Hiatus

After almost 10 years of blogging, I think I'm taking a hiatus. There's so much wonderful living going on, I find it increasingly hard to take time to write about said living. Will I come back one day? Maybe, who knows. Will it be a lifetime hiatus that is better defined as just simply being done? Maybe.

So until we meet again dear blog readers! I have some livin' to do.

Cutting Back

Every 2-3 years, for like the past 10-15, I find that I haven taken on too many commitments. You think after all this time, I would learn. But no. I just get so darn excited about so many things, I sign up for them all.

The high school version: Join student council? Yes! Tutor elementary school students? Yes! Work part-time? Yes! Take AP classes? Yes! Try to have a social life? Yes! Sleep? ...oh I knew I was forgetting something.

The college version: Take a full course load? Yes! (Especially since it was costing a fortune either way). Join TriDelta? Yes! Work part-time? Yes! Host parties at your awesome apartment? Yes! Sleep? ....oh I knew I was forgetting something.

Traveling and wife-ing on our Fredericksburg trip

The mom version: Raise a child? Yes! Be a good wife? Yes! Work out regularly? Yes! Have a full-time job? Yes! Travel? Yes! Generally take care of myself by going to the dentist, doctor, etc? Yes! Blog? Yes! Volunteer? Yes! Watch trashy TV and drink wine? Yes! See friends? Yes! Visit family? Yes! Make Pinterest-worthy anything? Occasionally, yes! Sleep? ...oh right, that again.

So as I have had to continually do, it was time to cut back. And a handful of these aren't up for negotiation. My boys, for example, are (thankfully) here to stay. And though we all have days we'd rather not work, I never have days when I'd rather not have the income, and truth be told, I really do like my job. Cutting out the dentist and whatnot was tempting but ultimately not an adult decision.

This go-around, I cut back on blogging, specifically for the Austin Mom's Blog. I really did enjoy doing it but I found it was a solitary activity for me. Which is what I set out for initially but as I got involved I realized how social it could be with all the fun public and private blogger events that were held. Yet unfortunately, I never ever could fit any of those in. Literally the only other time I saw my fellow bloggers in person was at our group photoshoot last year and it was truly a three ring circus to get there during rush hour on a work day.

I was, of my own doing, having a half-assed blogger experience. Doing things half-assed isn't nearly as fun, meaningful or productive as doing things all in. I mean if you are going to raise a kid, RAISE that kid. If you are going to watch trashy TV and drink wine, well then damn it, make sure you chill the bottle and have some pajama pants ready.

I'll of course continue to be an enthusiastic reader. It really is the best place to find a list of 50 splashpads, events around town, kid-friendly day trips, hilarious stories in mothering and such. (For an example, check out my swan song, Mom and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.)

I'm hoping with my new found time, I can do the other things a wee bit better. I especially want to get more active in my new volunteer group, which being based in Round Rock, is relatively easy for me to participate in. Also, as part of my new year's resolutions, I'm hopeful I can work out a smidge more and maybe I'll do a few things, like decorating the guest room, with Pinterest-worthy flair.

Thanks AMB - it was fun!

That super kid I'm raising...
by turning him into a toddler yuppie at Starbucks before school

 

Hakuna Matata

I meant to blog about it sooner but baby and work have taken precedence. Anyways - better late than never right?

On Tuesday, the hubby and I had a big date night out. We started with dinner at an Italian restaurant in Central-ish Austin that we like, Gusto. Tasty tasty tasty! We pulled out the big guns with a shared appetizer, entrees and even dessert (well for me, coffee for him). Usually we're entree-only people so a full three courses felt fancy and luxurious.

Then it was off to Bass Concert Hall down on UT's campus for The Lion King. Back way before Christmas I had seen discounted tickets to the show via TravelZoo and had jumped on them. I'm so glad I did! Having been in my prime Disney movie years when the movie came out, it was practically a quote and sing a-long for me. According to Ross, I was a little enthusiastic/loud with my rendition of Hakuna Matata. But how can you not be? Ross is just a little too old to have seen the movie when it first came out...actually he's never seen the whole thing through. The quote anticipating moments I enjoyed were lost on him but he liked the show nonetheless.

