Random Favorites

You know what I really enjoy? Random things. So this is going to be a blog about some of my favorite "random things" - at least what I deem to be ... random ... for the different categories. 

Favorite Movie - Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).  This is also one of my mom's favorite movies - I remember watching it with her as a little girl.  It co-stars a young Kathleen Turner and a young Nicholas Cage.  It also features a young Jim Carrey.  When the movie begins, Peggy Sue (Turner) is arriving at her dreaded 25th class reunion.  She is in the middle of divorce with her husband (and high school sweetheart), Charlie (Cage).  During the reunion, she passes out and wakes up in 1960 - during her last months in high school.  She struggles between trying to push her then boyfriend, Charlie, away - not wanting to "make the same mistake twice" - and falling in love with him all over again.  It is a drama (in it's own 1980's, fairly cheesy, way), but it is also a comedy.  I love watching it because it makes me feel nostalgic toward my own childhood and a time period that I always wished I lived in (which is quite impossible since my mother was born in 1960...).  I also watch it because it does make me laugh - a lot.  I highly recommend seeing it - even just once.  It's on Netflix instant play right now, so if you have Netflix - there are no excuses for not watching it. :)

Favorite Food - toast.  I don't know what it is about toasted bread, but I love it.  I even find myself craving it sometimes.  I've found that my new favorite way to eat my homemade bread is by toasting it (lightly) and topping it with peanut butter.  The peanut butter gets all warm and melts - it's just a delightful experience.  Even just plain 'ole store-bought bread toasted with butter (or margarine) is one of my favorite snacks.  Toast can also make me feel nostalgic for Ireland.  Pretty much every morning during that trip, I'd have toast with butter and jam and tea for breakfast.  Sometimes when I really miss Ireland, I'll make myself a cup of tea with toast and jam.

Favorite band - The Mama's and The Papa's.  I've been adding more and more of their music to my Spotify playlist ("Folksy Music") lately.  I grew up with parents - especially my dad - who listened to oldies and folk music.  There's just something about this band's harmonies and overall sound that I just love and that ... makes my heart happy.  They just don't make music that sounds like this anymore.  It's always a delightful experience.  I've been in quite the folk-music-mood lately.  

Favorite book - oh this is a tough one.  What do I go with? One of my favorite children's stories (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland)?  A favorite obscure book by a well-known author (The Great Divorce - CS Lewis, Persuasion - Austen)?  Or maybe The Princess Bride ... I think I'll go with a book from my favorite category - Books I Had to Read for a Brent Cline Class That I Ended Up Loving.

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer.  I absolutely love this book.  It's a creative non-fiction story about a young man who left behind everyone and everything and was determined to "live off the land."  Since you'll find this out in the very first chapter anyway, I'll go ahead and tell you - he ends up dying a slightly mysterious death in the Alaskan wild.  You may have seen the movie - which was fairly accurate (if I 'm remembering correctly) - but I do highly recommend reading the book.  It's actually a lot more intriguing than I just made it sound.  The young man - Chris McCandless - meets some very interesting people along the way.  I think it was the fact this this was a true story - about a true person - that pulled me in so much.  By the way, feel free to skip the couple chapters in the middle where the author goes off on a spiel about his own adventures - I always do. :)  

Well this has been a fairly wordy post!  So what are some of your random favorites? What are some things that you love and thoroughly enjoy that are a little ... unconventional?  Or maybe just plain weird to some people?


PS - I apologize for the overuse of the word random - I was hard pressed to find a suitable synonym...

Having Fun With The Hubby

Warning: this will be a fairly wordy post. Adam had Wednesday and Thursday off this week, and we packed a whole lot of fun into those two days.

On Wednesday, we went to see Titanic in 3D IMAX. It was pretty much amazing. I was so excited just to be able to see it on the big screen again. It originally came out when I was 11. It was the first movie I saw multiple times in the theater. It also resulted in my first celebrity crush - Leonardo DiCaprio, of course. Anyway, they did a truly fantastic job on the 3D. I was a little worried after seeing Lion King in 3D, which was horribly disappointing. But I highly recommend seeing Titanic 3D - IMAX too, if you can. 

After the movie, we went to Applebee's for half-price appetizers, then went to Meijer. All of their Tigers stuff was on sale, so Adam got a shirt and I got a hoodie. I also picked out dark blue and orange nail polish - to complete my look.

Thursday was Opening Day and the Tigers were at home. We didn't have tickets for the game (the cheapest ones online were $95). But we wanted to go to downtown Detroit and celebrate anyway. We headed out at about 8:30am. We met up with some of Adam's cousins for the first couple hours and enjoyed a burger at Nemo's (the most inexplicably delicious burger ever). It was rather overcast and chilly outside, but we still had fun. When it came time for the game to start, we parted ways - since they had tickets (jealous). 

We took a stroll around Comerica Park, and were able to find a little park across the street where a local radio station had a big screen TV set up and there were some food vendors. I got an elephant ear (LOVE), Adam got a couple corn dogs, and we shared some chili cheese fries - healthy, huh? Then we sat down in the grass to enjoy the game and our food. 

The sun came out just enough to keep us warm - and sunburn our faces. The Tigers won (no thanks to Valverde), making the day complete.

Since it was an early game (1pm). The day was still young when it was finished. On our way back to our car, Adam jokingly suggested going to Windsor. I replied, "okay, let's do it!" So we ran home (um...not literally), got changed, grabbed our passports, and headed back. (Side note: it's so nice living this close to Detroit, if only for the convenience of going to Tigers games.) 

We went to Caesar's Casino in Windsor. It was quite a lot of fun. I had never been to a casino before. If you've never been to one, I'd recommend going. You don't have to spend much money to have fun - there's plenty of penny, nickel, and dime "slot machines" to keep you entertained. We even went to a bar in the casino that had "multi-poker" game machines at each seat. So we got a couple rum and cokes, and played poker.  Deuces Wild was my game of choice.

(Adam playing poker)

On our way back, we stopped in Detroit for dinner. By the time we finally got home, it was only about 10:30, but I was sunburnt and exhausted, so I went straight to bed. The next day, my face hurt, my legs ached, and I was incurably tired all day - so I spent it on the couch. 

I love that exhausted feeling - when you've spent a day so full, with so much fun packed in, that you're practically immobile the next day. All I can say is that Thursday was pretty much an amazing all-day date with the hubby. It's been a while since we've had one of those - with just the two of us - and it was a blast.

Yesterday = me doing nothing, so today = cleaning/cooking day - especially since tomorrow is Easter, and - company or not - I like having my home clean on a holiday. It is now time to get off my butt and get some stuff done.

Happy Easter, everyone!