Movie Review: 1st Edition

I went to see Revolutionary Road with my sister Melissa last night. We have been meeting for movies for a while and savoring sister-time until the long-awaited baby day comes in April. So far, we have seen a number of movies, most of which have exceptional acting, but are not too great. The latest was Seven Pounds, which I was excited for, but turned out to be very predictable, I wish they would have had more twists. Let me say, I am pretty easy with movies. Serve me up some good dialogue, with a satisfying ending, and I'm sold. If I compare anything with The Lord of the Rings, rest assured it's good :) . I think it's especially hard if you don't know what you're in for. Both Seven Pounds and Revolutionary Road were secretive in their publicity. You didn't really know much about the meat of the movie.

So, the movie last night was good, the acting was phenomenal, but I was disappointed in the first 20 minutes. Top that with some confusing scenes, a sad, almost disturbing ending, and it's hard to see what the actors loved about the story as a whole. It was lovely to see Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio together again, and as I said, they were both Oscar-worthy. But it's sad that I was so excited about the hype that I had to go see it on opening night. That is rare for me.

See it, you might love it, don't buy it because you probably won't watch it again.

TOP TEN FAVORITE DRAMA FILMS (some may fall into other categories as well)

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I would put this in all categories ;)

2. Pride and Prejudice (The most beautiful and intoxicating love story)

3. Gone With The Wind (Timeless classic, for the time such a production...)

4. A Few Good Men (I have loved this since I was 13)

5. Titanic (Anything you see in the theater 9 times must be on the list)

6. Spanglish (Exceptional acting, great plot)

7. Far and Away (I love period pieces and Tom Cruise...)

8. Atonement (A shocking yet captivating period piece)

9. In Her Shoes (More phenomenal acting, and the book is one of my favorites)

10. The Notebook (The kind of love story that makes your heart ache)

So there it is. Yes, I do love me some chick flick. I'm a girl. And I love to daydream. And it only took me about 5 minutes to compose this list, so that's how much I love these movies. Watch and enjoy.

Leavenworth!

Chris, Tristan and I took Chris's brother Eric to Leavenworth to celebrate his 24th birthday (and as an excuse for a small vacation, of course). We had a ton of fun, walked around town, went swimming, and thoroughly enjoyed our suite at The Enzian Inn. I love this hotel, I wouldn't stay anywhere else, and I've been going to it almost every year since I was little. So I guess I am proudly carrying on the tradition. The hotel is awesome, beautiful in a Bavarian style with an indoor pool and a complimentary buffet breakfast that is so worth going there. If you want to know more go to http://www.enzianinn.com/ . So we got to Leavenworth Wednesday afternoon, checked in, and went to check out our suite. I got it because we needed a separate room for Tristan to sleep, and it was the same price as 2 rooms. And it was worth it! The 1st room was the living room, with a sink and coffeemaker (yum) and a complimentary bottle of sparkling cider (too bad it wasn't really a romantic night lol). There was a couch that pulled out into a bed for Eric, a tv and fireplace, and a deck. In the 2nd room was our huge beautiful bed and a lovely spa tub that I was so sad I didn't have time to enjoy :( . We went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant, but the food was so rich we couldn't finish it! We went back to the hotel and went swimming, which was really nice to sit in a hot tub... Tristan loved swimming as long as Daddy didn't dunk him, which he did a few times. Not very nice. After, we went back to our room where Chris put Tristan down so I could watch LOST. What a husband. Even on vacation there's no way I would miss the season premiere of LOST :) It was AWESOME, after that we played cards and snacked on some goodies we bought at the chocolate shop in town. So here are some cute pictures for you all:Tristan all excited on our bed after just getting in the room. He was really excited, running all around the rooms and jumping all over the bed!

At the chocolate shop. Guess who knows what chocolate is and how good it tastes??

Yea! Getting ready to go swimming!

Our lovely ginormous bed...

Happy Birthday Uncle Eric!!

So sad... I want to climb in it right now.