It may come as a shocker to y'all, but Broadway shows are not in his top 3 or even top 10 list of things to go do. Originally he was really along for the ride for my sake. But he liked the show more than he was expecting and said he'd likely attend another musical theatre production with me throughout the course of life. I consider that a big win.

It really is the little things

It's the little things that make us happy. Today those things are

1. New dishes at more than 50% off!
2. Learning that Army Wives is not a discontinued show that only lives on Netflix as I thought it was but is still airing new episodes on Lifetime. The  DVR is set!

Think Twice

A couple nights ago I finished Think Twice, the story of twin sisters, one good and one evil. The story began with the evil sister, Alice, trying to bury the good twin, Bennie, alive. Bury her alive! While Bennie is escaping and dealing with the repercussions of being buried alive, Alice goes into the city and impersonates her sister. It's really interesting and frankly impressive how Alice pulls off the impersonation of her sister throughout a surprise visit from an old boyfriend, client meetings at the law firm and more.

I wasn't wild about the very end but the chase part, which was most the book, was good. Both characters were clever in their deception and run for the goal.

Verdict: Sure, why not.

What's Goin' On

Holy mole it's been a long time. Let me try to summarize...

• SXSW: Owned me for 5 days. It was a lot of fun and I had my first experience on the MetroRail here in town (success!). As expected it was also very busy and I was a tired girl when it was all said and done.
• New Job! Well, very similar job, new title. A week or so ago I was promoted to Sr. Marketing Specialist. Very exciting :)
• Date Night: Ross and I took advantage of a Wednesday night off together and saw a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse. Our flick of choice, John Carter, starred the kid (Taylor Kitsch) who plays Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights. Given the premise of the movie, Confederate war vet ends up on Mars, it was better than I thought.
• Boston! And more importantly, Dr. Jane's wedding. More on that later.
• The Castaways: I finished this book on my flight home from Boston yesterday. It's about 3 couples who are all besties on Nantucket and the way the accidental drowning of their 4th couple friend affects them. It sounds more morbid than it was and I enjoyed all the soap opera like twists.

The Social Network

Tonight I finally watched The Social Network. I had some interest when it first came out but as I'm not much of a movie person, just simply never got around to it. But given my job and all, I thought I should watch it at some point.

It was a weird movie to watch. It starts in Boston, my freshman year of college at Harvard which given my romantic situation at the time was where I spent many a day. So there was a lot of deja vu in terms of scenes and some of the stuff talked about (ie Final Clubs). Of course it also starts with Mark Zuckerberg and his BU girlfriend breaking up and many not so nice comments about my alma mater.

Then there's the fact that a large percentage of my current employment is based on the existence of this site. So I supposed I'm a bit biased toward it and honestly want Zuckerberg to be a bit of a hero, king of the nerds if you will. But he doesn't come up smelling like roses. Really none of them do which is a shame if you ask me. Oh and ironically, as I sat there thinking "He's kinda a jerk" my first instinct was to post that where else but Facebook.

However I do really like the actor, Jesse Eisenberg, who played Zuckerberg. And Justin Timberlake is always good eye candy, even when he's a bit paranoid. So there's that.

Not my favorite movie by any stretch (though I wouldn't say I actively disliked it), but given that being in the right place at the right time probably is no small coincidence to my current gig, it was interesting.

Oh and what am I going to do tomorrow at work? I'm going to frequently tune in to to a live stream of a Facebook conference to learn about the latest development. The small worldness never ends.

Mucho Gusto

It's been a while since I wrote a restaurant review I feel. But lucky for you (and for me) the hubby and I discovered a tasty little Italian place earlier this week.

