Best Movie Ever!

Enough said.

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day is always a special day for me, but this year it is even more special because George is not working this weekend. We began his Father's Day weekend with a date night at our local Publix Aprons cooking school. This was a special event night with guest chef Kevin Gillespie,

an Atlanta, Georgia-based chef who was a contestant on season 6 of Bravo's Top Chef and one of our favorites of all Top Chef contestants. It was a night of good wine and wonderful dishes, with a little humor and a bit of culinary education. We started by get him to sign our copy of his latest cookbook, Fire in my Belly,

and then it was on with the show.

Dinner's first course was a marinated turnip salad with oranges and goat cheese.

This raw starter salad was surprising in its combination of flavors, including curry and horseradish, but so delicious. The next course was Crispy Green Beans with Salsa Brava.

Oh...my...goodness. He then moved on to Stuffed Rutgers Tomatoes with Savannah Red Rice and Creamed Shrimp

and last but not least a dessert of Peach Melba Foster Jubilee,

a combination of the flavors of Peach Melba, Bananas Foster, and Cherries Jubilee. George and I were absolutely devouring each of the courses as they were delivered, as well as enjoying the different wines poured with each course, and the conversation with new friends we met there was a bonus. It was such a special evening, and I can't even describe the happiness that I felt in giving George this experience, as well as getting him to eat all of the veggies prepared!

The next day (Saturday) began with a beautiful morning walk with Harley, then brunch at Cracker Barrel. When I am super hungry for breakfast, nothing beats the Sunrise Sampler. We then spent much of the afternoon at the pool, relaxing and drinking margaritas. After a special Italian feast for dinner, we headed to the movies to see Man of Steele.

This newest Superman story is a wonderful pseudo-remake of the 1980's films starring Christopher Reeve, but this version is a bit more realistic and human. It stars one of my faves, Henry Cavill (who played Charles Brandon,

1st Duke of Suffolk in The Tudors) as Cal/Clark Kent/Superman

and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

The movie was totally enjoyable, and we all had a blast watching it.

The final day of the weekend, Sunday, has been a most relaxing Father's Day. After church, I made George these Darn Good Ham and Cheese Sliders, which are now tied with Croque Monsieur as his favorite sandwich, and Zachary served ice cream that he had bought for the occasion.  We relaxed for a few hours, saw Mom and Dad Creamer when they stopped by, and then we took him out for a nice steak dinner. One of the highlights was his gift from Danny, a matching t-shirt pair for them from the National Law Enforcement Memorial that had George's favorite quote on it.

Topping off the night will be the season premiere of True Blood. George said it was an "awesome" Father's Day. We hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day weekend, filled with much love and happiness!   

September's over?

Wow, where has the time gone? After vacation the first weekend, September seems to have zoomed past us all. The kids did some fun things like eat lunch at school with Gran-ma and Papa on Grandfoxes Day,

volunteer work (see post from the 15th), swimming in September (only in Florida!) and celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept. 19th), Pancake Day, and other various celebrations. The wrap-up of the month was just as awesome as the rest. Because she knows that Daniel is obsessed with the weather, my friend and coworker, Michelle M., set up a tour for us at the National Weather Service.

Housed in the Love building on FSU campus, the National Weather Service records conditions and conducts forcasts for Tallahassee and the surrounding areas 24 hours a day. Our tour guide was Mike Vise, a friend of Michelle's who retires on Thursday. Mike showed us around the forecasting room, and then showed us where, every day at 7 am and 7 pm they release a baloon with a gps tracker, temperature gauge and humidity gauge. A special dome on top of the building tracks the baloon/gauge until the baloon eventually explodes at around 100-110 thousand feet. We also learned about tornadoes (Danny's fave) and microbursts (learned something new there) and Megan got to tell the following hurricane joke to the crew:

Two hurricanes were talking and one said, "Ouch! I have something in my eye!" The other hurricane responded with, "Those pesky helicopters..."

Here are some pics George got from the tour.

 

 

 

Later, we went back down for the balloon liftoff. We waited, and waited (giving the opportunity for the kids to be a little silly) and then right at 7pm, we saw it lift out of the small box that housed it. It was interesting to watch it go higher and higher until it was a speck in the sky.

 

After the excitement, the kids and I went to see Hotel Transylvania, an animated Adam Sandler film about Dracula (and a lot of other monsters). Not the best movie of the year by any stretch, but definitely a cute flick for the lead-up to fall holidays. The kids thought it was absolutely awesome, and a great end to September!

Happy Mother's Day!

Our Mother's Day started yesterday after Danny's belt test when we went to George's parents' house to visit with Mom Creamer. After she opened cards and received her plants, Danny showed off his karate moves from the morning. While Megan entertained herself by drawing pictures,

Danny also treated us all to his amazing burp-on-demand skills.

I am so proud! After our visit and dinner, we headed home for an early night's sleep.
For my Mother's Day, George, Megan and Danny surprised me with some gorgeous roses.

They gave me cards and the kids each gave me a hallmark blooming message rose -

yellow from Megan,

and pink from Danny. Danny also gave me some drawer sachets that he made himself - aren't they pretty?

