SiobhanI took a little vacation last weekend. My mom, being the lucky person she is, takes off every August (yes, the whole month) for vacation and goes to our (her) house in Gulf Shores. My beach time has gotten significantly less over the last few years and I had only been one other time this year, so this was my last opportunity before summer comes to an end. So, I took off Thursday & Friday and headed down to the beach, just me & Raimi.
I felt like an old person. First off, I had been up until 3am Wednesday night trying to finish something that I was supposed to take to my mom, so by the time I got down to the beach that afternoon I was just exhausted. I did nothing Thursday night. Friday mom & I headed for the beach. I really wanted to take Raimi, but there isn’t a dog-friendly beach anywhere along the AL Gulf Coast. My friend Britt told me about this one place where the locals take their pets, so we drove down there and sure enough, there were no pet signs everywhere. I was assured that everyone takes their animals there so we unloaded the dog and started walking toward the beach. Luckily, as we got closer we found another couple who were taking their dog, so I felt much more comfortable. Although there was this one smartass who pointed out the “no pets allowed” sign to us and told us if the ranger caught us we’d be fined $500. My mother, in her best smartass voice, said “well then we’ll just pay it.” I think she really wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but she refrained.
So we spent about 2 hours on the beach. Raimi got to chase his frisbee, only it was so hot that he really could only go “fetch” about 10 times and he’d be overheated and would have to lie down. We had this little shade area set up behind our chairs for him, but instead he chose to bury himself under my mother’s chair every single time. Which wasn’t very comfortable for her because it pushed her ass up in the air and him panting made her stomach vibrate. Kind of like those machines that are supposed to shake the fat off of you, but on a much smaller scale. Here are a couple of pictures:
View from my beach chair
Raimi buried under my mom's chair
Another one. Mom's going to kill me for posting this one
After we were sufficiently fried and Raimi sufficiently tired, we headed home. Now…my aunt Linda bought a kayak. This, in essence, means that everyone else wants to go buy a kayak, my mother included. She had been talking about this kayak nonstop and as soon as we got back from the beach, she wanted us to go kayaking down the river right behind our house. So, we did. Raimi included. He didn’t particularly like the fact that I was out in the kayak and kept trying to swim out to me, so I pulled back up and put him in and Raimi and I kayaked around the river. It was so much fun. I wish that we would’ve gotten pictures of Raimi in the kayak, but we went camera-less down to the water so we didn’t. I did get pictures of him swimming though - not that anyone cares - but he never liked the water until last weekend and now he’s a swimming expert of a dog.
More pictures:
Kayak!
Raimi swimming!
More swimming!
And more swimming!
Friday ended with me, Jenna & her new boyfriend Tim, and my friend Britt going to Biloxi to see Better Than Ezra for free at some casino. We got there late and missed 30 minutes of the show, but it was a fun outing nonetheless.
Pictures:
Me & Jenna
Jenna & Tim
Me & Britt
Afterwards we went back to Fairhope to some little pizza place that was open late to have a drink and Tim ended up befriending some crazy person named Brent who apparently had a drink named after him - “the B bomb” - and he wanted to buy one for us all, but we declined and headed home.
Saturday: After having gotten to sleep really late Friday night/Saturday morning, I was so tired all freaking day, plus it was raining and gross so mom & I went to see The Dark Knight - my 4th time and her 1st - and afterwards we met some family & friends at Lulu’s for dinner. http://www.lulusathomeport.com/ Lulu’s is owned by Jimmy Buffett’s sister, Lulu Buffett (worst name ever) and everyone I know goes there and it’s been hyped so much. Honestly, the atmosphere was cool, but I don’t see the hype. It was just a restaurant. Decent food…good atmosphere…nothing extremely special though. That was about it for Saturday because I was so tired that night and fell asleep at 8:00…again - felt like an old person.
Sunday: My last day. I decided not to leave until later in the day in the hopes of getting in some more beach time but when I woke up and it was cloudy, we just decided to do some shopping. There’s a new “Summit” type mall at Malbis, which is located right outside of Daphne on I-10 so we decided to go up there and then meet Jenna for lunch before I headed back. But….before we went to Malbis, mom wanted to go to Daphne to check out this new store. As soon as we got there we realized what a mistake we made it. Yes, folks, I drove around trying to find a parking space for 10 minutes for the grand opening of the…………………….wait for it………………………Bass Pro Shops.
It’s every rednecks dream come true. They were coming in flocks to this thing. The parking lot was overflowing into the JC Penney parking lot ACROSS THE STREET. It was the single most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in my life - ever. Hands down. You’d think these people were at Disney World. Granted, it’s not a store that you typically see in Alabama, but I’ve been in one before so I wasn’t in awe of the waterfalls and fish tanks and trees. It feels like being at the Rainforest Cafe (mmmm) at Downtown Disney (or one of the many other locations) without the good food. So we fought and pushed our way through this store only to come out to find TWO…count them, TWO police officers directing traffic in the parking lot and waiting for 15 minutes to get out of the lot. I felt like I was sitting in concert traffic. RIDICULOUS. Absolutely ridiculous.