We were celebrating some good work I had done at the office so it was my pick. Our qualifiers were moderate price point, not a chain, outside of downtown and per the hubby's request, Italian. I poked around on Yelp and came up with a brand new place, Gusto Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar.

It's in the Rosedale neighborhood of Austin (which I find has all kinds of places I like) which meant central-ish but without the inconveniences of being smack in town. When we got inside we found this place to be cute, cute, cute! A kinda funky, art deco motif with murals on the walls and plenty of warm colors. It was about 75% full so no wait for a table. We sat at a high top in the wine bar-ish area. I say "ish" because while we were close to the bar, I didn't feel like I was sitting "in the bar;" it still had a restaurant feel.

I had a delicious glass of chardonnay, Ross had an iced tea and we split the antipasti appetizer. The whole appetizer was good but I especially loved the green olives (I ate all but one and only stopped at that point because Ross called me on not saving any for him). For my entree I had the chicken wrapped in prosciutto with a side of mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach. DELICIOUS. It was dressed in a tasty cream sauce and the portion was just right. Ross ordered the Italian job pizza which included sausage, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, red peppers and onion. Very tasty gourmet pizza indeed.

The service was pretty good too. When I asked the waiter about the menu, specifically would it change seasonally, even though he didn't know the answer he was very quick to bring me a comment card to give all my feedback through.

Our total bill, with tip, was $55 so from a price stance, also pretty good. Definitely someplace you could go monthly if you were so inclined.

VERDICT: We're going again. Wanna double date?

The Lincoln Lawyer

Last year I read The Lincoln Lawyer. It was a really good book, very interesting twisty plot. A non-John Grisham Grisham-like read if you will.

Without giving it away, it's about Michael, a criminal defense lawyer in LA who is hired for a high profile assault case. It doesn't take long for his client's real colors to show through and the craziness begins.

Flash forward to now and our (very expensive) Netflix membership which I am determined to get the most of. I rented the movie on Blu-Ray and settled in Tuesday night to watch it while Ross was at work.

DISAPPOINTING.

I guess if you hadn't read the book but did see the movie, like Ross, you might like the movie (he did). But if you read the book you would have been disappointed in the movie, as is so often the case.

It simply didn't take long enough at the beginning to develop the characters which made the twists significantly less interesting. Also the first plot twist, the one that really matters, didn't have the dots connected very well. Even having read the book a few months before I was thinking "huh? how did he draw that conclusion?" Finally a few plot deviations are a given from book to movie and while they didn't have any major ones, I thought the ones they chose lessened the story quality overall.

Verdict: Book or movie. Not both.

Moneyball

I took a brief break from Friday Night Lights this weekend to watch Moneyball on BluRay with the hubs. Since we're both big baseball fans and since the book is one of Ross' favorites, we'd been really wanting to see this movie. In fact we had every intention of seeing in the theater but you know how it is, one thing leads to another and since movies are only in theaters for about 5 days now, it doesn't take much to miss the window of opportunity.

But anyways...

Though I'm not a huge Brad Pitt fan (I mean I think he's good looking but eh whatever, not into the hype), I loved him in this movie. He was really well cast. A bit of a gritty, muscular baseball look to him but sunny and tanned just like you expect a California boy to be. I also love the actor (Jonah Hill) they cast to be Peter Brand, Pitt's Ivy League genius awkward 20-something sidekick.

As we were watching it I thought about a post from the office blog and the point it drove home: when you can't win with business as usual, it's time to change the business. Even if we ourselves never actually change the rules, it's a romantic notion to daydream about, one perfectly fit for the romantic game of baseball.

Finally I indulgently loved how the movie included a few scenes from that old familiar part of Boston. Ah, nostalgia, how I love you.

Verdict: see the movie!

Review: Wired and Dangerous

I don't know if I would go as far as to call it a new year's resolution, but instead of just blogging about moi all the time, I would like to spend more time this year reviewing books, movies, events, restaurants, destinations, etc. I'm thinking we can sum them up as the lifestyle section of the blog. (In fact, I think I'll create a new "lifestyle" label. Yes, yes I will.)

