Why I Love the Movie Tombstone

Okay, Tombstone is an enjoyable movie. A fun story, good characters, great acting (disclaimer: it is violent)... That’s not why I love it, though. Two years ago my husband and I departed for our honeymoon and, upon arrival, found out the place we were staying had a TV/DVD player! Sadly we didn’t know this before we left, so we didn’t bring any movies with us, and the only movie there was Tombstone. We must have watched it something like 5 times over the next several days. Needless to say, Tombstone is good memories now. I’m actually really excited to watch it tonight as we celebrate our 2nd anniversary!


On that note, I can’t believe we’ve already been married for 2 years! It’s strange because being married and living together is normal life now, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday we were dating, planning a wedding, etc.


We’re also coming up on a year in our current city (well, in another month or so). As we only lived in California for about 8 months after the wedding, and then were in Bremerton for just 6 months, this is the longest we’ve stayed in one place since we got married, too. Fortunately the plan is to stay here for a while. As willing as I am to move when it’s necessary, it really is a hassle...


Anyway, a couple of additional recent highlights include:


Pulling out the Christmas music. I personally think some Christmas music could be listened to year-round. Jesus probably wasn’t born in December anyway, and why not celebrate his birth all year? Regardless, the day after Halloween I created a Pandora station to start listening to Christmas tunes and have been enjoying it immensely. 


Rewatching Harry Potter. To prepare for the premiere of The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 we’ve been rewatching the past movies. We’re on track to have all of them rewatched by Wednesday night so we can go to the midnight premiere on Thursday. I’m so excited!


Getting way for a couple of days at a friend’s beach house. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

 

On that note, my break is over and I need to get back to work!

Lessons Learned in Cleveland

This past weekend marked the 1st anniversary of Matt and me getting married, so to celebrate we went to Cleveland for an extended weekend. Here are the lessons I learned in (and on the way to) Cleveland:

Day 1 - Friday

• It's possible to beat Matt at Spite & Malice. Just horde all the 7s or Kings.
• The Minneapolis Airport plays classical music over all the speakers. It's very calming.
• When you're taking the train between terminals at the Minneapolis Airport, it might look like you're going to run into another train. Don't worry, though. You won't.
• Not all airport food is a total rip-off. I got a standard-sized Quizno's salad for the same price. PLUS they put in more chicken and bacon than normal stores.
• Landing in Minnesota isn't very exciting when it's twice in the same day. Especially when it's because the maintenance crew in Cleveland can't fix whatever needs fixing and you need to turn around mid-flight.

Day 2 - Saturday

• When in Cleveland, stay in a cheaper hotel with a free shuttle service to the airport. You can take the train downtown from there for a few dollars.
  
• Tower City in Cleveland is HUGE. It includes three floors of stores, two hotels, a lot of offices (at least 10 floors of them), a train station, a movie theater, a parking garage underneath, and a walkway to the arena and Jacobs Field.
  
• A marching band with just brass and drums is really loud in an enclosed space like a mall.
  
• It's fun to watch movies about prehistoric Sea Monsters, although it is annoying when the voice-over person states a theory like it is a fact (how could they possibly know what the skin of a fish looked like when all they have is bones?).
• Star Wars madlibs = fun! You can get them at some Science Museums, like the one right next to Lake Eerie.
• Hard Rock Cafe vouchers from Expedia give you priority seating.
  

Day 3 - Sunday

• The east coast gets to go to church and watch football games live.
• It's possible to figure out how to get somewhere in an unfamiliar city without GPS or Internet access. It's called a map.
  
• Museums should put their entrances on the maps they have on their hotel flyers. It's very annoying when you walk several blocks out of your way only to find you need to double back for the entrance. Especially when it's cold outside.
• The Museum of Natural History in Cleveland has really good food at a decent price, especially for a museum.
  
• Bobcats received their name from their short tails (or "bobs").
• Gray foxes are in the dog family and climb trees (not many dogs do that).
  
• Lots of geese = lots of goose poop.
  
• Sunday night isn't the time to plan a shopping trip. Stores close early on Sundays in Ohio, too.
• A lot of people in Cleveland wear Browns clothes.
• Charley's subs = delicious anniversary dinner.
• If you see a LOT of girls, tweens and women in bright sequence and Miley Cyrus shirts, it probably means there is a concert nearby.
  

Day 4 - Monday

• There are Browns fans in Nebraska, too (two of them were staying at our hotel).
  
• ESPN during breakfast = win (at least for Matt).
  
• Matt has a knack for making friends that work at stadiums on his way to a game.
• The water in the women's toilet bowls on the 3rd deck might be orange at the beginning of the Browns game. That doesn't mean the person before you didn't flush...it's called "team spirit."
  
• Cleveland is cold in mid-November...but it's worth it to see the Browns play.

Day 5 - Tuesday

• If borrowing your husband's Kindle while flying, make sure you don't leave it in the seat pocket when exiting the plane...
• ...but if you do forget it, remember while you're still at the airport.

Happy November!

It's hard to believe Matt and I have been married for a year already. Well, almost. Our anniversary is Sunday (the 15th), so to celebrate we're going to Cleveland. We picked Cleveland nearly 6 months ago when Matt found cheap tickets to the game on the 16th. Not only is it the day after our anniversary, but it's going to be on Monday Night Football! Be sure to watch for us on TV - we'll be the two Browns fans on the 3rd deck in the corner. I'm sure you won't be able to miss us (haha).

This time of year always seems to go so quickly for me. In fact, the last couple of weeks have seemed to fly by, despite our wide-open schedule. Here are a few activities I've found to keep myself busy around the apartment:

Stacking the Mannatech pills that were sitting on our coffee table (I hadn't gotten around to putting them away):

...and watching them fall:

Borrowing 3 of the 4 Twilight Saga books from the library:

...and then reading them so quickly I wanted to read the 4th book before it came in to the library. I kind of broke down and talked Matt into buying the 4th book for me on his Kindle (it was half the price of even one of the books):

 

Watching Matt's Xbox avatar play with his pom-poms:

 

We'll see what the rest of the month has in store for us and what other ways I can keep myself entertained around the apartment...

I'm so excited for the holidays coming up! This is my favorite time of year...it's cold, wintery, Christmasy...there are 2 holidays within 2 months that call for delicious food. Plus it looks like we'll be able to see family for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Of course, thinking about Christmas gets me thinking about that song we used to sing in Sunday School ("Christmas comes but once a year, I wish it could be more..."). But it still seems a bit too early to start in on the Christmas wonderfulness. Perhaps after Thanksgiving...