Then, my hunk of a husband made me a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, garlic hashbrowns, and croissants.

Oh, how I love my man, especially when he cooks for me! After breakfast, we went to church, and then afterward my family indulged my love of old movies and 40's jazz (the Gershwin songbook) by watching An American in Paris with me.

I even got a foot rub during it! The day ended with an old fashioned barbecue dinner and then champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert during our Sunday night shows. It was a wonderful day, and we wish all of the mothers we know a very Happy Mother's Day!

Down with Love

George and I watched this movie on Sunday night, and we were both pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it. Released in 2003 (this is probably why I hadn't seen it before - 2003 was kind of a busy year for us with the new house, new car, new assignment for George, Danny, etc.), it is the story of Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), a playboy and a magazine columnist who is trying to get the scoop on Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger), a novelist who has written a pre-feminist book on why women don't need love in 1962. Reminiscent of Pillow Talk and other Rock Hudson/Doris Day flicks in which dialogue and innuendo were really all you needed, it features the hilarious David Hyde Pierce in the Tony Randall-ish part of the best friend (Tony even makes a guest appearance). I love 60s movies (thanks, Mom, for making me watch them!), and this one is true to the form, but with a little more modern blatancy. If you haven't seen it, and you're a fan of fun 60s films, you'll love it. And if you are a fan, check out The Holiday

(Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslett, Jack Black) and the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Mystery series Zen

(Rufus Sewell - who also happens to be in The Holiday)  which are both filmed with a definite 60s flair. You won't be sorry.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and the Irish-American tradition in this house, started by my mother-in-law, Carolyn (or "Mom" as I call her), is to have a dinner of corned beef,

cabbage

and mashed potatoes.

She passed this tradition on to me a few years ago, and it is a meal George and I look forward to all year. Another tradition is for George to work the festivities at Finnigan's Wake, a local Irish Bar. After he left for work, the kids and I, not wanting to go out on the roads with people who've been drinking since early this morning (crazy, I know, but itfell on a Saturday), watched the classic Irish favorites Darby O'Gill and the Little People

(yes, that is the hunky, pre-bond Sean Connery) and The Quiet Man,

one of my favorite movies of all time. That's my kind of St. Patrick's Day.

One Awesome Movie

If you haven't seen it, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is one of those movies that just makes you laugh. Definitely not for the younger crowd (it is PG-13 for good reason), this gamer-inspired movie is about a young Canadian man, Scott Pilgrim, who plays in a band and lives with a gay roommate. He meets Ramona, a super-cool, non-committal chick (who reminds me a lot of my hairdresser, Bekah, but I digress) who poses one problem for Scott. She has seven exes that he'll have to battle before they can really be a couple. My favorite of the exes is Todd Ingram, a vegan demi-god who is in a band with and dating Scott's ex.

The whole scene dealing with vegan culture is hilarious, mainly because what they're making fun of is so true. George and I can't get enough of it. If you like action, garage band music, and over-the-top ridiculous satire, you'll love this movie.

My weird movie obsession

So, since high school, I have been obsessed with one movie. I have seen it over, and over, and over...you get the drift. Not that I don't watch other movies multiple times (The Princess Bride, Point Break, Grease, Sweet Home Alabama, Sleepless in Seattle, etc.), but this one makes me feel like some crazy addict that finds a score when CMT, SpikeTV, or any other channel is perused and this movie is playing. Which movie, you ask? It is Road House (1989),

starring Patrick Swayze as Dalton, the Cooler, or "best bouncer ever". Of course, he would argue that he's not. Wade Garrett (played by Sam Elliot) is. My friend, Michelle, and I have had many deep conversations about this provocative movie, sparking questions such as "What criteria do you use to rate bouncers?" It also gave me the best advice of any movie I've ever seen - "Be nice. Be nice...until it's time not to be nice."

I miss Patrick Swayze.

Another weekend of karate, basketball and fun!

Our weekend started on Friday night with the "Movie under the Stars" event at Danny's school. After a quick dinner of pizza and breadsticks, George, Megan, Danny (and his friend, Sam) went out to the field beside the school and spread blankets out to watch Tangled. Before the movie, Danny and Sam ate popcorn and snow cones and played.

Megan and I danced to the music they had playing on the loud speaker.

And George enjoyed relaxing with a good book until dark.

After dark, the movie started, the damp set in, and the kids shivered under the cold wet blankets until it was over. Fun was had by all. Saturday morning started early with karate

and proceeded with Danny's basketball game. He played hard and was so exited when he got a basket! Doesn't he look tough with his green sweatbands?

Can you see Coach Creamer there in the back too!
After that, we went out to Coon Bottom (late due to basketball) for lunch with George's parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. The kids had a blast feeding the goats

and donkeys

and playing with their cousins. This lot looks like trouble, don't they?

Oh, I meant this one...

The rest of Saturday was spent watching the Noles beat Duke (finally, they won one!) and reading Peter and the Starcatchers with the kids. When we went to bed, we were dog tired. Sunday was a day of church, lunch at Cracker Barrel (their new fall menu is out) cleaning, relaxing, and watching cooking shows and Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Life is busy but good.