Last month I read Wired and Dangerous, by John Patterson and Convio Summit 2011 keynote speaker, Chip Bell (hence the interest). It was definitely a work read so to be honest it took me a little while to get through. It was a good book, and I'll hit some of the highlights, but you know how it is, after working all day, who relaxes with a work read?

Like I said though, good book. The big idea is that consumers today are more demanding and more vocal than ever. We're more demanding because a few stand-out experiences, like working with Amazon and their amazing customer service, have really started to raise the bar. We're also demanding because we're less tolerant of human error - just think of how often you go to the self-check out lane or ATM instead of conversing with a real person. It's just like they say, if you want to get something right, do it yourself...so we do.

We're more vocal somewhat on accident. Many moons ago if we had a bad experience, say at the airport, we would moan about it to our friend who picked us up after the flight. Now we tweet about it from the runway, consequently reaching way way more people. We've also started to learn that if we moan in a public enough way, someone might fix it for us right then and there. Quite reminiscent of Pavlov's doggy experiment.

All that means that as customer service people, we have to work a lot harder to make our customers happy. You have to remember what their most recent site search, recommend books based on their last purchase, alert them of deals based on their habits. Admittedly, it is a little daunting.

Throughout the book John and Chip share personal stories of customer service gone wrong (very funny in many cases) and customer service gone oh-so-right (make you say WOW). And even if you don't think your job is about customer service, their stories help you see how all of our jobs are about customer service in one way or another. It's a good read for thinking about how you approach your job, your clients, the retention of clients and all the people who are serving you and their performance and the fact that maybe you should cut them some slack for simply being human. After all, it happens.

Restaurant Week: Flemings

It's Austin Restaurant Week!

We inadvertently went to Restaurant Week last year for Nancy's birthday. It was delicious. So this year we purposefully and checked out Fleming's.

Stiletto Martini
This fun red raspberry martini was the breast cancer awareness drink. It was vodka with a delicious berry puree. It was really fresh and fruity.

Fleming's Salad
Candied pecans, cranberries, garden greens and cherry tomatoes. So yummy. I almost licked my plate. I really especially enjoyed the sweetness from the pecans and cranberries.

Filet Mignon
Fleming's is known for its steak so all six of us ordered the filet. Mine was cooked perfectly and it was delicious. Plain, simple good steak. No fluff, no flair just high quality steak. Now I'll admit it wasn't as good as the steak at El Arbol but that was the Zeus of steaks. You can't expect every good steak to be Zeus.

Mashed Potatoes
They were the side for the filet (duh) but were so outstanding they deserve their own paragraph. I had the blue cheese mashed potatoes and WOW. You expect a steak to be good. You expect mashed potatoes to be mashed potatoes. But these mashed potatoes were so far above anything you expect from mashed potatoes. They were rich, flavorful and spectacular. I might go back just for those.

Cheesecake
Mmm tasty. It was plain cheesecake with a berry sauce and it was good. So good in fact I am going to have Ross' slice tonight. (For what it's worth he doesn't like sweets so I'm not thievin' this; I'm making sure we don't waste food.) I did learn though that when it comes to cheesecake, I prefer bells and whistles. This is good cheesecake, but for me, the Cheesecake Factory chocolate chip cookie dough and key lime pie cheesecakes are better.

Verdict: Good date night and if you get the mashed potatoes, great date night.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Back in the winter I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and because I like a lot of variation in the books I read, I didn't get around to The Girl Who Played With Fire until just now.

Like the first one, it had a wonderfully complicated plot and a more than average dose of who-done-it. It had the same main two characters, Mikael and Lisbeth, as well as some of the same supporting characters. I really liked how much more you got to know Lisbeth in this book. She is so much easier to relate to and given the plot, it's important for the reader to "get" her. I won't give anything away but just know, her history is worth paying very close mind to.

