SURPRISE!
This weekend has been eventful, and has sort of brought my main summertime to a close.
I haven't mentioned it on here before now because of the code-black level of secrecy surrounding the goings-on, but on Friday night my sister and I threw my mother a surprise 50th birthday party that was 2 and a half months in the making. She told my father back in November that he was not allowed to throw her a party, so my sister ran with it and found the loophole where my mom never said we kids couldn't throw the party. Dad just paid for it.
Most of friday I was running errands around town to finish tying up loose ends and haul around my post-foot-surgery father to banks and doctors' appointments and such, and then claimed to be power washing a deck while I helped my sister set up. One of the best moments was a block from my house i got out of the car (which had the heaters on full blast so i would get all sweaty), and I doused myself with an old bottle of (hot) water that was rolling around in the trunk, as so i looked like i had just worked for 5 hours in 90-degree heat instead of cutting food in an air-conditioned kitchen... The old lady whose house i stopped in front of to do this gave me the most priceless looks ever. It was a drive-by splash-and-dash.
She was completely surprised. Bermuda Triangle played (Thanks, Engels & Co.), there was food, there was Two-Martini Jeanne smashing beer cans and a little debacle my dad and I liked to call "birthday bingo"... or something like that. Overall, it went very smoothly, and I will hopefully Youtube my mother's reactions soon.
As soon as it all happened though, I kind of felt a letdown... what Katie, myself, Susan, Mrs. McConnell and a few other people had been sneaking around doing since late May is now over. I have one month left to do everything I didn't get done this summer. That's a lot.
Anyways, back to the weekend: Saturday saw the extended family members from out of town stick around while I went out to work and opened the shop alone for some collection of reasons that never really gelled in my mind. It was busy too. So, when 4 pm hit, I bolted, leaving the shop to the wolves... Oh, and Alice came to visit me at work with some friends that afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so very cool.
Had dinner at the Lakeside Inn last night, and it was delicious. The high points were their Peach-Lime-Mint soup, the Avacado Egg Rolls and the excellent plating done on all the meals. My strip steak was very big and was fairly good (the pepper demiglaze and fried onions felt unneccessary and distracting), but the redskin potatoes and fresh vegetables that accompanied it helped to balance it out. I must give props to the chef(s) for their plating... every dish, from appetizers to dessert, looked great on the plate. Kids, take your parents out for a good meal up there sometime!
Today I did the Church thing and spent the afternoon seeing Little Shop of Horrors up at the Dogwood. Mired by technical difficulties, I was a little irked with the presentation. Yet, those actors who had put their heart and soul into the show were very good. Kudos especially to Josh Bourdon.
Oh, and the Simpsons movie: saw it Saturday night late with Greg. And it was great. I'd give it 4-4.5 out of 5 stars, for irreverence, giving 50+ classic characters a line or two, and for keeping the formula and pacing the same as a half-hour episode. Another good point to make is that Groening and crew still remember what made the show great back in season 1 and gave it feeling: Homer still wants to do good for his family in the end, despite his selfishness and idiocy. It's something that was seen in the first Christmas episode and has been infrequent in the past few years, but this movie captures that heart and soul and runs with it.
The first 20 minutes are drop-dead halarious, and while it has its lulls of sappiness, they're intercut well with humor too. Oh, and remember that CGI teaser with the Hopper-esque dancing bunny? Well, no 3D in this film, but the Disney-esque animals ARE there for one great... big... ugly scene. haha. You'll see.
Now that I think of it, there was ONE classic Simpsons character missing... Snake. BUT instead you get a great, great, great, AMAZING Tom Hanks segment!
Good luck at band camp(s), kids.
I haven't mentioned it on here before now because of the code-black level of secrecy surrounding the goings-on, but on Friday night my sister and I threw my mother a surprise 50th birthday party that was 2 and a half months in the making. She told my father back in November that he was not allowed to throw her a party, so my sister ran with it and found the loophole where my mom never said we kids couldn't throw the party. Dad just paid for it.
Most of friday I was running errands around town to finish tying up loose ends and haul around my post-foot-surgery father to banks and doctors' appointments and such, and then claimed to be power washing a deck while I helped my sister set up. One of the best moments was a block from my house i got out of the car (which had the heaters on full blast so i would get all sweaty), and I doused myself with an old bottle of (hot) water that was rolling around in the trunk, as so i looked like i had just worked for 5 hours in 90-degree heat instead of cutting food in an air-conditioned kitchen... The old lady whose house i stopped in front of to do this gave me the most priceless looks ever. It was a drive-by splash-and-dash.
She was completely surprised. Bermuda Triangle played (Thanks, Engels & Co.), there was food, there was Two-Martini Jeanne smashing beer cans and a little debacle my dad and I liked to call "birthday bingo"... or something like that. Overall, it went very smoothly, and I will hopefully Youtube my mother's reactions soon.
As soon as it all happened though, I kind of felt a letdown... what Katie, myself, Susan, Mrs. McConnell and a few other people had been sneaking around doing since late May is now over. I have one month left to do everything I didn't get done this summer. That's a lot.
Anyways, back to the weekend: Saturday saw the extended family members from out of town stick around while I went out to work and opened the shop alone for some collection of reasons that never really gelled in my mind. It was busy too. So, when 4 pm hit, I bolted, leaving the shop to the wolves... Oh, and Alice came to visit me at work with some friends that afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so very cool.
Had dinner at the Lakeside Inn last night, and it was delicious. The high points were their Peach-Lime-Mint soup, the Avacado Egg Rolls and the excellent plating done on all the meals. My strip steak was very big and was fairly good (the pepper demiglaze and fried onions felt unneccessary and distracting), but the redskin potatoes and fresh vegetables that accompanied it helped to balance it out. I must give props to the chef(s) for their plating... every dish, from appetizers to dessert, looked great on the plate. Kids, take your parents out for a good meal up there sometime!
Today I did the Church thing and spent the afternoon seeing Little Shop of Horrors up at the Dogwood. Mired by technical difficulties, I was a little irked with the presentation. Yet, those actors who had put their heart and soul into the show were very good. Kudos especially to Josh Bourdon.
Oh, and the Simpsons movie: saw it Saturday night late with Greg. And it was great. I'd give it 4-4.5 out of 5 stars, for irreverence, giving 50+ classic characters a line or two, and for keeping the formula and pacing the same as a half-hour episode. Another good point to make is that Groening and crew still remember what made the show great back in season 1 and gave it feeling: Homer still wants to do good for his family in the end, despite his selfishness and idiocy. It's something that was seen in the first Christmas episode and has been infrequent in the past few years, but this movie captures that heart and soul and runs with it.
The first 20 minutes are drop-dead halarious, and while it has its lulls of sappiness, they're intercut well with humor too. Oh, and remember that CGI teaser with the Hopper-esque dancing bunny? Well, no 3D in this film, but the Disney-esque animals ARE there for one great... big... ugly scene. haha. You'll see.
Now that I think of it, there was ONE classic Simpsons character missing... Snake. BUT instead you get a great, great, great, AMAZING Tom Hanks segment!
Good luck at band camp(s), kids.