That’s pretty much the end of my story because sadly, after that, I had to drive home and get back to reality. This is pretty much the most pointless, most anti-climactic post yet - I mean…the Bass Pro Shops grand-opening is how I ended my vacation. Pathetic, yes?
Filed under: Uncategorized
We got to see another sneak peak last night, this time it was Tropic Thunder. Thanks again, Jason! Holy God, this movie was funny.
For those who don’t know what it’s about, after a huge mishap on set, a group of actors are taken out into the Vietnamese jungle in order to finish their film guerilla style. Unfortunately for them, a drug lord, or drug ring locates them and they basically find themselves in the middle of a real, un-scripted war.
First off, I think Robert Downey, Jr. may just end up being my favorite actor ever. I’ve always really loved him, but after Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Iron Man and now this…I love him. That’s all there is to say.
My second favorite performance, as sad as I am to say this, was probably Tom Cruise. He made me laugh so much. He plays a balding studio exec who likes to dance around to hip-hop music any chance he has. And I’m sorry but balding old white men dancing to Ludacris is just funny any way you look at it.
I had heard things about people saying that Ben Stiller was the weak link in the film and that his humor didn’t really match up, but I disagree. I think he held his own. Jack Black was also gold as always.
And for those Scramble folks out there…I swear…I SWEAR the name “Sarducci” is said. Alex heard it too. It was really hard to watch Tropic Thunder without thinking about Hell is For Bastards, and then Robert Downey, Jr. walks up to Jay Baruchel, who plays Kevin Sandusky, while he’s peeing and I SWEAR he calls him Sarducci. Listen out for it and tell me if I’m wrong.
It’s sad that the summer movie season is coming to an end. All that’s left is Hamlet 2. And then the fun is over.
Filed under: Life
I’m having a hard time staying positive this week. Over the past two months, there have been some difficult and unexpected surprises thrown at me. Things I’d rather not discuss on a public forum. Right now just feels like the lowest of the low and I’m really trying to push through and “keep my chin up” (as Alex will always tell me to do), but to be honest I’d really rather just crawl back in bed right now and spend my day depressed and crying.
I realize that life is what you make it. I realize that there will always be hard times that come your way, and that you should take what life hands you and deal with it and move on. But, my God it’s so hard to see through to the other side when you’re smack dab in the middle of a situation that seems completely helpless. Even though I’m a firm believer in “everything happens for a reason,” right now I just can’t possibly understand what that reason might be. Maybe, someday, I’ll look back and think “ok yeah, this is why all that happened,” but today isn’t that day. Today, I feel defeated. Today, I feel hopeless. And it’s just exhausting.
I recently came across a quote from Ben Stein (of all people)
“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders.”
He’s right…and I’ve always been the person who surrenders at the first sign of hard times. I am, admittedly, an eternal pessimist…at least when it comes to my own problems. When things aren’t going my way, it’s so excruciatingly hard for me to see the good side of things…or a possible positive outcome. It’s so easy to look at someone else’s problems and say “oh but it’s going to get better, don’t worry about it.” When it’s I who is having the problem, it’s not quite as easy. Scratch that. It’s impossible.
I’m going to the beach this weekend to relax for 4 days with my family. I need to clear my head. Come Monday, I begin figuring out how to make this all work…without surrendering to it. And also without worry, which is probably my biggest downfall.
I may be down, but I’m certainly not out.
Filed under: Film
I got to see a sneak preview of The Pineapple Express last night (thanks, Jason!). It was possibly one of the strangest experiences I’ve had at the movies before, second only to seeing Double Jeopardy at Downtown Disney with Jenna where we were subjected to a 45 minute performance by some boyband before the film started. Last night we weren’t allowed to bring cell phones into the theater and they searched us and our belongings…metal detector wand and all. I had some pepper spray in my purse that the woman wasn’t going to let me take in until a nice old gentleman said it was ok. THEN at the end of the film, these women came and kicked us out of the auditorium before the credits had even finished rolling. They meant business, let me tell you.
Now for the film itself: I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was as good as Knocked Up or Superbad, possibly not even Forgetting Sarah Marshall (still undecided about that one), but it held my attention and kept me entertained. I just didn’t find it as funny as previous Apatow & Company films. I think that’s what made it less enjoyable than say, Superbad. Don’t misunderstand though…”not as funny” doesn’t mean “not funny at all.” It still had some definite laugh out loud moments and I think I’ve fallen a little bit in love with James Franco. I don’t find him attractive in the least, but I’ve not really ever seen him in a role like this before, and his character was completely endearing to me.
I’ll give it 3 out of 4 stars….it’s definitely worth your dollars. Next up: Tropic Thunder.
Filed under: Film
After my raving review of The Midnight Meat Train on here, Ginger asked if I would like to write a review that she could post on al.com. SO I DID! I’m so proud of myself…I’m a writer at heart but lack the confidence to really do it, so I forced myself to do it and voila - I have a film review on a website that is not my own.
Check out the article here:
http://blog.al.com/zoomout/2008/08/only_true_horror_fans_should_b.html
Thanks again Ginger!