One part I found odd was the very beginning. Lisbeth is in the Caribbean and a hurricane strikes. She develops a few relationships, a couple positive and one negative. However, once she leaves the Caribbean, those people don't tie back in. The only thing that makes sense about that part to me is helping illustrate Lisbeth's characteristics, morality, etc. Kinda odd though.

It has some obscure (well obscure to me) references to Swedish history but the footnotes are concise and clear. Thus the historical references didn't trip me up and I can see how a Swedish audience would connect to them.

As the second in the series, it makes sense to read it second. I think you could get away with having not read the first but there is quite a bit of building. To enjoy the book the most, I suggest reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo first. And on the same note, for optimal enjoyment, keep in mind, this book centers around a murder. I found I couldn't really read it on nights when I was home alone. (But when my big strong hubby was home to protect me from things that go bump in the night, no problem. Bring on the murder mysteries!) If things like that make you a little jumpy too, I'd consider it when picking this book up.

Finally, also like the first book I have one complaint: the similarities in characters names. I know this sounds trivial but there are a lot of characters and I swear half of their last names start with B. I had to really think sometimes about who was the cop, who was the crooked lawyer, etc. Some variation in names and spelling of names would have greatly helped in keeping the myriad of characters straight.

Verdict: read it but begin at the beginning by reading the first one first. And maybe consider taking notes on the many characters named B.

Movie Review: The Help

Last night during the boys' fantasy football draft, Erin and I saw The Help. Having both read the book, we knew what we were in for.

I really liked it. I think the casting was spot on, most especially with the Minnie character (played by Octavia Spencer). Emma Stone did a great job of being the brazen, sassy Skeeter and I liked her defiant attitude. Elizabeth the Junior Leaguer (played by Anha O'Reilly) really did come across as easily pushed around and totally incompetent as a mother. Spot on to the book's depiction.

In our debrief, we discussed that for such a serious subject, there was quite a bit of humor. The audience was still laughing when some more serious scenes would start. Take that as you will, either as making light of a very serious subject or just as fun. I personally enjoyed it but I can see where it might lessen the severity of the issue.

I think the producers did a good job of turning an ugly piece of American history into a popular mainstream movie. In between cute and funny scenes are a few that are really disturbing, in my mind, especially the arrest of one maid. For me, it was the right balance of some hard-hitting, ugly historical depiction but enough fun entertainment to end on a overall positive note.

Verdict: Go see it. But of course, read the book first because that's always better, even in this case...though not by much.

Book Warning: Safe Haven

I finished Safe Haven right before heading to Seattle. And I'll warn you now, I'm gonna be a spoiler. But I have to somewhat spoil it to get to the warning part.

Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks starts strong. It's the story of Katie, an abused wife from Dorchester who runs away from her mean, nasty, alcoholic husband. She lands in a sleepy North Carolina town where despite putting up her guard, eventually makes friends with her neighbor, Jo, and the local grocery store owner and widower with two kids, Alex. Katie and Alex hit it off and eventually begin dating. Jo is incredibly nosy about the whole situation but in a girl-talk kinda way.

Everything is hunky-dory until Katie's husband picks up on her scent (he's a detective when he's not wife beating) and drives down to North Carolina to take her back. He almost succeeds too, burning down Alex's house where Katie is baby-sitting. Katie and the kids escape and eventually a hand-to-hand combat with Katie and Alex (who has returned) and ex-husband ensues. Katie gets his gun and it goes off in the struggle, killing the crazy drunk ex.

Fortunately for Alex, not only are the kids and Katie fine, but his fireproof safe with birth certificates and a few tokens from his late wife, Carly, is also intact. After the fire he's more committed to Katie than ever and gives him the letter Carly wrote for "the woman [her] husband loves."

So far so good. Some cheese of course but nothing other than what you would expect from a Nicolas Sparks book. I was actually really enjoying it. And then it did a nosedive.