Having tons of fun swimming with Daddy

Waiting in town for Chris and Eric while they visited their 8th cheese/wine/meat shop ;) Tristan didn't mind, he got to run around a lot. (P.S.- Make sure if you bring a 1 year old in a shop with wine bottles...you keep their arms and legs "inside the Daddy" as Chris put it after Tristan knocked over and broke a bottle of wine! Chris did buy one anyway.

I would never get one but now I do understand why moms get leashes for kids.

HOT Yoga Part 2

I went to Hot Yoga again on Sat morning, dragging my sister Heidi with me, and it was a more pleasant experience the second time around thank goodness. Probably because I knew what to expect. It still was CRAZY hot of course, and I still got a little headache, but I was fully prepared this time with ibruprofen! It's fun to go to with friends and it helps you stick it out. My muscles are still a bit sore but I would recommend anyone to try it. It beats sitting at home... not sweating buckets. Just hydrate and wear as little as possible :)

HOT Yoga

I went to try out Hot Yoga with Nicole and Amanda in Federal Way yesterday. I was a little hesitant at first, the thought of sweating profusely in a hot room with 60 other people didn't exactly sound fun. I can't take much heat! It was. so. hot. Approximately 112 degrees! The yoga was hard but I like yoga, it was the heat that was hard to sit in for 90 minutes. We laid on our mats a lot, my head was pounding and Nicole felt nauseous, which is all normal. It was only $10 for ten 90 minute sessions, because that's how long it takes to get used to the climate and they want to get you hooked. At first it was very relaxing, the heat and yoga poses, but after the first half I felt like I could die! But we made it through, and I felt good afterwards. My clothes were Dripping wet, like I had just stepped out of a shower. Never sweat so much in my life! I had a major headache last night and felt a bit feverish, but just like with a good massage, it's normal because your body is flushing all of your toxins out so you feel like crap the first few times. All in all a good experience that was good for my health. I'm going to go hopefully tomorrow so I'll let you know if it's easier the second time around...

NEW YEAR'S EVE
New Year's Eve was a lot of fun, Chris and I went to a beautiful wedding in Puyallup. It was black tie so I bought a dress and Chris looked mighty handsome in his tux. Some people did not dress up, which was kind of annoying but the decor and ceremony was so beautiful. We celebrated the New Year together and danced a bit. Here are a few pictures:


Handsome Daddy and handsome son.

Reminiscent of prom.... LOL

At the wedding having lots of fun!

As the night got a little crazier...

Happy New Year!!!!

Back from break...

Sorry it has been a while... I thought I'd take a long break like all my favorite shows do LOL. But I am back with pictures galore and a couple stories to tell so here's a recap:

CHRISTMAS

Christmas was really fun this year, we got to spend time with all of our family, (despite the fact that Chris's work schedule unfortunately got in the way a lot, but that's what you get for being a manager at QFC) and still made time to relax on Christmas morning with Tristan. He recieved a lot of fun toys and gifts (thank you everyone) and still his favorite toys are his guitars, (go figure!) one that he recieved on his birthday from Josh and Amber, and one he got for Christmas from Gramma Annette and Grampa Bruce. He carries those things around EVERYDAY. It's really cute.

He has also become quite the talker. You feel like you are having a real conversation with him. He is very good with his expressions. He has a little attitude now and then, but he's just testing us and is a very sweet little boy. We have fun playing all day, he loves to be chased, and especially loves to push buttons on the tv when Daddy is watching and then squeal and run.





This was a beautiful picture of Sydney I took on Christmas Eve morning. We spent the night at Missy and Ryans' so Chris could spend time with them since he had to work Christmas Eve. The snow was beautiful.

Tristan and Sydney admiring the deck.

Many of you have seen this one but I thought it too cute not to show again. As I've said, getting a Christmas picture was a lot easier when I could just sit him somewhere.

A new book from Bompa! Chris and I got him that firetruck. He sat on it for 30 minutes while he opened his other gifts!

This is his beloved Elmo phone he got from Heidi and Marty. He talks on the phone now and says "Hi!" to anyone. When I'm on the phone with Chris, he gets on his and
cradles it between his cheek and shoulder.