Katie sits on her front porch and glances over at Jo's cottage which looks unusually abandoned, especially since Jo had been doing work on it lately. Confused but dismissive, Katie start's to read Carly's letter which quickly says "My name is Carly but for most my life my friends called me Jo." At which point Katie goes Sixth Sense style thinking about untouched glasses of wine Jo had, etc before coming to the conclusion that yes...yes...you know what it is. Jo was the ghost of Carly, come back to guide Katie to Alex and the kids.

Gag me with a spoon. Are you kidding? Nic (olas Sparks) couldn't we have just ended with this nice cheesy letter and an engagement ring? Why did we have to go down the ghost of wives past route? It's like when One Life to Live started bringing people back from the dead. Just terrible.

Verdict: If you read it, don't bother with the last two chapters.

Science of Tex-Mex, Part 2

A mere 8 months after landing my sweet Convio job, we finally went to Fonda San Miguel to celebrate!

Last night we went with 3 other couples to taste this Tex-Mex haven. Here's my review.

Margaritas: I had a house on the rocks and a frozen mango margarita. Both were excellent but of course, very different. I am usually a frozen rita girl but I do know that on the rocks is a little more of an art form. It tasted very fresh, very strong and very good. The mango margarita was a little more typical but again, the mango flavor was very fresh. Yum.

Queso: I love our friend Jon. I said "Should we get chile con queso or queso asados?" and Jon's answer was a very definitive "Both." God bless that man. So we had both. They were more of a stringy solid queso than the normal gooey dipping queso. But tasty. I like that both had peppers and onion in them. I also liked that they were served with a side of tortillas. Ross actually passed on chips and tortillas with queso, taco style.

Camarones Adobados: This was my entree. It was 6 or 7 jumbo Gulf shrimp over corn tortillas filled with sauteed peppers and onions and smothered in a black bean sauce. It was really really really good. I'm always a little hesitant to order shrimp away from Houston - I was so spoiled with shrimp caught that morning and on my plate that night - but this meal sounded too good. And it was really some of the best, freshest tasting shrimp I've had in Austin. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was driven in on ice that morning. It really didn't taste like it had been frozen at all. Delicious.

Other Entrees: I tasted some of Jen's (Ryan's date) sour cream enchiladas. The enchilada was good but it was the sauce that rocked my word. It was so sour creamy!! Ross shared his guacamole with me and it was great. I usually make and like really lime heavy guac but this was distinctly not limey. It was so avocado-y and delicious. I practically licked the plate to get it all. Jon and Chris both had the pulled pork tacos and said they were fantastic. I don't think there was a speck of food left on any of our plates when the meal was over.

Atmosphere: This might be one of the best parts. It's such a colorful and surprisingly for a Mexican place, tastefully decorated restaurant. I really loved all the ornate art and furniture.

Price: The four couples just all split the bill in half. With the exception of Patty (who is preggers) we all had at least one but mostly two drinks each. We split two orders of queso and all had entrees of course. It came out to about $60 per couple plus tip. Now we had a big enough party that they included gratuity but I really liked that both on the initial bill and on each of our credit card receipts for signing, it very clearly broke out the meal cost and gratuity. Unlike so many places, I really felt like Fonda San Miguel wanted you to realize you were already paying gratuity. They didn't try to pull a fast one on us which I appreciated.

It isn't someplace I'd go to mid-week for quick Tex-Mex dinner with the hubs but for a group on a special night out, it was a blast. It also got a lot of hype from Texas Monthly and other review/ratings groups. Maybe a little too much hype to be honest. I do think that it made a very good case for dispelling the idea that the best Tex-Mex places are cheap holes-in-the-wall. Those are definitely good, but high end Tex-Mex, also pretty damn good.

My final verdict is do again, with friends and plenty of time to soak in the experience.

El Arbol

A couple months ago there was a LivingSocial deal to El Arbol. At first I didn't think anything of it but then one of my coworkers said it was the best steak in Austin. That, my friends, is a bold and lofty claim. There's a lot of damn good steaks in Austin.

I couldn't resist.

outside patio (stolen photo)

Last night we went, and holy cow, it was outstanding. First the location is great. It's off of 35th Street so more central than we usually venture but not downtown so getting around is easy. There's an enormous tree on the patio (I'm guessing for which they named the place) and all these lovely japanese lanterns hanging from it. But this is Texas and as you know from my multiple weather posts, it's hot so we sat inside. Indoors had a kinda funky eclectic decor.

We started with pulled pork on bruschetta with a side of arugula for our appetizer. Very tasty. The sauce had almost a mustard flavor.

Since it was the best steak in town, Ross ordered the flat iron steak. I went with the escolar which I had never had before. (Like a tuna but a white fish.) Wow. I mean just wow.

The steak melted in your mouth. It was perfectly cooked with a little dark pink in the middle, just the way I love it. There was a side of chimichuri sauce which Ross loved, I personally preferred it as plain, unvarnished meat.

Now the fish, goodness it was good. It was on a bed of corn and gnocchi with a little tangy cream sauce. Every bite was better than the last. I nearly licked my plate it was so good.

We ate like kings.

We called both of our moms after the fact to tell them how good it was so we can go with them again one day. The only caveat I'll give is that with our LivingSocial deal the price was fine but I think under normal circumstances, it would be a special occasion place. The meal described above (plus 1 glass of wine) was about $65 pre-coupon. At least for us, that's not an every week price point.

Next time you are in Austin, let's go to El Arbol. You can be our special occasion.

Movie Reviews & Recs

Ross and I aren't big movie people. First, we don't really agree on what makes a "good" movie. Second, well just neither of us are that into movies in the first place. Having dinner out seems like a much better use of money to me. Going on four years together and I can probably still count the number of movies we've seen in the theater together.

But last weekend we rented a movie via OnDemand, The American starring George Clooney. Ross was interested because it was a spy-espionage flick and I was interested because of George Clooney. Oh. My. God. Worst movie. After watching it I really wondered "What made Clooney, after reading the script, think 'I have to make this film!'?" mostly I wondered this because the film contained so little speaking. I bet the script was about as long as a children's book. And it had no plot. We couldn't even finish the flick. After an hour fifteen (of just an hour forty-five movie) we threw in the towel. I am so glad we just rented this instead of going to the theater.

And last night while Ross was working I hit up Blockbuster to finally rent Changeling, the Angelina Jolie movie where her son goes missing. The preview showed a great scene where she's standing in front of a train yelling "Where is my son!?". Talk about captivating. I really enjoyed the whole movie and while I won't give away the end, the final answer to where her son is really surprised me. The previews never led me to believe the movie would go in that direction. Very nicely done. This movie I recommend, highly.

For some non-movie people though, movies have become a bit of a Valentine's Day tradition for us. We like going out to a matinee and then having a nice dinner. (It's funny how "a movie and dinner" has taken on so many forms over the past few years. The first year we did this it was just because we were broke. We saw a matinee because it was cheapest and I cooked dinner at home. This year we're going to a matinee at Alamo Drafthouse, fully intending on ordering at least cocktails and then having a schwanky double-date dinner.) As we approach Valentine's Day, I've realized, we have no idea what movie we should go see. I don't even know what's out! So I'm hoping you can offer suggestions. Some of our favorite movies are Taken (this is probably our favorite...hehe and we saw it on Valentine's, very romantic huh?) and Hot Tub Time Machine (could those two be any more different?). We saw Avatar last year and liked it. Ross' favorite movie is Braveheart and mine is probably The Holiday.

Oh and I refuse to see No Strings Attached because the ads for it on Pandora this week have just about driven me up a wall. I don't care if it gets nominated for every Oscar out there and is deemed the best thing since Star Wars, the advertising has pushed it into my Movie Exile.

OK so you know a little about our movie tastes - Valentine's Day movie date suggestions?